10. GOD OF WAR II
(Sony, PS2, Mature)

Talk about long odds: God of War II was released for the PS2 in a year when every gamer seemed to want their adventures on a next-gen platform. (It's fitting that the game's hero was a mortal engaged in a war with the deities who live on Olympus.) But Kratos' latest adventure proved that eye-popping graphics and sound will always be trumped by a compelling story and razor-sharp gameplay. Geoff Keighley