Top PC GamesTop XBOX GamesTop GameCube GamesTop PlayStation2 GamesTop GBA GamesTop 10 In ShowHonorable Mention

The Top PlayStation 2 Games of E3 2002

The most venerable of the major gaming platforms currently available is still the most prolific and the most popular--the PlayStation 2 may not be as new as the Xbox or the GameCube, but it is by every means a force to be reckoned with. That was proven once again beyond a shadow of a doubt at E3 2002, where Sony demonstrated a number of fantastic-looking products that push the system's capabilities to never-before-seen heights. A number of these games sported some of the best graphics we've ever seen on any platform--and innovative gameplay to match. There were a huge number of games to choose from, but we narrowed it down to these, the top five PlayStation 2 games of E3 2002:

05. Ratchet and Clank
Developed by: Insomniac Games
Published by: SCEA
Release Date: Q4 2002
screenshot
What's Ahead:
We've seen a good bit of what Insomniac has planned for the game, and they're all exciting things. You'll be able to play as Clank for the latter part of the game, and he's supposed to have all sorts of neat abilities, which we can't wait to see firsthand. Ratchet and Clank will also get to travel through the galaxy in a cool spaceship, and we're really hoping it'll amount to more than simply clicking on points on an interface screen. In any event, the game's collection elements are something that we should all look forward to; with dozens of weapons to be written into the game, finding them all will very likely result in some pretty rewarding gameplay.
screenshot

Insomniac's latest concoction was prominently on display at Sony's E3 booth, and given that studio's pedigree (it created Spyro the Dragon), it's totally logical. Ratchet and Clank is the title of the Insomniac project in question, and it's definitely a bit more grounded in established gameplay conventions than Spyro was when it was released. But that didn't prevent its E3 demo from being quite engaging in terms of minute-to-minute gameplay. It's a buddy platformer in the spirit of Banjo Kazooie, putting you in control of a heavily armed rodent and a transforming robot. The game seems to relieve the tedium associated with platformer combat by making it incredibly fun to engage enemies and giving you plenty of extremely satisfying weapons to use. Though there will be dozens in the final game, the E3 demo included a flame-thrower, a blaster, a bomb-launching glove, and a handy-dandy wrench. That last one can function as a boomerang as well as a club, and it's plenty useful in either form.

The E3 demo kept the enemies coming, which gave us a great chance to use all of these neat weapons and witness the game's generous economy in action. Whenever we'd shoot an enemy robot, it would explode into a pile of gears, which function as money in the game's world. Though there wasn't much to spend it on in the E3 demo, the fun inherent in picking up objects in a platformer can't be understated, and the fact that tons of said gears are dropped by dead robots made it pretty kinetic. Furthermore, having this many weapons at our disposal made for some liberating hands-on time with the game, so we can only imagine what the final version will be like, when we'll have access to all the cool guns Insomniac has thought up.
 

« Previous Page Next: Top PlayStation 2 Games: move over, MediEvil »