Games Of Reference

May 4, 2018

This looks really good, I have it on my wish list. FTL was brilliant and this looks to be the same.

The game is basically perfect for any fan of FTL. It has many of the hallmarks of Subset's last game (similar art style, fast battles, gradual increases in power) but also is a lot less random. I love it!

April 28, 2018

This is a video I made about Into the Breach because I've been loving the game for the last few weeks. Hopefully you guys can discuss the game alongside me and give feedback on the video!

August 30, 2017

Another I just remember, on PS2 :

Road Trip adventure :

Basically, it's a RPG with cars. Amusingly, you could reskin it with Disney's Car characters and it wouldn't look too out of place.

Do races, get money, get upgrades... and when you aren't racing, talk to the other cars. Do stuff for them, mini games, and get free parts. And ultimately build your own car city!

It's more fun that it sounds and looks like. It's very basic tho, I guess it was made for pre-teen as a target.

My biggest gripe is that there is no quest book so if you stop playing you can never remember what you were doing.

One thing I like is that the car body you have can be replaced and is purely cosmetic, so you can REALLY looks like a 2CV or a Mini and have the performances of a Ferrari.

Or the opposite

I used to LOVE this game when I was younger! I remember the driving being a tad off as the steering felt a bit vague, but it's nice to have a racing game that doesn't focus on the racing necessarily and more about driving and exploring an open world, finding the secrets scattered about the world. The game does lack mechanical depth somewhat, and the track design is not the strongest, but it has a lot of content to play through and is great for anyone wanting a different racing game.

August 27, 2017

Destruction Derby and Vigilante 8 spring to mind.

I've never played the first Destruction Derby, but I've played a lot of Destruction Derby 2 when I was younger. I remember the game having fun driving physics and quite advanced vehicle damage for the time, and I used to kill hours playing it! Only real problem with the game is that the arena maps were kinda just luck as to whether you won, because of the pure chaos that ensued. That being said, I do love the game and it's fast pace.

August 27, 2017

One game which I purchased recently is a PS2 game called Xtreme Express (you can tell it was made in the early 2000's due to the name! :-D ). It's a real oddity, as it's a racing game where you play as trains instead of cars or similar road-going vehicle. Because you are in a train, you have to time when to switch tracks to overtake or to get a better route. Oddly enough, the game also functions like Scalextric, where you have to modulate your speed as not to come off the track on a tight, and the game has a bunch of trains that all look distinct and have their own style of gameplay. Any racing game fan looking for a very different, interesting game should check it out!

August 26, 2017

The PS1 and PS2 are great systems that have a large pool of games spanning many different genres and styles, with a lot of developers experimenting with the content they release. This is why I wanted to make this thread to highlight some of the weirder, lesser-known, or discussion-worthy games available for the system, to help everyone bolster their collection, to start a discussion on the design of these games, or simply to share some awesome experiences!

You can post any PS1/2 game here that you like, with the condition that the game is interesting and it is unique in some way. With that said, post away!

July 25, 2017

I believe my first ever game was either Starwing or Mega Man X, both for the SNES. I think this is why I love gameplay that's easy to learn but hard to master, because both those games fit that description. Give me creative level design and solid movement and I'll be happy for days!

July 25, 2017

I'd be really fond in seeing a modern rail shooter in the style of the first couple Starwing/Starfox games. I love the simplicity of the gameplay and story, since they had fairly simple mechanics, but used them to make many unique bosses and environments. While I do love my games to be open-ended and full of content, that level of simplicity allowed the developers to craft a polished experience. If anyone knows any Starwing-esque games, please mention them to me.

April 7, 2017

Recently I have been buying games at car boot sales and markets. The 3 most recent games I have bought (and played) are:

Ford Racing 2 (PS2) - While this game may look like any other low-quality licenced game, there is quite a lot to like. A decent selection of 30+ cars, some good songs on a, admittedly, small soundtrack, and some interesting tracks that are set in various locations, all with a unique colourful look. Unfortunately the game is let down by imprecise turning at times and the game being quite a way too hard on the highest difficulty, and a bit too easy on the lower difficulties. Not great, but also worth a look.

Ridge Racer (PS1) - This, meanwhile, is a great racing game! While there is only a small track selection, I love the way the cars drive and the drifting is very satisfying. The cars are all unique both graphically and in the way they handle. I like the colours the game uses also, very bright and vibrant. A great arcade racer.

Spider-Man 2 (PS2) - One of the best superhero games. The graphics are a bit dated, and do look a bit grey and dull in retrospect. However, that doesn't make the gameplay any less good. The web swinging hinges on momentum, forcing you to time your swings and navigate and think as if you were Spider-Man. Couple that with a surprisingly good combat system (which bears some similarities to the Batman Arkham games), and it makes the game a joy to play.

March 27, 2017

I just swung by to give a (sonewhat belated) Happy 3rd anniversary for the Neo-Geo thread! This has been one of the most consistent threads I have seen, with so many interesting posts regularly. There is clearly passionate community which has been cultivate due to the hard work of Anthony! Good work!

This is as good a place any to speak about my own personal experiences with Neo Geo. While I haven't played too much, I own a Neo Geo X, which has been fun so far. My favourite games for the system so far are Last Resort (a fun, brutal shooter with a creative shooting mechanic, rewarding clever movement), and Final Fight (which suprises me, as I generally don't play fighting games, but this one is colourful and responsive).

Here's to many more years of interesting Neo Geo content!

February 28, 2017

I love the PS2. I couldn't afford one when it came out as my then gf couldn't work due to VISA restrictions (for her Fiance VISA) and I was supporting us both while paying a mortgage and facing redundancy.

I'd been after Duke Nukem Land of the Babes on PS1 but held off getting it, anyway, my gf could work again and got her first office job, she got her first paycheck and surprised me with the Duke Nukem game, followed by a PS2 and two games!

I have many fond memories of gaming on that system, including being part of the Sony beta trials where they'd send us discs to test, back when nearly every game required a different gamertag/logon so you had to get in quick to nab your usual one every time a new network enabled game came out! You also had to do a fair bit of config to get the Network Adaptor to work with different ISPs etc.

Anyway, I still have that very same PS2, my first, still working and powering the arcade table I made with an internal HDD (connected to the NA) with as many retro compilations I can get my hands on:

That is a very cool arcade cabinet you have there, it certainly looks the part. It makes me want to make one myself, even though I lack any technical know-how . An innovative way to play retro classics!

Thanks for sharing your cool creation with all of us, Mullentino!

February 28, 2017

Hello everyone!

I have just uploaded a review to my YouTube channel, Byron's Reviews of Asteroids on the PS1. The creator of this thread, Games Of Reference also starrs in it!

It may not be specifically related to the PlayStation 2 but seeing as the PS2 is backwards compatable, I thought I would post a link to the video here in case it peaked the interest of any PlayStation fans!

I would appriciate it very much if you could check the review out. It can be found linked below.

Feedback is greatly appreciated and I hope you all have a great day.

This game is fantastic! I absolutely loved the PS1 Asteroids when we played it. Anyone who liked the original should at least try this more modern version, as it adds many new hazards and gameplay elements. It even has the original Asteroids, which unlocks less than an hour into the single player. Thanks for sharing the review Byron!

February 18, 2017

I hated both Gran Turismo 3 and 4. Just too slow for my taste. After playing Forza 1 on the original Xbox I couldn't go back and play them as I felt Forza did everything better. I do find Tourist Trophy extremely fun though, which is like Gran Turismo but with motorcycles.

I do agree that both games are quite slow to progress, but I personally believe that the amount of content outweighs this. I can see how that that would turn off many people. However, I also prefer Forza, because irs progression makes for a better overall game, while Gran Turismo makes for a great simulation. It's a matter of preference really.

It's probably the last driving game I got *really* into. Driving games used to be probably my favorite genre, and the original Gran Turismo was definitely one of the games responsible for that. GT3 was kind of stripped down, as seems to now be the pattern for GT games (first GT on a console is barebones, second one builds it back up). But GT4 was insane with the number of cars and stuff to do. I probably put 100 hours into that game.

I totally agree. 700 cars on a PS2 with only a single disc? How'd they manage that?

Gran Turismo, while a bit dry at times, normally makes up for it with sheer amounts of content.

February 17, 2017

Hey guys! I have found a video by a guy named ColourShedProductions on YouTube. I have been subscribed to him for a while, and I felt that his content was so good that I needed to share it. Here you go, a review of Gran Turismo 4!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMrhesoD1R8

This has got me thinking: What is your opinion on Gran Turismo 4? It was one of my first ever racing games, so it is fairly special to me. I have lost many, many hours to it. The difficulty is weird in it though, as you could theoretically use overpowered cars in any event, but the driving in it is fantastic for the PS2.

February 15, 2017

I leave this thread for a day and a myriad of posts spring up. Better get to work!

I was quite late getting my PS 2 -- I only bought it in 2008. The slim model was still available at retail, if not especially plentiful, and the games were still widely available, both new and used.

I subsequently bought another slim (new in open box) as a spare/backup system.

Before the PS 2, I had an original PlayStation; I bought it second-hand in about 2004. There are a few games that will not work on the PS 2 -- among them Final Fantasy Tactics -- so it still gets some use.

I have no desire to own a system that requires regular software updates (or online DRM, etc.), so I do not ever see myself moving on to a PS 3 or 4.

I would like to get PS 2 with the hard drive installed, but so far I have not found one. I check every console that I see at thrift shops, just in case.

I was also fairly late in getting my PS2 (it was around 2006-ish, if I remember correctly). And the constant software updates do get annoying on later consoles. Nothing worse than trying to play Battlefield for the first time only to be confronted with an 8-hour long download (although admittedly my internet isn't all that good).

You're not going to find a PS2 with a hard drive installed out in the wild - it's mainly a DIY project. It's a bit of effort but once you get it working properly you will never want to use the DVD-ROM drive again. However, not all games will work with a hard drive but I have not heard of anything regarding an SD Card reader replacement for the DVD-ROM drive. My PS2 modification "wish list" includes, in addition to the SD Card DVD-ROM replacement, a device that will allow me to use my PS3 and PS4 controllers on the PS2 and a true HDMI mod that uses the raw digital signals off of the motherboard not upscaling the Component Video to HDMI. I intend to put an SD Card reader into a second Network Adapter I acquired and use those for my games but I have been busy with other gaming projects to do that.

I am entirely clueless on the modding scene for consoles, so probably best not to ask me on that subject. Seems like others are much more knowledgeable on the subject than I.

I bought it on launch, after the PS1 and Dreamcast I was waiting to get my hands on it. I think the first few games I played were Metal Gear and Onimusha. God of War blew me away late in its life cycle, I bought it mainly for action games like Devil May Cry and RPGs...there's a hidden Gem of a western RPG called Drakhen the Ancients gates and of course Champions of Norrath and Baldur's Gate.

Lots of good stuff to play forever, Shadow Hearts, Persona, Ratchet & Clank...... weird stuff too like mister mosquito etc. I have a modded slim and a modded fat with a drive but also have my original. The PCSX2 emulator on PC is pretty damn sweet if you can get it to work.

There are a lot of hidden gems released for the PS2, which people don't talk about, as well as the classics. Guess that's why it has endured so long!

While it isn't exactly a 'gem' (and possibly not that hidden) is Road Trip Adventure. In these days where most racing games are fairly realistic, this game focuses mainly on exploration, with a surprisingly big world for the PS2. You can discover hidden mini-games, and do a bit of racing as well. While the driving may not be stellar, I remember liking it a lot as a kid.

What about Final Fantasy 11?

The game package include a hard drive (albeit a small one). It was clearance priced at Radio Shack (in Canada, at least) ca. 2006 when the Slim model replaced the original, and it ceased to be supported. Perhaps they are all still in the hands of collectors, but I will continue to search.

Huh, I never knew any game on the PS2 was bundled with a hard drive. That is actually quite the cool and useful bit of info.

February 13, 2017

My original Playstation was getting to be worn out. It was doing that thing where you have to turn it upside down to get it to read and play a game. I went to the local Target and got a PS2 bundled with Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec. The PS2 was my first dvd player, also. And the first dvd I watched was The Matrix. I never bought nearly as many games for my PS2 as I did for the Playstation. My financial situation was a little different at the time... having just started to be on my own and having to do stuff like pay rent and electric bills...

Fast forward several years...

My step-dad died. My mom asks me if I want the video game system he had. "He had a video game system?" I figured it was some cheap knock-off thing or whatever, but I say yes anyway. Even if it's some piece of crap, I could add it to the collection. I get over there and ask my mom about it. She said it's out in some boxes in the garage. (They were in the process of moving when he died and a lot of stuff was still packed up.) I go out there with her and rummage through some stuff... and there it is. A PS2 slim. I question my mom about it... when and why did he get it? Number 1, I thought he didn't like video games and Number 2, he'd had a stroke a while back and had very limited use of his right hand. She just said that he saw it at a garage sale, decided he wanted it and got it. It came with several sports games that I wasn't really interested in, but I still have them on the shelf. Because of the smaller size, it has become the PS2 that I hook up. The old fat one still works perfectly, but this is smaller, so it gets the space.

I no longer have the busted original Playstation... I threw it away when I got the PS2.

I never got a PS3 or PS4.

But I have two PS2s.

It seems like we all have some memories attached to our PS2, which is a lovely thing. Great choice with GT3, an amazing racing game, one of the best. I find myself liking GT4 a tad more though, most likely because I owned GT4 before GT3. Seems also that the DVD drive was a bigger selling point than I realise!

I actually owned two PS2's also, both launch PS2's, one Japanese and one US. I don't know why but even as a Dreamcast fan, I was probably more excited about the PS2 launch than any other launch (other than the DC, which I also bought US and JP launch systems of). I paid an ungodly amount for my Japanese PS2 at some local New York store in Chinatown; I think I remember it being like $500 or maybe even more. Then just a few months later, I stood in line all night outside K-Mart to get a US model. (I don't remember where I got all this money!) My friends and I had figured not as many people would be standing outside a K-Mart as actual game or electronics stores, and we were right - I only had 10 people in front of me. No problem, I thought! Then right before opening, a rumor started going around that the store had gotten ten units. I counted again - yep, ten people in line in front of me. I hoped the rumor was wrong. It wasn't - the first ten people got systems and I got shafted.

I actually don't remember where I ended up getting a system but I do remember my disappointment was very short lived. I'm pretty sure I got one either the next day or at least that week; I just got lucky walking around to different stores until I saw one on a shelf. I remember it was actually really hot outside when I was walking out of the store with my system, so it being released in October, it had to be very early on that I got it.

Eventually tried to mod my import system to play US games so I could keep only one system hooked up, but the PS2 mod chips sucked. Not sure if better ones ever came out, but mine was basically useless - it just didn't work on like 80% of games, so I physically ripped it out of the system.

Still have both systems, though neither is hooked up. I do often think about hooking the US system up again (I have way more US than import games, unsurprisingly) - I originally had a launch PS3 too, which had PS2 backward compatibility, but it broke a while back. Sometimes I do miss some of my PS2 games that were never remade, although I have bought a few re-releases for the PS3 and PS4, like the Silent Hill collection and the Final Fantasy X/X-2 remake.

That must've been really frustrating, just missing out on the PS2. I can imagine the disappointment. I do like how many PS2 and PS1 games are getting remastered for newer audiences to experience. I am looking forward to the Crash N-Sane trilogy myself!

February 12, 2017

Ah, yes! The PS2! It's a console that I have a lot of memories with. My brother and I both loved it! We would play games such as Crash, Spyro, various Sonic the Hedgehog titles and many other weirder games like Crazy Frog Racer 2!!!

However, our PS2 broke. I must've been about ten when it happened. At that point, I made a decission that I so dearly regret to this day. I sold ALL of our PS2 games...

Now, I have a PS3, I can actually play PS2 games again so while I may have been able to buy some new PS2 games, there are still many from my childhood that I no longer have.

Oh well, at least I have many great memories with the system and that's all that matters!

Thanks for creating this thread, Rhys!

Ah, that's awful that it broke but the PS3 will do you fine. Games such as Crash were some of my favourites.

As you said, Crash 3 and Crash 4 were, and still are, my faves! Surprisingly, I've not played too much of Spyro... (loses all of his gaming cred)

February 12, 2017

Definitely. In those days it wasn't purely about singular big blockbuster titles. Neither the PS1 or PS2 owed their success to singular killer apps that represented the only thing to play on the system. The PS1 and PS2 libraries were broad and deep. No two fans of the system need have anything resembling the same game list. And there are a wide variety of popular games.

That was lost in the 360 era when everything drifted to being an FPS or over the shoulder action game that had to sell 10 million copies or it wouldn't break even, and if it wasn't one of those two genres, then it had a print run of 3,000 copies.

While I myself am a little more optimistic towards modern gaming, I do enjoy the larger variety the PS2 and other older consoles offers. Not every big game was a shooter. You had platformers, racers, etc. A console for everyone.

Silent Hill was a PS1 game, but you could have played it on your PS2.

I remember when Silent Hill 2 was announced - the trailer for it was really unlike anything I'd ever seen from a video game before. It felt like a lot more than a straight survival horror game (a genre I had known and played since the original Alone in the Dark on PC). They had really tried to tell an emotional and really personal story through the genre of survival horror, and that was something really new. Also, the graphics looked amazing. I remember watching that trailer like 15 times in a row when it was first released, then of course I bought the game the day it came out.

One kind of interesting thing is that I lived in NYC at the time, and when I bought the game the twin towers were still on fire, and smoke was still wafting over my house. (The game was released on September 24, 2001.) I typically played it late at night, so the atmosphere was just really, really eerie. Also, one night as I was playing at around 2AM there was a small earthquake in New York City that felt like a single big jolt. All of a sudden my entire house felt like it fell about a foot, and everything on my shelves rattled and clanged and some things fell over. That freaked me the hell out - it was just out of nowhere. It being so close to 9/11, a lot of people went outside to see if something else had been attacked (I did too).

Anyway, so playing this game is one of the more memorable gameplay experiences that I've had.

That must've been a really weird situation, especially in that period and the fact that you were playing a horror game. Still, Silent Hill is a masterpiece nonetheless.

February 12, 2017

The PS2 is by far, my favorite modern system. Love the styling, shape and size, functionality of the controller which allows you to play just about anything well, the expandability options such as adding a hard drive, backwards compatible with PS1, plays DVD's (though I rather save the laser for games), plethora of video and sound output options, network/multiplayer online capability and more. Love that it has optical digital out for those of us with external DAC's or 5.1 receivers. USB and Firewire ports too that allow mice, flight sticks and cameras to be used - I/O options are about as versatile as it gets!

The system and most of its games just feel right. While many/most PS1 games haven't aged well, I don't feel that way at all with the PS2. Not even after owning and playing PS3 - it's holding up *that* well for me and probably always will. It's all what your expectations are and many of the games I like to play on the PS2 are classics anyway; arcade collections from the 8 and 16-bit days. Driving games like Burnout and Gran Turismo are no slouch though. Neither are just about any of the first person, 3D action/adventure games, racers, flight sims, sports, whatever. The system just does most everything really, really well - even when it comes to 2D.

And unlike my PS3 which can't go a few weeks (or is it months? don't know, I never play it anymore) without system, store and game updates - none of that nagging BS with the PS2. And the PS4? After experiencing the PS3 (online updates, games without paper manuals, many games with serious bugs and glitches, controller input lag, Sony leaking personal data and credit card info, wireless controller battery maintenance, etc., etc., etc.), have never - even once, been tempted to purchase one. Am fairly certain I'm done with modern consoles at this point.

As far as I'm concerned, the PS2 represents the last of the *real* gaming consoles. It's not just a PeeCee crammed into some stupidly molded plastic, pretending to be a console. Proprietary architecture of the PS2 tells the story there.

Oh and who can forget Guitar Hero?!

Absolutely correct! I think the PS1-PS2 era is one of the 'golden ages' for video games, with so many great titles. As you mentioned, there's Burnout (I've played too much of Revenge and 3) with some of the most satisfying driving ever. There's Gran Turismo, with literally hundreds of hours of content. I also remember playing Pro Evolution Soccer, which is weird considering I never much liked football/soccer.

And yes, of course, it is a console through-and-through. One of the best!

February 12, 2017

The PS2 was the first console I paid for new out of my own money. (Earlier consoles/handhelds were either used, or were bought by parents when I was growin' up.)

Got it mainly for the JRPGs and fighting games, of which I managed to collect many. Probably a bit too many, given that to this day there are some still crying alone in a corner in their shrinkwrap.

That's the problem: PS2 games are both plentiful and cheap, they'll bound to be a few we've bought and never played. I know there's a few I own...

I recently picked up a Japanese PS2 slim at a flea market... for some reason I never owned one, although I rented one sometimes back in the day, and played a few games on emulators.

Well, now is as good as a time as any to pick one up! As I stated above, most games for it are fairly cheap, so you shouldn't have too much trouble buying games for it. I myself own the non-slim PS2, and it looks like a black brick. :lol:

February 12, 2017

I went to the store to buy a used PlayStation and a copy of Twisted Metal. I wound up getting a ps2 and tm2 instead. Great times. That was my first DVD player, too.

I stuck with Namco museum and similar compilations, the tm series, and tomb raider 1. And demolition racer.

I believe that the PS2 was my first DVD player too, if I recall. I think what we can gather from your list of games is that there was so many good racing games for the PS2. Such variety. If you wanted simulation, there was Gran Turismo. If you wanted kart racing, there was Crash Nitro Kart. And there was everything in between, such as the great Twisted Metal you mentioned, toiletunes.

Thanks for joining in on the discussion!

February 11, 2017

As the name would suggest, this is a thread to discuss anything about the PS2, one of my all time favourite consoles!

Posts do not have to be explicitly about the PS2, but as long as it's relevant, you can post away. Game stories, reviews, collections... All of it welcome!

Some of my first memories with the console was playing Need For Speed Underground 2. The game seems slightly dated due to the Fast and Furious neon and customisation, but it gave you so much freedom to make the car look however you wanted. Fun driving physics also. Very weighty for an arcade racer.

February 11, 2017

I think my favourite must be SMB3. I have such fond memories of playing the game for hours on my SNES with the Super Mario All-Sarts cart. It basically defined my childhood, that game.

I loved the visuals, which were bright and colourful, and it still has some of the best controlls for any platformer. I love it!

September 6, 2016

Getting back to the Nigel racing game. I was watching a vs consoles video yesterday and came across one for this game. Listening to that engine wale on the SNES version really made me want to play it. I love the sense of speed in it.

That does look like a really cool racing game. I do love racing games in general, and that seems like a great one.

September 6, 2016

Worst game for me was Power Moves.. made even worse by the fact that I think I payed a large amount.. maybe $60 but it could have been $75. Yeah they were price-gouging because of Street Fighter 2 mania and I fell for it hook line and sinker Looking at it now, it's not SO bad, but it sure felt that way back then.

Pit Fighter was actually a worse game, but I only rented that so it stung a lot less.

That's quite the price to pay for a game like that. Nothing as bad as buying an expensive game then discovering that it's terrible.

Space Ace. So bad, I cried. Like actually shed tears.

Is it the SNES port of that Dragon's Lair style game? It doesn't look all that good.

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