Sony Enters the Handheld Game! (Sony PSP)

Member Name: heekeer

Product:	Sony PSP
Date:	03/08/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of features, good games

Disadvantages: A little uncomfortable to hold for extended periods

Sonys PSP or Playstation Portable is there first entry into the handheld market, can the Playstation brand bring them success once again.

The console itself is quite an impressive looking bit of kit, the handheld is quite large and has a really big LCD screen on it. The unit is finished in a glossy piano black plastic which gives it a high end look especially when compared with systems from Nintendo. It doesnt seem to be designed very ergonomically though as I find it uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

In the box you will get a PSP console, cleaning cloth to wipe off all those inevitable fingerprints, a battery pack and battery charger and its available in many bundles which include memory sticks and games.

The systems performance when compared to rival handheld the Nintendo DS is superb, the graphical quality of the games surpass anything you will see on the DS and are very comparable with Playstation 2 games, and not just the very early basic ones. The system uses a UMD drive to store its games so it is capable of much bigger games than the DS.

There are now many top games for the PSP, the excellent Final Fantasy Crisis core a prequel to the popular Final Fantasy 7, God of War Chains of Olympus a handheld size of everyones favourite hack and slash, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops expands on the compelling Metal Gear Solid storyline, Daxter which stars our furry friend who finally gets his own game, the list is very extensive.

The handheld also packs in a variety of multimedia features, you can purchase UMD movies which are almost DVD quality movies playable on your PSP and if you have a memory stick you can put your own music and video on there aswell. There is an internet browser available too but I find it to be very basic and slow.

A very good first attempt from Sony, and it can only get better from here.

Summary: A great first handheld effort.