Looking For Fun PS2 Games

[Amaris]

So I have a PS2 thanks to a friend who didn't want his anymore. It came with about 12 games, which is great, except his taste in games and my taste in games are two different worlds. Oh, we both like Gran Turismo 3, and Hot Shots Golf Fore!, but the rest of his games are definitely not my style. I have Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4, and so on (in paper sleeves, since he didn't have most of the cases), and I don't like those games. They're violent, and bloody, and about zombies and such, and that is just not me at all.

What I'm looking for are cheerful games. Fun games that have lots of colors, music, and are upbeat.

The PS2 has thousands of titles in its library, but I don't even know where to start. Remember, something fun and light, bright, colorful, cheerful. I want something that I can just relax and enjoy without concerning myself with blood, violence, and the like.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Kelthaz]

The PS2 has some excellent bright, colourful, and cartoony mascot platformers on the system.

Ape Escape series
Ratchet and Clank series
Sly Cooper series
Jak and Daxter (avoid the sequels -- they go the dark and gritty route. And they suck.)

 

[tomswift2002]

With the PS2 you are able to play PS1 games as well. From the PS1 catalog I can think of The Grinch as being colorful. Or even the Spider-Man game from 2000. Unless you want to go with Spyro.

Sorry, I always found the Nintendo platforms to have the more colorful and cheerful games. I mostly got my PS2 to play Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Star Trek: Shattered Universe, but otherwise I never found there was that much on the console.

 

[Amaris]

I was thinking about the Jack and Daxter games. As for PS1 games, I have an HDTV and as much as I love the games, for me they look awful, blurry, and pretty hard to stare at without eye discomfort.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The Spyro games are cute and fun.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a GTA-style game but with the Simpsons and minus the violence.

There's also Wallace and Gromit: Project Zoo, which is pretty cute.

Let's not forget the classic, Katamari Damacy.

Also try:

* Psychonauts
* Ico
* Everblue 2
* Gitaroo Man
* Space Channel 5

 

[Amaris]

Ooh, I'll check those out! Thanks Rob.

 

[martok2112]

J.Allen,

Do not forget, there are also a few Star Trek games out for the PS2.

-There was the flawed (very flawed) port of Star Trek Voyager Elite Force. It's a first person shooter, but set in the Trek universe....so there's no blood, or zombies (unless you consider the Borg to be zombies...LOL), and no language (outside of maybe damn or hell).

-There's Star Trek Encounters, which lets you pilot ships from Star Trek Enterprise, TMP era, TNG, DS9, VOY, and one called Sovereign, where you get to fly the Enterprise E. It's a third person, isomeric aspect fly and shoot game.

-Star Trek Conquest, which is more of a strategy game. I didn't play it all that much. Didn't have quite the appeal for me as Encounters did.

-Star Trek Shattered Universe, which you are Captain Sulu, taking the Excelsior up against the Klingons. It's an ok game, and they did get George Takei to voice Sulu for the game.


For PS1, there was Star Trek Invasion, in which you piloted Federation fighters against Klingons, Romulans, and the Hur'Q!


Anyhoo....just some Star Trek PS2/PS1 ideas if you're interested. You might be able to find them used in a GameStop (good luck), but might have a better go at it shopping either online, or if you have a game store around that deals in older games.

 

[Amaris]

I now have Star Trek: Encounters and Simpsons: Road Rage on order. It's a game trading website, and so I can get rid of some of these games I don't play for some that I will!

 

[SPCTRE]

Since you enjoy racing games, might I suggest WipEout Fusion? (I don't know how you feel about the WipEout franchise overall.)

 

[RoJoHen]

-There was the flawed (very flawed) port of Star Trek Voyager Elite Force. It's a first person shooter, but set in the Trek universe....so there's no blood, or zombies (unless you consider the Borg to be zombies...LOL), and no language (outside of maybe damn or hell).

Elite Force was fantastic on PC. I had no idea they made a PS2 version.

 

[SPCTRE]

It was a really bad port. Glad I didn't have to suffer through it.

 

[martok2112]

I think, if it weren't for the choppiness...the bog down....Elite Force was an ok game on the PS2.

What was really misleading was that it ran on the Quake III Arena engine (as it stated on the PS2), and yet, I know QIIIA (the game) ran just fine on PS2....perhaps they tried to squeeze in a bit too much to try and maintain the integrity of EF....and obviously failed miserably.

@J. Allen, I hope you'll enjoy Star Trek Encounters. It's not a bad game at all. Not great, but certainly not bad.

 

[Amaris]

Since you enjoy racing games, might I suggest WipEout Fusion? (I don't know how you feel about the WipEout franchise overall.)

I checked it out and it looks good. I do like racing games (though not too many), and it seems fun, fast, and colorful!

I checked out RobMax's suggestion of Katamari Damacy, and it looks awesome. Minor problem is that it seems to be pricey everywhere, and the game trading site I'm on doesn't have it as a trade yet. Still, I'll keep an eye out for it. I like oddball games. If it's silly, colorful, and a bit off, I'm all for it. I like watching Japanese game shows, if that helps you get an idea of what kind of frame of mind I'm in.

I've done some more digging, and there are two games that look really interesting: Bard's Tale, and Klonoa 2.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!

 

[Kelthaz]

I haven't played Bard's Tale, but Klonoa 2 is a great game if you're a fan of 2D platformers.

 

[martok2112]

Bard's Tale is a laugh riot of a dungeon crawler. Heck, the instruction manual itself will have you laughing your head off.

 

[Amaris]

I haven't played Bard's Tale, but Klonoa 2 is a great game if you're a fan of 2D platformers.

I love 2D platformers. I used to play old PC games like Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Commander Keen, and of course NES/SNES games like Super Mario Brothers, and my all time favorite Sunset Riders, which had great music, great fun, and awesome characters (Cormano was my choice every time).

Bard's Tale is a laugh riot of a dungeon crawler. Heck, the instruction manual itself will have you laughing your head off.

I've got it on my list.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Dragon Quest VIII might fit the bill, it's a JRPG but it's light and very colorful.

 

[Amaris]

Dragon Quest VIII might fit the bill, it's a JRPG but it's light and very colorful.

Yes, I was looking at that one as well.

 

[CorporalClegg]

J. I highly recommend Klonoa. They're some of my favorite games of all time. The whole 2D/pseudo 3D element really adds a lot to your typical platforming. I personally prefer the original (PSX) one over K2 just because I think the level design is a bit better. But really, get both.

Ape Escape, Spyro, and Ratchet and Clank have all been mentioned, but I think you should probably put those at the top of your list. You can't go wrong with any of them, and they should all be easy to find for cheap. Try and go for R&C first--absolutely brilliant set of games. They should see a price drop soon due to the HD Remasters.

There are a handful of Crash games for the PS2. None are as good as the original PSX trilogy IMO, but still good classic platforming fun.

There is a port of the Dreamcast Ecco the Dolphin game on PS2. Most people say it's not as good as the original Sega games, but I actually like it best. The beautiful 3D ocean environments really add a lot.

There's also Okami. It plays sort of like a classic Zelda game with some platforming, puzzle, and RPG elements. You play as a wolf set in an ancient Japanese like world, and everything is colored like a classic Japanese ink-wash painting. It's one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. The music is wonderful also. It also has an HD Remaster, so you might be able to find one that someone is trying to get rid of.

Another game along those same lines is Legend of Kay. The game is a bit more violent, but there are still lots of puzzles and platforming. And you play as a cartoon ninja cat. The environments are really colorful. And I think it's kind of bargain-bin fodder.

If you want something that's out there, fresh, innovative, and really bizarre then look no further than Katamari Damacy. Also, everything about the game is 100% squee adorable. Basically, God screws up the universe and kills all the stars. So you play as this cute little alien dude who's sent to Earth to gather up junk to remake the stars. The controls take a bit of getting used to at first, but once you do, you'll have a hard time putting it down. It's super simple, but total mindless fun. And the music! It's cutesy, cutesy, silliness at it's best! Definitely right up your alley.

I'm a long time fan of airplane combat games, and while I can see where you might not care for them, I'm going to throw Snoopy vs. The Red Baron out there. It's air combat but with the Peanuts characters in bi-planes. And loads of fun!

If you're into puzzle games, give Aqua Aqua a go. It's one of the more original puzzlers I've ever played and it's really, really colorful. Music is pretty catchy too.

If you're really into Gran Turismo 3, then I suggest (eventually) trading up to GT4. It's better in every conceivable way. Obviously, wait on that until you get some other stuff first--unless you happened to come across it for cheap. But as a long time huge GT fan, I've always found 3 to be the weakest of the series, while 4 is the best.

Since no one mentioned the Kingdom Hearts games, I'm going to throw them out there.

And speaking of Disney, there's actually a Kim Possible game (I forget its exact title.) that's surprisingly really good. I've only played it a few times (one of my younger cousins owned it), but I thought it was actually really good--nearly as good as the old classic Disney platformers.

If you like old arcade games, there are several collections on PS2. The usually come with six or eight games and generally tend to be pretty cheap. Definitely start with the Namco ones.

I don't know how you feel about Mega Men, but both the classic and X series have PS2 collections, as well. And you colorful and awesome music, that's the place to go. They are a little violent, but only in an exploding cartoon robots kind of way. The X collection is a lot cheaper though, which is fine. I like them better, and some of the ports of the original series aren't very good.

 

[Amaris]

Oh hells yes, I'm writing these down, thank you!

A guy emailed me a while ago, having noticed the stack of PS2 games I had for sale (15 in all), and he offered to do some serious trading at his store. He has a booth at our local flea market, and so this weekend I'm going to gallop on down there and hopefully walk away with some great games. I'm taking many of what everyone has mentioned here, in the hopes he'll have them in his shop.

If push comes to shove, I will let a bunch of them go for Okami. I checked out a Youtube video of the game in action. I want it.

Let's hope this guy has a bunch of these. I sure as hell won't fall for that whole magic beans thing again!