The PlayStation 2 is the world’s bestselling console for a reason: it had the most revolutionary hardware at the time. Only Microsoft’s Xbox was able to trade blows with it in terms of graphical performance. The console was also home to some of the greatest video games and game franchises of all time, from Gran Turismo to Ratchet and Clank, God of War, Persona, and more.
It’s no surprise that the console hosted some of the most stellar racing games of all time. However, not every game released on the PS2 was a hit. In fact, some of the racing games that developers made for the console were duds that should never be revived. These are the games that were either littered with game-breaking bugs or had poor gameplay, bad controls, mediocre game modes or had something else that put off both gamers and critics.
10 D1 Professional Drift Grand Prix Series (Metascore 45)
D1 Professional Drift Grand Prix Series is a drift racing game meant to capture the excitement of the real D1 Grand Prix. It has plenty of vehicles, 13 circuits, official drivers, and six game modes.
With drifting games, speed is not the main focus; it’s how well the player drifts on each corner, without colliding with another car or an obstacle. The issue with D1 Professional Drift Grand Prix Series is that gamers found it nearly impossible to play. The cars feel weightless and the tracks feel icy, so trying to balance one’s drift almost always ended up with the car sliding off the track.
9 Butt Ugly Martians: Zoom or Doom! (Metascore 41)
This is a kid-friendly racer that tries to be Mario Kart for the PS2. It takes place across nine intergalactic locations, pitting Butt-Ugly heroes against evil aliens.
Even though the developers wanted the game to be accessible to kids, it’s a little too easy. Even if one adjusts the steering assist so that it barely offers any assistance, one’s car will never go off-course. And the opponents are severely underpowered. A regular gamer can max out the difficulty and still finish all the races in the game—topping them, of course—in barely two hours.
8 Cartoon Network Racing (Metascore 39)
Cartoon Network Racing is a kart racing game. It uses Cartoon Network’s most iconic characters, from Johnny Bravo to Courage the Cowardly Dog. On paper, it should be a fun time for kids and Cartoon Network devotees, even if the gameplay is nothing special. However, the game is anything but fun.
The first problem is that Cartoon Network Racing directly mimics Mario Kart: Double Dash. The second issue is that the steering never feels comfortable. Also, the karts are barely responsive, the track design is mediocre, and the karts feel like they are plodding.
7 Driven (Metascore 38)
Video game adaptations of Hollywood movies rarely do well, which is why gamers usually don’t have high expectations for them. Driven is one of the most infamous examples. Based on Sylvester Stallone’s film, the game tries to be cinematic, telling the story of ‘Team Spirit’ while balancing actual Formula One racing. Needless to say, it fails on both fronts.
Just like the movie it’s based on, Driven tells an uncompelling story that gamers won’t care for. And to make matters worse, everything about the gameplay is awful. It feels like the developers just put in the minimum effort required to make a game and didn’t touch it after that.
6 Ford Racing: Off Road (Metascore 37)
Gamers love racing games as much for the variety of cars on offer as for the actual gameplay. So, Ford Racing: Off Road was already off to a bad start when the developers revealed that the game would only have Ford trucks and Land Rovers—which, at the time, was still under Ford.
The game takes place off-road, and racing doesn’t feel fast. Players are forced to unlock all the 18 vehicles in the game, which turns it into an annoying grind. The physics are also questionable at best, with a poor collision model where cars stick to each other if they collide.
5 Paris-Dakar Rally (Metascore 36)
Based on the iconic rally, Paris-Dakar Rally should be a fun endurance racing game. However, it falls flat in almost every way.
It has mediocre graphics, even for its time. And the car handling is frustrating enough to make one hurl their controller at the wall. Just tapping the steering can easily make the car oversteer. This makes each race feel like a war of attrition, with the gamer on the losing side. To make things worse, the player can only use one vehicle from each class. To unlock the rest, they have to finish the game first.
4 Jeremy McGrath Supercross World (Metascore 35)
Jeremy McGrath Supercross World is a racing game with several modes ranging from freestyle to outdoor motocross. It features 25 tracks both indoors and outdoors, 7 pro riders, and 24 different stunts.
Jeremy McGrath could have done to supercross games what Colin McRae did to rally games. Instead, this game became one of his low points because of how bland it is. The environments are tired-looking, the dirt effects are nothing special, the camera angle tends to be annoying and tricks need a lot of time to develop. Playing Jeremy McGrath Supercross World is as interesting as watching paint dry.
3 Harley-Davidson Motorcycles: Race to the Rally (Metascore 33)
Harley-Davidson Motorcycles: Race to the Rally takes gamers across the US as they face challenges from other bikers. It imitates Road Rash’s mayhem, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if the game didn’t ignore the evolution of racing mechanics since Road Rash.
The graphics are so poor that making out oncoming cars is hard. Whenever the player collides with another car or smashes into a wall, the frame rate falls to almost zero. Small ramps can also stop the gamer’s bike completely. And the tracks are entirely repetitive, such that the game becomes a bore after the first hour—if that.
2 Antz Extreme Racing (Metascore 31)
Based on the animated film, Antz Extreme Racing is another kids’ game that imitates the popular Mario Kart. Players control the tiny characters in-game, on makeshift karts—like a leaf or a soda can.
The game is riddled with problems. It has poor controls, the graphics look middling, the music is forgettable, and the sound effects can get on one’s nerve after a short while. Worst of all, there is no sense of progression, which makes the whole game feel pointless. Antz Extreme Racing is a game that should never have been made.
1 Biker Mice From Mars (Metascore 27)
Based on the titular TV show, Biker Mice From Mars is an action racing game. It’s also the PS2’s worst-reviewed racing game, and with good reason. It’s repetitive, the controls are unresponsive, the bike’s handling is awful, the environment is generic and bland, aiming is entirely inaccurate, the bike can’t reverse, upgrades and powerups don’t change anything in-game, and the camera angle is so low that it acts as a hindrance.
Biker Mice From Mars is a waste of time, and virtually no one who played it enjoyed it, critic or gamer.
NEXT: The 20 WORST Games Ever (According To Metacritic)
