"Selling the PSP: So easy a caveman can do it."

Welcome to my review of the PSP, the one of the latest systems from Sony. The TV consoles are very good, though, so they're not all bad. You probably think I'm an anti-Sony fanboy now, but I'm not, the other Playstation stuff is good, one and two.

I borrowed the PSP for a few weeks from a friend. He let me also borrow some games (GTA, MLB, and Lumines) and in exchange, I traded him my DS and SM64DS, Advance Wars, and Goldeneye Rogue Agent. And we both agree: My friend got the better end of the deal. Good thing it was only for a few weeks.

One of the PSP's biggest problems is its financial one. It's far more expensive then the DS, and to effectively use it, you need to get a memory card, too (it comes with one but it's pretty small, 32MB, if you're going to listen to music or anything you'll want a bigger one), and its battery is rather small, so I'd advise getting a battery pack, if you're going to waste your money on a PSP in the first place. It comes out to almost double or more then double the cost of the DS, and more then a TV console. If you have a lot of money, it's not a big problem, but still, you can just get a DS or GBA or probably PS2 and more games for better overall value. Even the movies are a lot less expensive on DVD then PSP! Still, they're not as expensive as the 360 games, which is a relief.

The PSP wouldn't be quite so bad if it wasn't so big and fragile. Handhelds are supposed to be small, and can fit in your pocket! The SP was a perfect example. It was tiny. The DS isn't that small, but it's not as big as the PSP, at least not when it's closed, and that's when size matters the most. It's heavier then the DS, and a lot heavier then the GBA and GBA SP. Also, the PSP is very breakable. I dropped it on the floor from about two feet off my bed, and it broke. I might have just been unlucky, though, but I've heard many stories about it being extremely fragile, and we all know about the infamous disc shooting out of the PSP (That was definitely fake though) it turned on, but it wouldn't read any discs. Luckily, my friend had a warranty. Also, the screen scratches very easily, and the buttons are all shiny when you get them, but soon they'll be full of fingerprints and ugly.

Playing the games isn't that bad, besides the analog stick, which is tiny. Handhelds in general should probably stick to the D or analog pad. At least the screen is nice and big, so you can see if, as long as it doesn't break, of course. But while playing games isn't hard, it's hard finding a good enough game to play. I haven't played any good games on here that aren't on another, better system, and although I haven't played every PSP game out there (there's probably some good stuff in there), the most popular ones aren't that good. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is very overrated in my opinion. It seems to be nothing but blowing people's heads off with Rocket Launchers and such, although a lot of people like that thing. Lumines is frustratingly redundant, much like Tetris, but without Tetris's addictiveness, but some people disagree with me. This is another one of the PSP's big flaws. Another thing the DS has over it is that the DS uses carts, which, while having slightly inferior graphics, don't need a memory card to save, and have almost to no loading time, and the PSP has enough loading time for both systems. Oddly enough, some of the best games the PSP can play are games on other systems, because with the internet, PSP can use ROMs and Emulators, making it able to play some really good games, like the old NES ones and such. However, if you want a PSP for old Genesis GBA or NES or games, why not get one, because they're cheaper? If there's a PS1 emulator, that's awesome too. PS1 has some of the best games ever made. Everyone has their own tastes, though, so I suppose that the "fact" that most of the PSP's games are bad can be debated. However, it does have quite a small library, so that's bad, even though it'll grow to be bigger and better.

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking: So what if you can't find any good games, the PSP can play movies, MP3s, go on the internet, and probably some other stuff to! Well, for each of those functions, there is something better. For MP3s, there's an iPod. When you factor in all the memory you'll need to buy to have enough space to compare to the iPod, it'll come out to less then the iPod. The new iPods can even play videos too! For videos, you can get a DVD player, one of those little ones that looks like a laptop. Or, lo and behold, get a laptop! It can use MP3s, watch DVDs, go on the internet, play a lot games (almost all of which are better then the PSP's), and a lot of stuff! It's more expensive then a PSP, but it can do a lot more.

There's a reason I didn't totally dismiss the PSP completely worthless, though: The graphics. The PSP has the best graphics out of any handheld console I or anyone else has ever seen. Seriously, they're amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if they had better graphics then a PS2 or Xbox. And I know how important graphics are to a lot of people, so I gave the PSP two points for this. However, this is marred by the scratchability of the screen. Still, there are skins or something you can get to protect that.

The sound is pretty good too. It's crystal clear, and you can listen to your MP3s on the PSP's speakers without it sounding all weird and having to use headphones. However, it seems a little odd that the speakers appear to be on the bottom. I think it would be better to put them on the front, where it would be easier to hear, but it's OK, because there's a headphones jack.

Overall, would I recommend the PSP? Short answer: No, not really. Long answer: The only way I'd recommend this is if you're the kind of person who likes, in general, sports and action games over strategy and adventure games, and values graphics over if the game is good or not, then get it. Otherwise, skip and buy something else.

Some of the things that lost it points can be fixed by getting something (different games, screen protectors, etc), but the extreme cost of Sony things makes this hard. I might raise the score once some games come out that are better then the current ones and the price drops a bit, but for now, three out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/07