Great games that have gone 'under the radar'

[thestor]

Master of Magic was for me one of these games with a heck lot potential of which preciously little was realized, like Syndicate.

Great game going under the radar, that's "Sacrifice" for the PC for me. Anyone else ever played it. (...) Anyone?

 

[laikenf]

Sphinx and the cursed Mummy was quite a surprise for me. Also did anyone get to play Winback: Covert operations for the N64? that was also underrated.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Assassin's Creed got a 7 from ign. Poop was flung because of this. Penny Arcade made comics.

Not exactly "under the radar" then, was it?

Also, whilst I don't really "do" review scores, a general impression of 7ness with occasional moments of 8ery is about right for Assassin's Creed. It's fun, but way too repetitive. A little more scope in the investigations would have helped it vastly.

 

[Frapple]

Recently - Sins of a Solar Empire.

Rogue Trooper was awesome, played it none stop for like a week, completed it a few times.

 

[Kadayi]

Psychonauts for sure.

Beyond good & evil. Might seem kiddish, but it's excellent fun.

Hidden & Dangerous 2. Kind of got lost in all the FPs MoH & Call of Duty games, but it's a great team shooter with a lot of atmosphere.

Mafia. Not perfect and certainly not a 1920s version of GTA, but lovely looking and pretty good fun, albeit that the difficulty ramps up considerably at the end. Watch out for the racing mission though, it's pretty hard, though there are trainers about to get past that obstacle.

 

[Square King]

It's been said, but Psychonauts is well worth your money.

 

[mootzilla]

Hidden and Dangerous is stunning but I think that hit the Radar.

MDK 1 and 2 were also criminally under-rated.

There I was thinking I was the only person to have ever played these. Even though I've played the game to death several times over I never get tired of it.

 

[Terramax]

I played MDK2. Great presentation, excellent soundtrack, but it just didn't click for some reason.

I just thought of one, not 'great', but pretty fun game for the DS - Asphalt.

It's a Burnout clone, with pretty bland graphics, but that was the art of it. It didn't try to be bigger and better, so it didn't fall over its own weight. Pretty cool soundtrack too. I even enjoyed it more than Burnout for the PSP.

 

[Moe The Bus Driver]

Bushido Blade and Bushido Blade 2 were both games I never heard much about, but enjoyed greatly.

 

[hipholyte]

MDK 1 and 2 were also criminally under-rated.
quote]

I loved the murder death kill series.

but wtf was with the apples?

 

[incoherent]

Not sure if this really counts, but Killer7, considering reviewers either loved or hated it. (It's essentially a rail shooter with some half-hearted puzzle elements. On the other hand, it's one of the most screwed-up things you'll ever play in your entire life.)

 

[Irrok the Wide]

Oh yeah, D2. The game was apocalyptic in its story telling.

 

[Terramax]

Oh yeah, D2. The game was apocalyptic in its story telling.

I heard you had to hunt animals to survive? Also, it was severely edited because of its references to sex, or even rape (a woman gets tentacles showed down various sections of her body for starters).

I heard the context was very original but executed pretty badly?

 

[CeilingNinja]

Shadow of the Colossus and Ico - kind of flimsy gameplay, a little annoying at times with puzzles, but my GOD are they beautiful games. I've never put down my controller and just stared at the landscape before that game came out. The Colossi in SotC are amazing, the fur, the way they move, they're just so very well animated.

Ico is equally as pretty, and though she's annoying as heck, you can't help but like the princess.

 

[Irrok the Wide]

Oh yeah, D2. The game was apocalyptic in its story telling.

I heard you had to hunt animals to survive? Also, it was severely edited because of its references to sex, or even rape (a woman gets tentacles showed down various sections of her body for starters).

I heard the context was very original but executed pretty badly?

They weren't lying to you. Aside from more obvious references there are some good hidden ones. Like this huge machine that makes clones, it's clearly a womens vagina. My favorite part though was hunting for food and the amazing movie at the end of each disc(4). It has really great graphics even for todays standard. I think the main things ppl complained about was the random attack(which actually kinda sucked). The controls were kind of a chore, but acceptable by my standards.

All in all, it was an above average game with some average flaws in it. But it was a real trail blazer and unlike anything out now. There was a strange feeling inside it, down right uncomfortable. Maybe not for everyone, but no one should overlook it.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Thexder was a blast, as was a nother side scroller I can't remember the name of... You were this guy in wicked powerarmor, and the keyboard moved you around, but the mouse aimed 360 degrees for you and controlled firing, and you fought against some robot things that resembled the Xenos from Aliens.

That sounds a lot like Abuse [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse_(computer_game)]... which is now public domain.

-- Steve

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Anyone play Fallout tactics? If you like Jagged Alliance or X-com then you really should check it out. F'ckin awesome game.

All of these are for Pc:

Abomination - check this out if you liked syndicate. Awesome, awesome, awesome game. You could probably pick it up for a quid now.
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Sacrifice (The last game Shiny made that was actually any good)
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Startopia
Revenant (Rpg with beat-em-up style battles. Buggy as all hell, but great fun all the same.)
Coaster Works (Roller-coaster simulator for the dreamcast. Excellent game)
Toy Commander (Also for the dreamcast, fantastic multiplayer)
Perimeter

I second Powerstone 1&2. Awesome games. I spent hours trying to get all the different weapons from the laboratory. I miss my dreamcast.

Oh yeah, and there's this other game, can't remember what it was called... calf-wife 2 or something?

EDIT: The Longest Journey. Nearly forgot, but it's got one of the best stories from any game I've ever played. Some of the puzzles suck, but it's worth it for the the narrative.

Edit MK2: Sorry, but just wanted to say that Abuse is totally awesome.