10 INCREDIBLE PS2 Games The World Has Forgotten
Why haven't we seen more of them?
When it comes to retrospectives, it's easy to let nostalgia blind us. What we consider to be a masterpiece could be someone's Worst Game Ever™.
Yet there's a cadre of games, given how massive the PS2's catalogue was, that make you instantly go "Oh yeah! I loved that game. Whatever happened to it?" and suddenly want to play it again.
There's always numerous factors as to why some games are one-and-done, in maybe it didn't score high enough critically or shift enough units. Conversely, it could be that they have had sequels, but it's the PS2 iteration we favour instead.
Psychic espionage, realistic war simulators, a traditional turn-based RPG with a difficult-to-pronounce name... they've all had some of their best outings on Sony's top selling consoles. Admittedly yes, they've been on other consoles too, but they qualify for this list through association and popularity.
The only downside to a nostalgic list is it makes you wonder what the hell happened so such a huge variety of franchises and game mechanics. Like why did a famously stealthy ninja game go all arcade-y and whack a Z on its name to look cool??
10. Full Spectrum Warrior
War simulators are an odd breed of game. Far from the bombastic attitudes of Call of Duty and Battlefield, most accurate sims are relegated to the PC.
That is until the late Pandemic gave us the third person shooter/point and click hybrid Full Spectrum Warrior way back in 2005. Granted, it'd hit Xbox a year before, but the delay wasn't too much of a detraction.
So why FSW? What made it great?
Quite simply, it was unique.
Not the concept of war or the US/Iraq invasion, but the actually style of game that was on offer.
There was real weight and tactic to what you had to put your fireteams through, as FSW delivered a fairly realistic experience.
Real-world military application and experience conveyed to help you understand the oppressive nature of a firefight, proving the gung-ho Rambo stereotype was very much an exaggeration.
Spread across a massive campaign, it was a hugely ambitious punt for Pandemic. It paid off though, as sequel Ten Hammers came about a year later (but wasn't as polished).
It was something fresh and engaging, given the subject matter, that we haven't much of in that kind of variation since.