Anthony1
01-05-2005, 12:28 AM
In my personal opinion, the PS2 is a technological weakling. It really isn't that much better than a Dreamcast in terms of power. It's unable to decode Dolby Digital 5.1 on the fly, 99 percent of it's games are unable to work in progressive scan mode. The first year and a half of PS2 games was totally jaggie city.
Yet, in spite of all this, the PS2 has some exclusive titles that are damn good. Damn compelling. I'm really amazed by some of the PS2 games that I've been playing with recently.
I come at this with a very unusual perspective. I had a PS2 for about 11 months. Got it on day one, and sold it about 11 months later. Sold it just before the very first Grand Theft Auto III came out. One of the main reasons that I got rid of it, was because I thought that it was big dissapointment from a technological standpoint. At that time I was much more shallow. A Graphics and sound whore to the extreme. I was expecting a totally amazing system when the PS2 first hit, and I was quite dissapointed.
Anyways, here it is, the year 2005. I have a PS2 again. I've had it for about 3 weeks now. I've tried to sample all of the best that the PS2 has to offer. Here are some of the games I've been checking out:
San Andreas - This game is just totally freaking amazing. I love it. At first I said that "Up Your Arsenal" was game of the year, but no freaking way. San Andreas is just amazing.
Killzone - Killzone is amazing to me. This game is amazing the fact that it's running on the underpowered PS2. Guerrilla got skillz. To be able to achieve this with the PS2 is pretty damn amazing. They did just about every trick in the book to pull this off. This looks like a state of the art XBOX game, and it's running on the PS2. Credit where credit is due.
Up Your Arsenal - R & C - Well, I originally said this was "Game Of The Year 2004", but I switched to San Andreas. Still a totally amazing game. However, I've decided that I should play the first two R & C games first.
World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 International - A damn fine Soccer sim.
Jak III - This game is pretty damn sweet. But I decided that I'm going to play Jak 1 and 2 first. So I've put this on hold.
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - Absolutely freaking sweet. I haven't enjoyed a platform game this much since I first played Mario 64 or the first Crash Bandicoot.
Rygar - This is a pretty cool action adventure game. Although the camera can be bothersome.
ATV 2 Off Road Fury - This game is freaking amazing! One of the best racing games I've played in recent memory.
Grand Turismo 3: A Spec - I actually did play this game when I had my PS2 originally. I couldn't remember if I did or not. It is a great game. I remember that when I did get rid of my PS2, I was sad to not play this anymore. I can't wait to see GT4.
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution - Pretty good fighting game. First time I've had the chance to play this.
Sly Cooper 1 - Wow, this is a very good game. Man, did I miss out on alot of great platform type fare.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Actually, I'm not a huge fan of this game. Maybe I just need to give it more time, but I'm not a huge fan of this series.
Hot Shots Golf FORE! - Again, here is a game that is just oozing with fun. Great playability. Very simple, but very well done
Ico - What a total classic. This game is definitely a work of art. I had this when I last had a PS2, and this was one of the few games that the PS2 had at the time that was any good.
Smugglers Run - An oldie but a goodie. I had this at launch, and it was actually probably the best launch game, along with SSX. Jaggies are everywhere and pulsating seams of polygons and stuff like that, but I can get over that now. When the PS2 first came out, I was super critical and that really bothered me, but since going old school, graphics are less import to me. I still love a game with killer graphics, but it isn't the be all end all.
Anyways, these are some of the games that I've been able to play, and I'm enjoying just about all of them.
Anybody have any other suggestions for me?
Yet, in spite of all this, the PS2 has some exclusive titles that are damn good. Damn compelling. I'm really amazed by some of the PS2 games that I've been playing with recently.
I come at this with a very unusual perspective. I had a PS2 for about 11 months. Got it on day one, and sold it about 11 months later. Sold it just before the very first Grand Theft Auto III came out. One of the main reasons that I got rid of it, was because I thought that it was big dissapointment from a technological standpoint. At that time I was much more shallow. A Graphics and sound whore to the extreme. I was expecting a totally amazing system when the PS2 first hit, and I was quite dissapointed.
Anyways, here it is, the year 2005. I have a PS2 again. I've had it for about 3 weeks now. I've tried to sample all of the best that the PS2 has to offer. Here are some of the games I've been checking out:
San Andreas - This game is just totally freaking amazing. I love it. At first I said that "Up Your Arsenal" was game of the year, but no freaking way. San Andreas is just amazing.
Killzone - Killzone is amazing to me. This game is amazing the fact that it's running on the underpowered PS2. Guerrilla got skillz. To be able to achieve this with the PS2 is pretty damn amazing. They did just about every trick in the book to pull this off. This looks like a state of the art XBOX game, and it's running on the PS2. Credit where credit is due.
Up Your Arsenal - R & C - Well, I originally said this was "Game Of The Year 2004", but I switched to San Andreas. Still a totally amazing game. However, I've decided that I should play the first two R & C games first.
World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 International - A damn fine Soccer sim.
Jak III - This game is pretty damn sweet. But I decided that I'm going to play Jak 1 and 2 first. So I've put this on hold.
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - Absolutely freaking sweet. I haven't enjoyed a platform game this much since I first played Mario 64 or the first Crash Bandicoot.
Rygar - This is a pretty cool action adventure game. Although the camera can be bothersome.
ATV 2 Off Road Fury - This game is freaking amazing! One of the best racing games I've played in recent memory.
Grand Turismo 3: A Spec - I actually did play this game when I had my PS2 originally. I couldn't remember if I did or not. It is a great game. I remember that when I did get rid of my PS2, I was sad to not play this anymore. I can't wait to see GT4.
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution - Pretty good fighting game. First time I've had the chance to play this.
Sly Cooper 1 - Wow, this is a very good game. Man, did I miss out on alot of great platform type fare.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Actually, I'm not a huge fan of this game. Maybe I just need to give it more time, but I'm not a huge fan of this series.
Hot Shots Golf FORE! - Again, here is a game that is just oozing with fun. Great playability. Very simple, but very well done
Ico - What a total classic. This game is definitely a work of art. I had this when I last had a PS2, and this was one of the few games that the PS2 had at the time that was any good.
Smugglers Run - An oldie but a goodie. I had this at launch, and it was actually probably the best launch game, along with SSX. Jaggies are everywhere and pulsating seams of polygons and stuff like that, but I can get over that now. When the PS2 first came out, I was super critical and that really bothered me, but since going old school, graphics are less import to me. I still love a game with killer graphics, but it isn't the be all end all.
Anyways, these are some of the games that I've been able to play, and I'm enjoying just about all of them.
Anybody have any other suggestions for me?