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)
IMO gaming peaked with PS2. That was when there was enough budget to give creative people the freedom to make their visions real, but not enough that the industry caught the attention of the MBAs, marketing drones, and HR nags.
There are enough games from that era to fill any adults free time.
Ratchet and Clank 2/3 are kind of amazing.
I never had a PS2 but the Gamecube was really great when it came to Nintendo games. Technically they stopped looking like blocky messes, and were still small enough that they can have a real vision behind them. Paper Mario TTYD, Animal Crossing (even though that was an N64 game first), Mario Sunshine, Kirby Air Ride, etc.