The PS3 is a console that I haven’t used much in comparison to others like the PS2 or the Nintendo DS. Despite being a mess from a hardware perspective, it holds a special place in my heart because it was there during one of the lowest points in my life, so at least I had entertainment. During that short period of time I amassed a few games that were quite cheap (I imagine they still are, but at that time you could get almost any game for less than 20 euros). Now, I haven’t beaten all of them, and if that’s the case, I’ll let you know. Without further ado, let’s get into Quick Reviews Of My Phisical PS3 Games. I'm dividing this in two parts so as not to make the article too long, and also because there's a limit of 20 images per article.
Here's a snapshot of said videogames. They are ordered alphabetically.
BURNOUT PARADISE
Nothing beats the serotonine you get from killing your opponents.
I didn’t play this one, simply got it because I wanted to have it physically. I did, however, play the remaster on PC. Very good game, despite the open world it’s very much a Burnout game. However, I prefer the older ones, because I find that the structure ruins the races. Supposedly, you have free reign to create your own route, but there’s always going to be a more efficient route, and you want to be fast and efficient in a racing game. The takedowns are noticeably worse in comparison to Revenge (for example, there’s no “landing from above” takedown). Also, travelling through all the map to get a specific race is annoying. Nevertheless, if you like Burnout, you will most likely like this one as well.
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS
"Is that Frieza."
It’s fiiiine, it’s Call of Duty before the games started to cost 70+ euros. The story is a typical Call of Duty story, not much to talk about except THE NUMBERS, MASON. Gameplay is typical Call of Duty gameplay; graphics are typical Call of Duty graphics… There’s nothing that stands out here from other COD. Except, of course, ZOMBIES! Zombies are fun, great couch co-op fun. When it came out it must have been the best thing ever.
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2
Featuring one of the most infamous missions of Call of Duty (not pictured).
The only Call of Duty that I’ve properly enjoyed. This is because of three simple tricks:
- It’s in color. Have you noticed that most Call of Duty are amalgamates of black, grey, dark green and brown? Not the case with MW 2! You have a variety of colors that are pleasant to the eye. Damn, there’s even a snow level that’s just beautiful. Black Ops would never.
- There’s a finite amount of enemies. Not sure why but this makes the game more fun.
- Level design is fairly interesting, at least for a Call of Duty.
There’s a chance that the first and third MW also share these characteristics, but I wouldn’t know.
DEUX EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION
You may not believe it, but this is peak male performance.
Another game that’s fine, but in a more positive way than Black Ops. There are some aspects that are really fun, while with others you can tell that they didn’t have much of an idea how to execute them properly. My biggest gripe is that decisions are worthless, but at least the gameplay is fun enough, and I like Adam Jensen (at least from a visual perspective). It’s certainly no Prey (2018), though. Don’t think of this game as immersive sim and it automatically gets better.
DISGAEA 3: ABSENCE OF JUSTICE
For Disgaea, it was innovative. Keyword: was.
- Rating: 4/5 (subject to changes)
This game is interesting because it was my second Disgaea at the time (the first one being… the first one, on PC!), so coming from that was a complete improvement (at least mechanically). Frankly, simply being able to obtain experience from healing was enough for me. The story was noticeably worse (especially considering that I like D1’s story quite a lot), but I remember laughing out loud a lot with some of the jokes.
Nowadays, though? If I were to play it for the first time I’d probably hate it because I’d find it inferior in every regard to other Disgaea games. At least Mao and Mr. Champloo are cool.
DISGAEA 4: A PROMISE UNFORGOTTEN
Unironically one of the best characters ever.
Ah, now this one holds up like fine wine. It’s in my top 30 favorite games (or rather, the upgraded version for modern consoles). I love the characters (ESPECIALLY Valvatorez, the protagonist) and I like the story a lot (I find that it’s like Metal Gear Solid for babies). I also like the music and mechanically it’s amazing (and it only gets better in the upgraded version!). If you have to play a single Disgaea game, PLEASE make it this one.
DISGAEA D2: A BRIGHTER DARKNESS
Part of its identity was lost by discarding SD sprites.
As a sequel to the first Disgaea, it sucks. The story is barebones, boring and a disservice to the first game; the new characters are annoying as hell (I’m a biiiit fond of the main antagonist, though) and the recurring characters feel like they lost their development from the first game. It also has terrible performance: the game crashed on me plenty of times (mostly when fire effects appeared). As a standalone game, however? Supeb because of its mechanics. THE best mechanics Disgaea had to offer on PS3. Nowadays, Disgaea 5 does the same but better, but hey! It was nice for the time.
I genuinely think that if the game didn’t have a story it would be much better. It’s just that bad.
DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE
"HOLA, CAUSAS".
A horrid arena fighter, but a decent Action RPG! That’s right, if you think of the game as an ARPG it gets better. Aside from that… it’s a big Dragon Ball crossover that tries to cash out on what made the Budokai Tenkaichi games great without actually attempting to do what those games tried to do. The sequel it’s probably better but it’s also filled to the brim with obnoxious DLC so, who cares.
FIGHTING EDITION
You'd think it'd be rare to find, but nope!
This is actually three games in one: Tekken 6, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Soul Calibur V. I can’t speak for Soul Calibur V since I haven’t played that one yet. As for the Tekken games… both are extremely unbalanced, at least from a competitive point of view. I don’t like the Bound system (although I appreciate it since I like these types of combo extensions in Tekken) because of how tight combos are. Tag 2 has a million characters and requires downloading a pass to play online, for some reason. As for the single player content… I wouldn’t be able to tell you since I only played these games with friends who also play fighting games. I do know, however, that the story of 6 is very bad; and Tag 2 features cool endings (very fond of Baek’s in particular). Everyone is here!
FINAL FANTASY XIII
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU AAAAAAAAAAAAH
Final Fantasy XIII, my beloathed. I don’t like this game very much. It starts off linear, making it boring, and then it opens up for a few minutes (this is post-game content, btw), then it becomes linear again and goes from boring to frustrating because of how unbalanced battles are. The story is very poorly told; character writing is all over the place (I like Sazh, at least) and the main antagonist is one of the worst ones I’ve seen so far. The combat is surprisingly fine, but for the most part is automatic and because of how ass bosses are you don’t really get to appreciate it. On the other hand, it looks REALLY good, and the music is top notch (shout out to Sunleth Waterscape!). You might say that Final Fantasy X also was linear, but in that game, it made sense because it was a pilgrimage. Also, it has world building, which XIII clearly lacks. So don’t talk to me or my son ever again.
FINAL FANTASY XIII-2
God, peak, zenith of the medium, etc etc.
Now this? This is my jam. I breathe Final Fantasy XIII-2 on a daily basis, because I like it that much. The story is arguably worse than the first one and the characters are on the same boat (minus one in particular), but the gameplay is much better (one of your party members will always be a recruitable monster, and almost all monsters are recruitable); the world feels more alive; is less linear; the music is on par (if not better) AND, somehow, and I couldn’t even tell you how it’s possible, it features one of the best antagonists of all Final Fantasy. Seriously, Caius Ballad is frankly amazing, I have so much respect for him even if his design is a bit wacky. This game just makes me feel good, man.
GOD OF WAR III
God (of War) knows I must kill my enemies.
Yup, this is God of War Three! I don’t have much to say, it’s good and if you liked the previous ones, you’ll most likely like this one as well, because it’s more of the same but better. I like how it takes the themes introduced in the previous games and executes them to the extreme. More brutality, more vengeance, more sorrow, more unforgiveness. It also brings a satisfying conclusion to this incarnation of Kratos.
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
Gotta say, the main theme goes absolutely hard.
Unfortunately, I haven’t played this one because I'm not in the mood for a GTA game right now, but I’ve heard good things about it. The best story of the GTA ones, I believe. I stole this one from one of my cousins.
INFAMOUS
I'm sorry, but nobody does karma like Prey (2017).
I’m not too fond of open world games, but this one is pretty enjoyable because of how mobile Cole is. Maybe it’s because it was made by SuckerPunch but at times it reminds me of Sly Cooper. The story is somewhat interesting but I’m not too fond of the karma system because the decisions are always “be a dick” or “not be a dick”. At least you get cool variations of your powers depending on your alignment.
KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5 ReMIX-
Features some good post-game bosses.
A collection of three Kingdom Hearts games. I’m an avid defender of the first game. Some may think that the gameplay is outdated, especially in comparison to the second one, but you’re WRONG. It has a lot of quirks that are executed pretty well and fit the game. It’s far from perfect, but it’s very enjoyable. Shoutout to the “post-game” bosses, they are pretty cool.
Re:Chain of Memories… by the divines. It’s much better than the original, but it’s still a mess. It can be fun at times but for the most part you just want to spam Firaga, Omnislash and 0 cards against the bosses. It’s broken, but very original and unique.
358/2 Days is just a movie with no gameplay whatsoever (which I appreciate because the gameplay of the original is ass). Even worse, not everything is animated. Sometimes, there’s just text. At least the story is good (at least by Kingdom Hearts standards).
THE END! (AT LEAST FOR NOW)
Whew! So many games, huh? Some of them are not even available in other platforms, so it’s weird to say that “PS3 has no games” in this day and age. I like this console a lot, despite its horrendous architecture, and I still use it to this day. Emulation is quite good nowadays, thanks to RPCS3, with about 90% of the games being playable.
What do you think of the PS3? What are your favorite games? Do you still own one? And do you use it? So many delicious questions! Stay tuned for part II!
