10 Great PS3 RPGs That Are Fun Immediately

The PS3 was a pretty great era for RPGs, and companies of all sizes had a chance to make their mark in the industry. While we had some slow-burning RPGs, there were also games that, from the start, were awesome to play.

These are games that make sure you're gripped from the opening segment of the game. Nothing is blocking your path, nothing that has you going "oh, the game will be great when THAT happens."

We're going to check out some RPGs where the fun is immediate and consistent all the way through.

10 Two Worlds 2

No Need for a Small Village

Two Worlds 2 isn't really the title you'd imagine would kick off this list, but hear me out. It had this unique, modern-style dialogue in 2011, before it was cringe to experience, and a cool story that put the Orcs in the role of allies for once instead of enemies. Also, the combat is actually far better than what you'll get in an open-world game of the era. That's not hyperbole; it blows away the combat of any contemporary game you can think of from the time, and it does so with snappy melee combat and an incredible magic system that lets you create whatever spell you want.

The first moments of the game are exciting, fighting through a dangerous dungeon as you try to escape forces clearly beyond your own, and the way you're thrown in media res into the plot gives the whole thing this sense of urgency more than many other RPGs do. It's low-budget but full of passion, and it's an impressive game for its scale and ambition on the PS3.

9 The Cursed Crusade

Top Notch Combat

The Cursed Crusade is one of the lower-rated RPGs on this list, but pay that no mind because when it comes to some no-nonsense action that starts from the moment the game begins, The Cursed Crusade is perfect for you. This game has some of the best combat of the PS3 era. It's like a mix of Assassin's Creed and the Arkham combat system, with some brutal execution-style finishers on top of that.

The story isn't much, but it's enough to push you forward, and that combat starts great and only gets better as the game goes on. I'm an absolute sucker for animation-based combat. Early Assassin's Creed games, for example, and that's the inspiration here for sure, and it cuts the stealth out in the process. It's a short game, but one you can play with a friend, and I wish a game would check out this combat and go further with it because it's a forgotten gem that nobody talks about, and one that stays fun from start to finish.

8 Mars: War Logs

The Grit of Space

With dearly departed developers Spiders in mind, let's give a spotlight to one of their lesser-appreciated RPGs. Mars: War Logs is the prequel to The Technomancer and, in some ways, the better game of the two. It starts off fantastically, throwing you into the gritty, war-filled world of Mars where you're stuck in a prison and forced to make the best of things until you can make your escape.

The action kicks off nicely, with a gritty brawl that sets the tone for the rest of the game. You can tell this isn't going to be polished, but you also know right away the game isn't going to pull any punches with the material. It's edgy as hell, but you get tons of dialogue choices that you're not going to see in any modern RPGs, to say the least, and it's a blast to play around with right from the start.

There is also a healthy amount of world-building. You totally get the vibe of the prison world here, and it feels as dirty and ugly as you'd imagine it to be, setting the stage for a different kind of RPG that only Spiders was capable of. It's a developer that is really going to be missed going forward in the gaming world. They never had the budget to hit the big time, but they got what it meant to make interesting RPGs that respect player choice.

7 Alpha Protocol

Build Your Spy

Alpha Protocol is one of the great what-ifs of the video game industry, but it's through no fault of its own, especially not because of its opening. As soon you start the game, you're thrown into a high-stakes spy training mission where they oddly are willing to kill you if you fail, so there is no tutorial involved here. You're shooting, sneaking, snapping necks, and stealing things in the opening moments, and you can tell you're in for one unique can of RPG that only Obsidian can bring.

There's some jankiness for sure, and the shooting takes a while to get used to, but this high-octane action doesn't really let up throughout the game, so if you're into it from the opening of the game, you're going to be having fun the whole ride through. It's a shame this one didn't hit too well initially, but over the years, it's become one of those cult classic style games that tried a lot of unique things, even if they didn't all hit.

6 The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Geralt Makes His Mark

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is arguably the best game in the series. Geralt's journey to find out why kings all around him are falling like flies is amazing, with multiple paths to take, and the best part of it is how it kicks off. From moment one, you're thrown into a massive battle, with a scale that likely shocked many compared to the more deliberate and slow-burning pace of the first game.

But here, the story follows up immediately to where that game left off, with an opening that pulls no punches, thrusts you right into combat in an epic scenario, and from there, the game only gets better and better. That opening sets the tone that this is going to be one epic journey, and it almost sells you on something of a falsehood with that, as the game in general isn't necessarily full of epic fights like that, but rather more intense, smaller-scale battles, as that's the life of a Witcher. It's an important aspect in game development. Grip the player from the first seconds, and you'll have them for the entirety of the game.

5 Mass Effect

The Reapers Arrive

You could really go with either of the first 3 Mass Effect games here, but I'm going with the OG because it's what set the table. And does it ever. The opening mission is dripping with atmosphere, intrigue, and some fantastic environmental storytelling. The opening mission kicks you off with a couple of party members, a foreboding-looking planet that seems devoid of life. It nails the feel immediately, and combat starts pretty quickly after that, introducing you to an array of powers and abilities you and your teammates have to use.

Then comes the moment where you touch the beacon, seeing the terrifying visuals that have seemingly no context, followed by the hulking Sovereign appearing and setting off one of the best stories in fiction period. It's all absolute cinematic magic with some tight gameplay thrown in, and it serves as one of the most compelling and fun openings in any game on the PS3.

4 Dragon Age 2

Medieval Massacre

I'm going to give some love to the underappreciated Dragon Age 2 here. It may not be as deep and engrossing as Dragon Age: Origins or on the scale of Dragon Age: Inquisition, but it does something a bit better than each of them. The action kicks off from the very opening minutes, throwing you against hordes of Darkspawn as your custom-made character Hawke and his companions. It's bloody, brash, and brutal, and a total thrill that shows you exactly what this game is going to be about. You're going to be fighting a ton from the start onward, and it's all gas, no breaks, in the dark medieval world you get to explore here.

The introduction to the combat is a good one, though, giving you just a couple of enemies until you're thrust into a full-on boss battle before you've ever gotten the controls down well. It's a jarring change from the first game for sure, but one that establishes a much more action-forward style of game that really sets the tone well from the start, and though it's on a smaller scale than other games in the series, it's still a pretty damn good RPG for the PS3 era of gaming.

3 Fallout 3

Into the Wasteland

Fallout 3 is basically the Bethesda open-world formula it established with Oblivion and brought into a pseudo-modern era. But from the opening moments as a member of an extremely unique underground vault community, the intrigue pulls you in. Then the moment hits. The vault door opens, and this incredibly creepy and dangerous world opens up to you. You've played first-person shooters before, but this felt way different. It felt like you were really there. The path was yours to pave.

It's that level of freedom that grips the player so fast. The environment looks foreign and familiar at the same time, but something feels very wrong, and just a little bit of exploring into the world will show you exactly why it feels that way. The VATS system gets introduced quickly, too, giving you a fascinating way of approaching combat. When the second that vault door opened, I knew I'd be a Fallout fan for life. It was that cool and that impactful, and delivering a punch like that in the early moments is something players will remember forever.

2 Dragon's Dogma

An Epic Open

Dragon's Dogma starts in one of the most epic ways imaginable. Imagine you're getting thrown into someone else's game at the final boss dungeon, and that's the experience you get in the opening in Dragon's Dogma. It's an amazing introduction to one of the truly underrated games of the PS3 era. It does one of the classic "here are all the abilities you're going to get up front before we rip them away" moves, which I generally hate, but here, it makes the combat immediately compelling.

Within moments, you're climbing onto the back of a Chimera, stabbing away while your companions are all fighting alongside you. Magic is bursting, arrows are flying, and it's just absolute chaos in the best possible way. It's such a thrilling opening that the immediate aftermath can feel like a bit of a letdown, but luckily, the action picks up rather fast after that and leads to one of the best RPGs of the era.

You're Finally Awake

Skyrim is one of the best games ever made, and it takes little time for you to see why. Despite being a massive RPG with tons to explore, the fun kicks off from the first moments, with you tied up in the back of a cart on your way to your execution for reasons unknown. Quickly, that execution goes off the rails when a dragon attacks the town of Helgen, and you're forced to flee through a dungeon. You're thrown into combat fast, and then, as soon as you reach the end of the initial dungeon, you're thrust into the open world, which is a wondrous moment for the gaming world.

You can go anywhere, do anything, and be anyone, and it's all available from the jump. You do need to figure out where you want to go, but the best part of Skyrim is that anytime you decide to go off and explore, you always find something new and interesting and fun to do. It's a one-of-a-kind game in that vein and part of why the wait for the next installment in the series has been so brutal.