I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (The Official UK Playstation Magazine)

Name: Nomad

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Product:	The Official UK Playstation Magazine
Date:	29/09/00 (511 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not as immature as other magazines

Disadvantages: Expensive

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The following review was written in September 2000. I have left the review untouched but have placed an update at the end to cover any changes since it was written.
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If you're a regular computer games player then you are probably already aware of the vast number of magazines available to cover them. Although I have a PC as well, most of my games are for the Sony Playstation and over the years I have read most of the dedicated Playstation magazines.

Unfortunately most of them seem to be aimed at the younger Playstation users and tend to be a bit on the patronising side. I'm almost 30 and love playing computer games now as much as I did when I started (way back in the early 80's) but it seems that most of the games magazines have refused to grow up. These days games are not exclusively for kids but most of these magazines don't seem to take account of the wider audience that now play them. If you find yourself agreeing with any of this then you may be interested in the Official UK Playstation Magazine, from Future Publishing.

The first issue I bought was issue 13 in December 1996. It cost £4.99 and came with a cover disk containing 3 playable demos and 1 rolling (i.e. non-playable) demo. It was 124 pages long and contained news, previews, reviews, readers letters and a tips and cheats section.

I recently bought issue 62 for September 2000. It cost £4.99 and came with a cover disk containing 5 playable demos, 5 rolling demos and a selection of cheats to save directly onto a memory card. It is 164 pages long and contains news, previews, reviews, readers letters and a tips and cheats section. It also includes interviews and additional Playstation related features, a dedicated Playstation 2 section, charts for America, Japan and the UK as well as a short media review section for films and music.

Unfortunately, it's the most expensive Playstation magazine available as the others titles all cost around £3.00 but it's the only one to come complete with a cover disk every month. While reading a review is always useful, nothing beats actually playing the game and since I can usually find a couple of things I would like to try on each disk I consider the extra cost to be worth it. Of course you could always hire a game to try it but you only get a couple of nights with one game for about £2.50. With the cover disk you get a selection of games (usually 4 or 5) to try whenever you like.

While it's fair to say the selection of demos on the disk will usually be the deciding factor when it comes to buying it or not, the rest of the magazine is pretty good too. It's clearly laid out so it's easy to find what you're looking for. Fortunately there are none of those dark text on dark background colour schemes that some of the other magazines seem to like so much. The review section is also well laid out with the text generally occupying the lower half of the page and the screenshots given the rest of the space. Overall, it's well written and thankfully, is not directed at teenagers alone but instead aims to satisfy all Playstation owners regardless of age.

Each game is reviewed by one person who then gives ratings for graphics, gameplay, lifespan and an overall score, all of them out of 10. I've found them to be pretty fair and, more often than not, accurate. The big games each month are usually found, in demo form, on the cover disk so you can try them out and make your own opinion. The 'Official' tag doesn't seem to make that much of a difference although undoubtedly it helps to secure the demos. I don't get the impression that they give higher ratings because of it.

I do have a couple of gripes though. The news section isn't always the most up-to-date, although to be fair, when the stories do arrive you are more likely to get the facts rather than the rumours. The tips section is limited and full solutions tend to be spread over a few issues. You also don't get any other freebies with the magazine such as the useful tips and solutions books that regularly appear on other titles.

So, all things considered, I've eventually decided to give this magazine four stars. The price remains the major issue and it would be nice to have the option to buy the magazine without the disk, but you can't. With the PS2 launch getting closer, some of the other magazines seem to be making an extra effort to improve themselves and attract more readers, perhaps bracing themselves for the flood of new PS2 magazines. They are getting better, but for me they are not quite there yet. Take a quick look through them and you will still see short sections of text squeezed between pages of screenshots.

As it stands the Official UK Playstation Magazine is still my favourite. However, its competitors are improving and, with the imminent arrival of Playstation 2 there will shortly be even more choice on the shelf. In the meantime my search for the perfect Playstation magazine still continues but until I find it, this will do nicely.

Thanks for reading.
© Nomad 2000


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Update - August 2005

It's almost five years later and the Playstation 2 is the console of choice for many gamers. Whereas most of the other playstation magazines have evolved over the past few years by increasing the PS2 coverage while decreasing the PS1 content the "Official" title ploughed on regardless.

A new 'Official Playstation 2 Magazine' was lauched to cover PS2 and, as was bound to happen sooner or later, the Official PS Magazine passed away quietly. Now the only question is how long after the 'Official Playstation3 Magazine' is launched will the 'Official Playstation2 Magazine' last? And do we care?
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Summary: The official Playstation (1) magazine is no more