PS2 Adventure Games Where You’re Actually the Villain

Most adventure video games have people play as some of the most heroic and selfless protagonists in all of gaming, such as Link from The Legend of Zelda or Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider franchise.

However, as technology and the storytelling capabilities of game consoles evolved, developers began to create more experimental adventure titles both in terms of gameplay and their narrative design, with several adventure games even going so far as to have people play as villains.

Here are eight PlayStation 2 adventure games that allow people to briefly or entirely play through their stories as villainous characters, with many protagonists being depicted as evil from the get-go and others becoming more sinister as games progress.

8 Crash Twinsanity

Doctor Neo Cortex's Reluctant Teamup

Crash Twinsanity Platformer Released September 28, 2004 Developer(s) Traveller's Tales Publisher(s) Vivendi Universal Franchise Crash Bandicoot Platform(s) PS2, Xbox (Original) Genre(s) Platformer

In the early years of PlayStation, Crash Bandicoot was the console's platforming mascot rival to Nintendo's Super Mario and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, and like those two other mascots, Crash eventually got around to reluctantly teaming up with his arch nemesis, Doctor Neo Cordex, in Crash Twinsanity.

The fifth mainline entry in the Crash Bandicoot franchise, Crash Twinsanity has players control both Crash and Cortex as the two reluctantly team up to fight the mutant parrot Evil Twins, Victor and Mortiz, who threaten to destroy the Wumpa islands, Crash, and especially Cortex after he experimented on the parrots as a child.

While Crash and Cortex do make an effective team, Cortex tries to kill Crash immediately after the pair defeat the Evil Twins, but inadvertently teleports himself into Crash's brain, much to the evil scientist's dismay.

7 Star Wars: Bounty Hunter

The Origins of Jango Fett and Clone Troopers

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Action Adventure Released November 22, 2002 Developer(s) LucasArts Publisher(s) LucasArts Franchise Star Wars Platform(s) Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Steam Genre(s) Action, Adventure

The sixth console generation was arguably the peak for Star Wars game releases as multiple SW titles were released every year, often to widespread critical and financial acclaim. One of the best SW games of this era was Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, which allowed players to inhabit the beskar armor of Jango Fett.

Set 10 years before Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter sees Jango Fett accept a bounty from Count Dooku to hunt down and eliminate his former Jedi apprentice and current leader of the Bando Gora cult, Komari Vosa, as a sort of test to see if the Mandalorian would be a good candidate for the basis of the Kaminoan clone army.

Over the course of the game, Fett collects numerous bounties of individuals, dead or alive, and eliminates rival bounty hunters and crime lords. It culminates in Fett's remarkable defeat of Komari Vosa and subsequently impressing Dooku enough to have Fett become the template for the Clone Troopers, setting the stage for the Jedi Order's downfall.

6 Ultimate Spider-Man

Venom's Ultimate Rampage

Ultimate Spider-Man Action-Adventure Released September 22, 2005 Developer(s) Treyarch Publisher(s) Activision Franchise Spider-Man Platform(s) PS2, Xbox (Original), GameCube, PC, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS Genre(s) Action-Adventure

Most games based on comics typically have players embody altruistic superheroes, but Treyarch's Ultimate Spider-Man broke the mold by not only having people play as Spider-Man, but also as Eddie Brock, Venom.

Taking place shortly after the Ultimate Venom arc of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's celebrated Ultimate Spider-Man comic, the Ultimate Spider-Man game has people routinely switch between playing Spider-Man and Venom, as the two swing around New York City evading Silver Sable, Trask Industries mercenaries, and other supervillains.

Given the game's cel-shaded design, playing as Ultimate Venom is as grotesque as gameplay seen in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, but players are still able to fight other heroes like Wolverine and even eat multiple people throughout NYC.

5 Predator: Concrete Jungle

An Endless, Bloody Hunt

Predator: Concrete Jungle Action Released April 15, 2005 Developer(s) Eurocom Publisher(s) Vivendi Games Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox (Original) Genre(s) Action

Compared to 20th Century Fox's Alien franchise, the Predator franchise has notably struggled to release great games over the years based solely on the extraterrestrial hunters, with one of the few exceptions being Eurocom's Predator: Concrete Jungle.

Set primarily in the 2030s and briefly in the 1930s, Predator: Concrete Jungle has players embody the Yautja Predator known as Scarface. He struggles to redeem himself after he failed a hunt in the 1930s, lost a bunch of his gear, and destroyed New Way City, killing hundreds of defenseless civilians.

After a century of exile, players are able to return to the rebuilt and advanced New Way City, now called Neonopolis, and hunt down the Borgia crime family, who have since used the Predator's technology to create mechs, cybernetic enhancements, and plasma weaponry.

4 God of War

The Sins of Kratos

God of War Hack and Slash Released March 22, 2005 Developer(s) Santa Monica Studio Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment Franchise God of War Platform(s) PlayStation 2 Genre(s) Hack and Slash

In recent years, Kratos has increasingly become more of a heroic character by saving the Norse mythological realms and raising his son, Atreus, to be a merciful, respectful god. However, Kratos' life didn't start out this way, as he was initially a ruthless killing machine, as seen in the first God of War game.

The first God of War sees Kratos, guided by Athena, hunt down the Greek God of War, Ares, for revenge after Ares manipulated the Spartan's rage to destroy several Athenian villages and kill his own wife and daughter. He bonded their ashes to his body and dubbing him the Ghost of Sparta.

Ares is truly one of the worst gods in the God of War franchise, but Kratos in the first game is no hero either. He repeatedly lets Athenian people die from Ares' monstrous soldiers and refuses to help people in need, with the game even ending with Kratos becoming a merciless God of War himself (as seen through events depicted in God of War 2).

3 Jaws Unleashed

A Great White Shark's Bloodlust

Jaws Unleashed Action Adventure Released May 23, 2006 Platform(s) PC, PS2 Developer Appaloosa Interactive Publisher Majesco Entertainment Genre(s) Action, Adventure

Tripwire Interactive's Maneater may be considered to be the best shark game today, but during the PlayStation 2 era, there was no better game to play for those who always wanted to experience the horror of a man-eating shark than Appaloosa Interactive's Jaws Unleashed.

Based on Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jaws franchise, Jaws Unleashed has people play as a 35-foot-long great white shark that finds its way to a bustling Amity Island, 30 years after the events of the first Jaws movie. It immediately begins eating its residents, humans and animals alike.

Much like the sharks seen in the previous films, Jaws Unleashed's shark is near invulnerable to any human attempt to capture or kill it, with the shark surviving encounters with boats, explosives, other sharks, and even an orca whale found in the island's marine theme park.

2 Destroy All Humans!

Sowing Chaos in 1950s America

Destroy All Humans! Action Adventure Open-World Released July 28, 2020 Developer(s) Black Forest Games, Pandemic Studios Publisher(s) THQ Nordic Franchise Destroy All Humans! Platform(s) Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC Genre(s) Action, Adventure, Open-World

When it comes to PS2-era adventure games that allow people to play as villainous characters, there's arguably no game of the era that's more fun than Pandemic Studios' Destroy All Humans!

Inspired by classic, cheesy alien films, Destroy All Humans! has people play as the alien Furon Cryptosporidium-137 as he and fellow Furon Orthopox-13 travel to Earth during the late 1950s in search of Cryptosporidium-136 and prepare for a full Furon invasion of the planet.

What ensues is a hilarious chaotic romp through 1950s America, with Cryptospodium-137 being able to disguise himself as humans, throw humans, animals, and objects around using telekinesis, melt humans with the Disintegrator Ray, and obliterate structures by piloting a flying saucer.

1 Shadow of the Colossus

Wander's Destructive Journey

Shadow of the Colossus Adventure Action Puzzle Released October 18, 2005 Developer(s) Team Ico Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment Platform(s) PlayStation 2 Genre(s) Adventure, Action, Puzzle

The PlayStation 2 was home to some of the best console exclusive games of the generation, such as Kingdom Hearts, Sly Cooper, and God of War, with one of the best that allows people to play as a villain being Fumito Ueda's masterpiece, Shadow of the Colossus.

At first, Shadow of the Colossus seems like just another cliché fantasy adventure game, with the protagonist, Wander, striving to save a damsel in distress by slaying 16 titanic colossi.

However, by the end of the game, it's revealed that Wander was manipulated by the evil entity Dormin to kill the colossi, who were simply protecting the world from Dormin's wrath, resulting in Dormin possessing Wander's body and reviving the damsel, but at a terrible cost.