GamesRadar - PS2 Reviews

Madagascar (Review)

8/08/2005

Although the pastimes of kids and adults are steadily converging - both play San Andreas, both watch SpongeBob Squarepants - there are certain places where the twain shall almost definitely never meet. Not all that many adults are ever seen drinking Sunny D, for instance, and you don't usually get hordes of eight-year-olds listening to Joy Division records. Similarly, there's not a lot of people over the age of nine years old who are going to get a great deal out of playing Madagascar.OK, it's ...

Madden NFL 07 (Review)

25/08/2006

Last year's Madden 2006 felt like a photocopy of Madden 2005. While we were concerned this was just a case of EA completely shifting their focus from current-gen to next-gen systems, Madden 07 has done plenty to rebound from a gameplay perspective. Thing is, one of the game's greatest improvements spans all generations of consoles: updated rosters. Usually this wouldn't get a mention since it's a given, but what football fan doesn't want to take it to the defense with the once-in-a-generation ...

Madden NFL 08 (Review)

24/08/2007

While so many of us have been getting all hot and bothered over the latest next-generation Madden games, it's kind of easy to forget that about a gazillion people still own the venerable PS2. What's more is that tons of 'em lined up for that console's Madden 08 - and, so it turns out, for good reason. Another year, another Madden, another winner. This season's title is as familiar as an old baseball glove (wrong sport, right analogy). Between the crisp visuals, tight controls, and Al ...

Madden NFL 09 (Review)

14/08/2008

Picture the whiteboard in the Madden PS2 Development Team War Room circa 2003. It probably read something like this: “2004, lots of defense… 2005, make online complete… 2006, move most of dev team to next gen… 2007, move rest of team to next gen…2008, no one will be buying the PS2 anymore.” Lo and behold, lots of us are still purchasing and using Sony’s unstoppable warhorse. ...

Madden NFL 10 (Review)

27/08/2009

“Move Forward” is a common phrase in the sports world. Your best player gets injured? Someone else needs to step up so you can Move Forward. Your coach has an indiscretion with someone else’s wife? It’s in the past and you have to Move Forward. Teams have conditioned themselves to forget about whatever’s just happened, almost from the instant it occurs. They just keep Moving Forward. ...

Made Man (Review)

3/04/2007

Industry-watchers might remember Made Man (originally titled Interview with a Made Man) as one of the projects that got canceled when notoriously mediocre publisher Acclaim collapsed in 2004. Now, another publisher has seen fit to pull the game from the wreckage, dust it off and slap a $20 price tag on it. But even as a budget title, Made Man was better left buried. Based around fictional mob enforcer Joey Verola, Made Man spans three decades and might be the only crime game ever to feature ...

Major League Baseball 2K6 (Review)

13/06/2006

Holding a semi-exclusive license for Major League Baseball and boasting a number of new innovations, youd expect 2K Sports' MLB 2K6 to be a grand slam, but an unpolished fielding engine and a bland presentation limit this years entry to an infield double. The strength of the game is its simulation engine - the depth of management options is simply staggering. You are responsible for everything from roster selection to keeping your players happy. On the field, you can even argue a call; just ...

Major League Baseball 2K8 (Review)

14/03/2008

It takes a lot of guts to open up the engine of a game that's likely no one's top priority, fix its biggest issues, and ensure that everything works great from top to bottom. Yet that's exactly what the fellas at 2K Sports did with MLB 2K8 on the PS2. Considering where it was last season, it's a significant improvement in most ways - except graphically, where it still lags behind The Show and remains firmly stuck in 2003. Even so, it's a solid ...

Makai Kingdom (Review)

15/02/2006

It takes a certain type of person to be sucked into a strategy RPG: the sort that can spend several hours customising an army of characters without stepping on to the battlefield once. The type of gamer who, when faced with an evil carrot as an enemy, will wonder if it has a high resistance to wind spells. Our anti-hero, the self-styled ‘frikkin bad ass overlord Lord Zetta, attempts to circumvent a prophecy by burning the very book that predicts his downfall. Instead he accidentally ...

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (Review)

1/04/2008

If you've even bothered to read this review, we're going to go ahead and recommend Mana Khemia. Your interest is probably due to past run-ins with Gust/NIS collaborations (Atelier Iris, Ar tonelico) and if it's more of the same you're after, here's another heaping portion to tide you over until the next super-cute, anime-soaked, cliche-ridden JPRG lands on PS2.It all starts with the same stock characters we've seen countless times. ...

Manhunt 2 (Review)

29/10/2007

Oct 29, 2007 It's been dogged by months of controversy, moral outrage, an outright ban in the UK and speculation that it might never come out at all, but Manhunt 2 is finally here. It's been through a few changes since we first saw it, but the basic premise of this stealth-horror adventure - hiding in the shadows and doing extremely nasty things to extremely nasty people - remains intact, as does its creepy storyline about escaped mental patients pursued by a shadowy, quasi-governmental ...

Marc Eckos Getting Up Contents Under Pressure (Review)

2/03/2006

By all rights, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure should be terrible. The latest in a long line of mostly dismal "urban" games, it's packed full of brand logos, but still aims for a guerilla image. It's been delayed for years. And if that weren't enough, it's the brainchild of a fashion designer. So it's a shocker that Getting Up not only does its "street" atmosphere up right, but actually puts together a competent beat-'em-up/graffiti experience. Playing like an inner-city Prince ...

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (Review)

22/06/2007

At times like this, all we want to say is “we hate it” and leave it at that. Then at least wed be able to get on with the important business of sealing it in a bag and throwing it in the river. Well, we should probably explain why. Its a bog-standard brawler – actually, make that sub-standard. Enter story mode and youre plunged into the ‘thick of the action, with a woefully unexciting scrap against three robot alien things that you have to defeat through repeated stabs ...

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Review)

26/10/2006

Raven Soft and Activision have teamed up for two of the best X-Men adventures in videogames (X-Men Legends and X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse). Now, using some of the best, most powerful and most popular heroes in the Marvel universe, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is an enormous adventure filled with dozens of vile villains and multiple universe-shattering threats. The game features an ambitious story and an equally ambitious cast... that's wrapped up in the same old gameplay you've ...

The Matrix Path of Neo (Review)

22/06/2007

Matrix creators Andy and Larry Wachowski get credit for trying to use video games as an extension of their movie franchise instead of a mere retread - after all, why tell the same story if you can tell a new one? Trouble was, Enter the Matrix wasn't fun or satisfying, and The Matrix 's messiah mythos feels custom built for a traditional action/adventure game. You say you've got one guy with super powers who saves the world by shooting and kicking everything in sight? Step right this way! That ...

The Matrix Path of Neo (Review)

25/11/2005

"Bok, bok. BOK!" Hear that Mr Smith? That's the sound of inevitability as we smash you up like a jelly baby. It could be "Paf, paf. PAF!", but either way, it's hard not to cheer every time you unleash a cheesy, yet ludicrously indulgent, seven hit combo in Path of Neo. Atari's latest Matrix 'experience' - at times, you'd be hard-pushed to call it a game - might be flawed, broken, sludgy and almost stupidly easy, but it's also one of the most ambitious, empowering, technically innovative and ...

Medal of Honor: Vanguard (Review)

27/03/2007

Medal of Honor Vanguard drops in on the PS2 and brings with it the arsenal of intensity that weve grown to love, (again and again). From the moment that you first land as Corporal Keegan on a beach in Sicily in Operation Husky, until the end of Operation Varsity, Vanguard s rifle may jam once or twice, but its clip never runs dry. In Vanguard you take up your Garand again, this time as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, one of Americas first airborne units. EA is one of the originators of ...

Meet the Robinsons (Review)

9/04/2007

Games based on childrens films are a lot like visiting your Grandma. Theyre really sweet to you, insult your intelligence and forget how old you are. Meet the Robinsons is a different breed of game-based-on-movie; its the older brother who knows whats up and doesnt talk down to you. But is Disneys latest the kind of brother that makes you laugh, or does it sit on your chest and fart in your mouth? Based on the latest Disney film of the same name, Meet the Robinsons eschews much of the movies ...

Mega Man X Collection (Review)

22/06/2007

A series gets popular. It falls into a rut. The game's creators and the publisher's marketing department conspire to redefine its image, often resulting in total nonsense. Capcom's popular Mega Man, however, fared better than most, starring in an enjoyable series of spin-off games that started with 1993's Mega Man X. The mood may have been darker, but the trademark Mega Man gameplay was tighter than ever, to the point that it surpassed the originals in some ways. Now, Capcom's doing us all a ...

Mercury Meltdown Remix (Review)

11/12/2006

Mercury Meltdown might seem like a glorified retread of beloved classic Marble Madness on its shimmering surface, but it's actually terrifically engaging, deep where it counts, and deftly mixes puzzling challenges with artful presentation, improving on the series' first entry in every ...