A few decades on, there remains a significant number of licensed games from the PlayStation 2 that continue to hold a special place in the hearts of many gamers. After the overabundance of PlayStation 1 licensed games, the quality started to even out a bit more, leading to gamers being blessed with several great titles from television, film, or comic books.
While there were more than a handful of poor titles, most of these have thankfully faded into gaming obscurity. Bad games aside, here are seven licensed titles that are still the gold standard in licensed games over 20 years later.
7 Godzilla: Save The Earth
During the PlayStation 2 life cycle, Godzilla would be a prevalent fixture with a total of three titles, two of which ended up on the PlayStation 2, with Godzilla: Save the Earth being acknowledged as the best of the three games. Godzilla: Save the Earth is an absolute dream come true, not just for Toho fans but for character-fighting players as well. All the usual suspects are present, Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, and Rodan, but it also has some deeper cuts with appearances by Maugeri from Ishiro Honda’s The Mysterians, Jet Jaguar, and Megalon.
Where Godzilla: Save the Earth excelled was in its couch co-op gameplay, where players could create their Toho monster dream team. Outside of the ludicrous fun of the standard gameplay modes, Godzilla: Save the Earth also came with additional activities such as Battleships mode, which allowed the player to roam around as one of the monster’s destroying battleships, and a bizarre basketball mode called Vorillium Basketball, which leans into Toho’s sillier Showa-era Godzilla entries. It's easy to see why fans are clamoring for a remake or re-release.
6 Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds
As any player can attest, licensed games can be rather hit or miss, particularly with titles adapted from a television series. During the PlayStation 2’s life cycle players would encounter several poor television-to-game translations with the likes of Knight Rider, Miami Vice, 24: The Game, and The Shield. One title did manage to avoid the poor licensed game curse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds.
Following the Xbox-only Buffy the Vampire Slayer title two years prior, developers Eurocom Entertainment Software would create Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds for multiple platforms and allowed the player to slay demons and the undead not just as Buffy, but as a number of the Scooby Gang as well. It remains a fun little off-shoot from the fifth series involving alternative dimensions. It would even have a tie-in comic and novel for those wanting even more of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fix.
5 James Bond: Everything or Nothing
The PlayStation 2, like its predecessor the PlayStation 1, was no slouch when it came to James Bond-centric titles. There could be an argument to say both consoles suffered from an oversaturation of titles featuring the world-renowned spy and womanizer, but any gamer willing to rummage through the copious titles would be greeted with more than a handful of quality gaming experiences. One such title would be James Bond: Everything or Nothing, the third Bond title to release in little over three years.
It would be developer EA Redwood Shores’ second attempt at the secret agent and the one to have a lasting impression on both players and critics. With some great action set pieces, such as abseiling down a mineshaft as it collapses, and the inclusion of Pierce Bronson’s likeness and vocals, it was a great final send-off for his iteration of the spy after the dire cinematic offering of Die Another Day. Throw in Willem Defoe as KGB agent Nikolai Diavolo and an appearance by classic Bond henchman Jaws, and James Bond: Everything or Nothing is a near-perfect licensed game.
4 The Simpsons: Hit & Run
The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a game that a certain generation of players are salivating at the prospect of it having either a re-release or remaster, due in large part to the wonderful memories attached to it. And rightly so, as The Simpsons: Hit & Run manages to take everything from its prior title, The Simpsons: Road Rage, and expand it into a beloved classic full of open-world mischief.
If The Simpsons: Road Rage was a riff on SEGA’s Crazy Taxi, then The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a family-friendly Grand Theft Auto clone, and that’s no bad thing. Being able to switch between countless characters from the show, all voiced by their respective actors, and drive various cars or karts from iconic episodes while causing wanton destruction & mayhem in a 3D Springfield. It was a dream come true for fans of the show. Outside of some frustrating missions, The Simpsons: Hit & Run is that rare beast, a blast of nostalgia with fundamentally great gameplay.
3 Batman: Vengeance
Before Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum created a critically acclaimed legacy and long-running game series, Ubisoft would, in one of their many licenced titles, release the best Batman game of the early 2000s with Batman: Vengeance. Although it wasn’t the first game set within Bruce Timm’s art-deco-stylised Gotham, it would be the first entry to do the unique setting justice.
Returning from Batman: The Animated Series would be legendary voice-over artists like the late Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Tara Strong, and Arleen Sorkin, all of whom would reprise their roles from the seminal show. While the combat and moment would not be as fluid as in the later Arkham games, nevertheless controlling Batman in Batman: Vengeance was still a joy, as was getting to use a plethora of his wonderful toys and gadgets.
2 Ghost Rider
Despite the feature film’s critical mauling at the hands of fans and critics alike, the reaction to 2007’s Ghost Rider film has softened over the years, sometimes falling into the so-bad-its-good camp. Although it would get a soft-reboot-cum-semi-sequel in 2012 with Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which would also be critically savaged, the original film did get an in-universe sequel of sorts shortly after its theatrical release. A mixture of Devil May Cry, God of War, and Road Rash would create the highly entertaining and aptly titled tie-in Ghost Rider.
Granted, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel and falls very much into the clone-title territory, but those who sit down with the game in 2023 will find a fun, adrenaline-fuelled, demonic smack-down and possibly the best Ghost Rider-themed game outside of Marvel’s Midnight Suns. A bonus for the Ghost Rider game is the ability to unlock Blade as a playable character with his unique move-set, individual cut-scenes, and bike sections. Ghost Rider is still one of the great unsung tie-in games more than a decade on.
1 Def Jam: Fight for NY
With its original title, Def Jam: Vendetta, developers AKI Corporation & EA Canada created one of the best EA Sports Big titles by mashing up rap stars with pro-wrestling mechanics to impressive effect. A year and a half later the same developers would release Def Jam: Fight for NY, which took the best elements of the previous title and expanded everything to ridiculous heights. Better music, a roster of 67 fighters to choose from, great finishing moves, a ludicrously entertaining story mode, and interactable stages to fight in all accumulates into the perfect fighting concoction, whether the player was a fan of the Def Jam label or not.
Along with The Simpsons: Hit & Run, it remains one of the most iconic licensed video games. Want to play as Ice-T facing off against Flavor Flav, engage in a smack-down between Henry Rollins and Snoop Dog, or see Ludacris drop-kick Sean Paul? Then Def Jam: Fight for NY is the perfect game. The hope for a remaster is strong among the gaming community, and if the music licensing could be worked out, a whole new generation would discover this classic fighter.