![]() ![]() It ended up being a smash hit and easily makes this list not just for being ridiculously fun to play, but for just how far it pushed the idea of what’s possible in the medium. The King of all Cosmos has again destroyed the universe in one of his drunken stupors (hey, we’ve all been there), and it’s now up to the Prince to roll everything up in a big sticky ball to restore existence. Completely absurd in its premise, but ingenious in its execution, Katamari Damacy smashed all expectations set by its almost non-existent hype and budget price. ![]() While you can see the cracks in the foundation here that would eventually lead to the franchise’s decline, the heights of Tony Hawk’s Underground also clearly showcase this series’ full potential. It was also the first Tony Hawk game to let you get off your board and walk around, and it even added driving (which, admittedly, kind of sucked). Even better, the whole thing starred your very own custom character. Instead of setting you loose for two-minute runs on courses in order to complete as many goals as possible, this was the first game in the series to have a real story complete with cutscenes. While Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 ( also on PS2) are fantastic games, they just didn’t innovate quite like Tony Hawk’s Underground did. Tony Hawk’s UndergroundĪny conversation about the best Tony Hawk game ever is the best is always going to be heated. Though its spawned plenty of imitators, few have even approached Ico’s artistic heights since its release. It instead trusted the player to piece together those elements of the experience from clues often acquired while you’re solving one of the game’s many creative puzzles. Ico was also one of the first games of its kind that didn’t spoon-feed the player the story. Plenty of third-person action/adventure games had already been released before this gem hit the PS2 in 2001, but none emphasized atmosphere over gameplay quite like this one, or paired the player character with a fairly competent companion to create such an emotional experience. Icoĭeceptively simple yet incredibly moving, Ico arrived with little fanfare to become one of the most influential video games of all time. Even its two sequels weren’t quite up to the task. While there have been plenty of imitators since, no other arcade racer has surpassed the pure joy of Burnout 3. Every race offers tons of shortcuts and opportunities to cut off your opponents, and the crash mode, with its insane Rube Goldberg setups, might even more addictive. No matter which mode you choose, you’re going to have a great time. So many racing games get caught up in padding out the experience or adding unnecessary modes and features, but Burnout 3 never forgets that games are meant to be fun. Burnout 3 said to hell with all that and generously offered a bunch of cool-looking vehicles blowing up real good. Most racing games strive for realism, perfectly recreating real-world cars and precisely simulating exactly how they would perform in various conditions. Ultimately, though, these are the PS2 games that helped make the PS2 one of the best consoles ever. With more than 4,000 titles released worldwide, narrowing down the absolute best PS2 games ever was no easy feat. Such advancements made the console the launching pad for franchises like God of War and Ratchet and Clank, and it gave older series like Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy a new lease on life. For the first time, developers could create huge 3D environments that came closer than ever to approximating the real world. The PS2 hardware represented a massive jump over its predecessor. Of course, the PS2 also happened to support some of the very best games ever made. That multimedia power guaranteed that PS2s (and future consoles) were the centerpiece of entertainment centers in homes across the world. Thanks in no small part to the surprising power of its DVD drive, the PS2 proved that gaming consoles could be used for so much more than just gaming. ![]() The PlayStation 2 is arguably the most influential console ever. ![]()
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