Ace Combat series (4, 5, Zero)
Armored Core 2
Final Fantasy X and XII (XII was a lot better for me, though a bit different compared with X, skip XI)
Front Mission 4
Grand Theft Auto, if you want to kill some hookers
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 if you want some arcadey racing fun!
Red Faction II (shooter, pretty fun!)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Metal Slug is an awesome series. Make sure to run this in a CRT or something low-res though. I find the style amazing and the game is super fun (always be aware, this is an arcade game, try to play it like one, meaning a 1cc).
If you like fighting games
Go get GGPO. Accent Core, I think, is the only fighter that is really exclusive to PS2 in any form (it is released for the Wii). VF4:evolution was the best one, but VF5 is already out. So no go there.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 if you want some arcadey racing fun!
Speaking of which, Crazy Taxi.
I saw the first sly at gamestop yesterday for 5 bucks.
One thing I hate about Sly is that you can't skip cutscenes. Now, if you were like me, and did not have a memory card for three years... you will see how irritating this is (and its irritating as it is).
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (2 preferably, you really need to get past the Disney and Square -ness to enjoy a solid action game)
Not recommended. It deals with a lot of repetition and you will find the action/stage design lazy after playing the likes of God Hand and Devil May Cry. 2 was even easier than 1.
Final Fantasy XII
Again... you have to consider how much repetition you want to deal with. And this one really takes the cake. That and the fact that the director quit mid-development, and it shows.
The other thing about these games... they are always at like 17-20 dollars. And it is relatively a mediocre experience. W/e, this deals immediately with taste and what you are looking to get from these games.
Personally, I could never finish the first one however. I ate up Jak 2 & 3 however. The difference in gameplay between 1 & 2 is staggering. The additional gameplay features (plus Jak is NOT a silent protagonist in the 2nd) makes all the difference. You don't even need to play the first one to understand the story truthfully.
I dunno about Jak 2. Getting around the hub city was a pain in the ass (and the majority of the game is puttering around in that shithole). There were so many missions that were just killing wave after wave of enemies, but the combat wasn't really good enough for that to be fun.
I kinda preferred the first game, which was just a solid platformer in the style of Mario 64, rather than the GTA-lite of 2.
Jak 3 improved on 2's format a lot, but I think I still prefer the first one.
Getting around the hub city was a pain in the ass (and the majority of the game is puttering around in that shithole). There were so many missions that were just killing wave after wave of enemies, but the combat wasn't really good enough for that to be fun.
This was my opinion through my very limited experience in Jak II. I think I beat the first boss, the final boss, and a few stages in the middle. The hub world freaking sucked, I will tell you that much.
Just out of curiosity, why did you go 3 years without a memory card?
Mostly, money reasons.
I did have a memory card, a third party memory card. And it required a program to run, which interfered with some of the games (I think Sly was the only one). For some reason, anything that required Sly grabbing on a hook would not work. Which meant I couldn't beat the infiltration scene in Tides of Terror if I wanted to save.
RPGs: The Shadow Hearts and Shin Megami Tensei series are probably the best RPGs on the PS2. Shadow Hearts: Covenant is the best of the three SH games by far; the first one is pretty good, and plays up the darker Lovecraftian themes moreso than the other two games, and the third (From The New World) is easily the weakest of the three, and plays up the silly comedy elements even moreso than the previous two games did.
Nobody's really going to agree on the best Shin Megami Tensei game on the PS2, but I'd suggest Persona 4 to a newcomer to the series; it's the most accessible and has the most likeable supporting cast. Persona 3 probably trumps it on plot but easily loses against it in terms of characters; if you go with P3, try to get the upgraded FES version, which adds some minor stuff to the main game, redoes some voice acting, and adds a shitty postgame dungeon. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Lucifer's Call in PAL regions) is a lot tighter in terms of both game mechanics and storytelling, though it can be brutally hard at times. The two Digital Devil Saga games are my personal favorites; they expand on the basic gameplay of Nocturne but streamline or cut out the fiddly bits (mainly demon fusion). Warning: The two DDS games are really two halves of a whole; you'll be missing out on a lot if you only play one or the other. The two Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha games aren't very good, especially in comparison to the other PS2 SMT games; the first one is only well-regarded by total SMT/JRPG diehards.
Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, Steambot Chronicles, and Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in PAL regions) are all pretty good, though not great. Final Fantasy X and X-2 are good, but really flawed. You'll either love or hate the Kingdom Hearts games, but it's worth trying the first to see which of the two it is. Some people will recommend Xenosaga Episode 2, the .hack games, or the PS2 entries in the Star Ocean or Suikoden series; they are wrong.
Grand Theft Auto: GTA3 is the best in terms of sandbox chaos, GTA: Vice City has the best (or, at least, most cohesive) story and setting, and GTA: San Andreas does everything bigger and (mostly) better than its predecessors. That said, I prefer Vice City. As far as the PSP-to-PS2 spinoff ports go, GTA: Liberty City Stories is for completionists only, and GTA: Vice City is a lot better, but still isn't as good as the three main games. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Bully and The Warriors are all pretty good as far as GTA clones go, and the latter two have the benefit of coming from the GTA developer.
Adventure & Platforming: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, Okami, the Ratchet & Clank series, the Sly Cooper series, Jak & Daxter... take your pick, they all range from good to great. Ratchet, Jak and Sly are all PS2 exclusives, Okami got a semi-faithful port to the Wii, and the rest are all multiplatform. The Prince of Persia and Jak & Daxter sequels are okay, though PoP: Warrior Within is incredibly frustrating if you liked anything at all about the characters or mood of Sands of Time. I guess Ico and Shadow of the Colossus fit as well in this category as any other; of course, everyone already recommended them, and you really should play them.
Stealth: Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 are both great; if you get these, get the rereleases (MGS2: Substance and MGS3: Subsistence, respectively). There's an Xbox port of MGS2:Substance, but the port is shit. The PS2 ports of Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money are both pretty good, although they both require absolutely massive save files. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is bad on any system.
Horror: Fatal Frame 1, 2 and 3. 1 and 2 got Xbox ports; 3 didn't. The series improves with each installation, but I probably wouldn't play 3 first if the plot matters, since it plays off of the first two games. Silent Hill 2 is great; it might be the best "pure" survival horror game to date. Silent Hill 3 is almost as good, though the plot is completely dependent on that of Silent Hill 1 (which is also good, but more taxing to play, since it's not as refined as its sequels). Resident Evil 4 is more action than horror (okay, it's almost all action), but I'll stick it in here for tradition's sake. The PS2 version of RE4 is good, and adds stuff on top of the original content from the Gamecube release, but the Wii edition is really the definitive version of the game. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X is also on the PS2, but if you have to play an old-school RE game, either play RE2 or the Gamecube remake of RE1; RE3 and RE:CV both pale in comparison.
Music: Gitaroo Man is great, though the PSP port is easier to find than the PS2 version. Likewise, Rez is great, but is cheaper on XBLA. Space Channel 5: Special Edition is quite good, though not everyone is into the aesthetics. Of course, if you don't have toy plastic guitars for any modern systems, there's always Guitar Hero 1, 2, and Encore: Rocks the 80s.
FPSes: The TimeSplitters series is basically the successor to GoldenEye, and Black is a good shooter that's been unfairly forgotten today.
Racing: For realistic racing: Gran Turismo 4. For arcade racing: OutRun Coast to Coast. For combat racing: either Burnout 3 or Burnout Revenge (or Twisted Metal Black, I guess).
The first Sly is a solid game and is well worth 5$, but the second is substantially improved in almost every single way.
I think Sly 2 suffered a bit from Sonic Adventure 2 syndrome. His sidekicks get too much of the spotlight, and their missions just aren't as much fun.
Yeah, this. It's a much more polished and even experience, but giving secondary characters their own sections (while entertaining enough) just meant less time spent doing stealthy acrobatics with Sly for me.
On the other hand, the first game's driving minigames can go to hell. Aaand most PS2 Ratchet&Clank minigames. I love the two series to bits, but they made me absolutely loathe minigames that weren't easy enough to finish on the first try.
Okay so I'm in a bit of a predicament. I have a 5 year olds birthday coming up tomorrow and I need games for him, fast! He's a ben10 fan if that helps, and loves driving games. ALso, likes spiderman. I'm giving him my old PS2 since times is hard and I have very little...... actually none of the games are for under 15s lol. I never realised until moments ago. Well, theres ace combat and spider man 2 but yeah, besides those... nothing. Thanks for the suggestions.
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
God of War God of War II
Devil May Cry
Yakuza Yakuza 2
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner
Makai Kingdom
Shadow of Memories
Persona 3: FES Persona 4
Suikoden V
Posts
Final Fantasy VII
My all time favorite game. Ever. The end.
Also, some fun PS2 games on my shelf...
Ace Combat series (4, 5, Zero)
Armored Core 2
Final Fantasy X and XII (XII was a lot better for me, though a bit different compared with X, skip XI)
Front Mission 4
Grand Theft Auto, if you want to kill some hookers
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 if you want some arcadey racing fun!
Red Faction II (shooter, pretty fun!)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
That's about all I've got.
If you like fighting games: Tekken Series
Go get GGPO. Accent Core, I think, is the only fighter that is really exclusive to PS2 in any form (it is released for the Wii). VF4:evolution was the best one, but VF5 is already out. So no go there.
For any mecha theme game, I recommend this site:
http://www.mechadamashii.com/category/reviews/
Speaking of which, Crazy Taxi.
One thing I hate about Sly is that you can't skip cutscenes. Now, if you were like me, and did not have a memory card for three years... you will see how irritating this is (and its irritating as it is).
Not recommended. It deals with a lot of repetition and you will find the action/stage design lazy after playing the likes of God Hand and Devil May Cry. 2 was even easier than 1.
Again... you have to consider how much repetition you want to deal with. And this one really takes the cake. That and the fact that the director quit mid-development, and it shows.
The other thing about these games... they are always at like 17-20 dollars. And it is relatively a mediocre experience. W/e, this deals immediately with taste and what you are looking to get from these games.
I dunno about Jak 2. Getting around the hub city was a pain in the ass (and the majority of the game is puttering around in that shithole). There were so many missions that were just killing wave after wave of enemies, but the combat wasn't really good enough for that to be fun.
I kinda preferred the first game, which was just a solid platformer in the style of Mario 64, rather than the GTA-lite of 2.
Jak 3 improved on 2's format a lot, but I think I still prefer the first one.
I think Sly 2 suffered a bit from Sonic Adventure 2 syndrome. His sidekicks get too much of the spotlight, and their missions just aren't as much fun.
Just out of curiosity, why did you go 3 years without a memory card?
Mostly, money reasons.
I did have a memory card, a third party memory card. And it required a program to run, which interfered with some of the games (I think Sly was the only one). For some reason, anything that required Sly grabbing on a hook would not work. Which meant I couldn't beat the infiltration scene in Tides of Terror if I wanted to save.
Nobody's really going to agree on the best Shin Megami Tensei game on the PS2, but I'd suggest Persona 4 to a newcomer to the series; it's the most accessible and has the most likeable supporting cast. Persona 3 probably trumps it on plot but easily loses against it in terms of characters; if you go with P3, try to get the upgraded FES version, which adds some minor stuff to the main game, redoes some voice acting, and adds a shitty postgame dungeon. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Lucifer's Call in PAL regions) is a lot tighter in terms of both game mechanics and storytelling, though it can be brutally hard at times. The two Digital Devil Saga games are my personal favorites; they expand on the basic gameplay of Nocturne but streamline or cut out the fiddly bits (mainly demon fusion). Warning: The two DDS games are really two halves of a whole; you'll be missing out on a lot if you only play one or the other. The two Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha games aren't very good, especially in comparison to the other PS2 SMT games; the first one is only well-regarded by total SMT/JRPG diehards.
Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, Steambot Chronicles, and Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in PAL regions) are all pretty good, though not great. Final Fantasy X and X-2 are good, but really flawed. You'll either love or hate the Kingdom Hearts games, but it's worth trying the first to see which of the two it is. Some people will recommend Xenosaga Episode 2, the .hack games, or the PS2 entries in the Star Ocean or Suikoden series; they are wrong.
Grand Theft Auto: GTA3 is the best in terms of sandbox chaos, GTA: Vice City has the best (or, at least, most cohesive) story and setting, and GTA: San Andreas does everything bigger and (mostly) better than its predecessors. That said, I prefer Vice City. As far as the PSP-to-PS2 spinoff ports go, GTA: Liberty City Stories is for completionists only, and GTA: Vice City is a lot better, but still isn't as good as the three main games. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Bully and The Warriors are all pretty good as far as GTA clones go, and the latter two have the benefit of coming from the GTA developer.
Adventure & Platforming: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, Okami, the Ratchet & Clank series, the Sly Cooper series, Jak & Daxter... take your pick, they all range from good to great. Ratchet, Jak and Sly are all PS2 exclusives, Okami got a semi-faithful port to the Wii, and the rest are all multiplatform. The Prince of Persia and Jak & Daxter sequels are okay, though PoP: Warrior Within is incredibly frustrating if you liked anything at all about the characters or mood of Sands of Time. I guess Ico and Shadow of the Colossus fit as well in this category as any other; of course, everyone already recommended them, and you really should play them.
Stealth: Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 are both great; if you get these, get the rereleases (MGS2: Substance and MGS3: Subsistence, respectively). There's an Xbox port of MGS2:Substance, but the port is shit. The PS2 ports of Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money are both pretty good, although they both require absolutely massive save files. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is bad on any system.
Horror: Fatal Frame 1, 2 and 3. 1 and 2 got Xbox ports; 3 didn't. The series improves with each installation, but I probably wouldn't play 3 first if the plot matters, since it plays off of the first two games. Silent Hill 2 is great; it might be the best "pure" survival horror game to date. Silent Hill 3 is almost as good, though the plot is completely dependent on that of Silent Hill 1 (which is also good, but more taxing to play, since it's not as refined as its sequels). Resident Evil 4 is more action than horror (okay, it's almost all action), but I'll stick it in here for tradition's sake. The PS2 version of RE4 is good, and adds stuff on top of the original content from the Gamecube release, but the Wii edition is really the definitive version of the game. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X is also on the PS2, but if you have to play an old-school RE game, either play RE2 or the Gamecube remake of RE1; RE3 and RE:CV both pale in comparison.
Music: Gitaroo Man is great, though the PSP port is easier to find than the PS2 version. Likewise, Rez is great, but is cheaper on XBLA. Space Channel 5: Special Edition is quite good, though not everyone is into the aesthetics. Of course, if you don't have toy plastic guitars for any modern systems, there's always Guitar Hero 1, 2, and Encore: Rocks the 80s.
FPSes: The TimeSplitters series is basically the successor to GoldenEye, and Black is a good shooter that's been unfairly forgotten today.
Racing: For realistic racing: Gran Turismo 4. For arcade racing: OutRun Coast to Coast. For combat racing: either Burnout 3 or Burnout Revenge (or Twisted Metal Black, I guess).
On the other hand, the first game's driving minigames can go to hell. Aaand most PS2 Ratchet&Clank minigames. I love the two series to bits, but they made me absolutely loathe minigames that weren't easy enough to finish on the first try.
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
God of War
God of War II
Devil May Cry
Yakuza
Yakuza 2
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner
Makai Kingdom
Shadow of Memories
Persona 3: FES
Persona 4
Suikoden V
And the bolded are the best of the best.