Forums > Game Talk > Is there a map for PS2?
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/20/2008 7:03 AM · Permalink · Report
Yours truly is still trying to make sense of the extensive PS2 library. Many things have changed since the last time I asked for advice as to the most interesting, innovative and fresh titles for this fabulous console. But I still feel like lost in the woods when it comes to the sheer amount of exclusives and high-rated games the database has to offer. Still, I think I can narrow my search for great games a bit. Here are the things I'm looking for.
- An action-adventure game, preferably unique and unsual. I'm not asking for another Shadow Of The Colossus, Okami or God Of War but I hope there are still excellent titles left. I am wondering about this Yakuza series (Shenmue clone?). Is it any good?
And, please, no kiddy stuff! I had enough of that with Spyro and Ratchet & Clank.
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A pure action game in spirit of Mercenaries or Stuntman: Ignition. I adore those two, so if there is something like' em I'll be happy to try it. Explosions, flying body parts and tanks are definitely welcome.
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A good 2 player co-op. I've just completed Dark Alliance I & II , and although I would have never completed it myself, these games turned out to be quite good while playing them in co-op mode. I have taken notice of Champions of Norrath. Any opinions? Of course, I'm not thinking only RPGs here. I would love to have a great co-op action game as well.
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I just have to have a Mortal Kombat game, but there are at least four of them for PS2. I can't choose. I don't think I am interested in the singleplayer parts. Is there an ultimate game among them like Mortal Kombat Trilogy?
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I have my console for more than 8 months now and still not a single Star Trek game in my library. Help me undo this horrendous injustice!
6.I don't think I'm interested in jRPGs or Survival Horror games at this point. But of course, feel free to mention them as well.
- And here are the games I'm interested in, but I'm not exactly sure of their merits. Any comments will be appreciated.
Killzone, DarkWatch, Rule Of Rose, Rez, Fallout: BOS (from the Dark Alliance point of view, is there co-op?), Burnout (just what is so exceptional about it? what is the best title?), Jak and Daxter (another Ratchet & Clank clone? or something different?), Gateway (GTA clone? better than True Crimes games?). There's more but I just can't keep all those titles in that little head of mine.
Anyway it's nice to be a PS2 gamer, with so many apparently great games to choose from, you know! Sorry for the indecent amount of questions, but I think its better to have them all in one thread, rather than create countless others.
Donatello (466) on 5/20/2008 7:23 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] 2. A pure action game in spirit of Mercenaries or Stuntman: Ignition. I adore those two, so if there is something like' em I'll be happy to try it. Explosions, flying body parts and tanks are definitely welcome. [/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--]
You should give KOEI's Warriors series a shot (any game from the series should be fine). The series gets a lot of criticism for being rather conservative and not making drastic gameplay changes over the time, but it's worth a try.
Yakuza is good, albeit a little bit too cinematic for it's own good. Flawed, yet enjoyable.
Unfortunately I haven't explored much of the PS2's library either and I tend to focus more on JRPG's and survival-horror (haha), so I can't help you much.
Enjoying Okami?
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/20/2008 8:53 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Donatello wrote--] You should give KOEI's Warriors series a shot (any game from the series should be fine). [/Q --end Donatello wrote--]
Is it a strategy title? Console strategy game set in medieval China? If so, I'm not exactly sure why are you suggesting as an action game with lots of explosions and flying body parts. Does it have tanks too?
[Q --start Donatello wrote--] Enjoying Okami? [/Q --end Donatello wrote--]
Yeah! Thanks for suggesting it. At first the game seemed rather unfriendly. Toxic colors and chaotic animation, stupid mumbling instead of proper speech, absolutely no style in writing and incredibly dull exposition. But with the first rejuvenated trees my love for this game blossomed as well.
Absolutely gorgeous and so fun! Not only the brush part, but simple collecting as well. I never had so fun collecting things since Psychonauts.
Writing still terrifies me, though. I can't read a single line without cringing. And the way game highlights the "important stuff" in the dialog is driving me mad as well. Talk about console conventions.
Shoddyan (15006) on 6/4/2008 11:12 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] [Q2 --start Donatello wrote--] You should give KOEI's Warriors series a shot (any game from the series should be fine). [/Q2 --end Donatello wrote--]
Is it a strategy title? Console strategy game set in medieval China? If so, I'm not exactly sure why are you suggesting as an action game with lots of explosions and flying body parts. Does it have tanks too? [/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--]
The strategy versions of the same timeframe/characters are Koei's Dynasty Tactics (for simple turn based tactical battles) and the later (and more complicated) Romance of the Three Kingdoms titles on PS2. There's also Kessen II on PS2 which is somewhere between the two in terms of strategy.
robotriot (9012) on 5/20/2008 8:37 AM · Permalink · Report
For 1: There's Psychonauts if you don't have it for another system yet. Might be too kiddy for you though. You'd miss out on an awesome game though. And I guess you already played ICO since you mentioned Shadow of the Colossus.
Rez: Definitely get this one, it's a very unique gaming experience. There's no game I've played through more often than this one. The gameplay is very simplistic, yet it can be quite challenging if you're aiming for really high scores.
Burnout: Burnout Revenge is good (only have it for Xbox). There's hardly any other game out there which gives you that feeling of rushing at really high speeds through oncoming traffic lanes. Crashing your wreck into the competition is a lot of fun as well.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/20/2008 9:04 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Hannes Drexl wrote--]Might be too kiddy for you though. You'd miss out on an awesome game though. [/Q --start Hannes Drexl wrote--]
It's funny you say that. Because, when I showed Psychonauts to my five-year old niece, she found it disgusting. Deformed children heads and mental institutions aren't everybody's cup of tea and certainly not for the children.
So, no, I don't think Psychonauts is a kiddy game in a way Banjo Kazooie is. Thanks for sugeesting it, but yes I've completed it on my PC.
[Q --start Hannes Drexl wrote--] And I guess you already played ICO since you mentioned Shadow of the Colossus. [/Q --start Hannes Drexl wrote--]
No. But I've bought it and it's waiting its turn.
[Q --start Hannes Drexl wrote--] Crashing your wreck into the competition is a lot of fun as well. [/Q --end Hannes Drexl wrote--]
Have you seen FlatOut? I wonder how Burnout compares to it (if it does).
robotriot (9012) on 5/21/2008 10:40 AM · Permalink · Report
Yes I played FlatOut too. Burnout is a lot more focused on actually damaging your opponents, while FlatOut is more about the racing. There are a lot of different game modes in Burnout, for example one of them has the aim of taking out as many opponent racers as possible in a certain time frame. Or drive your car over a ramp, crashing into a traffic intersection to cause as much damage as possible. That's stuff FlatOut doesn't do.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/21/2008 6:55 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Hannes Drexl wrote--] That's stuff FlatOut doesn't do. [/Q --end Hannes Drexl wrote--]
Thanks, that was extremely helpful.
Shoddyan (15006) on 6/4/2008 11:14 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] It's funny you say that. Because, when I showed Psychonauts to my five-year old niece, she found it disgusting. Deformed children heads and mental institutions aren't everybody's cup of tea and certainly not for the children.
So, no, I don't think Psychonauts is a kiddy game in a way Banjo Kazooie is. Thanks [/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--]
Heh, I personally describe Psychonauts as "A Tim Schaffer game after he spent the night watching Tim Burton movies"
MichaelPalin (1414) on 5/20/2008 11:19 AM · Permalink · Report
About 6. I guess you already know Silent Hill 2. Also Forbidden Siren and fatal Frame seem to be very good games. I have no PS2, so I don't know if they are really good or not.
Unicorn Lynx (181681) on 5/20/2008 4:23 PM · Permalink · Report
I am wondering about this Yakuza series (Shenmue clone?). Is it any good?
Depends what you're looking for. It's very cinematic, and the story is kinda soap-opera-like, you know what I mean, very Japanese.
I don't think I'm interested in jRPGs
At least try SMT: Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga. It simply doesn't get any better than that.
Gateway (GTA clone? better than True Crimes games?).
You mean "Getaway"? It's basically GTA meets Max Payne. More of a third-person shooter than GTA, much less free roaming, very cinematic, superb acting, serious and emotional. Gameplay can get frustrating, though.
I've played only a bit of True Crime: LA, lost interest. Getaway hooked me right from the start.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/20/2008 8:36 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--] Depends what you're looking for. [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]
I'm interested in the adventure part, and particularly (taken from Moby discription) collection quests and dating mini-games, authentically reproducing the nightlife found in modern day Tokyo. So it's not as open-ended as Shenmue, but still has some gimmicks beside fighting, right?
[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--] At least try SMT: Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga. It simply doesn't get any better than that. [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]
I will. Someday I'm going to try them all, but this day has not come yet. I simply lack the commitment to finish jRPGs today. I started many of them, finished only a handful.
If only I had more time.
[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--] You mean "Getaway"? [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]
Yeah, that's the one. Thanks, I'll get it.
mobiusclimber (235) on 5/21/2008 12:47 AM · Permalink · Report
You are wasting valuable time asking for suggestions when you have ICO sitting right there waiting to be played? You phail.
I'll second Silent Hill 2. Probably the best survival-horror game ever made. It all boils down to the storyline and atmosphere. Kuon is another good one, though the fact that you end up playing through the same areas several different times kinda lessens it for me a bit. Basically, it's a short game with a gimmick to make it longer. But still a lot of fun.
Magical Pengel is seriously fun in a goofy kinda way. You can draw your own monsters in it.
Suikoden III deserves a play-through, even though you aren't interested in JRPGs. The storyline makes it worth it with the whole "Roshomon" viewpoints.
Katamari Damacy is also insanely fun, though in small doses. You kinda have to be a stoner to truly enjoy it, otherwise it just seems needlessly weird in parts. But the gameplay is simply to understand but challenging, like all the classic games are.
Unicorn Lynx (181681) on 5/21/2008 5:00 AM · Permalink · Report
Suikoden III deserves a play-through, even though you aren't interested in JRPGs. The storyline makes it worth it with the whole "Rashomon" viewpoints.
I also found that many people who didn't want to play Japanese RPGs because of their melodramatic content were pleasantly surprised by Suikoden games. Suikoden is based on a Chinese novel, and the spirit of those games is actually more Chinese than Japanese.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/21/2008 7:18 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start mobiusclimber wrote--]You are wasting valuable time asking for suggestions when you have ICO sitting right there waiting to be played? You phail. [/Q --end mobiusclimber wrote--]
Guilty as charged. I just want to setup myself a whole day devoted entirely to this game. I don't see it as a game I can spent half an hour at before going to sleep.
[Q --start mobiusclimber wrote--] I'll second Silent Hill 2. Probably the best survival-horror game ever made. It all boils down to the storyline and atmosphere. [/Q --end mobiusclimber wrote--]
This game does seem to be getting universal praise, but all I can remember is the laughable bathtub head dude, funny little brownish nurses and characters talking as if on drugs, hardly making any sense.
Perhaps, I was too young back then to appreciate the masterpiece.
[Q --start mobiusclimber wrote--] Magical Pengel is seriously fun in a goofy kinda way. You can draw your own monsters in it. [/Q --end mobiusclimber wrote--]
Now that looks super cool. But I believe I will have a hard time overcoming ultra cuteness. But thanks to Okami and Crayon Physics I'm more than willing to find this game. Thanks, I'll keep my eyes open for it.
[Q --start mobiusclimber wrote--] Katamari Damacy. You kinda have to be a stoner to truly enjoy it [/Q --end mobiusclimber wrote--]
I am and I will!
It seems impossible to find a PAL version of the original game. But I've seen We Love Katamari in the local store. I suppose I'm not losing anything starting with it, am I?
The Fabulous King (1332) on 5/21/2008 11:07 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] [Q2 --start mobiusclimber wrote--] I'll second Silent Hill 2. Probably the best survival-horror game ever made. It all boils down to the storyline and atmosphere. [/Q2 --end mobiusclimber wrote--]
This game does seem to be getting universal praise, but all I can remember is the laughable bathtub head dude, funny little brownish nurses and characters talking as if on drugs, hardly making any sense. [/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--]
I think you need a certain... something to find Silent Hill 2 awesome. My friend loves Yahtzee, so he obtained Silent Hill 2 because Yahtzee thinks it's da best. We both came to conclusion that if this is the greatest writing in games ever then it's a sad sad statement about the quality of games. The dialogue man, the dialogue - I just can't get past it. Part of it is because of the written word, and part of it is because the voice-acting. The controls were awful (PC port), the game played out uncomfortably, it was confusing as hell - my friend played it a little longer than I because he digged the atmosphere. I didn't bother, perhaps it's the greatest story ever, but it's sure feels crappy. I mean, how long does it take to get awesome.
Unicorn Lynx (181681) on 5/21/2008 5:33 PM · Permalink · Report
We both came to conclusion that if this is the greatest writing in games ever then it's a sad sad statement about the quality of games
Well, you shouldn't really play Silent Hill 2 for its writing. Of course it sucks. YOu play this game for the atmosphere and the emotions.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/21/2008 7:16 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--] Well, you shouldn't really play Silent Hill 2 for its writing. Of course it sucks. YOu play this game for the atmosphere and the emotions. [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]
Writing can be a great obstacle in the way of enjoying the game and a sure atmosphere breaker. As I said I'm playing Okami right now, and although the game is a pure genius, the writing is continuously getting on my nerves, all those "ya" instead of "you", "wanna", "gonna", every character is referred to as "this guy" or "that guy". Needless to say, tropes are practically absent, a very rare epithet is all one can hope for. It's simply abysmal.
As for SH2, a game where the story and atmosphere is mainly maintained by dialog and written notes, having poor writing is a great flaw.
mobiusclimber (235) on 5/22/2008 5:19 PM · Permalink · Report
You have to understand that the two big problems w/ SH2 are the translation and the voice acting. It isn't bad, we're not talking Resident Evil here, but it won't win any awards, either. I think you have to play the game all the way thru to truly appreciate it. "So you can see it too? For me, it's like this all the time." The single best line of dialogue I've ever seen. It gives me chills just typing it out. Yes it's very frustrating at first to play and the voice acting will really turn you off, but if you stick with it, it really IS rewarding. Probably the most "mature" (in the best sense of the word) console game I've played.
As for Katamari, I believe the second one is more like an expansion pack. There's not really any story to speak of in the first one (your dad, the king of the cosmos, gets drunk and destroys all the stars for shits and giggles, so you have to roll up a bunch of junk, shoot it into space and make new stars).
Unicorn Lynx (181681) on 5/21/2008 4:58 AM · Permalink · Report
So it's not as open-ended as Shenmue, but still has some gimmicks beside fighting, right?
Yes, but I didn't find them that exciting. You can gamble, chat with hostesses in bars, get a massage, such kind of things. It's basically all story with fights and some free-roaming in-between. But I agree that the atmosphere of Tokyo at night is very cool, and the graphics rock.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/21/2008 7:00 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] 4. I just have to have a Mortal Kombat game, but there are at least four of them for PS2. I can't choose. I don't think I am interested in the singleplayer parts. Is there an ultimate game among them like Mortal Kombat Trilogy?
- I have my console for more than 8 months now and still not a single Star Trek game in my library. Help me undo this horrendous injustice!
[/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--]
Not many MK and Trek fans here, eh? Please, I need to know!
DreinIX (10348) on 5/22/2008 5:20 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start St_Martyne wrote--] [Q2 --start St_Martyne wrote--] 4. I just have to have a Mortal Kombat game, but there are at least four of them for PS2. I can't choose. I don't think I am interested in the singleplayer parts. Is there an ultimate game among them like Mortal Kombat Trilogy?
- I have my console for more than 8 months now and still not a single Star Trek game in my library. Help me undo this horrendous injustice! [/Q2 --end St_Martyne wrote--]
Not many MK and Trek fans here, eh? Please, I need to know! [/Q --end St_Martyne wrote--] There are Star Trek games for PS2? The things you can learn on the internet...
As for MK (I'm not really a fan regardless of having played almost all of them) I would say the best that came on PS2 is Shaolin Monks. It's an action-beat em' up game. You choose a player (2 at start, 2 unlockables), you go here and there beating the crap out of others with combos, special moves, weapons and fatalities and that's basically it. There is the co-op mode that you wanted but the game even in the hard mode won't take more than 5 hours to beat (maybe even while including all the sidequests). There's also a versus mode with maybe less than 10 players that you have to unlock but even with all these draw backs I still think it's the best MK for PS2. If you want a pure versus fighting MK buy Armageddon. The gameplay is basically the same as in the 2 previous ones with a few additions but this particular MK features 62 or 63 players in total and you can also create your own. It also has a mode that enables you to play a quest which is partially action-beat em' up based and partially one on one but it's not co-op. Now that it came to mind if you like gambling get Deadly Alliance. With each fight you win you get coins that you can wager with another human player. Believe me, nothing beats the expression of someone who just lost tons of these hard earned coins especially when they spent the whole time bragging about how better players they are than you. That's all.
In the end it's your choice but keep in mind that with Tekken, Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter out there buying a MK seems something that only a fan would do. Renting them before buying any would be a much safer choice.
St. Martyne (3648) on 5/22/2008 7:32 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start DreinIX wrote--] In the end it's your choice but keep in mind that with Tekken, Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter out there buying a MK seems something that only a fan would do. Renting them before buying any would be a much safer choice. [/Q --end DreinIX wrote--]
I'm not a fan of fighting genre at all. MK has a sentimental value, since I spent dozens of hours playing it with my brother at his university when I still was a kid. Since then MK drifted away from PCs and I lost the track of the series. Now that I've bought PS2 he comes to my place for a of couple rounds of Tekken 5 every weekend, hoping to steal the console away from me : ).
Tekken 5 is fun, but I think we will feel more at home with the characters we remember.
Thanks for the overview. I guess I'll be getting Armageddon, since all I want is a good ol' MK in a pretty shiny wrapping. And it seems to have all the characters from the earlier games.
But there's one thing that bugs me. It's about fatalities. I have a bad time grasping how this new system of fatalities works. Reviews speak very badly of it. So, what's the deal? Are the fatalities no longer unique and predetermined for each character and may be edited in some way?
Bear in mind, that the last MK game I saw in action was MK3.
DreinIX (10348) on 5/22/2008 8:36 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Yes, fatalities suck. The characters don't do their own fatality this time. It works like this: When you see "Finish Him" on stage you have a time limit to enter a command, like forward-forward-Δ, and the character executes a certain move which is the same for all the other characters as well. The time limit then resets but you have less time to enter the next command. When you enter the command the timer resets again but you have even less time to input the next command and that's what happens until you input 10 commands, the command you input is a finishing move or if you screw it somewhere in the middle. So this time there are no unique moves for each character. The closer thing to calling something unique is that characters are divided into types. For example if a character can use a long sword then he may have a command to impale the other character and that command won't apply to any other character that doesn't belong to the long-sword type. But having in mind that there may be 5 or 6 long-sword type users even this small portion of "trying to be unique" is lost.
Oh and I hope you won't mind about the fighters' animations. They kinda move like dicks... Well, maybe they've done them right in the MK vs DC Universe. Can't wait to do a fatality on Superman.
Edit: Check this
mobiusclimber (235) on 5/29/2008 10:19 PM · Permalink · Report
Wait, BloodRayne is in MKA? Lawl.
[edit: Sorry, I accidentally sent that as a message. XD What I get for not being on here for so long.]
mobiusclimber (235) on 5/30/2008 3:13 AM · Permalink · Report
I never created the word "lawl" it's been around forever (probably as long as LOL has been). Geez, it's not even l33t.
chirinea (47503) on 5/30/2008 4:26 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
Sorry, it's just that I never "heard" of it before. I promptly understood what you said, though. But I really thought that it was interesting, because I never saw a word which came from an acronym before (except for some verbs derived from radio transmission acronyms).
mobiusclimber (235) on 5/30/2008 9:28 PM · Permalink · Report
I consider "lulz" to be the plural form of "lawl" if that makes sense. You might say something like "epic lulz," but not just "lulz" by itself.
God I need to get away from the internet...
The Cliffe (1552) on 6/1/2008 1:34 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
I think the pinnacle of the MK series on PS2 was Deception (the second game released). It's more difficult to find than either Deadly Alliance or Armageddon, but the characters are remotely different from each other (re: there isn't 70-thousand of them) and they all have two unique fatalities as well as a suicide maneuver called a "Hara Kiri" so that you can deny your opponent the opportunity to perform a fatality. There's also lots of Arenas with deathtraps and other interactive elements in them (weapons, destroyable objects) and several other modes available (chess and puzzle-fighter-type games). Settle for Armageddon if you get desperate, but if you're a true MK fanatic and want the best bang for your buck, make an honest effort to find Deception.
St. Martyne (3648) on 6/5/2008 7:33 PM · Permalink · Report
Oops! I forgot to thank everyone for posting in this thread. You have been very helpful. PS2 is the best!
Ryu (50) on 7/3/2008 6:41 AM · Permalink · Report
I know you said no kiddie stuff, but I recently purchased a new slimline PS2, and "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy" is quite entertaining with challenging and varied gameplay, and doses of humor here and there. The graphics are a little rough (it was released in 2001), but the characters are imbued with quite a bit of personality via the facial animation system used, and the animation in general is quite good, and it's honestly just a very fun game to play (I would expect no less from the creators of Crash Bandicoot) - I picked it up for less than $10 used at Gamestop, great bargain.
I don't know about the PS2 Mortal Kombats, but I recently snagged Tekken 5 for $10 new, and it's pretty entertaining, it requires patience and actual skill to progress, and the moves seem more realistic in general than other fighting games (though I'd wager it's no Virtua Fighter in that regard) - plus, the arcade history mode allows you to play the arcade versions of the first 3 Tekken games.
As for Star Trek, I played "Star Trek Conquest" for the Wii(also for PS2), and it's a fun if not terribly complex turn-based strategy/action game - you take over the galaxy sector buy sector, building up defenses, mines, etc, it's a fun game, though nothing revolutionary - I can't attest to the PS2 version, but it should be nearly identical.
xroox (3895) on 7/10/2008 11:31 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
I played the first few levels of DarkWatch, and really liked it. It's very much like Painkiller, and has really nice graphics and good atmosphere.
As a good 2-player co-op, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is exactly what you're looking for. Very similar in gameplay/interface terms to Dark Alliance, and a lot of fun 2-player.