Thrik

Must-play PlayStation 2 games

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I'm a real cock and have just bought myself a miniature PlayStation 2 to play over my Christmas work break seeing as I'm clearly not going to get a Wii, having not owned once since the release of Metal Gear Solid 2 (after which I promptly sold it). I've already got myself Metal Gear Solid 3, and also have Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, and Bully on the purchase agenda.

Are there any other particularly great exclusives, or is that the lot? I mean those'll probably keep me going until March thanks to my hours, but it's not too late to prioritise new additions.

I've seen a few "Best PS2 Games Ever!!" lists, but they seem to largely have a lot of crap in them. I trust you bumholes a bit more so I'd like to hear any suggestions. :yep: :yep:

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Bully [is] on the purchase agenda.

Get your credit card over to Play.com double-quick then. They've got a monster sale on at the moment, in which you can get Bully for £12.99 (delivered).

No recommendations though I'm afraid other than perhaps Guitar Hero II, which I played for the first time yesterday and presently stink at. It's still great fun though -- especially with two players, each with their own guitar controller. :tup:

And it's Mister Bumhole to you, thankyouverymuch.

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Guitar. Hero. Nothing more will ever be needed.

Well, ok. There's actually quite a bit worth a look. I notice that neither Katamari nor Gitaroo Man are on your list. I'd grab at least one (hopefully both, budget permitting) of those. And if you're into traditionalist JRPGs at all, it's the only place you'll find Dragon Quest 8.

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- Ape Escape 2 or 3 (I'd recommend 3 if you have a PAL console, I found the UK voices for that one to be hilarious - it also has "Mesal Gear Solid" as a bonus game).

- Flipnic is a pretty cool pinball game if you can find it cheap

- Klonoa 2 if you can find it - a very nice classic 2D platformer

- Mega Man Anniversary Collection if you're NTSC and like the Mega Man series

- PaRappa the Rapper 2 (not as good as the first one apparently, but I played this one before the first one and like it better. Go figure)

- Primal (A touching story of a girl who finds out she's part demon, and the gargoyle tagalong partner that accompanies her)

- Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando/Locked & Loaded (The best of the three, in my opinion)

- Rez (good luck with that, yeah)

- Lumines Plus (if you don't have a PSP, and don't want to be raped by micropayments on the 360)

- Any of the Sly Cooper games, they all seem to be a winner

That's all from my list that I can reccommend. The rest is just stupid crap, like the PS2 version of Altered Beast and Rampage Total Destruction. Although Jackie Chan Adventures wasn't half bad.

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Tekken 5 and Virtua Fighter 4 if you like that kind of thing. Should be very cheap by now too.

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Man, I forgot to reply to this thread!

Thanks guys. I'm going to get Okami at some point, and I reckon a title or two from Aussie's list will be worthwhile.

I actually just got near the end of MGS3, and sweet lord what a good game -- I can't believe I didn't get it earlier. I can see how it might be 100% unappealing if you don't like the traditional lengthy cutscenes predominant in MGS games, but I do and I seriously can't think of any game I've enjoyed more since Psychonauts.

The gameplay is far better than its predecessors thanks to the much improved hand-on-hand stuff and also the generally higher level of depth to everything, the soundtrack is astounding, the graphics have to be amongst the best of the last generation, the characters and especially the later bosses awesome, and the whole ending sequence which I'm mostly through is superb.

Anyone on the edge about playing it clearly must do so immediately as once you get past the "Wtf is all this jungle shit?" stage (that's what I thought at first, anyway) you'll probably love it. Plenty of indoor action too, just in case you were wondering.

I feel like I've gotten my PS2's money's worth from this game alone. :tup:

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Damn right. The only reason I've been hesitant to pick up Portable Ops on PSP is that they seem to have replaced the standard MGS cutscenes with comic book style ones. Size constraints, yeah, I get that. Still, more than anything else, it was the movies that kept me coming back to Metal Gear games. I actually have a bit of a personal preference for the play mechanics of Splinter Cell, but the story of MGS makes it a much better series. I need to replay me some Metal Gear once this term is over. My gaming time goes from about 2 hours a week to "whenever the hell I want" come May, so that'll be a good time to fire up Subsistance for another go 'round.

For curiosity's sake, how near the end are we talking? I thought I was near the end for a while my first time through, but then there was something like another 2 or 3 hours waiting for me afterwards. Endgame is looooong in that one, and manages to never feel drawn out.

Okami is good, but don't let the hype get to you. It's beautiful and using the brush is fun and all, but the puzzles are pretty simple and the fighting leaves a lot to be desired. Still a solid game, and by all means play it, but don't expect too much. Also, couldn't Clover have looked at the near universal hatred of Navi and thought "Hey, maybe we shouldn't put something just like this in our game?" Instead we get a little green dude riding around with us going "Hey, Ammy! Remeber what that guy said two minutes ago? Here it is again!" Bastard.

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Also, brace yourself for the unnecessarily long introduction. It was like thirty minutes into the game at work during lunch and they hadn't even used the brush yet.

M...a...y...b...e i...f t...h...e...y d...i...d...n...'...t d...o t...h...e s...t...a...r...t i...n u...n...s...k...i...p...p...b...a...b...b...l...e s...l...o...w t...e...x...t...

Also lent Ape Escape 3 to a friend. I explained that the the Evil Monkey's plan was to use a gigantic space station shaped like a hand to karate chop the planet in half and keep half for himself and the other half to his assistant. I think that did the trick.

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Tee, I honestly know nothing about Okami other than that a bunch of people think it's good. I try to avoid any and all hype so I'm not sure at all why it's liked so much.

And yeah Miffy, Splinter Cell was all right but I really couldn't enjoy it for long. It's the awesome cutscene breaks from the sweat-inducing stealth gameplay and such that make MGS so special, and when you've got cutscenes that good they become a major motivating factor in getting through the game. It doesn't hurt that the game itself is awesome in every way too.

As for the ending:

Volgin just got arseholed by a giant thunderbolt and I've just started being chased out of that area by those jet platform guys and motorbikes, presumably off to the lake for The Boss. I turned it off at this point as it was 5:30am. D:

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I was really looking forward to God Hand for a while, and I think it's gone budget priced recently. Another of those "As soon as I have some time to play games rather than check forums between chapters in my textbook" games. If I can still find a copy in a few months, anyway. Seems like it may not stick around long. Maybe I should pick it up and have it taunting me from my shelf until I get to play.

Thrik: Ah yeah, ok. You are at the end then.

Back when I got to the first fight with Shagohod, I figured I was nearly done. Not so much. Although you will be taking a more indirect route to The Boss than you'd expect, so you've got some game left.

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Hee, it really is an amazing ending sequence though. I mean, Twin Snakes (sorry, MGS1) had its fairly good ending chase, but this just took the piss. The sheer amount of ground you cover and the destruction left by the Shagohod was brilliant, and combined with the interspersed cutscenes during the chase and the pounding music it was just fantastic all the way up to the end of Volgin (though I'm sure it'll continue being great).

But yeah, the whole game has really been something else thus far. It's felt a lot more realistic than MGS1 and MGS2, although I guess that's because they had a lot more advanced technology and such. Still, they remain awesome and the whole series now tidily sits towards the top of my 'Best Ever' list. Hopefully MGS4 will hit another high.

Incidentally, I only saw the

the other night despite having seen the other two and thinking I'd seen it all. The trailer pretty much shows nothing but gameplay, albeit not from the player perspective. Although some of the animations and such look a bit incomplete, it's shaping up really nicely; I don't think I'll dislike playing as veteran Snake at all. And WTF, a young Snake is at the end of the trailer?

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Okami is good .... the fighting leaves a lot to be desired.

Personally I think the fighting is well done, it's one of those systems where you get out what you put in. So that everyone could progress, they didn't make it mandatory to use all the tricks to defeat your enemies (except if you try to get all the stray beads), but the combat is way more fun (and much quicker) if you use everything you can and go for floral finishers for all the enemies.

I never really payed any attention to Issun much throughout the game, but I can see him being annoying. (I also ignored navi in zelda, heh)

Aussie Ben, I agree 100% about the intro, the mumbling speech throughout the game is irritating also, I don't know why anyone ever thinks that's a good idea.

P.S. I can't help but read this thread title in a zombie voice, as though one is compelled to play PS2 games.

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...the mumbling speech throughout the game is irritating also, I don't know why anyone ever thinks that's a good idea.

Totally agree. In 2007, when playing a new game, I shouldn't have to have my roommate ask me from the next room "Are you playing Banjo Kazooie?" It's like they ripped the speech files from Bottles and threw them into a new game.

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Incidentally Miffy, I only realised when towards the end of the game (approaching the hanger for some C3ing) that you could do that "grab the enemy's head and drop him to the ground, knocking him out instantaneously" thing. Was this a new addition for MGS3 or was it in the others too? Because it's a fucking great move, and they managed to make it look incredibly fluid considering it can kick in while the enemy's going any animation (I got Volgin in the middle of a head-height kick -- Snake grabbed his leg and everything before dropping him).

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Action-Adventure:

God of War/ God of War 2

Metal Gear Solid series (Metal Gear Solid 1-3)

Okami

Devil May Cry series (1 and 3. Forget 2)

Shadow of the Colossus

ICO

Killer 7 and Resident Evil 4 (if you don't have a cube)

Bully

Platformers:

All 3 Sly games

Kya: Dark Lineage (A brilliant game but highly overlooked)

Viewtiful Joe 1,2

Jak and Daxter

Ratchet and Clank (1-3. Don't bother with 4)

J-RPG's:

Final Fantasy XII (haven't played it but got some rave reviews)

Dragon Quest 8

Rogue Galaxy

Fighting:

Tekken 5

Virtua Fighter 4

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You can grab the enemy's head? Crap, that would have been useful. I never knew that was an option. When I played 3, it was after a marathon session of Twin Snakes, MGS:2 Substance, and then Subsistence, so I guess I was locked into the play style from the previous games and never bothered to try. As such, I'd say it was probably a new addition.

With regard to the big list just posted, I was thinking of saying Devil May Cry myself earlier, as I quite enjoy the games. (Yes, even 2. It's short and kinda rushed, but it's still good while it lasts) From what I've heard though, not a lot of people think the pre-DMC3 ones have aged all that well. I don't really get that, as I didn't play DMC1 until last year myself and found it quite good, but the general concensus does not seem to be in line with my findings on the series. I'll admit the jumping puzzles can be unbelievably frustrating, but the game is still, overall, very fun. Now that the 3 pack is priced reasonably, it may be worth a look. Think about it.

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Yeah, I saw it in some video and I was well pissed off because not only is it an unbelievably useful move (as long as nobody's watching), but it looks about as cool as it gets -- especially if you grab the enemy while he's doing something other than just standing still (like the middle-of-kick scenario I mentioned). Perfect when showing the game to someone!

Check this out and skip to 1:30 for an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xds_XVhg0e0

I don't know if they used some kind of procedural animation or what, but he seems to grab them perfectly and realistically no matter what, sometimes using two hands if necessary. Bloody MGS.

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Don't buy bully. It's atmospheric, but eventually it shines through that the game isn't actually offering anything whatsoever of gameplay worth.

Lots of tat strung together by a strong setting does not a good game make.

As for PS2 favourites: Project Zero series, Jak series, Rez, SOTC, Ico, God of War, Singstar series, Frequency/Amplitude, Guitar Hero series, Prince of Persia series, many of the Tony Hawk games, Fahrenheit, Metal Gear Solid, WRC 4, etcetera. There are so many good games on that machine it's not even funny anymore.

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Platformers:

All 3 Sly games

Kya: Dark Lineage (A brilliant game but highly overlooked)

Viewtiful Joe 1,2

Jak and Daxter

Ratchet and Clank (1-3. Don't bother with 4)

You forgot Klonoa 2, probably the most underappreciated platformer of the generation.

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Yeah, I just got out MGS2 seeing as I had to know whether or not that move existed and the CQC is a lot more basic in comparison. There's basically no dedicated CQC button (circle in MGS3) as grabs are done with square, and when he grabs them in MGS2 he literally just puts his arms around their neck rather than the elaborate animations in MGS3.

I reckon it'll be weird to shift to a less controllable camera and everything when I replay Twin Snakes and MGS2 soonish, and Snake seems a lot lighter in MGS2 (but as a trade-off guards don't seem to notice you running behind them); they really got the CQC and stuff down in MGS3. I hope it evolves similarly gracefully into MGS4. :tup:

I love this series. ¬

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Yeah. I've got a plane trip on Friday and I think now I may have to grab Portable Ops to give a spin on the 5-ish hour flight. It's not like I'll be taking my homework on the plane. It's reading week dammit, I'm taking a bit of a vacation. Metal Gear here I come.

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I'll post this here since we don't have a PS3 thread that's active anymore.

So there's this deal that Game will doing up until the PS3 launch where you trade in your PS2 with 10 games (most seem to do) and get a 4000 SEK discount on the PS3 - that's over 570 USD. I'm honestly very tempted.

A console that's covered by backwards compatibility and 10 games I'll never play again along with a moderate amount of cash for a next-gen console is a pretty decent deal. I'm not sure I need another console though. I'll be debating this in my head over the coming weeks, and probably go insane in the process.

I'm not sure what I want to accomplish by posting this, but please, do reply with your opinions and similar deals so that I may become further enticed.

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