The Best & Worst PlayStation 2 Ports

[@SafetyRabbit]

What a blast from the past. I was lead concept artist on the PS2 version of The Force Unleashed, I’m glad it’s remembered fondly. The team poured so much love into that project. It’s fun seeing my old sky-domes too, they were so interesting to build for the PS2. You have so little to work with, it had almost a puzzle-like quality to make them look right. Thinking to yourself “Sure, this 16x16, 8 colour texture looks okay, but I can save a little more memory if I drop it 8x8 with 4 colours, then tile it along this edge and z -force it to draw behind this other texture…”. Good times. Then we reduced them even further for the PSP, along with some all-new content. It was a really rewarding project, but I’ve never been so busy in my life!

[@Dirtnap90]

Played the psp version so many times

[@garypasquill2355]

Great game, did it twice for jedi and sith endings,you should be proud of yourself

[@mandibiedermann2246]

great job, and thank you 😉

[@e7193]

how big was your team ?

[@LordVarkson]

It's interesting that back then the gap between console generations were so huge that you needed a dedicated team, including a concept artist for a cross-gen title. These days the last gen version doesn't look all that different from the current gen versions, they're just the same game at a different resolution and graphical settings.

[@TheMC1102]

When Embracer cancels the new Deus Ex game and pretty much kills the entire series: "What a shame. It was a good franchise. What a rotten way to die."

[@Jayson1988x]

Someone, at some point, will buy the IP off Embracer, surely.

[@Agent789_0]

@@Jayson1988xHopefully.

[@jadedheartsz]

I would've been more bummed if it had been a follow-up to Mankind Divided but with Adam's voice-actor saying that wasn't the case i'm not too bummed.

[@leithaziz2716]

*Lip Smack* I miss Deus Ex. Mankind Divided was what, 2016? The series has been on death's door for nearly a decade. And due to Embracer's fiasco, likely no one owns the rights to the IP.

[@БогданКрименюк]

@TheKaos1988 the copium is real

[@DaNxtGreat]

Force Unleashed reminds me of how good the PSP version was. Basically the same as the PS2 version, but with extra content. Actually, good PSP ports would be an interesting follow-up to this.

[@chiarosuburekeni9325]

Psp not having second analog really hurt it though imo

[@HelghastStalker]

@@chiarosuburekeni9325 It definitely did hurt it. Had it been given a second analogue stick, I think the PSP would have been a lot better.

[@БогданКрименюк]

@chiarosuburekeni9325 Kid named PSVita:

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I really wish we could still get games like the force unleashed

[@mirtaabreu7124]

Not only does the PSP version have the most content, it even has online multiplayer which I didn't even know about until a few days ago.

[@demonicspire1345]

Fun fact; gman has never actually seen the simpsons, its just his editor putting in the references.

[@jimmybuba2683]

Sounds like tru

[@Keldoh3ad]

I'm his editor, can confirm this is true

[@БогданКрименюк]

Seems obvious

[@risk2691]

I refuse to believe it's true.

[@doomfeast1102]

Nobody show him the Australia episode. The scars from the Emu Wars are bad enough for any Australian.

[@BainesMkII]

Night Dive tried to do a re-release of No One Lives Forever, but gave up. It was already a mess with Night Dive unable to even figure out who owned the games, as neither Activision, Fox, nor Warner Bros ever offered any conclusive proof. But it was Warner Bros that shut everything down, flat out refusing to support any re-release while also threatening legal action if Night Dive attempted anything without their approval?

[@laladoopsy]

Man, I'd love to see WB go bankrupt, just so others can get the rights to all of the games they own that they do shit eith

[@BainesMkII]

@@laladoopsy Even if WB went bankrupt, it would just be some other giant company buying all their IP in bulk... :/ A company that itself already owned way more IP than it bothers to use.

[@WulvenWanderer]

Copyright is cancer. If they haven't touched the IP for 10yr it should be free game to mess with.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

That game was so interesting when it came out. I remember reading about it in PC gamer magazine. I wish gaming was more supportive about people wanting to bring back certain unused old IP's..

[@lutherheggs451]

@@WulvenWanderer "copyright is cancer" is not only hilariously stupid, but its only ever said by people who would never actually have the talent to create anything because IF they did they're either stupid or a liar. More than likely a liar because they would go after every penny they could get for something they made.

[@OxTheHerdzz]

I miss the era of early 2000's gaming when video game composers would just go off and write the hardest tracks for almost no reason

[@vladv5126]

Well that's because at the time, the corporate suits weren't obsessed with minimalism and actually let the artists make y'know... art.

[@CyanRooper]

Some composers still do that though. They never lost the MOTIVATION to make amazing soundtracks in games.

[@pablojesussantanatorres5721]

*The Medal of Honor Allied Assault soundtrack echoing in my head*😢 How it hurts to remember

[@TheZoenGaming]

Primal for the PS2... I remember the band, 16volt, did a commentary video on how they made the music for the game, how they wanted to ensure every level had fight music that purposely and perfectly fit it.

[@DTSsince2016]

Can we please have that back?????????

[@elsienova4269]

1. The Half Life version also has the highest polygon count for models across the board and they are far more detailed, even than HL Source. 2. The saving thing is not from performance, its because PS2 Memory Cards were limited in storage and even hard to buy sometimes and people would legitimately just not save as often in some games to save money, so devs usually did not include auto saves to not flood the mem card.

[@mandibiedermann2246]

HL in PS2 has quick saves, but this guy who made this video is a dump

[@xDShot9000]

@@mandibiedermann2246 quick saves were stored on RAM but there's dedicated menu to save on memory card.

[@rozasupreme]

"For that last one, you're trying to sneak into a haunted museum." Seems normal. "turns out the museum is haunted." WAIT WHAT

[@IsmailofeRegime]

I was going to try being fair and note that even the Bond franchise toyed with the supernatural in Live and Let Die, but having a ghost outright move stuff around crosses into "okay yeah what the hell" territory.

[@VanDutch87]

I still remember buying that shitty network adapter to play Resident Evil: Outbreak. Why Capcom hasn’t brought that series back, I have no idea. 🤷‍♂️

[@БогданКрименюк]

Because they're Capco- oh wait wrong devs (cough Konami)

[@Ckoz2829]

It would really be a slam dunk for them, but they insist on pvp competitive multiplayer games that fizzle out after a few months. I just don’t get it.

[@JPAK_92]

Yeah as a kid, the office sneaking -mission in No One Lives Forever made me quit the whole game entirely

[@rosskwolfe]

For me, it was the "Follow Baronness Dumas while she window shops without being spotted or getting too far away."

[@БогданКрименюк]

@rosskwolfe Ah yes, the tailing missions...

[@nintyfan1991]

Glad you covered the PS2 (and Wii, and PSP) version(s) of Force Unleashed. Cool part: Aspyr and Disney released that version on the Switch (with the Wii versions multiplayer), while you can still find the HD versions on XBOX BC and PC. Disney also did the same with Aladdin not long ago as well, having both the Genesis/MD version (aka the "Tommy" version) from Virgin and the SNES version (aka the "Shinji" version) by Capcom on the "Disney Classic Games Collection". If only other companies did the same, looking at you SEGA (Sonic Colors, Sonic Unleashed) and Mad Dog (Ghostbusters 09).

[@HugoRBMarques]

Tommy as in Tommy "my mother's very proud" Tallarico?

[@nintyfan1991]

@@HugoRBMarques *sigh* Yup...

[@marts4169]

3:28 I´m pretty sure you could still move in Deus Ex when you injured your legs, but you were forced to crawl.

[@geeknproud321]

The Half Life port for PS2 is pure quality. So is the Dreamcast port that was sadly cancelled. 99% of the work was done for Dreamcast and the game had gone Gold which means they had a release candidate build. Fortunately this build is very available and many have put together working ISOs of it. I've played all of Half Life on my Dreamcast and it's pretty comparable to PS2 in how much porting effort it got. it even runs just as well for the most part. They did a good job. It also got Blue Shift which was originally created for the Dreamcast release. Dreamcast is another topic for another time but devs working with it had a knack for making single sticks work well enough in shooters.

[@wangchung2157]

I have only ever experienced half life 1 this way

[@jgalla5549]

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and the OG Xbox/ps2 version of Double Agent are the best third person stealth action games ever made. They made the best stealth games ever in 2005 and 2007 and then just stopped making games like that, its tragic.

[@kaj7135]

Ubisoft made banger after banger nonstop throughout the 2000’s. It’s tragic how far they’ve fallen… total shit company with shit games.

[@K177ER77]

Yup Splinter Cell games in PS2 we're nice but XBOX version had bigger level design and PC graphics so XBOX version was better in all games.

[@Szczauqa]

​@@K177ER77the hd versions on ps3 are xbox versions, which is nice

[@K177ER77]

@@Szczauqa Yeah i beat them all on platinum trophies year ago, but chaos theory dosen't have split screen co-op... Even PS2 version had it. Too bad instead making trilogy they could made Splinter Cell Anthology where is three games + Double Agent from original XBOX, which was been much better. While itself SCDA is better as storygame and classic SC gameplay on XBOX/PS2/GC/Wii plus co-op mode available, PC/X360/PS3 version is not that great, PS3 version is unplayable thanks to its bad optimization.

[@szeltovivarsydroxan9944]

*sigh* I guess it's time to re-install Deus Ex on my PS2 again... wait, what?

[@daltongarrett7117]

ahh the days of just getting home popping the disc in and just being able to play it.

[@Moji55a]

​@@daltongarrett7117So just like pc with disc rom then.

[@daltongarrett7117]

@@Moji55a really, I'm pretty sure those have to install onto my pc also... so not at all like that. I'm talking about the days of just popping a disc in and playing it, Xbox and PC and PlayStation all have an install period before you can play the games. switch doesn't so Nintendo has escaped this, though they dont do discs they use a cartridge.

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

@@daltongarrett7117 As someone who still regularly plays disk based PC games, I can confirm that you still have to install them first -and then spend a bunch of time troubleshooting it as the game wasn't designed for modern PCs-

[@daltongarrett7117]

@@scottthewaterwarrior thats exactly what I remember having to do. fun times, fun times.

[@this_Dream-SBR]

The PS2 start-up / intro cinematic is literally the sound of my childhood.

[@DKArmstrong]

That and the PS1. Love it.

[@Sharktankgaming]

The ps1 starting up is mine lol so good.

[@jedziej]

Confirmed info

[@PerkolatorTheTerminator]

It’s like a mystical gong that sends you back in time to when we all worried less lol. 😏💭

[@trobriandstorm]

Mine is PS1, but PS2 is pretty close too.

[@pchtommy1268]

Actually X-Men Origins Wolverine came out on Nintendo Wii and not Original Xbox, it should also be noted that the psp version of star wars the force unleashed has more extra content than other versions.

[@Anthonyelmio2]

Extra content was because Sony required developers to add extra content on all ports to the psp if they wanted to port it, like Disgaea, Soul Caibuer, Mortal Kombat, Marvel Ultimate Alliance/2, Xmen Legends 2, Tekken, and etc

[@SomaCruz500]

Hearing “No One Lives Forever” and Kate Archer getting some love is always great. PS2 player back in the day didn’t even know there was a PC version until like… 2010. Gods I miss that game.

[@ammanus356]

I definitely agree that the Double Agent next gen devs had no idea what they were doing with regards Splinter Cell. The PS2/Xbox/GC version is just Chaos Theory part 2, and I personally like it just as much.

[@jadedheartsz]

disagree next-gen version was good too.

[@ammanus356]

The issue I have now is the same issue I had at the time - it ran at literally 15fps most the time, including drops to single digits on all platforms. PCs at the time couldnt hold a stable 30 without absolute monster hardware @@jadedheartsz

[@toprem4037]

13:37 - having never played NOLF, both of those sets of music sound good

[@SneedFeedAndSeed]

NOLF... hehehehehe... NOLF... hehe... NOLF

[@jeremylindemann5117]

NOLF is really well produced, the 60's theme is done extremely well and the game is fun. The sequel is worth playing too.

[@justadragonballfan1687]

The 6th gen version of double agent is still the definitive way to experience the game for me It simply has better mission layout, better gameplay, better soundtrack, better hud and when u hide in the dark u actually hide and enemies can't see u, the day staged are awful and the frame rate on some of these can be awful. Wish it got a PC port

[@rexetelectric3811]

My first playthrough of max payne was on the ps2 port, I nicknamed it max frame because the max frames I would get at times would literally be one frame per second, it was an action packed slideshow

[@eponymous7910]

My videogame store literally gave away a bunch of promo copies on ps2 under the assumption they were demo discs 😬 I would've felt cheated if I'd shelled out my own money on it but as a freebie it was decent enough

[@matycuervito]

the max payne 2 port works a little better on graphics and framerate.

[@sablebubble4630]

In Quake 3 Revolution you fight the Vadrigar himself in the end of the game, becoming the Arena Master. Also, there was an Unreal Tournament port. That was a blast in splitscreen.

[@McGeezle]

There was single player? Or was it just playing against bots on all the multiplayer maps?

[@sablebubble4630]

@@McGeezle In Q3R? It was a botmatch with bits of lore. Basically, at the start of some matches/tiers the Vadrigar shittalks to you, watching your progress at the Arenas.

[@putridscene]

Fans put together a version of No One Lives Forever that works on most modern PCs. The game is included along with all necessary patches. I was able to play it for the first time last year because of it. They even did the same for the sequel and spin off. Runs like a dream, even on my crappy Mini PC, and took almost zero effort to find and get running.

[@Zirunos]

The PS2 starting sound (and the PS1) always sends me. Love it.

[@norbertcsorba4639]

RTCW PS2 and Quake 3 PS2 had RPGish stat progression whilst RTCW Xbox had simply material rewards at the end of missions. Interesting

[@miguelpereira9859]

Man I wish Id Software did something more with the campaign in the PC version of Q3

[@aaronbosen6743]

An interesting note about the Deus Ex port for PS2 is it's not technically actually a port, but a completely different build of the game where even the version of the unreal engine used is different. They basically back engineered it to run in unreal version 1 instead of 2, which the PC version was the first game ever released on Unreal engine 2, narrowly beating out both Unreal tournament and the gold edition release of the original Unreal. Another reason they changed the levels was specifically so they had the room to have a full orchestral soundtrack and those pre-rendered cinematics.

[@aaronbosen6743]

@@zebubble2084 Kid no offense, but I'm going to believe the people who developed these games and engines over randos on the internet who aren't even as familiar with the difference between the game engines being discussed as I am. And they say Deus Ex was the first unreal 2 engine game ever released. Probably because Epic megagames was still going by Epic megagames at the time, and a wholly owned subsidary of GT interactive, a company with by the way no longer exists at all, and was notorious for forcing developers to delay releases.

[@masterneme]

@@aaronbosen6743 Deus Ex was made with Unreal Engine 1 (Unreal Engine 1 Build 400-436), Invisible War was the one using Unreal Engine 2 (Unreal Engine 2 build 777), so no backports, where did you get that information?

[@stogie28]

@@aaronbosen6743 The original Deus Ex is absolutely not Unreal Engine 2 (take it from someone who had to work with UE1 modding tools for years), invisible war was though (or more accurately a mutated abomination of Unreal Engine 2). The PS2 version of Deus Ex actually has some partial UE2 features built in though (UE2 skeletal animation vs UE1 vertex animations, the addition of static meshes) which might be what you're getting confused

[@aaronbosen6743]

@@masterneme Directly from the source. As in literally, from the source code. Also, the developers who made both Unreal and Deus Ex have spoken extensively on the differences between the various Unreal series of engines and what games used which. Hell, even the versions of Unreal Ed for Unreal 1, Unreal tournament, the gold edition re-release of the original Unreal, and Deus ex have differences between them, that rely heavily on differences between those engines. I mean you did know that Unreal 1 didn't support facial animations, right? Again, to be blunt, I see no reason to arbitrarily doubt the people who actually made the games and engines in question on what they themselves have said publicly for decades at this point. Especially since you can literally get that information from the games;s source code, the actual documentation provided for the games at time of sale, and more.

[@stogie28]

@@aaronbosen6743 Facial animation in Deus Ex is done using vertex animation blending and Ion Storm's own lipsyncing code additions to UE1's Galaxy audio driver (unique to Deus Ex's build of UE1). Otherwise it's missing many key features of Unreal Engine 2 such as skeletal animation, static meshes, fancy lighting, physics, etc. It's closer to Unreal Tournament and Unreal Gold than any Unreal Engine 2 game. No evidence points to Deus Ex running on Unreal Engine 2, lol. Also Deus Ex's (native C++) source code has never been released or decomp'd, what timeline are you from

[@LelandHasGames]

You know, I played all of the Max Payne games on PS2 when I was a kid and, I didn't think they were that bad. But, that was also like, 20 years ago.

[@diamondhamster4320]

GGGMan made me sad with this video reminding how NOLF 1/2 have no proper goood Remasters on PC. NOLF 2 had the most quirky and fun COOP campaign I remember and it is depressing that not many people will get to experience it.

[@NitroVortex]

Man I miss the ps2

[@universesixhit642]

The console seemed mediocre is comparison to the GC.

[@MaximPortik-yg1yp]

I miss you 😘

[@Baddknewz]

PS2 had the best game selection of all time easily.

[@chickenandksivideoreviewer9739]

It still exists

[@zin2828]

You could always plug it in again, what's stopping you?

[@PikaStu666]

Two PS2 ports I really enjoyed were Resi 4 and the original Splinter Cell. Sure, they weren’t as nice looking as the GC / Xbox originals, but they remained perfectly playable and a shit load of fun!

[@mandibiedermann2246]

RE4 on PS2 is better than GC

[@Wnick1996]

The PS2 was literally my childhood. Remember playing all Ratchet and Clank games, Jak and Daxter games, and Spider-Man 2 on the og fat model along with so many others that I don't remember.

[@Kain_Mercer]

Damn dude. 007 Nightfire. I played that for SO LONG as a kid. I guess you could say it was my first 'FPS experience' The amount of nostalgia that just got pumped into my veins by the 3 second clip is legendary.

[@toadofsky_]

Kinda funny to put in a clip of Rush Hour for Half Life. I remember my VHS copy of Rush Hour had a ad for Half Life for PC

[@BigHugoSuave]

Its funny how you bring up Wolverine as a gift being the worst present, I genuinely went out and worked for my grandfather mowing grass and doing various chores till I saved up 30 dollars and then when I went there I realized it was a whole 50 dollars, to which I begged my mother to help me with the other 20. I look on the back case to see that pre-rendered cutscene photo and I got so hyped cause I was like "wow they really have graphics like this now" my disappointment was incomprehensible. 50 dollars on that game dude.

[@NucleaRaptor]

I bought DMC2 full-price on release day if it makes you feel any better. 💀

[@Q36BN]

20:41 Wait a minute! You can shoot the parachute making soldiers to fall?! I've played this game many time, it's also one of my favorites, but i've always shoot the soldiers, and never thought they would introduce the mechanic of shooting the parachute rendering soldiers dead from a fall. LOL

[@tufcat92]

I came here for Deus Ex. I loved that game on the PS2. One of the few games I replayed to get the alternate endings. I do remember having frame drops during extreme firefights but I don't remember it looking so pixelated. Either way I'm happy to hear good things about it

[@4i4kov]

I genuinely can't tell if GmanLives knows that the light on Sam's back and green/yellow HUD dot is supposed to represent visibility.

[@Sarahm2261]

Did the game ever tell the player about this?

[@4i4kov]

@@Sarahm2261 If the player does test course A - yes.

[@Sarahm2261]

@@4i4kov guess gmanlives does no tutorials.

[@4i4kov]

@@Sarahm2261 Well I don't know how the other version of Double Agent does it, but Chaos Theory's tutorials were a bunch of videos you had to go out of your way to watch.

[@Cyberdyne12]

Deus Ex has community patches you can apply to the ISO to give you 60fps, widescreen and 90 fov. Need to use an emulator and set a 300 percent overclock. But, if you're a fan of Deus Ex, it's worth at least one playthrough. Great way to play on the Deck as well.

[@arkaua]

Could you link that community patch? It sounds really interesting, couldn't find much googling myself

[@InwardBisonYT]

As someone who beat Max Payne on the PS2. I can attest that it is a very tortured port...

[@falcoon_f_zero9450]

Why is that? I remember it being a quality game with only saving and loading just taking a loong time.

[@InwardBisonYT]

@@falcoon_f_zero9450 during intensive moments such as explosions the frame rate chugged to what felt like single digits. and when entering bullet time the game slowed down to sub 20 fps

[@falcoon_f_zero9450]

@@InwardBisonYT Didn't remember it was that bad. Always thought Max Payne 2 felt way improved compared to the first. Felt like it performed better and was more responsive. Then again haven't tried it in some years so it could feel pretty bad now. Everything's more pronounced on bigger TVs.

[@Interference22]

The Deux Ex PS2 port is a fascinating example of the console's strengths and weaknesses: so many models have a higher poly count but much lower res textures simply because the PS2 could handle a whole lot of polys but had just 4MB of dedicated video memory and, apparently, an 8KB texture cache. I think the largest texture size it could comfortably handle was 256x256 pixels. Also, the version of Unreal Tournament for the PS2 is an interesting port too. They even built some extra levels for 4 player split-screen that are extremely stripped down to keep the framerate up.

[@mandibiedermann2246]

but in PS2 the main RAM could be used as VRAM 😏

[@stevekramerf242]

@@mandibiedermann2246 True, but it was still just 32 megabyte.

[@mandibiedermann2246]

@@stevekramerf242 32 mb is enough

[@sebastiankulche]

We have to take into account that it was an early PS2 game, much like HL1, so any slighty downgrade is not because of technical limitations but more like they didnt had the time and the knowledge of the system (they werent made by first party companies either). There are way more demanding FPS on the system, so it could had looked even better if they had the chance to optimize it further. Its running an engine from the 90s after all. Lol, 256x256 pixels was the maximum on PS1. PS2 should be able to handle much more.

[@sebastiankulche]

@@stevekramerf242 RAM its not the same on consoles as on PC. In PC most of the RAM gets wasted and games are almost not optimized. PS2 had almost perfect ports of 1gb ram PC games.

[@iconicallyironic2014]

I own scarface the world is yours on xbox, nintendo wii and ps2. For some reason, the Ps2 is the only version of the game that includes visible player damage in the form of Tony's suit getting all bloody during combat. However, the xbox version offers the highest resolution and frame. Always found it weird they didn't include that feature across all the platforms.

[@Csmitty125]

They're all the same region aswell?

[@reptilez13]

The PS2 "technically" had 4mb of video RAM, but the biggest benefit of its architecture was it had on silicon or near silicon (i forget which) on a link that basically allowed it to switch out textures and such so fast, it had functionally huge amounts of memory, i believe for video and general. Someone with a bit more insight or time to double check can expand on it, bit thats what i remember being told a few different times. Obv not all devs understood it and took advantage, but when they did, it seems to have much more texture space and other RAM dependant features etc.

[@kontenterrorist2449]

That 4MB was embedded on the GS itself. Besides that there always was 32MB RDRAM with a fairly large amount of bandwidth

[@alexj.f.kennedy6084]

Basically the entirety of the PS2 architecture was designed in a way that it utilized parallelism a lot more than ever seen before. The "GPU" was split into several Units, most notably the 2 Vector Units it had, which were connected to the main system bus that had huge bandwith, unseen at the time iirc. The idea Sony had with this console was to instead of the traditional way of just dumping everything u need into memory and then go from there, you had to stream in data to all compenents in the PS2 to make them work effectivly - that's what the insane bandwith is for. The VRAM so to speak was just to have a very small buffer like L1 cache to access data from but it mostly relied on clever data streaming. The effects and graphical quality some could have achieved with this kinda technology are insane as seen from a techdemo when the PS2 was announced and showcased, Sony just didn't provide the necessary libraries at launch and iirc deeper into the launch of the PS2 so devs had to write their own libraries to make things work plus getting used to the rather unusual architecture of the console. It deviated a lot from PCs and thats where the Xbox had it's advantage basically being a PC made into a console. Ultimately when there were crossplattform releases almost always the PS2 version was way worse due to devs often not having the time needed to rearange the code to make it work properly with the ps2 or lacking the info to do so in the first place. PS2 exclusives however look stunning and were at the time some of the best looking games, like if you take a look at DMC1 on the ps2 and keep in mind that the game is from 2001, how many games looked that well? Barely any blocky models, decent res textures for the time and that at a silky smooth framerate. But if one is interested into the architecture in depth I can recommend the video from the modern vintage gamer where he explains it.

[@devonwilliams5738]

Half Life and Deus Ex on the PS2 were how I were introduced to those franchises, and I'm a massive fan of both franchises now. Also, we need a Sega Saturn FPS video.

[@TheLittleNoobThatCould]

Spider-man 2. Boy was I confused when I bought that on PC back in the day. I don't think it was even finished; most of the collectables were completely missing.

[@Fuuntag]

12:00 GameSpot said this save issue basically killed this back in the day on the PS2

[@arthurwulfrun]

Double agent on the OG x-Box was the same as the Os2 version, but had proper shadows - felt like a true Splinter Cell sequel.

[@Maryanchyk]

I loved the 6th gen version of Double Agent. The best version is on Xbox though. Force Unleashed is great on PS2 but PSP is another overlooked version, it had amazing historical battles.

[@DP12321]

Even better is how the Xbox version is playable on the Series X. Playing any Splinter Cell on PlayStation is a bit sacrilegious.

[@yubos98]

@@DP12321 I got myself a Series S for playing enhanced backwards compatible games from OG and 360 era. I had a lot of fun doing so. Splinter Cells with every single feature working and looking correctly was dream come true.

[@Maryanchyk]

@@DP12321 isn't the first one and Pandora Tomorrow pretty much the same between platforms? I believe Chaos Theory is the first one where PS2 is clearly inferior.

[@DP12321]

@@Maryanchyk There's a pretty big difference in graphics and even level design. Without the hard drive, even the first game had to split the levels up and add more load screens.

[@ChaseMC215]

Yeah, they last gen versions of The Force Unleashed is pretty much the superior port, like the last gen and PC ports of Ratatouille

[@SupaRush]

Speaking on the coolest thing seen, yes Sasha Grey was the goat of throat back in the day

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I truly believe that gaming during this era & right around it was without a doubt the best era in video games EVER! I feel like if u grew up in the 90's. We actually thought the future of gaming was going to be awesome. It wasn't about graphics. It was about physics in games, a range of gameplay modes, gameplay mechanics, damage effects, environmental interaction, engaging AI to play against in single player mode, CPU bots in offline modes, just good AI in games campaigns. Current video games focus on graphical nitpicking. It seems they forgot how much players enjoyed physics effects & other aspects that make games fun. Quirky graphics can work, if a creative art style is used. Add engaging CPU AI, gameplay modes, the list goes on.. idk what happened? Also: {We have seen that even if companies delay games, it isn't improving the quality of games being released. Which is a sign there is a MUCH DEEPER issue going on with modern games. No excuses, devs used to make great games with much less and they would have given anything to have certain capabilities to utilize that are available today. It just takes actual passion, focus & talent to make great games. Sidenote: It's so crazy how many people are still supporting super mega rich companies putting out unacceptable products.. i don't understand certain people. I don't understand how certain companies can be messing up so badly. It's frustrating that other passionate people are not allowed to make a version of a type of game that we used to have but no longer get anymore.. Yet these huge companies get full control over if an unused game IP gets made & they do everything they can so no other versions of a game idea will ever come out. Even if there's a huge fan base around certain ideas and there's a ton of passionate devs out there dying to make a version of a certain video game idea.. that frustrates me beyond belief}

[@alantaylorfc]

I have Soldier of Fortune on PS2 and while it is admittedly rough after playing it on PC, it can actually be played with USB mouse and keyboard. Yep, they work on PS2. Pretty cool huh.

[@krono5el]

Same with the Dreamcast but the Dreamcast version was way better obviously.

[@eponymous7910]

​@@krono5elSoldier of Fortune is universally regarded as one of the worst games on the platform, it's a terrible (DC) port

[@krono5el]

@@eponymous7910 def not as good as pc but not as bad as ps2 : P

[@devonwilliams5738]

@@eponymous7910 The PS2 version should win by default. No matter how bad the performance or visuals are, having a second analog stick means it wins by default.

[@skyfifer5443]

It makes more sense the military would bring M16 rifles to clear out Black Mesa instead of MP5 SMGs. Knowing that Black Mesa security is probably wearing level 3A vests that would defeat the 9x19mm pistol cartage used in the MP5, while the 5.56x45 used in the M16 would easily penetrate the security guards low level body armor.

[@DisturbedbyDeth]

Quake 3 on PS2 I remember taking like 20 minutes to load back in the day so my mates never wanted to play it. I only recently learned about the two versions of Double Agent - I hated the 360 version - and was surprised to basically get Chaos Theory 2 on the OG Xbox, that even works on the new Series X console. Why they didn't just upres that version and put it on PS3/360 is beyond me.

[@BenKii]

Great video Gman! Nice to see how how some other versions of great PC games play on consoles. Speaking of which, I'm reminded that one of my favorite games, Star Trek Elite Force, had a PS2 port. That would be an interesting one to cover on your channel as I'd love to see how different it is from my beloved PC version. Cheers!

[@CaptainVKanth]

Oh, Double Agent and Pandora Tomorrow were developed by Ubisoft Shanghai. The drama surrounding the PC builds are amazing.

[@ChaseMC215]

What's the drama?

[@CaptainVKanth]

@@ChaseMC215 Pandora Tomorrow having compatibility issues with any card released after Geforce 4(flickering shadows and so forth). It was never patched. Oddly the PS3 version Splinter Cell Trilogy reused all the PC version textures. Double Agent PC version not being supported by then recently released DX10 cards(it went unsupported for years, heck they never patched this based on the terrible reviews on STEAM page).

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

Half Life, Quake 3 and Splinter Cell: DA are my favourite on this list. Appreciate when a port includes some quality extra content.

[@coltforceplayer]

14:01 Bro you didn’t have to do us like that

[@MrHouse-fo1od]

My father and I used to program computers, and the PC version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein was one of our favorite games, right up with Hidden and Dangerous.

[@VEN0M415]

I first played Deus Ex and Half life on PC long ago, got them for the PS2 pretty recently and to my happy surprise I didn't feel put off, in fact I adore them as much as the PC versions. Considering they work well on a cheap console while offering sometimes better details or quirks, and both offered keyboard and mouse support through the PS2s USB ports, its definitely a worthy pickup.

[@mhmdmhmdv6905]

Mafia 1's PS2 port was pretty weird too.

[@four-en-tee]

All i'm gonna say is that I bought the PS2 port last month, and i've been thoroughly enjoying it so far. Its a little disappointing that the game doesn't have locational limb damage, but beyond that, the game controls really well and its done a lot to help immerse me into the experience. I'm just not a fan of how the game handles on the PC, its like they were trying to make a game like Golden Eye or Perfect Dark but that you control with a mouse. The zooming aim reticle just makes more sense on an old school controller (god, i can already taste the blood in my mouth after calling the DualShock 2 an "old school controller"). Definitely not looking forward to performance drops in Hong Kong now that you've brought that to my attention, but i've tolerated worse performance. If its just that area, i'll live.

[@sandhiwistara9128]

Wait I remember in PS 2 Star Wars force Unleash you can have multiple ending when you either attack Vader or Emperor when they are in 1 room. After dealing with Vader in next stage you can see Emperor and Vader Tag team but based on who you attack more will be your ending.(Vader you turn into emperor next lacky, Emperor Sacrifice ending)

[@mandibiedermann2246]

this guy is a dump, he did not play any game

[@APinchofBazel]

@@mandibiedermann2246 This is the sort of mistake you can only really make _playing_ the game and missing it. If he’d just looked his info up online the alternate ending is incredibly easy to find.

[@lancebaylis3169]

Excellent video as always Gman, and it made me want to check out some of these ports. If you want content for a sequel video, there are a couple you've missed here - the Star Trek FPS 'Elite Force' (which used Quake 3 tech) got a PS2 port, as did Unreal Tournament. In fact, UT and Q3A were the first two games I bought for the PS2.

[@goldglovegrappler1382]

Fun fact: Force Unleashed for PS2 was made by Krome Studios in Australia, and the lightsaber throwing mechanic in both versions has a basis in the boomerangs from Krome's flagship series, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.

[@MikaelMarius]

Damn Gman, these recent retrospectives have been MASSIVE in width

[@Stunlokked]

we need to go back.

[@iamgort70]

Good stuff mate. Informative and precise critiques. Well done.

[@Jay-uw4bu]

Played so much double agent PS2 as a kid and brought the xbox version to play on the series s recently. Still great

[@JonnyHorseman]

The fact that you didn't even mention the PS2 port of UT99 is sacrilege

[@U-A710]

1:19 ahhhh nawwww they hit ‘em with the “Fresh” 😂

[@AC-hj9tv]

Bro in da fresh 😂 😂

[@DP12321]

Would be great to see another video with Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, Soldier of Fortune, and Unreal Tournament. It's great how a lot of these games supported a USB mouse & keyboard. However due to PS2's complex architecture and lack of power, the ports were often worse than both the Dreamcast and Xbox respectively. Not all the time as the infamously long load times for Soldier of Fortune on Dreamcast are simply ridiculous.

[@alex.starostin]

You're wrong for recommending Dreamcast version of Quake 3 because PS2 version actually ran at 60fps unlike DC only 30. I wonder how could you not notice it??

[@Gggmanlives]

The PS2 version does absolutely not run at 60fps.

[@alex.starostin]

@@Gggmanlives Yes it does. And it's immediately noticeable. I've played it myself recently so I know, lol. Yes, there are some framedrops when the action gets heavy. You can find here video comparisons for PS2 vs Dreamcast

[@Rschr101]

​@@alex.starostin let it go man😂

[@alex.starostin]

@@Rschr101 wdym? I've already told him. And I'm not even mentioning the fact that only PS2 has actually modern control scheme with dual analog sticks for movement in this game while Dreamcast has terrible single analog controls

[@rompevuevitos222]

@@Rschr101He is actually correct, split screen tanks FPS but it otherwise runs at a solid 60

[@JohnRDVSMarston]

My first Splinter Cell game was the PS2's Double Agent and that got me hooked 100% into the franchise. I played the others way later, but my favorite will always gonna be this one >.>

[@TDenterpriser]

How about a video on all the fps games for the Wii

[@venomsnekko]

That intro was like a hard bump of nostalgia straight into my nostrils.

[@VergilHiltsLT]

My God, the optimization for Deus Ex on PS2 is garbage. Whoever programmed the graphics/engine for the port needs their hands chopped off. Compare this to Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3, lmao. Later PS2 games showed there were ways of circumventing the RAM limit, in fact it's the strongest console of the 6th generation but underestimated by many because of its unique architecture. Unlike Xbox or GC, it does NOT have PC parts. The PS2 had 48 GB/s memory bandwidth compared to just 6.4 GB/s on Xbox, and a pixel fillrate of 1.2 Gigapixels/s vs 700 Megapixels/s on Xbox.

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

Quake 3 for PS2 had cut voice lines that fit Doomguy much more than his voice in Doom Eternal did.

[@BaLLHands87]

Ps2, xbox, and gamecube was the last true era of gaming.

[@chiarosuburekeni9325]

No 360? 🤔 Why, because the focus on online gaming and dlc was the beginning of the end?

[@BaLLHands87]

@@chiarosuburekeni9325 yep, I fucking loved the 360 but it was the beginning of the end and now the industry is fucked.

[@justinplumb234]

If you seriously believe that then you're only focusing on modern AAA titles & completely ignoring the great games still being released.

[@jadedheartsz]

nah

[@sebastiankulche]

And early seven gen

[@mikefancy2466]

I think one really great port you missed was Soldier of Fortune. Considering it was able to retain the wild gore, body dismembering abilities, and run well is very impressive to look back at.

[@gobbins]

33:20 reverb fart

[@gremblothegreat5453]

3 days ago how

[@Unlucky-Noo]

3 days ago? How?!

[@WayStedYou]

patreon I would assume. @@Unlucky-Noo

[@JetFireHawk]

maybe the video was unlisted before it was realeased@@Unlucky-Noo

[@final9829]

@@Unlucky-Noo must've had the video unlisted on youtube until upload timeee.

[@FallFromGrace65]

I loved the Quake 3 ps2 port for the extra skins. All the the ones available for Doom guy were super cool. Wish they'd made it to other iterations

[@Gamer1990100]

My ps2 stopped reading disks a couple years back :(

[@RustyShackleford556]

Take off the top cover, tape down the back left case close detector switch, close it back up. You're welcome :)

[@Gamer1990100]

@@RustyShackleford556 I think it's the laser itself

[@RustyShackleford556]

@@Gamer1990100 Does it spin when you close it? Put pressure on the back left corner of the lid when you close it and see if the sound changes

[@Gamer1990100]

@@RustyShackleford556 honestly I would have to check again but it's stored right now. last time I tried was last year

[@jonbourgoin182]

14:46 you left a pause before your next line delivery so that your editor could insert the book stacking line from the library scene in Ghostbusters. Right? Lol

[@karlimo4034]

Serves him right. Using an editor for this basic videos to edit is so lazy.

[@Claudeee3]

Btw, about Starkiller Inverted grip is an actual Lightsaber form of combat. More of a variant, actually. Focused on long sweeps to defeat groups of foes. I do find it really cool even nowadays, and it does add a lot to his unique sillouette as a star wars character.

[@late2thegamers23]

The amusing thing is people regularly call the PS2 ports of Max Payne the worst and yet the PC versions are so ancient, and buggy at this point, you can barely finish the game. You NEED mods to play it the way people remember.

[@nosrin1988]

I remember seeing opposing forces as a kid, and playing a bunch of mods like Desert Crisis, but I didnt know what the original game was until I found Half Life for PS2 in 2009. XD I think I bought wolfenstien at the same time, but having to find secrets to get upgrades and no back tracking made it hard for my OCD brain to progress.

[@DVarious]

one of my top 10 channels, keep up the work bro

[@LordVarkson]

Half Life PS2 was the way I played through the game. My PC wasn't powerful enough to run it at more than 10 fps at lowest settings, but those 10 frames looked absolutely stunning to me at the time.

[@PXAbstraction]

One day, we need a showcase of all the Phoenix Games PS2 titles. It will likely drive him mad and it'll be hilarious.

[@hugostoso360]

19:58 Actually no, DC version is 30fps capped, while PS2 targets 60FPS and althought just hits 60 when there is no enemies on screen it still holds to the 40's even in busy moments

[@Rschr101]

😂

[@booradley6832]

Correction for Deus Ex- Anna Navarre is the only kill required in the plot. Whether or not she's actually a person is debatable however.

[@DCGMatthew1]

26:25 Isn't that what the coloured dot down the bottom left and on your back is for though? Green is hidden, yellow is visible and red is seen.

[@UncleRiley]

Such a classic start up sound. So many memories!

[@adaa12345SixSevenEightNine]

The weirdest part of the Krome TFU port is that the story isn't the same, there are additional cut scenes, alternate takes of voicelines are used, and a whole boss fight with proxy is cut and replaced with the Jedi temple Sith battles that I prefer over Proxy turning into a bunch of training modes and being an edgy droid trying to kill his master. I'm also a big fan of the amount of character skins, lightsaber hilts, and other customization options they managed to get into the game without post launch DLC like the 7th gen version of the game. I guess that's just a benefit of not having to take the time to make every asset hd quality. Less texture detail, and low polygon meshes take less dev time I suppose.

[@Vahmung]

Love the Deus Ex and Skyrim cuts in the video. I know when talking about multi-platform games from this time, Resident Evil 4 strongly comes to mind as the PS2 port had that Ada Wong chapter added to it. I preferred the PS2 port over the GC port. The development history of RE4 is pretty interesting. The Dragonball Tenkaichi games were also notorious on the PS2 vs GC. Dead or Alive 2 was graphically superior on the PS2. Sonic Heroes on PS2 was locked at 30fps, slower loading times, and texture layering issues. Lastly, Rayman Revolution (Rayman 2) had a butt load of changes. Was practically a different game.

[@grasshopper-ln9us]

Time Splitters 2, Devil May Cry, God of War 1 & 2, Cold Winter were my favorites

[@thecuchikiller]

30:10 I remember play Star Wars on PSP and was like: "Wait a minute, what is this version?" Specially when you fight against the ghost of the protagonist's father for some reason.

[@Capta1nAsh]

my first experience of Half-Life was on PS2 and I loved it.

[@voodoochile8491]

Love all of your recent uploads. Thanks for making so much great content for us Gman.

[@maodijong3661]

Towards the end of the PS2 lifetime we got God of War 1 and 2, Urban Chaos and SW Unleashed are just a few example of devs getting used to hardware and being able to optimise visuals and performance!