Odin Sphere
I have a bit of an interesting history with Odin Sphere. First of all, I played it backwards. What I mean by that is that I only picked it up after I played Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. I was so captivated by the graphics and gameplay of that other Vanillaware great that I felt compelled to pick up Odin Sphere. The tricky thing was, after the fact, it was very hard to get even a used copy of Odin Sphere for a decent price. When I initially looked, I could only find it for around $40 – 60. So, being the poor gamer that I am, I waited and waited until the prices finally came down. Then I got Odin Sphere, enjoyed the hell out of it for a couple hours, and put it back on my shelf. I was so distracted by my other games that I have yet to beat Odin Sphere, much to my chagrin. Which isn’t to say I won’t, but it may take a while. Regardless, none of that takes away the beauty and challenge of this PS2 game, and I fervently await the next Vanillaware masterpiece.
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
For a very very long time, I was a bit of a Capcom fanatic. I would pretty much buy every game they put out, with one notable exception, and thus followed Onimusha from the beginning. Thus I was beyond stoked when I found out the 3rd entry would not only involve time travel, but have you take control of a new character inspired by Jean Reno. Seriously. I couldn’t make this stuff up. Regardless of how silly it could be, Onimusha 3 was a lot of fun, and in my opinion was the high point of the series. It brought the first two games to an acceptable resolution, and had the trademark great graphics and controls the series was known for, as well as the unsettling Japanese demons. Now if only they had quit while they were ahead, the series would have ended on a high point, instead of the mess that was Dawn of Dreams…
Rogue Galaxy
The PS2 sure had a ton of great RPGs for it, huh? A great example of that is Rogue Galaxy, a spacefaring action RPG full of adventure and pirates. I don’t normally enjoy action RPGs, but found myself captivated by Rogue Galaxy. I mean, the main character is named Jaster, how can you not like it? It had a fantastical and interesting universe, and offered tons of hours of exploration. Too many hours, frankly. I recall I got stuck in some ridiculous robotic facility after playing for several hours, and haven’t touched it since. But since that’s on me and not the game itself, I still hold it in high esteem, and vow to beat it one day soon.
Shadow Hearts
Speaking of great RPGs, how about one of the craziest and most original I have played in recent history? Yes, Shadow Hearts was a fantastic RPG for the PS2, and I was utterly bewitched by this quirky little game. While it was graced with a couple of sequels, the original is still my favorite. I mean, in what other game is the primary villain named Lord Bacon? Fantastic! Add in a bunch of dark humor and weird monsters, and you have yourself a winner.
Viewtiful Joe 2
I’m a bit biased on this one. I was very happy when the original Viewtiful Joe was briefly a Gamecube exclusive, and found myself bitter that the sequel was a PS2 exclusive. So I had no intention of buying the game, until fate intervened and my friend gave me his copy. So I buckled down and found the sequel was even more brutal than the original. Not that it did much different, it just seemed to expect players to be on their A game 100% of the time. It won’t surprise you to hear I have yet to beat the sequel, but considering I only got it relatively recently, that might be more forgivable. Either way, Viewtiful Joe 2 was a beautiful PS2 title, and it deserves a place on every fan’s library.
So there you have it! I hope my list was entertaining, and maybe even inspires some of you to go bargain hunting for a great PS2 game you didn’t play the first time around. In the meantime, I’ll need to dust off my PS2 and get started on beating my backlog…
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