2. BLACK
Up until the release of BLACK there was an over-saturation of historical shooters in the video game world. Everyone was clamoring to outdo each other and make the coolest, historically accurate experience. Dont get me wrong, shooting the entire Nazi army in the face is always fun, but you cant eat the same thing every single day. Every now and then you gotta shake things up and get a steak or something. Thats exactly what BLACK was. BLACK was the original modern warfare shooter. There had been a few other attempts like Battlefield 2, but nobody had really captured the essence of true, realistic modern day combat. BLACK did that and moreoh so much more. I remember the first time I ever saw BLACK I was walking through my best friends dorm room in college during final exam week. I looked at the screen as I was walking by and stopped mid-stride. Next thing I know its 8 hours later and we definitely just stayed up till dawn trying to beat this game, it was that intense. BLACK takes the traditional shooter approach and gives you a compelling storyline, a reason to kill bad guys, a LOT of bad guys, and a variety of locations to do it in, but where this game sets itself way, way apart is in its main stars: the weapons themselves. Every single weapon in BLACK was created with immense detail and the focus of the game is on filling your redneck, right wing, NRA, love the smell of gunpowder in the morning craving for GUNS, and there are a LOT of guns. The guns are simply gorgeous, and combine that with slow motion shell ejection, reloading, suppressor attaching, safety flipping off goodness, and youve got what could really only be described as gun porn, if thats even a thing. Not to mention the explosions, the destructive environments, the uber realistic radio chatter, and the introduction of what has to be FPS first practical juggernauts (You know, the shotgun guys that bull rushed you wearing 40 pounds of Kevlar? Not gonna lie, they scared me.) that all serve to heighten your experience. This game would shine on its guns alone even if all you did was hit targets in some range. As it is though, in the PS2 world it doesnt get much better than mashing down your trigger finger and absolutely shredding some panzi behind a riot shield with 200 rounds from your SAW. Not to mention how satisfying it was to shoot those pesky RPG pricks. Friggin RPGs. This game was just delicious, bullet riddling fun. If only EA had decided to make a sequel SHARBANYAT! And the greatest game ever...?