When you’re got a console as successful as the PS2, with a library that’s well over 3000 total games deep, it’s only natural that a large percentage of them are going to fall through the cracks. Sure, most of them are games like Snow White And The 7 Naughty Boys, a game notable only for being super rare and super crap, but there are others that deserve a lot more recognition.
1. Dead to Rights
Developer: Namco Hometek
Publisher: Namco, EA (EU)
The Dead to Rights franchise actually ended up spawning quite a few sequels over its eight-year run, culminating in a fourth game, Retribution, released on the PS3 in 2010.
Yet despite managing to churn out quite a number of installments over its history, Namco Hometel’s third-person cop actioner never really found the mainstream audience it deserved. Drawing influence from the noir cop genre as a whole, not to mention 2001’s excellent Max Payne, Dead to Rights followed officer Jack Slate tracking down his father’s killer, a generic story of cop revenge that nevertheless fits with the cliches of the genre as a whole.
Dead to Rights was never revolutionary in terms of its narrative or how it told it, but it did have some immensely enjoyable shooting mechanics similar to those later found in games like Path of Neo or Total Overdose. The influence of Max Payne was clear for all to see, but Dead to Rights had enough of a separate identity to justify its own existence, with the inclusion of both the beat ‘em up combat sections and the use of Shadow, Jack’s personal attack dog and one of gaming’s goodest boys.
Unless he was ripping your throat out, obviously.
2. Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
Developer: The Collective
Publisher: Atari
Trying to sell a video that’s related/sponsored by a clothing brand is a difficult task, especially one published by Atari in the 2000s, which is why Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure likely didn’t get the love it deserved when it first launched on the PS2 in 2006. From the title alone — which is an absurd title, to be sure — you’re given absolutely no indication into what the game is, what it’s about and what the gameplay is like. How are we “Getting Up”? Who’s under pressure? What’s a “Marc Ecko”?
In reality, Marc Ecko’s Getting Up is like three games in one, offering platforming and competent beat ‘em up action as its main features, but the real highlight is the love and admiration shown to the graffiti community. Set in an authoritarian city cracking down on all forms of public disobedience, graffiti included, you’ll essentially start a paint and flyer based revolution. Of course, if that doesn’t work, you’ll also be able to grab a bit of plywood and smack some jackboots across the face.
3. Kill Switch
Developer: Namco USA
Publisher: Namco
Don’t be put off by the gaudy and frankly appalling cover art for Namco USA’s early 2000’s third-person shooter, there’s a lot more to Kill Switch than its superficial appearance would suggest.
Kill Switch wasn’t exactly treading new ground with its rather convoluted story of a super-soldier being remotely controlled by a neural connection, but the game was revolutionary in terms of its actual mechanics. In particular, Kill Switch introduced the world to the idea of a cover system (named by Namco as the Offensive Cover System), an innovation that didn’t cause much of a stir at the time, but would later be taken on and popularized by the mighty Gears of War franchise just a few years later.
Whereas Gears went on to become one of Microsoft and Xbox’s flagship properties, Kill Switch didn’t enjoy quite the same acclaim, destined instead for relative obscurity without a sequel or a spin-off to speak of. Sometimes the legacy doesn’t go to the games that innovate, but instead to those who pick up on an idea and really run with it.
4. Gitaroo Man
Developer: iNiS
Publisher: Koei, THQ
Some people might consider the Guitar Hero series to be the ascension of the rhythm action genre in popular culture, but that’s only because Gitaroo Man didn’t take off in the way it should have. Sure, the game’s probably a bit too conceptually weird to really earn mainstream acclaim, but those who were willing to have a go on this overlooked PS2 classic found a game that defied all expectations and conventions to create something utterly brilliant.
Playing out like a super sentai anime but with guitar and cool solos, players control U-1, a shy and nervous high school boy who’s often the recipient of bullying. One day, after being attacked, his dog Puma transforms, handing U-1 a weapon called The Last Gitaroo which then lets U-1 transform into the titular Gitaroo Man. Following along at home? With a sick guitar weapon in hand, Gitaroo Man then throws 10 excellent songs at you, each more fiendishly difficult than the last. It’s a short experience, but the mark it makes is indelible.
5. Jet Li: Rise To Honor
Developer: Sony Foster City Studio
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Considering that Jet Li was one of the biggest action movie stars in the late-90s going into the 2000s, it’s not surprising that he managed to headline his own video game. Jet Li: Rise To Honor was the end result, with Li starring as Kit Yun, an undercover detective in Hong Kong assigned to be the bodyguard of Boss Chiang. Boss makes the decision to leave the underworld behind, which a bunch of crooks and goons have widely considered to be a bit of a stinky move. Long story short, Boss Chiang ends up assassinated by a mysterious sniper, and Jet Li is flown off to San Francisco in pursuit of Boss Chiang’s estranged daughter, Michelle.
The premise follows a lot of the same tropes that most of Jet Li’s western made action films did, so it helps that long-time Jet Li choreographer Corey Yuen was also brought in to help with Rise To Honor’s action scenes and motion capture. The game even features a DVD-like scene selection menu, just to sell that cinematic feel. As for the actual gameplay, Jet Li: Rise To Honor used a unique system where the right analog stick is used to direct blows at the enemy, whether it’s in hand-to-hand combat or the game’s various run-and-gun sections. Rise To Honor’s uncomplicated premise and full-throttle approach to gameplay meant that it was never going to win huge awards, but it definitely deserves to be remembered more than it is.
6. Downhill Domination
Developer: Incognito Entertainment
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
The racing game genre on PS2 was stacked, as it was hard to find any room in between Burnout 3: Takedown and the Gran Turismo series. Some tried to find their racing game niche in other ways, such as focusing on extreme sports specifically, but even then, developers were running up against the titans that were SSX Tricky/SSX 3. It’s no surprise then that Downhill Domination, the BMX racing game, struggled to gain much of a foothold on the PS2, but it absolutely deserves a lot more love.
With a title infinitely easier to understand than whatever nonsense Marc Ecko was going for, Downhill Domination is all about being the best at going really fast down a mountain. Like SSX before it, there’s multiple characters to choose from, each with their own personalities, and you can upgrade various aspects of your bike as you progress through the various championships. It’s not a complex game by any means, but Downhill Domination’s excellent tracks and arcadey physics means it’s always exciting.
7. Headhunter Redemption
Developer: Amuze
Publisher: SEGA
The original Headhunter garnered its fair share of acclaim at the time of its release, still remembered in some corners of the gaming community for being a reverential evocation of all that was good about 80s action cinema. It was also innovative for having one of gaming’s earliest fully orchestral scores courtesy of Richard Jacques, and boasted the first ever video game soundtrack to be recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
Headhunter Redemption didn’t quite end up with such a legacy, instead falling through the cracks to become one of the most underrated PS2 games of all time. Also available for Microsoft’s newcomer rival the Xbox, Redemption is set 20 years after the events of the first game and sees original protagonist Jack teaming up with a new partner named Leeza X (it’s the future) who unravel a conspiracy when attempting to prevent a group of arms smugglers.
Poor old Headhunter Redemption has been so buried that it’s the sort of sequel that most don’t even know exists, and it certainly didn’t help that the game’s creator, Swedish devs Amuze, went bust not long after Redemption hit the market. If you do manage to snag a copy, you’ll probably be sitting on a rare piece of valuable gaming ephemera in fifty years’ time.
8. Ghosthunter
Developer: SCE Cambridge Studio
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment (EU), Namco (NA), EA Victor (JP)
Of all the sadly forgotten PS2 games unearthed for this list, there surely can’t be many that typify that specific generation of gaming more than SCE Cambridge’s ambitious but flawed ghoul-nabbing simulator Ghosthunter.
Modern-day releases on shiny new consoles are usually safer affairs, mature games that offer characterisation, high-fidelity graphics and a more sombre, adult tone. Today’s market is one of AAA heavyweights like God of War, Returnal and Ghost of Tsushima, cinematic and narratively dense offerings that have finally seen gaming move out of its weird adolescence and into fully-grown adulthood.
While this is all well and good, you can’t help but feel sad that a mid-tier oddity like Ghosthunter simply wouldn’t get made today, so out of step it is with contemporary sensibilities. The 2004 release follows Lazarus Jones, a man whose name makes him sound like a 50s soul singer but is actually a Detroit cop tasked with rescuing his partner from the ghost realm after she’s ghost-napped by ghouls. It’s the classic setup.
Ghosthunter is such a weird game that it’s hard to look back on it and believe that it really existed, but beneath the odd setup and some understandably dated visuals (that were nevertheless exceptional at the time), it was one of the many releases on the PS2 that could claim to have a heart. Quite fittingly, it truly felt as though it had a genuine soul.
9. Urban Chaos: Riot Response
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
The PS2 is definitely no stranger to a range of bombastic shooters, but one that often gets overlooked when it comes to celebrating the best is Urban Chaos: Riot Response. Developed by a pre-Arkham Asylum Rocksteady Studios, Urban Chaos’ story, premise and cutscenes, all told through newscasts, feels like we’ve entered a world where everything Fox News says and wants has come true, but when it comes to the gunplay, Urban Chaos truly shines.
The game gives players a wide selection of weapons, ranging from pistols, assault rifles, shotguns and a variety of melee/thrown weapons, along with a stun gun for when you’re looking to arrest some perps instead of blowing their heads off. You’re also rewarded with stronger weapons and tools for doing so, meaning it pays to not be completely gung-ho. However, Urban Chaos’ real highlight is the ballistic shield, giving you a much needed defensive option at all times during heavy firefights. Close the distance, bash them with the shield, win — it never gets old.
10. Urban Reign
Developer: Project Soul, Namco
Publisher: Namco
From one Urban to another. We just need Karl Urban to release a game next.
Don’t you wish you could go back to a simpler time in gaming, where all you had to do was load into a level, find some goons and then perform some sick juggle combos on them? Urban Reign is a welcome reminder that sometimes games don’t need to be complex and emotional treatises on the nature of violence, they just need to be incredibly fun when you hit the buttons. Even if there are 100 levels in the campaign and you’ll probably get bored once you hit Mission 74 or something, Urban Reign never stops being fun when you hit the buttons.
A 3D beat ’em up that utilizes a similar engine to Tekken, Urban Reign’s beauty comes from how free flowing the combos are despite only using a few basic inputs. However, those willing to sink time into learning the game will find a robust parry and counter system that really separates the street level thugs from the badass bosses. There’s even support for 4 players via a multi-tap, which can become truly chaotic. Considering how influential the PS2 was in the world of PS2 couch multiplayer, Urban Reign doesn’t get celebrated enough.
Except by us. We probably celebrate it too much. Sorry about that.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site.
