Recommend me some kickass PS2 games

[Harvey]

I can't recommend God of War and God of War 2 enough. These games held me captive for two weeks until I beat them, and I usually have trouble finishing games.

The Red Star is a sweet game as someone else mentioned.

If you're into racing games at all, check out Burnout 3: Takedown.

[Pulsar_t]

Am I the only one who thinks Burnout 2 > 3&4 etc? I mean the newer games have forfeited proper handling and risk-taking for semi-infinite boosting. What's the point if 90% of the race is simply nitro boosting?

[millerjm2]

God Hand - Satire on retro beat-em ups, quite funny
Haunting Ground - Capcom Survival Horror
Rule of Rose - Atlus crazy (not too pricey)
Psychonauts - Tim Schafer hilarity, great platformer, one of the best I have played
Persona 4 - Atlus RPG

I can't think of anymore right now but there are tons of great games for this system. You could literally get over 150 unique/quality titles on this system.

[J T]

The PS2 library of good games really is immense. There are currently 538 games for the PS2 that have a positive (75+) rating on metacritic.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/ps2/scores/

[jfrost]

Other unmentioned ones:

- Fatal Fury Battle Archives vol. 1;
- Fatal Fury Battle Archives vol. 2;
- Samurai Shodown Anthology;
- The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match;
- The King of Fighters XI;
- Neo Geo Battle Coliseum;
- World Heroes Anthology;
- Art of Fighting Anthology;
- The Last Blade 1&2;
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves;
- Street Fighter Alpha Anthology;
- Street Fighter Anniversary Collection;
- Soulcalibur III;
- Tekken 5;
- Tekken Tag Tournament;
- Mushihime-sama;
- Ibara;
- DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou;
- Espgaluda;
- Shikigami no Shiro;
- Shikigami no Shiro II;
- Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King;
- Valkirye Profile 2: Silmeria;
- Shin Megami Tensei series.

[corn619]

The PS2 is quite possibly the best console ever. And I don't know if it was mentioned, but the Fatal Frame and Yakuza series are great. I can't stress how great the Yakuza is.

[Dakinggamer87]

It's hard to know where to start... There are so many great games for the PS2 as mentioned above but here are some of my favorite PS2 titles too many to list them all not in any order:

-Yakuza 1,2
-Tekken 5
-Final Fantasy X
-Persona 3,4
-Ratchet and Clank series
-Jak & Daxter series
-Zone of Enders
-Xenosaga
-Tales of Abyss
-Dark Cloud 1,2
-Rogue Galaxy
-God Hand
-Metal Gear Solid 3
-God of War 1,2


I'm still buying PS2 titles it had so many great games to play...

[J T]

People really liked God Hand? I haven't tried it, but it got caned in the reviews, so I have been afraid to buy it. Maybe I'll have to give it a shot if I see it for a decent price.

I'll also 2nd the Shin Megami Tensei series for RPGs. They are my favorite RPGs on any system.

[lisalover1]

If you're into action RPGs, I can highly recommend the following:
Kingdom Hearts 1, 2, and CoM
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Symphonia [If you can read Japanese. Besides, it's not as good as the GC version.]

And I only sorta recommend this game:
Samurai Legend Musashi [The voice acting is abysmal, but the gameplay's fine.]

[Ack]

Hold it, hold it. A couple of guys have recommended you Soul Calibur III. I say no to that, especially if you plan on getting the domestic NTSC-U version. Just going beyond the balance issues, that game has a serious problem where it can mess up your memory card. Mine did it, though thankfully it was only a minor case of screwing up its own save data. I've heard stories where it's wiped entire memory cards though. I can't honestly recommend that title to anyone.

Other than that, there are a few titles I'd suggest:

Clocktower 3
Fatal Frame
Fatal Frame 2
Fatal Frame 3
Ghost Hunter
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Gungrave
Haunting Ground
Katamari Damacy
King of Fighters '98 UM
King of Fighters XI
Mark of Kri
Onimusha
Onimusha 2
Punisher
Samurai Shodown Anthology
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Street Fighter: Alpha Anthology
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
Way of the Samurai
Way of the Samurai 2