Flashback
Take a walk through gaming history as we pick a random date in gaming history and bring you the news from that time as if it was now , different era every week - covering all of gaming history
Flashback
Top Ten Essential PS2 Games For New Retro Players
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Start a PS2 collection the smart way. We each pick five must-play games that still feel great today, won’t drain your wallet, and show exactly why the PlayStation 2 defined a generation. No fluff, no nostalgia goggles—just ten titles that deliver variety, depth, and replay value.
We kick off with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the 3D-era high point that fixes camera woes and expands the map into three distinct regions with systems that make the world breathe. Then we pivot hard into WWE SmackDown: Here Comes the Pain, a weighty, endlessly replayable wrestling sweet spot with a season mode that still hooks. For platforming fans, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy captures Naughty Dog’s color, flow, and approachable challenge. And if you love licensed games that actually slap, Rockstar’s The Warriors blends brawling, stealthy vandalism, and a lived-in hub to create what might be the best movie tie-in ever.
Racing gets two flavors for different moods. Need for Speed Underground 2 opens the city and lets customization change how your car drives and sounds, while Gran Turismo 4 remains a clean, elegant monument to car culture with handling that’s still satisfying on a pad. We dive into Bully’s school-year rhythm—classes, cliques, seasons, and side hustles—and explain why its charm and pacing are timeless. Horror fans get The Thing, where cold exposure, fear, and trust turn a linear story into a paranoid, systemic experience.
Stylish action is covered by Devil May Cry, the template-setter for combo ranks, gun-blade juggling, and mission replays you’ll chase for S ranks. Finally, God of War II shows how far the PS2 could go in scope and scale, with cinematic camera pulls, massive set pieces, and combat that remains punchy and readable. Along the way, we share real-world prices, condition tips, and where to hunt bargains, proving you can assemble this entire stack for less than a single new release.
Tell us what we missed, swap your top ten, and help shape the next list—hidden gems or another console deep dive. If you’re enjoying the show, tap follow, share it with a retro-loving friend, and drop a quick review so more players can find us.
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Premise: Ten Must-Play PS2 Games
SPEAKER_00Hello and welcome to Flashback. The games you loved, the stories you forgot. This is episode 10, so we thought we'd do something a little different. We're gonna do PS2 must plays by picking five games each, discussing, so we hope you enjoy something a little bit different. Um it's basically if if someone was new to PS2 or someone's getting into retro and buys a PS2, we're gonna do five games each where we think these are your first games you need to buy to enjoy that system. Um I'm RGT and I am joined by the Gaming Guru, the retro reminiscer, the greatest cartridge blower of all time. It's the wonderful UCP George. How are you doing, George?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm good. I didn't think it was that kind of show. I see you slipped in an innuendo there.
SPEAKER_00Well, it depends if you take it as an innuendo. I mean, this is a retro show, and we love blowing cartridges.
SPEAKER_03And I'm the king of it. You are the king. Happy, right, fine. Least we know. Good job, the PS2 is disc based. So it's all about basically spin spin spin a rooney in our way into that beautiful sexy little sleek bit of Sony goodness. Um, I'm fired up for this one. I think it's a different take as a little bit of a special, and I'm interested to see your pile of goodness. Uh, my p I'll tell you one thing, RGT, one thing I will say, and I'm sure we'll say this will be the takeaway sound bite of the episode. As we were preparing for this show, I sent you some pictures. You said do a stack, and I went boom, or it could be this stack, boom, or this stack, boom, or this stack, boom, or this stack. PS2's got so many good games. Uh but these are sort of personal things that we think are when you go. I'm glad I bought this machine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like I say, if if if you bought if you bought a PS2 today and you were thinking of getting into the sort of the library, we think these are five games that you know each that we've selected, ten games in total that we think, right, go for these. Pretty reasonable price, some are crept up a little bit, but for what you'll get the whole lot for is probably about the price of what you buy a one modern game with. To be fair, fair mate.
SPEAKER_03If you had a uh PS2, whatever variant sat burbling under either a modern TV or a CRT in the corner, and you had these on one of those little DV 10 stack DVD racks by it, this would people would be. I think most people would walk in and go, hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Better play, old boy.
SPEAKER_00And some of you who listen to this, you're obviously into your retro, you're into your PS2, you're into different games. These will be quite obvious to some of you, but we're just doing it from a from a newbie point of view. So what we you know, what we we purchase day one.
SPEAKER_03Um as CEO of the Unificial Controller Podcast Empire. I demand that we come back to this with another 10 or hidden gems. Yes, and we do all the systems as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely we will do.
SPEAKER_03Um your job depends on that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. Um, so yes, already thought of that. So we will be covering, you know, with you.
SPEAKER_03It was your idea, was it?
SPEAKER_00No, this was your idea, but I said I've already thought of doing lists for other consoles. Then get shirt you with me over here on Flashback, son.
SPEAKER_03Um it's like roar and smackdown, people just don't know where to look. Nope.
SPEAKER_00Um, but yes, we we'll follow up on those and whether how often we sort of integrate them into the shows, see how popular this one is. Um, I was thinking of maybe doing it every sort of ten episodes we could do one, but if it's really popular, maybe it's something we could do a bit sooner. But we'll see, we'll see how the show goes. See what you think of it. Like I say, give us feedback on the show.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we've got to make this one good yet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. So, you know, see see what you think of it. Um, questions at unofficial controllerpodcast.com. Um, let us know, or even on Instagram or X or even on our Discord. Um, give us give us your opinions and we'll go from there. But right, let's start with game one. Do you want to go first with your first game, George? No, I or do you want me to go first?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't trust you when you tell me to go first, second, or first or last, or whatever it is, it's gonna end in tears for me. So I think that I'm just gonna step back. You're gonna follow your lead.
SPEAKER_00Subs list.
SPEAKER_03I'm just gonna follow your lead, sir.
Ground Rules & Listener Feedback Plans
SPEAKER_00Right, well, um quite an obvious one, but I'll give you my reasons why I picked this. My first game is uh Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Now, I picked one Grand Theft Auto game in my five. Reason being, um, Vice City is one of my favourite games of all time, but I think for a new person to a PS2, I think San Andreas is the game to get. It was the the ultimate, it was the one that you know improved upon three, improved upon Vice City. Plus, the main thing is the camera controls. Your right stick is your camera controls. You don't get that in three and vice city, so it can be a bit obtuse when you're stuck in a corner trying to shoot a cop and your camera's spinning around, you have no control over it. On this, obviously, you've got your right stick camera controls. Um, and also they really expanded. Um, it's a really good story set in the 90s, and we spoke about this game countless times. Me and George, we both love this game, but from being in the city, and then you go off and carry on the story right out in the countryside. You go out to a little town and uh like a little village, and it's so much added to it from the size of your character, CJ, whether you eat food or work out of a gym to you can go and gamble on the horses with your money. I mean, this is a PS2 game, you know. This it's incredible what is packed into this game, and I think there's hours of gameplay. Um I think it's one of the best open world games on the system, if not the best open world game on the system. And not to say it was a series peak for the GTAs of that generation. Um not only that, you can pick this up between five and eight pounds, depending on where you go. I mean, you if you go to pick it up at a car boot, it's quite um quite a lot of times you'll see it a car boot because it was such a popular game, there's a lot of copies about, you might even be able to pick it up for a couple of pounds. It's a massive game for that. Um definitely worth it just for the the hours of content alone. Um, and I have great memories of this. I've played through it two or three times, never got bored of it. Um I've got the gangland system as well, which even adds more depth to the game. Sometimes can be a bit annoying because it is quite tough at times, but um overall, I think, like I say, it's the peak of GTA on the PS2. What do you think, George?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I'm gonna agree with everything that you said. I think that it is the definitive GTA experience. Three feels a bit old and empty, vice city, uh you know, similar engine, obviously, they're all on the same engine, um, but nowhere near as well executed. By the time you get to San Andreas, with the map the way it was, the three cities that you had to explore, the the soundtrack that kind of fitted each different region that you got to as well. There was always a predominant radio station that fit the area, like K Rose when you first get chucked out of your main city, and it got me as always. GTA gets you listening to music you never thought you'd ever listen to. I think it's uh I I think it's easy to get a bit carried away with GTA San Andreas, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I think not only that the definitive open world experience could show me a game that does anything better than this, and people lord Vice City, and I always say, Yeah, but compared to San Andreas, it's it's not even close. That's just nostalgia and 80s nostalgia kicking out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a lot of what it is. I mean, Voice City is a great game and really took from three and expanded in an 80s in a world. Absolutely no detraction. Nailed it, really nailed it. But when you actually go back and if you mainline Vice City now, it's a very short game. It's it's there's not actually that many missions in it. We live streamed it a few years ago for the UCP. We were working our way through um the GTA games on the remasters, and um, it is quite a short game. It surprised me how short it was, but obviously back in the day, you'd done the rampages, you done all the side missions, you wanted 100%. There wasn't a trophy, so you had to keep checking in your menus and stats, the 100% thing that was where the time came. But I think with San Andreas, like you say, the three cities, you even go to like I say, you go to a third place, and and there's such a variety in missions. From I know they'd done a bit of this in Vice City, but from radio controlled planes to races to you know state gates, there's there's so much going on with with this game, and even then I still remember don't forget the much forgotten thieving mechanic. Yes, yes, where you have to.
Pick 1: GTA San Andreas Deep Dive
SPEAKER_03No one ever remembers or talks about that, but that was a whole sub game mini genre within the game. Yes, it's kind of lost on people as a little bit of a mission, but it's actually something you can repeat again and again and again. It it's it's a game that keeps on giving. Every time you take another bite-sized chunk and you think, Oh, I think I've had about as much as I can handle here, and it just gives you something else. Like I remember when you first get to the desert area and they then sort of give you the airport, and that's kind of the natural time to learn to fly at that desert airport and everything like that. Because up until then, if you'd wanted to, I'm sure you could go nuts spawning an airplane and do whatever you like. But if you follow the storyline through, it was really only then, around then, that you were getting your pilot doing those things from that air, and then flying through the desert with the first GTA game you could fly in as well.
SPEAKER_00You had the dodo in voice city, but you couldn't really sort of fly it properly, could you? In three. In three, sorry. In I think you had did you have helicopters in Voice City? Yeah, I'm sure you did, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Vice City is probably my least played of all the GTAs to admit. Yeah. Yeah. Um but San Andreas. I can't speak highly enough of it. If it if I'm gonna slap a GTA on PS2 on, it's it's more likely gonna be that. Yeah. And it's just very rewarding. I think the I think moving away from a mafia-based storyline as well just allowed GTA to breathe and became like a bridging point to get away from specifically that crime angle every time, and allow the game then to sort of diversify into more just generalized crime. So when we get to Nico Bellick, he's not really affiliated to any particular uh crime organisation, he's just a dude that's trying to get by through the medium of crime, so it's and then when we get to five, it's it's flipped again. So it's it's uh I think this game specifically, San Andreas, was the one that laid the blueprint for the 3D era and then oh the HD era, and then probably what's to come next.
SPEAKER_00They really really did perfect it with with San Andreas, not to say from camera controls to even the size of the open world, and I know they've done some very, very clever trickery with the devs, very clever devs, but even then, I wasn't even that tech savvy back in the day when this came out, but I remember playing it thinking, how is this on a PS2? How is a game with a map this big on a PS2? It blew me blew me away then, and it still does now. I think it's a it's a hell of an achievement and a great game to have for such a cheap price. I think I think it's a must-play on on the PS2. But that's my number one. What are you going with then, George?
SPEAKER_03I am choosing now. Well, first of all, what really follows the best game on PS2, pretty much. Um, but here I'm gonna I've got the gumption to walk in with this. Now, this is a little bit of a niche pick, I have to admit, but uh in terms of fighters and uh grappling games, I do believe this is up there with one of the finest of them all. Obviously, in the history of wrestling games, uh there's some standout hallmarks along the way. You've got your SmackDown series, you've got the N64, um No Mercy, WrestleMania 2000, the WCW games, uh, and then obviously you get on to the PS2, and we had evolutions of the SmackDown series until we get to the one that I'm holding up here today. Now I know the ones after this, but for me, this is the critical fulcrum point for the series. It's WWE SmackDown Here Comes the Pain. You'll recognise it because Brock Lesnar is on the front of it. I've got a particularly mint copy here in front of me, but uh I I'm being disrespectful with it nonetheless. Um for me, this is up there in the Pantheon of the Best Wrestling game. Um I think, in terms of ease to play nowadays, this is probably the one that you would probably default to. It takes a little bit of a while to pick up the controls, but at the time this really was a singular change which slowed the in-action in-ring action down, made it more impactful. I remember the first time I ever saw this game, um I was for some reason mixing with some army chaps, and we were needing to waste some time, and I see a couple of lads, and don't get me wrong, I've been a video game nerd my whole life, and obviously a wrestling nerd as well. And I look over on this TV and I thought, oh bloody hell, they're watching wrestling. Get a little bit closer, no, they're playing wrestling. What the hell game is this? I couldn't like what is this? What is this? What is this? What is this? I was all over it like a rash, couldn't believe it. Um, I was watching Brock Lesnar, I think it was, fight The Undertaker in the Hell in the Cell, and then all the way up the side of it and on top of it, and I was literally blown away. The character models in this were particularly great. It captures like the last bastion of a good era in WWE as well, Sim. If you're into wrestling games at all or wrestling in any way, you'll know about this era. Those that aren't, there's a great little fighting game, I think, in there for everyone. I've always enjoyed the more tactical fighting game elements a wrestling game gives you. Um, I'm mainly talking to fans here. There is a really great season mode in the more modern WWE games. I always bounce off them because they they allow you to create a character and go through this very fabricated oh, your character's an ex-indie star, your character's an ex-reality TV star, your character's this guy who's been like doing this, that, or the other. And it's a very formulated way of going into the game. Totally jives against me. If I want to make a character I don't know, that dresses like a ghoul. None of these real rhythms fit the character I want to be, or or they never quite feel right for me. They're very cliched. Whereas in this game, SmackDown Here Comes the Pain, it's the last of the good eras where you can go in, create a character, and they throw random, almost randomly generated storylines at feet at you to play through as you bid to get titles and bits and bobs. So obviously a little bit of a niche, but um I've thoroughly enjoyed this, spent many hours on it. Even to this day, I'll flick that on and have another churn through the season mode as I uh urge ever closer to wrestling dominance. Um, you can create your wrestlers, myriad of different things you can do, many different layers, there's entrances, all that sort of stuff. So you can literally make the character that you want to be. But one thing I think I must praise this one for is that you can go through as one of the wrestlers from the time, so you don't have to turn up as Johnny Fart Pants or anything like that. You can turn up as Brock Lesnar if you want to. Um, so much to be said. RGT, you're the statician. Not only do you uh like crunching numbers, you've been and uh chased these prices around. What have you got for me on the in terms of WWE SmackDown Here Comes the Pain? If price is a hallmark of quality in 2026?
SPEAKER_00Um well you can pick this up for sort of five to eight pounds. So um yeah, and I think eight being a real decent copy, so bargain really. For from what you I mean, I'm I'm not into wrestling games, so I have I have no um history of these, but from what you're saying, it sounds quite an in-depth wrestling game. It sounds there's plenty of hours to have there. If you like doing that sort of custom character, which I do like in games, um yeah, it sounds very good and and a bit of a barjan.
SPEAKER_03I think we spoke off air. I think for a random PS2 sports game to become in an eight-pound when it must have been done the same for San Andreas, printed in massive bulk quantities like that, and must be in the the bag of everyone who purveys to have a PS2 and play it on a semi-regular basis. I mean, it's the game to have. Obviously, over time a lot of these have ended up in bins and rotten cupboards and lofts and garages and whatnot, and maybe the few that survive out there have pushed these up to eight pounds, which is uh yeah, that's to me it was a surprise. Some of these mass-produced games that are good. The good news is because they sold gangbusters, you can have top ten of the very best games on PS2 and still have changed from what 60 quid maybe RGT?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, probably, yeah, yeah, not far off. I mean, some of these games are cheap, they are cheap, and it still amazes me that they've stayed that cheap. But like you say, PS2 sold a lot of consoles, and they made and so you know, if there's a good game on it, it sold a lot, it sold a lot as well. So you know, there's still quite a few out there. But no, that's a great, great first game from you, George. Uh, very interesting. That's what I like as well. Less, you know, yes, some of these people will know and say yes, that's the obvious ones to go for, but then you know, you've done ones like this, you know, people probably wouldn't think of here coming up.
SPEAKER_03As I said, this this top five, if you'd asked me a week ago, it would have been different. Like I am in the PS2 ecosystem a lot at the moment. If you ask me next week what my top five will be, it'll be different.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we can, and like I say, we'll do these again. We can, you know, if people are like these, we can do another five we can recommend because me and George both have quite substantial PS2 collections. We have a lot of history with the machine, so we know quite a few quite well, we say uh we know a lot of games on the system, plus we can do a hidden gems one if you've got to do a hidden gems one on here.
SPEAKER_03So I would love I think that you know, once we get out of what I would consider like the top ten, I think we are into like slightly more obscure titles, and I'd love to talk about those.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely, definitely. Um, right. Well, we'll go on to our second choice game. Um mine is um this surprised me for how cheap this is, but I have gone with uh Jack and Daxter, the precursor legacy. Um first Jack and Daxter game, Naughty Dog as well, um, which has got their stamp of quality all over this game. Um I think graphically for what it is, it is a beautiful game, uh very colourful. It's a fantastic 3D platformer, um, really refined platformer from what the PS1 platformers were. You know, when you'd gone from a Crash Bandicoot to coming onto a PS2 and playing Jack and Daxter, the that almost open worldness, how smooth the graphics were, how it played was brilliant. Um, and this was a brand new IP at the time, Jack and Daxter, but it's got combat elements as well, which is really good. Um obviously you've got it's a good story, you've got your story mode. Obviously, Jack doesn't speak in this one, um, but you've got your you've got your story mode.
SPEAKER_03No, we don't know. The era of the silent protagonist, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And also we couldn't get a word in edgeways with Daxter, but um he was a great foil to be fair in the PS2 era. It was brilliant, but also there's the collector bits, uh collector collectible side of the game as well, so you can go off and and collect your bits and pieces and your side bits, but I think there's good variety in the missions. Obviously, the the games went on to Jack 2, Jack 3, and then people didn't like Jack 3 and that quite so much. But I just think from where it started, this is brilliant. Not to say in my notes here, I've made lovable characters, even though Jack don't speak, you feel you know, you you feel at one with him, he's brilliant, and Daxter on his shoulder is just superb, and it is it is really good quality game from Naughty Dog, and not only that, you can pick this game up between one and three pounds. If you go to CX over here in the UK, the second hand game store, you can pick this game up for three pounds. I mean, it is a no brainer. I Yeah, I absolutely love this game. I think it's one of my favourite all-time 3D platformers. Um it's just one of them that's got enough story to keep you interested, but the gameplay elements are so good you want to keep going back to it. Um, and it's not too hard to learn. So it teaches you things as you go along, but it's not it's not mad with combos or anything like that, it's just a really good free 3D platformer. Um, yeah, I could play this again and again, and also it's sort of one of the games that got my wife into gaming, so uh really good. What about your experiences with uh Jack and Daxter then, George?
SPEAKER_03Um I came to quite late. Probably thought I was a bit too big a boy to be playing those games. Um, but I would say that for me, we talked on the main show about how sequels don't always kind of cut it for me because there's something about the pure essence of the first one that maybe gets diluted or needed to be changed to promote sales in the second and third game. I think that exists here. I can't imagine the Jack of Jack Three or Jack Two rocking up back here at the in the precursor legacy world, you know. Hi hi dudes, like well, you can talk if now you now you're a badass.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh you've evolved a bit, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Wow, character development wise, it you know, from a from a naughty dog point of view, and studio development wise, obviously the evolution into Jack 2 and 3 is for the betterment. But for me, this one catches the raw image of what I think the game really should be about. Not only is it, in my opinion, the best Jack game, but I also think it's the best 3D platformer on PS2. Sly's okay, but it's a now Jack does have its moments, don't get me wrong, but it can be a little bit um high input volume for for Sly, and I think Ratchet and Clank is is just a slightly different game. I see that more as a run and gun game. The platforming in it is on rails and minimal at best, you know. You're not yeah, it's not too um aggressive, whereas in Jack Precursor Legacy, you still have levels that are assembled very much like an old school 3D world would have been, and you've got your different uh terrain types, snow, etc. I like the game. I think to progress you have to be very uh clinical in your collecting up of the pre-cur cursor orbs, though. I mean, you can't leave, you can't just decide to leave one. You can you're like damn it, no. Okay, so I've got to ride a I've gotta get them all. Yeah, and I know yeah, so that's that's very old school for its sort of progression in a way, but I haven't got many to too many gripes. I think the charm is is definitely outweighs the pain in this game. A lot of games from this era, and I can speak for that, so I have been playing them all recently in a bit to be uh nascent during our talks on flashback. Not all of these games have aged as well as you think they might have done, but uh no, this one has. Yeah, great choice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I just I've tried to sort of shout out to the manual, which is a map, which is also really cool.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, brilliant, really good.
SPEAKER_03Make sure when you pick it up that you've got that in there, because a lot of the time it's probably still stuck on the Teenage Boys bedroom wall 20 years ago where it once was.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, probably I've sort of been painted over, but now, yeah, probably. Um, yeah, I'd like to say I've tried to uh vary it up a bit, and I thought if if you if I'm gonna put in for a for literally five starter games for a PS2, if I'm putting a platformer in, start with Jack and Dexter. I think it's got platforms got a bit of combat, it's got a story, it's got a bit of combat.
SPEAKER_03I can say I can quite happily speak for the other two sort of hallmarks, and don't forget there's still a litany of other ones that we dare or dare not talk about, 3D platformer-wise on the PS2. It was it was kind of rampant with them because much like 2D games were the sort of fodder of the 16-bit, a lot of those still then found their feet on 32-bit systems as well. And I think this sort of transition from the 32-bit systems to oh, imagine this on a PS2, you know, Spyro as an example. Everyone's like, Yeah, this is money for sure, right? So it was obviously the evolution for these things to take on, but yeah, this one has aged really well. Nice, slick, fun for all the family as well, which probably can't be sad said for the latter uh Jack and Daxter games.
SPEAKER_00No, no, exactly, yeah. And like I say, this is you know, really got my wife into gaming Jack and Daxter, and and she loves the games for it because of you know, it it it teaches you, especially at the start of the game, teaches you what to do, but in a very more basic, laid-back way, and and you learn as you go, and it it just sung to her and and you know really helped her to get into controls and and game controllers.
SPEAKER_03So holler back to us on the Discord as well, because I do believe in RGT you may know this because it sounds like you're way more connected to it than I am. I do believe it's one of the games that has progressive scan on PAL consoles.
SPEAKER_00Hmm, I think you might be right, actually. Um I will look that up while you're doing your second choice game, George.
Pricing Reality Check For PS2 Collecting
SPEAKER_03Oh right, okay. You're just gonna leave me to talk to myself. Well, here we go. Okay, it's like a little mini solo. Well, many years ago, uh in 1979 to be precise, uh a small movie, sort of cool indie movie, really in a way, came out called The Warriors. Now, the PS2 is full of movie-tying games of uh varying quality. There are some good ones, but I think in terms of the ones that stand out, um the one that stands head and shoulders above them all, is the Warriors by Rockstar Games. From the very minute that this game opens up and you have the menu of the Wonder Wheel and the subway and the music and the recreation of the CGI scenes from the original movie. Now, this game is a uh a prequel played around the build-up to the moments that you see play out in the 1979 film. Quite why Rockstar chose to pick a movie at that point that was pretty much lost to late night BBC Two.
SPEAKER_00Always amazed me. I I knew about the game before I did the film.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. Late night BBC Two film drone um critic showings where you'd have to stay up until sort of one in the morning, watch a half-hour documentary, and then set your video to record so you could get a copy of the Warriors for yourself recorded off the telly. Um, but all in all, you take on the role of several characters within the Warriors. Uh the Warriors here's as an example is the name of a gang set in a 1970s New York riddle with the colourful gang violence. Um seems playful in a way, but does end up with uh cuts, scrapes, and stabbing, so it's not exactly uh giving some dude a wedgie down at the bus stop. It's serious drama, RGT.
SPEAKER_00It's a very good, very, very good game. Got that sort of GTA bully engine with a well.
Pick 3: Jak And Daxter Precursor Legacy
SPEAKER_03What I like about it is it is, as you say, and this is what I was gonna get to. You think when you pick this game up, Rockstar PS2, it's just gonna be GTA. Well, actually not. I find the Warriors and a game that uh you may hear us talk about shortly, can't it, aka bully everywhere else where uh common sense sore out reason. There's to me feels like a progression towards something that's a halfway house between the GTA games that we were having on PS2 and what we would eventually end up getting on 360 PS3 in terms of GTA 4. The characters seem larger, more in screen, more detail. There's one thing you can say about lesser so in the Warriors, but more um Canis Canum edit, is that the world feels more detailed. The mini games as well, like Unscrewing the Stereo, certainly were revisited on games like um Chinatown Wars on the DS. Yeah, um, very similar mechanics that are used within that. Someone would have thought that they thought there was some good ideas in there somewhere. The only thing that for me holds it back, and I've even been and bought a um retro fighters defender, is it? Yeah, a retro fighters defender controller to just put to bed the controller demons. It has, so I can speak highly of that, and I think I'm gonna do a review on that on the main UCP show. Um, but it's not made the graffiti elements win this game any easier, so just bear that in mind if you pick this up, they are super frustrating, and there is a section in the game where you go to do a graffiti competition, uh, where you then also have to fight midway through for more cans of paint, and when you're still only halfway through your first W, you probably want to uh end your PS2, yeah. Uh but persevere because the game's actually quite rewarding. The mechanics are good, the return to base option that you have between levels where you go and hang out with your warrior friends, and it's it's kind of played out where you go back to go through various missions or interact with the options or go out on a roam, it is actually really fantastic. So, I must speak for this game, it's the full package, it's definitely the ultimate tribute to the Warriors movie, and some would argue probably the best film tie-in of all time, and I'll stand by that actually.
SPEAKER_00No, I think you're right.
SPEAKER_03RGT price-wise, where are we at with the Warriors?
SPEAKER_00Uh, price-wise, the Warriors you'll be looking between 18 and early 20s,£22, roundabout there. I think if you can pick it up in the teens, you've done well. It's quite collectible now.
SPEAKER_03Um, it is on I mean, just for the eventual video that probably will come out one day when I sanction that I probably don't look like a horrific um victim of a bad vice dropping accident. Um the the box work is iconic, I must say. A step away from what they'd done before, obviously, they're to free themselves of the shackles of GTA and go for something a bit different. And even as I say, from that Wonder Wheel menu interaction, it just reeks of them finding their feet in terms of class. That Wonder Wheel, the music, the way that thing can go, the way it goes into the sort of store attract loop, as I call it, where it kind of plays around robbing of the intro of the game. Chef's kiss, warriors.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and got to saying you did if you've got PlayStation Premium, this is um um sorry, if you've got uh PlayStation, you can purchase this and play the PS version.
SPEAKER_03With trophies, correct?
SPEAKER_00Yes, but do not buy it if you have a PS5 because I purchased this for$11.99 on my PS5 and it glitches all the colours all over the place, to which I googled it and it says yes. Sony doesn't tell you that this game glitches on your PS5, but it doesn't run very well. If you've got a PS4, you'll be fine.
SPEAKER_03But the PS5 What if you go in and turn off all the PS4 kind of improvement modes in the PS5? Does that fix it or not?
SPEAKER_00I haven't tried, I'll have to look into that and have a look. But yes, so you you can play it that way. Um, but yeah, so 18 sort of 22 pounds if you're interested in getting a game, I'd definitely recommend it because George is right. That game is fantastic and a real like I say, niche because it was a film I'd never heard of, but also Rockstar Dunnuts you know it's gonna be pretty decent. Um, and it is it's a it's a great one, and introduced a lot of people to a film they'd never heard of. So, yeah, great one that, George, great pick. Oh, and an update uh Precursor Legacy does not have Progressive Scan. Um Jack 3 does, Jack 2 does, and Jack X, but not one. Apparently. Um, he's deep in four. Um I will go on to my third choice game. Um this one I've gone for a racing game. Um and the reason I've chose this one is well I'll tell you what it is first. It is Need for Speed Underground 2. Now I've gone for Underground 2 because Underground 1 and every Need for Speed before that wasn't an open world game. But Need for Speed Underground 2 was the first open world game that that they done. Um which really that blew me away at the time because I loved Underground, and you jump into your races, pick your races, and away you go. I didn't when I bought this first time around, I didn't even realise that this was open world.
SPEAKER_03So I started playing, I just thought is this to the window to the wall.
SPEAKER_00I think it is, yes.
SPEAKER_03Is it that one?
SPEAKER_00I think it is, yeah. Um, and then to the window, you can drive round uh, I think it's Bay City, I believe it is, or Bayfield. To the wall, or Bay View, I can't remember one of the three, and you can drive round and get to your races and get to your your your different locations on the map. It carries on for Nedra Speed Underground one. Um so it's a bit of a rag to Richard's. You'd obviously completed one, you'd had this race with this guy, you're making your way to have a race with someone else who says they're not going to take no for an answer. On your way over there, your car, your skyline that you won in the previous game gets smashed up. You get insurance money from it, you have to start again and work your way back up the ranks. Similar sort of thing in most racing games. But the the mods and the tuning in this was fantastic, you know. It was right in that fast and fearish time. Yes, them cars are gonna look pr rather garish today, but you just gotta let your teenage self go wild with the cars because you can make some brilliant cars. Um, and they had so many disciplines in this. You had drifting, you had drag racing, you had you had circuits, um, and there was other disciplines as well, which were out of the the career mode. Um, it was quite indifferent.
SPEAKER_03Did you have a stereo off in this one?
SPEAKER_00Oof. I can't remember. I think you might be right. Unless that was carbon. Can't remember.
SPEAKER_03I can't remember. I thought there was one where you could you could have like a decibel battle with stereo. I might be remembering it's that's probably juiced or revved or something.
SPEAKER_00Uh might be, yeah. Um but I just I I was right into the my need for speed games at the time, and this one just took me by surprise underground too. Um, just for being that open world, which we'd obviously played other open world games, but not driving, um, and just cruising around in my car, and then you'd find other races and have a race of them, or you know, think well I'm gonna get all the get all the um circuits done first, gonna do the circuit races, and then you have to perfect drag racing. And it was the first time I was introduced to drifting as well. Um now price-wise, this game um it's gone a bit roll reversal because not so long ago the OG Xbox version was the expensive one because of being you know, probably graphically the best the best version of the game, but it seemed to have gone the other way around now. You can pick that up fairly cheap, but these are nostalgia we said about this off there.
SPEAKER_03It's it yeah, if you had this back in the days, a strong chance you probably had it on PS2. Yeah, my predominant memory is of this on GameCube, by the way. Yeah, me and a mate 100%, 100% in it.
SPEAKER_00Wow, yeah, that's impressive.
SPEAKER_03That was in a promise to me that if we finished one of the games that he had, he would go and buy Zelda, and we slogged our slogged, and then we finished it. It was like I'm a bit done with games, mate. That was a lot, 100% that.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, no, but at least you can say you're hundred percent at it, because it's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03I could only ever play that game in full bonnet view, nothing else, and I'd be like, I don't know how you can play it like that, and I was just like it was uh I don't know what I was doing. I was a Jedi at the time, I can't play video games anymore, but at the time, like I was all over that like a rash, yeah. Um yeah, a great game.
SPEAKER_00The thing I loved as well, like as you changed the car, your exhausts or your induction kit, it changed the tone of the car and the noise of the car. And I I loved that. I'd I I think I had a focus and I had it near enough maxed out, and I was I'd cruise around with a music on and the exhaust would be.
SPEAKER_03I think one of the reasons why I preferred the in-car view thinking about is I think need for speed, this one in particular, which is what in my sort of top five need for speed games. I would say my top one is the original that was on 3D, not the PS1 version, not the Sun, it's got a bit 3DO.
SPEAKER_00Track and road one, or road and track, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it's that one. And then probably this. Um, but in this one, I feel like the cars kind of pivot on a die rather than turning.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03So I think that's why I have to have the in-car view because the car's not it's not doing, but it's an arcade race, so you've got to give it that. Um, and it's a bloody good one, good choice music as well. Like I say, to the window, to the wall, it's got all that good all that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's of the era and it'll take you back as a nostalgia trip. Great racing game. The racing's good as well. The cars all change as you as you customise and suspension bits and pieces, you can really add and it's rubber banded, though, I do believe, need for speed too. Yeah, so many of the um racing games were of the generation.
SPEAKER_03Which you benefit from yourself in some of those catch-up races where you feel like in I didn't know about rubber banding at the time, but there were times when me and my mate were playing it where I was like, yeah, I feel like a god, I feel like a driving god because you're just reeling them in like two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, like, yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you actually look at your map, the arrows stop the triangles where you'll catch the yeah, you know, but I mean, even Mario Kart to this day is still rubber banded, there's still a certain amount of it.
SPEAKER_03It keeps the field tight, it makes you on it, it keeps you honest in first place.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, it really does. So, um, but yeah, if you want to pick that up, that's about 15 to 18 pounds, so a bit of a higher end for the PS2, but definitely worth it for the amount of play you get out of it. Um great game. Um, can't recommend it enough. Okay, good game, good game, one of my favourite drivers on the system. So, what's your third choice then, George?
SPEAKER_03Um my third choice is talked about earlier, so this isn't really a surprise, but uh, here's my copy. It's uh the PS2's Canum Edit by Rockstar.
SPEAKER_00What a game.
Pick 4: Rockstar’s The Warriors
SPEAKER_03What a great game. A game that I only played three, four years ago for the first time. I remember me and you talking about it, and I was saying you need to play this game because it is absolutely super and I've played it all the way through, got it, played it all the way through, thought it was absolutely rip-roar at time, even versus modern games. This game still holds up. The graphics to me are that one step beyond the rather sort of crude-looking GTA graphics when you see the town that you can that's fully realised that you can skate around. But um, you are uh a kid, been sent to boarding school, uh, you you've got to make the best of your situation there. It's a it's a US school, so it's got the jocks, the nerds, all that sort of stuff, but it's got a day-night cycle in it. Uh, you've got to get to classes on time, or you can bunk off. While you're bunking off, there's a whole host of currency activities you can get involved in. There's so many different things. I've talked about the Warriors before bringing all this different mishmash of genres together. We'll call it bully for argument's sake, but can't kind of made it as it was published in the UK, but bully as it's known everywhere else, and will be known as going forward, is just a real masterpiece. It kind of showed that although it the game attracted controversy, it shouldn't have really. Um, and that's a fact because the game is a real heartfelt romp. It showed Rockstar's ability to tell a different story, that they weren't nailed to a crime drama, that their sort of engine and um gameplay mechanics could tell a different story, in a way. Yes, all right. The catapults and peace shooters have replaced guns and oozes and bits and bobs and stink bombs grenades or whatever it is. I I know that to a certain degree, but I went through with in a very pacifist run, I would say, when I went through. I barely flushed anyone's head down the toilet. Um the game's story is quite nice, it unfolds quite nicely of some daring doing school.
SPEAKER_00Really great pacing.
SPEAKER_03You get to feel the rhythm of the lessons to begin with, you get to feel the rhythm of living in your dorm, you get to feel the rhythm of seeing the other people. One of my favorite activities was just to watch the students mill around and the bell sound and the hall empty, and you'd always get someone late running across the playground with their books or drop the bag, or it's it really sets a tone, then you get the seasons as well. It's it is just fantastic, and it gives you those kind of real kind of American school vibes, especially if you're not from America. Obviously, this felt. Like my high school, in a way, it gave me that vibe that maybe I've always wanted. When you break out or get out of the school into the wider surrounding town, that's also another rewarding example. You can get uh I think from memory, like a newspaper around RGT, and you can cut people's grasses, cut people's grass earn yourself. Start collecting up the extra cash, yeah, the little bits of money. And I didn't really find it was that much to spend the economy in to spend my money on in the economy because I guess I'm not a Keydorsaw playing it back in the day, so I kind of really played it for the story. I didn't feel like I had to get all of the clothing items or all of the collectibles.
SPEAKER_00But well, I done I played for it twice on PS2 and completed it, and then when it came to the PS store with trophies, I went through it again and done got the platinum. And apart from a couple of them which were a bit weird, other than that, it was an absolute joy to platinum because you're in that world for longer, you have to do all the grass-cutting missions, you have to do you know, there's a couple of silly ones on the Halloween, you have to go and smash a certain amount of platinum.
SPEAKER_03I always felt like the one thing that kept me honest in the game was the the ever-increasing what felt like march of time. It kind of pushes the school year pushes you up, uh, not only to explore the story, but certainly makes you feel like you haven't got time to waste within the game, which ultimately on other playthroughs you realise that you have probably all the time in the world to do whatever the hell you want to do, right? But the the balance of the truancy and the getting the things done either inside of school hours or outside of school hours is is all part of the fun.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um every character's endearing in it, even the even the baddies for want of a better term, uh, because they're kind of mustache swirling at best, right? So yeah, I I really love this game. Like I say, there's no nostalgia here for me on this with this recommend either. 100% not. I came to this game very late, played it on original hardware, and I can thoroughly, thoroughly recommend it. How much is this one going to set back the uh the listeners' RGT or the viewers eventually?
SPEAKER_00Um if you find a bargain, you could probably pick it up sort of eight to ten. Most most game shops sell it for about ten to twelve. I reckon you pick it up to eight to ten, and that's worth every penny. One of the very best games on a PS2.
SPEAKER_03With all these games we're showing you today, do not forget that you can run the gamut of the charity shop rumble and more than likely find it from 50p to a pound.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, these are retail prices, so keep your eyes peeled. Definitely, definitely, and that's a great choice. Um that game, Rockstar, please. You should have made a second one, or please make one because it's it's a brilliant one.
SPEAKER_03I I argue different, it's that far behind them now. As much as I would say I want it, it makes that one even more special, and because it's totally playable and it's done in a graphical style that really hasn't really aged that badly, or maybe even shifted into a realm where it's it's it's kind of timeless in a way.
SPEAKER_00And I think the problem was at the time it was set up for a second game. You could have had college with Jimmy and all the rest of it. It was set up for us. Um they never apparently they were making it, but they never went down that road. But yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03I think it seemed I think that would seem a bit too obvious because then what next? The uni years, and then you do a prequel where is it primary? You know, where can Rockstar be seen headed with that, really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know, but I think we're all loved another, you know, like they did with GTA, you know, make another game, maybe make a different version, but um, you know, see it from someone else's eyes. But yeah, uh great, absolutely brilliant pitch.
SPEAKER_03What's next out your bag of joy, RGT?
SPEAKER_00Well, my fourth choice, um, I went down a bit of the old survival horror route, bit scary, based on a film again, a bit like your warriors. Um, I have gone with the thing. Uh recently had a bit of a little um paint up remaster on the PS5 and other platforms. Um I chose this a lot of nostalgia with this game. Me and my mate love playing this game to the stage where he had to help me because there was one bit where I got we had to crawl for a loft and I got stuck in this loft. And do you think I could ever find a way out? There was literally just a door that you just went through. I couldn't find this door, but anyway, he helped me and we went on and finished the game. Um certainly good memories of this. Um The Thing was always a film I really enjoyed. Um, everyone always says um watch the 80s one, don't watch the black and white one, the original thing. It is absolutely superb for a black and white film. Um that black and white really adds to the st the scariness of it. So I was always intrigued by this. So when this game came out, I purchased it for PS2 and I really enjoyed it. It it follows that similar sort of premise of the movie, it's got this fantastic um um like trust and fear um meter in the game. So basically, you know, you might have a colleague in your team who is infected by the aliens. Now, they could be acting rather strange. Now you can calm them down with like a steroid. Um, you have these injections that you can collect and you can give them them to calm them down, but also they could be infected, and that's part of the choice. Do you you know? I remember the very first bloke uh or one of my members who party members who was then just freaking out. I shot him, and it just turned out he was having a panic attack, so then I I then decided to be a bit more um working out whether they were infected or not. So that added a good little bit of um teness to the game. Um we were talking off air, it's a little bit obtuse at at first when you're going around in the snow trying to find your way around, but that adds to that sort of panic to me because I was thinking, well, is there an alien out there in the snow? Is it gonna come and get me? Um and I just yeah, I did back in the day. I found it quite freaky. Um I've never been the best of scary ones. Um, but I just thought I liked it.
SPEAKER_03Well any of you saw it now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I know, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But I did um, like I say, for Christmas, I bought my mate the remastered PS5 one because the only the only danger to that mechanic that makes that I think you probably misremembering is the fear comes from the cold meter, you can't be overexposed outside for too long.
SPEAKER_00No, exactly, yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So you've got to be out, I've got to sort this out and get back in again. Yeah, yeah. As you probe in and out of these different kind of small outbuildings that you find. I just found it like so. Okay, so where am I? And it slowly starts to come together, but you find yourself like trekking two miles the wrong direction to get back just in time not to die to go like what do I okay? Well, we'll try two miles in that direction. Oh, I stumbled across something. Story moves on, you know. It's it's that era, not saying it's bad, but it's very much that era again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's it's quite unique for the time. A lot of people didn't realise that was published by Konami as well. Um, yeah. Um, and I just being a fan of the film, it it it took me by surprise to actually play through the film. I found it really good with them extra elements, and I think this actually quite recently had gone up in price. This was if I remember, it was in the 20s at one point. Now you you can you can pick this up for three to six pounds now because I think the remasters out, most people are gonna pick this up, will pick up the PS5 version.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's anyone who's got the PS2 one has already got it.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, yeah. But if you haven't, and like I say, if you're new to PS2 and you like a bit of survival horror, that's definitely one to have a look at. I mean, there's plenty more survival horrors and hidden gems on a PS2, but bangers that we could do a whole episode on that. We certainly could. Might be one for Halloween, there you go. Um, yes, so I would definitely recommend. Did you play this back in the day, George?
SPEAKER_03I think um I think I played it on Xbox, if I'm honest with you. Um, okay. Sorry for my slurp of tea if that's made it into the audio version. Probably just made you v vomit all over yourself. Uh sorry. It's meant to be an easy listening show. Uh uh I bounced off it back in the day. I played it uh more intently recently, and as I say, you know, mega recently, so in terms of like other games, it's it the remaster I think showed that it's got the chassis of a good vehicle underneath it. The the cold meter, which obviously plays a factor on your team and personal management, your fear meter and your personal interrelationships with each different people, and you're talking the smallest thing will make the difference in your trust with these people, like walking into a room with your gun out or letting someone that you might not necessarily think makes any sense to have a weapon, so they're like, Oh, okay, so he does trust me kind of thing. Now, whether the thing or not, um, there's a lot of mind games going on, and as in both versions of the thing movie, and I think it's a little bit like um I think we might have talked about this recently. I think it's a game called We Are Werewolves, not only like a board game, but I think was turned into a PSVR game. It's got werewolves in the title, anyway. Come out.
SPEAKER_00I saw that a lot of people used to play that that on the VR, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And obviously, one person knows that they're the killer. Oh, that's and then the other people have to work out, and it's a bit like among us, you know, the lights would go out and another person's dead, then it or you know, it's like who did this and who did what. So this has an early element really of that within it as well. Obviously, it's not played out exactly like that, but I've always seen the thing as kind of like a a film version of that. You don't really know who it is. The audience, in a way, are as sort of unwise to it as you are as they are in the movie, and in the game, vice versa. The player is completely like immune to what's going on here, they don't know.
SPEAKER_00And that's why I that's why I love this game so much because they could have just done this as an an action game, go through, play through. They didn't have to add these bits in, but it really that was their way of doing it, like the film, to get you on edge, to get you second guessing your teammates and uh well.
SPEAKER_03I suppose the good news for us is what more could they have done if this had been made in the 16-bit era, you'd be fighting different versions of the thing on every level from one foot ones to six foot ones, and this wasn't like the movie, or possessed guys on one level, and then go through and end up fighting like a 20-foot one that you fight in a space elevator or some garbage. But the the PS2 allowed you to try and at least give some authentic experience, which I've always admired the thing for.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, brilliant. Yeah, I think it's a great recommendation. If you if you like if you're into your movies, you like the thing movie, but also getting into your PS2 and a lot of bit of survival horror, then definitely grab it, especially while it's so cheap at the moment. But yeah, that was my game four, which was the thing. Um, over to your next pick, then, George.
Pick 5: Need For Speed Underground 2
SPEAKER_03Well, over to me for the real driving simulator, specifically number four. Um, to me, this is probably to this day, still my favourite Gran Turismo. I know that you could get at me now and say, Oh well, the physics are better now, and blah blah blah, and you know, it's got more cars in this version. Still so playable over. But this game is just for me the most beautifully presented. Unlike most PS4 games, came in a white case as well, which really stood out. It looked fresh on the stores when it was new. It's a nostalgia show, so this thing sat glistening next to blue-topped PS2 games or black topped PS2 games and next to GameCubes and Xboxes, and there was something that was just so fresh and unique in 2003 or 4, whenever this came out, where a white box with this white iconic box art was beyond anything else. That was part of the alert. Putting it in, obviously, I've played with the Gran Turismos before. Putting this in, you got to the menu screen. You're in a movie, obviously, that you get through, and you get to the menu screen, which is just laid out in the most beautiful way. The menu sounds within this just sounds so nice, so calm. It's got a great little photo section in it where you can take pictures of your car in what at the time were high-def backgrounds, much like the modern day Gran Turismos, and take pictures of your cars at different locations all around the world. Um, from memory, and I think it's on the back of the manual, this is just a little nod to nostalgia. Um, yes, you could you could get an Epson printer that was officially compatible with the game, that was a photo printer. I saw one of these in a charity shop about 18 months ago, and I very nearly picked one up to see if I could get it working. Because, in terms of obscure PS2 accessories, it because obviously this wasn't sold as a PS2 accessory, it was sold as this photo printer, but was compatible with printing the photos of your cars from Gran Turismo 4. I think I might look into that just for fun.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think it's but that proves how confident they were with with the game because it looked for a PS2 game, it looks absolutely yeah.
SPEAKER_03We we got a little bit of a bum deal, I'll be honest with you, because in every other region this is one of the games that you could uh get running or force running in progressive. We didn't get that mode here. Sadly, it's one of the games that would have really benefited from it, and they got the option everywhere else, it just got locked out in the PAL version, so that's a shame. Um but if you're playing this on a CLT, I play on a modern screen, still looks fantastic. And then you say, Hang on, George, hang on, you talked for this long all about a driving game, you've not talked about how it feels. Let me tell you now. This game to me feels through a pad as good as any of them before or since. Um, you could sit down with this with a Bluetooth adapter, and someone put a modern controller in your hand, and you'd be having a blast, you wouldn't you would barely differentiate it. But yeah, the graphics look a little bit washed out now compared, but in the right moment on the right replay, this game will blow your socks off.
SPEAKER_00Um also you've got to remember, you think the generation before we had games like Driver. Look at Driver's graphics and then look at GTA 4, and you see the massive leap.
SPEAKER_03It was a light year's leap. I agree. Unbelievable. And the the breadth, length and breadth of the cars, the length and breadth of the courses, as always with GT, once you get a bit of a rhythm with it, the AI is not really going to pose that much of a threat, sadly. But do you know what? Play it on hard or difficult, we start doing some of the later tracks. It's even got like a driver manager mode in it. The whole thing is just absolutely top tier. It looks great if you want a game to show up your PlayStation 2. I mean, every single one of the games that we've mentioned today, uh, that I've certainly mentioned uh SmackDown, Canascana, make a bully the Warriors, Gran Turismo 4, Manette's game. They're all games that definitely graphically push your console as well. So if someone's come around and say, Why are you still carrying that black hole piece of nonsense around? You can go, hang on a minute, hang hang on a minute. That's why people go. Wow. And also I think it's actually impressive.
SPEAKER_00G uh GT4 is one of them games that is, even though it's over 20 years old, it's one of them games where you can still get lost in it today. You can put that on, and the hours of fun you can have and upgrading your cars and getting a different races. There's many other car games before and since have tried that same format, but they always seem to get almost a bit boring as you get further in them, but they don't with GT, they seem to have something about them feels very classy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's something about GT4, as I mentioned, the menus feel classy, but they do even though you've got loads of cars and they're only in a menu, and the only time you ever really have any bonding with your car is in the garage section where you see whatever car it is you've got just hidden behind like a roller shutter door, yeah. But it doesn't matter because the sense of ownership of the cars that you buy and own within Gran Turismo 4 specifically, maybe there's a hint of it with three with the oil service and all that sort of gizmos, and the way that was shown and portrayed. But to me, GT4, you feel like you own the car, you feel like you're making the mods that matter for you within the cars that you've got. Like I've got cars that I just don't mod, and they're just my motors, and then I've got cars that I've modded for racing, you know. So there's a it's nice to have, and I've had this game since it came out to now, and I've got the same save file that I've had since then. It's incredible. You can see the change in taste of cars along the way. Like, I had like a load of Supras and Toyos and Bits and Bobs, and then the Italian bits started to creep in as I got a little bit older, and yeah. Um if you're into cars or vehicles in any way, uh, this is a game that's tracked my interest in motor vehicles through probably actually over half my life now, uh, and I'm still playing it to this day and still finding enjoyment and still finding, oh yeah, I forgot that car was in here, or oh yeah, I forgot that you could do that, or oh wow, this was ahead of its time for this or whatever reason. So, no matter where you listen to this, no matter where you are in the world, and heck, there's people listening to this now, RGT, because this show is free and it will always be free, much like the main show, that have probably got a PS2 for the first time. Some corner of the world, somewhere where the PS2 is like their baby right now, and they're wondering what games to pick up for it, and they're about to have a great time.
SPEAKER_00They are, and also, like I say, if you've just picked a PS2 up, you've never played a Grand Turismo game, and you pick up number four, if that was your only the car game you had for the rest of your life, you wouldn't be disappointed and you wouldn't be missing out because that game is hours and hours of content. It's even from when you first put that disc in and see that start title, it's just it's just quality the whole way through. It's classy, it's quality, it's a great game made by people passionate about cars, absolutely superb.
SPEAKER_03Um mate, I've enjoyed Forza's, Project Gotham's, all sorts of different driving games along the way. They've all come, they've all stayed, they've all impressed. But which game have I played solidly for the last 20 years without without fail?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely. And also, not only that, you can pick this game up from three to five pounds. So unbelievable, it's a crime.
SPEAKER_03It's less like I say, I've less than a copy. Yeah, uh I've bought more copies of it than I should do to make sure that mine was as white and as mint and as clean as I could get, but wow, that is that is a low price.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03What you got next, RGT?
SPEAKER_00Great choice that, George. Uh right, my fifth and final game. Um, I went a bit off piece to what I normally would here, but I I picked this up one because it's a different genre, two, it sort of introduced me to a genre, um and I just remember having an absolute ball plan for how different that was, and that is the original Devil May Cry by Capcom. Um this game originally started out as a concept for Resi 4. Um then that was not really where they wanted to go with that, and that but because of what they'd done, they carried it on into a new new IP, which was Devil May Cry. Um, it's got a bit of a convoluted story. You're you play Dante Dante, however you pronounce it. Yeah, and you're like hunt, yeah, and you start off in an office and you're sort of a demon hunter, and you get put into this world because you're trying to find whoever killed your I saw him as a male Buffy, the vampire slayer, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03Very, very similar.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, very, very similar. Um, but it had that it's an action adventure, it had sort of a hag and slash combat that you could use combinations with. So you could you could, you know, because uh each level was classed as a mission, and at the end of it, you were graded at the end of each mission from S rank to A B C. So you could go back, there's replayability. It almost reminded me when I first played it, it was like an action adventure 3D Castlevania. Yeah, it had that going from room to room and yeah, it it did.
SPEAKER_03Uh it certainly, if this had been on PS1, it would have been a lot more Resident Evil, there would have been a lot more kind of on minutiae in a way.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Yes, but here it took me by surprise because of how frenetic and ranked and skillful the combat within the game is seen to be. Yeah, I thought I thought that is the real crux of the game, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00It's a genius sort of thing to do because I was especially games at the time I'd play to complete the game, do the career mode, and then the game was done. Bang, onto the next game. But this had something where you'd get to the end and think, Oh, I got an A rank, I could have got an S on that, and you go back and play that mission again. So it's got the replayability. It's got occasional puzzles in, nothing too major, but the odd little puzzle where you obviously have to match a gem to a door or whatever. Um the combat I found brilliant. That's the first time I'd sort of played this style of I say hack and slash, but there's a lot more skill to it than. That get your combinations going, um, and once you started mastering those combinations, it was very satisfying to play. Once you got good at it and going into different rooms and facing these enemies, it was something very unique that I hadn't played before, and I think as many games have done this sort of style of stuff since, but I always find that Devil May Cry is probably one of the first. We'd had hack and slash games on the 16-bit consoles and blah blah blah. But I don't think we'd had anything like this. It was almost arcadey graded, but you had to perfect it. It was it was uh with a story as well. Yeah, very unique, uh great fun. If you like fighting style games, it's good. It can be a bit awkward nowadays with a fixed camera, but once you get used to that and get over that from the room perspective, um it's a great game. And obviously they went on to two and three, three being absolutely nails, by the way. So make sure you play one and two first. Um but even so, this you can pick this up as five to eight pounds. And back in the day, this was very highly regarded, and this was awesomely rated. This was this trilogy. This was nine out of ten, ninety-two percent. This was a great Capcom.
SPEAKER_03Kind of had a little bit of return to form, and I think we may even see it return again because there's a much fouted six to come out. This was one of those trilogies that you had on your shelf uh if you're a hardcore PS2 gamer back in the day. And and and and guess what? It was a great series, a little bit too intense for me to enjoy on the regular. I would like in its combat. If you've played Bayonetta but you'd never been inspired along the way by Devil May Cry, you need to go back and look at the granddaddy of them all. You could argue it's this in some way of the the juggling um shoot-shoot combat, the the ranking of the fight and all that sort of stuff. And I can't believe that you've played Bayonetta but may never have played these games. But if you haven't, then this is your perfect foil.
SPEAKER_00Even if you played things like Stellar Blade or anything like that, they all come from this is this is what they're doing.
SPEAKER_03They really, really do, and all of that style of combat really does link all the way back here. So you've really got to, if you like that, you've got to play the genesis of it all, obviously, compared to later versions of itself, which became more focused on the combat, I would say. You mentioned three, although three is probably the high point of the PS2 series, graphically gameplay-wise, as I've said many times. Sometimes when a game evolves, it get it evolves in the way that you don't want it to, and Devil Maker R1, slow, fixed camera, it's just about doable for me. But then when you get into two and three, four and five, things start to get a little bit too crazy for one of a bare word.
SPEAKER_00I think from sort of from four and five, they almost sort of dragged it back a bit because I think three got to that level where three to me was the dark souls of the day. If if you had someone said yes of Mastered Dark uh Devil May Cry three, you thought he know what he's doing.
SPEAKER_03Thing is, I don't think anyone rocks up and buys Devil May Cry three when they're in the game shop unless they're absolutely crazy. So I guess three was a reward for the ever-increasing skill set of the bass players that were fans of the game, and therefore you've built a game for you fans. What you can do make it more difficult. Add more thrills, make it more difficult, add more thrills, and there we are. But the original incarnation, and actually the original incarnation of the character in many ways is is quite fun. Obviously, this one opens up with that raucous sort of motorbike through the front window, sort of opening, doesn't it? From memory.
Pick 6: Bully / Canis Canem Edit
SPEAKER_00Have they done a re PS4 remaster stroke PS5? I believe it everyone. Oh, I don't know. I think so. I think I might even have it, but um yeah, I'm sure that was all retelling of it, I think. I think I had that on.
SPEAKER_03Maybe a retelling. Um but yeah, great choice. Uh how and and you say how much is that?
SPEAKER_00Um you can pick this up for between five and eight pounds, top end eight pounds you pay for.
SPEAKER_03But again, although that seems like a cheap game in terms of the collecting for this console and things, it's not a one pound FIFA, so I think all these eight pounds are really in the really well-selling um but still sought after a series of games. Um RGT. Was that your final game?
SPEAKER_00That was my game number five. I'll just do a quick recap of what I done. Um I done uh Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas, followed by Jack and Daxter, the precursor Legacy. Then I done a bit of Need for Speed, Underground 2, then followed up by the thing, and I finished with Devil May Cry. So what's your I'm eager to know, what's your Well, we'll give them a quick rundown.
SPEAKER_03So so far I've touched on WWE SmackDown, Here Comes the Pain, The Warriors, Canis Can of Edit, aka Bully, Grunterismo 4, and my final game for all of you raging nostalgic nerds is the PlayStation 2 God of War 2. This is a special edition, but uh don't let that uh persuade you otherwise. This game is absolutely brilliant from the moment you turn it on. Now, this was a time where the PlayStation 2 was actually going head to head with the just released Xbox 360, and many people were hemorrhaging left, right, and Chelsea to go get Microsoft's newly released yet pretty impressive and incredibly graphically next gen machine. In fact, if any machine harboured the word next gen, it was the Xbox 360 during this era. But enough of that. So what did PlayStation do? Well, they brought out a sequel to their much beloved God of War game, uh the first God of War game, and this sequel hits hard from the minute it lands and never stops. Graphically, this game will make you wonder what the hell you're doing. The game looks absolutely exquisite. Now I'm not talking God of War, Ragnarok, or anything like that, but for the PS2, and even when the through the lens of the kind of game that God of War was then, this game still holds up.
SPEAKER_00Without doubt.
SPEAKER_03Massive creatures, big zooms where you go from being full size on the screen to being a tiny little dot one minute next, and that's one of the things I always loved about God of War, that you controlled them as the camera pulled back, and it really set the scale of it all. The combat is visceral, it's gritty, but it's easy to pick up. It's probably one of those classic phrases of hard to master, but you can get good at it pretty quickly. A lot of its timing, a lot of its QTEs in the boss section, so don't be put off. Um it's challenging, but it's not too difficult. So you're gonna be able to enjoy this sort of rip roaring yarn through Greek mythology. It's all wrapped up quite nicely. There's uh little intro, and the way this game feeds into the third God of War game, it's really, really nice and a real nod to that original trilogy that they did. Um there's not really much more to say about the game other than you know, first of all, it's a graphical powerhouse for your console, and it'll probably look stunning.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I was watching a video the other day, and a guy was going through the God of Wars, and I was looking at two thinking you could see this as an early PS3 game. It looks absolutely stunning on a PS2. What I would say is a real system singing for that.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, a real decent and final Swan song for the console as well. Um one thing I would say, all these games that I've talked about, you can get working through your surround sound system if you've got one that will allow you to select Dolby Pro Logic 2. Once you select that, there's barely any differentiation really between the surround sound experience that you're getting in one of these games versus a newer one. Uh and all of these have that ability, but God of War, especially, it's fantastic, it brings you into the world, you feel every punch and grind and sort of chaining whip.
SPEAKER_00Very dramatic as well, and it's separate. Really dramatic.
SPEAKER_03And I think that's one thing I look down at the games that I've picked out, they've all got that sort of wow factor to them in one way or the other, and equally so for your games, RGT, either from a gameplay point of view or a graphical point of view, or a combination of both, or some other interesting mix, like your copy of the thing that you've brought. Um God of War was like the final Swan song for the PS2, as I was saying, and a really nice way of ending you know that era for Sony, one where that still to this day maybe get eclipsed by the Switch, who knows? But the best-selling console of all time. Um, one that people have got a lot of nostalgia for, one that's got probably the biggest library of all time in terms of consoles, so there's a hell of a lot of stuff for us to wade through. Because I should imagine people are listening to this show now, RGT, and they're screaming at their uh their devices or whatever it is, or walk into the shop, they've got the headphones in, they're like, I can't believe I downloaded this, and they didn't talk about that, that, that, that, that. Guys, there's so many, and these are our personal choices about the games that we think about.
SPEAKER_00And this is just five each. We can do we can do five, six, seven, eight, ten shows of this.
SPEAKER_03If you I can go off, grab a slack of five, sit down and talk as passionately about those as I can about these. In fact, I'm about to rein myself in because we've got you know we've got time constraints. So it's uh it's a great system, RGT, and I I hope that we've kind of wet people's appetites accordingly.
SPEAKER_00Yes, um I will just quickly go over and just say um God of War again is one of the little more expensive ones. If you look carefully, you'll you can get this sort of 14 to 18 pounds maybe. Really? Yeah, at lower end of the teens, but it's it's it's worth every penny of that.
SPEAKER_03I guess late release. Late release probably minimal traction by that point in time.
SPEAKER_00Very collectible, it's one of the best games on the system. Um yeah, check those out. So I mean we had a lot of I'll just run through them again. I had San Andreas, Jack and Daxter Precursor Legacy, Need for Speed Underground 2, The Thing and Devil May Cry, George uh went with The Warriors, uh Grantchism 4, uh Bully, SmackDown Pain, uh Here Comes the Pain, and God of War 2. Um there's ten amazing games there. You add all that up and you're gonna be 50-60 pounds maximum. Um maybe even less if you if you're careful with where you buy from. And you've got a hell of a lot of games to play there on your PS2 and great ones.
SPEAKER_03Um get in the comments section wherever you're listening to this. Uh if you're on YouTube, uh just drop us your top ten. We'd love I personally would love to get into the round with you to talk about that. Um I'm not very good on Discord, but I think I've just about nailed the YouTube comments, although if I've missed a comment, I'm sorry to anybody. Um but yeah, I'd love to get into the round with that. Maybe we can evolve some of those maybe in a later episode or something. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, let us know what your games are, what you've loved, give us your memories of the system. Um like I say you can either do it on YouTube comments when this goes live, you can either do it on um our Discord, um Unofficial Controller Podcast Discord, or you can do it over on um Instagram or X or I'm Retro Gamer Thomas on Instagram, you can message me, let us know. Um I hope you enjoy that. I've loved doing that.
SPEAKER_03Um, just for the flashback listeners, RGT, we'll let them know the cadence. So every Sunday, ready for Monday, you're gonna get the main unofficial controller podcast show. Uh and then on your Tuesday, you're gonna get an awesome slice of this very show flashback, and then on a Wednesday, you're gonna get the video of the main show for you two uh pour your eyes across our haggard visages game laden faces.
SPEAKER_00Um yes, so like I say, come and say hi and say let us know um your choices or games, or if any ones were mentioned, and you suddenly thought, Oh, I love that game, give us your memories of that. Um, it's definitely um a lot of format we can carry on with many, many a system and many, many a game.
SPEAKER_03So and are you a George Gar and RGT kind of guy based on your piles? You know, come at us, let us know. Um want to see the thumbs up hearts all over the place. We're still looking for reviews, flashback, and don't forget, got a website as well, RGT. What's that all about?
SPEAKER_00Yes, uh UnofControllerpodcast.com. Uh jump on there.
SPEAKER_03Um probably gonna have to go the full HTTPS colon colon forward slash slash.
SPEAKER_00Just dw dot that'll that'll bring it up. You is a mobile site and a uh desktop site. Jump on there. Um it's being evolved daily at the moment. We've had new things added on. Um it's it's getting bigger and bigger. It's a great place to jump on and see about it.
SPEAKER_03Quite a place to go if you're into nostalgia as well, because you've got your hidden gems. Hidden gems on there, have a look for that. Also, a little bit more housekeeping, if I may, we're refreshing the history of videos with a new thumbnail, uh, a classic episode style. Captain Scarlet's working on refreshing uh back catalogue, so we're gonna keep refreshing those on a probably weekly basis if we can get the cadence right. Um so if you want to catch up on some of our more documentary episodes from the main show from season one and two, they can go get in there. So we're badging those up so you can find them nice and easy. Uh plenty to go at.
SPEAKER_00Plenty, yeah. Yeah, there's you know, the main shows, well over 300 shows now, so there's plenty of back catalogue there to enjoy and have a look at, and and you know, and especially those um sort of retrospectives and that are very good shows. So go back and have a listen. Um like I say, we're now onto episode 10 here on flashback. Um although we do our our usual format, yeah. Our usual format. This is something we can do going forward on a different system. So let us know your verdicts, let us know. If you're already on the Discord, we have a little section for flashback on there. So um let us know if any ideas or what you thought of this show, what you thought of the format, and hopefully we can evolve it as we go. Um but thanks, George, for that. I absolutely love that. That was fantastic. Um me and you love talking games off air, so giving us a stack of games to talk about on air is uh yeah, it's most of our best contents never even been recorded, RGT, sadly. No, they haven't. We need to do some ramble shows, don't we?
Pick 7: The Thing Survival Horror
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think uh we'd get there with flashback. Obviously, we've got the format with the looking at the old magazines, but I think the odd kind of pivot into a console discussion or a favourites or personal top fives and top tens has got legs here, don't you? So we'll let us know. You might say no, we hate it. We only came here for the magazines and you took those from us. We hate you. Um wish death on your family until we get normal flashback back. If that's the case, then uh we'll drop this like a hot stone. I'll blame RGT for its object failure and uh probably burn one of his family members.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's a bit strong, probably just a pet.
SPEAKER_00That's happened before, so you know.
SPEAKER_03It has. Yeah, it was nearly dead anyway.
SPEAKER_00So I need I needed punishing, so poor granddad. Anyway, um yeah. Um yes, thanks for listening. Um thanks for downloading, thanks for taking part. Thanks for everyone on Discord and in who's enjoying the shows. Thanks for Carlos for always giving his little flash every week of his games he had in the era. So come on, Carlos, show NBS TV. Yeah, very good. Um, and I say, thanks, George, for joining me again.
SPEAKER_03My pleasure.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely brilliant, and just remember everyone, flashback, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. See you next week, George. See you later, everyone.
SPEAKER_03See you guys. Thanks for being ticked.