Topic: Underrated PS2 Games?

Dunno if this should be in the Retro section, but whatever, I'll request a move if necessary.

Anyways, the PS2 had a ton of games, to the point where, coupled with the budding gaming media of the time, a lot of good stuff could get lost in the shuffle. I thought I knew a lot of good games on the PS2, but I went to see what platformer games were on the PS2, and a bunch of games seemed to materialize out of thin air! There were so many games I had never heard of until I started looking, including ones that were well rated by the community, if not sites like IGN and Gamespot.

So now I'm curious: what PS2 games did you like that you feel were either overlooked in its time, or have simply been forgotten by modern gamers? (Because lets face it, when people talk about the PS2, they tend to only reference the same 10 games, myself included)

I'll see if I can start this:

Shadow Hearts...is a game I really want to list, but I got it recently-ish and haven't started it yet.

Okay, for real this time:

Metal Saga - Think Dragon Quest set in a Mad Max style post-apocalyptic world. And you get a tank, because those totally would survive a nuclear holocaust and still be fully functional (actually, it was a robot apocalypse, but still). You go on quests, you fight monsters, and you drive a customizable tank around in a game that has a surprising amount of freedom and personality. Definitely one to check out if you get the chance.

I have others I'll sprinkle in as the day goes by, especially if no one else mentions them.

I can name a few, but I'm not entirely sure about how overlooked they are:

• Odin Sphere: my personal favourite game of all time! Beautiful, hand-drawn environments and characters, a superb story like I've never had it before in my life, and very creative mechanics make this an awesome game, which is sadly overshadowed by sluggish controls and unforgiving difficulty spikes. Still, for a 2D Action RPG, I think this is still the best of all!
• GrimGrimoire: same creators as Odin Sphere, same stellar quality in terms of atmosphere and visual brilliance, but a completely diffferent game. It's a 2D RTS, with very generic maps, but incredibly detailed units and very solid gameplay. A bit short, though, and the controls can be extremely confusing.
• Ar Tonelico II (Resub version): I only recently stumbled upon this, and I'm at a loss of words. NIS actually didn't translate the game, but changed most of the dialogue to stuff in a truckload of innuendo and silly jokes. The japanese version was a lot more serious and dramatic, which I found out thanks to some forums dealing with a retranslation. Nonetheless, the gameplay and many of the subplots concerning the deep relationship system are a disturbing joy, and I'm still playing through this every few months!
• Drakengard: kind of a guilty pleasure for me. The gameplay is more annoying than it is interesting, and the game itself is very tedious at times. However, the story is just insane! Not as good as Odin Sphere (because nothing is), but damn, is that story sick and gruesome (and crosses many a morality horizon) - and by the way, yes, all implications are actually canon. Censorship can't change that.
• Valkyrie Profile 2 - Silmeria: I dunno why, but despite all the positive feedback, this game was very quickly forgotten. By now, it's a hidden classic, but a rare one! Tight gameplay, a very mature story (that is borderline impossible to comprehend for many people), and visuals that make Final Fantasy X look as bad as its amateurish writing - it's a very easy recommendation!
• Shin Megami Tensei - Digital Devil Saga: ever thought "this RPG isn't hard enough"? Well, consider this game the Dark Souls of turn-based RPG's. Tough-as-bricks combat, a very smart strategizing system, and very unusually flavored themes make this one of the few games to actually challenge your strategic abilities without mercy. Also, the character designs are extremely cool!
• Dokapon Kingdom: party time? Nope! Ruin everyone's day! I really love the creativity of this game! It's a board party game mixed with simplistic, but fun RPG elements, where your goal should be to save the princess - but screw that, only the richest win! Attack each others town, send assassins, attack players directly, lay traps on the giant board, give them a poop wig! The Schadenfreude is the biggest fun factor, and provides so much trashing potential!

I'll stop here for now, but maybe I'll ad some more later.

Crash Twinsanity This game is grossly over looked simply because it separates itself so greatly from the original trilogy. Twinsanity is bursting to the brim with personality and great level design. Yes, it's glitchy, but it was a rushed game. And considering how well this game turned out for a rushed game compared to stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, it's pretty impressive. It has one of the best soundtracks ever with an all a cappella score. It's an 3D platformer which everyone says there's not enough of, and there's plenty of stuff to do in the game. Traveler's Tales tried something new with Crash Bandicoot instead of trying to copy Naughty Dog and it was amazing. It should be noticed more. It's my favorite in the Crash Bandicoot franchise.

^I remember really looking forward to that, but the news about the glitches put me off. I might give it a shot at some point, then. Also, anyone here play the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games? I always wanted to play them, but I never gave them a fair shake.

Maximo - Okay, I'll admit I sucked at these games (there were two Maximo games, I mainly played Ghosts to Glory, the first one), but I enjoyed what I could when I wasn't dying every 5 seconds. It's high on my list of games to play again now that I don't suck utter balls at everything. It's a 3D Platformer that was supposed to be a spiritual successor to Ghosts & Goblins, and it worked surprisingly well. It was a pure platformer, certainly moreso than a lot of games of its day (at least from what I could tell from the first 2 or 3 levels and the first level of the sequel). It wasn't linear, per se, but I didn't feel like the exploration was as big a factor as simply making the jumps and not getting hit by the bad guys. I recall the camera being pretty bad in the first game, though? But I think the sequel improved that aspect quite a bit?...I may have to rewrite this one after I play it again (my PS2's already set up), but so far, I recommend the second game more than the first.

I actually came up with a game or two just now, but then remembered they were also released on other consoles.

Not underrated, but definitely overlooked is King Of Fighters XI. One of the best in it's series and one of the best fighters on PS2.

Agreed. I love that one, and I hope it comes to PC soonish so I can play it online. It did play just fine on the PS2, though.

Also, Multiplatform games are fine, btw. It just, you know, has to be an underrated game available on the PS2. Though re-released games probably aren't a good choice...

Because Pushsquare sucks. Though I'm sure you'd fit in just fine over there.

Ape Escape 3, probably the best 3d platformer ever made. (only go for around $10-$15, too)

I never got a chance to play the Ape Escape games. My brother loved the first two games, though. Played them to death. I don't think we ever got the third one, though...

Huh, it did get moved. Thanks, Tommy.

Yeah, that definitely held it back at launch. There was so much cut content it's actually pretty sad. The idea to introduce a snake buddy and use him to swing around sounded so fun and fresh! Then there was all the new levels and even stuff they were closing to having done like the "Gone CoCo" level.

I don't think it's much of an issue now, since it's an $8 game now-a-days but it's definitely a reason why it was and still is pretty overlooked. By the time you go to that other dimension in the game it does kind of feel like it just had to end because they were running out of time. Just another example of why you shouldn't rush games.

If you haven't played it before, Goblin Commander was a great RTS for the system that I use to play with my younger brother years ago.

Oh and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger was pretty fun as well.

^Yeah, I gotta try to pick that up next time I go to a retro store...

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror - A stealth-action game with an emphasis on the action. It's one of the better PSP-to-PS2 remakes I've encountered, to the point where I think they shouldn't have bothered with releasing it on the PSP. It looks better on the PS2, and the second stick makes the action much tighter and faster paced. You play as a secret agent named Gabe Logan as you...do...stuff...I remember the Syphon Filter games having a good story, but I think I stopped paying attention to the cutscenes after the first level in this one. All I remember is "Shoot guys, explosions, hide behind barrel, choke this guy, distract that guy while I take out the other guy..." Shooter stuff, you know? On a more...descriptive note, it balanced the stealth an action fairly well, IIRC. I replayed levels a lot looking for secret files, and every time I switched between stealth, sniping, and gung-ho play styles, and I felt like most levels rewarded my equally no matter which way I played. Obviously some ways were easier than others, especially depending on the stages, but for the most part, I felt like the game would be fun for a variety of people. I know the PSP version sold well, but I don't think the PS2 version saw as much success. I will say that if you preferred to play your shooters guns blazing, it'll be easier to do that on the PS2 version than the PSP version.

Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom- It's a carbon copy of Banjo Kazooie, but it doesn't get anything wrong with the formula, so it's almost as good aside from the unoriginality. It's pretty good as far as 3D platformers go, and we really don't have enough of those today. I'm not one of those guys who likes it just for nostalgia. I actually picked it up a few years ago. You can get it used for about $10 on Amazon, but that's more than worth it.

Crash Tag Team Racing- The actual racing isn't very special, but I had I lot more fun exploring the overworld than I probably should have.

I hear it's pretty good and one I feel I really should try to play sometime, and a shame the other five games (plus a couple remakes) got left in Japan.
(though a fan translation exists for Metal Max Returns for SFC, a remake of the first game)

It may seem better on PS2, but it was actually made easier and it was heavily censored on PS2 with gamplay sections removed, scenes cut, and dialog taken out. Even the ragdoll effects are said to have been removed.

Tales of the Abyss nuff said.

@SuperWiiU - I didn't hear any of that? Like, where did you hear that? The only big thing I noticed removed was setting enemies on fire and the complete removal of the multiplayer mode.

...that's actually one of the 10 (er, 15, actually) games people tend to talk about, and is the second most popular game in the entire franchise.

I guess I'll mention the others that are commonly talked about while I'm here:

Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Jak & Daxter, Prince of Persia (though they're quickly fading from consciousness), Final Fantasy X& XII, Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, Beyond Good & Evil, and Okami. Arguably also Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 4.

Other than those, I can't think of a lot that people talk about anymore with this system, which is a shame since there were over 2000 games released for the thing.

My favorite game on the system is Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. It's one of the best 3D fighting game I've ever played. The work on the animations is insane. I feel like playing with real martial artists in this game unlike games like Tekken or Dead or Alive where I feel like playing with dolls without spine.
Otherwise I think the ps2 is a very overrated system. Sure it has a lot of good games. But I think its exclusives are nowhere as ambitious as the exclusives you could find on the other systems of the same gen (Dreamcast, Gamecube or Xbox)
And I really don't recommend playing RE4 on ps2. The downgrade is very noticeable and that's why Mikami left Capcom. He probably didn't want people play his materpiece in this state.

Transformers - An open-world Transformers where you could play as Optimus Prime, Ratchet, or Hotshot. There was a lot of customization with the weapons. It was a little too hard at moments, but the game was a lot of fun. I played so much when I was younger. I mean a lot. I think I even 100% it.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms X - I also played and enjoyed VII, but I'll just stick to X here since it's better. A very in-depth strategy game, very repetitive, but also very addicting. One thing I always loved about the game, was that you didn't have to be a ruler. I never wanted to be one, so I never was one. I just played as a normal officer, working my way though the ranks helping me liege conquer China.
I might add a few more later.