The PlayStation 2 library contains a huge amount of cult classics and best-selling games compared to other consoles like the original Xbox, but that doesn’t mean they are all 10 out of 10 perfect games. The console has definitely had some pretty poor performances, but most of them were either beloved during their time or just simply don’t hold up to today’s standards.
Being a step up from the original PlayStation, many games were hyped up to be some of the most revolutionary experiences in gaming, but overhyping is a dangerous line to tread if you’re a video game developer.
This high-octanefirst-person shooterfrom 2006 received incredible reviews upon its release. Gamers flocked quickly to it, even with its lack of a multiplayer mode, players loved the destructible environments that Black had to offer.
Looking back now, the game is quite bland, and it really feels like just about most shooters that you can find deep down in a bargain bin at your local used game store. It was pretty impressive for the tim,e when you keep in mind that this was all done on a PlayStation 2, but you’re probably better off playing something else.
Everyone, and this is not an exaggeration, loved The Simpsons: Hit And Run. But before rising to glory, The Simpsons had a couple of stumbles on the way. With the rise in popularity of skate culture in the early 2000s and games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater being all the rage, why not release a game of the Springfield family ripping it up on half-pipes?
Sadly, the game just felt like a poor copy of any of the Tony Hawk games, minus the polish and iconic soundtrack.
We’re kind of breaking the rule here by talking about it, but this game was a hot mess when it initially released in 2004. Fight Club is a 3D fighting game with similarities, maybe too many, to other popular 3D games like Tekken.
The game and its release felt like a huge cash grab due to the many teenage boys with bar soap posters on their walls who were hungry for even more Tyler Durden shenanigans. Not even the return of Meat Loaf could save this game.
Most fighting game players can agree that Tekken 3 was a masterpiece and pivotal to the 3D fighting game genre. Tekken 4, though, not so much. The game introduced the wall mechanic that would reappear in the following entries, but the execution was quite poor.
Most of the Tekken games are incredible, even the original, but this one missed the mark by a bit. If Tekken 4 were one of Kazuya’s family members, it would be thrown into a volcano.
If you’re a fan of survival horror, then the name will ring a bell. This game can be credited as one of the earliest in the genre, but its revival in the PS2 era hurt the series to the point of no return.
The story is decent, but nothing to write home about, but where the game truly fails is how unfinished it feels, as if it was rushed out to the millions of Alone In The Dark fans. Maybe the few left could’ve waited a bit longer for a better game.
When the game was announced, The Bouncer garnered a ton of hype given the track record of many of the team members who were to work on it. Most notably, the mastermind behind Kingdom Hearts and the culprit of the beltification of Anime characters, Tetsuya Nomura.
While the game was quite stylish, it overshadowed the substance needed to maintain an audience. The combat was boring and stale, the story a bit convoluted, and tons of promises made upon its reveal were not delivered.
Being one of the most popular entries to date, Square Enix made it a point to expand the Final Fantasy 7 universe and story beyond the original PlayStation game. While some, like Crisis Core, are beloved, some fell quite flat.
Dirge Of Cerberus took an incredible character like the vampiric Vincent Valentine and gave players a mediocre shooter that probably could’ve told its story in a comic book or light novel. Even the edgy cousin needs a bit of love.
Let’s be honest here, you only know about this game because of how controversial it is. Manhunt is not anything to write home about. The violent scenes are quite extreme, but anyone familiar with this genre in any type of media has seen far worse, and this is not blaming it on the PlayStation 2 graphics.
Some people have hailed it as one of Rockstar’s best, but the game is quite dull and relies on shock value kills that don’t amount to any compelling storytelling. Maybe you don’t need gore for the sake of gore.
Whenever games are announced with a huge household name behind them, they tend to hold high expectations, but most of the time, they fall flat. God Hand was directed by Shinji Mikami, director of the original Resident Evil, meaning the game was bound to be a masterpiece, right?
God Hand ended up as a stylish yet polarizing beat-em-up among critics. There is nothing egregious about the game, but the hype leading up to its release watered down its reception when the final product wasn’t up to par. It still became a cult classic with a die-hard following, but we won’t be getting a God Hand 2 anytime soon.
