Armstrong Playstation 2 Page

Though a long and agonizing multi-week research session led me to the Xbox as the console of choice for the Armstrong boys (that's Andrew and I), it was impossible to ignore the huge selection of games available on the PS2. My son Andrew, in particular, was dieing to have a few of the PS2-exclusive titles that had come out recently like Dragon Ball Z Budokai, Star Wars Bounty Hunter, Kingdom Hearts (Disney characters with Final Fantasy and other Anime-style characters) or the newest Lord of the Rings game (though that one did make it to other consoles). 

We had also been wanting to get Holly one of the dance-mat games, and PS2 seems to be the way to go for that. All the dance mats we've seen have been for PS2, and it looks like Dance Dance Revolution Max is the best dance game and it is only on PS2. And then there are a few PS2-only titles that I was jealous of, like The Getaway (think Guy Ritchie), Burnout 2, and of course GTA: Vice City.

I considered renting the PS2 for a week to let him get these games out of his system, but when Santa delivered a PS2 on Christmas, all my troubles were solved. It is great having both systems, but now that I
have used both, my reasons for originally choosing the Xbox have really been borne out. It really is a better unit, technologically. It is hard to argue against the fantastic selection of games on the PS2, but the Xbox selection is certainly growing every day. Bottom line, though: If you can afford to have both, I highly recommend it.

Here are the games we own so far:

Game BDA Rating ABA Rating Comments / Review
Dragon Ball Z Budokai     The kids and I are super-fans of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Andrew is the biggest fan of all of us. From the first time he even heard about this game, I could tell that it would be extremely difficult to keep a PS2 out of the house for long when this game was released. To tell the truth, they could put "DBZ" on a really crappy game, and half the kids in America would still line up to buy it. Luckily this game isn't crappy. I have barely played it at all, but Andrew has put many hours into it, including some one-on-one fighting against his cousin Cameron while we were visiting in Oklahoma over the Christmas holidays.

The game follows the DBZ TV show incredibly well, and Holly and I can enjoy ourselves quite a bit just sitting and watching Andrew play. The voices are all straight from the show and very well done.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 9.6   This is simply the greatest video game ever created. There's still room for improvement, but so far, this is the best.

Click here for my full review. (Too big for this table)

 Graphics: 9  Sound: 10  Gameplay: 9  Value: 10  Tilt: 10
Dance Dance Revolution Max     This game and the accompanying dance mat were meant for Holly, but the whole family has gotten into the act. Maybe we'll post some video here someday.
ATV Offroad Fury 7.8   This is made by the same people who made the excellent Motocross Madness 1 and 2 for the PC and actually plays quite a bit like those games. It also came for Christmas and we're glad to have it.

Multiplayer is quite fun and we've actually played this more in multiplayer mode than single-player.

 Graphics: 8  Sound: 7  Gameplay: 8  Value: 8  Tilt: 9
ATV Offroad Fury 2     <review coming eventually>
Stuntman 7.6   Driving game where you perform movie stunts in as few "takes" as possible. We rented this a while back and liked it, but not enough to buy. A 25% off Blocklbusters "Previously Played" games sale made it affordable, and now that we've spent more time with it, we like it even more than when we rented it. At that time, it seemed super-difficult once you got past the first few stunts and got frustrating quickly.
 Graphics: 7  Sound: 7  Gameplay: 8  Value: 8  Tilt: 8
SSX Tricky     Andrew got hooked on this game after an extended Xbox rental. When he saw the PS2 version on the "previously played rack" at Blockbuster, he snagged it immediately. I definitely think the Xbox version was better (sharper graphics, and excellent surround sound actually helping you determine opponents' positions), but this is well worth owning thanks to the low price.
Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory     <review coming eventually>
Virtua Fighter 4     <review coming eventually>
Spider-Man The Movie     This was meant for Andrew, but he hasn't tried it out yet.