I secretly desire your console!

Posts like the one above will be deleted immediately from here on. You have to explain why the games are good, or don't post at all.

Hear hear on the RPGs, sometimes you just get sick of all that.

Anyway, you mentioned Katamari Damacy and both games are essential PS2 purchases. Quirky, extremely funny and brilliant in design and execution, not to mention awesome soundtracks. They have the kind of respect and love for games and gamers alike that are so missing from most console titles these days, and they remind you why you play games in the first place.

ICO is a personal favorite and I still consider it the finest game on the console. It's an ethereal fairytale adventure, slightly similar to Zelda and Sands of Time, but with less focus on combat and Zelda's item usage, and more on physically scaling the castle structures and other obstacles in a bid to escape with a near helpless girl in tow. There are "puzzles" in a sense, but they're much more organic than most puzzles in standard platform adventures.

Gradius V is absolutely essential if you have the slightest taste for horizontal scrolling shooters, even if you didn't enjoy previous Gradius titles (like me). Treasure's masterpiece respects the previous titles, but injects the game with a healthy dose of brave and ingenious design and raw power. The controls are tight, the graphics terrific and fantastic soundtrack will get your adrenaline flowing just enough to take on the gargantuan bosses.

Frequency is essential if you have the slightest taste for electronica and think you possess quick fingers. Harmonix's masterful rhythm action has a solid scoring system, and excellent selection of terrific songs and maddening difficulty later on. Oh, but so addicting~

If you've played Panzer Dragoon or similar on-rails shooters, Rez is wonderful. Hypnotic, engaging, a completely unique experience. But you need to have a liking for electronica, really. Not liking the music will remove a lot of the hypnotic charm since you won't be able to appreciate and pay special attention to the masterful soundscape as you play.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by RABicle

Both? Is the sequel signifigantly different enouh to warrant purchasing both or should I just get Everybody Loves Katamari or whatever it's called?

Well, I see them as two halves. Considering they're cheaper than normal games, it should be easier to get both. I also believe you get a lot more out of the second game, having played and enjoyed the first title.

The first game is the idea so to speak, the concept and core of the game. It introduces the philosphy and style and is a brilliant game, with a superb soundtrack.

We <3 Katamari is an elaboration on this idea, offering more varied permutations on the core, being an extremely fun and excellent sequal, but perhaps sacrificing some of the purity that made the first game so much fun. If I had to choose only one, I'd recommend getting the first game. If you really enjoy it, I'm sure you'd feel like buying the sequal as well, as you should. I think the first game works as a better introduction to Katamari for newcomers and sceptics than the sequal.

Quote:

Anyway a few of you guys mentioned this Shadow of the Colossus thing. What's this even like? To play I mean. I understand it has great graphics and story or whatnot but what type of game is it? Can you possibly compare it to any other games (other than ICO)?

You really can't describe it that well. Taken on purely by gameplay structure, it's a series of boss battles, with you riding a horse and occasionally scaling some walls and cliffs to find the bosses. No minor enemies, no collecting items, just bosses.

But what it really comes down to is this:



Raw, unhindered power. Grabbing onto the hair of a colossus and climbing up its body is really indescribable. The rush you get from trying to stay on as the colossii shake and twist, trying to get you off, scrambling for a safer spot to recover your strenght, desperately trying to hold on to land that final killing blow, it's really powerful.
The game is steeped in deep melancholy, and while fighting the giants is exhilarating, there is an underlying sadness to it all that makes the atmosphere so unique. A mesmerising, yet very unorthodox adventure/battle game, I didn't mention it, as I knew everyone else would.

I wrote some thoughts on it upon completion (no spoilers):

Originally Posted by me

As it stands, just like its battles, SotC is breathtaking, utterly majestic and overflowing with so much sadness. Like ICO, you can just play it like a regular game and enjoy what (little) superficial gameplay it has, but in order to really make most of it, you need to stop and look. You must listen. You must feel. While running for the next target location, you should stop by one of the prayer totems and climb it. You should spin the camera around as you're standing on top of the massive statue, looking at the magnificent world around you. You should breathe in the melancholic stillness and calm. The soothing breeze and sunlight, the overpowering sense of loneliness, of guilt, of dread. You should pay attention to the inconspicuous ruins and lands, stop to observe them, to ponder their significance. Dream about what resided here, who might have walked and lived their lives there, what might have happened to them.

There's nowhere I can't reach.