After the success of the PlayStation what could Sony whip up to replace it? Only the best selling console of all time! The PlayStation 2, selling over 155 million units, it’s a record still not beaten. This was down to the machines ability to be backwards compatible and it could also be used as a DVD player. My massive DVD collection started because of this.
But we are not here to discuss the hardware, we are here for the sweet sweet software. So without further ado here are my top 5 PS2 games;
5) Max Payne
If John Woo made a neo-noir film and then turned it in to a game, that game would be Max Payne. This 3rd person shooter made gunplay feel so stylish. Diving through the air whilst shooting dual pistols in slow motion would only feel better if you were actually Neo from The Matrix.
The story for this game is strong and one of the best I’ve played. You play as Max Payne, a renegade DEA officer whose family were killed by junkies off their head on the latest drug Valkry. You fight your way to the top of the chain to get your vengeance, popping painkillers along the way and suffering drug induced nightmares as well. It was a game destined to be made into a film. It’s just a shame that when it did get made in to a film, that film was shit.
4) Spider-man 2
Now most movie tie in games are absolute shite, this title is an exception to the rule. Taking Spider-man away from the then traditional linear games of the superhero genre and dropping him into an open world New York city was gold. Now for the first time you could actually feel like Spidey, web slinging across the map and fighting crime whenever and wherever you saw it. Sometimes you would be really nice and rescue a little kids balloon that had got away. This game set a high standard for the friendly neighbourhood Spider-man that was never really matched until Spider-man on the PS4 (which we might discuss another day).
3) Kingdom Hearts
If a crossover of this scale happened today I think it would break the internet but back in 2002 this just seemed to happen. Disney and Final Fantasy all together in one game. Amazing.
The gameplay for this was a lot more like today’s Final Fantasy games with a more action orientated battle system compared to the old turn based system. This and the fact you could use different Disney characters as summons made it so much fun. It felt so good to summon Dumbo whilst in the middle of a heated battle!
2) God Of War
God Of War is an action adventure RPG that puts you in control of a Spartan warrior named Kratos who was tricked into killing his own family by Ares, the Greek god of war. Ares then picks a fight with Athena who enlists you to kill the God of war. So you go off on a journey to find Pandora’s box, an object said to have the power to kill a God.
As you hack, slash and shag your way across Greece you find and fight many creatures from Greek mythology which also grant you new powers you need to complete your quest. And it’s these monsters and the rest of the Greek myths that make this game so good.
1) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
The Playstation 2 was the generation where GTA grew up and basically created the genre of open world sandbox games. Back on the PS 1 it was a top down 2d game but when GTA 3 was released on the PS 2 it became a beautiful 3d world for you to play in. Then along came Vice City. It took everything that was good from the previous game and added the 80’s to it. There is no better feeling than driving around the streets of the city looking for jumps whilst listening Billie Jean and other iconic 80s tracks.
Having the look of the 80s and the sounds of the 80s made this game what it was and still to this day fans are crying out for a return to Vice City.
The Tribal Chief of the Big Fat Geeks
Stephen Sowden