Most Underrated PS2 Shooters, Ranked
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Summary
- Red Dead Revolver offers incredibly fun shooting, even without open-world elements.
- Killzone, despite comparisons to Halo, stands out with unique gameplay and pioneer of improved sequels.
- Forbidden Siren may be challenging, but its peculiar mechanics and cult status make it worth a player’s patience.
It’s not uncommon for gamers to have, at some point, played a shooter that absolutely blew their minds and the way they look and play other games — then find out that very few other people know of said game. With how saturated the market is, it’s inevitable that some great titles linger in obscurity.
The PlayStation 2 remains the highest-selling console of all time, and it features one of the largest gaming libraries to ever exist. With that in mind, it’s understandable that a lot of great games would either fall through the cracks, or simply not hit the hearts and minds of critics when they first came out. Sometimes, they were ahead of their time. Let’s look at some of the most underrated shooters in PS2 history.
7:14
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7
Red Dead Revolver
The Makings Of A Classic
For anyone wondering why Red Dead Redemption has that name, it’s because the people of Rockstar wanted to make a game that would “redeem” them from Red Dead Revolver. No redemption is needed, however, as the original Red Dead is quite a great game.
It might not have the awesome open world, but it doesn’t need to rely on that to make its shooting incredibly fun. And, even though it falls short of reaching the heights of Red Dead Redemption, Revolver features a great multiplayer mode that its “sequel” sadly doesn’t have.
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6
Killzone
Almost There
Killzone was unlucky to get touted as the “Halo Killer“, but that was by the media, not by its devs. The good people at Guerrilla just wanted to make a good shooter, and that they did. Though both share a sci-fi setting, Killzone doesn’t even look or play similarly to Halo, and that’s a plus. Sadly, the original Killzone asked too much from the PS2’s hardware, and ended up slouching a bit due to a few performance hiccups. Still, it remains a fun shooter that set the stage for a bunch of much-improved sequels.
5
Forbidden Siren
Forbidden Fun
- Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment
- Genre(s): Horror, stealth, action
- Release Date: November 6, 2003
Forbidden Siren, a game by some of the people behind Silent Hill, is a cult hit, but one that never managed to hit the mainstream quite as it deserved. While not a full-on shooter, it’s known for its incredibly peculiar and hard-to-master shooting mechanics.
Horror games were still popular by the time of its release, and the names attached should have gotten the ball rolling for it to become a success, but it was just too challenging a game. Forbidden Siren was deliberately obtuse, and made even simple things like getting information out of a map a challenge. To give players an idea of just how punishing Forbidden Siren was, its own creator once tried to play the game and got killed just a few minutes into his campaign. Still, it’s a great game that deserves anyone’s time and patience.
4
Black
Incredible Particle Effects
Black enjoyed immense levels of hype before release, as its previews showed a never-before-seen level of map destruction and particle effects. Black had incredible graphics and spectacular firefights. That made perfect sense, considering Black was made by the people behind the Burnout series at Criterion Games. Unfortunately, Black went, well, dark, shortly after release, and now remains a memory for the few people who enjoyed that action that seemed so far beyond everything the PlayStation 2 was supposed to pull off.
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3
The Thing
An Overlooked Video Game Adaptation
This game is based on a movie that’s older than most of the people reading this article. The original The Thing is an undeniable classic nowadays, but it failed to resonate with audiences and critics when it came out.
Back in the early 2000s, someone decided to use the rep that the movie had acquired over the decades to make a video game adaptation. However, this also failed to leave the mark it should have. That’s unfortunate, because, much like the movie, the game features a bunch of awesome elements that will surely succeed in getting players’ levels of dread and paranoia all the way up to eleven. The Thing recently got a good remaster, so this is as good a time as any to experience this forgotten classic.
2
XIII
Cel-Shaded Peak
XIII
- Released
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November 10, 2020
- ESRB
-
m
- Developer(s)
-
PlayMagic
Halo: Combat Evolved usually gets all the credit for making console shooters a genre to be reckoned with, and XIII was one of the first few games to follow in its footsteps. On top of playing beautifully on the PS2’s controller, it features some really cool cel-shaded graphics that ensure the game will never feel dated.
Sadly, people only realized XIII’s greatness much too late. Players only got not a sequel, but a remake nearly 20 years later in 2020. Sadly, it fails to measure up to the original. Here’s hoping a better follow-up will arrive before 2040.
1
Red Faction
A Truly Revolutionary Title
Red Faction puts players in the shoes of a miner in the midst of a proletariat revolution on Mars. Instead of having the character forget all about his day job to just grab whatever gun he can find and become every game’s regular FPS protagonist, Red Faction has the main character honing in on his mining skills to save the day — as well as shooting a lot of incredibly fun guns.
Red Faction went on to get good reviews for its fun combat and original mechanics — which its sequel went on to completely drop. It’s an absolute shame that such a great shooter, especially one in a time when console shooters weren’t all that great, didn’t get to grow in its sequels. The more recent sequels are great, but they’re very different from the original title, which anyone should still give a shot today.
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