Top Twenty Playstation 2 Games

Sony continued their domination of console gaming into the next generation, and managed to hold their ground against the heavy competition of Microsoft's shiny new Xbox.  It may not have jumped on the online play bandwagon nearly as well as its competitor, but what it lacked in online features it certainly made up for in having a huge third-party backing, resulting in a massive library of great original IPs and high-quality ports.  With all that, it's little wonder that the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling game console of all time to this day.  So that said, let's dive right in and look at my picks for the best on the system.

HM. Activision Anthology (Barking Lizards/Contraband Entertainment/Activision, 2002)

Some may consider it cheating to put a compilation on the list, but Activision Anthology gets points for being quite possibly the best of its kind.  Not only is there a huge library of Activision titles available to play (some of the greatest the Atari 2600 had to offer, as well as a couple that were previously unreleased), but there are also fun bonuses like unlockable patches for getting certain scores, interviews, old commercials and tons of box art and manual scans to get you fully immersed in the era.  Hell, they even have some pretty great 1980s tunes on an in-game radio for you to enjoy while you play.  Activision Anthology not only collects these old classics, but truly brings you back to the era to complete the experience.

20. Frequency (Harmonix, 2001)

Before there was Guitar Hero and Rock Band and Karaoke Revolution and Dance Central, Harmonix made a game called Frequency, and it was quite a lot of fun.  The core idea is still there - time your button presses to play the song - but the gameplay is more fast-paced and arcadey, having you jump between various instrumental tracks to tap out patterns; once you hit enough notes in a row that part will start playing automatically until you hit the next gate and you can jump to another track to earn more points.  Along the way you can also earn Autocatchers (which automatically clear a track) or Multipliers (give more points for clearing a track), and once you've cleared all of them on a segment the Freestyle tracks unlock, letting you press any buttons you like to earn bonus points.  A fun experience with a pretty fantastic techno soundtrack.

19. Gungrave / Gungrave Overdose (Red Entertainment, 2002 / Ikusabune, 2004)

While nobody would really claim Gungrave is a deep experience - you just play as a reanimated undead gunslinger and blow away everything in your path with a constant stream of lead and rockets - it is undeniably a very fun and cathartic experience.  The original game also drew criticism for its extremely short length (you can complete the whole thing in about 2-3 hours), so the second game was released as a budget title to make up for it.  It also adds in two new playable characters in blind samurai Juji Kabane and the awesomely-named Rocketbilly Redcadillac, who wields a guitar that shoots streams of electricity.  The very definition of simple, visceral entertainment, the Gungrave games are a hoot.

18. Phantom Brave (Nippon Ichi Software, 2004)

Disgaea was a low-key hit for the PS2 that later developed into a sprawling franchise with numerous spinoffs and remakes.  One of the more prevalent ones was Phantom Brave - a more experimental game than Disgaea in many ways.  Character movement wasn't bound to a grid and you had only a single (fairly weak) character under your permanent command, with the rest being phantoms who had to be summoned by confining them to objects already on the field with their stats changing approriately; binding them to a rock would give them higher defense but lower speed, for example.  Virtually any object could be wielded as a weapon, from trees to bushes to swords to mine carts and even other characters, and while the resurrection mechanic from Disgaea was still here, it took a backseat to fusion - combining two characters and/or items together to meld their skills and stats together.  Even the story was a departure, going from Disgaea's largely light-hearted silliness to a sadder story about an outcast girl barely making a living as a mercenary.  Nippon Ichi's charming world and art keeps it from becoming too depressing, though, and the incredibly deep gameplay makes it one I still come back to on occasion today.

17. Suikoden V (Konami, 2006)

Suikoden III was lauded for its storytelling but criticized for its drastically changed (and somewhat clunky) gameplay, while Suikoden IV attempted to go back to basics but had a mediocre plotline overall.  V was, to many, a return to form, telling the story of a country embroiled in a civil war, with its prince-in-exile trying to restore his family's rightful rule.  It's easily my favorite of the PS2 Suikodens with its brilliant characters, strong narrative and gameplay that feels like the original PS1 titles, yet expertly blends in elements of the newer games without becoming overwhelming.  It's not without its faults - some just-passable visuals and music and an annoying encounter rate being the biggest ones - but it's a fine entry to the franchise.  Shame it was also the last proper Suikoden game...

16. The Xenosaga trilogy (Monolith Soft, 2003, 2005, 2006)

Monolith Soft definitely made a splash on the PS2.  Headed by Tetsuya Takahashi (of Xenogears fame) after his departure from Square, he set out once more to create an epic science-fiction serial drama in video game form.  In that regard he was successful, as the game bears a well-crafted storyline with some very layered and interesting characters.  On the other hand, that led to some very long droughts in gameplay where the player is watching cutscenes and dialog for 30+ minutes at a stretch (though they are slightly better about this in the sequels).  Still, those who could tolerate its pace and linearity found a very strong space opera worthy of hanging with the best of them.  Unfortunately, friction with publisher Namco led to a significant portion of the development team being reassigned or released as the series went on, cutting the story's projection as a six-part project to only three.  As a result, the third game's story ends up feeling rather abruptly wrapped up in its final chapters and it ends with a cliffhanger that may never be resolved.  Still, fans of good sci-fi epics should definitely give Xenosaga a whirl - it's great stuff.

15. Hokuto no Ken: Shinpan no Sososei Kengo Retsuden (Arc System Works, 2007 in Japan)

Okay so it's not the deepest or best-made fighter ever, but you know what?  It's a good Fist of the North Star game; you can't put a price on that.  Especially when you consider the mountains of barely-playable garbage tied to the license in the gaming sphere.  Arc's trademark smooth animation and colorful visuals are on full display, and the gameplay features mechanics like wall bounces, quick dashes and heavy blows that can break guard and caust instant knockdown.  By depleting an opponent's meter and activating the "Star of Death" you can then unleash a Fatal KO for an instant kill, which is always quite fun to watch.  The playable cast is a bit small at only ten characters, but regardless, this is the Hokuto no Ken experience I've awaited for years.

14. God Hand (Clover Studio, 2006)

Most Playstation 2 fans have strong memories for a little studio called Clover, founded in 2004 from Capcom alumni.  They first worked on the Viewtiful Joe franchise before branching out into original IPs that met with great acclaim, including the highly beloved Zelda clone Okami.  Unfortunately many of their games, though well received, met with low sales, and their last title before being dissolved was God Hand.  Fortunately, it still ended up being a very strong sendoff.  A beat-em-up largely based around an irreverent sense of humor and some physics that can best be described as "cartoonish", God Hand proved to be not only a hilarious experience, but one of the most challenging games for the system.  Enemies were brutal and relentless, bosses were downright fierce and you were given extremely limited resources to work with, ensuring that even when you got the hang of the game's controls and mechanics you were barely hanging on.  Still, those who loved a challenge found a lot to like here, and it provided enough laughs in between all the frustration to keep players engaged.  Clover's story also had a silver lining, as many of its members later joined PlatinumGames and continued producing top-tier action titles like Bayonetta, Vanquish and The Wonderful 101.

13. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Konami, 2006)

The third game in the series was definitely a mix-up - rather than following up on 2's big cliffhanger, they instead opted for a prequel, following Big Boss (then known as "Naked Snake") in his early days as an operative during the Cold War.  The gameplay took a more realistic bent too, having you swap different types of camouflage to blend in with your environments, and having you manage your stamina by scavenging food and have to treat serious injuries via an in-game menu.  Quite a bit more menu management than the earlier Metal Gears for sure, but as ever, the complex plot that meshes video-gamey elements with war drama made it a compelling experience.

12. Kingdom Hearts (Square, 2002)

It sounds like a pretty ridiculous concept on paper - an action RPG that blends Disney characters and worlds with the complex storytelling of Final Fantasy - but it actually turned out to be a great combination.  The original Kingdom Hearts remains a personal favorite, with a simplistic but effective storyline, some well-acted (and often funny) character dialog and a slight Metroid vibe with new abilities enabling you to reach new areas in previous worlds and unlock new stuff.  Not to mention plenty of sidequests to complete and difficult optional bosses to vanquish.  The sequels got more and more Square-focused and also a lot more linear and actiony (for both good and ill), but there will always be a lot to like in the first game too.

11. Shadow Hearts: Covenant (Nautilus, 2004)

You know well by now that I'm a big fan of RPGs, and I do go out of my way to play as many as I can, even from less well-known companies.  Shadow Hearts Covenant is the second game in the series (third if you count Koudelka) from the short-lived studio Nautilus, and they created quite a distinct and memorable one.  Set in Europe just before the break of World War 1, the game is also peppered with a lot of fantasy elements interspersed with historical figures, and while overall rather outlandish (and not at all historically accurate), is nonetheless very charming and quite funny at times.  The gameplay is quite fresh too, with the overarching "Judgment Ring" governing hits and misses in battle as well as several minigames, as well as the ability to knock down or air-juggle enemies in battle for extra damage.  It also feels more than a bit like Final Fantasy 6 in some ways, giving each character unique skills to utilize and upgrade throughout numerous game-spanning sidequests.  There was some genuine talent behind the wheel at Nautilus; it's just a shame they closed up shop around the time the PS2 was being phased out.

10. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (Capcom, 2003)

Another underdog in the RPG genre, which is just a bit shocking as it's built on a franchise that saw several highly acclaimed entries on the PS1 and Super Nintendo.  Dragon Quarter is an unconventional game in many ways, combining elements of strategy games, JRPGs and even a touch of survival horror with its limited resources and emphasis on replaying the game to unlock new content.  In fact, replaying the game a few times is required in order to see the end, as you likely just won't have enough experience or time to make it through the many difficult bosses on your first visit; thankfully, the game is built for just this, letting you restart at any time while retaining your equipment, items and unspent experience points.  Unconventional in many ways but surprisingly fun and challenging once you know how it operates, Dragon Quarter is another game that got a bum rap it didn't deserve.

9. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (Konami, 2003)

The somewhat controversial followup to the acclaimed PS1 classic Metal Gear Solid, MGS2 featured numerous gameplay improvements; first person aiming, tighter controls, a more innovative inventory system and intra-model targeting chief among them.  However, it also marked the introduction of Raiden, a none-too-popular replacement for Solid Snake throughout much of the game.  Still, if you could look past that, the game had a lot more of the same fun as the original - intense boss fights, well-written dialog and a mystery-laden narrative that manages to keep you guessing right up until the closing credits.

8. Samurai Shodown VI (SNK Playmore/Yuki Enterprise, 2006 in Japan)

Samurai Shodown (aka Samurai Spirits) is one of SNK's long-running fighting game franchises, known for being a more slow-paced fighter with a focus on well-placed strikes and counters instead of flashy combos and juggles.  Samurai Showdown VI is the Capcom vs SNK 2 of the series, reuniting many long-absent cast members with several new characters to bring the total playable cast to 52.  Add to that six different gameplay variants for each character and you have a staggeringly huge game with a ton of variety.  I also have to give props to one character in particular; Ocha-Maro is a sentient, fighting karakuri puppet, which is so wild a concept (and so well implemented and animated) I have no choice but to love it.  The game never got a standalone release in North America, though it was released as part of the Samurai Shodown Anthology collection in 2009.

 

7. Gitaroo Man (Koei/iNiS, 2002)

The Playstation may have been the home of many a music-driven game, not the least of which were the origins of the long-running Guitar Hero franchise and its offshoot Rock Band.  To me, however, the undisputed king of the genre on the Playstation 2 was an innocuous little game released in its earliest days: Gitaroo Man.  A game which combined an amazing original soundtrack with a constant barrage of crazy visuals and a storyline that manages to be enjoyably absurd, hilarious and heartfelt all at the same time.  All presented in fluid 60 FPS animation, to boot.  Gitaroo Man was a really good animated musical comedy in video game form.

6. Grandia III (Game Arts, 2006)

After a somewhat disappointing verge into dungeon-crawler territory with Grandia Xtreme, the franchise got back on track with Grandia III.  Well, maybe not entirely, as it now sported a slightly more realistic 3D visual style, some uneven difficulty at times and a cringeworthy pop song intro that doesn't mesh with the feel of the rest of the series at all.  Still, despite those hiccups, this was a quality Grandia game through and through.  With strong characters, a story that manages to be both whimsical and dark and probably the best combat system seen in any RPG franchise, Grandia III was every bit as fun as its predecessors.  Maybe even moreso since there was a very fun new mechanic in the form of "air juggles" that gave bigger rewards for managing to launch your enemy as high into the air during a combo as possible.

5. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (Atlus, 2004)

Before the PS2 era Atlus was largely known for publishing a lot of niche RPGs, but their work on the Shin Megami Tensei series would be largely unknown until the Playstation 2 era came around and the Persona games launched them to the forefront of the genre's consciousness.  Before that, though, we had Nocturne, a game that encompassed a lot of what the series had begun as while adding some new twists of its own.  Ultra-difficult dungeons, the ability to recruit randomly-encountered monsters into your party, freedom of choice that led to six possible endings and a unique "press turn" system that made elemental weaknesses a large liability for both you and opponents were the highlights of its gameplay.  Its story didn't disappoint either, with a heavy dreamlike atmosphere and a twisted setting that had numerous factions vying for who would ultimately be the creator of the new world.  Dark, haunting, difficult and strangely appealing, Nocturne is a standout RPG.

4. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Level-5, 2005)

Dragon Quest wasn't an especially popular series in the west for a long while; it survived as a niche series in the NES era, but then missed two entire console generations (well, other than a late and little-advertised port of VII on PS1, but that game... wasn't very good), so when VIII was announced for a western release on the Playstation 2, nobody quite knew what to think.  However, under Level-5's banner the series stepped into a new generation in style, with colorful cel-shaded graphics, expressive character animations in cutscenes and combat alike, and even full voiceover; a very stark contrast to earlier games, which featured the bare minimum for animations and sound design.  The gameplay itself remains faithful to series tradition - turn-based battles and random encounters are still the order of the day - but having a customizable skill set for each of your characters, as well as a new mechanic in "Tension" (basically, storing up strength for one or more turns and then using it to buff up one of your moves) added a new layer of strategy.

3. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition (Capcom, 2006)

The original Devil May Cry was a runaway hit in the early days of the Playstation 2, sporting a unique blend of intense beat-em-up action and puzzle solving with a high level of challenge and some boss battles that were amazing in scale.  After a rather poorly botched sequel in DMC2, Capcom put the series back on track with 3, which not only sported tighter controls and camera angles, but a much greater variety of gameplay as there were now four distinct gameplay styles to choose from, each with their own unique advantages.  Swordmaster would grant the player additional moves with all melee weapons, for example, while Trickster made the player more agile and better able to avoid enemy attacks.  There were also a much wider variety of weapons and firearms to choose from, including an electric guitar that could summon swarms of bats and lightning bolts, a pair of swords that summoned fire and wind, and my personal favorite, a flail wielded like a nunchuck.  The Special Edition also added in Vergil as a playable character, lending even more variety to the gameplay, and alleviated some complaints about the original's difficulty by including mid-stage checkpoints and changing the difficulty levels to be more akin to the Japanese release's.  While far from the strongest game in terms of storytelling, Devil May Cry 3 provided a strong blend of strategy, style and action, and while its style has been often imitated, there's nothing else quite like it out there.

2. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Atlus, 2008)

While not a direct story continuation of Persona 3, Persona 4 kept the gameplay style intact while introducing many improvements.  Most notably that there is now a much greater emphasis on your characters and the bonds you form with them; raising social links now benefits them as well, enabling them to power up their Personas and learn new moves in the process.  There are also numerous other sidequests, challenges and character storylines to experience, as well as some of the most well-written, funny, touching, sad and suspenseful writing put into any game I've ever played, period.  Persona 4 is a great game, an absolute classic RPG and a perfect sending-off for the old Playstation 2.  A definite must-play for anyone who dares call themselves a fan of the genre.

1. Dark Cloud 2 (Level-5, 2003)

One of the first RPG released on the Playstation 2 was Dark Cloud, a game touted as a "Zelda Killer" by Sony despite the fact that the two really played nothing alike (and Dark Cloud lacked much of the polish of the game it set out to "kill").  Dark Cloud 2, however, was a significant overhaul to the gameplay, streamlining it in some respects (from six playable characters to 2, though each now wielded two weapons as well as a special ability), giving it more polish, and just a sheer amount of content with things like challenge medals, minigames, high quality voiceover and a much more colorful, cel-shaded palette on the whole.  A long, but satisfying adventure with a constant sense of fun and wonder throughout.

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