The PlayStation 2 is arguably the greatest video game console of all time.
It played host to a golden age of excellent games, including Shadow of the Colossus, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening, to name but a few.
As is very often the case, though, when a platform is successful, it doesn’t just attract great developers with excellent ideas; it also finds itself the home of many games that occupy the other side of that particular coin.
Without further ado, we’d like to take a look at the 25 worst PS2 games the system had to offer. Do yourself a favour – if you find yourself in a used game shop browsing the PS2 selection, avoid these games like the plague.
1. Little Britain: The Video Game
What more can we even say about Little Britain: The Video Game? This is one of the most wrong-headed and pathetic attempts to create a video game we’ve ever seen; it was flawed from the concept stage, but the execution is still somehow worse than we could have imagined.
Filled with irritating, boring minigames that pretty much nobody can possibly have enjoyed, Little Britain: The Video Game is even more of an embarrassment than later seasons of the sketch show that spawned it, and that’s saying something.
2. Ninjabread Man
Widely regarded as one of the worst games of all time on any system, Ninjabread Man is an affront to the PS2, 3D platformers, video games, and the concept of entertainment in general. It really is that bad, but please don’t play it so that you can prove it to yourself.
With wonky controls, a terrible camera system, and a laughably absent narrative, Ninjabread Man is a monument to a complete lack of effort on its developers’ part. That’s obvious by the fact that the game engine and general style were blatantly re-used for subsequent games like Trixie in Toyland.
3. London Cab Challenge
If you’re thinking that this is going to be a video game about driving a cab around London, picking up fares, and generally living the life of a cabbie, then you’re not wrong. Somehow, though, infamous developer Phoenix Games took that concept and made it even more boring than it sounds.
London Cab Challenge has hideous visuals, terrible controls, and unbelievably repetitive gameplay. It’s easily one of the worst games ever created for any system, and we almost feel sorry for the PS2 because at some point, someone must have popped a disc for this game into the console’s poor, unsuspecting disc tray.
4. The Sopranos: Road to Respect
How the heck did this happen? The Sopranos is one of the most respected and well-loved TV shows of all time; it arguably gave birth to the golden age of TV that also gave us Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and countless other great shows throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
This video game does not pay sufficient homage to The Sopranos. It’s a simplistic, mindless game that doesn’t evoke the show’s central dramatic conflicts, choosing instead to take the lowest road possible for a quick buck.
5. 25 To Life
Grand Theft Auto has a lot to answer for. While some GTA clones on the PS2 had some merit – The Getaway was at least inspired in its choice of setting, and True Crime, uh, eventually became Sleeping Dogs – 25 To Life has nothing going for it at all.
One look at screenshots for this game will tell you everything you need to know about how cheap, lazy, and hacked-out it feels. The PS2 saw its fair share of cynical cash grabs, but this is on another level entirely.
6. Godai: Elemental Force
Some of the PS2’s worst games are cheap shovelware cash-ins or movie adaptations that didn’t try very hard, but the same can’t be said for Godai: Elemental Force. This was an earnest attempt to create something new, but it was a failure nonetheless.
Imagine a developer that’s trying to create the most annoying game to play that they possibly can, and you’ll get somewhere close to what it feels like to play Godai: Elemental Force. It feels like you’re fighting against the engine as much as the enemies.
7. Surfing H3O
Fun fact: H3O, or more properly H3O+, is the chemical formula for hydronium, which is, according to Wikipedia, “the type of oxonium ion produced by protonation of water”. Yes, us neither. Still, reading that is far more interesting than playing this awful extreme sports title.
Surfing H3O did not live up to the expectations of surfers and gamers, and it also didn’t live up to the expectations of people who knew nothing about it before buying it, which is saying something indeed. Terrible, even by the standards of low-grade sports games.
8. Catwoman
Hey, who’d have thunk that the Catwoman licensed game isn’t very good? If you’re not aware, the 2004 Catwoman movie is absolutely horrible, and so it stands to reason that the PlayStation 2 adaptation of that same movie would also be absolutely horrible. It is, and nobody is surprised.
Somehow, though, the game is even worse than the movie, probably because you have to actually play as Catwoman instead of just watching a movie studio mess up one of the most beloved and potentially interesting superhero characters of all time.
9. Crime Life: Gang Wars
Oh, great. Another GTA knockoff to add to the graveyard. Seemingly created as a quick and cheap way to cash in on GTA-mania, Crime Life: Gang Wars is just as awful and uninspired as that name would suggest. Come on, guys…really? You couldn’t think of a better name than Crime Life: Gang Wars?
On second thought, maybe it’s better that this terrible action game didn’t have a better title, because it might have suckered in a few poor, unsuspecting players who would swiftly regret their decision after purchasing the game.
10. Superman Returns
It is absolutely baffling to us that developers consistently mess up Superman when they’re adapting the property for video games. He’s one of the most powerful superheroes in the medium; how could you possibly create a boring game about a man who can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, and punch through steel?
Developers keep managing to do so, though, and Superman Returns is another ugly, boring, horribly-designed game to add to the pile. Don’t play this, even if you consider yourself a Superman completionist. Just go watch Man of Steel again or something.
11. Fight Club
Continuing on a theme of terrible movie adaptations, Fight Club falls at the first hurdle by fundamentally misunderstanding the movie it’s based on. The whole point of the titular “fight club” is that it’s an evocation of desperate toxic masculinity, and it’s not something that should be celebrated.
Still, here we have a meatheaded fighting game that can’t even be bothered to summon the effort to not be terrible. Fight Club isn’t just a bad game; it’s an insult to a movie that deserves to be seen in a much better light (and by much better people) than it is.
12. Crazy Frog Racer and Crazy Frog Racer 2
The first Crazy Frog Racer is a terrible game. Can you believe it? We know, we know – you were expecting Team Ico to emerge from the shadows and transform the Crazy Frog into a video game icon, but somehow, it just didn’t happen, and we got an extremely lacklustre kart racer instead.
Following that, though, the developers apparently made some kind of pact with a demon, because a second game was created (although perhaps “created” is the wrong word), and it’s somehow even worse than the original. That’s an achievement, we suppose.
13. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
Sometimes, a game ends up on a list like this because it’s flat-out terrible. Other times, the game joins the list because it’s hugely disappointing, or because it’s obviously rushed. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is a rare example of a game that ticks all three of those boxes.
The first three Spyro games on the PS1 were absolute gems (no pun intended), and all this one had to do was bring their excellent gameplay into the PS2 era. Somehow, though, we ended up with a buggy, clearly unfinished mess that insults the Spyro legacy.
14. Crash Twinsanity
There are people out there who will tell you that Crash Twinsanity is underrated and that it deserves more love than it gets. We are betting that those people haven’t revisited Crash Twinsanity lately, because this is another example of a game that’s so clearly unfinished it’s almost sad.
A feeling of half-baked apathy hangs off Crash Twinsanity like an old, mouldy overcoat. Levels transition to one another with a lurch that feels hugely unprofessional, and the game’s controls are poorly-implemented, leading to many cheap and frustrating deaths.
15. Knight Rider 2
The Knight Rider IP deserved better than this. Sure, the show is a bit of 80s fluff, but it’s perfectly watchable fare, which is more than you can say for the game. We’re not even saying it’s not playable; it’s also not watchable because it’s just so unbelievably boring to look at.
This game’s bland visuals, poor controls, and bad level design condemn it to the ranks of failed PS2 games based on popular licences, but at least we can rest safe in the knowledge that another Knight Rider video game is a very unlikely prospect indeed.
16. Bad Boys: Miami Takedown
We’re almost loath to put Bad Boys: Miami Takedown on this list because it might be the only example of a video game that is genuinely so bad it’s good. The action sequences are, of course, terrible, but Blitz Games’ paean to failure reads like an itemised list of what not to do when making a game.
Whether it’s the characters’ botched likenesses, the absolutely execrable controls, or the sub-PS1 visual style, there’s pretty much nothing about Bad Boys: Miami Takedown that actually works, and in some ways, that’s admirable.
17. Devil May Cry 2
Alright, alright. You might accuse us of hyperbole for including Devil May Cry 2 on this list, but the fact is that Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3 are stone-cold classics of the character action (otherwise known as “spectacle fighter”) genre, so what the heck happened here?
Gone is Dante’s sharp, self-assured personality, replaced by generic brooding angst that made him interchangeable with any other video game protagonist. The action, too, is repetitive and bland, making this one an easy dodge even for fans of the series. Forget the 2013 reboot; this is the worst Devil May Cry has to offer.
18. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Angel of Darkness is in a similar boat to Devil May Cry 2. It may not be one of the flat-out worst games on the PS2 (although some might say it is), but it’s certainly one of the most disappointing, especially considering how great the PS1 Tomb Raider games were.
Tomb Raider’s quaint control scheme quickly became grating in Angel of Darkness, largely thanks to new mechanics that felt unwelcome, like stealth and hand-to-hand combat. Throw in development difficulties that make this game feel overambitious and you’re left with a product that feels distinctly undercooked.
19. Crash: Mind over Mutant
Oh, dear. Developers just couldn’t leave poor Crash Bandicoot alone in the 2000s, could they? Crash: Mind over Mutant is a bland dish that has no distinct flavour, but it’s made degrees worse by the fact that it shamelessly and cynically pastes the Crash IP over a generic, forgettable third-person brawler.
Many kids probably managed to find some kind of fun in Mind over Mutant, but if you revisit the game today, you’ll find pretty much no redeeming qualities in this lazy, boring (and bored-feeling) cash-in. No wonder the series went on hiatus after this.
20. Charlie’s Angels
Alright, let’s get back to the real bad stuff. Charlie’s Angels is exactly what you’d expect a lazy tie-in game to be; it’s got horrible visuals, outdated gameplay even for the time, and shameless exploitation that makes you feel like you need to shower after playing it for five minutes.
We can’t believe we’re going there, but the story in this game is also terrible; the heists pulled by the bad guys stretch credibility even for a silly Charlie’s Angels movie tie-in. Not good, and that’s saying something for the PS2.
21. Pryzm Chapter One: The Dark Unicorn
Calling this game Pryzm Chapter One was probably pretty optimistic, and it won’t surprise you that there was indeed no Pryzm Chapter Two. We should be thankful that the threatened sequel never materialised, though, because this is one of the most boring video games ever created.
While the game itself isn’t exactly offensive, it’s mind-numbingly tedious, and that, in itself, is pretty egregious. The combat is button-mashing boredom at its finest, and the game’s narrative and atmosphere are so generic as to be laughable.
22. Alone in the Dark
2008’s Alone in the Dark was a truly ill-fated project right from the get-go. The Xbox 360 and PC versions were roundly panned for their broken gameplay and bizarre plot, but the PS2 version was a different game entirely. Of course, that didn’t stop it from being just as hated as its next-gen cousin.
The fact is that reinventing Alone in the Dark as some kind of Da Vinci Code-style thriller just doesn’t sit well with the core property. Even on its own merits, though, Alone in the Dark is a bad game, so do yourself a favour and just play THQ Nordic’s new version.
23. Driv3r
You know a game is bad when other developers feel the need to mock it in their own games. Driv3r was so poorly-received that it became the subject of a rather on-the-nose parody in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, when a goon is playing a game and criticises “Refractions” (i.e. Driv3r developer Reflections) for “mess[ing] up so bad”.
Reflections did indeed “mess up so bad”, though, as Driv3r is terrible. It emphasises on-foot movement far more than its predecessors, which is, of course, the polar opposite of what you want from a game called “Driver”.
24. Orphen: Scion of Sorcery
All told, you’re going to be spending a heck of a lot of time not playing Orphen: Scion of Sorcery. We’re not just saying that because it’s bad, either. The game is absolutely overstuffed with endless cutscenes, none of which are acted or written well, so it’s like watching a primary school drama production that goes on for hours upon hours.
When combat does arrive, it’s somewhat interesting, but it’s still clunky and awkwardly-implemented, so Orphen can’t even claim a good scrap as a saving grace.
25. Frogger: The Great Quest
Let’s end on a game that absolutely nobody will ever defend. Frogger: The Great Quest is a terrible 3D reimagining of an arcade game that is, at best, perfectly fine. Nobody wanted this, and nobody liked it when it arrived, which makes us feel pretty bad for the developers who worked on it.
Then we actually play the thing, and its horrible controls and awful visuals make us feel significantly less sorry for anyone involved in this mess. Do yourself a favour and watch paint dry instead of playing this.
