Launch days are always filled with crappy sports rehashes and proof-of-concept titles like Fantavision. The early games are all about the graphics push. Smuggler's Run was hyped as being both beautiful and expansive, and even though I generally avoid car games, it sounded good enough to me.

And in the year 2000, it was a revelation. First, it looked great. You could see all sorts of little details on the cars... the engine rumbling under a mangled hood, the smoke pouring from a burnout. And second, you could go anywhere. You didn't have to stay on one boring circular track! The blinders were finally off; I could have fun zipping around a world in whatever stupid, mud-spraying, car-tipping way I liked. If you could summarize the PS2 generation in one word, that word would be exploration.

When I wanted to show off my brand new PS2, this was game I popped in because it was easy to control and conceptually accessible. After a few months, the novelty wore off - it is, after all, merely a car game - but it was an important groundwork-laying game. Open world, multiplayer mode, varied level goals. Smuggler's Run was developed by a smalltime outfit known as Rockstar Games... I wonder if they ever went on to anything else?

Memory Score: not a bad start

By the end of 2000, I was still playing a ton of Unreal Tournament and the like on my PC and I hadn't really played many FPSs on a console. But I was really excited about this one, since it had great reviews and the art style seemed slightly goofy. TimeSplitters's hook revolved around time travel... you could be in an ancient tomb in one level and in the Roaring '20s in the next. That struck me as more interesting than the post-apocalyptic sci-fi junk that was all over FPSs of the day.

And for a while, TimeSplitters was THE console FPS. I remember doing a lot of team multiplayer co-op, particularly the bank vault level. TimeSplitters also had a level editor, which was one of those features that sounds better than it actually is. They did a couple of sequels, but by that time I had already fallen off the FPS bandwagon.

Memory Score: good stuff, but still showed a PS2 pretending to be a PC

You know, these days the Dynasty Warriors franchise is something of a joke, because they keep crapping out barely-upgraded new versions every year like a sports game. But back then, DW2 had a lot of good press... all based on the absurd number of enemies that the game could get onscreen at the same time.

And they weren't kidding. You could run around slicing up Three Kingdoms grunts by the hundreds. Back then, that was pretty impressive.

Plus, DW2 had a kickass ending theme. I beat the game multiple times just to hear the rockin' j-pop credit music.

Memory Score: probably not substantially different from Dynasty Warriors 5

OK, I was desperate for a Star Wars game. Everybody was. Unfortunately, what we were all desperate for was a classic trilogy game... and instead we got this as our first next-gen Star Wars experience. Ships we never saw before (I'm sorry, but Naboo ships are stupid looking) and a cast of Expanded Universe losers. This game was purely a holdover until Rogue Squadron came out for the GameCube.

In fact, having that game has obliterated all memory of Starfighter. All I remember is an overdose of Phantom Menace-era imagery, Assara Til, and some lousy audio dubbing throughout.

Memory Score: didn't take long to pass by this one, did it?

At this point, I should mention two games of this era that I sold back for store credit. I rarely, rarely do this. Offhand, I can think of maybe three times I sold games back... I tossed a bunch of old PS1 games back when the PS2 launched, I returned the PC version of Quake 3 because I absolutely hated it, and I sold back Silent Scope and Oni. Silent Scope was a PS2 launch title that I impulse shopped on that fateful Day One. It was terrible, an arcade port that suffered greatly from the lack of a giant coolass sniper gun peripheral. I had high hopes for the other one, Oni (reviewed here!) but it was a mess of a different type and not really worth anybody's time. I certainly wasn't ever going to play it again, so back it went. I don't recall what I bought with my credit.

Next week: a killer demo, another gimmicky FPS, an arcade port, and one of the best multiplayer games of all time!