All PS2 Reviews

R: Racing Evolution (Review)

Jan 19, 2004

Oh and it all looked so promising. The classic Ridge Racer series resurrected in all its tail-sliding glory. A modern face-lift with some real-life road and race classics. A storyline to tie the whole thing together. Girls with really big breasts. Bouncing.Yet this is a pantomime of a good racing game. If only your TV could transmit the smells of burning rubber it would stink. Consider this: it takes elements from familiar and already successful games and does them worse. Does that make sense? ...

Raiden III (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

You know that somewhere, in a hidden underground hangar invisible to radar, Air Force engineers and strategists are looking at Raiden III and crying themselves to sleep. "If only," they think, "if only we could devise two space-capable aircraft, one red and one blue, that could vomit forth huge, endless swaths of deadly plasma, missiles, and laser fire, picking up bits of the enemy to make themselves even stronger, and then convince all of our enemies to gather together and stand in a line, ...

Rainbow Six Lockdown (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

Its been a whole year since the last Rainbow Six game, Black Arrow, and developers, Red Storm Entertainment seem to have taken a long hard look at things. From the onset Lockdown feels tighter and more intuitive than any of its predecessors and, like the protagonists within the game, have righted many of the wrongs that have gone before. One of the first things youll notice is that command of your three tactically minded comrades has been tightened up. While having fewer commands for your team ...

Rampage: Total Destruction (Review)

May 4, 2006

You're a pudgy, kinda-gargantuan monster that walks around city streets and slowly razes the bustling metropolis to the ground. There you go. Practically everyone on the planet knows what's going on with Rampage: Total Destruction before they even fire it up. With this in mind, there's definitely some guilty, people-munching fun to be had here - and for less than 20 bucks. You begin with a handful of the towering beasts, but by tearing through locales like New York, London and San Francisco, ...

Ratatouille (Review)

Jun 26, 2007

If you havent noticed - its summer, a time where movie theatres get big-budget actionganzas and your console goes through a bit of a dry spell. Unless you want to start tapping that pile of games you swore youd get to by now, you can always sniff around for the latest, potentially awful film tie-in starring emo spider-men, ambiguous pirates or… a French rat that cooks? Ratatouille - the latest Pixar anthropomorphic animal flick - bucks this trend and offers a solid platformer that doesnt ...

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (Review)

Mar 20, 2008

More and more, it looks like porting moderately successful PSP games to the PS2 might not be such a hot idea after all. Without complete overhauls, the graphics look crummy, the multiplayer features get stripped out and the overall product - which might have been amazing on Sony's handheld - feels watered down and cheap by PS2 standards. That was the case with both Grand Theft Auto "Stories" games, and now we're seeing it happen again with ...

Raw Danger (Review)

Jun 12, 2007

When a city cradled in the shadow of a dam boasts its the safest place ever built, gut instinct warns us that troubles a brewin. Unfortunately for the residents of Geo City, gut instincts seem to be in short supply (alongside motor skills, common sense, and fashion taste), so when the dam actually crumbles, theyre totally unprepared. Its your job to keep the key players alive, and in the process, unravel the sinister truth behind the dams collapse. Raw Danger is an adventure-style disaster ...

Rayman Raving Rabbids (Review)

Jan 4, 2007

What if the hero didn't save the day? What if, instead, he was hoodwinked and mocked by his captors? If Rayman Raving Rabbids on the Wii is any indication, the resulting forecast would be partly innovative with a 95% chance of hilarity. However, the PS2 version - while the same game - ditches all innovation and plays the exact same way you've played any game on the PS2 over the last six years. Rayman is a prisoner of the insane Rabbids - evil animals that are one part Bugs Bunny, and one part ...

Real World Golf (Review)

May 4, 2006

The first time you get a look at this golf game's controller, you just have to snicker. It's not the main unit, which sits unassumingly on the floor like a box of Oreos or the amp from a car stereo, and it's not the single, giant button that plugs into the main unit, so you can tap it with your foot. No, it's the gloves - those crazy, fingerless Velcro gloves, each of which is tethered to the main unit by a long, retractable string that clips onto the glove's underside, leaving your hands free ...

Red Dead Revolver (Review)

May 24, 2004

Well, pilgrim, in this world, there are two types of people - those who have guns, and those who dig. Or maybe those who like third-person shooters and those who don't. Either way, we don't think it's nice, you laughin'.Ahem. Sorry. This isn't working, is it? We were going to do this entire review in a Clint Eastwood voice, because that's so obviously what Rockstar have in mind for Red Dead Revolver - a gritty homage to the Man With No Name. Since 'acquiring' it from Capcom, they've polished it ...

The Red Star (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

Based on an alternate history comic series of the same name, The Red Star pits us against hordes of robots, tanks, and sorcerers in an alternate history version of Russia (the U.R.R.S.). If you're looking for a detailed story about a battle between Red Star loyalists and an evil Dark Lord, read the comic. While the game is set in the same (very cool) world, the story is pretty negligible, and is presented in quick mission briefings which can easily be skipped ...

Reservoir Dogs (Review)

Oct 25, 2006

Before we start talking about Reservoir Dogs, there are a few things you should know. First, you won't saw the ears off any cops - at least not on camera. Second, the game isn't a Grand Theft Auto clone. Third, of all the actors whose careers were jump-started by the iconic 1992 crime flick, only Michael Madsen (Mr. Blonde) appears in the game. And fourth, you can't just shoot undercover cop Mr. Orange at the beginning to win the game. Rather than straight-up adapting the film about career ...

Resident Evil 4 (Review)

Feb 24, 2006

By now you've probably had your fill of zombie guts. And possibly Resident Evil, too. But forget everything you knew about the series and prepare for the most teeth-cracking, bile-sprayed ride of your life. The tank-like controls and limpy zombies have been replaced by adept, agile cultists that actively hunt your ass down. Running won't cut it anymore. You've got to swim through their bloody ranks to see the end of this evil tale, which has been augmented with several PS2-exclusive nuggets. ...

Resident Evil 4 (Review)

Nov 4, 2005

After playing Resident Evil 4 everything else begins to pale in comparison. GTA's fiddly combat system seems all the more fractured, God of War's graphics aren't really as good as you thought they were and Snake Eater seems about as action-packed as a trip to the launderette. It has taken Capcom a faintly ridiculous nine years to ditch the old formula of fixed cameras, shuffling zombies and limited D-pad movement, but by God has it been worth the wait. Forget survival horror - this is pure, ...

Resident Evil: Outbreak (Review)

Jan 16, 2004

When we first heard about Resi: Online (as it was then) and splashed it on the cover of PSM2 it was online only and we described it as being the 'first real reason to buy a Network Adapter'. So when the shitshell dropped that the game wouldn't be online in the UK we almost choked on our collective bile. OK, Capcom haven't properly said that it won't be online but let's just say it's 'unlikely'.So Japan get a single-player game plus an online team version and UK is heading for just the ...

Resident Evil Outbreak 2 (Review)

Sep 8, 2005

Outbreak is a really, really hard sell. As a single-player game, it's a return to old Resident Evil of static cameras, remote control handling and door loading screens, which seems archaic and crippled compared to the majesty of Resi 4. Then, as multiplayer online game, it's fiddly and frustratingly lonely when compared to any other online experience. What's supposed to happen is that you and three other online players combine forces to battle the worst that Raccoon City has to throw at you. ...

Ribbit King (Review)

Nov 8, 2004

If there was ever a wrong message to be sending out to the kids, then it's the intro sequence from Ribbit King. A bulbous-eyed freak approaches Atari's cutesy character, Scooter, and offers him a ride on his rocket. Despite the concerned protests of his talking picnic hamper (don't laugh) Scooter decides to go with him. Utter madness. But don't worry, the creepy alien isn't trying to perv him up. He merely wants to chauffeur him around the Frolf Championship. Phew. Hang on. Eh?!Ribbit King ...

Richard Burns Rally (Review)

Jul 5, 2004

If you play games to have fun, then you might want to think twice about shelling out forty notes for Richard Burns Rally. It's possibly the grimmest, most relentlessly cheerless game we've played in a good long while, and there's not a gun, eviscerated innocent bystander or gore-dripping hell spawn in sight. Not bad going for a game about cars, eh?It's all because this is the hardest, most punishing game we've played in, ooh, ages. Sure, rallying is all about grappling with physics and mother ...

River King: A Wonderful Journey (Review)

Apr 24, 2006

The saddest part of River King: A Wonderful Journey isn't that it's an appallingly dull mixture of fishing, minigames and RPG elements - it's the fact that it's neither wonderful nor a journey in any way. Easy-time gamers may very well want to like this, but spend just an hour dealing with this boring life and you'll be ready to move on. The gameplay itself is a lobotomized version of an RPG. You'll explore a few environments in which you encounter small populations whose lives revolve around ...

Rock Band (Review)

Jan 3, 2008

Jan 03, 2008 The PS2 may be fading in the wake of newer consoles, but it's going out in style. It still gets its own version of Rock Band, the new rhythm action concert simulator from the original Guitar Hero creators, Harmonix. We'll come right out and declare a warning: this isn't as good as the PS3 or 360 versions. It has no online capabilty, so there's no online play and no downloadable content. You can't customize your character. And the World Tour mode doesn't let you choose where to go ...