The PlayStation 2 has a rich catalog of action-adventure games, and these are the 10 best titles as ranked by the Ranker voting community.
The PlayStation 2 was a titan of the gaming industry in its time, and it still stands as one of the most successful consoles ever. That generation saw Sony’s flagship pad out an impressive catalog of games, with many of them being in the action-adventure genre. Action-adventure has the potential of being one of the most versatile genres in gaming, and the PS2 took great advantage of that.
By combining it with subgenres like stealth-action, open-world, and RPGs, these games each offer something that gave the PS2 its variety. The voting community at Ranker put together their list for the 10 best PS2 games in this category, and they all range within the aforementioned subgenres as well.
Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto franchise has long since become one of the gaming industry «event» titles. A new Rockstar game in general marks a special occasion, but GTA is arguably the publisher/developer’s flagship series.
San Andreas to this day is still fondly remembered as being in the highest tier, and it’s one of the best Grand Theft Auto games when it comes to story. Unsurprisingly, much of the acclaim also went to its addictive gameplay mechanics and open-ended sandbox environment.
Japan Studio and Team Ico’s Shadow of the Colossus was a one-of-a-kind game when it launched on the PS2 in 2005, and it made a resounding impression on players. Likewise, it was a major milestone for the video game medium as a whole, as Shadow of the Colossus showed the strength in versatility that games have in terms of storytelling and artistic expression.
The game was lauded for its minimalist yet immersive world design; a creative blend of action, puzzle-solving, and platforming; and for its emotionally resonant and tragic story. Shadow of the Colossus went on to get a top-to-bottom remake on the PS4 by Bluepoint Games.
Before the franchise went on to spawn one of the greatest PS4 games ever, Santa Monica Studios’ God of War series was already a beloved blockbuster in the PS2 days. Though the franchise has arguably taken the best next step story-wise for the 2018 game onward, God of War II was critically acclaimed as an excitingly visceral and over-the-top action game.
The combat was praised for its weapon variety, combo-based mechanics, and thrilling setpiece-like boss fights. God of War II sees Kratos continue his quest for revenge against Zeus with the help of Gaia.
Though Konami has been treating its esteemed IPs like an afterthought for the last several years, Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid brainchild series is still highly regarded today. The franchise is essentially the poster child for stealth-action games (arguably alongside the likes of Splinter Cell and Hitman), and Snake Eater easily became among the best Metal Gear Solid games.
Though it’s the third mainline title, its premise goes back to the ’70s in a more down-to-earth story starring Naked Snake. The game was acclaimed for its creative use of stealth mechanics, less convoluted plot, and a thrilling and emotionally gut-wrenching story.
Stemming off from Square Enix’s Final Fantasy JRPG franchise, Kingdom Hearts is an action-adventure/RPG that functioned as an original story and a celebration of Square’s classic characters and Disney IPs.
The first two games established themselves as PS2 classics, with Kingdom Hearts II following up on the original’s success with a lore-dense story and entertaining real-time-action combat. The Kingdom Hearts franchise built a great reputation for its vibrant presentation as well, which was a great complement to the sequel’s mechanical improvements.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty received a degree of controversy for how it surprisingly short-changed Solid Snake for Raiden as the game’s protagonist early on, but it nonetheless achieved critical acclaim. Its gameplay enhancements over the beloved original game were warmly welcomed, and it featured a deeply layered story to give it a cinematic experience.
Some criticism did also come from the story side, as some felt it was needlessly convoluted and broke up gameplay segments too often. Nonetheless, its overall praises seem to overcome those downsides and it’s still looked upon favorably in retrospect.
Bully is another acclaimed Rockstar Games classic, though, it has unfortunately been neglected by the publisher/developer for unclear reasons. There were older reports of a sequel having been scrapped, which is a shame considering how fun and inventive Bully was with its premise.
As the title suggests, players take on the role of a juvenile delinquent that’s been transferred to a posh high school as he tries to climb the ranks of its social hierarchy. Bully was well-received for its narrative and satirical nature, as well as how the mission structure mixed up gameplay elements.
The 2002 original started what would become a JRPG icon in the gaming industry, in part due to its colorful amalgamation of Final Fantasy and Disney properties. Kingdom Hearts starts the saga with the young Sora teaming up with Donald Duck, Goofy, and Micky Mouse to fight against a shadowy evil organization and save his friends.
This franchise’s premise is an admittedly wild one, and even more so for how well it worked. Kingdom Hearts was praised for how well it mixed real-time action and JRPG elements — something that was bold in the early ’00s — and how surprisingly well Square Enix and Disney characters mesh.
The original God of War was a juggernaut in its own right, with Santa Monica Studios kicking off what would become one of the most memorable franchises in video game history. Kratos starts his bloody quest for vengeance here by hunting down his former mentor Ares, who tricked him into killing his wife and daughter.
Even in the original game, the fast-paced and combo-focused combat holds up today as an engaging action romp. God of War was also praised for making quick-time events (QTEs) a fun gameplay element before other games started to wear the convention out.
It’s been one of Capcom’s mascot IPs alongside Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Monster Hunter, with Devil May Cry serving as the publisher’s go-to unabashed action-adventure series. On top of the exhilaratingly bombastic and challenging combat, players were quickly hooked on its mix of supernatural horror and violence with goofy over-the-top campiness.
Devil May Cry stars Dante, a demon hunter for hire on a quest to kill the demon responsible for killing his family. The game — and the series as a whole — wears its edgy and whimsical heart on its sleeve in a way that’s hard not to enjoy the fast-paced ride.
Guillermo Kurten is a journalism major at the University of Houston. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, he now resides in Houston. He is a fan of pretty much anything involving nerd culture. Video games, comics, movies, TV, anime, manga, you name it. He also has experience writing about soccer, specifically, the German team Bayern Munich.
