The 16 forgotten PS3 exclusives Sony should re-release for PS5

With Metal Gear Solid 4 finally leaving the PlayStation 3, GameCentral names the other games that should follow suit and get a proper re-release.

During the recent State of Play, Konami announced the long awaited follow up to its Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1. The second volume includes re-releases of PlayStation Portable game Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the little-known Game Boy Color spin-off Metal Gear: Ghost Babel and, most importantly, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots.

That last one is significant because Metal Gear Solid 4 only ever released for the PlayStation 3, in 2008, and has otherwise been unavailable ever since. As the finale to the entire Metal Gear Solid saga (at least chronologically), fans have demanded a re-release for years and come August, their patience will be rewarded.

But this has us thinking what other PlayStation 3 exclusives could do with a re-release, especially ones from Sony itself, many of which are already in danger of being forgotten.

Sony does have a sizable list of PlayStation 3 games available through its PlayStation Plus service, but only via cloud streaming, which isn’t ideal if you don’t have an optimal internet connection. It also doesn’t include all the games below and is only rarely updated.

God Of War: Ascension

It’s going to be a long time until those God Of War remakes come out and while fans do have Metroidvania prequel Sons Of Sparta to whet their appetites, it’s not exactly a traditional God Of War experience.

A God Of War: Ascension re-release would be a smart follow-up since it’s chronologically the next game after Sons Of Sparta and sets up the original trilogy, with a decently interesting story about Kratos’ attempt to free himself from his bond with god of war Ares, after he was tricked into killing his family.

It’s also just a very solid action game and though its gory violence can be tasteless, it’s one of the best-looking PlayStation 3 games, having launched towards the end of its lifecycle.

inFamous 1 and 2

Sucker Punch is unlikely to ever go back to inFamous when samurai games Ghost Of Tsushima and Ghost Of Yōtei have been far more financially successful, but it wouldn’t hurt to make the original PlayStation 3 games more readily available, alongside the PlayStation 4 sequels.

There are admittedly better superhero games out there, but the first two inFamous games are still enjoyable to play and double as supervillain power fantasies if you’re tired of goody-two-shoes heroes like Spider-Man.

Protagonist Cole McGrath is too much of a boring grump for our liking, although not necessarily any worse than the unfunny and overly enthusiastic Delsin from inFamous: Second Son.

Killzone Trilogy

Guerrilla Games is far too busy pumping out new Horizon games (including the new multiplayer spin-off) to ever revisit Killzone. That only makes it more surprising that only PlayStation 4 entry Shadow Fall and the PlayStation Portable spin-off are on PlayStation Plus.

Re-releasing the Killzone Trilogy compilation from 2012 would prevent the original PlayStation 2 game from being left out. That said, it is the weakest of the bunch and one you could probably skip in favour of its two PlayStation 3 sequels.

Killzone 2 is most fan’s favourite and it’s the only one that has something close to a memorable character, in villain Colonel Radec. The one downside is that any re-releases would obviously lack the online multiplayer.

MotorStorm Apocalypse

If Gran Turismo is like a sophisticated, professional race car driver, who can land sponsorships and cut a winning smile for photo opps, MotorStorm is its grungy cousin, that isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

For a series that is now all but forgotten there are an awful lot of entries, with MotorStorm Apocalypse being the best of the bunch. We’d take MotorStorm: RC as well, which launched for the PlayStation Vita and is the best Micro Machines game never made.

At the very least, a MotorStorm re-release would be a nice throwback, since developer Evolution Studios is long gone, having joined Codemasters in 2016, who themselves aren’t in a good place nowadays.

Puppeteer

Even if they weren’t always successful, you could count on Japan Studio to craft some memorable and unique video games, which is why it was so tragic to see Sony gut the studio in 2021.

Of all its PlayStation 3 releases, Puppeteer was one of their best, if only for its phenomenally whimsical puppet show presentation. The combat wasn’t particularly impressive, but it had plenty of interesting gimmicks to make up for it, such as the magic scissors that let you fly as long as you had something to cut through.

It might have fared better if Sony had held it back for the PlayStation 4 (maybe even as a launch title) as it’s arguably the most forgotten, but highest quality, game on this list.

Ratchet & Clank Future trilogy

Considering its status as one of the main PlayStation franchises – one that has lasted since the days of the PlayStation 2 – it’s surprising Sony hasn’t made more of an effort to make the older Ratchet & Clank games readily available, beyond cloud streaming.

When it comes to the first three games, most fans would probably prefer the original PlayStation 2 versions than their PlayStation 3 remasters, but the Future trilogy of games made specifically for the PlayStation 3 still hold up well and, tonally, would be a hit with newer fans who joined the series with Rift Apart.

Playing Tools Of Destruction, Quest For Booty, and A Crack In Time back-to-back would risk being exhausting, given how similarly they look and play, but they have some amusingly unique weapons and solid platforming. New fans would also appreciate the interconnecting storyline, with some plot threads continued in Rift Apart.

Siren: Blood Curse

The tonal opposite of the aforementioned Puppeteer, Japan Studio’s Forbidden Siren series has quite the pedigree, having been directed by Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama long before he set up his own studio and released the far inferior Slitterhead.

Unlike that game, the Forbidden Siren series is pure horror through and through. All three entries are of similar quality so, frankly, all of them deserve a second lease at life, and stand to thrive thanks to how popular survival horror games are at the moment.

Since this is a list about PlayStation 3 games, we must highlight Siren: Blood Curse, which is essentially a reimagining of the original game, but with a reworked story structure and gameplay improvements from the second game.

SOCOM 4 U.S. Navy SEALs

SOCOM always seemed like a good fit for Sony’s live service games obsession, given it was a series of tactical shooters and one of the company’s first attempts at running online multiplayer.

The series saw two entries on PlayStation 3, but if one were to come back, it’d have to be SOCOM 4 U.S. Navy SEALs as the other – SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Confrontation – was a purely online game and Sony’s not going to establish new servers for a nearly 20-year-old title.

Multiplayer was a big part of SOCOM, but SOCOM 4 at least has an enjoyablesingle-player campaign, that should appeal to those nostalgic for the older Call Of Duty campaigns.

Tokyo Jungle

Although it’s not entirely a first party game, since it was a joint project between Japan Studio and a little-known studio called Crispy’s, Tokyo Jungle is still seen as one of Sony’s cult classics from the PlayStation 3 days.

Its premise is certainly novel, being set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo devoid of human life. Rather than some grizzled wanderer, you play as a wide variety of different animals – from Pomeranians and chickens to lions and even dinosaurs – and struggle to survive as long as you can.

Tokyo Jungle makes the most of this premise and what it lacks in graphical flair, it makes up for with an entertaining gameplay loop, some interesting survival mechanics, and a tongue-in-cheek tone that keeps it from being too morose.

White Knight Chronicles 1 and 2

We wouldn’t blame you for not remembering this, but Sony really wanted White Knight Chronicles to take off and pushed it hard as one of the PlayStation 3’s big exclusives. Obviously, that didn’t work, but it was still a competently made action role-player with some neat ideas.

Like Tokyo Jungle, this was another Japan Studio joint project, although the main developer was Level-5, better known nowadays as the studio responsible for Professor Layton and the Yokai Watch series.

White Knight Chronicles 2 also did the Mass Effect thing where you could carry over your character from the first game, along with all your money and equipment, creating a welcome sense of continuity. Not only were there two games but also a PSP spin-off, and yet the franchise never made it out of the PlayStation 3 generation.

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