The 10 Weirdest Licensed PS2 Games
“Playboy: The Mansion” (2005)
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In our first entry of “who was asking for this?”, we have Playboy: The Mansion which takes all the mechanics of The Sims and makes it a bit naughtier, focusing primarily on the “Woohoo”. Players become the famed Hugh Hefner, building their mansion from the ground up and maintaining the magazine by scheduling photo shoots as well as designing the latest issue cover to cover. As Hugh, players are also expected to build relationships with the other characters and NPCs in the mansion, but do so by discovering their interests through numerous Playboy-style events such as parties and various other mini-games. Playboy: The Mansion divided and disappointed both fans and critics as some were expecting to experience the sexy lifestyle of Hugh Hefner and those looking for a Sims-style experience were also let down by the game’s shallow mechanics.
“The Sopranos: Road to Respect” (2006)
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The release of Grand Theft Auto 3 revolutionized gaming on not only the PS2, but industry wide. Suddenly every developer was attempting to find a way to make their game an open world experience, even if the property clearly wasn’t designed for it. The Sopranos: Road to Respect looked to ride the line between a linear, story-driven experience and an open world to explore within the wildly popular Sopranos universe and failed at both. As players attempt to rise through the ranks, they’re met with minimal game mechanics, a glitchy and buggy un-open world and frequently battle falling though the environment more than any other rival family. Press “X” to get made at your own risk. At least the show’s cast made sure to give it their all.
“Dancing with the Stars” (2007)
As one of the longest and most popular dancing competitions on TV, it was only a matter of time before the series got the video game treatment. And within the context of the show, applying the also wildly popular Dance Dance Revolution mechanics to the title seemed like a no brainer. However, outside of the basic dance steps that can be completed using the included dance pad or the PS2 controller, the devs forgot to build any other meaningful content into the game and included a lackluster track list compared to the well established DDR games on the market. Dancing with the Stars could have made a great tie-in with the far more popular DDR, but as a standalone game, it couldn’t nail the steps and was unfortunately eliminated.
“Pimp My Ride” (2006)
Pimp My Ride was one of MTV’s most unexpected successes, running for multiple seasons as viewers watched Xzibit take people’s broken down junker cars and make them into the envy of the highway. An adaptation easily could have focused on the customization aspect of the show, allowing players to detail their dream ride from top to bottom. However, the developers seemed to focus on this aspect last, along with much of the rest of the game’s production values. Instead of immediately jumping into the garage, they first must drive the jalopy around Pimp City (no, I’m not kidding) and earn enough money for the vehicle's upgrades by crashing into other drivers and knocking the change out of their cup holders. Even the customization aspects are diluted into simple “press the button” mini-games leaving much of the customization OUT of the player’s hands.
“American Idol” (2003)
American Idol took the world by storm upon its release, giving normal people the chance to live out their dreams on stage and sing for all the world to see. For those of us less musically inclined, American Idol released a home version of the game on PS2 but forgot what the show was ACTUALLY about. Instead of players actually singing the onscreen lyrics, after making their own custom Idol wannabe, the player’s finger coordination gets more of a workout than their vocal chords. Because why would a singing competition really be about singing, right? Using the PS2 gamepad, players perform DDR-style rhythm button prompts and are critiqued by the judges for their mediocre renditions of popular songs. American Idol could have been such an easy win had the developers taken more cues from Karaoke Revolution than DDR.
“Def Jam: Fight For NY” (2004)
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What happens when you get some of the biggest names in Hip Hop to duke it out in the underground New York fighting scene? Honestly, one of the best games on this entire list that has no right to be as engaging an experience as it is. As the follow-up to the equally well-received Vendetta, Fight for NY expands on the fighting styles allowing for fighters to use not only wrestling like in the original, but also street fighting, kickboxing, and numerous other forms of martial arts. Players can also use the environment to their advantage, utilizing not only the various obstacles in the arena but the crowd as well. Even more interesting is the game’s story mode that manages to be surprisingly complex and engaging while also introducing numerous celebrity cameos such as Danny Trejo and Carmen Electra in addition to an impressive 67 other playable characters.
“Little Britain: The Video Game” (2007)
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Another venture into video games no one was asking for, Little Britain: The Video Game is not only one of the weirdest licensed games on the PS2, but it might also very well be one of the worst video games of all time. Based on the popular British sketch comedy show of the same name, even beyond the outright crude humor, there’s barely anything that would be considered a video game here whatsoever. Featuring a collection of only seven mini games based on sketches within the show, Little Britain: The Video Game would have trouble passing as even a budget title with abhorrent controls and physics as well as unappealing visuals and presentation. Even diehard fans of the show would have a hard time defending this game’s existence.
“Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure” (2006)
Although carrying the creator’s name, Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is not in fact about making rhino-themed clothing. In Contents Under Pressure, gamers step into the dystopian city of New Radius and must fight and tag their way through the numerous boroughs to start an uprising against the faceless tyrannical regime in power. Using their spray paint cans, players leave their mark across the city in a variety of colorful styles and occasionally come to blows with rivals as well as the military patrolling the streets. Even with the ludicrous premise, the game plays things completely straight, rarely cracking a joke as the title escalates the levels player character Trane must go to in order to leave his mark. Unfortunately, despite being well received, the game never earned a sequel in which to build off the markings of a great title.
“WWE Crush Hour” (2003)
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Strange kart racers based on popular properties are nothing new, just look at Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing, but something so childish would never fit the bone crushing action of the WWE, so instead they took inspiration from the Twisted Metal series. The developers at Pacific Coast did a surprisingly admirable job adapting the normal wrestling nature of the show to a destruction derby style of gameplay with many of the arenas being based off matches directly from the series as well as each wrestler's car feeling appropriate to their character. With 20 playable characters after everyone has been unlocked as well as special moves for each, what could have been a cheap gimmick might not have all the complexity or gameplay depth of the series it took inspiration from but also could have ended up as nothing more than a very weird cash grab.
“Akira: Psycho Ball” (2002)
Out of all the ways to adapt the beloved Akira anime, why out of all the many, many possibilities, why was pinball seemingly the only option? You could have done something similar to Galerians which in itself is essentially an Akira game in all but name anyways. You could have done a racing game using the game’s awesome assortment of bikes racing through the neon soaked streets of Neo-Tokyo. You could have even done a shooter-style game as either the military battling a mutated Tetsuo or Kenada attempting to rescue his friend. But no. We got a pinball game. A competent pinball game, but still, a pinball game.
