The 10th Hour 2.01.08: The Top 10 PS2 Games

Posted by Derek Robbins on 02.01.2008

It's almost the end of the PS2's long lifespan, so it's about time we reflect on the system that was. This week, 411's Derek Robbins breaks down his top-10 favorite PS2 games.

Hello and welcome to this week's 10th hour! As promised, this week concludes my "last gen" series, featuring the top-10 games for the three big consoles from the last generation. Before I hit on that though, I do have a couple of things I wish to de-note.

-As I am sure you all know by now, the entire roster of Super Smash Brothers Brawl has been leaked. If you do NOT wish to know who is in the game, scroll down a bit because I am posting a picture of the FINAL roster.

So.

SPOILER



Some people are disappointed with the roster, but I like it quite a bit. We have a lot of great newcomers in there and also Sonic the freaking Hedgehog. March 9th couldn't get here soon enough. I've already decided that my first character will be Lucas. From then on? Not a clue.

Also, please stop calling Wolf a clone of Fox. He appears to play differently while having a couple of similar moves. Same Final Smash =/= clone.

End Spoiler

- As of right now, my newest WoW character is level 25. It appears that this game WILL last me until Brawl comes out, but…I feel like such a traitor. My 70 hunter is an alliance, and this character is a horde…Gah. Oh well. If baseball players can so readily change allegiance, so can I!

Alright, let's hit some viewer feedback

Reader Feedback

This first one is from my main man, Vitamin D

Thanks for the mention. Let me allow more info for DDR Mario Mix (I have a
feeling you haven't played it), it's a great game that's not just a "DDR
game with Mario slapped on." They had great minigames such as running to
jump to the flag pole. Anyways, on to the Xbox List, I must say it's very
surpising to see games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. Nothing wrong with those
games but just didn't expect to see them. I would honestly rate Halo higher
than Halo 2. I know Halo 2 has the online component but the first Halo just
stands out because of the co-op campaign that they had. For the time, it was
unheard of. Kudos for having Panzer Dragoon Orta ranked highly. Major kudos!
Great gift to that the original Panzer Dragoon is unloackable. DOA 3, I'm iffy
with as well when it comes to DOA 3 and DOA: Ultimate. I love using the air
grabs with Tina in DOA 3 yet I enjoy Kasumi and Ein versions in DOA: Ultimate.
The top 3 on the list is very good....I might of switched it around but in the
end, it looks good. Nice to see Jet Set in honorable mention, kudos to that.
The only thing I may have to comment would be the lack of mentioning Indigo
Prophecy and Shenmue 2. Grant it, Shenmue 2 is available for Dreamcast import
with the English language. But the Xbox version improved the graphics a bit
plus less (or no) slowdown during parts of the game. I would rank Shenmue 2 an
8. Indigo Prophecy not even as an honorable mention? Not sure about that man. I
would of made that at least a number 4. But overall, a good list and I commend
you for listing some not so popular titles. Great article! Keep up the good
work! P.S. Good luck on your grind to level 70! =)


Hahaha, well thank you for the well wishing and compliment. Honestly, I was surprised I stuck it out to 70 with my hunter, I'll be shocked if I can do it a second time with my mage. Doesn't mean I won't try though. Hopefully I can get CLOSE by the time Brawl comes out so I'll feel compelled to play beyond that.

I should have mentioned Shenmue 2 on the list because it is a wonderful game…but Indigo Prophecy. I think that was multi-platform simultaneous wasn't it? If not, it would have made the list. Halo…now…Halo multiplayer Co-Op is fine. I don't care if it was revolutionary, the campaign was HORRIBLE. One player or two player, it was a complete bore throughout. Ahhhh…but that's just what I think though.

Finally, I have played Mario DDR. I thought it was too easy as I was able to do the hardest difficulty on every song on my first try, and I'm not even that good at Normal DDR. I love the Mario songs, but I just feel that the game is too easy and too unoriginal to warrant mention. Sorry bro!

Next we have one from Sean McCabe

I won't bother posting my list since I'm not even sure I could make it to 10 on
the Xbox without including multiplatform games. But I will say one thing.

Why does no one ever give any credit to Breakdown or Kingdom under Fire? Apart
from Ninja Gaiden, they were the best Xbox exclusives. Yet they never get into
these lists. If you're reply to this is "I've not played them" my
reply to that is "do so".


Well, that takes away my response. I will hunt them down then if they are indeed that good. To be honest, I didn't use my X-Box much outside of Sports games. The hard drive made saving replays and stuff easy. That list was REALLY hard to make. I know some people were probably upset (Lol, I read n4g.) by my list, but honestly…it was the best I could do.

Next, I'm going to comment to people who asked me to put in Jade Empire or Morrowind. I hate WRPGs. Honestly, I find them boring as hell. I understand that those two titles are good, well-made games…but I just CANNOT stand them. I was bored to tears during Morrowind, and I stayed away from Jade Empire because of that. Star Wars had, well, Star Wars. It made the game easier to tolerate for me, really.

Honestly the characters were so great in that game that even if it hadn't been a Star Wars game, it would have probably made the list.

Let me re-state this one more time so there is no confusion. I am not calling Morrowind a bad game. I admit whole-heartedly that it is a WELL MADE game. I admit that it is great to fans of Western RPGs. To me, though, I can't stand it. Not my cup of tea and it probably never will be. Call me a weeaboo for liking JRPGs, I don't care…that's just how I am.

Here's one final one from Maz

Um, Where is Morrowind? That game was one of the top games I always though for
Xbox, And i know many agree.

And Mech Assult? that was a hyped up game, that was ..eh

The single player was forgettable, and repetitive, and the multiplayer for it
was terrible. (Multilayer wasn't even originally intended for it, they just
slapped it on later after Microsoft wanted this games hype tie into people
buying xbox live as well)

Again, I know Morrowind is good, just not my thing. Anyhow:

I loved Mech Assault online, I honestly don't see why so many people didn't enjoy it. I thought the online play was more rewarding than anything I found in Halo 2. The single player was a bit lackluster, but the multiplayer was incredible enough, to me, to warrant a mention.

Alright, enough of the feedback. Let's get on to the list!

Top-10 PS2 games

Boy oh boy, this is going to be a tough one. There are so many high-quality PS2 games out there that some are destined to get gypped. So ahead of time, if you don't like it…I'm sorry. I encourage you to write your own PS2 list for me though.

As for the rules: As always, I've HAD to have played the game. Secondly: If it was multiplatform, it needs to have been released on the PS2 first. That means games like MGS 2 are eligible. Lastly, the game needs to have been released in America. Other than that, everything is good as gold!

So let's roll along, shall we?

10-) Persona 3 - Going into this game, I didn't know what exactly to expect. I felt that the stories of Persona 1 and 2 had wrapped up fairly nicely, so I wasn't sure what they were going to do with this one. Well…they made a stand-alone game that was, simply put, quite remarkable. Everything about the third persona game reeks quality. From the top-of-the-line voice work to the unique battle system, even to the game's soundtrack (BABY BABY BABY BABY)…I loved every bit of what I played. What helps Persona 3 is not only does it have an amazing story to tell, but it also gives you the impression that you're busy all the time. At times, it felt like a mixture between Final Fantasy, Pokemon, and a dating sim. This isn't bad at all. Honestly, half of the time I felt over-whelmed because on top of having to make a couple of runs to Tarturus (The game's dungeon) every month, I also had to worry about various socializing things and my stats. It was insane, but…I loved every minute of it. A fourth Persona title is in the works, and if it plays even half as well as this one did, we have ourselves a sure winner.

- As I have said before, Junpei is one of the best characters ever.

9-) Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal - This is probably my favorite Ratchet game of all time. The second one was a step up from the original, and this one kicked it up yet another notch as I felt the thing was darn near perfect. Honestly, very few games have made me laugh…but this one had me doing so on an almost consistent basis. Really, the dialogue that this game holds is so well written and witty, you might forget that you're actually playing a videogame. On top of this, the game manages to play extremely sharply. It holds a challenge, but is never TOO hard. I never got so frustrated I up-and-quit. I saw it through to the end and it felt very rewarding. Often times it seems that games deteriorate with each new iteration of a franchise. That couldn't be further from the truth in the Ratchet series. I wasn't a huge fan of the first Ratchet, but the games just kept on improving until finally…we got here. I can't say enough good things about this game. It's a breath of fresh air from your typical collectathon platformer.

- Up Your Arsenal. I never did like that name.

8-) Disgaea - Earlier I had mentioned that very seldom do I laugh at a videogame. Well, like Ratchet before it, Disgaea is an extremely witty title. The dialogue is top-notch, as is the voice acting, and it comes together to tell a rather fantastic story. Ahhh, but a story doesn't simply make a game, does it? Nope! Disgaea is a tactical RPG. For those who don't know what that is, simply think "Final Fantasy Tactics" and you'll know what I'm talking about. It's a lot like that with the class system, but it also has unique things like the geo grid (Various elements in a level such as EXP +50% or HELL - the game's currency - +200%) and the re-incarnation system (For if you want to get the best fighters possible. A LOT of time can be wasted by this method). Disgaea offers enough replayability that many people have files that are in the THOUSANDS of hours. That's impressive for any game, and that's why I'm giving DIsgaea a nod. A great story AND addictive, re-playable gameplay? Seems like a winner to me.

- They may all look young, but they are all actually over a thousand years old.

7-) Kingdom Hearts 2 - When the original Kingdom Hearts was announced, many-a-gamer was skeptical. DISNEY AND SQUARE? IT CAN'T WORK. Still, the allure of Final Fantasy characters drew many in…but that isn't what kept them. Memorable original characters, an interesting story, and great gameplay is what held our attention. The second Kingdom Hearts offers more of the same, as it continues the stories of Sora, Kairi, and Riku. The difference here is that the combat has been amped up and is generally more fun to play. The game may be easy – hell, it was even easy on Proud mode, the game's equivalent to hard – but it was hard to deny that it was fun as can be. Rapid combat, great boss battles, and reaction-command events (think God of War) really helped to round out the package. While many feel that the Kingdom Hearts story is a bit generic and cliché, I felt that it was a worthy installment that pleased the fan-base that stuck with it since the original. The blending together of Square and Disney once again paid off and hopefully whenever the third game comes out…it'll live up to the legacy that this game set.


- Wow, I sure do love this artwork.

6-) Final Fantasy X - For some reason, a lot of Final Fantasy fans don't like this game…and I just can't quite put my finger on why. The story is one of the better ones to be told in the franchise. It was the very first voice-acted Final Fantasy, and while many felt the voices weren't exactly spot on…I didn't think that got in the way of the actual story. Really, the tale between Tidus and Jecht is one of the best in gaming I believe. At the end of the game when everything is finally resolved…it really felt good. I was hooked throughout. Not only this, but the combat was also a breath of fresh air. As big a fan as I was of the ATB, it was about time Square evolved and this was a step in that direction. The game let you know who was going when and this allowed for some strategic game-play. Also, you had the ability to switch out comrades in mid-battle, so if you ended up losing a fight…odds are it was your fault. A great story, great characters, and a brand new battle system…and the base-fans of the series don't like the game? That baffles me. No matter what they think…I think that this installment is wonderful.

- Tidus's voice actor is one of the few who actually does a great job.

5-) Soul Calibur 3 - A story of souls and swords, eternally retold. Man, ever since the original Soul Calibur came out in the arcades (and subsequently the Dreamcast), I've been a total junkie for the franchise. While Soul Calibur 2 was a good game, I felt that 3 was a better representation for the series. While not changing much from the second game, the third game adds a feature I am a fan of in any game that allows it. Create-a-character. Though the options weren't exactly over-whelming, the fact that the game let you make your own fighter was really special to me. Honestly, I've been clamoring for more fighting games to include a feature like this. Think about it…what if Smash Brothers had something like that? What if the Dragonball Z series had it? Hell, what if Street Fighter included it? There's a sense of pride having your created swordsman take down Mitsurugi, Siegfried, or Nightmare and claim the Soul Edge. While many feel this is the least balanced game in the series – and it is, the creators have even admitted as much – I don't think that it distracts from the fun to be had. No fighter is broken to the extent that they are un-beatable, and that is all I ask for. When SC 4 hits PS3 and 360 next year, I can't wait to take it online. Along with Smash Brothers, this was the one game I wanted to take online. And I finally get to. Yay!

- Are they the best Create-a-Characters? No. But at least you can make them.

4-) Final Fantasy XII - I love Final Fantasy XII. I love how it changes Final Fantasy (EVEN more than X did) and it makes it something different. Gone are random battles, gone are turn-based battles…in comes a system that is almost MMO like in appearance. While a lot of people didn't much care for it, I felt it brought in even more strategy to the fore-front. No longer could you just mash the X button and hope for a victory. No, you had to plan out exactly what you were doing, as well as issue commands for your partners to do. You were commanding a squadron. Along with that, there were so many things in the game to do after you beat it. While FF X was a little skimpy on extra content (outside of Blitzball), this game featured tons and tons of things to do after you beat the game…including extremely challenging boss fights with Millions of hit-points. Now, FF XII had a decent story, but out of the RPGs listed on this list (Persona 3 and FF X), I feel it has the worst. It came off as a bit cliché at times. Is this bad? No. Compared to most games, FF XII is like Shakespeare. The reason this gets the nod over the others is for the simple fact that it is completely different. It's challenging, it's fun, and it's not the "path most traveled" like some would have expected from a game in its 12th installment. FF XIII looks rather different as well, and I can't wait for that either…but having said that, if you enjoy RPGs – or hell, even if you don't. This game even appeals to non-RPG players as even my brother who HATES Role Playing Games loves it – you need to play this game.

- DO NOT BELIEVE THIS MAN'S LIES.

3-) Devil May Cry: 3 – Special Edition - Boy, the Devil May Cry franchise is an interesting one, wouldn't you say? The very first game in it was really good. It featured fast, fun game-play. This is a shock, especially considering it was originally supposed to be a Resident Evil which is notorious for its slow, plodding game-play. This got people clamoring for a second title, and they got one…that wasn't even CLOSE to as good as the original. While it offered two different playable characters, the game was far too easy and...because it was so easy, it lacked the same appeal that the first one had. The deal was, the story in each game was horrendous. It wasn't a deal breaker in the first one because it was so fun, but in the second one…it was a little less forgivable. Now…we have the third game. I didn't know what to expect at first, but I am so glad to report that it is better than the first one in just about every way. It's a little harder (You need a challenge every once in a while), and the story – while still pretty crappy – is a little better. A trend with the franchise is that the boss fights are all epic, and this game continues that trend as every fight feels like it could be a final boss fight in your average game. When a game has boss battles that epic, you know you're doing something right. Devil May Cry was one of the best franchises on the Playstation 2 because of this game (and the first), and I personally believe that if you haven't picked it up yet…you need to. Dante is looking as badass as ever in the fourth installment. Let's hope that game is more like the third and less like the second.

- Dante is one of the coolest characters ever.

2-) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Since this game was released first on the PS2, it is in fact eligible. The entire Grand Theft Auto franchise – after the third iteration at least – has been known for its quality and open-ended gameplay. This game is no different. The reason that this game gets the nod above Vice-City and Grand Theft Auto III is because it had the most character customization. You could have the character look any way you wanted, basically. You wanted a fat guy with an afro? You got it! You wanted a skin-headed string bean? Sure thing! It felt very realistic that your actions affected your appearance, and I really liked that. On top of this, there were also a lot of additional things to do. This ranged from your typical collectathon to the much more fun gang warfare. You could actually conquer and defend turf, and I really liked that. Before the PS2, Grand Theft Auto was a floundering franchise. It played like complete garbage and only the hardest pressed crime-loving gamer could have succumbed any joy from it. The PS2, starting with the third GTA, turned this franchise into one of the best in gaming. GTA IV is one of the most highly anticipated games of all time. So one of the games had to be represented, and I chose this one because I feel it is simply the best.

- The GTA series is a must play.

1-) Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - While a lot of people feel that the metal gear franchise has become a "STORY FIRST, GAMEPLAY SECOND" sort of thing…and they'd probably be right. The deal with this game is that not only is the story epic…but the game-play is too. It takes Snake out of familiar territory – usually more urban environments – and places him right in the middle of a jungle. This introduced various camouflages and added a whole new level to the stealth game. You had to blend in with the environment, and really…nothing like that had been seen before. Throw in some truly incredible boss fights – including an hour long sniper battle – and you have yourself a truly impressive playing game. I'd be lying to you if this choice was all about the gameplay, though. The story is simply phenomenal. I've only cried twice while playing a game, and the ending to this game marked the second time. The fact that a game's story can elicit such emotion is simply phenomenal. Really, the story of Big Boss and The Boss needs to be seen to be believed. From gameplay to story, this game was simply the best the PS2 had to offer in my opinion

- *Manly Tears*

Honorable Mentions: Suikoden 5, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest VIII, Disgaea 2, La Pucelle Tactics, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, God of War II, Jak III, Tekken 5, Guitar Hero, and SEVERAL others.

-Please also denote that I chose MGS 3: subsistence and DMC 3 SE because I felt they were better than their original versions.

That list was hard to compile, and I'm sure most of you would make things a little differently…so I'd like several lists this go around. The thing with the PS2 is that there were so many high quality games…there are probably hundreds of different combinations of 10 that people could come up with. That's something.

Anyhow, not sure what is coming up next week. If you wish to give me some feedback, good or bad, or simply wish to talk…my e-mail address is [e-mail] or [e-mail] Your choice. Or you can simply comment below.

Til' the Crossroads