The PS2 is one of the most celebrated consoles of all time, and what makes it better is that a lot of its games have managed to age better than most. Whether it’s due to the graphics, the controls, or the ideas that the game has championed, the PS2’s library is filled with games that deserve to be celebrated on a wider stage. Of course, our wonderful community of YouTube commenters had their own suggestions on what games have aged beautifully, so we’re giving those games the spotlight today.
1. Soulcalibur 3 (@stevenwoods8330)
We’ll always take advantage of the opportunity to talk about the Soulcalibur games, so when @stevenwoods8330 left the following comment on our PS2 Games That Aged Beautifully video, we just knew that we had to follow through: “Soul Calibur 3 was and still is a stunner, a technical marvel for the machine”.
In fairness, a large majority of Namco’s PS2 games of that time boasted some of the most incredible graphics on the platform, whether we’re talking about the previous Soulcalibur game, SC2, the amazing Tekken games, or Urban Reign, our beloved. Namco just managed to find the ways to push the PS2 to the brink of its capabilities, creating magic in the process, but their PS2 work might have peaked with Soulcalibur 3. From detailed and intricate character models, to the luscious backgrounds and awe-inspiring weapons, everything about Soulcalibur 3’s graphics screams some of the best of the entire console. Even the soundtrack is just as beautiful as the graphics, as the tracks like Forsaken Sanctuary go extremely hard.
We could gush more about the graphics, and probably will in other lists if given the opportunity (Best PS2 Games About Dudes With Giant Demon Swords coming soon), but ageless graphics are only part of the story. Soulcalibur 3’s gameplay is still massively fun to play as it was nearly 20 years ago, while modes like create a fighter or the Chronicles Of The Sword campaign, which added an RTS-like twist to the scrapping, proved that Namco were willing to experiment and innovate with what was already proven to be a winning formula.
SC3 could have easily been a slight upgrade on the previous game and it still would have been a success, but the big swings along with the stellar graphics and gameplay make this a timeless classic. Great pick, Steven.
2. Jak And Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (@donniejoyce429)
Anyone who’s anyone that owned a PS2 will have crossed paths with a Jak And Daxter game at some point. It was between Jak And Daxter or Ratchet And Clank about which was the best debut series on the PS2, and while R&C is still getting games, @donniejoyce429 clearly has their favorite, stating on our video that Jak “def deserves a spot here”.
We can’t argue with that, as the first Jak And Daxter games stands among the best platformers on the entire console. Introducing players to the titular duo, the game follows Jak after his mate Daxter has been turned into a weird otter-like creature, before the pair are whisked away to try and save the world from evil sages who plan on unleashing a substance known as Dark Eco, which corrupts anything it touches. Naturally, the pair accomplish this by collecting everything in sight, whether it’s the Power Cells needed to unlock new areas, or the Precursor Eggs and Spirit Flies that, well, often unlock more Power Cells. It’s a collect-a-thon platformer, but it’s among the best to ever do it, which is not really surprising considering Naughty Dog developed Jak And Daxter off the back of killing it with Crash Bandicoot.
Often cited as the first game 3D game to offer no visible loading screens, as players are able to traverse from the opening level all the way to the final boss (along with everything in between) without breaking away from gameplay or cutscenes, Jak And Daxter’s improvements on the 3D platforming formula marked the PS2 as a real generational leap from previous consoles. It also helped that the game looked incredible for the time, with great character models and impeccable use of color to make the world feel more vibrant. Throw in the wise-cracking Daxter as one of the better comic relief characters in gaming, and it’s no wonder that people still love Jak And Daxter over 20 years later.
While we wait for a new one (which is totally going to happen, right guys?), at least the full trilogy plus Jak X: Combat Racing are available on PS4 and PS5. Even The Lost Frontier is available now, if you fancy it.
3. Shadow Of The Colossus (@RaigyoEcU)
Team Ico might have had a short-lived run as a developer, but the mark they’ve left on the gaming industry can’t be denied. Ico and The Last Guardian have become regarded as cult classics in their own right over the years, but for the absolute best of what Team Ico have had to offer, @RaigyoEcU probably says it best: “For me Shadow of the Colossus looks beautiful to this day”.
Perhaps one of the most harrowing and haunting tales ever told on the PS2, Shadow of the Colossus is a game that sticks with everyone that ever played it. Now, we’re willing to admit that this game’s remake for the PS4 might color some opinion on whether or not the game holds up, but speaking purely about the PS2 release, Shadow of the Colossus felt like an incredible swansong for the PS2 as a console, raising the benchmark even further in the last proper days of the PS2. Sure, the gameplay might have been a bit repetitive, in that all you were doing was riding horses, climbing monsters and stabbing glowing weakspots 16 times in a row, but the world, the tone and the staggering scale of the Colossi were unforgettable.
Serving as somewhat of a prequel to Ico, Shadow of the Colossus follows a young warrior by the name of Wander, who’s traveled to a long abandoned area of the realm in the hopes of reviving the maiden, Mono. Once there, he realizes that the only way to achieve his goal is to slay the 16 Colossi that have been left to roam the landscape, but with each Colossus that’s taken down, the toll that it’s taking on the lad becomes more and more visible. It’s a tragic tale, but it’s executed flawlessly, with the minimalist storytelling allowing the game to be told more through emotions instead.
Shadow of the Colossus is probably not the most original pick in terms of PS2 games that aged well, but we dare anyone to disagree with it.
4. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (@AnimeBrosAMV)
Ask someone to think of a game based on an anime or manga, and the odds are good that they’ll reply with something that has Dragon Ball in the name. Granted, not every Dragon Ball game has been a winner, but there have been some incredible ones that have cemented their place among anime greats, with @AnimeBrosAMV thinking one DBZ game has aged better than them all: “For me DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is something I can see myself playing today.”
Bandai and Spike Chunsoft already found a great deal of success with the Dragon Ball Z Budokai games, which felt like the first proper attempt at replicating the frenetic fights of the anime without taking two whole scenes to charge a Spirit Bomb. All three mainline Budokai games were depicted like more traditional fighting games though, with a side-on camera, but Budokai Tenkaichi changed up the formula even further, taking on a behind the character camera and allowing players to really explore the environments they were fighting in. Budokai nailed the fierceness and general combat, but Budokai Tenkaichi’s improvements gave the DBZ games that sense of scale they’d perhaps been lacking.
While all three games are incredibly enjoyable romps that either retell moments from the show and tie-in movies (where the Broly bros at?), or pose some bonkers “what if?” scenario, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is the most expansive experience of the bunch on PS2.
BT3 featured nearly 100 unique characters, with 161 various forms, while including new features like Battle Replay, more character specific combo attacks, Blast Combos and the Z Burst Dash, giving players more offensive and defensive options in a fight. Throw in those beautiful cel-shaded graphics, and you’ve got a timeless rendition of a timeless anime.
5. Burnout Revenge (@jpicksantos)
We’re big fans of Burnout here at Cultured Vultures, and we believe that if EA weren’t massive cowards, they’d get Criterion away from Need For Speed, Battlefield or whatever else they’re doing to make a new one. While we’ve typically hyped up either Burnout 3 or Burnout Paradise in the past, @jpicksantos has wisely reminded us in the comments of the middle Burnout game in that golden trio: “I remember those days smoking weed, filling my belly with diet soda, and playing Burnout Revenge for the PS2.”
Looks like rubber isn’t the only thing that’s burning, am I right lads?
The fourth entry in the Burnout series, Burnout Revenge often gets overlooked when it comes to celebrating the successes of the franchise, though perhaps not as much as Burnout Dominator does. That’s probably because Dominator wasn’t good, but let’s move on.
Burnout Revenge had the unenviable job of trying to follow what is essentially the perfect arcade racing game in Burnout 3: Takedown, which is a tough task at the best of times. How do you capture lightning in a bottle twice? The answer is that you don’t, as Burnout Revenge decided to try and add new innovations to both the racing and the Crash mode to keep the series fresh, with some of those ideas being incredibly fun to this day.
On the racing side of things, Burnout Revenge introduced an incredible mechanic known as Traffic Checking, which basically allowed you to pinball smaller cars into your opponents, or to simply clear out the road in front of you. Of course, checking had its limits, as it only worked on cars that were going the same way as you, and obviously vehicles like trucks, buses and big vans would cause you to crash instantly, but bouncing cars up and down the road never got old. Meanwhile, the Crash Mode introduced a launch bar, along with more open-ended junctions, requiring more strategy and skill from the player as opposed to just sending it at full speed and hoping for the best.
Throw in a pretty underrated soundtrack to boot, and Burnout Revenge deserves every bit of love as its counterparts.
6. Xenosaga 1-3 (@LoneWolfAudio0524)
Sometimes, games age well by virtue of what comes afterwards. In the case of Monolith Soft’s Xenosaga, the more recent success of the Xenoblade games has led a lot of people to look more fondly on their PS2 work, though it seems like @LoneWolfAudio0524 never stopped loving Xenosaga: “For me, it’s the Xenosaga trilogy. There’s NEVER been such a cinematic treat as the first one. The third, while not as cinematic, was even better. The second … had a great story.”
While Mr. LoneWolfAudio0524 isn’t exactly selling us on the second game in the Xenosaga trilogy, all three definitely represent some of the more underrated and underappreciated RPGs on the entire console. Admittedly, Xenosaga is quite the complicated series to explain, with the whole franchise set in a sci-fi universe thousands of years in the future. Earth has been lost, and all the different factions of humanity are basically locked in a struggle over the Zohar, an artifact that allows the wielder to control almost god-like energies. That might sound simple, but we’re barely scratching the surface of what Xenosaga has going on. If you want your complex PS2 RPGs, it was between this and .hack, honestly.
As for the gameplay itself, Xenosaga is a turn-based RPG where players gather a party of characters to try and save the universe in either on-foot battles or in mechs. The gameplay would improve as the trilogy progressed, with the second game adding multiple levels of attack types that would allow players to more efficiently exploit enemy weaknesses, while the third game would improve the mech playing experience even further by adding dedicated dungeons.
While it seems like Monolith Soft would be more than willing to return to the world of Xenosaga if someone was able to foot the bill, the original Xenosaga trilogy stands among some of Monolith Soft’s best work. Given how much they’ve been killing it with the Xenoblade Chronicles series, that’s saying something.
7. Yakuza (@mexdrago3009)
@mexdrago3009 might have had the most leftfield pick of the bunch on this list: “I’m playing Yakuza in 1080i and it looks great.” We’re not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, as yapping about Yakuza is one of our many talents, but even we have to admit that the original Yakuza is a bold choice for a game that holds up.
The game that introduced us all to a legendary protagonist, the first Yakuza follows Kazuma Kiryu as he spends 10 years in jail taking the fall for a murder committed by his best mate, Nishikiyama. Once he’s out, he finds himself abandoned by the Tojo Clan, Nishikiyama has turned into a bit of a dick and his other friend, Yumi, has disappeared. Throw in a mystery child, Haruka, who’s being hunted by the Tojo, along with a curious case of 10 billion missing yen, and Kiryu’s stumbled into a bit of a conundrum. Admittedly, the fixed camera angles while exploring Kamurocho and the loading screens between fights add a bit of age to Yakuza, but there’s also the bizarre quality of listening to Mark Hamill voice Goro Majima, a role he’s completely forgotten about apparently.
However, we reckon that mexdrago might be onto something, because a retrospective of the original Yakuza game would reveal that the series is basically the same now as it has always been. You’re still running around Kamurocho, you’re still beating up goons looking to test their luck against Kiryu and you’re still able to sack it all off and go knock a few balls around in the batting cages. The core Yakuza, or Like A Dragon as it’s known now, experience is all present and accounted for here, and considering that the series is more popular now than it’s ever been, it’s hard to argue with the idea that the game that started it all has aged well.
Was the Kiwami remake a necessary improvement on the original game? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that the values, ideas and overall story shown in the original Yakuza haven’t aged well, because they have.
8. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (@adamlach6572)
What is it about racing games that makes them so easy to produce timeless classics? We’re being a bit facetious of course, as farting out an all-timer of a racing game takes quite a bit of effort, but between Burnout Revenge, Auto Modellista from our previous list and @adamlach6572’s suggestion, racing games deserve their flowers: “Gran Turismo 3 is probably the prettiest game i know, it’s not photorealistic by any means, but it looks so damn good. Amazing lighting, beautiful effects.”
Can’t argue with Adam there, as Gran Turismo 3 was among the first few games to release on the PS2 and was considered a bit of a statement piece on what the console would be capable of. The answer: amazing things. Polyphony Digital were firing on all cylinders when it came to making Gran Turismo 3, and while the third entry in the series only offered about a quarter of the amount of cars that were featured in the previous game, the huge improvements made to the game’s graphics, sound design, opponent AI, background environments, cars physics and handling along with the overall presentation made Gran Turismo 3 an instant winner. Best selling PS2 exclusive isn’t an accolade to sniff at, after all.
We would be remiss to mention Gran Turismo 4 though, which improves on the gameplay, graphics and career mode in meaningful ways. Polyphony Digital knew they cooked on that game’s graphics considering they started letting players take photos of their cars in sets from around the world. No point taking a photo if it’s not going to look good. Meanwhile, the career mode in GT4 resembled that of a car and racing enthusiast, traveling to the various dealers and races to compete and complete your car collection.
Both games are excellent examples of the simulation racing genre, and while Gran Turismo is still going today, it isn’t running quite as strong as it was in those heady PS2 days.
9. Onimusha (@Windbadger)
@Windbadger is clearly a person of few words, leaving us with the suggestion of Onimusha before disappearing into the shadows like some kind of ninja. Considering their name, along with how quickly they came and left, we’re including Onimusha just because we’re afraid of some wind powered, speedy badger flying at us trying to claw out our eyeballs. Those things can be vicious, you know. And windy.
There’s an alternate world out there where Onimusha garnered as much success as other Capcom franchises like Resident Evil or Monster Hunter, and we would rather live there. Onimusha’s blend of RE-esque horror and dread mixed with some genuinely fun swordplay and combat made the first Onimusha game a genuinely unique experience when it first launched on the PS2 back in 2001. Of course, Onimusha’s legacy and almost timelessness is indelibly tied to the legacy of another Capcom franchise, with the famous story of Hideki Kamiya utilizing a bug during Onimusha’s development that caused juggle combos as the basis for the development of the Devil May Cry games. Despite that tidbit though, Onimusha still deserves to stand on its own two feet.
Set in Feudal Japan, the game follows Samanosuke of the Akechi clan as he travels to Inabayama Castle in pursuit of his cousin Princess Yuki. Apparently, monsters have been spotted near the castle, and sure enough, Samanosuke finds himself battling demons known as the Genma in an effort to rescue Yuki. The game spawned two proper sequels, along with a fourth game following a brand new character, and all of these games stand among the best action games available on the PS2.
We’re a bit partial to Onimusha 3, though. Stick Leon The Professional in anything and you’ve got our attention.
10. Champions 1 + 2 (@leozar69 & @SpiritOfBagheera)
I swear it’s like the Champions of Norrath fan club meeting in the YouTube comments sometimes, as we’ve received a few comments from viewers referencing the game. @leozar69 and @SpiritOfBagheera were the game’s “Champions” in the comments of our PS2 Games That Aged Beautifully video, but they’re far from the only ones, and they won’t be the last either.
At a base level, Champions Of Norrath and its sequel, Champions: Return To Arms, follow the RPG guidebook right down to the letter. You play as a powerful character, you murder a bunch of monsters, bandits and other creatures in order to earn gold and XP, leveling up and unlocking new skills and gear in the process. However, it’s what Champions of Norrath built on that makes it such a compelling title, as the game was built using the engine from Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Developers Snowblind Studios were determined to improve on the formula though, adding four player co-operative online play as one of the game’s main features. While PC players had been used to online multiplayer action RPGs with Diablo, Champions Of Norrath felt like a bold new frontier for consoles.
Graphically, Champions Of Norrath was pretty impressive too, with excellent character models and backgrounds despite the top-down perspective. Sure, Snowblind might have ran out of budget for fabric when it comes to some of the in-game outfits, but that’s just mid-2000s RPGs for you. The sequel, Return To Arms, offered more of the same fun gameplay and online play, only with the added caveat that players can serve the forces of Evil instead, which is always nice to have as an option.
Considering EverQuest, the game that Champions of Norrath is based on, is still going into 2024, it would be nice to see some revisit these games at some point in the future.
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