PixlBit

I'm going down the Metacritic list for PS2 and seeing what might be worth trying out. Journey along and see the sights. 

1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - I've never been into the skateboarding games and have never played this (Or maybe I have. It's too long ago.). It's available digitally, bundled with 4, and remastered with new content. It's on sale on PS for $30 right now. I might give it a try at $20 and maybe I'd pick up a physical copy to try if it was even less. Could I get into this top rated PS2 game? Who knows. I'm always up to being surprised by a game. At the right price, however. 

2. 5. 6. Grand Theft Auto III, IV, Vice City - I've heard so much about the GTA games over the years, I feel like I've played them, but I haven't except for a few hours of Vice City. I've never been a big fan of crime stories, or mafia TV shows. It's just not my thing, but the level of craft in Rockstar games can't be ignored. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy (III, Vice City and San Andreas) is on consoles, remastered, and on sale on both PS and Xbox for $20. Finally, it's hit $20! I'd be down for it mainly for Vice City which has a soundtrack I like (80s music, all genres). Also my physical copy of Vice City crashes every time I play the radio. 

3. Resident Evil 4 - I've heard so much about this too over the years I feel I've played it, but, in fact, I have played it. Several times but never to the end. Something about the controls always annoys me, but I'd always give it another shot. The remake is on PS and Xbox on sale for $16. The original also is on sale for $5. Tough choice there. I'd like to try the remake. Perhaps the controls are modernized to my taste. 

4. 13. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, MGS 3: Subsistence - Stealth gameplay has always kept me to just very short plays of this series. I'm not a fan of stealth in games except in short doses. I find it tense and prone to many annoying replays to get it right. However, I'd still love to get into these Metal Gear stories if I can put up with them. These games have been remastered in the Master Collection (games 1-3) available on PS and Xbox. On sale on PS for $42. The single games seem to be available on Xbox on sale for $14 each. It'd be cool to own the collection but not for $40 with my marginal interest. I may try one of them solo though. 

 7. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec - I used to own the first, two-disc, Gran Turismo game on Playstation way back, but I never got into it much. Sim racers aren't my favorite. I'm a sloppy video game driver and like some concessions to hitting guardrails and anything in my swervy path. These types of games don't like you crashing or even chipping the paint. However, I like the visuals, the acurate car physics and such. I could give this a try. This series has always been a PS exclusive and alas, only GT7 is available right now digitally. For a nice price, I'd pick up a physical copy, I think. 

8. 11. 12. Madden NFL 2003, 2002, 2004 - I played one of the recent Maddens when I had Game Pass and found some enjoyment in it, especially in arcade mode. Sports games are the ultimate play-and-trash games and previous iterations are never remastered or made available digitally it seems. However, physical copies of old sports games are dirt cheap, $5 or less. So I may pick up one of these just to check out. 

14. NCAA Football 2004 - I keep coming across interesting comments about college football games that peak my interest. Like gamers playing their player through college and then transfering them into the pro game. In this case Madden because both are EA games. Podcaster Kat Bailey used to talk of playing these like a RPG, taking her character from college to pro in a lengthy career. This is a kind of interesting approach to me. Not available digitally but very cheap physical. I may try it wth a copy of Madden 2004. 

15. 18. God of War I, II - I need to pick up physical GoW II again for my collection, must haves imo. But, I do have the GoW Saga Collection for PS3 (1-3 plus 2 PSP games). These first two don't seem to be available digitally right now on Playstation but they used to be. The series has always been a PS exclusive, so I'd love to have GoW II again on my physical PS2. 

16. 24, Virtua Fighter 4, VF4: Evolution - I've never been a big fighting game fan. I love brawlers though, just not 1v1 fighting games except maybe for Darkstalkers for their interesting characters and maybe a little of Injustice, which had a story mode. Actualy, I played a bunch of SoulCalibur back in the day for the story mode, now I think of it. I love story modes. It looks like VF5 is on both PS and Xbox. VF2 is on Xbox as well, but no VF4 anywhere. Well, for a cheap price, I'd pick up the physical copy to try out. Why not. Must be some reason this is #14 all-time for PS2 on Metacritic. 

 17. Burnout 3: Takedown - One of my favorite series and my favorite racing game. It's fast and full of crashes. It's like a brawler mixed with a racer. There's also crash mode which just has you creating the biggest pileup you can for points. Brilliant! MK and I played a ton of this on Xbox back in the day, and I still own it there. I'd get it again on PS2 just because. Unfortuneately this gem and the first two games aren't remastered or digitally available anywhere. They should be.

 19. 20. SSX, SSX 3 - I've rarely tried a skiing or snowboarding game since Skiing on Atari. I feel I've checked this series out once way back but didn't really get into all the tricks and whatnot. It's skateboarding on snow basically. Not to be confused with the 2012 reboot game SSX, the first one seems not digitally available but SSX3 is on Xbox for $10. I imagine the physical games are cheap too so maybe I'll pick one of them up to try. I got a place near me that sells 4 games for $15. I might check that out. 

 21. Okami - A game I love but haven't finished. I still own it physically and its remastered version is on PS and Xbox for $10 on sale right now. I could get it again. Weehoo! Or maybe not. We'll see. 

22. 25. Pro Evolution Soccer 2, World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 - I don't get soccer/football at all. I've tried a game here and there but could never quite enjoy them. I'd play Super Mario Strikers though. 

23. NFL 2K3 - The series was created for the Dreamcast where no Madden could be found and then expanded to compete with Madden on all systems. 2K3 has historic teams you can play which is a selling point for me. I may check this out on the cheap. 

And that's the top 25 on metacritic for PS2. This gives me some new ideas for games I could try on the system. What do you think?