The Playstation 2 is now 20 years old. To this day it remains the best selling console of all time with a staggering 159 million units sold. With that many sold it’s easy to see why there are so many great games for the platform. Game developers had a blast creating some epic titles.
Today, we’re taking a look at 5 of the best Playstation 2 games ever released.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
So I went all in on the first entry on this list. GTA: SA is by far the best GTA ever released for the PS2. GTA III and GTA: VICE CITY are great but San Andreas is in a different league all together. If I could have one wish, it’d be for Rockstar to release a re-mastered San Andreas on a modern Playstation.
Initially released in 2004 it went on to sell 27.5 million copies up until 2011. I was unable to find any figures after this date. Even today it’s often considered by most gamers to be one of the greatest games ever made.
I even have a copy of it today on my PC. I play it sometimes for a bit of nostalgia. It’s such a good game and it has stood the test of time. The soundtrack is fantastic and the gameplay is impeccable.
It’s available still from Amazon for around £20.00
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Kingdom Hearts 2 is another awesome game for the PS2. It was developed by Square-Enix. It’s well worth picking up and playing, the latest one is available for PS4 now.
Manhunt
Probably one of the most controversial games released on the PS2. Partly due to the nature of the game and partly due to a murder that took place when a gamer allegedly became obssesed with the game and killed his friend.
Now we have the morbid stuff out of the way. If we take the game for what it is, a game, then it can only really be described as fantastically gruesome. The actual game-play is really good and even though the plot is quite simple the game developers have managed to tell a fantastic story throughout the missions.
The ways in which you execute members of “The Hoods” get more and more gruesome as the game goes on.
It was released in 2003 for the Playstation 2 and went platinum in less than a year.
The game is available from CEX for around £3.
Metal Gear Solid 2
To give it it’s full title Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (MGS2) is one hell of a game. The action stealth game was made by Konami. The legendary entertainment business are a powerhouse when it comes to games development.
MGS2 used to frustrate the hell out of me because I wasn’t used to using stealth to complete a mission. This was because I hadn’t played the original MGS games. The switch to stealth was slow but once I got the hang of it I really started to enjoy the game and as did millions of other gamers that hadn’t used stealth before.
It’s a direct sequel to the first game. This time around you play as Raiden, a rookie agent who is tasked with bringing down a terrorist organisation who have taken over a government facility.
The game was originally released for the PS2 in November 2001 but even before it’s release it had acquired 1.57 million pre orders! That’s crazy but totally expected due to the success of the first game.
You can pick up a copy of the game for as little as £1 from CEX.
Pro Evo Soccer 2006
Whilst doing some research for this blog article, I knew I had to include a football game. I asked my brother this simple question ‘What is the best football game ever made for the PS2?’ He replied, ‘Without doubt Pro Evo 6, probably my favourite football game ever.’
Pro Evo 6 was released in 2006 for the Playstation 2. This was the first Pro Evo game that featured a fully licensed Ligue 1. It also features John Terry on the front of the game. A lot of football game fans always missed the fully licensed kits and teams that you get with the likes of FIFA but Pro Evo always had the better game play and for that reason was adored by it’s fans.
Pro Evo 2006 is on this list for good reason. It’s an amazing football game. The PS2 version of the game was awarded “Double Platinum” status from the ELSPA. This meant that it had surpassed 600,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom. I’ve had a look online at some prominent Playstation 2 magazines, the official Playstation 2 magazine gave it a full 10/10.
The game is available to buy for 50p! Again, from CEX.
Timesplitters
This was probably one of the earlier first person shooters I played on the PS2. It was brought to the platform by the same people who were responsible for bringing Tomb Raider, Eidos Interactive.
Timesplitters was released during the year of the millenium bug, the year 2000. The game is basically a time travel first person shooter. The graphics are great and the soundtrack is diverse. The best part about the game is that you can put it down for long periods of time and pick it back up again, the plot is light so it’s not really that important you keep aware of the back story.
I remember me and my friends would spend hours and hours on the multiplayer and co-op modes. For that nostalgic reason alone, it deserves to be on the best ps2 games of all time list.
It went onto sell more than one million copies at the launch. This didn’t satisfy Free Radical as they wanted to create a legendary game. I don’t think millions of copies make a game legendary, it’s how it makes the players feel that allows a game to get a cult following.
The original development team Free Radical unfortunately went into administration but nobody can ever take away the Timesplitters legacy from them.