The PSP’s Golden Age?
April 9th, 2007The general consensus for most gamers over the past few years has been that the DS has really beaten the crap out of the PSP, both in terms of sales and critical response. Once in awhile, there was a game that seemed ok for the PSP, but in general nothing that seemed to match the onslaught of good and creative games that had been coming out for the DS.
But, lately, there have been a few PSP games that have stirred my interest, like MGS: Portable Ops and Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (I’m a sucker for the series). With the recent price drop, I decided I’d take a look at what games were out there that had been well reviewed, and what I found was somewhat surprising.
On Gamerankings.com, I found that, rounding up to the nearest whole percent, 38 PSP games had hit the 80% or above mark. Only 1 game had achieved above a 90% score, so I thought, surely, this must be where the difference in DS games is. Surprisingly, there are only 3 DS games that hit the 90% mark, and, rounding up, 29 DS games that hit the 80% or above mark. Could the PSP actually have more “good” games than the DS now?
To be sure, there are probably quality games for both systems that are in the 70% range, but I thought that a good cut-off for comparison would be at the 80% level, since that’s probably considered the “top-tier” of games that most gamers are interested in. We could expand this to 70%+, but that would be even less-nice to the DS, so for now, we’ll leave it at 80%.
So, back to the topic at hand… What exactly happened? Is the PSP in its prime now? Does it deserve the derision that’s been plaguing it ever since its release (or perhaps more accurately, probably about 6+ months after its release?) Is this just a case of review-inflation on a system in need of some hits?
I’m not sure, but I think part of the difference is in the types of games that each system has. Of the 29 80%+ DS games, I own 14 of them. I don’t own a PSP and I probably don’t follow it quite as well as the DS, but of the 38 80%+ games, I’d probably be interested in no more than 10 games, and that’s probably stretching it a game or 2. Part of it is that a bunch of these games are just sports ports. They may be capably made and therefore well-reviewed, but I wonder how popular these really are to portable gamers, and to be honest, I’m not a huge sports simulation fan on regular consoles either. The DS doesn’t have a single sports port in it’s 29 80%+ games.
There are also several other sort of PS2 “ports”, and I question how popular these are with gamers too. With some games, part of me sometimes feels guilty about buying a “portable” version of a game that’s also available on a console, as I feel like I’d be getting the “crappier” version of the game. This doesn’t apply to older “classic” games, since those are just emulated anyway, and often work just as well or better on the portable systems as on the console. This isn’t really an issue for the DS, but there are several of these on the PSP. The only game I’d consider on the PSP like this is probably X-men Legends 2, since I missed the game the first time around and probably wouldn’t mind having it on a portable now.
In any case, if you remove the ports and such (I count about 12-13), you probably have a list of games that’s fairly close, in quantity and quality at least, to what’s available on the DS now. Time to jump in on the PSP, or are these numbers just playing tricks on us?
Posted in DS, Jeff, PSP |
April 9th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
You make some really good points, but much of what you say misses the mark, I think, as far as relevance is concerned. Sure, people complain there aren’t enough “good” games for the PSP, but that is vague and is only part of the problem. What does “good’ mean? In your analysis, you take it to mean simply “highly reviewed”. Unfortunately, I don’t see that as the relevant usage of “good” in this particular scenario. When I say “good” and when others say it referring to the PSP, it must be in the context of a portable. A highly reviewed game may be a terrible choice for a portable. So while there are roughly similar highly reviewed games on both platforms, many of those games on PSP (and even some on DS) are just not well suited to a portable system, either because you have a better more feature rich version at home that you already spent money on (as you mention) or because the play mechanics of many of the games are not quite right for portable systems. Portable games need to be quick, attention grabbing, and easy to save, quit, load and start back up again. This problem in the PSP library seems to be glaring, despite the high game ratings. To compound the challenge of the PSP, these issues bring out the flaws of the hardware, namely, horrendous startup and load times as well as poor battery life and media portability. So, it’s really not at all about the ratings the games have, but how they work in a portable environment. A mediocre game on a console may be an absolute hit on a portable, and vice versa. I think that many of the highly reviewed PSP games do little but demonstrate the flaws in the platform.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I think what you’re getting at, though, is that these game ratings are being inflated then. Theoretically, reviews should take into account the medium that they’re on, so if there’s a great game but no one really wants to play it on a portable system, then it should be rated lower. I use Gamerankings average scores in an attempt to try and “filter out” over-reviews.
On the other hand, I do agree that there are some inherent issues with the system, namely startup time and battery life. But, at the same time, I don’t have a problem with a game being a bit more involved on a portable system, as long as it’s easy enough to save your spot so you can continue later. My time with the PSP is literally zero, so I don’t really have anything to go on except what I read in impressions and reviews, but there are definitely a number of games that are looking more interesting to me now. Do the inherent issues in the system present enough of a problem that it can’t even be overcome? I suppose some could make the argument, but in a way, if we’re talking about something that can be picked up and played in spurts here and there anyway, shouldn’t a couple hours of battery life suffice?
April 9th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
“I think what you’re getting at, though, is that these game ratings are being inflated then. ”
I don’t know if I think that is true or not. Some of the PSP games are really fun but just don’t seem to tranlate well to “on the go” gaming. I don’t know if reviewers review the game by hopping on the trains and playing it through or not. My guess is they sit in their office, right next to the Wii/PS3/360 testing stations and playtest portable games in a stationary environment (I could certainly be wrong). That being the case, it’s hard to imagine a well reviewed portable game, at least in theory.
“Do the inherent issues in the system present enough of a problem that it can’t even be overcome?”
I certainly don’t think so. I just think developers need to base their efforts on the strengths and weaknesses of the system as well as the inherent needs of a the portable player. Long load times on a portable are simply unacceptable to me so they need to figure out a way to get the game going and load some of the other data in the background or something. Portable to me means in the car and on planes or stuck in airports or between meetings. Many of these situations can strain your ability to recharge a battery. With my experience on the DS, it just seems silly to have to worry about plugging in your machine every day when I easily go a week without plugging in my DS even if I play a LOT. Also, I love the “close the lid” feature on the DS to pause a game. One example of a really fun DS game that for me doesn’t translate well to “on the go” gaming is Elite Beat Agents. I LOVE that game and would rate it very highly, but I really hate it when I travel. If I’m in a car or on a Plane, even with headphones, it’s hard to differentiate the rhythms and the game is a bitch. Likewise, on a jostlng subway, its very challenging. So even though I think it’s a great game, I really only play it at home in my office with my enormous headphones on.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Well, I suspect you’re right about the reviewers sitting at their desk playing the game, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be taking into account the fact that it’s a portable game. For instance, if there’s a 10-20+ hour RPG that doesn’t give you the opportunity to save very often, that’s a problem. I don’t have a problem with 10-20+ hour RPGs on a portable (the Mario and Luigi series, for instance), but if I can’t save often, that’s a huge issue.
Of course, as you mention, the close the lid feature is great, even if you can’t save the game. I’ve actually used this feature before and, by accident, have left a game on for days, only to discover later “Oh, right! I need to finish this.” I suspect the PSP would not have the ability to do this.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:10 am
“Well, I suspect you’re right about the reviewers sitting at their desk playing the game, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be taking into account the fact that it’s a portable game.”
I totally agree. I just think it’s probably pretty hard to play a game and imagine you are moving about on a train and know if it would translate well. I think reviewers (at least the good ones) try to take this into account but it can’t be easy. I never would have imagined I’d have so much trouble with Elite Beat agents in a moving vehicle, particularly one that jars about as you move, like a subway. You don’t realize the issues in the speakers on the DS until you’re in an environment with alot of ambient noises. Earbuds help but it’ still a real challenge. Anyway, I’m hopeful the PSP can truly begin to shine but I don’t think the proper games are there yet, even though there are some good titles available, particularly recently. The price drop certainly should help as well.
April 11th, 2007 at 1:48 am
oh man….this site is f#@king empty…..