5 & 4 ( in no particular order) Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3
To someone who had worn a hole in the disc playing the original Metal Gear Solid so much on PS1, the news of MGS2 was awesome to say the least. I mean cmon how can you not love solid snake? MGS2 threw you right back in the saddle with Snake and Otocon doin what they do best. The game was awesome, had epic music, and felt like a movie. Sam Fisher is good, but hes no Solid Snake. Snake had to take on genetically enhanced super bosses, battle harriers, slip past dozens of drone camer. . .erm. Ok so Raiden did some of that stuff, but as girly and Justin Beiberish as he first appeared, you gotta admit that taking down Liquid Snake on top of the Stock Exchange in New York City earned him some respect. Metal Gear Solid 3 defined the meaning of tactical espionage action, letting you crawl through the jungle, eat literal snakes, blend in with almost any environment, and take down an entire Soviet base pretty much singlehandedly. Except for that one boss battle you could get through by just breathing smoke on the bad guy, the game was perfect.
3. Medal of Honor: Frontline
The Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day is one of the most significant and epic events in the history of man. You study about it in school, you see the film clips of guys wading ashore, and then the movie Saving Private Ryan turned it into a masterpiece of cinematic history. Seeing it is one thing. Popping Medal of Honor: Frontline into your PS2 and immediately being thrown into a landing craft and a scene basically straight out of Saving Private Ryan was a different experience entirely. At the time it was the single coolest thing I had ever seen in a video game, and we played the Finest Hour level over and over again. Who cares that the game had like 12 more hours of Nazi killing, Germany infiltrating, OSS goodness, this was just like the movies! While the graphics were admittedly not cutting edge, everything else was a masterpiece. The sound effects for weapons and tanks etc. were all taken from real-world counterparts, the storyline was compelling and actually made sense, and it was all based on actual historical events, loosely anyway. For one of the first titles in the PS2 lifespan, this game is still a benchmark for FPS even today. Fun fact- type in DAWOIKS in the code box: youll unlock everything the game has to offer, including the extra videos of the designers playing paintball to experience getting shot at. Oh Gawd Mama.