5 Rockstar Games That You Forgot Were Awesome

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Rockstar Games is now a leading game developer, famous for huge hits like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. But they’ve been making quality games since the late 1990s, resulting in a large collection of titles. Among these, some lesser-known games stand out as memorable hidden gems. While Rockstar likely won’t revisit these older titles in the future, they still hold a special place for those who played them.

Here are the five Rockstar Games you forgot were awesome.

5) Smuggler’s Run 2: Hostile Territory

The Smuggler’s Run games challenge players to transport contraband across large environments while avoiding detection. These games were created by the team that later became Rockstar San Diego, the studio now known for the Red Dead Redemption series.

While both games are fun, Smuggler’s Run 2 is a bit better than the first. Hostile Territory doesn’t change things drastically, but it does offer some new tracks and keeps the exciting racing action. The biggest improvement is the police – they’re much faster and smarter now, making the smuggling runs more challenging and rewarding.

4) Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis

Rockstar’s announcement of Table Tennis came as a surprise to many. The studio was famous for intense, dramatic crime games and explosive action, so a realistic ping pong simulator seemed like a bizarre choice in 2006. However, Table Tennis was largely a way for Rockstar to test the capabilities of the Xbox 360 and learn how to best utilize the hardware for their future, larger projects. It was a highly refined demonstration of the console’s potential rather than a fully-fledged game.

Let’s be clear: Table Tennis is a surprisingly good game that still looks fantastic. The actual gameplay is deep and tactical, and it really captures the feel of a real table tennis match. However, everything outside of the gameplay itself feels a little thin. It would have been amazing to have a full story mode like you’d find in a Rockstar game, but even without that, it’s still worth checking out.

3) Midnight Club II

Besides Smuggler’s Run, Rockstar San Diego also created four Midnight Club racing games. They’re all good, but MI2 is the best, closely followed by MI3: Dub Edition. If you’re looking for a cool, fast-paced racing game from the 2000s, you can’t go wrong with any of the Midnight Club titles.

Midnight Club 2 really stood out when it first came out, largely because it introduced motorcycles to the series – something players hadn’t seen before. Switching between cars and bikes felt fresh and made the game incredibly fun. The game also did a fantastic job recreating cities like Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo, and racing through those realistic environments was a major highlight. While later games like Dub Edition and Los Angeles added licensed cars and a more detailed city, they didn’t quite capture the same energy and excitement as Midnight Club 2.

2) Manhunt

Okay, so Manhunt is a really tough game to get into, and it’s not just about the gameplay. You’re basically making snuff films just to try and escape and protect your family from this seriously messed up director. It’s really dark stuff, and honestly, you’re not rooting for a hero. The main character, James Earl Cash, isn’t some innocent guy who got a raw deal – he’s a criminal on death row for a reason! It’s a lot to take in.

The violence in Manhunt is incredibly graphic, some of the most disturbing ever shown in a video game. Rockstar didn’t hold back, and you might need to decompress after playing. Despite this, the game offers a unique concept that really broke new ground. Manhunt is a stealth game that gave players unusual freedom for its time, which created intense suspense and made it one of the most captivating games on the PlayStation 2.

1) The Warriors

When Rockstar Games announced a new beat ’em up game based on the 1979 film The Warriors, many fans were surprised. This was especially puzzling because they had just released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the previous year – a massive and incredibly popular game. Why would they follow that up with an adaptation of a relatively unknown movie from the 1970s?

It’s great that Rockstar Games takes creative risks. What initially seemed like a strange project ended up becoming one of their most successful games. The hand-to-hand combat was surprisingly excellent for the genre, especially considering the typically unremarkable close-quarters fighting in Grand Theft Auto. Plus, Rockstar reassembled the original voice cast and curated an amazing soundtrack. It’s safe to say fans really enjoyed it.

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2026-02-24 01:13