Sony Playstation 2 Review

£95Sep 2007

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Stuff says

No sane gamer is going to head out and buy this as their new console, but we'd advise 360 and Wii owners not to forget about Dre - there's some truly superb games still coming out for PS2

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Stuff magazine Mon, Sep 17 2007, 6:00AM

It's a measure of just how well PS2 has done since its launch in 2000 that it still gets plenty of shelf space now, seven years later. And even if you're a next-gen snob whose eyes itch if they look at any graphics less than 1080p, this old warhorse still has plenty to offer.

It's also, of course, dirt cheap – never mind the list price of £95, you can pick them up off eBay or Amazon Marketplace for £50, often with some games.

Games, games, games
And what games. It's one of those cruel things about consoles is that the very best games always arrive just as everybody has either slung the console to the back of the store cupboard, or is selling it on Amazon Marketplace for £50.

Final Fantasy XII and God of War 2, which both arrived after the launch of 360 and Wii, are as good as anything on any of the next-gen consoles. In fact, as exclusives go, they trump anything bar Gears of War.

God of War 2 is simply a perfect action game. FFXII is actually worth buying a PS2 for, even if you've already decided you're siding with Xbox in this round of the console war. Elder Scrolls IV on Xbox 360 might pip it at the post for open-endedness (oh, and graphics), but in terms of sheer storytelling FFXII is way ahead of anything else in the genre.

Last chance saloon
Other oddments such as Shadow of the Colossus are well worth looking out, too, without having to fork £425 for a PS3 and keep your fingers crossed that your chosen retro software is on the list of backwards-compatible games.

That said, this isn't a new console. It might be the most successful games machine of all time – at 120 million sold, it pips Game Boy at the post – but it's lacking HD, it's lacking decent online play, it's lacking downloadable games. And pretty much anything that isn't from the second half of the noughties hasn't aged well at all.

Not to mention the fact that FFXII and God of War II are close to certain to be the last decent games for the console, ever. But for those last, delicious handful of games where the developers really have hit their stride, PS2 is still, just about, worth a look.