The library is just too vast. There's so many PS2 games that I would like to replay, and so many that I have yet to play. I wont get to them all by the end of the month.Let me talk about some games from my library...
I forget if I mentioned this already, but I don't think I have. When I had my PS2 in high school, first person shooters and racing/driving games made up 99.9% of the games I owned for PS2. I think I must have once played a third person shooter with a horrible camera or something, because I can remember being totally opposed to any third person shooter when I was in high school. I wouldn't even give them the time of day. So that also limited games I was willing to try. Luckily I have learned to appreciate more things since then, and I find myself enjoying more and more genres as time goes on.
Agent Under Fire - I have already mentioned that this and GTA3 were my first two PS2 games (I got them at the same time). Goldeneye was one of my favorite games of the previous generation. Not just the multiplayer, but more so the single player. Rare just knows how to make a good game. And I guess it helped that I was a full fledged 007 fan by this point. So Agent Under Fire was a natural choice for first game purchase. I've heard, after the fact, that the multiplayer in Agent Under Fire was pretty popular. But I actually never played it, so I can only speak of the single player.
And of the single player, I haven't played this game in a good 15-20 years. I would love to replay it, but I'm afraid to find out if it aged horribly or not. I do have fond memories of the game, though. I can recall that the cutscenes aren't anything to write home (or on a forum) about. The dialog and voice acting is full of cheese. But that's OK, I feel like that was expecting at the time. The gameplay is mostly FPS, but I do recall some car driving levels. I can recall at least one of the car levels being on rails while you shoot other cars and helicopters. The FPS levels, I don't think they were anything too special. But they did implement these "007 moments" (can't remember exactly what they were called, something like that though). So if you figure out a 007-esq way of killing an enemy, instead of just shooting them, you are awarded something. IIRC this is how you unlock cheats in the game. And after plowing through the single player, I can remember going back and finding those 007 moments. It definitely added some fun replay value to the game.
From Russia With Love - I can remember when this game came out. FRWL has always been my favorite Connery Bond film, so when I saw this game for the first time in a store I immediately purchased it. Seeing it in the store was the first time I found out about it, so I knew nothing about this game. I got it home and found out it was a third person shooter. Yuck. Above I mentioned that I hated third person shooters back then. So I didn't give this game a try. But some years later, I realized how stupid that is, and I eventually gave this game another shot (no pun intended). And I loved it!
I must admit, it's a little weird to see young Sean Connery but to hear old Sean's voice. But I can get past that. They made a game of my favorite Connery film, and they got mother fucking Sean Connery to voice act for it! Back when it came out, I guess I was a bit of a snob. Not only did I not like that it was a third person shooter, but I thought it was just really stupid in general. The first level ends with you on a jet pack, flying around Big Ben and doing battle with a helicopter. I just thought that was so stupid back then. But I look at it in different light now. If that were a movie, I would hate it (cough Die Another Day cough). But it's a VIDEO GAME. Why can't you fly around on a jet pack and shoot down a helicopter? So yeah, the game follows the movie pretty well, but there's some things thrown in there to make it more of a video game. So looking at is more in the sense of, "Is it fun to play?" Well, yes, it IS fun to play! The shooting action controls just fine, and there's a little bit of depth to it so it doesn't get old by the end of the game. As far as all time best third person shooters, I don't know how it fairs. But as far as a James Bond video game, it's a must play!
Goldeneye Rogue Agent - This game got mixed reviews, and the title makes it a total cash grab. I haven't played it in a good 20 years, so I really can't comment on how it holds up. It's a non-cannon spin-off, and I feel like if you set your expectations accordingly it isn't a horrible game. It has many Bond references, and I can remember the gameplay being fun enough. So again, maybe worth playing if your a Bond fan. But otherwise, as a generic FPS, I'm not sure. I can remember having fun with the single player, but only playing through it once. I did, however, play it online quite a bit. I can remember the online multiplayer being very fast pace and thrilling.
Nightfire (and the other Bond games) - I was never really impressed with Nightfire. I can't remember in what order I got Nightfire, but perhaps I was getting burnt out on 007 FPS games at this point. Or perhaps it's just not that good of a game. I remember getting about halfway through the game and stopping, and I haven't played it since. I would like to one day play through it. I would also like to play the other two Bond games on the PS2. Everything or Nothing, and Quantum of Solace. IIRC, Everything or Nothing is a third person shooter, and as I said above, I just had no interest in these games back then. But I remember reading that it's a decent game, so I would like to try it now that I can appreciate third person shooters. And by the time Quantum came out, I had moved past the PS2 onto the PS3. But I've read that the PS2 version of Quantum is different than the PS3, so I would like to play it at some point.
24: The Game - I've actually already mentioned this game here. It's a mashup of different genres. There's third person shooter levels. Driving levels. Interrogation levels? The game was creating in collaboration with 24's production team. It ties in between seasons 2 and 3 of the show. And it uses the likeness and voice acting from many of the show's actors. On it's own, I'm not sure how much it's worth playing. But if you're a fan of 24, I think it's a must play. Total fan service.
Castlevania Lament of Innocence - I've played through this game once or twice, but that was 15-20 years ago. I'd like to replay it one day, but I'm afraid it wont hold up well. Thinking back to it, the game might be a tad bland and repetitive. I think I mostly played it because it's Castlevania and I guess I had a lack of other things to play. But I'm glad that I beat it. I remember reading that if you have a cleared save file on your memory card for this game, that will grant you something in Castlevania Curse of Darkness. Which, I never played Curse of Darkness, but I would like to get to it one day.
Driv3r and Driver Parallel Lines - I was a big fan of Driver 1 and 2 on the PS1, so when Driv3r came out on the PS2 I just had to play it. They went the GTA route, which at the time I thought was a good thing. I remember having a decent amount of fun with this game, but I do remember it being a tad buggy. But then Parallel Lines came out, and I can remember having an absolute blast with that one. Parallel Lines felt more like a Driver game than a GTA game like Driv3r did.
Final Fantasy XII - I would get very annoyed with FFX with how lengthy and frequent the cutscenes were. But I decided to give FF12 a try when it came out. I remember having an absolute blast with 12, but for some reason I put it down and never went back to it. I've been wanting to start over for years now, but at this point it wouldn't be on the PS2 since the game has HD ports.
Resident Evil 4 - I'm going to sneak this one in here, speaking about HD ports. I was all about the PS2 that generation. I briefly had a Gamecube (got rid of it, then got one again) so I really missed out on that whole debacle with the Capcom exclusive games. And as mentioned above, I had zero interest in third person shooters back then. Little did I know that RE4 is one of the best games of all time. I eventually played it on the Wii. The motion controls for aiming really helped me to enjoy this game for the first time. I eventually got the HD port on PC, thinking that mouse aiming is the only way to play this game. But in the spirit of this month's highlighted console, I was curious to see how the PS2 port plays. And, it plays fantastic! It even looks fantastic on my CRT. But, the game is in widescreen only (it's letterboxed on a 4:3 screen). Although it looks fantastic on my PVM, the letterbox on a small 13" screen makes it kind of weird to play. So I jumped over to my other PS2 that I keep hooked up to my HDTV. But then I was thinking, if I'm playing this on my HDTV, then why play the PS2 version? It has a port on everything, so you might as well play an HD version LOL. So I kind of fucked up the PS2 month for myself, because now I'm playing through RE4 on my PS4. BUT, my point is that the game is that the PS2 port is still very playable. It doesn't look so great on an HDTV, but it looks fantastic on a CRT.
The Italian Job - I mentioned that in high school my PS2 games were mostly FPS and driving/racing games. Well, this was one of those games. It's a game of the movie remake that came out in the mid 00's. The whole Mini Cooper thing in the movie just lends itself perfectly for a video game. I can't remember the main game so much, just that I had fun with it. But then there was mini games, like getting the best time on a course. I can remember competing with my brother for the best times, and it getting to the point where it took hours and hours to beat the best time by one second. Yet another PS2 game that I haven't played in 15-20 years, but I really want to re-experience at some point.
Medal of Honor (series) - I think I might have mentioned Frontline already, I forget. Frontline was one of my favorite PS2 games. I played through it many times. This was the first MOH game I ever played, I knew nothing about the series prior to this. I used to always hunt for used games in my local Blockbuster, which was one of the only ways I could afford to get new games. I remember looking at the screen shots on the back cover and thinking, "That look like D Day!" Then reading the back of the box, "Oh, it is World War 2!" When I fired up the game for the first time, and seeing the opening level (D Day), it was like playing a video game version of Saving Private Ryan. The action felt intense. And I ended up loving everything about this game. The briefings with great voice acting and WWII stock footage. And the GREAT music score. I know it doesn't hold up so well today, compared to modern FPS, but it will always have a special place in my heart.
I eventually got the original Medal of Honor. Again, the greatest hits version in Blockbuster. And although the graphics were dated (those wonky PS1 graphics) and the controls weren't as good as Frontline, I still had fun playing it. It still had that great score and cinematic presentation.
So when Rising Sun came out, I just had to get it ASAP. And I did, despite the fact that it wasn't getting good reviews. I played through the single player mode once, which was rather short and bland. But I actually spent a decent amount of time playing this game online. IIRC, I got the PS2 network adapter just for this game. At the time, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Imagine that, playing online multiplayer on my PS2 in my bedroom LOL. I had my shitty Pentium II desktop, and I use to have to unplug my ethernet cable from the computer to use it on the PS2. I hated the fact that I could be on AIM and play my PS2 online at the same time LOL. Then later I got Goldeneye Rogue Agent, and I think these were the only two games I played online with my PS2. But IIRC I spent more time with Rising Sun. I can remember one of the last times I played it online. It was maybe a 30-60 minute session with a full group of people, and I was just dominating. During the last round, everyone started dropping out. Then it came down to just three people, two others and myself. I didn't have a headset, but you could see when others were talking to eachother. So it was a game with teams, and the two others in the room were on opposing teams. They were talking back and forth for a while, then they both attacked me. I took them both out, then the game organizer promptly left which ended the game LOL. I always figured since I was kicking such ass, they decided to team up on me despite the fact that one of them was on my team. Then when I STILL beat them, I figure they must have thought I was cheating some how LOL.
Then European Assault came out. But I wouldn't give this game a chance because of the control scheme. I had played a lot of Frontline, which had a more old school control scheme. And I played the original on PS1, which had that same scheme. Then when Rising Sun came out, it had a new control scheme but you could change it to the old one. Then European Assault came out, but it didn't allow you to use that old control scheme any longer. I was three games deep with muscle memory for that old control scheme, and I just didn't want to bend and learn a new one. So I didn't give it a chance. But years later, I've learned to not be so stubborn, so I eventually picked up a copy. I haven't played it yet, like so many other PS2 games, but I would like to get to it eventually.
Mega Man X Collection - If you're gaming on a CRT, this collection is MUST buy! The menus are in 480i, but the games are all in 240p and they look and play perfectly on a CRT. X3 is the PS1 version, which I remember always reading that people hated it wasn't the superior SNES version. But after playing both, I actually prefer this version. X1 and X2 not only get a save feature added, but the slowdown issues these games have are gone! X3, being the PS1 version, also has saves. So if you ask me, this collection is the better way to play the first three games. And it's still cheap to pick up!
Other Collections & Anthologies - The PS2 has a lot of great anthologies for it. Sonic Mega Collection was really awesome when it came out. At the time, I had a Genesis and pretty much only Sonic games for it. I'm ashamed to say it now, but when this collection came out I traded all my Genesis stuff and got the PS2 collection to replace it. It wasn't long before I realized how stupid that was and got another Genesis. Then there's Metal Slug Anthology. I'm not sure if it's worth the going price now, with other more modern ways to play these games, but at the time this collection was a must-buy.
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 - Again, I missed out on so many great games because I was unwilling to play third person shooters. Eventually I played Twin Snakes, and that sort of sucked me in to MGS games in general. I finally played the PS1 original, then I quickly wanted to try 2 and 3. MGS2, not that I didn't have fun with it, but I'm not sure I care to ever play it again. MGS3 on the other hand, I had a ton of fun with. I played through it for the first time, then immediately played through it a second time. That's how much fun I had with it. I would love to play it again, this month if possible. I remember, I had a friend in high school that was really enjoying this game back then. He was telling me all about it, just going on and on about it, and I didn't care at all LOL. I would like to play my PS2 copy again. But I also have the HD remaster on PS3 that I haven't played yet. So I'm torn, like RE4. But I want to play both!
Stuntman - Again, another driving game. The premise of this game is that you're a stuntman on movie sets. So each "level" is basically an obstacle course that you have to hit certain marks or crash in particular ways. Watch a YouTube video for a better idea. I had an incredible amount of fun with it. I believe this game remains cheap, so I would definitely recommend picking it up. There was a follow up on PS2 and PS3 called Stuntman Ignition, but I never got around to trying it.
Time Splitters - So my brother told me about this game he was playing with friends called Time Splitters 2, and how much fun it was. But I figured I wanted to try the first one first, so I picked up the first Time Splitters. I can remember the single player being OK fun, but holy fuck the multiplayer was AMAZING! I had no idea at the time that it's a spiritual successor to Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. I picked up the second one, but I never got around to playing it. I use to play the first one with my brother all the time. And I picked up multi tap, probably just for this game, so I got to play it with 3 or 4 players a few times. I haven't played it in ages, but I think the multiplayer would hold up today.
Twisted Metal Black - I picked up this game way after the fact. I wished I had got it sooner. I played it a few times with 2 or 3 players, and I can remember it being a lot of fun. But this was at the tail end of the PS2 life, so I didn't play it for long before moving on to other things. I wish I would have known about the online version back in the early 00's, I bet that was a blast to play.
