What Are The Hidden Gems of the PS2?

[Gamerforlife]

Zone of the Enders 2, one of the greatest, most cinematic action games on the system(especially for anime fans). Hideo Kojima's OTHER great series and the second one blew the original right out of the water.

Odin Sphere is not a hidden gem in my opinion. It's been MASSIVELY hyped. Overrated in my opinion, more shallow combat system than most 16-bit beat'em ups and hack n slashers and an item creation system that is pretty simplistic by rpg standards. Very repetive levels too(I mean you literally replay the same levels over and over for like forty hours)

I seem to be in the minority with my opinion of the game however

[Daniel Primed]

Sky Oddssey was meant to be quite a good little sleeper hit. There's not that many that I can think of actually which is quite surprising.

[Gamerforlife]

I've heard that Skygunner was pretty good. I never got a chance to play it though. Seems like an anime-ish Starfox kind of game from what I heard

[NebachadnezzaR]

Looks like I'm a little late for this topic. Anyway, I love the idea, since I'm always looking for PS2 hidden gems, and this system really has a lot of them. Here are some that I've found throughout the years:

The Mark of Kri - One of the best action games for the PS2! Yes, is that simple! Mixing an innovative gameplay with a unique graphical style, this is a winner that everyone should play. Although a "silent classic", as wikipedia calls it, it sold well enough for a sequel, Rise of the Kasai (haven't played it yet, since I only became aware of it's existence a short time ago).

Star Wars Racer Revenge - sequel to the great Dreamcast/PC/N64 game, it is also a great game. Shorter and more action oriented than its predecessor, but still a great game.

Shadow of Rome - Another excellent action game, and probably the best gladiator-themed game on the PS2 (if you like action, that is).

Drakan: The Ancient's Gates - sequel to a PC game, it's better for fans of the original, but it's also a great game on it's own. Every dragon lovers should play this (instead of Lair, it seems...).

Now, on the "not that great, but still worth mentioning" category:

Civil War - A Call of Duty clone based on the American civil war. It has really a lot a problems, but as an FPS fan I actually enjoyed it. Although not that realistic, it still gives us a different view from the war, and the reloading animations of the weapons, although a pain in the ass, are great to watch.

Scarface - One of the best GTA clones out there. It still has lots of ideas of its own, so its not just a copy of GTA. The gamespot review probably scared most people, but forget what those guys say, this is a great game, specially for fans of the movie (hey, aren't we all?).

Def Jam: Fight for NY - This game is so good, it actually made me forget my despise for the Hip-Hop culture (at least while I was playing it). With a gameplay more close to wrestling games than your usual 1-on-1 fighter, this is a great game, with a good story mode, an even better multiplayer mode and tons of customization.

Mashed - Micro Machines clone with real cars instead of toy ones. Great when played with friends.

Katamari Damacy/We Love Katamari - We all heard of it, but I doubt many of us actually played it. Good if you want something different.

Sega Rally 06 (import) - A great sequel to our favourite racing game, despite what Famitsu said of it. I wasn't able to play the career mode, since it's all in Japanese, but you don't need to read to play the arcade mode, so you can still have fun with it.


By the way, Racketboy, how about an article just about the many quality import (by import I mean Japanese exclusive) games for the PS2? I know there are a lot out there, but there's even more Japanese exclusive rubbish, and not every quality Japanese game is playable by a non-Japanese reader, so I would love to see an article about the good, playable by westerners, games that those selfish Japanese want just for themselves.

[racketboy]

An import feature will be out there once I wrap up more of the existing series.
2008, most likely, unless I get more people helping out with writing.

[roushimsx]

It would be a shame if solid multiplatformers weren't mentioned at all just because they showed up on more than one system (Beyond Good & Evil, Alien Homind, etc)

But Alien Hominid sucked? Nice quirky art style and indie vibe mixed with terribly executed gameplay that paid more homage to the shitty early 90s run and guns than the classic early 90s run and guns.

Another vote for ChoroQ, though I know a lot of people prefer Road Trip. Both are awesome, but ChoroQ got completely dumped on in reviews (compared to Road Trip, which came out pretty decently, all things considered). Whereas ChoroQ has three towns to travel around and meet people, Road Trip has a streaming 3d world to explore. I prefer the race designs in ChoroQ more, but Road Trip still has some pretty nice tracks and has much larger racing grids.

Headhunter and Headhunter: Redemption are two mostly-misunderstood third person action games that I find to be fantastic. The euro import of Headhunter for Dreamcast got some decent love, but when it came out in the US on PS2, everyone was quick to call it a generic Metal Gear Solid and GTA3 knock off. Really, it's closer to Mafia (highly detailed on foot missions, lightly detailed vehicle missions) and Resident Evil (fixed camera viewpoints when on foot) with a snazzy sci fi setting that'll remind you plenty of Robocop.

Redemption is more of a third person shooter with some adventuring elements. Motorcycle segments from the first game are gone, the aiming system has been completely revamped, and there's a snazzy little scanning function similar to Metroid Prime's. Storyline is a good bit darker but has plenty of humor in there still. There's even a nice, subtle reference to Residnet Evil in there (a film stage that looks like a piece of the Resident Evil mansion, complete with a green herb...the only one you'll find in the game). Redemption got extremely mixed reviews, with some loving it and some hating it. It's also not an exclusive (an Xbox version is available on the cheap), but I was one of the ones that wound up loving it to bits and pieces.

Kim Possible: What's the Switch. Yes, I said Kim Possible. I'd never really heard much about this show until this game popped up, which was recommended to me by a fellow goon who knew that I dig classic 16 bit platformers. This game is very much a classic 16 bit platformer, but with a nice coat of 3d paint. Gameplay is all strictly 2d, the graphics are wonderfully toon shaded, and despite the general ease of the core game (it's definitely tuned for a younger crowd), there's plenty of additional challenge available in trying to unlock everything. There's a good bit of tricky platforming to be found and a bulk of the low difficulty comes from the designers putting 1ups right before potentially tricky spots. When you die, the 1up returns, ensuring a mostly-frustration-free gameplay experience for pretty much everyone.

There's some videos of it up on YouTube if you want to see it for yourself.

Sub Rebellion. Third person underwater sub action game with some exploration elements added in. It's just your little, customizable sub against an entire naval fleet through a decent sized campaign. You'll sink super ships, huge ass planes, take out shore defenses, dig up ancient treasure, and stumble on long forgotten technology that could end the war.

Warship Gunner 2. I read the reviews and thought it sounded boring as shit, but I wound up snagging it when someone pointed out that it was basically Naval Ops: Warship Gunner with an actual storyline (making it Ace Combat with ships, essentially). Sadly, you don't get the multi-ship control that was in Naval Ops: Commander, but what you do get is an extremely long (30 hours on my first playthrough), highly addictive (1500 unlockable ship parts), extremely customizable (did you miss the line about 1500 ship parts?), replayable (3 different paths through the game and a newgame+ option) alternate world war 2 naval action game. The worst part of the game is the 1 hour tutorial, but if you can make it through that then you'll be set for one hell of an engaging game.

Well, except for that first submarine mission, anyway. When you first play it, your ship will be too damn slow and you'll just be puttering in towards the bay. Ratchet the difficulty level down to easy for that stage, blow through it, and then come back when you have some better hardware. Nothing like cruising in with an upgraded submarine and sinking everything in the harbor before they even know what's going on

Not sure how much of a "hidden" game Yakuza is, but I'll still throw it out there anyway. It's pretty much everything that I wanted out of Shenmue but didn't receive, including a solid storyline (ohh, organized crime drama!) and a neat 3d combat engine (think Spikeout!). The localization was still pretty bleh (the script is littered with f-bombs damn near every other line), but otherwise it was a fantastic experience. We're rumored to be getting the sequel at some point, but I'll believe it when I see it. Apparently the sequel improved on the first game in virtually every way....god...I hope we get it, especially with the third game already slated to come out in Japan

Some stuff I haven't put enough time into to fully recommend but may be worth further investigation:
Bujingai
Devil Summoner
Dog's Life
Enthusia: Professional Racing
Everblue 2
Finny the Fish and the Seven Waters
Genji
Primal
Sphinx Curse of the Mummy (not an exclusive, but still...)
Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 (Kaido Battle Touge No Densetsu in Japan)
Transformer (not the movie game)
Way of the Samurai

[fastbilly1]

I will not hear any naysaying about Alien Hominid. The main game may not be good, but it brings us the PDA game, and that was worth the $10 I payed for it.

[NebachadnezzaR]

Some stuff I haven't put enough time into to fully recommend but may be worth further investigation:
Bujingai
Devil Summoner
Dog's Life
Enthusia: Professional Racing
Everblue 2
Finny the Fish and the Seven Waters
Genji
Primal
Sphinx Curse of the Mummy (not an exclusive, but still...)
Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 (Kaido Battle Touge No Densetsu in Japan)
Transformer (not the movie game)
Way of the Samurai

Well, let me comment the ones I've played:

Bujingai - Devil May Cry style game. Decent, but not good enough to be considered an hidden gem in my opinion.

Dog's Life - Average game. Original, but it's nothing special.

Enthusia - Good for Gran Turismo fans

Genji - Onimusha-style game, good for fans of the genre.

Sphinx - Usual platformer, as good as the other hundred games like it.

Way of the Samurai - A must have for action/adventure fans.

[roushimsx]

Well, let me comment the ones I've played:

Well that helps reorder my "to play" list. Working on Devil Summoner now, but I guess I'll be doing Way of the Samurai next

[GagaMan]

I picked up ChoroQ in a GAME clearout for 99p. Also for that rice was Bombastic (The sequel to Devil Dice). Ace.

I'd also like to add Mad Maestro to the list, which I just picked up yesterday.