PS2 Games Players Didn’t Appreciate Enough Until They Got Older

When they say no one is a prophet in their own land, I think that statement can also be applied to time, not just physical space.

In said sense, many video games have been relegated to the background for reasons that, over the years, ended up being dismissed, causing their releases not to be properly appreciated according to what was truly thought about them.

Whether it's due to having an overly innovative concept, an awkward aesthetic, unusual mechanics, or other factors, I've lost count of the number of titles that have had to wait longer than they should have before receiving recognition, and no console generation has been immune to this phenomenon.

Therefore, in order to remember a number of these creations that have been late bloomers in terms of popularity, I invite you to read this list of ten PS2 games players didn't appreciate enough until they got older.

10 FlatOut 2

Longing for the Best Arcade Driving

Considering the PlayStation 2 was among the consoles where the racing genre truly unleashed its creativity, I'd be lying if I said that part of me didn't understand why FlatOut 2 took so long to move beyond being seen as merely decent.

In those years when demolition and stunt games were commonplace, neither exploding vehicles nor launching the driver hundreds of meters into the air were particularly unique mechanics, so the sense of novelty wasn't exactly on its side.

However, over the years, few franchises in the subgenre managed to remain in the collective consciousness, and surprisingly, FlatOut was among them, achieving a much more positive reception than it did upon its release.

I'd be lying if I said I could pinpoint the exact reason for this shift in public opinion, but FlatOut 2 went from being just another game to one of the icons of its kind, which is a much more fitting description of its brilliant concept.

9 Chaos Legion

More Than a Devil May Cry Clone

Speaking of games that made the mistake of being too similar to others in their genre, Chaos Legion's comparison to Devil May Cry is among the most memorable examples of the entire sixth generation of platformers.

And yes, the protagonist's style, gothic aesthetic, and frenetic action that rewarded mastery of the controls were all present, typical of a Capcom game, but the overall feel was incredibly different.

Instead of being a stylized hack-and-slash, Chaos Legion always felt like a power fantasy where you could overwhelm entire hordes of enemies with your summons after grinding for a couple of hours, which was intriguing but also repetitive.

That last characteristic was the downfall of a game that, over time, became less connected to Dante's adventures, allowing it to become a niche classic that found its audience without needing to appeal to a mainstream audience.

Its shortcomings are palpable, but nostalgia plays a heavy role in how permissive we are about the experiences of our childhood, and I assure you that those of us who like Chaos Legion today also indulge deeply in it.

8 Darkwatch

Too Stylized for its Era

Shooters also played a prominent role in the early 21st century, which led to a focus on a specific genre that sidelined outliers like Darkwatch.

To this day, I'm still completely clueless as to why people either didn't know about the game or didn't like it, since it was always a captivating FPS with a superb atmosphere and cinematics that made the experience quite distinctive.

The gunplay was solid, it had an interesting morality system that altered the story's course, and a plot far more developed than its contemporaries at the time, so I still can't understand why it was underrated.

Perhaps it was its short length or its basic conflict resolution, where it was always just shooting anything that moved, but Darkwatch is now remembered as a gem of the genre, which, very subjectively, soothes the wounds of my younger self.

7 God Hand

Capcom Being Capcom

Capcom of yesteryear definitely loved creating diverse franchises centered on the most mindless action possible with highly questionable technical capabilities, as the legendary God Hand reminds us.

Was there anyone who could speak well of the game without their cognitive abilities being called into question? Absolutely not, because people couldn't tolerate a title with such a terrible camera and repetitive gameplay being positively reviewed.

And I understand that, though my masochism prevented me from seeing beyond the creativity of its style, opening up an extreme range of possibilities for brawlers by giving you genuine combat freedom within an extremely over-the-top but appealing story and characters.

However, as usual, what was clunky yesterday becomes attractive today due to players yearning for the past, and few games have benefited as much as God Hand from the community missing the PlayStation 2 era so strongly.

6 XIII

Pointing in Another Direction

The 2000s brought a maturation to video games, but this period of rebellious youth meant that any game that deviated from the established aesthetic and tonal norms, as was the case with XIII, was completely dismissed.

As a result, one of the best shooters of the era was ignored, whose cel-shaded aesthetic, deep variety of environments, and authentic gameplay style weren't enough to win over fans of world wars and muted colors.

While the game had numerous reasons to be disappointing, such as its infamous save points and everything related to its unfortunate inventory system, I seriously doubt its shortcomings warranted such widespread neglect.

Fortunately, its recent and disastrous remake highlighted that the original XIII was and is incredible, which helped the industry re-evaluate one of the most special and fun FPS experiences from my early days as a gamer.

5 Red Dead Revolver

Before Redemption

Red Dead Redemption was an unparalleled icon that won the Game of the Year award and captured the hearts of virtually the entire video game industry, so much so that people forgot it had a spiritual predecessor called Red Dead Revolver.

This shouldn't be surprising, given its questionable controls, average shooting mechanics, and general lack of creativity, making it one of the few cases on this list where I think it makes sense that it wasn't particularly popular.

However, unlike most of the games included here, the presence of such a beloved sequel series led to an expansion of that affection for Red Dead Revolver, which benefited from simply being the rudimentary foundation for the adventures of John Marston and Arthur Morgan.

Therefore, personality triumphed over effectiveness, and charisma is something Red Harlow's journey has in abundance, which, instead of being overshadowed by the excellence of its younger siblings, ended up being considered far more highly than it initially was.

4 FIFA Street 2

The Most Missed Discipline

Saying you don't know what you've got till it's gone is as much of a cliché as it is true, and few video games capture this sentiment as faithfully and painfully as the masterful FIFA Street 2.

The graphical and technical limitations of past generations of consoles led sports fans to always focus on the franchise's ability to realistically adapt football, not its creativity.

Now that players can no longer even distinguish what has changed between installments, the street magic of the tricks, environments, and players of FIFA Street 2 is missed more than ever, because what's longed for is the fun, not the practicality.

Those who didn't appreciate the subseries back then are now older, and the embodiment of their days dreaming of becoming professional players is found in this marvel of street football, not in EA Sports FC's hyperrealism.

I don't like to say I told you so because I would have preferred the community to appreciate FIFA Street enough so that the IP wouldn't die so quickly, but here I am including it in this article.

3 Black

An FPS Ahead of Its Time

There's a fundamental reason for Black's initial lack of appreciation, and it's precisely the same element that made all its competitors stand out and achieve mainstream success: its gunplay.

Despite being a game from the final years of the PlayStation 2, its shooting mechanics feel like they're straight out of the '90s for all the bad reasons, with awkward controls, clunky aiming, and a complete lack of feeling that your bullets were actually bullets.

Regardless, the annoying nature of its shortcomings was inversely proportional to the surprising strengths, which included an extremely advanced AI for its time, magnificent and varied levels that encouraged strategic positioning, and impressive environmental destructibility.

These days, we see good gunplay everywhere, but do you know what we don't see regularly? The exact elements that make Black so uncommon, which is why it was destined to be so heavily revalued.

2 Drakengard

Nier's Influence Materialized

If we take what I said about Red Dead Revolver and amplify it, we find a case quite similar to what happened with Drakengard and Nier, the series that sprang from it.

Everyone used to shy away from its clunky combat, obtuse design, and repetitiveness that sapped your will to live, something that hasn't changed: Yoko Taro's directorial debut remains the limited hack-and-slash game of 20 years ago, but the context transformed everything.

Now it's not just Drakengard, but the origin of the exciting and immersive universe of Nier Replicant and NieR: Automata, among the last decade's most beloved titles, which has led to a complete 180-degree turn in the opinion people had of Caim's adventure.

Even so, credit where credit is due, and I think Drakengard has its own reasons for being reevaluated over time, such as its magnificent worldbuilding, spectacular cinematography, weirdness, and combinations of genre mechanics that made it more dynamic than just mindless melee action.

Yet, the fundamental reason they eventually came to appreciate all of that was Nier, though it doesn't negate the fact that it's among the most requested remakes today, which helps to show how much people value it now.

The Greatest Video Game Vindication

Being the most reappraised and, simultaneously, the most unjustly undervalued case of all time, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty stands as the most necessary vindication of video games, because to have been praised with any adjective less than divine should have been considered a crime.

Unfortunately, many people agreed with this affront to morality as a reproach to Hideo Kojima's audacity in deceiving everyone about the return of Solid Snake as the protagonist, who ended up ceding the spotlight to the blank slate that is Raiden so that the players could write their own story.

The eccentric Japanese director has already accustomed us to subverting expectations and creating works so ahead of their time that it takes years for people to properly appreciate them (like Death Stranding), but with Sons of Liberty, it was an extraordinary situation where a masterpiece was clearly discarded by the gaming community as if it were garbage.

Of course, time is wise and arranged everything to prove the title right in every one of its premises, from the realm of postmodernism to the rise of AI. This forced everyone to retract their initial statements, applaud, and remember that everything else (story, characters, gameplay, bosses, etc.) was already wonderfully well-executed.

Today, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is considered one of the best and most revolutionary digital entertainment products, which is a couple of steps above the “disappointment” many agreed it was, so I'm glad that reason has found its way into the minds of the blasphemers who dared to attack this historic title.