PS2 Newbie or "Pimp Your Favorite Game Here"

[Marik]

Alright.  I faced down the brutal choice of picking up a new video card for my aging PC and decided to just give up.  As many have noted, buying a video card to play the latest PC game is kinda wacky when for the same price you could pick up a whole console system and a decent handful of used games.

So I bought a PS2 on the general recomendation here and other places.  Cheap, quality, supported and a whole bloody ton of games.  Which brings me to my first problem.  What the *heck* do I pick up?

I've been working so far on the greatest hits line - picking up games I've heard are great at EBgames and whatnot for $10-$15 bucks a pop.  I've acquired FFX, FFVII, FFIX, FF Tactics, Beyond Good and Evil (Awsome) and Killzone (Halo without the smooth controls...).  It looks like I've got enough RPG gaming to last sometime into next year but I'd like to get something else...

I've heard the Devil May Cry series is entertaining, but is there any one that people would suggest?  I tried armored core a while back, but there appear to be roughly 5 versions out for the PS2 and I have no idea which are good.

So I guess what I'm asking is - what game do you own that you couldn't live without on your PS2?  I'm arriving so late in the game to the system that I'm absolutely swampted in cheap, great games.  What game do you own that has brought you the most entertainment?

[Dimmona]

God of War.  One of if not the best console game released this year...

[Devil]

R&C series!

[Qbe]

I'll second the Ratchet & Clank series and add the Spyro series.

You have plenty of Final Fantasy RPGs but if those aren't your cup of tea, you might consider others.  I like the Wild Arms series and the Suikoden series (despite the lukewarm reviews, I'm enjoying Suikoden IV).  Be sure to keep an eye out for Dragon Quest VIII later this year.

[Darren8r]

Syphon Filter series, if you pick up PS1 games, get the first 3, the 4th 1 for PS2 isnt so great.

Sports games.

Grand Theft Auto, there always fun.

[O.DOGG]

Yeah, I keep getting amazed by some of the old games that I can buy for cheap for the PS2. For example, recently I bought Def Jam: Fight for NY and Contra: Shattered Soldier, and I can't believe how good they both are. Def Jam: FFNY gets my recommendation easily. But as for the favorite games on the system... Here they are:

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Best PS2 game I've played. Awesome!
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Substance - Not as good as 3 but still an incredibly good game
If you like fighting games, the best is possibly Virtua Fighter 3: Evolution.
Another good one is Soul Calibur 2. Though my favorite (because I suck at VF3:Evo) is Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Also let me mention Def Jam: Fight for NY once again - highly recommended if you like wrestling games and/or hiphop music and style.
Another sneaking game I love is Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven - a ninja "simulator". A lot of fun.
If you are into mecha type anime, Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner is another great game (produced by the legendary Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame) I recently played and finished.
If you like racing games, then get either Gran Turismo 3 or 4. There are no better console racers available, as far as I know. Also there's Burnout 3, which is more like an action game on wheels rather than a racer, and it focuses more on crashes, but that makes it so much better. The next game in the series Burnout: Revenge is coming out soon as well and looks promising.

Umm what else...

If you like horror games, then Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is one of the best you can get. And Fatal Frame 3 is coming out in the US this winter.

Also, let me add my recommendation for God of War - very good, very beautiful, satisfyingly brutal action game.

And, welcome to the club. You've made the right choice :wink:

[Luke]

The first Devil May Cry is excellent.  Great controls, solid feel, satisfying melee and ranged combat, good graphics/sound/music, amusing B movie aesthetics.  It stands side by side with Ninja Gaiden as one of the best straight up action games of this generation.  Devil May Cry 2 is a wash, and the 3rd game is supposed to be great but really, really tough for at least the first 2 hours.  Go with the first, and give the third one a try if you've got l33t action game skills.

God of War is great, too.  It's got an awesome presentation and  great graphics, but I found its combat to be much looser and less precise than the combat in Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry, and, as a result, inferior.  Really a matter of taste, though.  Some people prefer the imprecise flexibility of God of War's combat system.

Ratchet and Clank 2 and 3 come highly recommended.  Both are among the best platformers released in the last 5 years.  3 adds a great online multiplayer component and continues the transition from platformer -> action game that was hinted at in the first game and will be fully realized by the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked.  2 and 3 are so great because of the quantity of available weapons, the quality of the shooting experience, and the addictive replay feature that allows you to go through the games multiple times with higher difficulty settings and continually upgrade your weapons.

I'd also check out Rez, Amplitude, and Frequency if you love music and abstract graphics.

[Charlatan]

Katamari Damacy, only $20, and guaranteed to be the freakiest game you'll play this year (until the sequel, which comes out next week that is). Think about a game where you play a teeny character named The Prince of All Cosmos, where you must roll a sticky ball like thing (the Katamari) around, collecting items, to make stars to replace the original stars, which your father, the King of All Cosmos, broke one day in a drunken stupor....

Flavor that with some great j-pop music and a color palette awash in primary colors. Shake and mix.....

 .... there's no way to successfully communicate how strange and wonderful this game is. For only $20, you can get THE sleeper hit of the year. Great game, very accessable to newbies, significant others, and people who aren't into shooting stuff all the time. You MUST buy this!

Website for the sequel: http://katamari.namco.com/


..... ROYAL RAINBOW

[Calvin]

Rachet and Clank Series
Final Fantasy X-Do not not not miss this if you like RPGs.

[Tustin1]

Final Fantasy X-Do not not not miss this if you like RPGs.

Well, since he said in his post he bought it, I don't think it will be missed.

Gran Turismo 4
Gitaroo Man (still looking for a copy)
Hot Shots Golf Series
Ballistic
Einhander

...there are way too many to mention - these are just a few I didn't see listed yet  :wink:

[TheMissingLink]

I'd also check out Rez, Amplitude, and Frequency if you love music and abstract graphics.

I agree with Luke.  The PS2 is the best console for music games.  I'd just grab Amplitude out of the bunch (Rez is rare [and I found it no fun at all] and Frequency is older and more primitive than Amplitude), but if you can find Gitaroo-Man, PICK IT UP IN A HEARTBEAT.  Gitaroo-Man and Kingdom Hearts are my two favorite PS2 games.  

God of War is a fantastic game.  It's in heavy contention for my GOTY.

Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution is one of the greatest fighting games ever made and is only $20.

You'll find that being an owner of a PS2 is a *very* rewarding experience and you'll practically never run out of good games to play coming this late into the system's life.  It can still pump out some jaw-dropping graphics.

[semiconscious]

ico!!!

[Ascendent]

I'd recommend RAD (Robot Alchemic Drive) and Culdcept.  Also Def Jam FFNY is easily one of my favorite ps2 games. The game is fun and once you get past the whole "bling" there's alot of fun to be had.

Ascendent

[adamsappel]

Many of my favorites have already been mentioned, but Downhill Domination is a very fun off-road bicycling game.

[whiteboyskim]

Never played the Xbox version but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is about as good a game as you'll ever play. Then for horror fans there is Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, Siren (which is just okay, but messed up beyond belief). God of War is phenomenally fun until near the end, when it takes a sharp right turn to Sucksville, population You. Just to warn you ahead of time.

[greeneggsnham]

I saw Rachet and Clank get some love in this thread, and I'll add to it 2 more (to complete the holy trinity): Sly Cooper and Jak and Daxter. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned Jak, but I know no one had said anything about Sly. All 3 of these series are awesome games, and if you like platformers any at all, you should give these a look. 8 games in all, and Sly 3 is in the works to make it 9. A -lot- of quality gaming here.

I've only played Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on the xbox, but if it's an equivalent experience on the ps2, it's a stellar game, with a great, great story, IMO. One of the best titles to come out in recent times. PoP2 was somewhat of a letdown for me (the gameplay was good, some really good action sequences, but the story was a major letdown after SoT).

If you find you like the FF games, or console rpgs in general, the Front Mission series is a gem. Console RPG, with mecha action. Build and kit out mecha, and take them into turned based strategy battles. FM4 is the most recent, but FM3 (a psx title) is also pretty darn good.

FF Tactics. I think you mentioned that you had it. Although a psx title, it's a great game, and still one of my favorite games.

Ico. Really, a must have for the PS2. Great experience. Advice: When you beat it, watch past the credits.

The Ace Combat series (the ps2 games from it, anyway) are a pretty good action air combat series. I'd at least give Ace Combat 4 a rental sometime.... AC5 left me somewhat dissapointed, and there's still a lot of fun to be had with AC4 (and it's a GH title, so it's 20 bucks or less).

[Gratch]

My PS2 must-haves:

-  Shadow Hearts:  Covenant
-  Xenosaga (the first one was brilliant, the second was terrible)
-  Burnout 3
-  Tenchu 3

Plus a couple you already have:
-  Beyond Good & Evil
-  FFX

[TheMissingLink]

Sly Cooper is a really fun game, nice addition, greeneggsnham.  I just picked up the second for a cheap price - I hope it's as good as the first.  But the persistent world thing is what made me wary, hope that it's okay...

[Big Jake]

Ascendant, with your avatar, how did you not say Disgaea?

Marik, if you can tolerate ugly graphics, find Disgaea.  Funny, and an absolute time-sink.  Having never played FF-Tactics, I can say Disgaea is easily the best S-rpg I've ever played.

[Victoria Raverna]

Shadow Heart: Covenant.
Xenosaga (if you like watching anime, this game is full of long FMV)
Gitaroo Man
Katamari Damacy
Karaoke Revolution series (fun party game)
Dark Cloud
Suikoden III
Wild Arms 3

[Canuck]

You can get ICO extremely cheap-even the brand new copies and it's a brilliant game-better than Prince of Persia in my opinion (I'm sure lots of people would disagree with me though.)

[wonderpug]

Ring of Red:   WWII + giant robots + turn based strategy....how can you go wrong!  One of my favorite games, poor thing didn't get much attention at all.

[warning]

It's hard to argue with most of the choices above.  They're all great games.  The only one I'd add to the mix is