A rushed, unpolished port. Xbox/PC versions are preferable.
Pros:
Enhanced graphics
Trophy support
Cheap price tag
Nostalgia
Cons:
Inconsistent frame rate/stuttering
Omission of online/co-op modes
Mandatory 5+ GB install
Some trophies might not unlock
Compared to their PS2 counterparts, these games have received a big graphical facelift, with higher resolutions, crisper textures, and more spectacular lighting; as a guy who played the first two titles on the Gamecube (which is virtually identical to the PS2 versions), these enhancements are welcomed and appreciated. The trophies also add some replay value. (There are a combined total of about 100 trophies, although most will be earned just by playing the campaigns.)
Unlike their PS2 counterparts, however, there is a blatant lack of multiplayer modes. And don't expect to just pop the disc into the console and start playing immediately; I waited almost thirty minutes to install over five GB of data to the HDD, and another ten minutes to download and install the latest patch. One of the first things I noticed when I played the game was frequent audio stuttering.
"Tradecraft is something you don't forget. It's like riding a bi-- ike-- ike-- ike-- ike."
It doesn't take much for the frame rate to drop, sometimes down to the 20 fps range. While the huge FPS dips are relatively few and far between, it's a shame and an embarrassment to not have Gen. 6 titles play consistently at 30 FPS. Other remastered PS2 collections like Jak and Daxter, God of War, and Metal Gear Solid (all of which I have for the PS3, by the way) are able to play at a solid 60 FPS easily. Why? Because the developers actually took the effort to optimize their product.
Finally, there have been many complaints that some trophies are bugged (i.e., they won't unlock even after the criteria have been met). This personally has never happened to me; maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe the patch actually fixed those issues, but every trophy unlocked without any problems. Regardless, it's something that needed to be addressed in this review.
Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed these games. It brought back some amazing childhood memories, and many hours of sneaking into and out of enemy territory. And I got it for about fifteen bucks--five dollars a game--not bad if you ask me. While I enjoyed replaying these games, the lack of any online modes means once I Platinum the collection, I probably won't pop it back into the PS3 anytime soon.
My suggestions is if you have an Xbox, or a super old computer, skip this collection. At the end of the day, the PS3 edition is just a rushed, unpolished port of the Microsoft versions, minus all the multiplayer modes that made Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory so enjoyable.Vollständige Rezension lesen
