Must-play PlayStation 2 games

[Roderick]

That's actually an amazing deal and well worth considering. If you own 10 moderately expendable games, that is.

[Oath]

I only want to keep Shadow of the Colossus and We Love Katamari for the PS2 so the 10 titles won't be a problem. I'm not really clear on what games they'll accept though, as some people say only games released in the past year, some say in two years and some say pretty much anything is ok. I'll definitely swing by during next week and see what they'll take. Maybe I can bait them with some 360 titles.

[miffy495]

I'd go for it if it weren't for three facts.

1. No Guitar Hero hookup available on PS3 (although this is soon to be moot with the 360 one's release)

2. The PS3 is already out in my region, so I can't take advantage of this.

3. I've always been abnormally careful about how much I research games before buying them, and as such can't think of 10 I'd never want to replay. 3 or 4 maybe, but 10? Not happening.

If none of those are a problem for you, I'd go for it. Sony even claims that they've fixed the whole "PS2 games look like crap on PS3" problem that people were complaining about last month, so that should be ok. Good luck to you.

[kunzie]

These have probably already been covered, but what the hell:

- God of War (and GoW2 soon)

- Ico

- Shadow of the Colossus

- Rez

- Frequency, Amplitude

- Guitar Hero I & II

- Final Fantasy X, XII (Soon)

- VF4

- MGS3

- Canus Canum Edit (Bully)

- Okami

- Front Mission 4 (I hope people agree with me on this import only title)

[Thrik]

In completely unrelated news to everything discussed previously in this thread, I completely finished MGS3 today. Goooood God what a game. I spent my whole train journey to work this morning thinking about the many facets of awesomeness to the game.

I think I can honestly say it's my favourite in the series. Although MGS1 and MGS2 were great, their storylines and characters seem kind of small in the grand scheme of things in comparison to MGS3. MGS3 on the other hand goes all into the foundations of the Metal Gears, the Patriots, Snake himself, and pretty much everything that matters later in the time line. The gameplay is just spot on too.

MGS4 will have to be an absolute corker to outdo it.

[Wrestlevania]

I really don't want to admit to wanting a PlayStation 2... and you're really not helping.

Or you, Mr. Bishop.

[eljay]

Happy to ... er not help!

Seriously, you should have no problem finding a cheap PS2 and getting the gems second hand, and you should have no shame in admitting to want to play some of the best games there are!

[Thrik]

Yeah, why not admit to it? The PS2 is a fantastic console and I've now discovered that it pretty much has the best games of the last generation apart from several GameCubeisms. I recommend picking up a miniature PS2 like I did and grabbing some cheap or second hand games.

The PS3 is on the other hand a long way from proving itself. Of course if MGS4 is exclusive I'll inevitably end up getting one anyway.

[miffy495]

Yeah, I'm ashamed to admit I'm the same way. Really, all the PS3 has going for it right now is Kojima and Devil May Cry 4. 'Course, I waited 4 years to play MGS2 before I got my PS2, so maybe I can wait a while to play MGS4. The question is: how long is a while? (And how long until used PS3s are cheap enough that I can justify it?)

Note: My PS3 will be used. I'm still pissed off about LikSang and I'm not going to buy one new. My money will not go directly to Sony, although I've accepted that it'll probably end up there eventually anyway.

[Wrestlevania]

I'm intending to pick one up once PS3 hits store shelves in reliable quantities, and people start ditching their PS2s en masse. Probably sometime early next year I expect (and I'm being serious here -- this isn't another low-blow at Sony).

[lobotomy42]

Also, this title will probably not get mentioned a lot, but it's one of my favs: Tales of the Abyss

It's a fairly traditional jRPG with two very cool features: cooperative multiplayer (for the significant other) and a fast-paced action battle system. The battles play out like a convoluted fighting game, with up to four human players playing your various party members (computer AI plays the rest). It's pretty fun as a mindless time waster. The plot is nothing to write home about (or even UNDERSTAND at times), but that battle system makes up for many other faults.

Most of this praise also applies to other "Tales of" games, but Abyss is the most recent release on the PS2.

[Oath]

Another post in the on-going "make the forums my diary"-series.

I actually went in and took that PS3 deal today. A few good games had to go, MGS3 for example, but I think it was worth it. The guy forgot to charge the 300 SEK pre-order payment, so that almost makes up for my sacrifices (like having to wait a month to be able to play Final Fantasy XII after it's release).

I feel really ambiguously towards the purchase though. On one hand I'll be getting a PS3 very cheaply, and with that comes a Blu-Ray player, but on the other hand I don't really feel I need one. The one game I'm very interested in 2007 is Motorstorm and that's not worth the cost of the machine no matter how you try to bend it. Right now I feel like I'm Sony's bitch.

[DanJW]

You are Sony's bitch.

[Wrestlevania]

Hold the bloody phones!

Tesco (UK) have just announced that they've slashed eviscerated the price of the PlayStation 2 to a whiffling £49.99!

Update: It is in fact Asda who will be cutting the price of PS2 consoles to £49.99 (approx. US$80 once you've stripped off the VAT), beginning tomorrow (Thursday 22nd February).

No word on whether this will be a permanent price change or not, but I suspect it will be -- they've been pedaling many AAA PS2 titles for little over £20 for many months now, often chopping prices in half just a couple of weeks after release.

Must... resist..!

[eljay]

Explain again why you must resist?

It's just absurd to NOT buy it at that price.

You sir are absurd.

[Kolzig]

A price drop like that should happen in Finland too damn it! But nooo, we sell PS2's with over 100 euro price tags...

[BooJaka]

Wow. A £50 PS2... sounds very tempting. Maybe if I had a need for another DVD player and I had enough time and money to play the Final Fantasy games on it then I'd go for it. It might even be worth something as a trade-in for those wanting PS3s too...

[DanJW]

OK, so based on the earlier posts in this thread I finally decided toplay Metal Gear Solid 3, which I borrowed from someone some time ago and has been sitting on my shelf since then.

So I played it. Then I played it some more. SO basically I've been playing it non-stop for over a week, with very little sleep, and finished it tonight. HOT DAMN you were right, an amazing game. It wasn't subsistance unfortunately, but I got used to the classic-PS2 retardo-cam after a short while.

It's the first MGS game I've played, and it was actually the jungle setting which made me want to play this one. The previous games have looked pretty drab to me. I think I'd miss the survival and camoflage elements as well, they are such an integral part of the game. Oh and the boss battles were indeed geneerally awsome, especially the sniper battle with The End - that was so tense and naturalistic I played it three times before moving on.

Although I've been put off the series by the tales long cutscenes, I ended up loving those too. The radio conversations made me laugh out loud, and the references to the (future) events in MGS 1 and 2 made me grin even though I haven't played them (except the Big Boss thing, which made me a bit sad).

Basically I loved every little bit of the game (whith the possible exception of Volgin, who was a hammy and clichéd bad guy who macho-d about the place in a fairly uninteresting way).

I even managed to get some of the unlockables, like the moss and snake camo. Must. Get. More.

Holy crap I could talk about this game all fucking night. I'm going to start the hard playthrough now instead of ranting any more.

Snake? Snake! Snaaaaaake!!!

[miffy495]

Perfect. Another convert. The older (drab) games are really worth a playthrough. Especially as you're now used to the "retardo-cam" and wouldn't be too put off by it. The setting may be less colourful, but the story and boss fights are there (though not *quite* up to 3's boss fight awesomeness) and very well done. Give 'em a shot sometime.

[Thrik]

Awesome, glad you liked it.

A while on from finishing the game, my head is still packed with nothing but good memories and I can't wait until I get around to replaying it with the added knowledge of things I learnt throughout the first time (which went on right up until the end, pretty much).

The boss fights remain really awesome to think about -- quite possibly amongst the most memorable in any game ever, although the previous two MGS games had brilliant ones too. I did find them a bit frustrating as it's quite difficult getting a strategy for each one down, but all my mind really remembers is the awesomeness of the atmosphere, presentation, voice acting, music, writing and general feel.

I'm definitely going to replay the first two before replaying MGS3 and then eventually MGS4 though. Haven't done so in ages!

Dan, if you really liked MGS3 then you'll probably still enjoy MGS1 and MGS2 almost as much. Even though the gameplay is slightly devolved (although it'd look exactly the same to a casual observer), they still have the superb presentation and atmosphere that MGS3 is packed with. They have a different tone and feel, but that 'MGS touch' that makes people love the series so much is always on top form.

Just make sure you get the GameCube remake of MGS1 (Twin Snakes) rather than the original PS1 version. Some dick purists slate it, but it's really just exactly the same game but with more gameplay mechanics introduced (taken from MGS2), much better graphics, and a redone soundtrack. Only somebody who played the original and is loyal to it being completely perfect and not in need of adjustment would seriously criticise it, somewhat akin to how many people'd react to a remake of Monkey Island 1 with excellent, stylised graphics but otherwise the same game.

[oerhört]

... but Monkey Island I already had excellent, stylised graphics!

I prefer to play the original version of MGS1 myself, by the way. Haven't played Twin Snakes, and I wholeheartedly believe it's superior, but since I didn't play MGS when it first came out, I feel it's important to play the original version, in order to know exactly what it was like back then. Historically interested, me, y'see.

[Thrik]

Erm sorry, I actually meant to include 3D in that statement; my general line of thought was basically "not like EMI's 3D".

As for Twin Snakes, I personally think a new player would be far better off playing it than MGS1 as the more exciting cutscenes, re-done soundtrack and reasonably modern graphics make the game so much more enjoyable and also comparable to a game released today.

It's basically what MGS1 would have been had it been developed for 2003 rather than 1998 or whatever; all the charm, storyline, game world, and even the script is 100% intact so you'll be getting the full MGS1 experience except with it being more contemporary.

Of course I've no issue with actually playing MGS1 as it was indeed an awesome game and like most I was a huge fan of it when it came out, but for a new player I'd definitely recommend Twin Snakes simply because they won't be offended by the pixellated graphics and not-quite-as-elaborate cutscenes (which take up loads of time regardless).

BTW Dan or anyone else who's bothered, here's a good YouTube video that shows the first area of Twin Snakes; unlike the official trailer it doesn't just focus on the cut-scene action sequences and actually shows the codec and atmosphere stuff which is what really makes an MGS game, and might sway you one of two ways regarding the decision of trying it out as it pretty much conveys the tone of the whole game (though there is hardcore action ahead, don't get me wrong)

I'm really in the mood for some Twin Snakes but my dickhead friend still has it borrowed. Clearly a drive-by shooting and pick-up will be needed this week. You can probably get it pre-owned for £5 or £10 like I did from GameStation by the way.

[miffy495]

I'm really in the mood for some Twin Snakes but my dickhead friend still has it borrowed. Clearly a drive-by shooting and pick-up will be needed this week. You can probably get it pre-owned for £5 or £10 like I did from GameStation by the way.

I'm in the same situation right now. I usually go for a kneecap busting before going all-out with the driveby though. You catch more flies with a cricket bat than you do with submachine guns.