Maybe it’s a game that we didn’t hear of until years after its initial release, maybe it’s just that we were busy at the time in our lives when the game released, or maybe we just weren’t interested. In any event, all gamers have games that they’re a bit ashamed to have never played, and I’m no different. List of Shame is a short series of articles in which I plan to cover the games on my own personal List of Shame.

The first one is Ico, the 2001 Playstation 2 game that became its creators’ name. Team Ico later released Shadow of the Colossus, and has created the forthcoming The Last Guardian, a game to which I’m very much looking forward. But I’ve never played Ico.

I plan to remedy this very soon when the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection is released this Spring. I’d have bought the game even if it were only Shadow of the Colossus HD, because I absolutely loved that game, and the notion of picking up trophies as I play sounds like fun. The fact that it comes with Ico, which I’ve never played, seals the deal. I’m still waiting for the release date to be announced.

Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

The game has spawned a franchise and is one of the best-known Playstation 2 games out there. Its well-implemented analog controls and fighting mechanics are legend. It brought us some of the first quicktime events. And it brought boobs in video games into mainstream acceptance. Kind of.

Honestly though, while I had some minor issues with the second God of War game, the original is a true classic. Few people will argue that. The game is as addictively fun as it is brutally difficult. Fighting a huge wave of minotaurs and gorgons, balancing across that narrow wooden beam while jumping spinning blade wheels, climbing up a sheer stone cliff while dodging falling boulders – it’s all in a day’s work for my man Kraatos.

As I think back on the game, I go back and forth between feeling very fond of the characters and locations and feeling ambivalent about the game overall. I found the game’s plot a bit difficult to follow in the same way that the political machinations of Palpatine in the Star Wars prequel movies was murky. If I really stop and focus on either, I can tell you what’s going on, but it’s so convoluted that I quickly forget when I’m not directly thinking about it. I’d much prefer the more straightforward storytelling you can find in RPGs like Oblivion, Baldur’s Gate, or any of the Ultima series. Perhaps it’s the fact that it’s made in Japan. My personal experience with JRPGs is not extensive. I’ve never played any of the Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Grandia, or Shining Force games. I’ve never played Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy VII, or Dark Cloud. I tried Vagrant Story briefly, and I loved Dragon Quest IV and Phantasy Star I both so much that I later bought and played through the Nintendo DS remakes. But there’s definitely a certain aesthetic that goes along with JRPGs, and it can be a bit off-putting.

Having an entire party of characters but only being able to use three at any given time is a mechanic I remember from having played Final Fantasy IX. It’s odd. But the six main characters in the game are very well fleshed out. Vaan and Penelo are the stereotypical teenaged street kids with a stake in what’s going on. They’re friends, and there’s a hint of something more between them. The game does an excellent job of showing their playful good-natured immature side during cutscenes. Contrast that with Basch, a very serious honor-obsessed type who wouldn’t smile if Penelo’s shirt fell off. Balthier is a dashing Han Solo sky pirate, and his companion is a Viera – a strange magical humanoid with rabbit ears. Yeah – the Japanese have some kind of weird thing with furries. Lastly is Ashe, the woman meant to be queen. She’s obsessed with yet simultaneously afraid of power. The game sets up some excellent character conflicts.

The way magic works in this universe is interesting. I’m not talking about the spells with their lame -ara, -aga, -aja suffixes, I’m talking about the existence of “mist”, “magicite” and “nethicite” as powerful raw magical forces. Obtaining more “mist charges” and using them to enact “quickenings” is a very interesting mechanic, although very Final Fantasy in its presentation and execution. Ditto the summonable “espers” who must first be defeated and can then be summoned at will. While the espers aren’t much use in actual practice, the notion of their existence is an interesting facet of the setting. One of my favorite part of magic are “palings”. In practice in the game, they’re actually a huge pain since they prevent either magic or physical attacks from having any effect on an enemy, or else screw the player over in some other way. But the word “paling” along with its effect somehow brings to mind the kind of magic that would exist in the world of The Wheel of Time.

Another thing that struck me about the game is the sheer amount of content Square Enix was able to fit onto a single DVD. This is a Playstation 2 game, and it has the best graphics I’ve ever seen on the Playstation 2. The fact that all these very long cutscenes as well as the entire game can fit into a single DVD is damned impressive. And although I’ve always heard it said that Metal Gear Solid is the game with crazy long cutscenes, I don’t think it’s got much on Final Fantasy XII.

When the game finally ended, my characters were about level 50, some of them a bit lower. And I didn’t really have much trouble defeating the end bosses. But there was so very much left to do in the game. So many more sidequests, so many more level VI and VII hunts that I never attempted, more espers, more unexplored areas. Were I so inclined, or were I 14 years old again, I could probably spend another 100 hours in the game without repeating things too much.

Back in my days on the Commodore 64, I played through many Ultima games. I first got Ultima III and was amazed at its workings. Ultima IV was even better. But I never finished either of those games. I later went back and got the first two Ultima titles as well. Yet somehow, the one that really struck a chord with me was Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny.

Ultima V was far more than a series of dungeon dives and fetch quests. To my fifteen-year-old mind, Britannia was a coherent world full of realistic people and places, and a storyline that has stayed with me to this day. Ultima IV had been all about understanding the eight virtues: Honor, Valor, Compassion, Honesty, Humility, Justice, Sacrifice, and Spirituality. In Ultima V you learn that Lord British has been lost on an expedition to the underworld and that his throne has been usurped by the evil Lord Blackthorne. Blackthorne enforces tyrranical parodies of the eight virtues, and you later learn that he is in fact merely a puppet controlled by the three Shadowlords who’ve imprisoned Lord British in the Underworld. So you’ve got to travel the world, slowly gaining companions, learning the magic words that open the eight dungeons, each of which you’ll need to visit for different reasons, then follow the path of Lord British’s expedition to find where in the underworld he fell and thus retrieve his amulet. Through similarly convoluted quests, you’ll need to locate his sceptre and crown in different places, and learn the correct song to play on his harpsicord to open a secret panel and retrieve a certain sandalwood box from his personal chambers. The complexity and coherence of the game is astounding when you realize that it was made in the mid-eighties.

As I play through Final Fantasy XII, visiting and re-visiting towns until they become familiar, I begin to sense something that I haven’t since playing Ultima V two decades ago. Rabanastre feels like home in the same way that Britain did in Ultima V. Visiting the Sandsea tavern is like staying at the Wayfarer’s Inn. I like the way that certain items just aren’t available at certain shops. In order to buy everything you want, you might have to visit two or three very far-flung towns. The teleport crystals in Final Fantasy XII provide quick transport similar to Ultima’s Moongates. And while in Ultima V you could travel via ship, horse, hot air balloon, magic carpet, or grappling hook, Final Fantasy XII allows you a private airship.

Final Fantasy XII uses much the same magic system as its predecessors: base spell names like cure, fire, and haste with different suffixes (-ara, -aga, -aja) indicating the spell’s power and area of effect. Ultima V had a far more complex magic system: you had to learn which magic words to use and then combine them in different ways. And then, they wouldn’t work unless you’d puchased or gathered the correct magical reagents. Two of these: Mandrake Root and Nightshade, could not be purchased – you had to travel to a certain spot and dig them up.

Each of these games also has many optional side missions. Ultima V allowed you to travel to find the plans for the legendary HMS cape, which would rig your ship to travel like the wind. It let you find magical glass swords which would kill any creature with a single hit, but then shatter. You could join the underground resistance, or infiltrate “The Suppression” and sneak into Blackthorne’s castle. There was even a companion who’d join your party and then betray you. No – Yoshimo wasn’t the first betrayer in a video game.

Final Fantasy XII has an elaborate series of hunts in which you’re commissioned to locate and kill creatures. Similarly to Shadow of the Colossus, sometimes finding the creatures is more difficult than killing them. You’re then rewarded not only by the one who hired you, but also by the guild itself. Similarly, you can find and defeat “espers”, whom you are then able to summon to help you in combat.

Both games have enormous worlds that you could spend many hours exploring. There are entire dungeons and large areas in the games that I’ll never even visit. If I now had the time that I used to when I was 15, it’s possible that I might spend as much time with Final Fantasy XII as I did with Ultima V. But my life is very different now, and so I’m rushing to complete Final Fantasy XII before Borderlands comes out on October 26th.

Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

…or as we Americans know it better, Indigo Prophecy. They renamed the U.S. version for some reason when they removed the naughty bits. I’ve played through the somewhat more indecent Euro version, and the only differences are a sex minigame which is easily missed if you play a specific conversation wrong, and a sex cutscene near the game’s end, which is easily tame enough to show in a typical rated-R movie. Funny how things like that are fine in movies but taboo in video games.

Fahrenheit moves the whole adventure game genre out of the box by including quicktime events, timed sequences, stealth gameplay, and minigames. They also do a really good job of building suspense using split-screen multicamera. As much as the endgame plot stunk, I really love this game.

I started giving him recommendations, because the PS2 has a lot of really great games, and was fairly surprised to hear that although he’d played PsiOps and Destroy All Humans, he really hadn’t heard of most of the games I’d mentioned.

So I’ve sorted through mentally, and while I’ve avoided making this a top ten list, the anal overanalytical organizer in me has categorized the games into four groups of four: four Playstation two games I’ve always wanted to try but never got around to, four good games, four great games, and four that if you’ve never played you absolutely need to try. This article has turned out far larger than I’d originally intended, so I’m bolding the game titles should you want to skim what I’ve written.

So to start things out, let me hit the four Playstation 2 games that I’ve always wanted to try but never have. I won’t be able to give you too much on any of these, having not played them, but I hope to get a chance someday.

First up is Ico. The game is near-legendary, and I have yet to give it a shot. Currently, I’ve just got way more games than I can play, and I’m limiting myself to one Playstation 2 game at a time. Right now, it’s Final Fantasy XII, so I’ll have to finish that behemoth before I move on to something like Ico. I’m wanting to play this game primarily due to its reputation, as I have very little clue as to what the game’s about.

Fatal Frame is another series about which I know little. I know that Fatal Frame 2 and 3 are the titles in the series that made it to the PS2, and I know that it involves killing ghosts by taking their pictures before they can kill you. I’m hoping that it’s got more Resident Evil in it than Silent Hill.

Odin Sphere is a JRPG that sounds a lot like Dragon Warrior 4, an old game which I loved. I don’t know much about it other than it got good reviews. But I really like the idea of individual character stories which overlap and eventually intersect.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a game I’d always wanted to play, but at this point I likely won’t. If I want to play a Dragon Quest game, I’ll probably get the Nintendo Wii one: Dragon Quest X. Release date still to be announced.

With those out of the way, let my talk about some PS2 games that I have played: my “good games” category. Firstly, Katamari Damacy. I do have to admit that Katamari Damacy is a totally bizarre game. The premise is that the King of All The Cosmos, who by the way looks absolutely ridiculous, got drunk or something and knocked all the stars out of the sky. Yeah, he’s a big guy. As his diminutive son, it’s your job to put the stars back. The way you go about this is by pushing your magical sticky ball – a “Katamari” – around the Earth. As you roll it, things stick to it, and it snowballs. You start collecting small things: paper clips, dice, pencils, and as you grow you’ll find yourself collecting flower pots, road cones, and cats. While I never managed to finish the game, (stupid time limits!) I do have to admit that it’s a lot of fun to push a big ball of stuff around, slowly growing it larger and larger, eventually picking up people, cars, and skyscrapers.

The next game is Hitman 2. I actually didn’t play this game on the PS2 – I played the PC version. And I never finished it. When I got to this one level where everything was covered in snow, a sniper in a tower kept taking me out before I could get anywhere near the place I needed to be. But there were enough fun levels leading up to this part that I’ll still recommend the game. It’s a stealth game, which as anyone who knows my game-playing predilections will know is a huge plus for me. I remember well sneaking into a mansion and poisoning some guy’s sushi, sneaking into a skyscraper to be properly positioned to snipe a general who was in a neighboring penthouse, and infiltrating an underground lair. The game in some ways feels a bit like the Thief series, but with guns. Fun.

Another Playstation 2 game that I actually played on the PC is Metal Gear Solid 2. It’s the only game in the series that I played, and I really enjoyed it. I own copies of Metal Gear Solid 1 for the Playstation and MGS3 for the PS2, but haven’t gotten into either. To make it even worse, the PC port of MGS2 that I played was one of the worst ports I’ve ever played. The fact that I was able to get as far into the game as I did despite the bad port speaks to how good the game is. Odd then that I could never get into MGS1 or MGS 3. I’ll have to go back to them some day.

The last game in my “good games” list is Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. It’s the last title in the series to adhere to the original formula. After this game Resident Evil 4, which might as well have been part of a different series. But if you loved Resident Evil 2 like I did, you’re likely to get a kick out of Code Veronica. They made some minor modifications to the original engine to utilize the PS2’s 3D capabilities, but it definitely has the feel of the original games, which is why I enjoyed it so much. Unfortunately, the game is also very hard. After I’d gotten about halfway into the game, I found myself in a situation where I was gravely wounded without enough ammo or healing supplies to go on. I had to restart the entire game. The next time through, I got a good bit further, but found myself in the same predicament. This time, I quit rather than restarting the whole game. There’s only so much I can take.

Next up, my four “great” games. The one I’ll hit first is God of War. If you haven’t heard much about this game, you probably don’t play games very much. Kraatos is a badass Spartan who could kick the crap out of most of the characters in 300. Kraatos has the attitude of Jack Burton, the skill of Darth Maul, and the luck of Bruce Campbell’s Ash. He spends most of the game telling the gods to piss off, and decides to kill Ares and become the god of war. A great movie quote comes to mind: “Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That’s what’s important! Valor pleases you, Crom… so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!”

I’m currently playing Final Fantasy XII on and off when I’m not in the mood for Far Cry 2 or Thief Deadly Shadows, and when the big TV isn’t available for me to play Resident Evil 5. It’s a JRPG, and I guess I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with JRPGs. I can only take so much of them, but at the same time, they tend to be very very long games. That’s probably why I’ve taken a few month-long breaks from the game before going back to it. I do like the Final Fantasy games, but I’ve only ever played IX to completion. Final Fantasy XII is a great game – complex story, interesting skill and level advancement system, and certainly lots to find. I’m actually amazed that they could fit everything they did on one disc. If you’re into JRPGs, there’s no reason not to recommend it.

Indigo Prophecy has its plusses and minuses, but for me the fantastic gameplay outweighs the mindbendingly bizarre plotline that emerges in the latter portions of the game. It’s an adventure game in the vein of Syberia or Still Life, but in addition to the staple puzzles, the game incorporates certain real-time elements. In conversations, if you fail to pick a response within the allowed time, your character will mumble something stupid or incriminating. Essentially, something bad for you. There are quicktime-type events that control action sequences, stealth sequences, and split-screen action segments that build tension by showing you how close that cop is to opening the door while you frantically try to hide the evidence. You play as Marcus, an everyman who wakes up in the bathroom of a diner with a dead body and blood on his hands. He’s got no memory of what happened, but there’s a cop on the way. The plot picks up from there, and he struggles to find out what’s going on. Then the game switches and you find yourself playing the cops investigating the murder. It’s pretty wild playing both angles, but it makes for some great storytelling.

Shadow of the Colossus is designed by the same team that worked on Ico. You may remember me having written about it in my “Keepers” segment. I’m willing to bet that most of the PS2 games in this column will show up in “Keepers” eventually if they haven’t already. Shadow of the Colossus is a beautiful game distilled down to its core elements. There are no hit points, you can’t buy new equipment, and nothing to unlock. Just a boy finding and defeating colossi – a giant series of boss battles. And it’s awesome. Read the Keepers article for more info.

With those dozen games out of the way, it’s time to hit the four games I think are absolutely must-play titles for the Playstation 2. Firstly, Beyond Good and Evil. I’m hoping that the good people of Lungfishopolis aren’t staging a coup over my incessant raves about this title, but what can I say? I love the game. It’s available on the Playstation 2, so of course I had to include it. It’s got action, stealth gameplay, intrigue, mini-games, stuff to collect, and talking anthropomorphic animals. What more could you ask?

Okami is another seriously overlooked game. Although I never played the PS2 version, I’m roughly 80% finished with the Wii version of the game, and it’s fantastic. Definitely of the Zelda ilk, Okami puts you in the role of a Japanese god who takes the form of a white dog. You spend the game running around, battling increasingly powerful demons, and turning the blighted land into a beautifully colored landscape, which ends up being surprisingly satisfying. The graphics in this game, while not photorealistic, are just incredible.

Next up is Resident Evil 4. While it’s a big departure from the previous titles in the series, Resident Evil 4 is just a great game. Although I’ve always preferred using a mouse and keyboard for shooters, the laser sights made the joypad usable. And the game had some seriously awesome moments. Battling insane villagers while riding in a runaway minecart has to be my favorite, but the jetski chase and the part where you need to protect a girl with a sniper rifle were also fun. There are some portions of the game that are maddeningly difficult, but nothing impossible. Plus, you get to make the president’s daughter spend time in a dumpster.

Lastly, the game from which I got the title for this site: Psychonauts. Psychonauts has got to be one of my favorite games ever, and with good reason. It’s fun, and it’s incredibly funny. I even got my wife to play through the game as far as Lungfishopolis, which is at least halfway. The premise here is that a psychic kid named Rasputin has broken into a summer camp for psychic kids, and is being sent home. He’s only got a couple days in which to train before he’s got to leave. In the meantime, he uncovers a diabolical conspiracy.

Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

It’s been three and a half years since I first played Shadow of the Colossus, and despite my complaints about the camera angle and the horse, it stands out for being one of the most simple and one of the most beautifully cinematic games I’ve ever played. In honor of this week’s announcement that a Shadow of the Colossus movie is in development, I’ve chosen the game for this week’s feature.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, Shadow of the Colossus came late in the Playstation 2’s life cycle, and the basic plotline was that of a boy, who shows up at the outset of the story bearing a young girl’s body. He visits a shrine wherein dwells a spirit/diety/demon who has the power to restore her to life. In return, it asks that he destroy the sixteen statues lining the main hall of the shrine. In order to destroy each, he must defeat a colossus. And so armed with only a sword, bow, and his horse Argo, he sets out to locate and destroy the colossi.

The battles against the colossi are epic boss battles, and each has at least as much puzzle in it as it does combat. The sense of scale is amazing, and you truly feel like a mouse battling an elephant.

I’m glad I’ve kept this game. Although I did go back to replay it once, I only got as far as the sixth colossus before getting stuck. When you play the game on hard, it is truly more difficult than the normal difficulty level.

Ah, the Last Generation. We here in Lungfishopolis remember so well when it used to be the current generation, back before we had high-definition displays and online co-op gaming. There are still a number of gems to be found here. Read on, and you may see a few that make great inexpensive gifts.

Playstation 2

The Playstation 2 had a long reign as the king of consoles, and during that time it amassed a great number of excellent game titles. Although it’s all last-gen, this list is truly the creme de la creme.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Although I’ve never been as big a fan of the Prince of Persia games as many others have, I’ve played the games enough to admit their appeal. Crazy platformers with a lot of fighting, the Prince of Persia games were the first to implement real parkour into a video game. You can get a copy on EBay for around $8.

Kingdom Hearts
I’ve never played Kingdom Hearts, but I understand the draw of an RPG that puts familiar Disney characters into more serious roles and hands them crazy big swords. Essentially Final Fantasy with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, I’ve known many adults who’ve played and enjoyed Kingdom Hearts and its sequel. As I look, Kingdom Hearts is going on EBay for around $6, and Kingdom Hearts II for closer to $10.

Dark Cloud 2
I’ve been meaning to get myself of copy of Dark Cloud 2 for a while, and have never gotten around to it, largely due to the wealth of other games I’d rather play. An action/adventure RPG that I’ve often heard compared to Zelda, Dark Cloud 2 has you time-travelling in an attempt to save your world from a villain from the future intent on erasing everything. If you’re lucky, you can snag a copy on EBay for just under $20.

Katamari Damacy
This quirky game from 2004 is still a lot of fun. In Katamari Damacy, you play a microscopic prince whose job it is to help his father, The King of All Cosmos, to rebuild the stars which he’s accidentally destroyed. This is done by rolling a magical ball called a katamari through various environments, and picking up objects which stick to the katamari if they’re small enough. At first, you collect paper clips, pennies, and other small items. As the katamari grows in size, you’re eventually able to collect pencils, toasters, chairs, cars, houses, and eventually mountains. The game is completely bizarre, yet it’s so much fun to stick the family cat to the katamari, and eventually roll down the street collecting pedestrians and cars. You can get Katamari Damacy for $15 on EBay.

Resident Evil 4
I’m a firm believer that shooters need to be played with a keyboard and mouse, and that’s why I was so surprised to find myself enjoying Resident Evil 4 so much, when I had to constantly aim with a thumbstick. Somehow, they made it work. And it works very well. Resident Evil 4 is a fantastic game, and if you’ve never had the pleasure, now’s the time to grab yourself a copy and try the game. You can get it for between $10 and $20 on EBay, depending on whether it’s new or used.

Indigo Prophecy
I’ll admit that the plot at the very end of Indigo Prophecy gets so convoluted and wacky that it’s laughable, but the vast majority of the game is just fantastic. The game’s creators have taken the standard adventure game and added timed sequences, action sequences, stealth sequences, and a lot of minigames. There’s even a timer on conversations – if you take too long to respond, the game picks an option that’s usually a stuttered response worse than any of the options it gave you. The game has a ton of conventions that completely defy the norms of the genre. For example, you alternately play both the role of the suspect and the detectives tracking him down. And there’s a sanity meter rather than a life gauge – if it drops too low, you’ll commit suicide. Better not spend too much time looking at that picture of your ex-girlfriend! You can get Indigo Prophecy for $15 on EBay.

God of War
It’s unlikely that I even need to explain what God of War is to you if you’ve got a Playstation 2. Suffice it to say that it’s mostly a brawler with plenty of platforming and puzzle elements, and that its graphics approach the graphical quality of some of the first Playstation 3 games. You can find God of War on EBay for around $10, and God of War 2 on EBay for around $12.

Psychonauts
As I said two weeks ago when I listed Psychonauts in the PC section, I can’t say enough good things about Psychonauts. If you haven’t yet played this game, you may not know that this site got its name from Psychonaut’s comedy sequence, which may very well be the greatest single level in any video game, ever. An action/adventure platformer that strives for photorealism about as much as Indiana Jones strives for a job as a snake charmer. Psychonauts is the only game to date that has made me laugh out loud, and it did so on numerous occasions. If you’ve never had the pleasure, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy. You can get it for well under $20 on EBay.

Beyond Good and Evil
Another game that’s appearing in more than one section is Beyond Good and Evil. It may be my favorite game of all time. It has stealth gameplay, fighting, vehicle driving, puzzles, collection, and mini-games. The characters are lovable, and the story is well-written. For the record, I’ve bought four copies of this game over the years. A year or so after I finished playing on the PC, I wanted to replay it but the disc was scratched, so I bought another copy. Then, I bought a PS2 copy to give as a gift. A couple months ago, Steam was having a sale and I picked up another copy for $5. Currently, I’m seeing “buy it now” sales on EBay for $4 for the PS2 version. It’s so sad that such a great game is fetching so little money. But it’s good for those of you who’ve missed it.

Shadow of the Colossus
A phenomenal game that far too few people have had a chance to play, Shadow of the Colossus is a gem from the same folks that designed the cult favorite Ico. The story is left very vague, but the game focuses more on cinematics. In an attempt to save the life of a young woman, the protagonist follows the direction of an unknown spirit, and travels the land, slaying huge monsters known as Colossi. The battles against the colossi are as much puzzles as they are fights, and they are truly epic. You can find Shadow of the Colossus on EBay for around $15.

Original XBox

Doesn’t seem like too many people own an old XBox anymore. But in the spirit of being complete, I’m going to give you ten good XBox games. Who knows? You might have a nephew who’s only ever played Halo on the thing and hasn’t yet gotten to experience any of the system’s truly good games.

Max Payne
If you’re a fan of third-person shooters, and you’re playing on the XBox, you won’t find many better candidates. The recent movie was a hideous adaptation of what was once one of the very best games available on the XBox. Its use of bullet-time slow-down effects was unprecedented at the time, and the story of a man out for vengeance after having lost his family played the righteous wrath card perfectly. You can now find a brand new copy on EBay for a paltry $6.

Lego Star Wars
Although a bit too unnervingly simplistic for my personal tastes, lots of people loved the Lego Star Wars games. They’re actually really good for kids, as the game’s only violence involves the rapid disassembly of Legos. Even today, copies are hard to come by, but you can likely find one on EBay for $20.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
I ripped on this game pretty hard after having played it on my PC. After all, it’s H.P. Lovecraft – how could I expect anything less than greatness? But although the frustration factor on the PC version was pretty high at times, and I did actually encounter a game-breaking bug, the overall tension towards the beginning of the game and the amazing chase scenes were probably worth the $10 you’ll pay for the game on EBay.

Prince of Persia
As mentioned above, I’ve played the Prince of Persia games enough to admit their appeal, although they’re not my favorites. You can get a copy on EBay for no more than $9 – less if you’re lucky.

Half-Life 2
It’s true that Half-Life 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, although if I were going to recommend it, the old XBox would be the very last platform I’d recommend it on. PC is by far a superior choice. Still, it’s an absolutely fantastic game, and you should be able to find it on EBay for around $5.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
X-Wing, Rebel Assault, Jedi Knight, Rogue Squadron, Lego Star Wars, Empire at War – there has been no lack of good Star Wars video games. But probably the most well-regarded of all of them was Knights of the Old Republic. This Bioware RPG not only allowed you to choose between dark and light, and gave you the ability of assembling companions of varying moral shades, it had a fantastic storyline, and a great twist. You can get a used copy on EBay for around $12.

Indigo Prophecy
This is another title I mentioned previously. The ending of Indigo Prophecy was worse than season 3 of Heroes, but the majority of the game’s story was much closer to season 1 of Heroes. That is to say that most of it was very good. Indigo Prophecy is a totally new take on the adventure game genre, and should not be missed. You can grab a copy on EBay for around $5.

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Whether or not you like Vin Diesel’s movies, this was a fantastic game. Primarily a shooter with a lot of RPG and stealth elements, the game’s storyline and voice acting are top notch. It must be one of the XBox’s best games. Somehow, I’m seeing it listed on EBay for just under $1.

Jade Empire
Before Brandon recommended it to me, I hadn’t even considered playing Jade Empire. I’m glad I did. While the fighting and movement are decidedly last-gen, the game’s story is simply awesome. And the River Raid type minigame is fun too. It’s going for about $3 on EBay.

Psychonauts
Ditto what I said above in the PS2 section. Great game, very funny. The XBox version seems to be a bit hard to find nowadays, but you could find it for as little as $15.

The Affordable Gaming Committee wishes you happy Holiday shopping.