I think I have to disagree with the bad reviews it got. I've been having nothing but fun with Blur once I learned the controls.
It's got a high learning curve, but if you stick with it it's absolutely amazing.
Another oft-forgotten reason is a steady flow of C and B titiles in between the AAA releases. That's one thing that the PS2 had over both the XBOX and GameCube for the lifetime of the console.