The best PS2 games.
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Holy Shit somebody remembers Zeonic Front. That was such an awesome gameTanis said:
Especially once you get Doms and laugh at the Guntanks who gave you so much trouble early on.
War of the Monsters is also great. Its basically a fighting game with giant monsters
You got a nice variety of characters ranging from King Kong and Godzilla rip-offs to giant military robots to tiki gods and electric eyeballs. You can toss gas tanks and radio towers at each other. Knock building on top of your enemies. Trigger tsunamis. It's just great
A lot have already been mentioned, but there's still some left i can think of.
Lets' see...
Resident evil code: veronica
Resident evil outbreak file #1 (and file #2)
Crash bandicoot the wrath of cortex
Time crisis 2
Burnout 3
Tony hawk's pro skater 3
Spyro: enter the dragonfly (maybe, i don't remember if any of the spyro games after 3 were any good, but this looks to be a lot better than the games that came out after this one)
Flatout 1 & 2
I'm sure there's others as well. the PS2 had an almost endless list of great games.
Lets' see...
Resident evil code: veronica
Resident evil outbreak file #1 (and file #2)
Crash bandicoot the wrath of cortex
Time crisis 2
Burnout 3
Tony hawk's pro skater 3
Spyro: enter the dragonfly (maybe, i don't remember if any of the spyro games after 3 were any good, but this looks to be a lot better than the games that came out after this one)
Flatout 1 & 2
I'm sure there's others as well. the PS2 had an almost endless list of great games.
-Star Wars Battlefront 1&2
-Lord of the Rings: Return of the King; Some brilliant co-op. Smash through it with a friend and you won't regret a thing!
-Lord of the Rings: The Third Age; God awful storyline, but so much fun! An actual challenge at times!
I bet you can guess my kinda films..
-Lord of the Rings: Return of the King; Some brilliant co-op. Smash through it with a friend and you won't regret a thing!
-Lord of the Rings: The Third Age; God awful storyline, but so much fun! An actual challenge at times!
I bet you can guess my kinda films..
Gladius (tactical galdiator simulator... with Yetis)
The Bouncer (closest thing to Streets of Rage for years)
GTA San Andreas (the best game in the series IMO)
These games need HD makeovers NOW!!!!
The Bouncer (closest thing to Streets of Rage for years)
GTA San Andreas (the best game in the series IMO)
These games need HD makeovers NOW!!!!
My copy came with a cardboard sleeve (sorry if I confuse you forgot how they are called) so I can't choose which cover/inlay I want to use.Tanis said:
I haven't played all that many but here we go...
Destroy All Humans: A humorous action game with aliens and an anal probe gun.
Shadow of the Colossus: Enough said
The Suffering: Dark action with a good story
Area 51: One of my favorite shooters ever
Destroy All Humans: A humorous action game with aliens and an anal probe gun.
Shadow of the Colossus: Enough said
The Suffering: Dark action with a good story
Area 51: One of my favorite shooters ever
As a rule of thumb, my fav PS2 games are the ones that have both stayed with me one way or another, and also the ones I've replayed out of sheer need.
Okami
In a world of dreary doomsday scenarios and diabolux ex machina downer endings I find this game to be one of the most uplifting, cheery experiences on the PS2 and so many other consoles. It's one of the few games that's stayed with me long after I played it. The Celestial Brush mechanic is fun and nicely worked in both combat and puzzle solvin, the graphics are amazing, not just for 2006 but the art that's gone into them, and the music is, no other words for it, triumphant.
Shadow of the Colossus
This was one of the very first games I played on the PS2 and it set up a visual and artistic standard that was hardly ever topped by anything that came after. I've always admired how they accomplished so much with so little elements - the sound design, the bloom effects, the fact that you wanted to explore the whole landscape to drink in the visuals even though there were no NPCs to meet or enemies to fight. Atmosphere at its best.
Killer7
The whole thing kept me on my toes for as long as it lasted. I was creeped out at the beginning, then I was properly amused, then I fell for the weirdo comedy act, then I was touched by the Hotel Union reveal. This game goes for a wide array of emotions when it comes to storytelling. As is the case with how it tells it: rail shooting/character upgrading/manga 'n anime segments/cel-shaded noir/spyspeaking... the list goes on and I love every moment of it.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
It's a pretty conventional story and I always thought the game suffered from its blank, nameless protagonist, who was OK to tag along so long as the story wasn't about him (which it wasn't, at least until the ending/secret finale). I also always thought the fully 3D, cel-shaded enviroment sans loading screens was the most gorgeous thing you could go on for free roaming on the PS2. I love the character design by Akira Toriyama, how every single NPC gets a distinctive look. Also, same as Okami, the game goes for cheery adventuring rather than its more popular, grim counterpart.
Silent Hill 2
I may be a little biased towards it. Not because everybody keeps pointing out how good the story is, and how it features in every Top 10 list. In truth, it's the first SH game I ever played. I was introduced to the whole monster-manifestations-extrapolated-from-the-protagonist's-guilty-subconscious thing through SH2. Having played through all other PS2-era SHs, I never found any other game that approached character development, storytelling and terror so subtly and properly. It's become a milestone to me.
Resident Evil 4
Well yeah. RE4 came out in 2005 and I'm starting to think that was the best year for the PS2: GTA San Andreas, God of War II, Kingdom Hearts II, Shadow of the Colossus, Killer7... it arrived at a peak of excellence. Much as I love good old fixed camera angles and proper zombies putting the horror in survival horror (and the survival, too), this game is just too much fun. You can tell how RIGHT it was with the whole camera-over-the-shoulder thing getting ripped off by every 3rd person shooter that came ever after. And sidestepping the Umbrella arc was a wise, wise choice as well.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Also came out in 2005, and it's my personal pick of the sandbox bunch. Inasmuch as I love and played through the whole GTA III era, Mercenaries reduced story to a minimum and went for absolute, fun and indulgent gameplay. Rarely have I played though a game that gave you so many options as to how to carry out a mission and congratulated you regardless of your method of choice. Tracking down and bringing in cards alive was too much fun. I loved calling in extractions and air strikes, falling in and out of favor with the warring factions... Word to the wise though - the Ace of Spades was too difficult.
Obviously I can go on and on, so long story short: Odin Sphere (gorgeous hand-drawn 2D action-RPG), Tales of the Abyss (for Luke's amazing and believable character arc), Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (gave us the rewind mechanic), Kingdom Hearts (if anything because it got the FF/Disney mix right), etc, etc, etc...
Okami
In a world of dreary doomsday scenarios and diabolux ex machina downer endings I find this game to be one of the most uplifting, cheery experiences on the PS2 and so many other consoles. It's one of the few games that's stayed with me long after I played it. The Celestial Brush mechanic is fun and nicely worked in both combat and puzzle solvin, the graphics are amazing, not just for 2006 but the art that's gone into them, and the music is, no other words for it, triumphant.
Shadow of the Colossus
This was one of the very first games I played on the PS2 and it set up a visual and artistic standard that was hardly ever topped by anything that came after. I've always admired how they accomplished so much with so little elements - the sound design, the bloom effects, the fact that you wanted to explore the whole landscape to drink in the visuals even though there were no NPCs to meet or enemies to fight. Atmosphere at its best.
Killer7
The whole thing kept me on my toes for as long as it lasted. I was creeped out at the beginning, then I was properly amused, then I fell for the weirdo comedy act, then I was touched by the Hotel Union reveal. This game goes for a wide array of emotions when it comes to storytelling. As is the case with how it tells it: rail shooting/character upgrading/manga 'n anime segments/cel-shaded noir/spyspeaking... the list goes on and I love every moment of it.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
It's a pretty conventional story and I always thought the game suffered from its blank, nameless protagonist, who was OK to tag along so long as the story wasn't about him (which it wasn't, at least until the ending/secret finale). I also always thought the fully 3D, cel-shaded enviroment sans loading screens was the most gorgeous thing you could go on for free roaming on the PS2. I love the character design by Akira Toriyama, how every single NPC gets a distinctive look. Also, same as Okami, the game goes for cheery adventuring rather than its more popular, grim counterpart.
Silent Hill 2
I may be a little biased towards it. Not because everybody keeps pointing out how good the story is, and how it features in every Top 10 list. In truth, it's the first SH game I ever played. I was introduced to the whole monster-manifestations-extrapolated-from-the-protagonist's-guilty-subconscious thing through SH2. Having played through all other PS2-era SHs, I never found any other game that approached character development, storytelling and terror so subtly and properly. It's become a milestone to me.
Resident Evil 4
Well yeah. RE4 came out in 2005 and I'm starting to think that was the best year for the PS2: GTA San Andreas, God of War II, Kingdom Hearts II, Shadow of the Colossus, Killer7... it arrived at a peak of excellence. Much as I love good old fixed camera angles and proper zombies putting the horror in survival horror (and the survival, too), this game is just too much fun. You can tell how RIGHT it was with the whole camera-over-the-shoulder thing getting ripped off by every 3rd person shooter that came ever after. And sidestepping the Umbrella arc was a wise, wise choice as well.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Also came out in 2005, and it's my personal pick of the sandbox bunch. Inasmuch as I love and played through the whole GTA III era, Mercenaries reduced story to a minimum and went for absolute, fun and indulgent gameplay. Rarely have I played though a game that gave you so many options as to how to carry out a mission and congratulated you regardless of your method of choice. Tracking down and bringing in cards alive was too much fun. I loved calling in extractions and air strikes, falling in and out of favor with the warring factions... Word to the wise though - the Ace of Spades was too difficult.
Obviously I can go on and on, so long story short: Odin Sphere (gorgeous hand-drawn 2D action-RPG), Tales of the Abyss (for Luke's amazing and believable character arc), Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (gave us the rewind mechanic), Kingdom Hearts (if anything because it got the FF/Disney mix right), etc, etc, etc...
Oh, geez.
*takes breath*
KindgomHeartsKingdomHearts2FinalFantasyXFinalFantasyXIIPersona3Persona4DarkClouddotHackXenosagaShadowHeartsShadowHeartsCovenantNocturneDigitalDevilSaga*
*gasp*
*takes breath*
KindgomHeartsKingdomHearts2FinalFantasyXFinalFantasyXIIPersona3Persona4DarkClouddotHackXenosagaShadowHeartsShadowHeartsCovenantNocturneDigitalDevilSaga*
*gasp*
You have Final Mix also?The Tall Nerd said:
I love both the Final Mixes as they are so difficult and add so much more to the Kingdom Hearts series. Anyway that's not as bad as X International where they have English dialogue (all Internationals and Final Mixes have English dialogue) but and option to put the game's text in English! Square Enix just seems to hate money. Also they are making a Kingdom Hearts HD remake for the first game and Re: Chain of Memories. Apparently it's supposed to have the Final Mix, but sadly I don't believe it will because again Square Enix seems to hate money.OT: Besides the Final Mixes I say FF X International, FF XII International Zodiac Job Edition, the Ratchet and Clank series, the Jak and Daxter series, the first God of War, and Ape Escape 2 and 3. That's just my opinion though.
Just off the top of my head
Shadow of the Collossus
Destroy all humans
Devil may cry 1 & 2
God of war (just the first one)
Xenosaga series
Mercenaries
Final fantasy 10
Star Ocean 3: Till the end of time (sorry ludicrous story and crappy item creation system aside I really liked the characters and setting)
Shadow of the Collossus
Destroy all humans
Devil may cry 1 & 2
God of war (just the first one)
Xenosaga series
Mercenaries
Final fantasy 10
Star Ocean 3: Till the end of time (sorry ludicrous story and crappy item creation system aside I really liked the characters and setting)
My list goes:
Dark Cloud 2
Kingdom Hearts 2
Fatal Frame series
Shadow Hearts 2
Final Fantasy 12
Resident Evil 4
Dynasty Warriors 4 (I'd say some people would argue 5, but at that point it was getting tiresome)
Final Fantasy 10
Seems like a lot of games are at their best at the second installment.
Dark Cloud 2
Kingdom Hearts 2
Fatal Frame series
Shadow Hearts 2
Final Fantasy 12
Resident Evil 4
Dynasty Warriors 4 (I'd say some people would argue 5, but at that point it was getting tiresome)
Final Fantasy 10
Seems like a lot of games are at their best at the second installment.
My absolute favorites are Silent Hill 3, Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented, and Haunting Ground.
these are the three that generally make me want to steal back my PS2 (which is currently being used as a make-shift DVD player) just to play. I think the biggest draw is that (to me at least) they all still look good. Haunting Ground especially. I've never been one to focus solely on graphics, but I love love LOVE the graphics in that game, for whatever reason.
these are the three that generally make me want to steal back my PS2 (which is currently being used as a make-shift DVD player) just to play. I think the biggest draw is that (to me at least) they all still look good. Haunting Ground especially. I've never been one to focus solely on graphics, but I love love LOVE the graphics in that game, for whatever reason.
James Bond Nightfire always had me royally glued to the PS2. Probably one of the few good Bond games out there - the others being From Russia With Love and Underfire.
Well, my personal favourites are:
Devil may cry 3: Special edition
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4: The room
Persona 3:FES
Persona 4
Shadow of the colossus
God hand
Resident Evil 4
Psychonauts
Okami
To name a few. Most (if not all) the games I have listed may have been mentioned, but these are the games I like
Devil may cry 3: Special edition
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4: The room
Persona 3:FES
Persona 4
Shadow of the colossus
God hand
Resident Evil 4
Psychonauts
Okami
To name a few. Most (if not all) the games I have listed may have been mentioned, but these are the games I like
This is right up my alley <3 I'll mention just a few though, don't have much time on me:
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, classy RPG from Enix's Dragon Quest saga, the first to show up in cel-shaded, fully 3D real-time graphics. The story is simple and fun to follow, the world is wide open for exploration, each and every single character receives a unique and bizarre modeling (by the hand of DBZ manga artist Akira Toriyama) and it's free from the pulpy, convoluted nonsense of Final Fantasy games.
Killer7, Goichi Suda's magnum opus for Grasshopper Manufacture. A spy fiction, on-rails shooter that switches between 1st n 3rd person perspective about a team of seven assassins (really seven personas of a single person) battling asplosive terrorists called Heaven's Smiles. The style goes from pulp to noir to manga - russian roulette fights, Mexican stand-offs, weirdo cultist ranches, unfathomable conspiracy plots... you get the picture.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, a wide open, free roaming sandbox set in war-torn North Korea (AKA, "GTA with tanks and air-strikes"). You're a merc playing factions for cash - the Allies, the Chinese, the South Korean and the Russian Mafia (who will parachute weapon caches, tanks and air-strikes for you). Storyline missions are fun, but capturing bounties alive and extracting them via chopper takes the cake.
Okami, a lovely action-adventure game ala Zelda whose plot borrows after Shintoism and the art direction takes after Japenese ink-painting and water-coloring. I love a game where the core mechanic meshes nicely with both combat and puzzle-solving, and in this case you get the Celestial Brush, which lets you freeze the screen and scribble on it to summon elementary magic, slash across enemies or simply make dead nature bloom.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time:[/b), the rise of stylish parkour and time-manipulating mechanics in video gaming. Combat can get a bit repetitive because the Prince is so awesome at it and you want to boil it down to the same two maneuvers over and over. Other than that, the game is nothing short of spectacular and comes with two sequels - the darker and edgier Warrior Within and the revamped Two Thrones.
Resident Evil 4, the descent of survival horror into action-adventure with cam-over-the-shoulder 3rd person kind of perspective and immersive combat that lets you single out enemies and body parts like no Resident Evil before it. Fun gameplay and funnier (campy) story.
Shadow of the Colossus, a strong case of games-are-art. Boiled down to its bare bones, it's a 16-colossi boss rush, sparsed throughout a wide open sandbox free of loading times. Tracking, waking, climbing, clinging and stabbing each colossus in its unique spot/s and bringing it down while triumphant music trumpets in the background brings one epic moment after another. The storytelling is minimalistic but there's a lot to flesh out reading between lines.
Silent Hill 2, the defining survival horror game everybody loves to bring up whenever Best Story Ever is discussed around video games (also another strong case of games-are-art). The games hits all the right notes - discretion over gore, subtletly over jump scares, depression and anxiety over simple fright.
Tales of the Abyss, a JRPG of Namco's Tales series. As with every other JRPG, the world is at stake (countries are literally sinking into hell one at a time while war rages on) but the real charm in the game is protagonist Luke and the incredible character arc he goes through (coupled with the rest of the party and their interactions). Two other pluses: combat is not turn-based, nor does it pend on random encounters.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, classy RPG from Enix's Dragon Quest saga, the first to show up in cel-shaded, fully 3D real-time graphics. The story is simple and fun to follow, the world is wide open for exploration, each and every single character receives a unique and bizarre modeling (by the hand of DBZ manga artist Akira Toriyama) and it's free from the pulpy, convoluted nonsense of Final Fantasy games.
Killer7, Goichi Suda's magnum opus for Grasshopper Manufacture. A spy fiction, on-rails shooter that switches between 1st n 3rd person perspective about a team of seven assassins (really seven personas of a single person) battling asplosive terrorists called Heaven's Smiles. The style goes from pulp to noir to manga - russian roulette fights, Mexican stand-offs, weirdo cultist ranches, unfathomable conspiracy plots... you get the picture.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, a wide open, free roaming sandbox set in war-torn North Korea (AKA, "GTA with tanks and air-strikes"). You're a merc playing factions for cash - the Allies, the Chinese, the South Korean and the Russian Mafia (who will parachute weapon caches, tanks and air-strikes for you). Storyline missions are fun, but capturing bounties alive and extracting them via chopper takes the cake.
Okami, a lovely action-adventure game ala Zelda whose plot borrows after Shintoism and the art direction takes after Japenese ink-painting and water-coloring. I love a game where the core mechanic meshes nicely with both combat and puzzle-solving, and in this case you get the Celestial Brush, which lets you freeze the screen and scribble on it to summon elementary magic, slash across enemies or simply make dead nature bloom.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time:[/b), the rise of stylish parkour and time-manipulating mechanics in video gaming. Combat can get a bit repetitive because the Prince is so awesome at it and you want to boil it down to the same two maneuvers over and over. Other than that, the game is nothing short of spectacular and comes with two sequels - the darker and edgier Warrior Within and the revamped Two Thrones.
Resident Evil 4, the descent of survival horror into action-adventure with cam-over-the-shoulder 3rd person kind of perspective and immersive combat that lets you single out enemies and body parts like no Resident Evil before it. Fun gameplay and funnier (campy) story.
Shadow of the Colossus, a strong case of games-are-art. Boiled down to its bare bones, it's a 16-colossi boss rush, sparsed throughout a wide open sandbox free of loading times. Tracking, waking, climbing, clinging and stabbing each colossus in its unique spot/s and bringing it down while triumphant music trumpets in the background brings one epic moment after another. The storytelling is minimalistic but there's a lot to flesh out reading between lines.
Silent Hill 2, the defining survival horror game everybody loves to bring up whenever Best Story Ever is discussed around video games (also another strong case of games-are-art). The games hits all the right notes - discretion over gore, subtletly over jump scares, depression and anxiety over simple fright.
Tales of the Abyss, a JRPG of Namco's Tales series. As with every other JRPG, the world is at stake (countries are literally sinking into hell one at a time while war rages on) but the real charm in the game is protagonist Luke and the incredible character arc he goes through (coupled with the rest of the party and their interactions). Two other pluses: combat is not turn-based, nor does it pend on random encounters.