There have been plenty of games over the years that have been poorly reviewed at the time, only to receive a more positive reassessment from fans and/or critics either at the time or when looking back, and the PlayStation 2 is no different.
There’s definitely no denying that some games might have been undeservedly bashed by critics. The reasons why vary from game to game, but there’s a lot of diamonds out there in gaming that have been obscured by plenty of rough.
Return Fire (PS1). It has a Metacritic of 71 but it is one of the best games on PS1. https://www.metacritic.com/...
Warframe. Started life with a 64 on meta but improved quite a bit over the years. I put north of 1000hrs in.
I suppose that's just a case of the score not updating as the game slowly got better. The PS5 and Switch versions are 85/86.
Can we address how odd it is for the idea of hated by critics seems to work at anything below 80%? 3 of these 10 have a critics score of 70 or higher and only 1 has a score below 50.
I would say anything below 40 would be bad / hated, 40-59 is ok but missable, 60-69 is functionally average, 70-79 is good, 80-89 is very good, 90-94 is outstanding GOTY candidate, 95+ is genre defining
Who's ready to rage-quit tonight? Not me, obviously. But if you don't mind the challenge here are some of the hardest (best) PS2 games ever.
Out of the games that you listed I beat:
Urban Reign (great brawler!), I don't remember it being that hard. I should go back and replay it.
Jak II, beat it twice, yeah it had a few hard missions, but I don't think it should be on a 'Hardest Games list'.
Manhunt, was it really that hard? Its been so long now since I played it. Damn, the first half of the game is so good, so intense.
Maximo, the game was hard, but its been so long that I don't remember how hard, completed it over a rental period, so it didn't take me long. I mostly remember that I had to spend currency to buy continues.
Urban Reign starts to be hard from the get-go once you pick the normal difficulty. A lot of my friends picked up the easiest difficulty, and that alone didn't make Urban Reign an easy one. I think the difficulty in Urban Reign reaches its peak once you get to fight Golem. It gets even harder when he teams up with Napalm 99.
Jak 2: Yeah, that game is hard. I'd even go to say the checkpoint system in that game doubles down on the frustration. Imagine nearing the end of the mission, die, then start all over again.
Manhunt gets hard once opponents pick up a weapon. I only played the PC version, so maybe they made that one harder? Dunno. But I do remember the enemies taking too much damage when equipped with a gun. The freaking guns...
I replayed Maximo a couple of months ago as I made a history video about it on my YouTube channel, and yeah the game is challenging. The latter levels definitely put everyone's skills to the test. And the option to pay to save, just made it more challenging. Maximo vs Army of Zin, however, is much easier.
Agree with Jak 2. The hardest in the series, but no hard at all.
Beated it also twice. One on PS2 one on PS3 remaster
Maximo 1 and 2 were also manageable, but can turn some off due to bad checkpoint system.. thats all i remember but i loved Maximo.
Shinobi was definitely challenging, especially on Super. I suspect the controlled haven't aged well but give that one a go if you're looking for a challenge.
Otherwise, I largely agree with your take (and I also don't have much memory of Maximo). But I'll add that Shattered Soldier was brutal.
I heard the two Contra games on PS2 were great, but extremely difficult. I'm scared but also excited to play them at some point!
I never played Shinobi, but I did play a little of the sequel, Nightshade, I beat the first level and put it down, I need to go back and complete both games. I do remember magazines back then talking about how hard PS2 Shinobi was, and if I remember correctly there are no checkpoints, so if you die, it can be frustrating to start all over again.
Chocoburger,
It's not too bad on the first two difficulties, but once you get to Super, it's a constant struggle to keep Akujiki (Hotsuma's sword) from killing you. It always sapped your life force if you don't kill enough, but it's pretty extreme on Super. I also did it with another playable character who gets sapped at like 2x the normal rate, already accelerated by the difficulty (but their damage output is probably doubled too).
It's almost pushing you to be incautious, but you also die pretty easily. It's very much a game of precision at that point.
Much of this probably makes no sense now, but get on Shinobi and you'll see what I mean. I remember that game a bit too well.
Some games really stick with you when they've beaten you into memorizing everything about them.
I don’t remember most of these games being hard but then again I don’t remember a lot of things these days. Sucks getting older
It's actually healthy to forget most things. Forgetting things from so long ago is perfectly normal man.
Urban Reign, one of the best beat 'em ups ever and an absolute Hidden Gem of a game in the vast PS2 library.
Urban Reign, Yakuza (Any of the OG Series), God Hand, and Guardian Heroes are all in my Mount Rushmore of Beat 'Em Ups. Still waiting to play Sifu to see where it lands.
Also, The Red Star's gameplay has some of that same weird Shoot 'em up Bullet Hell style sections very reminiscent of the Nier series. Pretty cool Game based on a pretty cool Comic book series.
i agree with jack 2. especially one specific boss is brutalllll. but not all of it is difficult.
Siren i feel like was difficult cause its controls and menu.
I love challenging games, and Urban Reign kicks my @ss so hard. I genuinely feel like im missing something when im being air juggled to death 😅
If you've always wanted to be a hero, it's too late. Luckily, you can be on the other side. On the PS2 that is.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see many of these games return on PS+.
I wish they'd re release those ultimate alliance games. I'd buy both of them. I missed them on ps4 unfortunately. If only they'd have released them physically
Is this a list of the best marvel games on PS2 or a list of all the marvel games on PS2?
I'd say neither; it's a partial list of some of the PS2 games, with mixed quality.
Lair (PS3)
Ha! Mentioned shadow of Rome… what a sick sick game. Loved it
Judge Dredd is awesome. An untapped goldmine as far as games and movies go. I like Dredd vs Death even though it was janky and low budget.