I mentioned to one of my friends that I havent owned a gaming console since Sega Genesis, and so he says "you want my PS2 for free? I'll give it to you" and I went "whaaa??? uh, ok sure, but why?" to which he replies "I havent played it in a really long time and I dont think I will be anytime soon, and the used game place will only give me like 30 bucks for it, so I might as well give it to you."

So anyway now I have the PS2, 2 controllers, and 7 games including: NHL Hitz 2003, NBA Jam, Tiger Woods Pro Tour 2001, The Simpsons: Road Rage, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Hot Shots Golf 3, and GTA: Vice City.

Any recommendations on games for me to buy/rent?

Soul Calibur 2

Beyond Good & Evil

Monkey Island 4

Gran Tourismo *

Frequency

Amplitude

resident evil 4
GUITAR HERO 1 AND 2

The Metal Gear Games

The Devil May Cry games

Onimusha Series

Okami

Traped (trapt? Something along those lines)

The Silent Hills

Ace Combat Series

Katamari Damacy.

Twisted Metal Black

List goes on.

He probably gave you his PS2 because the laser is dying.

Anyway,

Games to buy and rent:

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (or any of the others)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (don't get the regular game with the ****ty camera)
Kingdom Hearts 1/2
Okami
Final Fantasy X/XII
Shadow of the Colossus
Resident Evil 4 (!) - Must get this if you don't have it for Gamecube!
God of War

The above list just about sums up the "great" games I've played on the system. In addition, the PS2 has a lot of average games that you might play if you have too much time on your hands (i.e. don't have a life), which I chose not to include because of what I feel is an abundance of comparable but better games to play on the system. Also, there are some games you might really enjoy if you like similar games or genres. For example, Bully or Mercenaries which provide different spins on the GTA formula, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for Japanese RPGs, Katamari Damacy for flat-out weird/different games, Guitar Hero if you're into music games, etc.

FF12

Okami

RE4

Soul Calibur 3

Guitar Hero if you're into games full stop.

Definitly God of War.

GTA: SA
Psi Ops
MGS2 and 3
Guitar Hero 1 & 2
Ratchet and Clank Series
X-Men Legends 1 &2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Guitar Hero 1 and 2
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 (substance and subsistence respectively)
GTA:SA (the PS2 version is easily the best, other than the PC version)
Rachet and Clank Series
Jak and Daxter Series
ICO
Shadows of the Collosus
God of War
Okami
Resident Evil 4
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (for fighting vs friends)

God of War 2 when it comes out.

Yeah, Black's good...as a rental. Rent it sometime for a week, you'll love it, but you'll get bored.

Aye, but before it gets boring...
It's just...
beautiful.

Black is nice, but only for about 6 hours, then it's been beaten. Maybe twice.

did i mention resident evil 4

And it would be even awesomer if enemies in their "I'm hit by a bullet" animation could be shot again instead o waiting for the animation to end before they could actually be shot again.

I am 100% with Yoshi, but I have to add.

KINGDOM HEARTS ONE AND TWO

Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, if you can find them.
MGS2: Substance + 3: Subsistence (although I liked the original camera in 3, Subsistence comes with a bunch of extras that the Snake Eater version doesn't have).

If you're a fighting game kind of person, Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon.