20 Games You Can ONLY Play on PS3

20 Games You Can Only Play on PS3

Welcome to MojoPlays and even though the PS3 was only a couple generations ago, there are already some titles unplayable without a PS3 console and a copy of the game.

“The Eye of Judgement” (2007)

The PS2 got a little weird with their accessories, but the PS3 is where Sony got really crazy and started pushing things like the PlaySation Move and the PlayStation Eye. While the PlayStation Move was simply a Nintendo Wii-mote clone, the PlayStation Eye at least had some games that did some interesting things with it like The Eye of Judgement. Taking traditional card battles and making the entire experience far more interactive with full cutscenes of skirmishes playing out on screen as well as your cards becoming animated on the board like that Adventure Time episode. The mechanics were simple enough to understand and there were even numerous booster packs sold separately. This one is more understandable being only playable on the PS3 as finding a complete set with all the accessories necessary to even play is like finding the Ark of the Covenant.

“Yakuza: Dead Souls” (2012)

Yakuza has exploded in popularity in recent years and Sega has either remastered or ported every entry to modern hardware to let players experience the entire series, except for one. Yakuza: Dead Souls might not be canon to the overall Yakuza series, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less of an experience. Exchanging most of the standard melee style brawls for more traditional third person shooting, with players mowing down hordes of the undead in the streets of Kamurocho, Dead Souls is a fun “what if” style game that feels both out of place but also integral to the complete Yakuza series. It’s certainly not the best game in the entire series and has more than its fair share of problems, but it's without question one of the most unique and downright entertaining entries in the long running series that deserves its rightful place amongst the many other remakes and remasters.

“Drakenguard 3” (2014)

Given the near universal success of the Nier franchise, the series it spun-off from Drakenguard has started to receive quite a lot of demand for remasters or at the very least a way to replay the first and third games. As a prequel to the first game, Drakenguard 3 is also the one most closely associated with Nier. Drakenguard 3 features much of what made Nier Automata such a success, primarily its deep and evolving narrative with multiple endings, interesting characters and world building as well as solid hack and slash combat. Given the game released a month into the PS4’s lifecycle, it easily could have been a launch title for the PS4, and more fans would have had the chance to revisit Nier’s origins, but for now at least, we’ll all be digging into the past for this adventure. The original Nier ended up getting a remaster, so anything is possible, just not very likely.

“Haze” (2008)

Sony was desperate for their own “Halo” and tasked the developers of the beloved Timeplitters series with delivering them one. Naturally, just like their many other attempts, this one didn’t even come close to dethroning Halo and Free Radical was shut down shortly after. While not perfect, not even close, that doesn’t mean that Haze should be completely forgotten. The game had a lot of promise from a talented studio that clearly felt the pressure to deliver Sony’s “Halo Killer”. Just because the game didn’t meet expectations doesn’t mean that it should be lost to time forever and is still a solid 6 out of 10 experience that could offer FPS fans something different to mess around with over a lazy Saturday afternoon, but it’s more likely Sony just wants the game to be nothing more than a hazy memory.

“Tales of Xillia 2” (2014)

The Tales series is one of the longest running JRPG franchises in gaming alongside Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and each one is a well-crafted and engaging adventure that tells a unique story. One of the rare exceptions of a sequel, Tales of Xillia 2 continues that narrative after the events of the first game and witness the aftermath of that game’s conclusion. The game features the familiar and solid combat fans have come to expect from the series and the characters are well developed and have their own unique motivations throughout the narrative. Certain new additions to the familiar formula weren’t as well received such as the Debt System, but it rarely takes away from the overall experience. Given the first game was recently remastered, there’s every possibility the sequel will receive the same treatment, but for now the only way to continue the Tales of Xillia adventure is with a PS3 and a copy of the game.

“Killzone 2” (2009) & “Killzone 3” (2011)

The original Killzone might not have been the “Halo Killer” Sony had wanted but proved to be enough of a proof-of-concept that the series received two sequels, each vastly improving on the last. The graphics received a noticeable upgrade and even managed to surpass their controversial reveal trailer, with highly detailed environments and weapons. Combat felt grounded and heavy despite the sci-fi aesthetic and the two games managed to tell a surprisingly effective narrative that kept players invested in the Helghan war until the trilogy's conclusion. The duology also featured a robust and inventive multiplayer suite and both games still hold up incredibly well today, especially graphically and with a surprisingly amount of environmental interactivity. Despite the series never losing its popularity due to hopes Guerilla will one day return to the franchise, the final entry Shadow Fall remains the only Killzone game playable on PSN.

“ModNation Racers” (2010)

The PS3 was the pinnacle of user generated content with the LittleBigPlanet series giving players the tools to design their own game creations and naturally other games followed suit in different genres. ModNation Racers not only gave players a hilarious campaign to play through full of laugh out loud moments and memorable characters. However, the true meat of the experience was the insanely deep customization options available. Not only could players design their own racers, karts and tracks, but they could also set up obstacles to keep their races unpredictable. Unfortunately, the servers were shut down in 2018, effectively deleting all that user created content. The game is still playable but only on the PS3 system and you’ll be the only one who gets to experience your creations.

“Pain” (2007)

They just don’t make games like Pain anymore. A physics-based game in which your entire goal is to cause as much, well, pain, as possible to your character as you watch them helplessly ragdoll across different obstacles and watch replays of your character’s misery on repeat. The game was peak Jackass and mid-2000s humor and sending the various characters straight into a wall was always good for a laugh. It even featured cameos from other PlayStation franchises like Daxter and even David Hasselhoff for good measure. Since the game was a digital only title, the only real way to play is to have hopefully purchased the game upon release and still have access to your account, otherwise your greatest pain will be never seeing the Hoff getting stuck helplessly to a wall.

“Folklore” (2007)

The PS3 generation got off to a rocky start with a lackluster lineup, but even still, somehow Folklore managed to get overlooked in the early years of the PS3. Set in Ireland and heavily inspired by Celtic lore, Folklore featured two playable protagonists, each with their own reasons for investigating the quaint village by exploring the memories of the dead and can unlock powers by traveling to the Netherworld and befriending creatures from Irish mythology. You can collect dozens of creature powers and are free to swap out your four primary attacks at any time, adding a welcome level of strategy to the traditional hack and slash combat. One interesting aspect is even though both characters can collect the same souls, they utilize their powers differently. Folklore is an impressively artistic experience unlike anything else on the PS3 that unfortunately even fewer will get to experience now without a PS3 console.

“Resistance: Fall of Man” (2006) & “Resistance 2” (2008)

Throughout the PS3 generation, Insomniac Games truly lived up to their studio name, cranking out three Resistance games, and seven freaking Ratchet and Clank titles. And yet somehow, while the entire Ratchet and Clank library is on PSN, only the third Resistance game is playable on modern hardware. Resistance: Fall of Man was a marked departure for the traditionally platform heavy developer but managed to still showcase their inventiveness with weapons and an alternate reality alien invasion. Resistance 2 pushed the creativeness further with a more impactful narrative and larger scale battles as the alien invasion reached America. The gameplay remains as solid and fun as ever and the demand for a sequel or even a port of the entire series remains constant even today, but as of right now, players can only jump into the third game with no way to replay the events that led to that game’s conclusion.

“Tokyo Jungle” (2012)

Despite gaming becoming more mainstream during the PS3 era, that doesn’t mean that PlayStation left their weirdness behind them. Case in point, Tokyo Jungle. After the complete extinction of mankind, animals have once again risen to the top of the food chain and must now survive the concrete jungle left behind by humanity. Purely a survival game more than anything, you take control of numerous animals ranging from a Pomeranian to a lion and even a robot dog because why not. You need to forage for food, build your pack, and survive the other larger predators hunting you. These mechanics aren’t especially deep but that keeps you moving up the food chain and opens new areas for you to explore with each new species you unlock. The roguelike elements and mechanics can be a tad obtuse, but where else can you play as a deer hiding from predators under a trash can? Only on the PS3 now.

“3D Dot Game Heroes” (2010)

After the success of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series, many developers attempted to replicate what made that franchise so successful, but few managed to capture the pure essence of the series the way 3D Dot Game Heroes did. Taking inspiration from A Link to the Past, Game Heroes not only recaptured the look and feel of that classic title but even brought the 16 bit graphics into HD. Utilizing voxel based graphics, players can customize their hero brick by brick or use one of the many custom characters already available and set out into the pixelated world full of enemies, dungeons and puzzles just waiting for you to destroy into tiny voxel sprites. The entire game is filled with fan service and the devs clearly had a lot of love and respect for their inspirations. Unfortunately, 3D Dot Game Heroes wasn’t a massive success and has been most forgotten by all but those who played it.

“Lair” (2007)

The concept of having your own dragon to fly around and rain all hell down on the armies below is something we all dreamed of as kids playing with our toys and by all accounts Lair should have more than fulfilled that dream. However, thanks to Sony’s insistence on Six-Axis controls, Lair is rarely talked about today even despite the game eventually receiving a patch enabling normal controls. Developed by Factor 5, the creative team behind the incredible Star Wars Rogue Squadron games, Lair features both aerial gameplay as well as on foot with your dragon companion assisting you. The world of Lair is impressively detailed, especially the dragons themselves and the lore and narrative throughout the entire lengthy campaign is worth getting invested in. Unfortunately, and due mostly to Sony’s aforementioned meddling, Factor 5 shut down shortly after the release of Lair and Sony themselves would likely rather forget this game ever existed.

“Motorstorm” Series (2007-2011)

The Motorstorm series might have long been forgotten by most early adopters of the PS3, but not us. The races can quickly devolve into absolute chaos with various styles of vehicles all fighting for first alongside the impressive track deformation physics. The off-road racing series got increasingly more over-the-top as the games progressed, incorporating even more of the environmental destruction that would affect races into the core racing loop until its final entry Motorstorm Apocalypse. Pacific Rift took the racing series to a more tropical setting and Apocalypse brought the racers to the crumbling concrete jungle. The evolution of the Motorstorm series into a pure adrenaline racing franchise was pure fun and would have you screaming at the many near misses or last second finishes but unfortunately, all those Michael Bay-esque experiences are still trapped only on the PS3 for now. And no, Motorstorm RC doesn’t count either.

“SOCOM 4 U.S. Navy SEALs” (2011)

Sony’s push for live service games the entire PS5 generation has been nothing short of disastrous for them, but they’re somehow forgetting they already have the perfect series to make the leap to modern day that could easily be adapted for their live service model. The SOCOM series was THE definitive militaristic experience for players back on the PS2 and unfortunately was retired from service on the PS3. The fourth entry leaned heavier into traditional third person cover based shooter mechanics which was the style at the time and lost some of that military strategy that made the series so special, but it was still an entertaining time, made better with friends. The campaign is still solid, but the multiplayer is where the true SOCOM experience was defined and if given the chance, the return of SOCOM could be another Helldivers 2 level success for Sony, but instead they’ve left the series trapped on retro hardware.

“Puppeteer” (2013)

The victim of a poor release window, Puppeteer not only released just before the PS4, but on the surface looked like nothing more than a LittleBigPlanet clone. The entire game is presented as a stage play, and likewise all the effects, environments and characters on screen are tied (get it?) to traditional stage props. The game is incredibly gorgeous and has a surprisingly emotional narrative at its core stringing the entire experience together. Gameplay is a traditional platforming with the player cutting through the stage scenery and utilizing swappable heads that each have their own unique abilities. Puppeteer was a one-of-a-kind experience at the tail end of the PS3’s lifecycle and was deeply beloved by those who played it, but now the only way to experience this stage show is with a copy and a PS3.

“Twisted Metal” (2012)

The Twisted Metal series was a staple of the PS1 generation and although all those classics including the PS2 entry Twisted Metal Black are all available on PSN, the 2012 PS3 entry is not. The definitive car combat series, Twisted Metal 2012 attempted to reboot the series after the incredibly dark Twisted Metal Black, and despite the classic car carnage remaining intact alongside much larger arenas, new backstories and updated vehicles for every character, most Twisted Metal fans and especially newcomers playing the series for the first time after the success of the TV series are missing what has so far been the final entry in the franchise. Naturally the online servers have long since shut down, but the singleplayer and splitscreen modes are still a hell of a lot of fun that modern Twisted Metal fans have yet to experience.

“Gran Turismo 5” (2010) & “Gran Turismo 6” (2013)

Gran Turismo has defined every PlayStation generation and somehow despite the series’ enduring popularity, every GT game is console locked to its respective generation. Gran Turismo 5 and 6 are especially egregious as the Gran Turismo series essentially skipped the entire PS4 generation besides Gran Turismo Sport, which itself was focused primarily on the online aspect of the racing series and has naturally since been delisted and taken offline. Both 5 and 6 are time capsules of their respective eras with a combined 3000 drivable vehicles between them ranging from traditional to classic and supercars all perfectly recreated and road ready for players. Considering Gran Turismo fans waited nearly a decade for the next mainline entry only to be met with ludicrous microtransactions and endless grinding, Gran Turismo 5 and 6 represent the last pure Gran Turismo experiences from Polyphony.

“Demon’s Souls” (2009)

Although there is TECHNICALLY a way to replay Demon’s Souls thanks to Bluepoint’s remaster, surviving the world of Boletaria in the original Demon’s Souls is impossible without a PS3. Responsible for the future success and birth of a new genre, the Souls-Like, the inability to replay the original Demon’s Souls is a gross oversight by both PlayStation and FromSoftware and there are more than a few dedicated fans who prefer the original to the remaster. The original Demon’s Souls laid the groundwork for FromSoft’s future success, and the art style of the original can’t be beat even by the updated and gorgeous 4K visuals of the remaster. There’s just something appropriately gothic about the architecture of the original that is lost by upscaling the graphics. The Demon’s Souls remaster is a near one-to-one copy of the original 2009 release, but for die-hard Souls fans, it lost some of that charm that made the original so engrossing.

“PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale” (2012)

The idea of taking beloved mascots and pitting them against one another in a battle arena is such a good idea, that Nintendo did it in 1999 with Super Smash Bros, so naturally PlayStation tried to copy that formula. Now, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t still fun, in fact the only real downside to the lineup was the lack of characters that helped define PlayStation such as Snake or Cloud. The stages players battled on were well designed and the game did a decent job of representing the character’s respective powers and balancing all of them to keep things from feeling unbalanced. PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale managed to be more than a simple clone of a better series, but with no new entries and the only game in the franchise trapped on the PS3, modern gamers will never know who would win in a battle between Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank.

What’s your favorite PS3 game you have to dig out this recently retro console to play? Share your picks in the comments.