Nostalgia glasses or not, the PlayStation 2 era was one of the best in gaming history. Not all the console’s games hold up, but there are dozens of them that are looked back on as some of the most influential video games of all time, and for good reason. Whether they kicked off a franchise, refined a genre formula, or created a one-of-a-kind experience, PS2 games have never really left the gaming conversation.
With that in mind, we’re going to celebrate some of the console’s best games. These aren’t the only 10/10 games on the PS2, nor are they definitively the “best” games on the console. There are plenty of games not included here that are also worth mentioning (sorry Silent Hill 2). It’s more of a personal list, a collection of some of the best games from the PS2 era that I remember most fondly, and specifically, games that still hold up today, even by modern gaming sensibilities.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.
Gran Turismo 4
The Perfect Balance
I’ll be honest, Gran Turismo 4 was the first racing game I ever played, so I’m a bit biased. That said, it wasn’t just me who was blown away by this entry from the (at the time) up-and-coming developer Polyphony Digital. GT4 strikes a perfect balance between being beginner-friendly and deep enough for racing veterans to sink their teeth into.
The Gran Turismo games have always been visually impressive, but the degree of visual fidelity on the PS2 was on another level. Its controls were buttery smooth and made for a great intro to racing sims. The soundtrack, the track designs, the car variety: it was all jaw-dropping. It also boasted some of the smoothest LAN connectivity options I’ve ever seen, which made it perfect for long nights of gaming with friends.
Kingdom Hearts 2
Sora’s Wild Ride
I really wasn’t crazy about the first Kingdom Hearts. I still hadn’t fully invested in a full Final Fantasy playthrough, and I wasn’t enamored with Disney beyond Pixar’s work, so there wasn’t much of a draw there for me. I still played it, mostly due to all the hype, but I came away suitably whelmed.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is another beast entirely. When I think of the perfect action RPG combat system, my mind still conjures up KH2, even with the hundreds of games that have innovated on its design since 2006. It also made me care about its characters in a way the first game didn’t (I definitely didn’t have crying over Goofy’s fake-out death on my ’06 bingo card). And the on-rails Gummi ship sections? Those sent me back to playing Drakengard years earlier. Is Kingdom Hearts 2 nostalgia bait? Definitely, but it’s also a brilliantly designed game that hits every note it strives for and then some.
God Of War 2
The World’s Best Swan Song
The fact that God of War 2 was released after the release of the PS3 is still wild to me. A game launching on a previous-gen console months after a next-gen console’s release is almost always a death sentence. Not only did God of War 2 survive, but it also stands as one of the defining games of the PS2 era and one of the best entries in a franchise that is now 20 years old.
“Bigger and better” seemed to be the mantra behind God of War 2’s development. From the opening battle against the Colossus of Rhodes to the chilling cliffhanger ending, the team at Santa Monica Studio knew exactly what they were doing: take everything that made the first game a hit, scale it up, and make it twice as violent. Kratos has a lot more character depth these days than he did in 2007, but as far as must-play PS2 games go, God of War 2 is up there with the very best.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening
Redemption At Last
I was obsessed with the first Devil May Cry, desperately trying to learn new combos and crank up that Stylish combat score into S-tier on every level. I sung its praises to my friends, but they decided to wait until Devil May Cry 2 to jump in. Oops. I personally don’t hate DMC2, but it’s hardly worthy of the glowing praise I was heaping on the first game. I didn’t think I’d ever live that down. Thankfully, Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening was my vindication. It didn’t just revive the franchise; it revived the entire hack n’ slash genre.
I actually wasn’t prepared for how hard Devil May Cry 3 was. Man, it kicked my ass dozens of times. It’s a testament to how good a game it is that I didn’t really care. Hell, I wanted it to kick my ass, because it was forcing me to get better. There are just so many ways that it rewards you for progressing. Secret levels, new costumes, hilariously complex puzzles; it’s a game that understands exactly what it is and expects you to meet it on its terms. For me, and likely many others, Devil May Cry 3 was the ultimate justification for owning a PS2. Sure, we didn’t have Halo, but we had this game instead.
SSX 3
Trickier Than Tricky
SSX 3
- Released
-
October 20, 2003
I really miss the SSX series. We don’t get many extreme sports games in general these days (Rider’s Republic was the most recent triple-A example), but this series was something special even within that niche. It’s kind of goofy, almost cartoonish in its portrayal of snowboarding, but that allows it to skirt the line between realistic and arcadey, and it does so perfectly.
Most people who talk about SSX 3 praise the soundtrack and the open world, and these are both phenomenal, but what stands out most to me was the verticality it introduced over its predecessor, SSX Tricky. The way you could literally launch yourself off the mountain, discovering new areas and routes while doing so, was astonishing. It’s a gorgeous game for its era, and it controls like a dream, but the feeling of hurtling off of a halfpipe and spending 10–12 seconds in the air stringing dozens of tricks together is something that modern games can’t match.
Shadow Of The Colossus
A True All-Timer
I was told when buying Shadow of the Colossus that I might want to pick up the strategy guide along with it (back when official strategy guides were printed books and not websites) because it’s “a pretty hard game.” I thought: Pshh, I beat Devil May Cry 3 just a few months ago. I can handle this. A few days later, I was back in the same store buying the strategy guide.
It’s not even that Shadow of the Colossus is that hard; it’s just complex, and complex in a way that no other game was at the time. Frankly, no other game since has played like it either. It’s just a brilliant experiment of a game that nails what it tries to do. The sense of solitude, the scale of the colossi, the growing dread as Wander starts to look a little… evil; it’s all done so well. I only used that strategy guide a couple of times (I would never have thought to drop columns on the 14th colossus), but I still have it, more as a collector’s item than anything else, and as a keepsake of one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
Final Fantasy 10
The Ultimate Graphical Showpiece
Final Fantasy 10 was my first Final Fantasy game. I know, I know, I should have started with FF7, but this was the one I could rent from my local video store back in 2004. This game was already three years old by that point, but just look at it. It’s gorgeous. This is a game that was released in 2001, and it looks on par with games from 2010. There’s more to its brilliance than just its visuals, but that’s still one hell of an achievement.
I know the exact moment when I realized that FF10 was an all-timer. You meet Tidus, and immediately you learn that he’s a Blitzball prodigy. It’s a unique angle for his character, and it keeps coming up throughout the world. Blitzball isn’t just a sport; it’s basically a religion. But the whole time I was wondering: what is Blitzball? Then, once you reach Luca (and after some story stuff), you actually get to play Blitzball. Square didn’t just make the sport set dressing; they designed the sport itself, and it was awesome. There are plenty of other stellar moments in Final Fantasy 10’s lengthy runtime, but that’s the one that’s still with me all these years later.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Here We Go Again
The Grand Theft Auto series effectively dominated the PS2. Sure, there were other open-world games on the platform as well, but nothing on this scale, nothing offering this much freedom. That said, GTA3 and Vice City still felt limited. You could drive anywhere, shoot anybody, and do side missions, but where were the “real life” activities like going to the gym or eating fast food? Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas addressed all of that.
I didn’t know it at the time, but San Andreas was also the moment when Rockstar began taking its storytelling a little more seriously. That trend would continue over the ensuing decades, but where Vice City and GTA3 were true blue satire, San Andreas put a little more effort into character and narrative. The results speak for themselves. All those side activities make the world feel alive, but CJ and his crew are the ones who make you want to live in it. Returning to Grove Street after a mission truly felt like coming home, and that was something that no other game from this era could evoke.
NBA Street Vol. 2
Now Move Like This
Sometimes a game is a masterpiece simply because it’s a ton of fun, and that’s exactly how I feel about NBA Street Vol. 2. Does it tell a gripping story or offer a ton of cool side content? No. Is it visually stunning? It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly exceptional in this regard either. Is it fun to play? Oh boy, yeah. It has 28 NBA teams to choose from, stylized models of real-world basketball players from the era (along with legends like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird), and an instant-classic soundtrack. What’s not to like?
Some will argue that the introduction of the “trick stick” in NBA Street Vol. 3 makes it the superior game, and I can definitely understand that argument. However, while the simpler inputs in Vol. 2 may not allow for as much creativity, they also make it a lot easier to pull off the coolest moves, and at the end of the day, that’s what we’re all here for. It also decreases the gap between practiced players and those just picking the game up at a friend’s place. All in all, NBA Street Vol. 2 is just a really fun game, and one that doesn’t wear out its welcome even 100 matches in.
Gradius 5
King Of The SHMUPs
The shoot ’em up was a dying breed even in the PS2 era, but in the throes of its demise, one of the genre’s best titles emerged. Gradius 5 may not have the name recognition today that it did at launch, but this franchise was once a very big deal. This entry arrived 18 years after the original, yet it retains many of the same sensibilities: one-hit deaths, high-score hunting, and tons of enemies and bullets on screen at once.
Gradius 5 demands a lot, but it rewards you for your perseverance. As a fan of this series since Gradius 3 (which I played on a hand-me-down NES), I was more than ready for the challenge, but I think for many other gamers used to the PS2 days of health bars and healing items, it simply wasn’t fun to die in one hit over and over again. I get that, but if you love a game that pushes back at every possible opportunity, you can’t do much better. Gradius 5 will drive you crazy, but you’ll still have a hard time putting it down, and the feeling of accomplishment when you complete it is one of a kind.
