With so few good new titles being released these days, especially by major studios, I figured I'd make a thread for everyone to share your favourite classic or older games, especially if they're lesser-known titles that others might have missed at the time.
I'll open with The Saboteur (2009), Mercenaries (2005) and Saints Row 2 ( The 2008 original)
The Jak series, timesplitters, god of war 1+2, ico, gran turismo 3-4, silent hill 2, ace combat 4, mgs2+3, dark cloud, tekken. The PS2 was stacked with exclusives that completely dominated the market. Game writing definitely peaked in the early 2000s.