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Shayneii's complete PS3 Slim review!

I just got a PS3 slim! It's been awesome for the first couple days I've had it. While it is smaller than the original PS3... it is still pretty big compared to other systems and consoles in my TV stand's cabinet. Here is the PS3 slim's size compared to the original PS3:



What's in the box... well, when you open it up you get a bunch of cardboard, but pull out a cardboard, and voila! $299 worth of PS3 goodness. The PS3 comes with 1 DualShock3 controller, a standard AV cable to hook your PS3 up to the TV, a manual (Canadians get French and English :P ), a Quick Start guide, a USB cord for charging your DualShock3 controller, and of course, the coveted PS3 slim. I'd suggest, if you have an HDTV, go out and buy an HDMI cable. They're a lot better than the standard AV cable, and a standard AV cable won't give you high definition quality. As well, I'd suggest you go out and get another Dualshock 3 controller, however, be warned, they are very expensive, $50! Ouch!



One thing I really HATE about the PS3 slim is no backwards compatibility! It sucks, because I have a bunch of PS2 games, and can't use them at all now (my old PS2 is broken after a faithful 5 years :P ). At least certain peripherals that work on the PS2 (i.e. Rock Band instruments) still work on the PS3 (thank God) But if you still want to play PS2 games, you can go out and get a PS2 for only $90 now, less than the cost of 2 controllers for the PS3!


Only $90? Wow!

The graphics are amazing! On a 55' LCD 1080p TV, the games look amazing. The detail is great. From the first 4 demos I've played (NHL 10, The Bigs 2, Ratchet and Clank (I don't know which version), and NASCAR 09)... they look amazing. I've seen no problems with the graphics at all. Keep in mind, I was using an HDMI cable to connect the PS3 to the TV, which doesn't come with the PS3. The PS3 only comes with the standard AV (red, white, and yellow) cords. There is no special HDMI cord for the PS3, so you can go out and get the standard type. (male to male)


HDMI Cable.


PS3 AV cable.

The XMB (main OS menu) looks pretty cool. It's pretty clean, and I love the Air Paint theme, pretty nice and artistic! There is a music and video player, which is nice, however I haven't tried that feature yet.


The Air Paint theme.

There is lots of space on the PS3 slim... 120 GB! I should be good with that for a LONG time!

Now... the PSN. It's really hard creating accounts. First, I created a PS3 account under my name. Then I couldn't create a PSN account since you had to be 19, so my dad created a PSN account under my PS3 user. Then, I had to create my PSN account on the computer, it wouldn't let me on the PS3. Then when I tried to log into my PSN account with my PS3 user, it wouldn't let me... so I had to rearrange all the users to fix it, which was a hassle!

I like the PlayStation store. It's pretty organized, and you can download some demos for free! They're good for trying games out before buying them to see if they're right for you. You can also buy full games, and get DLC (downloadable content) for other games, such as more songs in Rock Band!


The PSN store.

Now, on to the Web Browser. The web browser isn't that great. I love that there the PS3 slim is Wi-Fi capable, so I can just hook it up to my router without any wires, which is good since my router is on a different floor in my house than the PS3. The web browser is pretty slow... and when you go on YouTube, the quality isn't that great. Maybe I should've expected that after playing games in HD on a 55' TV! However, it's alright for a quick check of Twitter or something like that.


The web browser at work.

The controller. The PS3 slim comes with a Dualshock 3, which still has SixAxis capabilities. The SixAxis capabilities is really cool since it is motion controlled, and it's really cool to use on games like Ratchet and Clank, while the character is flying and you control it with motion! Overall the controller is the same as the PS2, basic with X, O, triangle, and [] buttons, control pad, left and right analog stick, and L1/2 and R1/2 buttons. One difference is though is that R2 and L2 buttons stick out a bit more so you have more control on how hard you press the button (which is good for games with pressure sensitivity).



Now... Blu-ray! The PS3 is a BluRay drive, which allows it to play Blu-ray games and movies which has 1080p (and almost) unrivaled quality. A Blu-ray player today will set you back about $250... and a PS3 now is only $299! So it's worth the extra $50 just to get all the awesome extra feature the PS3 has compared to just a Blu-ray player. As well, the PS3 can upscale normal DVDs for better quality as it is a Blu-ray drive. Something I found kind of ironic, is that the Sony blu-ray player is $350, while the PS3 is now $299! Why get just the blu-ray player? The answer is: don't.

Now onto the "important" part, the price! There was recently a price cut on the PS3, bringing the 120 GB PS3 slim down to $299 (in Canada). The 160GB model is still $399, but it's not worth $100 for an extra 40 GB (and the older and clunky version of the PS3) when you can go out and buy a 1 TB hard drive for around $150 and hook it up to your PS3. It's a pretty good price for a console, especially compared to the $599 on launch day. However, the controllers are expensive ($50!) and so are most of the games, sadly. However, I think they'll only get cheaper in price such as the PS2 has done.

Well, thanks to all these reasons, I have to say that the new PS3 slim is a great package! I won't touch on how good the games are because that is another review, and based a lot on opinion. I'd have to say that for these reasons, the PS3 is much better than its competitors the 360, and the Wii! Thanks for reading shayneii's Complete PS3 Slim Review.