Most Under-rated Game

[Caffeine Rage]

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

I recently picked this up on Steam and was shocked at just how much fun I've had with it. A mix of a business sim with a dungeon crawler, Racettear combines them in a JRPG wrapper sweetened with a good mix of humor. The talk in an early bonus event about why adventures always hang out in pubs is what really sold the game to me.

I had a falling out with JRPGs after Final Fantasy X. But, Recettear was able to convince me that there are still JRPGs out there that I can love.

Mount and Blade: Warband

The highlight of the series thus far, Warband has a great modding community that fleshes out the the game with nearly anything you could want for. With solid, hard-hitting combat and an impressive amount of depth, Warband is a must play for anyone that loves sandbox games and medieval combat.

Spacechem

If I had to list my favorite puzzle games, one of the top would have to be this underrated gem. While it can be a bit daunting to look at, Spacechem is simple to learn through its tutorial missions. But, once the game starts layering its mechanics, it is a complex masterpiece of a puzzle game. With no set solution for any one puzzle; it is great for someone who loves to refine and tinker with their solutions in search for a more efficient answer to a problem.

Frozen Synapse

Tactics is the name of the game with this one. Frozen Synapse is all about predicting your opponent's moves and countering them. With no need to worry about building units or worrying about base management, Frozen Synapse boils the game down to the most basic of strategy, the plan. Can your gambit overtake the enemies'? The only way to find out is to commit to them in this easy to play yet very deep strategy game. A must play for any fan of strategy.

 

[The Code]

I know I'm a fan of good ol' Yahtzee and I respect his opinions, but I'm going to have to say Too Human. Yes, the combat system was screwy at best. Yes, the story was messed up. Yes, Silicon Knights sold out after promising a trilogy for the game. I had fun, and that's the whole point of a game. The weapons were varied and interesting, (I had a sword that looked like one of those glass lightning sphere thingies for a blade at one point), the armor was fun to mix and match, (especially if you get the right color scheme going), and some of the dialogue was genuinely entertaining. ("It's a good day to die." "You always say that." "It always is.")

Despite my love of Norse Mythology and what Too Human did with it, I thought the game stuck to it pretty well. Tyr had lost a hand to Fenrir, Hel was a half-dead *****, and Hod was betrayed by his own eyes, just like in the stories.

Many others may not have liked the game, but I thought it was fun.

 

[Baralak]

I know I'm a fan of good ol' Yahtzee and I respect his opinions, but I'm going to have to say Too Human. Yes, the combat system was screwy at best. Yes, the story was messed up. Yes, Silicon Knights sold out after promising a trilogy for the game. I had fun, and that's the whole point of a game. The weapons were varied and interesting, (I had a sword that looked like one of those glass lightning sphere thingies for a blade at one point), the armor was fun to mix and match, (especially if you get the right color scheme going), and some of the dialogue was genuinely entertaining. ("It's a good day to die." "You always say that." "It always is.")

Despite my love of Norse Mythology and what Too Human did with it, I thought the game stuck to it pretty well. Tyr had lost a hand to Fenrir, Hel was a half-dead *****, and Hod was betrayed by his own eyes, just like in the stories.

Many others may not have liked the game, but I thought it was fun.

This. Everything you said, I agree with. The game's a blast to play, and the loot system always made you want to kill just a few more enemies to see what would drop, all while giving fun combat, a great story, and great character customization.

 

[General_Potatoes]

For me it would be Metro 2033.

I've said this before, but I loved the game and I've replayed it a lot of times, I just found it a really fun game to play.

Wait, metro was under rated?

HALO 1...no seriously, alot of people wont bother with it even though it made FPSs what they are today and pretty muched saved the xbox.

People don't like the first halo? Im learning new things everyday. And im gonna go with the first halo.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Boy is THIS kinda my schtick. But to name a few examples -

-Area 51: Blacksite isn't as bad as most people make it out to be...coming across as a CoD Clone at worst. The game was also subject to HEAVY amounts of executive meddling from Midway, so the version we got is the usual butchered mess we normally get when something leaves Development Hell.

-WarFront: Turning Point. It's very cookie cutter, but functional. The only thing that undermines it is the horrendous number of bugs (including not being able to read it's own disk!). While there are no patches for it, there are workarounds should you wish to find them. And it's not every WWII Game that has Exoskeleton toting Nazi's and Godzilla sized Russian Tanks (yes I know they've both been done before, but Weird WWII is always more fun to play than regular WWII). Personally, I'd recommend it to anyone who played Command & Conquer:Red Alert 3 and was severely disappointed with that for it to become a point of RAGE.

-Perimeter, and ONLY Perimeter (both Emperor's Testament and Perimeter 2 can go die in a fire). I never hear anyone bring this game up, and when it does it's always negative. Having sat down and played all three of them, I admit the games can be a bit clunky...at first. When you get around to it, it's not half bad and combines some rather unique concepts with an interesting backstory (which also appears to be the schtick of 1C Company - great ideas and concepts, poor/heavy handed execution. As an example, go play Earth 2160 and you'll see what I mean).

-Abomination: The Nemesis Project. This one just plain astounds me, as it holds three key points in VG History -

1) It was the first of the "X-COM Clones" created (the game was released approx. 1999/2000, a good four years or so before the UFO Trilogy. I currently do not have knowledge of anything released between this and the first major X-COM clone (the UFO Trilogy), and as far as I understand Laser Squad predated X-COM by a few years).

2) A lot of innovations made (such as the Player moving and acting in real time as opposed to the turn based battles of X-COM) were soon ditched.

3) This is possibly the closest thing your going to get to a VG Adaptation of "The Colour Out Of Space" by HP Lovecraft (to my knowledge, and before anyone brings it up - yes I played Amnesia, but that reminds me more of stories like Rats in the Walls among some of the other more conventional tales).

And yet, it remains forgotten. Nobody brings it up in conversation at all, nor is there much Video of it on YouTube (as opposed to some of the others on this list).

-Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. Again, very cookie cutter, but also rather fun (a la Turning Point). I honestly don't see people bring this one up at all for whatever reason. This would be my top underrated game, if not for...

-Homeworld Cataclysm. Just...Homeworld Cataclysm. The first Homeworld had a great story, but was marred by a few clunky gameplay mechanics (e.g: The Movement Disk. Dear god the Movement Disk). Cataclysm went back and refined on them, and (arguably) took the story telling up to eleven with one of the scariest (and unique) bad guys I've ever seen in a video game before or since. They also fixed that damned Disk and a few other control related problems.

Then along came Homeworld 2, which retconned Cataclysm out of existence...and ditched half the improvements made...

 

[King Toasty]

War for Cybertron. Got mediocre reviews, but the gameplay was fantastic and cool-looking. I'll be damned if I should stop truck-ramming jets in midair just because Yahtzee said it's borin.

Seriously, get this game. It's awesome.

wait, how is you saying that it is awesome more quantifiable that Yahtzee saying it is terrible?
OT: XIII for Ps2. That game is fucking amazing and I picked it up for three dollars along with zone of the enders.

...What? My head hurt trying to read that.
"How is you saying that it is awesome more quantifiable that Yahtcee saying it is terrible."

...?

 

[fingerbang143]

Saints row 2 and Brutal legends, say what you want but brutal legends had quite the story line

 

[Scarim Coral]

Wait Monster Hunter Tri is underrated?

OT-My would be Phantom Crash and Gotcha Force. Both of these games got excellent gameplay despite their flaws (bad engrish for Phantom Crash and the repetitous in Gotcha Force).

 

[KaitlinNoelle]

Ooooooh, definately
1) Haunting Ground... sure it's not really a fighting game and your basically running around solving a few well placed puzzles but if you like a good scare THIS IS A MUST.
2) Clock Tower 3... it's pretty similar to Haunting Ground as in it's a thriller in which you have to run from the bad guys who stalk you but can't really fight back. This game is a little scarier than Haunting Ground because the bad guys COME OUT OF FREAKING NO WHERE.
3) 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors... I'm not sure if this is underrated or not but if it is it shouldn't be! This game was definately one of the best I have played on the DS for a LONG time... if you like reading and a storyline with multiple gorey endings and parts that make our heart break and characters you will relate to THIS IS YOUR GAME.

 

[aakibar]

Judging by the amount of hate it gets on this forum I'm gonna go with...

Fallout: New Vegas.

Ditto for me to, I absolutely loved that game and most of the bugs are fixed though and the dlc is very well done minus dead money

 

[ApertureJanitor]

I liked Splinter Cell: Conviction. And I feel dirty for doing so.

 

[Chibz]

Wait Monster Hunter Tri is underrated?

Very much so. Especially with Yahtzee's Fandumb following his every word as the gospel truth...

Another under-rated game? Almost any shmup.

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

dragon age 2
i dont care what anyone says

 

[THE_NAMSU]

Digimon World 1 for PS

Still play it to this day thought i was obsessed when i was like 9.

 

[Sanctus Hospes]

Fallout: New Vegas. Admittedly buggy but a great addition to the series I think.

 

[William Fleming]

Final Fantasy IX: It seems to lack the amount of fanboys VII and VIII has

Hyperdimension Neptunia: It has many flaws but I still find really fun

Star Ocean: NOT the 4th one, I'm talking about the first 2

Phantasy Star: The first 4, you know, before anyone even considered what the internet would be like today and before the whole franchise changed to just being MMO-styled games

White Knight Chronicles: The review scores are solely based on single player alone (which I admit is not great) it has the best online and community I've seen on consoles (better than COD anyway)

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines: This sort doesn't count anymore because the cult following it has built up but if you could completely remake the game and get rid of the glitches it could be a masterpiece.

Rogue Galaxy: Awesome game but it feels like people have forgotten about it and a sequel needs to made!

Yakuza: There's just something special about going around smashing random gangs in the face with bikes or stamping on them until their mother wouldn't recognise them and making the apologise by giving you any random crap they have on them at the time.

Legacy of Kain: It's just Legacy of Kain, fuck Twilight, the LoK franchise is how vampires should be, complete with time travel and paradoxes which provide the greatest plot twists and WTF moments ever in games and also Squid gods voiced by Tony Jay (RIP 1970-2006)

 

[Danny 6Speed]

Judging by the amount of hate it gets on this forum I'm gonna go with...

Fallout: New Vegas.

Explanation as to why New Vegas gets so much hate Lets look at my two most played characters the two Bethesda Fallouts.

Fallout:New Vegas: Dexter LVL 31, Karma Good,Playtime 32:12
Fallout 3: Daniel LVL 30,Karma Very good,Playtime 120+ hours