Dynamic themes are a great addition to any gamers’ PS3 experience. Unfortunately, most themes cost a few bucks, and you can’t be certain that you will like the theme until you use it. Instead of having to comb through every single theme on the store, we’ve rooted out the best ones for you right here, both paid and free on PS+, and we even have video previews to let you see them in action.
Best Paid Themes
Flower
This is a great theme because of the sound effects and the simplicity of the theme. The theme shows a very tranquil, green field. Every few minutes, some flower petals blow by the screen. It’s a very relaxing theme to have on your PS3, and the sound effects are the same piano key hits that are present in the game.
Pixeljunk Monsters
The best thing about this theme is that it is easy to read the text. The background is all dark green and brown with white text so its all very easy to read. Every few minutes, Tikiman will run across the screen. It isn’t distracting which is exactly what you want in a dynamic theme.
OddWorld: Stranger’s Wrath
This one shows the view of one of the cities, with tall grass blowing in the foreground at the bottom of the screen. I don’t know how they did it, but the creators of this theme managed to make a dirt brown color scheme look beautiful.
Bacon
This is a dynamic theme of….well, bacon. This dynamic theme actually looks pretty good, and staring at that delicious bacon will definitely make you hungry. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
Digital Blasphemy: Fluorescence
This is a really cool theme that has neon mushrooms on screen that just gradually change color. It’s very clean looking and a nice, relaxing background to have.
Digital Blashpemy: Tears
There are a few different dynamic themes under the title of Digital Blashpemy and they are all really good ones. Definitely check them all out, but the two listed here are probably the best ones. The Tears dynamic theme shows a night sky as meteors fall to Earth. It isn’t distracting at all, and like the Fluorescence theme is a really soothing background.
Skyrim
This theme is very impressive and one of the best on the store. It features the dragonborn standing off to the side of the screen with smoke that swirls around him. There is some cheesy text in the bottom left that says “The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim” and the theme would be better if that wasn’t there, but it is still a great theme.
Hitman: Absolution
This is very similar to the Skyrim theme, so it really comes down to which game you liked more in order to decide which is better. Agent 47 is standing to the side of the screen with only his only his torso and arms visible…so actually, it may not be him at all, just some random guy in a red tie. Anyway, he is holding a gun with smoke trailing off the barrel of the gun. Like all the other themes, it’s just a small amount of movement to make the theme feel alive, but not enough to where it gets distracting.
Shatter
This theme is incredibly simple with a ball that flies across the screen to break a block. The movement is a lot more subdued than in the game, so rather than having action packed chaos in the background, the background is actually very tranquil.
Uncharted 3
Nathan Drake is always in some kind of trouble, even in his dynamic theme. Nathan Drake is standing in the desert by a wrecked plane with no help in sight and a jammed gun. Like all the other themes, it isn’t distracting and easy to read the text.
Free for PS+ members
Journey
This theme switches between several dynamic images. The pictures are environments from the game, such as the desert and one of the caves. 1 out of the 5 images that are cycled through is a little hard to read text but the rest are great. Just a little bit of movement in each one. Also, its got cool sound effects.
Wakeboarding HD
This is one of the few themes on the store to take advantage of silhouettes, and is probably one of the better themes on the store because of it. All the movement is contained to the bottom of the screen, so it isn’t distracting at all. Also, this theme is composed of nice orange and blue colors that look great on an HD screen. It’s too bad the game wasn’t as good as this theme.
I Am Alive
This shows a destroyed city landscape with the main protagonist standing off to the side. A fire burns in a barrel and smoke and fire embers float across the screen. The small amount of movement in the theme fits really well with the desolate image on the screen.
Infamous: festival of Blood
This features Cole standing to the side of the screen with electricity arching around him, birds flying and smoke swirling in the background. There are lightning flashes that can be a little distracting, but they happen right behind whatever you are looking at so it isn’t all that bad. This has a lot more movement than the other themes in this list, so if you like a lot of movement then this is the one to get.
Dark Souls Dynamic theme (Japan Only)
These are actually free to everyone. The only problem is that you have to go onto the Japanese PSN store to get them. These have just a little bit a movement like the Pixeljunk Monsters theme, so they aren’t distracting and most of themes allow the user to read the text easily. Although you probably want to stay away from the Way of the White and Warrior of Sunlight themes.
