Jaws Unleashed (PS2)

Although the 1975 film Jaws has had a lasting impact on pop culture (for better or worse), the film has had a number of product tie-ins over the decades, including in the video game space. While a handful of home console games exist, one that had caught my interest in particular was the 2006 game Jaws Unleashed, as while I wasn’t quite old enough to actually play it at the time, the idea of playing as the shark had always intrigued me, in spite of its reception. In the years since, I was reminded of this game by the existence of the game Maneater, which features a similar concept, and was recently lucky enough to find a wild PS2 copy of Jaws Unleashed. While I had been wanting to play the game anyway, this year being the 50^th anniversary of the original film provided motivation to finally boot it up for the first time. Although I found the expansion on the Jaws world interesting, the game unfortunately shows some age with the flawed execution of its gameplay.

Second Look - God of War II

Following the release and success of the original God of War, Kratos’ story was allowed to continue in a sequel, aptly titled God of War II. Notably, although the PS3 was around the corner during its development, the game was developed exclusively for the PS2, due to the developers having a better understanding of the PS2’s architecture in addition to the system having the bigger player base at the time. This game and the original God of War would also be ported to the PS3 as part of God of War Legacy Collection, which was made to promote God of War III and ended up popularizing, if not pioneering, HD remasters of retro games. As with the first game, I decided to replay the second through this collection after having not played it for a little over 10 years, coming away with a much better understanding of its plot and themes than I did previously.

Second Look - God of War (2005)

 

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War (2005).

While my opinions of the God of War series have been mostly positive, as time has passed, I have not been completely satisfied with my original reviews of the entries centered on Greek mythology, which were originally written around the release of God of War: Ascension. Around the release of God of War: Ragnarök, the idea of revisiting Kratos’ roots resurfaced, and I felt more motivated to do so upon finishing that game, starting with the original God of War from 2005. While the game was originally released on the PS2, and I have played it multiple times on that platform, I decided to replay it through the God of War HD Collection on PS3 due to the graphical improvements made for that port, and in the process realizing I had not touched the game in a little over a decade. After diving back into it following such a lengthy absence, while it hasn’t exactly aged well visually, it has aged very well from a storytelling perspective and remains one of the best examples of a Mature-rated game.

Haunting Ground

 

Back in 2005, Capcom released the video game Haunting Ground, known as Demento in Japan, which shared many similarities to their prior Clock Tower series to the point it’s considered a spiritual successor. Although it received mixed reception when it originally released and sold poorly due to competition with the widely renowned Resident Evil 4 (RE4), is has gained a reputation as part of the “Trinity of PS2 Survival Horror” with Kuon and Rule of Rose, all three of which are known for their expense and rarity due to poor sales, as well as their (arguable) status as “hidden gems” of the PS2 library.

What drew me to Haunting Ground, however, was not necessarily its newfound reputation, but its relation to the development of RE4. The short version is that there were four previous attempts at developing RE4 before the final build. The first of these builds is informally considered the “stylish” build and would famously spawn the Devil May Cry franchise, while the other three builds were known internally as “Castle”, “Hallucination” (aka “Hookman”) and “Zombie”. “Hallucination” and “Zombie” were scrapped due to technical limitations, the latter also for sticking too closely to the traditional Resident Evil formula, while one of the “Castle” scenario writers, Noboru Sugimura, would donate his draft to Capcom Production Studio 1, who had started work on a Clock Tower game that morphed into what we know as Haunting Ground. The elements that ultimately made their way from “Castle” to Haunting Ground were a girl and a B.O.W. dog companion, both of whom would have helped Leon S. Kennedy as he infiltrated the castle of Oswell E. Spencer, one of the founders of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals.

Due to the cost of a physical English copy reaching $350-400 at the bare minimum (exceeding the value of even the most expensive Silent Hill game in my collection), I ended up buying the game through the Japanese PSN on my PS3, where you have to search for the Japanese name Demento (デメント). This did require creating a Japanese account and buying two digital gift cards through Playasia, though this meant I only spent ¥1257 (under $10 at the time of this writing) with tax. Since Demento had English audio but rendered all the text in Japanese (with no option otherwise), I had to play while following an English video guide (via Survival Horror Network on YouTube) and a GDQ speedrun while imperfectly filling in any gaps with the Clock Tower Wiki and the Google Translate app on my phone (as well as my own very limited knowledge of Japanese). Despite jumping through so many hoops, I found the experience ultimately worth the effort, even with its rough edges.

The version I actually played.

Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (PS2)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil (2002) and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X

What Resident Evil games deserve the “Remake” treatment? This question has floated around in the years since the release of the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, as well as the 2020 release of the Resident Evil 3 remake. Among the different answers, one that floated up frequently was Code: Veronica, notably the only mainline entry that hadn’t seen a physical PS4 release. Based on my own experience, the demand for Code: Veronica grew louder as the release of the highly-anticipated 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 drew nearer. This coincidentally lined up with when I would play Code: Veronica for myself as part of my deep dive of the series.

Before we try answering the question of whether Code: Veronica deserves a remake, we should first consider its history. After the original Resident Evil 2’s (RE2) success, Capcom put more Resident Evil projects in development. One of these was a Sega Saturn port of RE2, but it was canceled because doing so would require sacrificing the game’s quality. To make up for this, the team went to work on an original entry for Sega fans. This entry, known as Code: Veronica, would release on the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. Due to low sales, however, Capcom would port the game to the PS2 the following year as Code: Veronica X (CVX), followed by a 2003 GameCube port and an eventual release on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.

As my Resident Evil journey followed the order of each game’s release, I went from the remake of Resident Evil 3 to the PS2 version of CVX, fully expecting a jarring shift in experience going from a fairly polished game to one comparatively archaic. By virtue of age alone, CVX certainly deserves a remake. Beyond that, however, it desperately needs a modern update by virtue of being an overrated mess of a game that has coasted by for far too long on nostalgia alone.

Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures

Of the shows in Cartoon Network’s classic roster, one of their heaviest hitters was Ed, Edd n Eddy, following the exploits of the titular trio of Eds as they try to scam other kids in the cul-de-sac in a never-ending quest to obtain jawbreakers. To this day, this series remains Cartoon Network’s single longest-running show, even beating out the former juggernaut that was Adventure Time, and has since become a reliable source of internet memes. Though I did watch some of the show as a kid early in its run, my parents ultimately dissuaded me from watching it any further, though the show remained in the back of my mind and I became curious about playing the console game based on it, Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures, after seeing it on store shelves. Years later, while on a classic Cartoon Network nostalgia trip fairly recently, I finally sought out a second-hand PS2 copy, which I was fortunately able to get at a reasonable price, and even streamed a few episodes through HBO Max to remind myself what the show was actually like (and realized what I missed out on). Despite my general inexperience with the show itself, I found The Mis-Edventures to be one of the best licensed games I had ever played, due to how well it managed to perfectly translate the series to video game form.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

As far as action games go, the Devil May Cry series is easily one of the best. While certainly challenging for the most part, the games are rewarding to finish and have had a lasting influence on the genre in games like the Bayonetta series. I can even recall a period of time where licensed games copied either God of War or Devil May Cry, though usually not as good. Few games inspired by Devil May Cry, however, have the distinct honor of being made by Capcom themselves. In this case, it’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge, a 2004 sequel to the original 1993 stop motion film. While not a perfect game, what truly makes this licensed game stand out is not only its strong use of the license, but also its seeming influence on later Devil May Cry games, as it predates Devil May Cry 3 by one year.

Silent Hill 3

In the years since their original release, the Silent Hill games, particularly the entries developed by Team Silent, have maintained a reputation as some of the scariest horror games ever created. Unfortunately, general neglect from Konami, the series’ publisher and IP holder, following the infamous delisting of P.T. has caused a scarcity of the Team Silent entries and increased the monetary barrier of entry for fans of the console releases who either don’t want to deal with emulation or don’t have access to a PS3. This hit 2003’s Silent Hill 3 (SH3) particularly hard, considering it never received a digital rerelease, unlike Silent Hill (SH1) and Silent Hill 4: The Room, and outside of Silent Hill HD Collection only had a console release on the PS2. As such, without a cheaper Xbox copy to fall back on, secondhand North American copies easily go for over $100, even floating around $200 if you also want the soundtrack that it originally came with.

Since I was unfortunate enough to get into the series late, I was one of those who ended up paying about $180 for a complete PS2 copy in good condition and even then, I wondered how long it would take for buyer’s remorse to sink in. As such, I did everything possible to get the most value out of my copy, including playing on multiple difficulties, viewing every ending and obtaining or viewing just about every secret I could. After all of that, did the game hold up to its reputation as one of the best and scariest games in the series? Yes. Is it worth paying the unnecessarily high price point to experience it? No.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)

2004 was a big year for gaming, with several heavy hitters like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Half-Life 2 releasing to critical acclaim and a lasting legacy. If there’s one game that I distinctly remember from this time period, however, it’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (San Andreas), Rockstar’s fifth entry in the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series. Even though I wouldn’t have been able to play the game at the time, I remember that everyone talked about the game, including a number of students in real life, and how great it was, with additional praise from gaming news sources. I also remembered the “Hot Coffee” controversy and how it made the news at the time, along with the recall and rerelease of the game. Eventually, I heard enough hype that I actively sought out a copy, but couldn’t find a single one in any GameStop that I looked at (back when I actually bought all of my games at GameStop). Fortunately, the game was rereleased under the Greatest Hits label and I got a complete copy that way.

Sometime later and about eleven years ago, I tried to play San Andreas, but for whatever reason only completed three missions (or about an hour of gameplay) before I got epically sidetracked by other games, including Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), the only GTA game I had played to completion. Since then, I wanted to try playing San Andreas again, but that interest didn’t fully reignite until I saw footage of the botched Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, glorified console ports of mobile ports of console games. With San Andreas now relevant again, I passionately played the original PS2 version over two weeks, with an in-game time of 24:07 and completing the main story with an overall percentage of 63.10%. With that goal finally accomplished, I can confidently say that despite its rough edges, San Andreas is still a game worth playing and has definitely earned its reputation.

EyeToy: Kinetic

In the US, no less than a week after EyeToy: Operation Spy came the release of the eighth and final game to be released in the region, EyeToy: Kinetic, a fitness game made in collaboration with Nike Motionworks. Unlike other EyeToy-based games, Kinetic requires the use of a Full Vision Lens that you place over the EyeToy camera so that your full body is in view, which comes with the game inside a foam insert in the Memory Card slot. Because of this, when tracking down a copy of the game, I went out of my way to make sure I was getting a sealed copy to ensure it included the lens, and bought one that came bundled with the second model of the EyeToy camera. Because the only way to replace the Full Vision Lens in case something happens to it is to buy a new copy of the game, I also tried to be very careful with it during my playthrough, which took some time to get through on account of muscle recovery. After taking the time to properly explore what the game had on offer, I found it be one of the better implementations of the EyeToy camera as well as a great fitness game in general.

EyeToy: Operation Spy

One of the many features of EyeToy: Play 2 was SpyToy, which enabled the EyeToy to function as a security camera for your (bed)room. Months later, a follow-up game known as EyeToy: Operation Spy (PAL: SpyToy) was released as the seventh EyeToy game released in the US, building off of this premise. While searching for games to expand my EyeToy selection, this was one that I found cheaply at Amoeba, though I wouldn’t get around to playing it until much later. I will admit that, while I liked the idea behind it, some frustrating design issues prevented me from actually playing it to completion.

EyeToy: Play 2

Months after the US release of EyeToy: AntiGrav came EyeToy: Play 2, the sixth of eight EyeToy games to be released in the US and a sequel to the original EyeToy: Play. Much like the original EyeToy: Play, this was one game that could be found bundled with the camera itself, however, like with some games in my EyeToy collection, I found it cheap at Amoeba without the camera, which I fortunately still had from the first game. Since I still enjoyed the original game, I expected the similar experience out of the sequel, however I strangely found myself getting bored more than I did excited.

EyeToy: AntiGrav

Following Sega Superstars came EyeToy: AntiGrav, the fifth EyeToy game to be released in the US. Developed by Harmonix of Rock Band fame, this was also the first (at least in the US) to be designed for a more hardcore demographic rather than the casual focus of earlier EyeToy titles. Of the games released for the peripheral beyond EyeToy: Play, this is one I vividly recall seeing ads for on TV when it first came out, and was one I found cheap at a local games reseller when I was on my initial hunt for more EyeToy content. After finally getting to play it, I found the experience worth it, even if it was a little more difficult for me.

Sega Superstars

Within weeks of Nicktoons Movin’, Sega released their own contribution to the EyeToy peripheral, Sega Superstars, the only other EyeToy game made by a third party to be released in the US. Much like Nicktoons Movin’, this was a game I had to actively seek out when trying to complete my EyeToy collection, resorting to eBay as I could not find it in a physical store. After getting to play Sega Superstars, I found it to be a vast improvement over Nicktoons Movin’ in just about every way, to where this is what that game should have been.

Nicktoons Movin'

Though more EyeToy games were released following EyeToy: Groove, not many of them were released in the US, where instead the third game to be released for the peripheral was Nicktoons Movin’. Based on various Nickelodeon shows, it became the first EyeToy game in the US to not be developed by London Studio as well as the first to be based on a licensed property. In an effort to complete my EyeToy collection, I found this one for cheap at a local game store, not knowing what to expect going in. Once I played it, however, I walked away a bit disappointed for reasons beyond its content.

EyeToy: Groove

After EyeToy: Play showed off the power of the EyeToy, London Studio followed it up with a rhythm game known as EyeToy: Groove, the second game released overall specifically for the peripheral. I admit I did not have this game when it first came out, however I did become curious when, along with other EyeToy games, I found it for very cheap used at Amoeba as a way to get more mileage out of the accessory since I still owned one. While I am satisfied knowing how it worked as an early attempt at a motion control rhythm game, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down after seeing what EyeToy: Play had to offer.

EyeToy: Play

Of the various peripherals released for the PS2, one of its most experimental and overlooked is perhaps the EyeToy, originally released in 2003. At the time it came out, it was an early serious attempt at motion control gaming, where it didn’t require a traditional controller and instead relied on using your body through the EyeToy camera. If you're unfamiliar with the EyeToy and this description sounds familiar, its modern day equivalent is the Xbox Kinect peripheral, released in 2010. While there were a good number of games during its lifespan that were specifically designed for the EyeToy, only eight of them ever made it to North America.

The EyeToy was originally packed with a game known as EyeToy: Play, a collection of minigames designed to show off the capabilities of the peripheral. Aside from its later sequel EyeToy: Play 2, this was the only EyeToy game I had at the time and so I have some nostalgia for this particular game. After revisiting the game for review purposes, I found that the fun factor was still there.

Crazy Taxi (PS2)

The year 1999 saw the release of an arcade game from Sega known as Crazy Taxi, with its popularity and success leading to a port for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. Not long after the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, ports of Crazy Taxi for PS2 and GameCube were released later that same year and has since been ported to other systems over the years. Of these ports, I happen to own the PS2 version that I found at a GameStop when they still sold PS2 games. I picked up this port since I had some experience with the arcade game, and only learned later that it retains all of the music and product placement found in both the original arcade version and the Dreamcast port. After deciding to give the game a closer look, I would agree with the idea that it encapsulates the time in which it was made, though found the port a little rough around the edges.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Only a year after Warrior Within, Ubisoft completed the Sands of Time trilogy of the Prince of Persia series with the third installment, The Two Thrones. Although it shares the same director as the previous installment, The Two Thrones notably saw a shift back towards the style of the first game, The Sands of Time, and was met with positive reviews on release. Considering the general improvements made to the experience, this praise feels deserved. That said, it does feel like a compromise between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, for better or worse.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

One year after the success of The Sands of Time had revitalized the Prince of Persia brand, Ubisoft released a sequel, Warrior Within. While it did receive generally positive reception, it notably had no involvement from Jordan Mechner, who didn’t like the darker direction the studio had taken the game compared to The Sands of Time. After finally playing Warrior Within for myself, I can see why.