PS3 Games Must Have (That Are Not New)

I'm wanting to expand my PS3 game collection, but I don't really have $50 to go out and buy the latest and greatest game (I usually buy the Madden game new every other year.) But, which games for the PS3 would you recommend getting that might be a couple years old or so? I only seem to be good at the shooter games that I can play on a PC (with a keyboard and mouse.) Here are the games I currently have:

1. Madden (8 & 10)
2. NHL 08
3. Guitar Hero Metallica
4. Guitar Hero Van Halen
5. Guitar Hero Areosmith
6. Tiger Woods 08'
7. Need For Speed (I can't remember which one right now)
8. Tekken
9. NCAA Football 10

Ones I am curious about are Grand Theft Auto IV, the wrestling game with the classic wrestlers, NCAA Basketball or any of the NBA games, whatever you guys suggest. I'm wanting something older that I don't have to pay full price for. Something I can pick up rather cheaply off of eBay, Amazon, or Half.com. Thanks in advance.

Personally I would highly recommend:

God of War III
Heavy Rain (Highly recommended by me but might not be your cup of tea)
Uncharted I and II (Beautiful visuals combine with a great story. Pretty easy to beat on the lower difficulty levels. It's considered by many to be the most visually advanced console game on the market, well the second one, first one is still pretty beautiful in terms of graphics.)
Metal Gear Solid 4
Dead Space (probably Dead Space 2 as well but I can't speak from experience)
Mass Effect 2
Infamous (GTA style with super powers, lots of fun. Lets you decide weather or not you want to be a hero or a villain)
Fifa
NHL
Assassins Creed II and Brotherhood
Bioshock
Mafia 2
Dead Rising 2
MLB 10/11 The Show
GTA IV


Most of the acton/adventure games I've listed you could easily beat with a one or two week rental, so Gamefly might be a good option if you're penny pinching. Also I've never played it but Little Big Planet comes highly recommended. Mass Effect 2 you would probably need to own to beat but I've loved it so far.

Here's some other games I've tried that you may end up loving but were either mediocre or average when I got around to playing them:

Killzone 2 (3 is coming up as well, I would only rent this for the sake of seeing how far the PS3 can push an HDTV but other then that it's overrated and tedious, I traded it in after a week)
Final Fantasy XIII
Fallout 3
Resident Evil 5
NBA 2K11

UFC 09, plays alot smoother than the new one.... and you probably can get it for about 10 bucks

UFC 09, plays alot smoother than the new one.... and you probably can get it for about 10 bucks

completely disagree with that. And skinsguy have you tried trading your games in at gamestop that way you wont have to play full price

completely disagree with that. And skinsguy have you tried trading your games in at gamestop that way you wont have to play full price

Quake, I think you owe Skinsguy a full disclosure statement :D

I would like to add Heavenly Sword to Dirtbag's list. It's not very long and easy to get the hang of. For more difficulty you can play on Hell mode.

Plain and simple it's just a fun game.

If you're a RPG fan I very highly recommend Dragon Age Origins and the add-on, Dragon Age: The Awakening.

If a game doesn't challenge me to think strategically like Madden or a good RPG does, then I generally lose interest.

If you're a RPG fan I very highly recommend Dragon Age Origins and the add-on, Dragon Age: The Awakening.

If a game doesn't challenge me to think strategically like Madden or a good RPG does, then I generally lose interest.

Absolutely love Dragon Age. Fall Out New Vegas is pretty sweet and it was on sale for awhile for $36 or something. You can get Dragons Age plus the expansion for $56 which is a pretty good deal as the expansion alone is $26 or so. I recently bought Madden 11 used.

Guys, I was looking at buying Dragon Age myself for the PS3. Is it a huge online game?, or can you play it offline by yourself and still enjoy it? I am a big Lord of the Rings Online gamer on my PC, when I'm not playing Madden 11 on my PS3. I see Dragon Age as a Lord of the Rings/World of Warcraft kind of game. How do those games translate on consoles verses PCs?

Thanks guys!
Dirtbag, thank you for that list of games. I was browsing through those last night.

The thing with the Game Stop in town is that any used game that might be worth buying are usually still kind of expensive to me. I feel like I would have to trade in three or four games to have enough points/money (however they do it) to buy one decent game. Maybe I'm wrong on that, I dunno.

I don't play very many games online...I tend to stick with offline playing unless it's one of my friends that I see on a regular basis. I love the first person shooter games on a PC, but I have had a difficult time trying to maneuver and shoot with a controller. I don't suppose the PS3 Keyboard would help with that would it? I haven't played an RPG in a long, long time. One reason is that I don't spend as much time on videos games as I used to. But I suppose if I found an easy RPG that isn't too juvenile, one that I could beat quickly, it might spark my interest in getting back into them. Honestly, I've been mostly playing Madden and Guitar Hero out of the games I currently own. But that isn't because I don't like the other games I have, I just always seem to migrate back to those games, if that makes any sense.