"Despite some conflicts"

The PC is without a doubt, the best console you can own. You can update it, you can challenge the world, and you can do HEAPS more stuff on it and heaps more!

Graphics:10/10
On consoles, you can only go so far with the graphics but with the PC, the road never ends. Smooth graphics, fluid movement and perfect texture rendering is a good thing. While some of the older games have square texturing, all of today's games have none of that. Another good thing is that since the digital revolution is here, digital quality graphics is making some games look realistic!

Sound:9/10
Good speakers plus good locations plus good sound cards equal sounds that you cant get with a console regardless of what TV you have got. Sound cards are nearly dirt cheap so if you don't have one, get one now!

Games in general:9/10
The PC has without a doubt, the largest amount of game types ever. It's the leader in First Person Shooting, War games(Like Command and Conquer), adventure, platforms, Simulations and heaps more! The only thing that does drag it down is that some are Console to PC (and vice-versa) conversions and not that many are successful. PC to consoles fail for reasons below

Interactivity:10/10
Because consoles only have initial memory, there is a limit of interactivity. PC games can go from 1/10 of interactivity to 10/10, full interactive environments that can affect everything because there is no limit. The other reason behind it's 10/10 is that since you have lots of keys on the keyboard and on the consoles, it's basically 4 main buttons, 4 main directions, 2 sticks, one mainly for movement and the other for looking(Although it varies) and 4 shoulder pads, you can't get many different results because you have only 14 buttons to choose from(Again, it may change from console controller to console) but with PCs, you have the 26 letters of the alphabet, 20 numbers, 9 punctuation key and 3 buttons that can make endless combos.

Hardware:6/10
This is one of the downsides of using a PC as a primary source of games: The hardware. Because technology is constantly changing, hardware can quickly become outdated. You also need sufficient memory and most of today's games run up to a GB of memory and there is no sign yet that the games are going to take up less memory. But one of the up-sides that is also a downside is that you can get patches/updates for it as it will eliminate glitches/bugs from it but like all things, it takes up memory.

Internet:4/10 if you using Dial Up, 8/10 if Broadband, 6/10 in general
A conflicting thing is online play. Yes, you can break free from playing your little brother/sister and take on the world but the problem is lag. Lag is a thing that can really peeve anyone, regardless of their patience. With Dial up, it's a nightmare playing with 4 people as it LAGS for even a simple thing. Broadband does make a noticeable improvement but if you verse someone with Dial up, you are going to get dial up like lag,.Also, you have to contend with cheats.Unless you got a good server community that rains heavily on cheaters, it's not worth it

Affordability:3/10 if you are on a low income, 5/10 if average and 9/10 if high
This is probably the highest hurdle for most people as PCs, despite getting noticeably cheap over the years, it's still pretty hard for most people to get. You can get a second-hand for $500 but in order to get it up to date with today's, you need to get the hardware updated, it requires constant maintenance, and it only takes one mistake to destroy it (Delete essential files etc) and to get online.

In short:PC's are the best when you get the games, but getting there might be tough

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/20/04