GamesRadar - PS2 Reviews

Backyard Wrestling 2 (Review)

19/11/2004

Backyard Wrestling is frickin' painful. All that clubbing around the head with a barbed wired bat, and the high-risk slams from the roof of a bus. But did you know you can experience this hard-hitting 'sport' without the fear of a ruptured spine? Oh yes, BW is back, baby. Yep, back with the same crap as last year! The real sport hurts your body while the game just does your head in.Given the amazing subject matter, Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes The Neighbourhood could have been brilliant. ...

Barnyard (Review)

18/08/2006

Here's a refreshing entry into the games-based-on-movies fad: instead of simulating a movie's plot, THQ's Barnyard offers up an open-ended Grand Theft Auto-style experience (minus the sex and violence, of course). In fact, Grand Theft Bovine would have been a fitting subtitle. Upon first glance, the open-ended elements are simply a vehicle to take you from one minigame to the next with little to do in-between. But then something unexpected happens: the game slowly transforms into a fairly ...

Baroque (Review)

5/05/2008

If you’re hardcore enough to derive happiness instead of pain from the Roguelike convention of starting from scratch when you die, but not quite hardcore enough to have imported this dungeon crawler ten years ago for your Sega Saturn, we recommend this terrific remake of Baroque.

Baroque’s death mechanic dovetails neatly with the narrative - it’s by dying and revisiting that you start to piece together the intriguing ...

Battlefield 2 Modern Combat (Review)

22/06/2007

With the exception of the SOCOM series, Sonys online populace tends to languish behind that of the thriving Xbox Live community. But Battlefield 2: Modern Combat could be the killer online app that the PS2 so desperately needs. The most impressive aspect of the feature is the sheer size of the maps. These battlefields are huge, complex and beautifully designed. From oil rigs and submarine bases to desert strongholds, theres enough variety to keep even obsessive types interested long after the ...

B-Boy (Review)

19/09/2006

Tuesday 19 September 2006 Even though it's officially the best party skill in the world, breakdancing's never really caught on in the same way as other extreme sports. Maybe it's that - unlike, say, skateboarding - you can't buy anything that automatically makes you a 'breakdancer'. Maybe it's that finding surfaces that won't grate the top of your head off when you spin on them is becoming increasingly difficult in English nightclubs. Or maybe, just maybe, it's that breakdancing is really hard ...

Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance (Review)

22/06/2007

Unlike what the news would have you believe, the only crime stemming from Grand Theft Autos popularity is the theft of its own content. A petty crime at best, but the market is about to be inundated with two-bit clones trying to muscle in on San Andreas turf. ...

Beatmania (Review)

6/04/2006

Fans of rhythm-action jukeboxes like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, rejoice and prepare to add one more game with a bulky controller to your library. If you've ever wanted to imitate a DJ, Beatmania is the game to make that dream come true. Beatmania's gameplay is very straightforward, and should be familiar to anyone who's played a rhythm game. A series of bars cascade down the screen in time with the music, and when they reach the bottom, you'll need to either hit the corresponding ...

Bee Movie Game (Review)

5/11/2007

Nov 5, 2007 The "ordinary" can often be unusual in a gaming industry full of complicated concepts, which is why the idea of playing as a bee seems so appealing. Imagine freely exploring the Manhattan setting created for Spider-Man 3, but as a miniscule insect facing exponentially larger structures, vehicles and challenges. Sounds potentially awesome, but that's not what Bee Movie Game is all about. In fact, Spider-Man 3 may actually be Bee Movie Game's closest modern contemporary, but for all ...

The Bigs (Review)

3/07/2007

No matter which system it's played on, The Bigs is an interesting but flawed baseball game; the PS2 version just happens to be the one that leaves these flaws the most exposed. The irritating repetition and overall shallowness is less of an issue with the portable, quick-fix nature of the PSP, while the incredible visuals provide a worthwhile distraction on the next-gen versions. The PS2, lacking these attributes, leaves the gameplay to fend for itself. Unfortunately, it mostly comes up ...

Black (Review)

7/03/2006

Forget everything you think you know about Black. It isn't to first-person shooters what Burnout is to racing games. It's not an over-the-top explodaganza that lets you destroy anything and everything you see. Hell, you can't even tear chunks out of most of its walls. What it is, though, is a fast-paced shooter that takes long, loving looks at its guns as often as possible. There's a ton of pre-designated stuff to destroy (plenty of it explosive) and the intensity ramps way up in later levels, ...

Black (Review)

22/02/2006

Expectations, eh? While Black is technically flawless, painstakingly designed and probably the best single-player shooter on PS2, we can't help but feel a little disappointed. Why? Because it doesn't keep its promise to "do for first-person shooters what Burnout did for cars". Burnout changed the way we looked at racing games, with its speed, hypnotic structure (one nudge meant an instant crash) and benchmark graphics. Black's victory isn't innovation, but execution. Forget the plot - its ...

Boogie (Review)

26/11/2007

Nov 26, 2007 Dammit! Just when we had come out and praised Boogie as unique, original, and a potential end to the exhaustive wave of Wii ports, EA has predictably shuffled the exact same game onto the Playstation 2. With the Wii version, we were mystified as to why you couldn't dance and sing at the same time. Now, the best we can guess is so it could make an easy transition onto a Remote-less console. ...

Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (Review)

3/04/2007

Teetering precipitously on a fine line between being cute and kid-friendly versus extending politically incorrect stereotypes, Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer is a colorful platformer aimed straight at the 'tweener audience. Lush landscapes and stylish animation provide a movie-style atmosphere for our Native American tale, set in a pre-industrialized North America that hardly seems like it ever existed. The aptly named Brave is a spunky young warrior-to-be, whose world is turned on its ...

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (Review)

22/06/2007

A quickfire sequel to Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Earned in Blood has been developed with feedback from the playing community in mind - hence the improved AI (evident both in the enemy and your own squadmates), enhanced multiplayer modes and the increase in urban combat. You play as Sgt Joe ‘Red Hartsock in a story thats part retelling of Road To Hill 30s events (from Reds perspective) but mostly an entirely new story that takes place on D-Day and the days beyond as the 101st ...

Burnout 3: Takedown (Review)

22/06/2007

When you start up a new racing game, what's the first thing to do? If the answer is crash the cars, then Burnout is the only game you need. With gameplay that encourages dangerous driving, Takedown, the third and best in the series, is the best action racer on any console. It's packed with high-tension contests and spectacular crashes. Michael Bay should be jealous. You'll be ...

Burnout Dominator (Review)

5/03/2007

This is a weird Burnout. Its like Burnout: Year Zero, or Burnout Returns, a kind of re-imagining of the series that ignores the more recent developments. Lots of the innovations introduced in 2005s Burnout: Revenge have been dumped, modes have been dropped, and features last seen in Burnout 2 have been brought back in as replacements. So what we were expecting to be a half-assed rehash of recycled tracks is, in fact, a right awesome Burnout game - and the perfect end to the games career on ...

Burnout Revenge (Review)

22/06/2007

What could be better than Burnout 3: Takedown? For arcade speed fiends, almost nothing - except maybe Burnout Revenge, the easy-to-play, adrenaline-soaked sequel that puts the "car" in "carnage." The Burnout series has always been about two things: speed and risk. Drive against traffic and invite near misses with oncoming cars and you'll be rewarded with boost, which helps you taunt death even faster. The more aggressively you drive, the greater the reward. Slow-motion crash replays make your ...

Burnout Revenge (Review)

15/02/2006

Picture the scene: Joel's staring at the TV screen, not blinking. Dave enters and speaks: "What's that, Joel?" "It's... SMASH! the fourth... BOSH! Burnout game." Dave: "It looks a lot like the last one." Joel: "Well... Criterion have obviously WALLOP! realised that everybody liked smashing things up, so they've EEEOW! made it even more violent by letting you smash other cars off the road by ramming into the back of them." Burnout Revenge is all about the crashes. If you've played previous ...

Buzz! Brain of the UK (Review)

27/04/2009

Buzz’s enthusiastic quizmaster is back with a whole sack full of new questions and some mildly cringe-worthy one-liners. As with SingStar, we’d assumed that downloadable content for the first PS3 game would make further releases unnecessary, but there are bound to be those who just want to pick up an easy new instalment. And they’ll be pleased with what they get for their money. ...

Buzz! Junior: Ace Racers (Review)

14/11/2008

If you had a Scalextric set as a kid, you’ll understand the appeal of Buzz! Junior Ace Racers. That’s not to say you’ll want to play it, mind you, because this game is pitched quite firmly at the sort of age group that’s only just learnt how to stop dribbling down their chins. ...