Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven was the shit growing up. I didn’t have a PS2 myself but would regularly be over at a friend’s house to play. I remember taking turns in the campaign and unlocking the secret level/secret character. Even as years went by and his PS2 got replaced by a PS3 we kept coming back to Tenchu, playing late night multiplayer sessions or doing co-op and trying to set up the various two-player combo stealth kills. Such good times.
- Fatal Frame (1-3)
- Katamari Damacy
- Okami
- Devil May Cry
- Kuon
- Kingdom Hearts
- Silent Hill 2-4
- The Suffering
- Rule of the Rose
- Haunting Ground
Currently playing through Grand Turismo 3 A-Spec again (working through the rally stages, my favorite) and occasionally swapping out for GTA San Andreas. Love the PS2
Some of my favourite slow-burn adventures that no one’s mentioned yet:
- Project Zero/Fatal Frame (1, 2, and 3)
- Shadow of Memories/Shadow of Destiny
- Echo Night: Beyond
- Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 1 and 2 (a.k.a. S.O.S. The Final Escape/Disaster Report, and Raw Danger)
- Killer7
And some action-adventure-RPGs that have a place in my heart but aren’t generally considered to be anything special:
- EverGrace (there’s also a sequel which I haven’t played yet)
- Eternal Ring
Lost many hours of my life to Gran Turismo 3 and 4!
Just for some of the quality of life features included, Sonic Mega Collection Plus. The gamecube version may have been my first foray into classic Sonic, but eh PS2 is in my opinion the better version if you’re a more casual player like me because savestates.
Also, I need to get onto actually playing them, but I recently got all 3 of the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games on PS2. I played enough on Dolphin that I knew I had to pick it up on PS2 (since I don’t have a gamecube). From the couple levels I played in the first game, definitely a fun game and one I personally have enjoyed.
Also, big shout-out to the only Star Wars Battlefront games I acknowledge existing.
Metal gear Solid 3, Kingdom hearts 2 and Ape Escape 3
Hitman 2! First game I 100%’d the trophy’s
Sly Cooper Jak and Dexter Ratchet and Clank Suikoden III and IV God of War Tony Hawk
I remember renting God of War and my little brother wanting to watch me play. Then scrambling to turn the TV off as the opening cut scene played. Had to explain to my parents why he couldn’t watch me play.
Twisted metal
Metal gear
Toiny hawk
Resident evil
State of emergency rocked
I really loved the “Anchor Man” DVD menu. Solid graphics, great playthrough, simple controls.
After setting up emulators for both the PS2 and PS1, I’m amazed at how little I actually turn on my xbox one S anymore.
Games from that generation just hit differently for me. Especially my favourites like Final Fantasy X and XII. It took me a while to get why I felt that way, but it’s the combat systems in modern games have become to frenetic and button-mashy. How am I supposed to strategize what my team mates are doing at the speed that the combat now wants to take place at.
And that’s not just with the Final Fantasy series. God of War both went down that “let’s make combat as fast and frenetic as possible” route after the PS2 generation.
I’m also going to give an honourable mention on PS2 to the last Stalwart alternative to the EA NHL series; that being NHL 2K10. I really enjoyed the things that it did differently to EA Sports, like the ability to set two of your team-mates to hassle an opposing player. I wish 2K had kept it up. But it seems they gave up the NHL and EA gave up the NBA. Fair trade I guess.
Persona 3 FES
My birthday today too, although I’m unfortunately not 25…
I didn’t have a PS2 (Dreamcast and Xbox in my household), but I do remember frequently staying at my cousin’s house and playing NFS, GTA, Simpsons hit and run, and SpongeBob battle for bikini bottom on his
