scrimshaw

I'm an Xbox owner who's finally decided to buy a PS2. What are some of the best PS2 exclusive games? I prefer action/adventure games, but I'm open to any genre. Ico looks pretty interesting. I also want to try out the Devil May Cry franchise, is the first one the best place to start? I really want God of War as well but I think I'll wait for a price drop.

Decker

Yeah, God Of War is awesome beyond words.

I'm a huge Ratchet & Clank fan and all three games are fantastic.

Jak 3 is a wonderful game. Sly 2 is also quite good.

Ico is very nice and enjoyable.

Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts are excellent RPGs with top-notch production values.

Tekken 5 is a well-done fighting game. And keep an eye out for Soul Calibur 3, a PS2 exclusive this fall.

I never liked DMC, but I guess it's just not my taste.

kgrogers1979

I agree that God of War is really good. There were only 3 bosses in the whole game, but they were pretty cool bosses and required some strategy to beat.

I also did not like Devil May Cry because the difficulty was too hard. Personally, I do not enjoy overly difficult games. I play games to have fun, and when I am dying every 5 minutes, I do not have fun. If you like difficult games, you might like Devil May Cry, but I don't have the patience for it.

I liked Ico, but I think a lot of people overrated it in my opinion. I think that is because the game is very Japanese animeish, and I just never did care for anime stuff.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is also a really good PS2 exclusive. It has one of the best storylines of any game ever made.

The Mark of Kri is an underrated PS2 exclusive in my opinion. It is very violent, so beware if you don't like violent games. You can hack off people's arms, legs, and heads. Once you get the axe, you can even cut people in half. The sequel is called Rise of the Kasai.

Shadow of Rome is another good PS2 exclusive. It is a Roman gladiator game that is also very violent.

The Onimusha series is also good. It is like a Resident Evil-type game set in samurai-based Japan. It was made by the same people that made Resident Evil and the two series are very similar gameplay-wise.

Gun is an upcoming game that is supposed to be released the end of this year. It looks cool from the videos I have seen. It is an Old West shooter game.

Ralph Wiggum

Frequency was pretty great.

scrimshaw

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I've played my friends copy of Metal Gear Solid 3, it's awesome, I'll probably wait for the new version though. Devil May Cry looks like something I might enjoy - I like hard games, beat Ninja Gaiden on hardest difficulty. Loved the first Onimusha, never played the sequels, so I'll have to look into those. For people who have played the Katamari games, which is the better game, the first one or the sequel?

dcswirl

Some of my favorites include

Dark Cloud 1 or 2
World Rally Championship
Ratchet or Jak games
Frequency or Amplitude

Maryang Palad

Gitaroo-Man is you can find one.

discostu1337

Quick and easy list:

Katamari Damcy
We Love Katamari
God Of War
Hot Shots Golf 3 or Fore!
Ratchet & Clank Series
Socom II
ICO
Mark of Kri/Rise of the Kasai
Kingdom Hearts

Other odd/quirky Japanese games like Mr Mosquito/Gitaroo Man/Rez/Parappa2 etc

Be on the lookout for:

Socom III
Shadow Of The Colossus
24:the Game

ktan1

Does anyone have suggestions for kids' (up to 8yo) games, 4 players preferably?

How about easy games where you can finish in 1 or 2 sessions? I agree w/ kgrogers, need games that are fun & easy. Something like TC2, where in easy mode you can finish in 30 min. If it takes longer its fine, but I just want to relax, have fun, kill time and get closure? I like guncon & doom type games.

Thanks,

xVladx

My own personal faves:

Frequency/Amplitude: If you even somewhat like rythm games, get these. Insanely addicting, and a nice difficulty curve. They both start out pretty easy, but the harder difficulty levels are actually tough, and there's actually an incentive to play the harder levels (more songs).

ICO: As others have said, it's a bit of a "love it or hate it" kind of affair. As far as the experience itself goes, the closest thing I could compare it to would be Out of This World. Both games are rather quiet, simple affairs, with more of a focus on interesting puzzles and atmosphere. I personally didn't care for it at first, but that's mostly because the most boring environments are in the beginning of the game. The further you get, the better things get, all the way to the end, which is the opposite of how most games usually go (all the best stuff in the first 30 minutes).

One not about the Jak series:

I'm currently playing through these at the moment (about 3/4 of the way done with 2). The first one is a pretty good platformer, and the second one is a bit of a GTAish platformer/shooter. I'm finding that the second game, while it does have its moments, is hampered by a LOT of glitches, and what has to be the worst camera I've ever seen in a 3d game.

superdeluxe

SOCOM (I believe that is the exclusive)

superdeluxe

You need to get the gamecube.

strife

Jak series thou I agree with xVladx during some mission in II the camera is bad. Most of the time you can adjust your angle.

BTW all three can be had for 19.99 each

lawyer goodwill

Ace Combat 4 and 5 (with six, I mean "Zero" on the way ...) are great arcadey flight sims, exclusive to PS2 courtesy of Namco.

Personally, I love the Contra games (Shattered Soldier, Neo Contra) which are also only found on PS2.

jw2299

Lawyer goodwill beat me to it. Don't miss the Ace Combat games for PS2. AC4 is probably my favorite PS2 game of all time.

Like others have said, Katamari Damancy shouldn't be missed. There are a lot of good RPG's on the PS2 as well. And the SOCOM series is great.

starseed1981

My Favs:

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The Jak Series
The Ratchet & Clank Series
Kingdom Hearts
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

xVladx

While yes, you can adjust the angle, it frequently gets stuck on stuff, and when you're on foot (which is most of the game), the camera makes absolutely zero effort to stay behind your character. Since the game heavily revolves around shooting and stuff, you have to constantly babysit the camera to see what's shooting you. Ratchet and Clank (at least the second one) has the exact same problem, but at least there's a way to instantly put the camera behind you, which Jak 2 lacks.

animalmystic

I just picked up The Legend of Kay, and I absolutely love it! Its a lot like The Legend of Zelda, where you are a cat helping out the frogs, pandas ect. (sounds kiddish, but don't let that turn you off) It got a lot of similiar style as Zelda, the different envirements, weapons ect. Very very fun game!! Hey it got a 8.0 on Gamespot

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles LOL

Well its a fun, no thinking game, but if you want something for the kids, and that is 4 player, check out that game.

Mano

If you can find them is right. They're both pretty rare and expensive (about $70 on eBay for G-Man and another $100 for Rez). I've got both though .

MrMeJW

I know everyone has said it already but God of War is amazing... just have to make that clear.

I am a big fan of the Rachet and Clank series. It's just a very well done platformer that anyone can enjoy

Katamari Damacy is so wierd... most people when first looking at it will already decide that its not for them, but it is a lot of fun (and cheap)

The Socom series is good if you plan on playing online

I got sucked into Gran Turismo 2 for quite some time as well. For some reason GT3 didn't really appeal to me.

RocShemp

Another good one is Genji: Dawn Of The Samurai. It's basically a lovelier looking/sounding version of Onimusha but be warned that it is rather short. It took me about 10 hours to beat but I've heard some folk have finished it in about 6 hours.