Best games
Best PlayStation 4 games of 2001
The 8 best PlayStation 4 games released in 2001, ranked from 4,563 critic and player ratings.
The best PlayStation 4 game of 2001 is Grand Theft Auto III, with a critic score of 93/100 — updated September 2026.
How this ranking is built
- Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
- A game only enters the ranking with at least 80 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
- Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
- Release window covered: 2001.
- 8 games are listed on this page, carrying 4,563 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 30 September 2026.
Top 8
01
S
Grand Theft Auto III
Featuring a fully 3-D living city, a combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplay and a completely open environment, Grand Theft Auto III represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully-realised 3 dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50 plus vehicles, ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses, 3 hours of music, including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop and disco, a huge array of street ready weapons and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes, crime can pay and sometimes it can pay you back. Available now for PlayStation2, Xbox, PC and Macintosh.
93
/100
02
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a 2001 platform video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 2 on December 4, 2001, as the first game of the Jak and Daxter series. The game follows the protagonist, a young teenager named Jak, as he tries to help his friend Daxter after he is transformed into an "ottsel", a fictional hybrid of an otter and a weasel. The game offers a large range of missions, collectables and objectives, often in the form of minigames, which provide a variety of gameplay experiences, as well as puzzles and platforming stages, which are completed by the player to proceed with the story.
90
/100
03
Onimusha: Warlords
Onimusha: Warlords is an epic saga of 16th century Japan inspired by the battle scenes of famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It takes place in a world of darkness and magic when power hungry warlords battle for control of Feudal Japan. One brave Samurai, Samanosuke Akechi, boldly volunteers to rescue the kidnapped princess Yuki, but does not fully realize the desperation of this mission. An entire legion of demon warriors stands between him and his mission to avenge the princess.
86
/100
S
Grand Theft Auto III
Featuring a fully 3-D living city, a combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplay and a completely open environment, Grand Theft Auto III represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully-realised 3 dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50 plus vehicles, ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses, 3 hours of music, including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop and disco, a huge array of street ready weapons and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes, crime can pay and sometimes it can pay you back. Available now for PlayStation2, Xbox, PC and Macintosh.
93
/100
02
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a 2001 platform video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 2 on December 4, 2001, as the first game of the Jak and Daxter series. The game follows the protagonist, a young teenager named Jak, as he tries to help his friend Daxter after he is transformed into an "ottsel", a fictional hybrid of an otter and a weasel. The game offers a large range of missions, collectables and objectives, often in the form of minigames, which provide a variety of gameplay experiences, as well as puzzles and platforming stages, which are completed by the player to proceed with the story.
90
/100
03
Onimusha: Warlords
Onimusha: Warlords is an epic saga of 16th century Japan inspired by the battle scenes of famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It takes place in a world of darkness and magic when power hungry warlords battle for control of Feudal Japan. One brave Samurai, Samanosuke Akechi, boldly volunteers to rescue the kidnapped princess Yuki, but does not fully realize the desperation of this mission. An entire legion of demon warriors stands between him and his mission to avenge the princess.
86
/100
04
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a revolutionary action adventure with an epic tale of intrigue, fierce alliances, explosive spell effects and highly detailed creatures and environments. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a benchmark of technology and gameplay.
85
/100
05
Devil May Cry
Originally intended to be the fourth installment in the Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry is an action-adventure game that introduced a host of new elements to the gaming community. Chief among them is the Stylish Rank, which grades the player's performance in combat. The game is split into Missions, which are individually scored according to various factors, such as Orbs gathered and damage taken. Additionally, Devil May Cry did away with the pre-rendered backgrounds of prior Resident Evil games in order to allow for a dynamic camera system.
85
/100
06
Ikaruga
In this vertical scrolling spaceship shooter, you control a ship that can change its polarity at will. As blue/white, the ship can easily destroy red/black enemies, and vice versa. Bullets of your polarity can be collected to fuel your energy gauge, but those opposite will kill you. Destroying an enemy ship causes them to fire revenge bullets which can be absorbed and fired back by the player. Different difficulties exist to change exactly how you interact with polarized points, or how they appear. It is the spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun, featuring similar level and boss design, as well as it's buddhism inspired themes and aesthetics. Both are directed by Hiroshi Iuchi, who also composed Ikaruga's soundtrack.
84
/100
07
S
Max Payne
Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose in the violent, cold urban night. A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, hunted by cops and the mob, Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Max Payne is a relentless story-driven game about a man on the edge, fighting to clear his name while struggling to uncover the truth about his slain family amongst a myriad of plot-twists and twisted thugs in the gritty bowels of New York during the century's worst blizzard. The groundbreaking original cinematic action-shooter, Max Payne introduced the concept of Bullet Time in videogames. Through its stylish slow-motion gunplay combined with a dark and twisted story, Max Payne redefined the action-shooter genre.
74
/100
08
Red Faction
Red Faction revolutionizes gaming with Geo-Mod technology, the ability to completely alter and destroy the environment in real-time. Featuring 5 controllable vehicles, 15 weapons of mass destruction, unparalleled multiplayer action, and a setting on Mars in the midst of a deadly plague and rebellion, Red Faction sets the gold standard in gaming!
70
/100
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a revolutionary action adventure with an epic tale of intrigue, fierce alliances, explosive spell effects and highly detailed creatures and environments. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a benchmark of technology and gameplay.
85
/100
05
Devil May Cry
Originally intended to be the fourth installment in the Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry is an action-adventure game that introduced a host of new elements to the gaming community. Chief among them is the Stylish Rank, which grades the player's performance in combat. The game is split into Missions, which are individually scored according to various factors, such as Orbs gathered and damage taken. Additionally, Devil May Cry did away with the pre-rendered backgrounds of prior Resident Evil games in order to allow for a dynamic camera system.
85
/100
06
Ikaruga
In this vertical scrolling spaceship shooter, you control a ship that can change its polarity at will. As blue/white, the ship can easily destroy red/black enemies, and vice versa. Bullets of your polarity can be collected to fuel your energy gauge, but those opposite will kill you. Destroying an enemy ship causes them to fire revenge bullets which can be absorbed and fired back by the player. Different difficulties exist to change exactly how you interact with polarized points, or how they appear. It is the spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun, featuring similar level and boss design, as well as it's buddhism inspired themes and aesthetics. Both are directed by Hiroshi Iuchi, who also composed Ikaruga's soundtrack.
84
/100
07
S
Max Payne
Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose in the violent, cold urban night. A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, hunted by cops and the mob, Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Max Payne is a relentless story-driven game about a man on the edge, fighting to clear his name while struggling to uncover the truth about his slain family amongst a myriad of plot-twists and twisted thugs in the gritty bowels of New York during the century's worst blizzard. The groundbreaking original cinematic action-shooter, Max Payne introduced the concept of Bullet Time in videogames. Through its stylish slow-motion gunplay combined with a dark and twisted story, Max Payne redefined the action-shooter genre.
74
/100
08
Red Faction
Red Faction revolutionizes gaming with Geo-Mod technology, the ability to completely alter and destroy the environment in real-time. Featuring 5 controllable vehicles, 15 weapons of mass destruction, unparalleled multiplayer action, and a setting on Mars in the midst of a deadly plague and rebellion, Red Faction sets the gold standard in gaming!
70
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best PlayStation 4 game of 2001?
Grand Theft Auto III currently tops the ranking with a score of 93/100 across 1,647 ratings. Ranking updated September 2026.
How is this ranking built?
Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.