We’ve spoken at length for years now about how influential and brilliant the PS2 was as a console, with a library of trailblazing titles that pushed the industry and their respective genres forward. One specific genre that really exploded in popularity and ambition across the PS2’s lifespan is the open-world genre, and while the majority of that success can be attributed to a specific developer/publisher that rhymes with “mockjar”, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t innovation and progress made from other developers throughout the PS2’s era.
With plenty of open world games to choose from, narrowing down the list to just the 15 best is quite the difficult task. Naturally, we’ve had to make a few sacrifices, otherwise this list would have gone on forever, but without further ado, let’s break down our picks for the best PS2 open world games ever made.
15. Scarface: The World Is Yours
In a time where movie tie-in games were either great or terrible, something that helped separate the good from the terrible were tie-in games that built on the world and characters, instead of just adapting every action scene from the film and calling it a day. Looking at most kids movies, here. The Godfather, The Warriors and The Thing were all brilliant examples of games on the PS2 that showed love to the source material and produced something great, but when it comes to open world games, none shined brighter than Scarface: The World Is Yours.
Instead of just doing the events of the film again, Scarface: The World Is Yours actually changed the climactic ending of the film, allowing Tony Montana to survive (albeit barely) the siege of his mansion by Sosa’s men. After retreating for months, Tony returns to Miami, intent on building his criminal empire back from the ground up, and yes that includes buying a tiger to help protect your new mansion. While you’ll run drugs across the border as you build Montana’s second empire, what makes Scarface: The World Is Yours is both Montana’s character and charisma, and the lock-on mechanic that allows players to target specific body parts.
Yes, that includes the balls.
14. Destroy All Humans!
Is Destroy All Humans! an open world game in the strictest sense of the word? Not really, as the game is more of a collection of explorable levels, each offering a couple of missions to complete, but open world games are often referred to as “sandbox” games, and in that sense, Destroy All Humans! is the perfect fit. Sure, you might spend your entire time destroying the contents of the sandbox 11 times over, or using your trusty anal probe to extract those juicy human brains (it’s a weird game), but it’s great fun nonetheless.
As Crypto, a proud member of the Furon Empire, you’ve traveled to Earth to investigate a downed spacecraft that belonged to another of your kind. Oh, and also lay the groundwork for a full-blown invasion. Can’t forget that part. While you can explore the different parodies of 1950s American towns and cities on foot, using a variety of alien weaponry and telekinetic abilities to cause mischief, Destroy All Humans! also allows players to cut loose, hopping into the UFO to level the entire town until it’s nothing but ashes.
13. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition
Look, we all know Rockstar’s greatest hits in the open world genre are going to feature in the latter end of this list, but let’s not discount their work on a series that’ll probably never see the light of day again: Midnight Club. Back when games about urban street racing were all the rage, Rockstar’s Midnight Club franchise often played second fiddle to Need For Speed, and while that’s even still true on this list, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition is a stellar example of arcade inspired street racing on the PS2, with a brilliant open world to boot.
Adopting a racing formula similar to how Burnout Paradise would eventually operate, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition’s races saw players following checkpoints that you could use any route to reach. Because of this, players could use their knowledge of the three cities you explore (Detroit, San Diego and Atlanta) to find shortcuts and gain the advantage. While MC3: DUB Edition is the most well-known version, Rockstar also released DUB Edition Remix, which included new vehicles, new music and the city of Tokyo, mostly lifted from Midnight Club 2.
12. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Considering the current era of studio closures and layoffs in the video game industry, the death of Radical Entertainment in 2012 feels like it would have happened no matter what. Despite creating excellent games like Prototype or the already mentioned Scarface, the studio would essentially be shuttered by Activision over a decade ago. Before their untimely demise though, they dropped some excellent games on the PS2, with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction ranking among the best superhero games ever made, and it’s a damn fine open world game too.
While the story isn’t much to write home about, essentially covering the same bases as the Edward Norton Hulk film from a few years later, it’s the gameplay that made this Hulk game a real winner. Instead of stealth sections with puny Banner, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction earned its name by focusing only on the big green smashing machine doing what he does best. Well, we say “only”, but the variety of challenges and bonus missions in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction help keep things fresh throughout. Of course you’ve always wanted to take Hulk on a round of Urban Golfing.
11. The Getaway: Black Monday
Despite being one of the most famous cities in the entire world, there haven’t been many open world games that have taken place in the UK’s capital city of London. There was that GTA mission pack that traveled to London in the 60s, and Ubisoft have doubled dipped with Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs Legion, but aside from that, the only other example is The Getaway series. While the first game was a good introduction to the Guy Ritchie inspired formula, the sequel Black Monday is more of an open world game by nature. The first game had you complete all the missions for a playable character before you could start roaming freely, so Black Monday letting you explore from the get go is definitely an improvement.
Like all great Guy Ritchie inspired plots, The Getaway: Black Monday sees multiple characters converging together for what can only be described as an explosive finale. There’s betrayal, drugs and more than enough gunfights to keep players interested until the credits roll as you explore a pretty accurate depiction of London. Well, accurate as it can be considering it was on the PS2. We’d ask for a remake of both Getaway games, but considering Sony decided to shut down their London Studio, guess that’s out of the question.
10. The Simpsons: Hit And Run
Another Radical Entertainment banger, The Simpsons: Hit And Run made no bones about the fact that it was borrowing heavily from the GTA formula. If you’re going to make an open world game, there’s no better series to copy from, though The Simpsons doesn’t quite go as far as to have Bart and Homer hitting the drive-by on Moe’s Bar. Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity when you could have had The Simpsons doing some illicit activities for Fat Tony, but at the end of the day, It’s The Simpsons: Hit And Run, not an episode of Itchy and Scratchy.
Set across a week in the life of Springfield, you’ll play as Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa and Apu as they explore the suburbs, downtown and beach of Springfield, with each area crammed with easter eggs and references to the long-running series. Because the game only came out in 2003, you’re pretty much guaranteed that the majority of the references involve the good moments from the show and not the seemingly never-ending dark ages. You can literally drive Martin’s soap box derby car through the Stonecutter’s meeting room, for instance.
9. Need For Speed: Underground 2
Speaking of The Simpsons, if we were to butcher a quote from Grandpa Simpson, games about street racing and car customization “were the style at the time” when the PS2 was out. Entire shelves of pre-owned titles at your local game shop would be filled with racing games of this ilk, and sure, most of those games would be the various Need For Speed annual releases, but there’s a reason for that: Need For Speed was brilliant. While the original games in the Need For Speed series were standard racers, Underground elevated the formula by adding an open world to explore.
Transitioning Need For Speed: Underground 2 into an open world game was a bold move, but one that helped sell the fantasy of being an illegal street racer, as you’re traveling to different races instead of just selecting them from a menu. It also gave the player more of an appreciation for the city they were competing in, Bayview, compared to Underground 1’s random hodgepodge of city blocks. Apparently, it was called Olympic City? There’s your random pub quiz trivia for the day.
8. Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction
Video games are no stranger to controversy, but Pandemic really decided they wanted their lion’s share of kicking the hornet’s nest when they decided to make a game set in North Korea. Talk about a contentious subject, but Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction more than lives up to its name, as you control a private contractor sent into the heart of North Korea to try and take down the Deck of 52, the collection of high ranking military personnel in the NK army. If you hadn’t guessed, the Ace of Spades is the most valuable one.
What makes Mercenaries such a unique and special game is the process by which you go about hunting down the various “cards”. You work your way through a suit at a time, but the way you go about it is by working with the various factions, such as the Allied Nations, the Chinese Army, the South Korean forces and the Russian Mafia. These factions can give you intel on where to find the various cards, which you can then extract either dead or alive for cash. Cash that can be spent on the more fun, explosive toys, which are called in via air support like Helldivers stratagems. It is a playground, after all.
7. Gun
While Red Dead might have started out life on the PS2 (and original Xbox), the first installment of the series, Revolver, wasn’t the open world adventure that the series became known for with Red Redemption and its sequel. That doesn’t mean we didn’t get our fill of open world rootin’ and tootin’ with a side of cowboy shootin’ on the PS2 though, as Neversoft and Activision’s Gun proved that exploring the Old West was just as fun as shooting up the streets of the concrete jungle. Rockstar unquestionably improved the formula years later with RDR, but Gun is still a worthwhile and entertaining predecessor.
Coincidentally, both Gun and Red Dead Revolver have similar premises, as both games open with the protagonist’s father being killed and our hero embarking on a quest to exact vengeance. In Gun specifically, Colton White’s father Ned is killed in a steamboat explosion, with Colton travelling through the various towns and cities to find information about his dad’s killer. Naturally, that means shooting your way through saloons, trains and horseback rides aplenty. The resident undertaker is going to have to get more than three coffins ready.
6. Spider-Man 2
There’s a level of freedom that comes with playing an open world game, free from restrictions and consequences (mostly), but having access to an open world and superpowers at the same time is even better. We’ve already spoken about The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, which literally lets players loose on New York City, but if you prefer treating your video game open worlds like a jungle gym instead of one of those stress rooms where you get to smash pottery, Spider-Man 2 is a much better pick.
A landmark title in the history of Spider-Man games, the official tie-in for the Spider-Man 2 film was the first time that players were able to properly free roam around NYC as the iconic wallcrawler, with earlier games reducing the playable area to just a few city blocks at most. Oftentimes, you’d be lucky to not be fighting goons in the middle of a dingy warehouse. Anyway, Spider-Man 2 opened up the gameplay formula for Spider-Man games going forward, leading to the current Insomniac titles that set a new standard for games featuring the wisecracking webhead.
5. Grand Theft Auto 3
Welcome to the Rockstar block, where the vast majority of the best open world games left to talk about on the PS2 were made by Rockstar. You knew it was coming, we knew it was coming, so let’s start with the game that really blew the open world genre wide open on the PS2: Grand Theft Auto 3. While it’s the most dated of all the 3D GTA games to play these days, GTA 3 was a landmark moment in game design, taking the traditionally top-down GTA series and bestowing it with that vital third dimension.
Suddenly, a series that was originally considered a silly but enjoyable romp had become an overnight sensation and genuine system seller. GTA 3 was considered by many at launch to be the key reason why you should own a PS2, and their decision was only vindicated further by future Rockstar games pushing the envelope even further. Again, GTA 3 isn’t the best the series has to offer, with mute protagonist Claude being a wet blanket in the charisma department compared to other GTA characters, but its place in history cannot be denied.
4. Bully
Not every open world game needs to feature some kind of expansive, all consuming world that takes hours to trek from one end to another. That’s why Bully’s open world design is so refreshing even now, as it’s just a perfectly normal American town that you can easily pedal across in the space of a minute. Like a Yakuza game though, Rockstar have managed to pack an incredible amount of detail and content into Bullworth, ensuring you’re always finding new secrets and collectibles as you’re exploring.
As Jimmy Hopkins, a new student at Bullworth Academy, you have to find your place among the social hierarchy across an entire year, as the different cliques of students try to make Jimmy’s education a living hell. While the action only starts at the school in the first chapter, the rest of Bullworth opens up as the school year progresses, including the preppy suburbs, the shady industrial area where the greasers and dropouts hang out, and the fully functioning theme park complete with rides and carnival games. Bully’s open world approach is proof that it’s not about the size, it’s how you use it.
Yep. We’re sticking with that one.
3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
If you were looking for an open world PS2 game, and your only filter was the term “immaculate vibes”, you’d be presented with the classic Rockstar hit Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. For many people, Vice City is actually considered the best of the PS2 GTA games because of its aesthetic and setting alone. Who doesn’t love being a crime boss in an alternative version of 80s Miami? No wonder Radical Entertainment decided to make a game based on Scarface, as they saw how successful Rockstar were with Vice City. May as well make use of the license while they were at it.
Despite only releasing a year after GTA 3, Vice City is a leaps and bounds improvement over the predecessor, especially in terms of the game’s story and characters. For one, the lead character can actually speak now, with Tommy Vercetti up there with the franchise’s very best protagonists. However, the neon soaked streets of Vice City, the radio stations filled with 80s glam rock and pop, and the gaudy, brightly coloured outfits and Hawaiian shirts everywhere helped make Vice City a truly unforgettable experience.
2. Shadow Of The Colossus
We interrupt your regularly scheduled “Rockstar Block” to talk to you about an absolute classic, an all-time great adventure on PS2, and crucially, one of the best uses of an open world in gaming history. We’re talking about Shadow of the Colossus, the follow-up/prequel to Team ICO’s — well, ICO. The gameplay of scaling and defeating the 16 massive Colossi throughout the game, or the tragic story that sees our hero Wander killing the majestic beasts in an attempt to resurrect his lost love, has been spoken about to death already, so let’s focus on this open world instead.
Unlike the other open worlds on this list, the world shown in Shadow of the Colossus is barren, filled with ruins of a lost civilization and the 16 creatures you’ve been charged with slaying. The world itself is huge, so it’s fortunate that you’ve been given a faithful companion in your horse Agro, who allows you to explore the world with ease. There’s haunting beauty in exploring the land of Shadow of the Colossus, as you’re left with more questions than answers regarding the nature of the Colossi, the world itself and the ruination that befell it. It’s a world that’ll stick with you long after the credits have rolled.
1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
What? Were you expecting True Crime: Streets Of LA?
The third and final Grand Theft Auto games developed for the PS2 (as Liberty City/Vice City Stories were developed for the PSP first), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was a huge leap in terms of gameplay over the other games. Sure, it was the same shooting mechanics, the same driving and a similar crop of missions, but the player’s relationship with both the main character, CJ, and the world of San Andreas as a whole, was completely different this time around.
In between the story of CJ returning to the city of Los Santos and becoming embroiled once again with the Grove Street Saints, CJ could visit the gym to make some gains, or spend all their money at the fast food restaurant to gain a tonne of weight. CJ was also highly customisable, as you can style his clothes, hair, tattoos and the vehicles he drives. These RPG-esque mechanics helped elevate the already excellent GTA template to new heights, allowing San Andreas to become one of the most successful games on the entire platform. We just try to forget how badly they screwed it all up with the Definitive Edition version on modern platforms, though.
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