A few weeks ago, we looked at the TimeSplitters trilogy, the newest PlayStation 2 games to hit PS+. Believe it or not, these were the first PlayStation 2 games to be given the Review Crew treatment, which led to a lot of people asking when I would be tackling the rest of the PS2 games released in 2024. The answer to that question is RIGHT NOW! We're going to go back and look at three PlayStation 2 games that were recently added to the PlayStation Plus subscription. I'm talking about classics like Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Summoner and Tomb Raider: Legend. It's cool news that these games were added to the PlayStation 5, but are any of them actually worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Edge, Game Informer and other classic magazines to see what the critics said back when these three games first came out. I sure hope you're ready for strong disagreements, because this is a very divisive episode of PlayStation Plus Review Crew!


By 2006, Lara Croft was in something of a rut. The last entry, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, was fraught with development problems, which ultimately led to it under-performing in both sales and with the critics. It was clear that for Lara to continue her raidin' ways, she was going to need to reinvent herself. The result was Tomb Raider: Legends, the franchise's first reboot. This allowed Crystal Dynamics to rethink a lot of the gameplay elements and incorporate other trends that were happening across the industry. It also felt like a natural time to transition to the next-generation, what with the PlayStation 3 coming out later that year and the Xbox 360 already on store shelves.

Unfortunately, we're talking about the PlayStation 2 version. As you can imagine, it was the Xbox 360 version that everybody wanted to cover, so we're pulling from a limited number of sources. Thankfully, Edge is one of the few magazines to cover the last-generation version. Giving it an 8, they concluded: “To suggest that Legend was a jack of all trades and master of none would be unfair – much of Crystal's work here is masterful, not the least the Lara model itself, which links artful animation with such elegance as to make it one of the best ever created, and whatever streaming technology has facilitated the near-exclusive use of high-resolution textures is similarly deserving of praise. But you can see why such a claim would be made: Legend covers many bases, and has knowingly sacrificed a considerable part of the purity which, for many, made Tomb Raider memorable to begin with. Some may argue over what the series should have become, but what's important is that it has made that tough decision for itself, and established a rock-solid foundation for the inevitable, now justified successors.”

While Edge's 8 out of 10 is the lowest score we're going to talk about, you're going to find that all of the Tomb Raider: Legend reviews are all in that 80% range. For example, it averaged an 8.3 out of 10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Jeremy summed it up this way: “What makes Legend such a welcome change from Raider norm is that it's a complete reinvention of the aging franchise. The graphics are wonderful, and Lara moves fluidly yet still tackles obstacles with precision. Even the narrative is engrossing, thanks to running commentary by Lara's own Cortana-come-latelies. The loneliness that made the first game so haunting is absent, but the trade-off is a much greater sense of purpose to all the grave spelunking. Lara does still have a few stumbling blocks to overcome, though. The overhauled combat engine makes gunplay fun, but targeting stinks, the bad guy's A.I. is spotty and long-range skirmishes are like watching a stormtrooper battle: Everyone's shooting, but no one's getting hit.” Dana also liked the game, though complained about the ending: “Unlike Jeremy, however, I didn't like the cliff-hanger ending – I don't like having to wait more than a year for resolution. But when the next game does come out, rest assured I'll be there to see what happens.”

Before we move on to the highest score, it's worth mentioning that GamePro ended up giving Tomb Raider: Legend a 4 out of 5. Unfortunately, they didn't cover the PS2 version, so we're not counting it. However, we are counting Game Informer, who gave the game an impressive 8.75 out of 10. “Tomb Raider: Legend fails to be a reinvention of any genres, but succeeds in every way at reinventing itself. It walks the fine line of pleasing long-time fans, the folks who just watched the movies, and even brand-new players, all at once. Don't miss out just because it might be popular to hate on the franchise these days; Legends reminds us why we fell in love with Lara in the first place.”

Sure, it didn't get nines and tens, but pretty much everybody agreed that Tomb Raider: Legend was a good reboot that breathed new life into the franchise. Now that Tomb Raider is gearing up for its third reboot, it may be worth going back to Legend to see what they got right and wrong.

Now here's a PlayStation 2 game you probably haven't thought about in the last twenty years. First released in 2000, right alongside the PS2, Summoner is a divisive action role-playing game published by THQ. It's probably best known as the game Volition made right before striking gold with the Red Faction franchise. It's a fairly straight-forward adventure game with a bunch of side-quests and graphics that will constantly remind you that this is a first-generation PlayStation 2 game. No matter what you think of the mix of real-time and tactical combat and the fantasy story, you have to admit that this is a weird turn for a company best-known for games like Descent, FreeSpace and Saints Row. But could it be that Summoner is not only a misunderstood gem, but also one of the PS2's best launch games?

The answer to that question will depend entirely on which magazines you subscribed to. Let's start with Electronic Gaming Monthly, which was right in the middle of the two sides, giving Summoner an average score of 4.8 out of 10. Milkman found the whole experience to be incredibly frustrating: “This is one of the most aggravating RPGs I have ever played. Summoner has a great storyline and a well-constructed ambience, but the list of things it does wrong is comprehensive. A horrible frame-rate, a stunning amount of pop-up, a really sluggish ineffective battle system, inanely long load times – wait, there's more – and towns are too big, sprawling cityscapes hard to navigate and with way too many NPCs to talk to. Volition certainly had some great ideas, but the execution lets the side down.” Ryan agreed: “I wanted to like Summoner, I really did. But it's one of the ugliest games I've ever played. The textures are incredibly low resolution, and the draw-in, especially at the first city you'll visit, is horrendous. This is PlayStation 2?”

And EGM wasn't the only magazine to trash Summoner, as Edge went as low as a 4 out of 10. That's more of less the same score as Next Generation gave the game in their 73rd issue. They argued that it “should have been left to brew a lot longer, and where the game suffers most is in its technology. Load times are as long as 30 seconds, and they happen every time you transition between scenes, whether it be a random enemy battle or changing between sub-sections of a city or dungeon. As if that weren't maddening enough, the graphics engine isn't up to snuff either. It's plagued by recurrent pop-in, sorting issues, draw-in and the occasional frame-rate drop. And oh yeah, don't forget about monsters that occasionally attack you right through walls, purely due to collision detection problems. With all the technical glitches, and bland graphics, we have to say, honestly, that we had hoped for better.”

But wait, there are a number of magazines that, dare I say it, actually LIKED the game. For example, the Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine gave Summoner an 8 out of 10. That's the same score you saw from PSM. And Game Informer? That's right, even they liked the game enough to give it an 8. “If you thought Square Soft created engrossing stories with more than enough substance, wait until you see what Volition has in store for you. If you like games with novels worth of reading material, you'll love Summoner. It's a good game, and a pretty decent book, as well. The loose camera really needed another month or two in development, and the real-time combat, while sufficient as is, could have used some tweaking. Other than this, Summoner's mechanics are quite good. Volition claims that Summoner is a 40-hour RPG. I can see players cruising through it in this time, but if you want to conquer every little side-quest, I'd say you're looking at a 70 to 80 hour quest. In many regards, Summoner is a PC game hiding within a console skin. Unlike Final Fantasy, kids won't be able to jump into this game. It's designed for an older audience and the dark plot reflects it. For all the RPG fans out there, I think you'll be surprised by how engrossing this game truly is.”

Take that SquareSoft stans, Final Fantasy is for BABIES! Okay, maybe that's not what Game Informer was saying, but that's definitely what I heard. And maybe he's right, and this whole time we haven't given Summoner a fair shot. Now is your time to see if Volition created the superior RPG, or if this is total trash like the rest of the critics seem to think.

After riding Crash Bandicoot through the 32-bit generation, Sony knew that they were going to need to come up with a new platforming hero for the PlayStation 2. First came Jak and Daxter from Naughty Dog, the same team that gave the world Crash Bandicoot. This was followed in 2002 with another cartoony duo, Ratchet & Clank. That same year also brought Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, a quirky little caper that mixed spies, stealth and platforming into one great package. While all three of Sony's PlayStation 2-era platforming franchises are wildly different, Sly Cooper took the genre to places it had never been before. It's the kind of platformer that often feels like it was inspired more by Metal Gear Solid than Super Mario Bros., which alone is enough to set it apart from the pack. With such a wildly different take on the genre, let's see what the critics said back in 2002.

Let's go ahead and start with Edge, the one and only publication that wasn't completely won over by Sly's charm. Giving it a 6 out of 10, they concluded that “Sly Raccoon gets all the basics right. The camera – the bane of most 3D platformers – behaves well, allowing a lot of player rotation and rarely putting you in danger by panning away at crucial moments. It's not difficult, but there is replay value. For PS2 owners wanting a good-looking stroll down memory lane, this is engaging for the most part.”

As we creep up the rating scale, we see GamePro give this first Sly Cooper entry a solid 4 out of 5. Playboy (yes, Playboy) also reviewed the game and gave it an 85%, which is also the percentage chance you'll come down with something contagious if you spend too much time in the grotto. Wedged between these two is Electronic Gaming Monthly, who may have given Sly an average score of 8.3 out of 10, but that doesn't mean the critics agreed. Darren gave the game an 8.5 and called it “a solid blend of 3D platforming action and stealth adventure. Besides the top-notch animation and graphics, other highlights include the mini-games and unlockable power-up moves. Some will take issue with the frequent one-hit kills and, perhaps, Sly's under 15-hour length. But the game is definitely worth a rental and if you plan to explore every nook and cranny, you won't be disappointed.” Jennifer, on the other hand, was disappointed. She gave the game a 7.5 out of 10 and explained: “One glimpse of Sly's fat raccoon tail undulating against a noir-cartoon Paris backdrop and I knew this game would be fun to watch. I just wasn't sure I'd enjoy PLAYING what looked like your standard platformer. The die-and-try method gets old, but Sly does strike a nice balance: It's neither too difficult nor too easy, and finishing a level always delivers a satisfying thrill.”

Further up the ladder we see Entertainment Weekly give Sly Cooper an impressive A-, a strong score for a magazine that can be a bit inconsistent when it comes to platformers. Game Informer also loved Sly, giving him and his team a fantastic 9.25 out of 10. However, it was the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine that went the highest, giving the Thievius Raccoonus a perfect 5 out of 5. “If there are any complaints, the only thing I can think of is that you can ‘beat' the game in less than 10 hours. There's no way you'll have opened everything up in that time, but you will have seen all the levels, fought all the bosses and seen the first end sequence. The extra stuff really helps stretch things out, though, and if you're anything like me, you'll happily sit for another 10 hours to do so.”

While it's a little short for a 3D platformer, this first Sly Cooper game is a whole lot of fun. It perfectly sets up a bunch of even better sequels, and playing it on the PlayStation 5 will make you yearn for Sucker Punch to return to the series with a next-generation sequel.