PlayStation 2

If you want the games alphabetized, just click the arrow next to the title column!

Not all games are accounted for yet, this page is still under construction!

Title	Genre	Description	Box Art
10,000 Bullets	Action	Basically Ninja Gaiden with guns. Released in PAL and NTSC-J only. Has a pretty bad reputation critically.
Black	FPS	A single-player-only fps by EA. The whole idea behind it was to make all the guns seem really powerful, and so there is really no story whatsoever. Pretty fun, and worth a play if you need a fps on the PS2 (they are fairly rare and mostly multi-platform). Graphics are nice and the guns succeed in all feeling fun (shotgun can blow straight through doors, bazooka will send glass flying everywhere, etc). Awful live-action, unskippable cutscenes before each mission are a real pain though. The lack of multiplayer is disappointing too.
Beyond Good & Evil	Stealth/Action	From the creators of Rayman, you play as an independent journalist trying to uncover a conspiracy. Very fun and great storyline, but pretty short.
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness	SRPG	An SRPG designed around grinding, with systems that make it easier. The max level is 9999, and you can go into items and grind in there to make them stronger. An excellent choice if you're wanting hundreds of hours of gameplay.
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories	SRPG	Same as Disgaea 1, but with more systems, more characters, more systems to grind. Excellent time waster.
Drakengard	Being a Badass	You run around as Caim, just a dude who wants to fuck his sister and murder people as much as possible, slashing motherfuckers up. Grimdark version of Dynasty Warriors. Only you get to have awesome aerial battles while piloting a fire breathing dragon. It's fun to watch huge armies shit their pants as you fly over them and annihilate them with fire. Your allies include a blind pedo and a cannibalistic baby eating elf bitch.
.Hack://IMOQ	RPG	.Hack://IMOQ (IMOQ stands for Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine, all different games in the series) revolve around the mysterious happenings in a fictional MMORPG called The World. The main character is a boy named Kite. On his first day playing, Kite's friend, Orca, falls into a coma, and Kite is given a mysterious item called the Twilight Bracelet by someone named Aura. Very fun game, but definitely not for everyone.
Front Mission 4	SRPG	Strategy with robots and a weird European/South American political plot. Get ready for CUSTOMIZING FUCKING EVERYTHING, since there are so many parts and different types of each class of part. Really difficult too; you'll most likely have to restart every mission a few times before you can beat it.
Kingdom Hearts	RPG/Action	Disney meets Final Fantasy in this mashup of worlds. An well-made and polished action RPG with plenty of Disney, Final Fantasy, and original characters. Story is love/hate, but is ignorable. Tons of sidequests too. There are some forgettable shmup/rail shooter sequences that feel like a chore since they're required to progress. You can build your own ship Lego Racers style though.
Kingdom Hearts 2	RPG/Action	The sequel to Kingdom Hearts. More of the same, but with more of a focus on combat with the new Drive system that "fuses" with your party members. The game flows a lot better overall, with combat feeling faster and more fluid. The addition of quicktime events for every type of heartless/nobody also allows for simple and fun kills on every enemy. The story took a hit however, being really convoluted and uninteresting. The shmup/rail shooter sequences are back, although this time, they actually play much better and are even enjoyable.
Devil May Cry	Being A Badass/Action	Demon asskicking 101: Be stylish, baby! A hard action game based around killing demons in multiple fun and stylish ways.
Devil May Cry 3 - Dante's Awakening: Special Edition	Being A Badass/Action	Returning to the badass style of the first game, Devil May Cry 3 essentially gave fans exactly what they wanted: none of the bad bullshit moaning and whining and tears or horrid gameplay from Devil May Cry 2 and all the fun-loving, jerkoff antics and great gameplay from Devil May Cry; now with over-the-top ABSOLUTELY CAAAAARRAAAAZY kung-fu style action. This special edition lowered the insane difficulty and added a special mode where you play as Vergil.
Marvel vs Capcom 2	Fighting	I WANNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE! 52 characters from both sides duke it out for the hell of it in this arcade port.
Yakuza	Being A Badass/Beat 'Em Up	Walkin talkin Like a Dragon. Kick everything's ass, get laid. Roam a city doing just about whatever you want, from buying soup at the store to getting laid at the host clubs. Combat is fun, with different melee attacks, the ability to use environmental items as bludgeons, and an experience system which upgrades your health and moves.
Yakuza 2	Being A Badass/Beat 'Em Up	Still Like a Dragon, now with bare knuckle boxing a tiger. More to do and more ass to kick and names to take.
Resident Evil 4	Survival Horror/Action/Being A Badass	Very different from previous RE titles, in a very good way. A very tense over-the-shoulder shooter with a fairly well-done story, and smooth gameplay centered around efficiency with weapons and crowd control. Lots of OH FUCK moments with scary things trying to kill you. Contains new, exclusive content the GC version didn't have, but the graphics take a hit.
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil	Platformer	A light-hearted 2.5D platformer. On the downside, it's fairly short and you could probably beat it in a day. Not to be confused with the GBA game Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament.
Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3: FES	RPG/Sim	Going to school and dating girls during the day, fighting demons at night, this game will keep you busy and does a great job of balancing both sides of the gameplay. Personaes can be fused to make new, stronger personaes as you go.
Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4	RPG/Sim	Persona 4 follows the principles as P3, with improvements having been made both to the battle system and the dating sim aspect of the game. The cast and story are entirely different than 3. The only connections are that it takes place in the same universe and the class trip takes place at the school in 3, so you don't need to play 3 to understand the story in 4.
Zone of the Enders	Action	A third-person anime-style mech game made by Hideo Kojima, of MGS fame. Plot is meh, but the action is pretty good. Close combat slashing, dashing in circles around enemies, shooting them with various lasers, etc. Also sells typically for less than $10.
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner	Action	Zone of the Ender's sequel, the tagline is "Bigger, better, faster." and it lives up to this claim within the first 30 minutes of gameplay. New enemies, new 2nd weapons, a new grapple system, and an overall more polished feel make this a must-buy. The anime cutscenes look great, and the overall graphics are great. Pretty good plot too if you like Kojima's convoluted ANIME stylings.
X-men Legends	RPG/Action	Command the X-men in an awesome squad-based real-time rpg. Everyone is unique, with tons of powers and abilities to upgrade and equipment to find. Tons of team combos. Runs better on another system though, as the load times can be fucking long as well as frequent.
X-men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse	RPG/Action	Same deal as the first game, but now you team up with the Brotherhood, which essentially doubles the roster of characters.
Hitman: Blood Money	Stealth/Action	Almost as much of a puzzle game as a action/stealth, as there are tons of ways to accomplish your goals in each mission. If you have a small attention span, look elsewhere; this game is for perfectionists. Blood Money introduces a payment system, where the amount of money you make from a mission is dependent on how well you do on your objectives. This money is then used to upgrade your weapons and equipment in different ways. Also has multiple difficulties that actually change the AI, change the difficulty, and reduce how many quicksaves you get, which allows for tons of replayability.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Adventure/Action/TPS	Be Italian in the '80s. Kill, drive, steal, evade, etc. Pretty entertaining plotlines as well. At odds with SA for greatest GTA game.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Adventure/Action/TPS	More to do than VC, as well as stats, swimming, and hot coffee. FUCKHUGE map and lots of new vehicles/weapons as well.
Metal Gear Solid 2 : Substance	Stealth	The stealth action of the famous MGS1, now with a whiny main character nobody likes! Do cartwheels! Strip naked! Manage to avoid drowning! Become sexually confused by men who may or may not swing both ways! I NEED SCISSORS! 61! The Substance version comes with plenty of neat extras, including a lol-tastic Tony Hawk-esque skateboarding minigame.
Metal Gear Solid 3 : Subsistence	Being A Badass/Stealth	Become the badass you've always wanted to be. Eat wild animals. Meet strange and violent new people. Be groped and tortured by large men! Reconsider your mental stability! Kill the people you love and be PROUD OF IT. The Subsistence edition comes with two modes of camera (classic and behind-the-back) switchable at any time during gameplay, plenty of neat extras (a theatre, Ape Escape minigame, and others), "online play" (not available anymore), and even updated versions of the MSX games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. This is perhaps the best fucking special edition of any game ever.
Katamari Damacy	Ball Rollan Games	Your drunken father, the King of All Cosmos, has destroyed all the stars in the night sky! Roll up as many objects as you can on earth and remake them. Delicious music and low-poly graphics, plus a fun and unique dual-analogue stick control.
We ♥ Katamari	Ball Rollan Games	Everyone loved your first game, and now they've caught on to the Katamari hype. They want you to make more stars for them! Goddamn, these people can never be satisfied. Delicious music and low-poly graphics.
Red Dead Revolver	Shootan	Play as multiple Wild West characters and kill everyone. Multiple characters with different playstyles/weapons make for an interesting single-player and multiplayer experience. Make money and buy new weapons by playing well. Most likely the best Wild West game that's been made yet.
Red Faction	Shootan	Be an anti-goverment violent rebel communist in the future in a colonized Mars. Great setting and awesome fun.
Red Faction II	Shootan	Not as good as the first, but still a solid shooter. Multplayer is awesome fun with a friend as games can last up to one hour.
God Hand	Beat 'Em Up/Being A Badass	You are as awesome as the motherfucking Fist of the North Star. Punch the fuck out of everything that stands in your way! (Dragon kicking asses into the milky way is also acceptable.)
Mana Khemia Alchemists of Al-Revis	RPG	Cook up some danger with alchemy. That's about it.
Odin Sphere	RPG/Beat 'em up	2D side-scrolling RPG that takes place inside a book. Choose one of five heroes armed with magical soul-sucking weapons and stab/shoot/spear/whip the hell out of anything that gets in your way. Gorgeous bosses and engrossing story; quite a bit of lag in certain areas/against certain bosses, but it's fixed somewhat for Europe.
Phantom Brave	SRPG	Loli necromancer and her phantom companions overcome prejudice, do odd jobs for money, save the world. Distinguished from other NI SRPGs in that the movement is not grid-based (which can cause trouble, especially on ice levels) and that you can use literally anything you can pick up as a weapon. Even your opponents. Recently got a port to the Wii that revamps another number of aspects, such as streamlining the stat displays, adding a new scenario, some new items, and some new attacks.
Makai Kingdom	SRPG	Play a strategy game by NIS (Disgaea, Phantom Brave, Mana Khemia, Soul Nomad) where you find a book with a villainous soul inside. Great time-waster, very humorous.
Final Fantasy X	RPG	Turn-based battles make a comeback in the first Final Fantasy on the PS2. Beautiful graphics with a sweeping story, despite the sometimes awkward dialogue. Includes a soccer-like sports game for when you get tired of battles, as well as tons of other sidequests. WARNING: Protagonist is extremely obnoxious.
Final Fantasy XII	RPG	You play as someone who tags along with the real main character(s?). Political intrigue and the like, as expected from Ivalice. The battle system is like an offline FFXI, and the Gambit system is polarizing. Do all the hunts as well, they'll make the game easier as well as more fun. When playing Final Fantasy XII it is strongly advised NOT TO LISTEN TO ONDORE'S LIES. Recently there has been a translation patch made for the superior International Zodiac Job System version of the game. This Patch requires you to have a modded PS2, or the ability to play the game on a Emulator.
Grandia II	RPG	Port of the Dreamcast game. Play as a mercenary protecting a singer nun. Plays almost exatly as Grandia, so expect a great battle system and a good storyline with lots of character developement. Also, the plot is totally unrelated from the original, so no need to play it first. Should only be played if you can't get the dreamcast version though as the porting job has it's problems.
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht	RPG	The spiritual prequel to Xenogears on the PS1 by Squaresoft. Made by a different company, though, so the story is completely different.
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose	RPG	The sequel to Xenosaga Episode I. Is generally considered the worst of the three, but still worth playing. Has a more realistic styling to it, a turn off to many people.
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra	RPG	Considered to be the best of the series, Xenosaga Episode III concludes the series on a good note. Is also notoriously hard to find nowadays.
Okami	Action/Adventure	Plays much like a Zelda game, but with a well-implemented painting mechanic, a wonderful sumi-e inspired art style, and plenty of stuff to do in a feudal Japanese world. Not a lot of challenge for power gamers, but still a great game. You will think you're fighting the final boss about three times before you actually do fight the final boss.  It was ported to the Wii with widescreen and 480p, but though the Wiimote painting is more intuitive, it replaces the button-mashing attack with timed waggles. It's mostly a minor annoyance though, and the game is great on both.
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga	RPG	Play as a rag-tag group of soldiers, who just so happen to be demons as well. Eat your enemies to get stronger. Kill the other groups of soldiers so you can go to heaven. Yay!
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2	RPG	Obviously, the whole heaven thing didn't work out like you thought it would. Now, you eat more people, and want to kill God in the process.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne	RPG	You play as a guy chosen as Lucifer's right hand after an apocalypse, and what is your mission? Collect ancient hellish artifacts and shape the new world according to your wishes. Isn't that bad ass? Dante from Devil May Cry appears in the Japanese special edition (subtitled Maniax Edition) but he auto-comes in the western release. Awesome!
Shadow Hearts	RPG	A JRPG where you play as Yuri, a "Harmonixer" who can basically turn into demons, who meets a girl named Alice, contemplates raping her (not even kidding), then decides to protect her. Do NOT play the first sequel, "Shadow Hearts: Covenant", without finishing this game first!
Shadow Hearts: Covenant / Shadow Hearts II	RPG	The year is 1915. You're a guy who turns into Lovecraftian hellspawn. You join up with a German army officer, a gay pro wrestling shapeshifting superhero vampire, and Princess Anastasia Romanov (yes, that Anastasia) to go kick Rasputin's ass. While it has a serious story, it's also got a great sense of humor (and a lot of historical in-jokes).
Shadow Hearts: From the New World	RPG	A lighter-hearted sequel to Shadow Hearts taking place in the United States in the 1920's/30's (it's hard to tell). The cast of characters is much more zany than the first game, and the plot much less serious, but the creatures are still just as messed up as always.
Radiata Stories	RPG	As the young Radiata Knight Jack Russel, make friends and influence people by kicking the shit out of them. Every NPC in the world has their own schedule; stalking people has never been so fun! Plays a bit like a cross between Star Ocean, Suikoden, and a Saturday morning cartoon.
Steambot Chronicles	RPG	A Non-Linear Real-time rpg. Play however the fuck you want, from good to evil, without having to do it all through text choices. Think a steampunk Grand Theft Auto combined with Katamari's controls and Dark Cloud's levels of customization. Play music for a living, get a boring job, become a criminal, get an apartment, get laid, become a cage fighter, etc...
Suikoden V	RPG	The latest entry in the main series, and some say the best since II. Play as a prince trying to reclaim his lost kingdom. As always, 108 characters to recruit and a good storyline, although it takes a while to get into it.
Ratchet & Clank	Shootan/Platforman	Be a rodent with a robot friend. Use various guns (some traditional, some more outrageous) as you traverse various planets and kick ass third-person shoot. Some platforming elements, as well as tons of hidden items in every level. Don't be put off because the sequels have more content, all three are worth getting.
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando	Shootan/Platforman	The sequel to Ratchet & Clank. More weapons, more weapons, more humor.
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal	Shootan/Platforman	The third game in the series. EVEN MORE CONTENT! Definitely worth picking up.
The Red Star	Run 'N Gun	Set in an alternate history Soviet Union, with industrialized magic running rampant. Gameplay consists mostly of beating up grunts in melee and memorizing bullet patterns to dodge for bosses, saving up points for character upgrades. Oh, and some side-scrolling shmup thrown in to stir things up a little. Good old arcade fun, on the whole. Also, it is based on a comic book of the same name, but you've never read it. And even if you had, the game's story is completely different so as to avoid spoilers. Go look for it!
Tales of the Abyss	Action/RPG	Regarded as one of the better games in the Tales of series, it has good characters, a decent story, and great gameplay. If JRPGs are your thing, you have no excuse not to have at least tried this.
Shadow of the Colossus	Action/Platformer	Travel across a desolate, expansive land, find giant stone monsters, climb up onto said monsters, and kill them to some amazing orchestral music. Beautiful game, one of the first to use motion blur and blooooom. Only issues are the fluctuating framerate because of the advanced graphics processing, and getting lost in the expansive world. Post-game content is great too; time trials for unlockable euipment, another difficulty with more time trials, and the fabled Garden atop the Tower. Actually a prequel to Ico... by like a hundred years.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus	Platformer	While not particularly difficult, this platformer has a ton of charm and is fun to play. Great level design, a good grapple-based platforming system, fun objectives and puzzles, and simple stealth mechanics. Pretty funny in the script department as well, with enjoyable characters and plot.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves	Platformer	While regarded as the low point in the series, it's still a great game. Introduces two new playable characters for more variation, even though I personally wanted to play as Sly the whole time anyway. Murray punches and fights, while Bentley uses bombs and other gadgets.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves	Platformer	Perfects the series' past wrongdoings. Also introduces co-op and multiplayer modes.
Sky Odyssey	Flight Simulator	Ride your plane through various missions searching for a treasure. Lots of great moments, like refueling while flying over a moving train or avoiding falling rocks while flying through a narrow cliff. Very fun.
Timesplitters 2	FPS	One of the best FPS of the gen, especially on PS2. Great single player and co-op campaign, incredible amount of challenge and arcade missions, tons and tons of levels and characters to unlock, a mapmaker mode, GOOD BOTS for multiplayer, and some great humor. You have no excuse to have never played this classic.
Timesplitters 3: Future Perfect	FPS	Although EA published this, it's still faithful to its predecessor. Once again, tons to do and unlock. You still can't jump. Campaign and mapmaker are more robust, and more weapons with more variety. Overall the game feels more polished than TS2.
Dokapon Kingdom	RPG/Party/Board Game	One of the strangest concepts turned into one of the most fun party games ever. Think Mario Party or Monopoly combined with Dragon Quest; it's all about who has the most money, and you go around leveling up and conquering towns to make it. Tons of things to do as well; multiple classes, weapons, hidden dungeons, etc. Worth picking up if you'll have friends to play it with. There's a Wii version that is arguably better, because four players are better than two.
Burnout Revenge	Racing	Racing where you can slam into, and therefore wreck the shit out of, your competitors. While Burnout 3 was great, Burnout Revenge improves on it in every possible way. Better racing and some great new modes make for a great game. Crash mode is in as well. Tons of explosions and tons of unlockables.
Dark Cloud	RPG/Action/Sim/Roguelike	Interesting mash-up of Zelda-style gameplay and typical RPG stat systems stuffed into a roguelike, the real kicker is the fact that there's also a Simcity-esque town building aspect not too unlike Actraiser. Does suffer from a slogged storyline and typical grinding, still a great experience and definitely worth picking up.
Dark Cloud 2	RPG/Action/Sim	Dark Cloud 2 takes everything from the first game and improves ten times, just as a sequel should. The only gripe is that the atmosphere in DK2 feels very cookie cutter, whereas the first game had a very unique, hard to describe feel to it. However, it is definitely recommended.
Rogue Galaxy	RPG/Action	Grandson of the Dark Cloud franchise. Be a SPACE PIRATE in a plot strikingly similar to Star Wars. Play as any of the party members at any time, and customize all of them too. The weapon fusion system is great if that's your thing, and tons of sidequests to distract you, such as a bug-fighting arena, a scientific lab to create all kinds of goofy items, and lots of hidden bosses to fight for bounty money.
Monster Rancher 4	Sim/RPG	Arguably the best Monster Rancher game on the system. In this game, you can create hundreds monsters made from scanning any number of CDs, DVDs, PS1 games, or PS2 games. Seriously, you could spend hours, not even touching the main game, just rummaging through your house to try and find your favorite CD's to check out what monsters are in them. As the name implies, you can raise up to 4 of these monsters on an ever growing ranch, feeding them, training them, going on adventures with them, and competing in really awesome tournaments. Try not to get too attatched to your monsters, because they age and die. And you'll miss them. ;_;
Armored Core 2: Another Age	Mech Combat	Arguably the best Armored Core game in the series, this game is full to the brim with everything the series is known for, such as complicated controls and WAY too much mech customization. It's great to try and make a mech that is completely and utterly you, and if you get friends in on the game, the splitscreen multiplayer is a blast.
Garouden Breakblow - Fist or Twist	Fighting	Almost unknown 3D fighting game from Japan (was never released outside of it). Have very interesting game mechanics, such as - ability to break arm/leg/skull, lack of standard health gauge, lack of fireballs and teleports. Fight can take from 20 seconds to 3 minutes. Based on the Garouden manga (from the author of Baki The Grappler).
Dynasty Warriors 5	Hack n' Slash/Being A Badass	Arguably the pinnacle of the DW games, which are very much a love-it-or-hate-it series. Play any one of 50-odd fighters in ancient China, wreak havoc in massive-scale battles, with killcounts in the thousands. It is advised that you not pursue Lu Bu.
Warriors Orochi 2	Action/Being A Badass	Dynasty Warriors 5 + Samurai Warriors 2 = epic. Like the others, you'll either love it or hate it.
Skygunner	Flight/Combat	Simplified Ace Combat with beautiful manga-style art and good voice acting. The controls are one of the best features, as handling is fun and responsive. Use different secondary weapons and your machine gun to create chains of destroyed enemies to increase your cash multiplier and score better. Different characters have different ships with different special abilities and statistics as well.
Star Wars Battlefront II	TPS/Combat	Fight in huge battles from the movies in either the Clone Wars or the Imperial. A surprisingly good shooter, with multiple classes who each have their own specialty. BF2 introduces new units (like the Clone Commander) and heroes, such as Boba Fett and Mace Windu. The heroes control great and can sway a match.
Second Sight	Stealth/Shootan	Think simplistic splinter cell with crazy psychic powers and a government conspiracy plot. Made by free radical, makers of the Timesplitters Series. Some fun powers and well-designed levels.
Okage: Shadow King	RPG	While the gameplay is very typical RPG flair, this game sets itself apart for having a fantastically gloom and humor atmosphere that feels like a Tim Burton movie animated by a Japanese mangaka. An early release on the PS2, it still stands out as a cult classic.
Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King	RPG	If you like Dragon Quest, here's a Dragon Quest. The gameplay hasn't evolved, but it's still a great game. There are however, new skill trees divided into different categories. Powering them up boosts your stats and gives you new abilities. Visually similar to Dark Cloud 2s and Rogue Galaxys cel-shading technique, and that makes sense, since it was developed by Level 5 who made all three of those games. Being a long game, VIII is only beaten by VII in length. The US soundtrack is also from the symphonic suite CD and sounds absolutely incredible.
Blood Will Tell Tezuka Osamu's Dororo	Beat 'Em Up/Action/Being A Badass	Blood Will Tell is a game based on an manga by the guy who made Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka. You play as Hyakkimaru, a Samurai with no natural limbs. His limbs were sacrificed by his crazy father to demons when Hyakkimaru was only a child, so instead of regular limbs, you have things like SWORDS FOR HANDS. I'm not sure if you're paying attention but that's really badass. You can also play on the titular character, Dororo, a little thief boy girl who is pretty cool herself. The gameplay is stellar and the atmosphere unique. When you defeat a boss you regain a piece of your body, which can unlock new abilities. A must have, though pretty rare.
Way of the Samurai	Action/Adventure/Being A Badass	The entire point of this game is to be a samurai. Do whatever you want within a day and a half of game time, as a samurai. Side with whoever you want, kill whoever you want, just do whatever you want. As a Samurai. Very interesting game with varied endings depending on your actions, and since it's short, you can keep replaying the same character over and over, improving his wardrobe, sword's stats, etc. You can also take the weapon of fallen enemies/allies and store it or use it yourself, which adds a very interesting collection aspect. Really underrated classic.
Way of the Samurai 2	Action/Adventure/Being A Badass	The sequel to Way of the Samurai is just a great improvement, with the same great game-play, time and freedom, but with a new set of stories, characters, longer playtime, and a bigger world. A lot more swords to collect too. Story-wise it's actually a prequel. The better of the two, but it's really just worth it to own both since they have different locales. Some people prefer the first game because they feel this game has weaker stories, but again, both are worth owning.
Samurai Western	Arcade/Beat 'Em Up/Being A Badass	Actually a spin-off to the Way of the Samurai series, this game places you in the shoes of a Samurai named Gojiro who travels to the old west to kill his brother. That's fucking awesome. Actually has a level system making it similar to the beat em up's of old (although I would call it a slash 'em up), with a score card and everything. Character customization is present, and so is multiplayer, but it's sub-par and has to be unlocked. Can be quite challenging. You can slice through cowboys like a knife cuts through warm butter, and the opening intro wants you to KNOW how badass you are. You can play as other, gun wielding characters in other modes.
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure	Action/Adventure	A spiritual remake of the 80's Arcade/NES title Rygar (which is on the recommended NES games list), you are put in the shoes of the titular hero as you travels through levels in the land of Argool, a fictional island province of ancient Greece, to destroy the Titans who have scoured the land. Your main weapon is a shield known as the Diskarmor, which can be thrown and summoned back via a long chain, and shreds foes with spikes protruding from it's sides. It's usually accepted that God of War ripped off paid great homage to this game, though nobody likes to talk about that. There is a Wii remake, stay far, far away from it.
Gitaroo Man	Rhythm	A fun, fun rhythm game about a young teen who wants to be popular, so he learns guitar. This suddenly reveals the amazing truth that he is somehow a space-faring-superhero-rock-god-thing. Totally fun, and despite what people will tell you, it's nothing like Guitar Hero. Check it out for it's quirky and addictive fun that you will play over and over to master.
God of War	Action/Adventure/Being A Badass	Be Kratos, an asshole from ancient Greece who wants to kill everyone because he killed his own family. Traverse through nicely rendered Grecian level-scapes as you hack 'n slash your way to the top of Mount Olympus with two blades attached to long chains to kill Ares. Very similar to Rygar: The Legendary Adventure, although this came a few years later so it's much more polished and is thus better for it. Plus Kratos is soooo much more grimdark than Rygar is. Made quick-time events popular.
God of War II	Action/Adventure/Being A Badass	You want more God of War? Here's more God of War. Watch Kratos get butthurt and start ripping things to shreds again with his Blades of Chaos. Better than the original.
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory	Action/Platformer	The newest cast of characters and series of adventures in the Ghosts 'n' Goblins universe, Maximo follows tradition by being damn hard. The game is funny and has that certain 'taste' to it that definitely reminds you of the older Ghost 'n' Goblins games. Very underrated, this was an early release on the PS2... and yes, you do lose armor until there's nothing left but boxer shorts.
Maximo vs. the Army of Zin	Action/Platformer	The sequel to Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, this game continues Maximo's unfortunate adventures into the realms of life and death and the escapades required in saving that goddamn princess. Considerably easier than the first game, Army of Zin is also much more polished. It's semi-rare because it did not sell well in it's initial release, due to stiff competition from Devil May Cry (another Capcom game!) and Ninja Gaiden. This pretty much offed then third game, which they were in the progress of making.
Guitar Hero I & II Dual Pack	Rhythm	It's fucking Guitar Hero. Songs play, you match the notes on a plastic toy, everyone has fun. What more is there to say? Save space and time by getting this dual pack which has the first and second game in one convenient package.
Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's	Rhythm	Guitar Hero II 80's Edition, basically. Worth it just to watch friends rock out like jackasses to Holy Diver.
Monster Hunter	Action/Adventure/RPG/MMO	Kind of hard to describe, Monster Hunter is like a mix between Phantasy Star Online and Pokémon, except instead of trying to catch 'em all, you're trying to kill 'em all. The game is divided into two parts, half the missions for your character are purely single player, where the other half are online where you can join a party of up to three other people. Unfortunately, Capcom has cancelled Monster Hunter's North America servers in light of all the PSP sequels and the soon-coming MH3 for Wii; still a worthy pick up for single player, plus the "early Final Fantasy meets Jurassic Park" atmosphere is priceless. Joystiq best describes the series in saying, "Find it, stab it and then make it into a nice hat!"
Soul Nomad	SRPG	Play a strategy RPG where you are a cool guy who doesn't afraid of eating souls. Superb, interesting game that is probably the best of the NIS SRPG games, which is a lot considering how good the Disgaea series is.
Contra: Shattered Soldier	Run 'N Gun	Basically a 2D Contra game with 3D graphics. Still side-scrolling, epic hard boss fights and action. It's the Contra you love, just prettier. Instead of picking up weapons, you always have 3 which you can switch between at any time. They also have charge up effects, which are abit stronger than just rapid-firing away, although that's still a very acceptable alternative.
Castle Shikigami 2	Shootan/Arcade	Commando-style shooter with weeaboo graphics. Lots of arcade-ish fun. Has a cool two player co-op mode, and some of the most hilariously awful voice acting you'll ever hear in a video game.
Metal Slug Anthology	Run 'N Gun/Arcade/Being A Badass	The first six Metal Slug games in one convenient package! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? GET THAT SHIT FOOL! Also released on the PSP and the Wii, but the Wii version sucks and the PSP version is inferior to the PS2.
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection	Fighting	5 4 3 2 1 LET'S GET IT ON NOW! Ports of both SFII Hyper Fighting and SFIII: Third Strike in one convenient package, very awesome to own. Not released in Japan or PAL territories, but both were released individually there. Tough break.
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology	Fighting	Contains Street Fighter Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold, Alpha 3, and Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix (previously known as Pocket Fighter on the original Playstation). Wow! That's a lot of awesome shit! It also includes two secret games, Alpha 3 Upper (an updated Alpha 3 Arcade) and Hyper Street Fighter Alpha. So worth it! FUCK YES YOU ARE THE BEST ALPHA PORT EVER!
Viewtiful Joe	Platformer/Beat 'Em Up/Being A Badass	Henshin a go go baby! An amazing platformer with beat em up elements, Viewtiful Joe lets you control an otaku with superpowers, just like his favorite tokusatsu heroes! Joe has awesome 'VFX' powers that give him the ability of a film reel, by fast forwarding himself (Mach Speed), slowing himself down (Slow), and Zoom! Live a shitty Japanese action movie in this hilarious romp! The PS2 version is better than the Gamecube simply because Dante from Devil May Cry is a unlockable character for a new game +.
Viewtiful Joe 2	Platformer/Beat 'Em Up/Being A Badass	More Henshin a go go baby! Plays the same as the first game mostly, except your girlfriend from the first game, Silvia, joins you in your toku-ass-beatin' adventures! Switch between the two at any time, adding a nice bit of depth. Instead of Mach Speed, Silvia (known as Sexy Silvia in-costume) has a Replay power, which lets her re-do any action she attempted up to three times. Sadly, no Dante this time around.
Bully	Adventure/Being A Dickhead	Made by Grand Theft Auto creators Rockstar Games, Bully is a essentially a GTA game set in a prep-school. For that reason, many people enjoy it more. Instead of gunning down civilians, fling sink bombs at them. Instead of jacking a car, steal a bicycle. Instead of beating up passerbys and gangsters beat up... passerbys and high-school gangs. Ok, so it's not that different, but wholly enjoyable, and some even prefer it to GTA for being more light-hearted. Essentially, it's GTA for kids, but it's still inappropriate for kids.
Ico	Adventure/Puzzle	A beautiful game with two silent protagonists. You are Ico, and you must lead an innocent girl (namd Yorda) out of a desolate castle (filled evil, shadowy monsters), that you were both unfairly shunned into for being different. Sometimes leading the girl around (you literally hold her hand) can get kind of annoying, and the game is very minimalistic, so it's not for everyone. A very unique and rewarding experience, nonetheless. The game was followed with Shadow of the Colossus.
Silent Hill 2	Survival Horror	Fuck yeah. Silent Hill 2! Essentially similar to Silent Hill 1, but with improved graphics and controls! Must have for any horror fan! Considered by /v/ as the most mind-fucking game in the series, as well as on par "scary" with 3. Like in the first, theres multiple ending, allong with that "special" ending that everyone loves. An extra mode, "Born From a Wish" can be found on the Platinum re-release and on the Xbox and PC versions. It shows what happened to Maria before she met James.
Silent Hill 3	Survival Horror	FUCK YES YOU WANT THIS. This is "proper" sequal to the first game, where you play as Heather all grown up! Weird shit starts happening and you need to find out what the fuck is going on, as well as escape all those scary monsters!Some also consider this to be the final "story" in this. series, as it is now getting a silly reboot/rehash on the Wii. UPDATE: The "rehash" ended up being almost better than every other game in the series. It's called "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories", and even thought it's best played on Wii, you can get it on PS2.
Silent Hill 4: The Room	Survival Horror	In this Silent Hill, you play as Henry Townshend, you get stuck in your apartment and weird shit starts happening! (recurring theme much?). Along the journey, other people from the apartment building get dragged into this nightmare, their fates unknown.It was originally planned to be unrelated to the Silent Hill series, and now has a hugely different gameplay style than the other games, but also makes the game a little more interesting from that fact alone.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Platformer/Action	An attempt to reboot the Prince of Persia franchise, Ubisoft succeeded with stellar results. A fun platformer where you run on walls like a ninja and can control time in case you fuck up (aka rewind, bitches). The storyline is pretty cool but overall forgettable, and the fighting is decent.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within	Platformer/Action	The OMG GRIMDARK sequel, the fighting improved but the platforming took a bit of hit, but overall, still worth playing. The storyline is more interesting, however.
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones	Platformer/Action	The third game in the series. This time around, both the platforming and fighting gameplay are on par, but the storyline is just confusing and dumb. Still, a nice end to the trilogy overall.
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies	Flight/Combat	A flight simulation game with tons of exciting combat, fucking stellar controls and visuals, top quality sounds and music, perfect atmosphere, and even a great storyline to boot. Who thought a flight simulation game could have a good story!? It's not even shoved in your face either, most playing through flashbacks and interspersed dialogue on your jet's radio communications. Unlockable planes and a perfect difficulty curve make this one game you'll never want to let go of.
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War	Flight/Combat	Seriously just as good as Ace Combat 04 in every way, and maybe even improved with tightened controls.
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War	Flight/Combat	A prequel to all the other Ace Combat games, this has all the great things you've come to love and expect from such a top-quality series.
Mister Mosquito	Puzzle	Affectionately suck the blood out of people. <3 Weird game, feels almost Katamari-ish. As you can probably guess the whole game revolves around you flying around different stages and trying to suck blood to survive. Try not to get squashed! Plenty of fun to be had.
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millenium	Fighting	Your favorite characters from Capcom fightan' games and SNK fightan' games duke it out to determine who makes better fighting games. In it's default, it plays SF:Alpha-ish but there are 'grooves' that make the button layout and character play style feel more like different fighting games, from grooves that play like MvC, SF, KoF, Garou, and various others.
The King of Fighters 2006	Fighting	A 3D King of Fighters game. Trust me it's not as bad as it's sounds, it's quite enjoyable. However, the roster is sadly thin in numbers. To make up for this, there's a fuck ton of unlockables, many of which will appeal to fans of SNK games.
Tekken 5	Fighting	The ultimate Tekken game up to this points. Break faces like you have been, but now much smoother than any previous incarnation.
Tekken TAG Tournament	Fighting	Essentially a team battle version of a Tekken game. Now you can pick more than one character at a time, huzzah!
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution	Fighting	Probably the most balanced series of fighting games. Enjoy technical matches, you noob.
The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga	Fighting	Collects KOFs 94, 95, 96, 97, and 98. That's a lot of KOF! Enjoy your team battle games!
The King of Fighters XI	Fighting	The first official main-series King of Fighters game not to be named by the year it came out. As the eleventh game in the series, KoF XI starts the series with a fresh new faces and story, gameplay adjustments, and nice new 2D sprites. Not the height of the series exactly, but definitely a great game and a must for any fighting fan.
Soul Calibur II	Fighting	Perhaps the best entry in the Soul Calibur series, gameplay balance here was the best (although thats laughable for an SC). This game was released on each console at the time, and this version came with Heihachi from Tekken.
Soul Calibur III	Fighting	A bit more wild and unbalanced than SCII, Soul Calibur III makes up for it with totally new characters, custom character creation, a mode that plays like a strategy game, and a shit-ton of extra modes, bonuses, and features. The amount of content is pretty astounding actually, and it's core, the battling is still good ole' Soul Calibur.
Gran Turismo 4	Racing	Fuck year Gran Turismo. Race pretty realistically and go VROOOOOOM.
SSX Tricky	Sports	Snowboarding. It's fun.
SSX3	Sports	Pretty much improves everything from Tricky.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3	Sports	As close as it's gets to a THPS2 on the PS2. Pro Skater 3 is pretty good, the gameplay is a bit more classic compared to the recent games, and includes Darth Maul from Star Wars as an unlockable.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland	Sports	Remember all those weird and somewhat annoying additions to gameplay mechanics present in every game after 3? Well, they're not so annoying here and actually useful here, although that makes the game a bit too easy. A first for the series, THAW is not level based and instead free-roaming, with said levels being substituted for missions. A lot of fun with it's superb character creation, decent soundtrack, and off the wall 80's punk vibe. Enjoying skating the shit out of a pseudo-Hollywood while listening to The Doors.
Ape Escape 3	Platformer/Puzzle	Fuck yeah, the biggest, best Ape Escape yet. Lots of monkeys to catch, lots of humor to be had, and lots of gadgets to exploit. You know what to expect, and it's super awesome. Actually includes a mini-game where you play a Metal Gear Solid as a monkey with controls/gameplay that echo MGS3. You even get to talk to Snake on the codec!
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus	Fighting	HEAVEN OR HELL, LET'S ROCK! Arc System Works' heavy metal 2D fighter in all its glory. AC+ has a story mode for people who care about the giant clusterfuck that is GG's plot while retaining all the badass gameplay from Accent Core. Also has Kliff and Justice, broken as fuck characters that will get you kicked in the dick if you choose them while playing with friends.
Neo Geo Battle Coliseum	Fighting	A Neo Geo dream battle game. It's a funny story, because the King of Fighters series started with this concept, but became it's own thing, so SNK decided to do a true SNK dream battle game with characters from many of the non-fighting and obscure games, as well as some favorite SNK fighter mainstays. The gameplay itself actually resembles the Capcom vs SNK games than King of Fighters, and includes multiple modes with different game styles. The character list is vivid and fun, and even includes Marco from Metal Slug and Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown, FUCK YEAR! The new characters are also enjoyable additions, though this author wishes they would appear in new games and not be stuck to a one-shot title. Overall a good buy for any fighting game fan and a must have for any SNK fan.
Psi-Ops	Action/Throwin' Muthafuckers Across The Room	Pick soldiers up, smack them into walls and then throw them across the room, WITH YOUR MIND. You control your telekinesis (one of four mind powers) with the analog sticks. One of the few games on the ps2 to use the havok physics engine for ragdoll fun.
Romancing SaGa	RPG	It's like some delicious JRPG/WRPG fusion. Start the game as any of eight characters, each with their own quest. You don't have any fucking EXP or levels as your stats will levels up semi-randomly after battles with no rhyme or reason. No hand holding bullshit here, either. After a character's opening quest, you have access to pretty much the entire world. You gotta find your own quests and figure that shit out on your own. Trying to understand all the systems, subsystems and other technical stuff going on will make your brain explode. You're better off to let things happen and enjoy the ride. This game is for masochists or for people who want something different in their JRPGs. (English remake of the untranslated SNES original, of which the third game is translated and also worth a shot.)
Legaia 2: Duel Saga	RPG	A very early rpg addition to the PS2. Has a unique combo battle system. Some may say this is a bad game but it has a cult staus behind it. Worth looking into, Legaia 1 is on the PSX, also reconmended.
Chaos Wars	SRPG	A SRPG featuring characters from Growlanser, Shadow Hearts, Gungrave, Spectral Force, and many others. ****BE AWARE THIS GAME HAS THE ABSOLUTE WORST VOICE ACTING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF VOICE ACTING****
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Hack n' Slash	Okay, this game is fucking awesome. Play as Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, or Islidur, and fuck shit up. Also on Xbox and Gamecube. I can't speak for the Gamecube version, but the Xbox and the PS2 versions are about equal.
Berserk - Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Holy Demon War	Action	A really solid DMC-type action game, only now with Berserk. Much better than the mediocre DC game, and worth at least playing if you're a fan of the manga.
Alien Hominid	Run n' Gun	Alien Hominid has you playing as a little yellow alien basically just fucking shit up. Basic gameplay is similar to Metal Slug, but you can jump on people and bite their heads off.
Kinetica	Futuristic Racer	Think Wipeout meets Extreme G, meets Rollcage, meets SSX, and you'll nearly be there. This game is an absolute blast to play. Fans of Wipeout will love this, although the AI can be unforgiving at times.
Sniper Elite	Shooter/Sim	Realistic sniping.

SO MANY GAMES