Most underrated game ever?

[VincentMm]

Vectorman on the Mega Drive/Genesis

 

[zombiejoe]

Alpha Protocol

I thought that was a pretty good game.

Play Mass Effect2, you will take that statement back

HA! I have bested you good sir. I already played it, BEFORE Alpha Protocol.

I guess i'm more of a Bioware guy than you, no harm done

Oh, I still love Mass Effect, and it is probably a better game in the long run, but I still did like Alpha Protocol

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I liked Alpha Protocol as well,despite the fact that it was butchered by game reviewers/critics which their opinion doesn't matter squat for me.

I don't choose which games I play after watching to see what the reviewers(mostly gamespot)think.I tend to try the game for myself and see if it was worth my time.Then after I finished/quit the game I watch the review and compare what I think about it and their own "experienced" view on it.

The thing I liked in Alpha Protocol was the dialogue and the lightning fast decisions you had to take in few seconds time,which would mold the story based on every sentence and decision you made throughout the game.

Mass Effect and Dragon Age "choice wheel" gives you enough time to read what the NPC's said and try out multiple choices or even reloading and trying to see where the other option takes you.

 

[Not George Carlin]

FUEL. I thought it was good.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

I always seem to have the same list of games for these threads, but here I go.

Too Human- Lotta fun(though it had lots of problems), and the story was pretty good, towards the end

Brutal Legend-My GOTY in 2009, funny, fun, it was just amazing, too bad it didnt sell much

Alan Wake- Runner up for GOTY last year ( mass effect took first) It had a great story, and game play. Plus had amazing atmosphere

Condemned 1/2- Now these games sold well enough to get sequels, but they dont seem to get mentioned much if at all. Scary, fun, and good story( end of 2nd one sorta pissed me off though)

 

[Allan Carlisle]

There was a game released way back in the day called Twinsen's Odyssey. Apart from a reference at the end of Yahtzee's Little Big Planet review, I haven't ever come across a reference to the game without explicitly googling it.

The game was childlike, but beautiful and incredibly immersive, it had some of the best graphics available in 1997 and wonderful music.

Along the same lines was a game called Starship Titanic by Douglas Adams. It was a point and click puzzle game, again with beautiful music and the most innovative chat system I've ever seen. The game had wonderful voice actors (including John Cleese and Terry Jones) reading lines written by Douglas Adams.

tl;dr

Twinsens's Odyssey
Starship Titanic

 

[pspman45]

Alpha Protocol

I thought that was a pretty good game.

Play Mass Effect2, you will take that statement back

HA! I have bested you good sir. I already played it, BEFORE Alpha Protocol.

I guess i'm more of a Bioware guy than you, no harm done

Oh, I still love Mass Effect, and it is probably a better game in the long run, but I still did like Alpha Protocol

I just could not stand that huge aim reticle, in some cases, it was larger than the target i was trying to hit! and stealth could only get you so far...

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Jet Set Radio Future

Oh my god. It was the first game I played on my Xbox. It was so freaking good!

 

[Quantum Star]

Beyond Good & Evil. Also, Killer7.

 

[Yossarian1507]

Have you considered trying a different Class?
many people just play soldier, get bored, and say its shit
and btw, alpha protocol's aim reticle is only about 7 miles long...

Yes, I did. I played as a Vanguard, then I tried Infiltrator. Sorry, but a different set of skills doesn't do the job for me. It's not about the gameplay, because it's stellar anyway, it's about going through a 12 hours of the exact same events, with two or three possible outcomes, which doesn't really change anything in the long run (I really do hope that ME3 will make those decision important). It's was an awesome game for one playthrough, but I just cannot force myself to do it second time.

Also, hey nice stab at AP, but let me retaliate in your way:

Have you considered putting some skill point in those weapons?
Many people just say the pistol is shit, but when you actually start putting your points in it, it suddenly becomes the best way to win boss battles. This is the same deal like in Deus Ex. Yeah sure, at first I was also whining about it, but when I discovered what was the system behind it, I think it's brilliant. You want to be proficient in something - train it.

 

[pspman45]

Have you considered trying a different Class?
many people just play soldier, get bored, and say its shit
and btw, alpha protocol's aim reticle is only about 7 miles long...

Yes, I did. I played as a Vanguard, then I tried Infiltrator. Sorry, but a different set of skills doesn't do the job for me. It's not about the gameplay, because it's stellar anyway, it's about going through a 12 hours of the exact same events, with two or three possible outcomes, which doesn't really change anything in the long run (I really do hope that ME3 will make those decision important). It's was an awesome game for one playthrough, but I just cannot force myself to do it second time.

Also, hey nice stab at AP, but let me retaliate in your way:

Have you considered putting some skill point in those weapons?
Many people just say the pistol is shit, but when you actually start putting your points in it, it suddenly becomes the best way to win boss battles. This is the same deal like in Deus Ex. Yeah sure, at first I was also whining about it, but when I discovered what was the system behind it, I think it's brilliant. You want to be proficient in something - train it.

The First level's job is to make me pick what skillset i want to pick, you mentioned Deus Ex, they did that right, they maxed out the skill and let you try it. AP just says, here is a pistol, you're going to miss every shot, so you might as well sink all your points into CQC and stealth, so I did.
(PS: the protagonist's name is so atrociously bad... i mean Micheal Thorton? thats boring... its just a slight change to these guy's names http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Thornton )

 

[Aureliano]

First prize: Oni. Yes, I know how it was supposed to have multiplayer and vehicle sections and all that. But the single player game was super fun to play and, frankly, isn't that what we're all in this for? I just wish they made a sequel.

New one: Precursors. A weird eastern European space game in the styles of Deus Ex, Elite and Borderlands with more sidequests than you can shake a stick at. It didn't sell well, it's super quirky and there are some WEIRD elements in it (you can use live animals as guns in the FPS portion), but it's really cool and really original. It's also inspired by the works of Andre Norton, who wrote some pretty cool sci-fi back in the day.

And for the love of all that's holy, can people stop saying Planescape? It's rated RIDICULOUSLY highly by any and all connoisseur RPG players who have anything nice to say about the Baldur's Gate franchise. It just didn't sell well. That game debatably belongs in the 'games that sold way less well than something of their quality should have sold' thread.

 

[Yossarian1507]

The First level's job is to make me pick what skillset i want to pick, you mentioned Deus Ex, they did that right, they maxed out the skill and let you try it. AP just says, here is a pistol, you're going to miss every shot, so you might as well sink all your points into CQC and stealth, so I did.
(PS: the protagonist's name is so atrociously bad... i mean Micheal Thorton? thats boring... its just a slight change to these guy's names http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Thornton )

Hey, I agree about the first one, it would be better if they let you do that. But, hey no game is perfect. I'm just saying 'give it a chance, it's not that bad'.

About the second one... Really? Those are two War heroes, one tax judge and an actor. What's wrong with that? I mean, John Shepard is the default in ME, and it's also a slight change to these guy's names: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sheppard_(disambiguation), and it's not really that interesting as well. I'm not saying it's a point against ME. I mean, who cares? It's just a name. Not every hero needs to be called Marcus Fenix, Duke Nukem, Blast Hardcheese or whatever.

I'm not sure, where this conversation is heading... I think AP is seriously underrated for the reasons I stated already. You try to counter that argument, because... ME2 is better (plus two nitpicks). Yeah, probably. But:

a) That still doesn't mean that AP ISN'T underrated. Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, and Heat are the best basketball teams around, but that doesn't mean that, let's say, Orlando Magic is not a good team as well.

b) While we're at it, the basketball metaphor is actually appropriate to the situation. The Spurs maybe the best team around, but Phoenix Suns' playstyle is what I like about basketball (explosive offense, fancy passes from the point guards etc.), and that's why I have more fun watching Phoenix play rather than Spurs (Well, okay, also because Gortat play's there and I'm from Poland, but you get my point ).

 

[pspman45]

The First level's job is to make me pick what skillset i want to pick, you mentioned Deus Ex, they did that right, they maxed out the skill and let you try it. AP just says, here is a pistol, you're going to miss every shot, so you might as well sink all your points into CQC and stealth, so I did.
(PS: the protagonist's name is so atrociously bad... i mean Micheal Thorton? thats boring... its just a slight change to these guy's names http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Thornton )

Hey, I agree about the first one, it would be better if they let you do that. But, hey no game is perfect. I'm just saying 'give it a chance, it's not that bad'.

About the second one... Really? Those are two War heroes, one tax judge and an actor. What's wrong with that? I mean, John Shepard is the default in ME, and it's also a slight change to these guy's names: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sheppard_(disambiguation), and it's not really that interesting as well. I'm not saying it's a point against ME. I mean, who cares? It's just a name. Not every hero needs to be called Marcus Fenix, Duke Nukem, Blast Hardcheese or whatever.

I'm not sure, where this conversation is heading... I think AP is seriously underrated for the reasons I stated already. You try to counter that argument, because... ME2 is better (plus two nitpicks). Yeah, probably. But:

a) That still doesn't mean that AP ISN'T underrated. Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, and Heat are the best basketball teams around, but that doesn't mean that, let's say, Orlando Magic is not a good team as well.

b) While we're at it, the basketball metaphor is actually appropriate to the situation. The Spurs maybe the best team around, but Phoenix Suns' playstyle is what I like about basketball (explosive offense, fancy passes from the point guards etc.), and that's why I have more fun watching Phoenix play rather than Spurs (Well, okay, also because Gortat play's there and I'm from Poland, but you get my point ).

That wikipedia page doesn't exist..... lol
and please refer to the ZP review of AP before i rant on how much of a douche Thorton is. and he will ALWAYS be a douche, no matter what kind of character you are

 

[Yossarian1507]

That wikipedia page doesn't exist..... lol
and please refer to the ZP review of AP before i rant on how much of a douche Thorton is. and he will ALWAYS be a douche, no matter what kind of character you are

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sheppard

Maybe. I liked him being a douche though. I loved the way he pissed Marburg off, I love the way he went along with Steven Heck's conspiracy theories. I love his conversations with SIE. To each their own I guess.

 

[pspman45]

That wikipedia page doesn't exist..... lol
and please refer to the ZP review of AP before i rant on how much of a douche Thorton is. and he will ALWAYS be a douche, no matter what kind of character you are

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sheppard

Maybe. I liked him being a douche though. I loved the way he pissed Marburg off, I love the way he went along with Steven Heck's conspiracy theories. I love his conversations with SIE. To each their own I guess.

But I always play the stalwart hero of the land, who saved the school of orphans instead of taking the gold

 

[Melon Hunter]

The World Ends With You. A truly unique franchise with brilliant gameplay, original story and characters, and one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard. It's due to have a sequel, but Square Enix don't seem to be paying it that much attention at the moment.

 

[Woodsey]

[troll face]Halo 2.[/troll face]
In all seriousness, I would go with Metro 2033. A couple of good reviews, most said it was shit. Played it for myself and loved it to bits.

Most reviews seemed to play it on the consoles, which wasn't the best idea, since it's audience was always primarily on the PC.

 

[Kyougi Ryu]

The Laura Bow series. While the first one wasn't particularly amazing, the second one wins points for being the only mystery game I've played where you actually have to solve the mystery yourself. It also had the least amount of stupid puzzles, if any at all, compared to some other Sierra adventures (I'm looking at you, King's Quest V. 'Use cheese on generator'. Geeze, Roberta, what were you smoking?), the only thing that comes to mind is being screwed and unable to beat the game if you don't pick up the Smelling Salts when you get the chance.

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

Way of the Samurai.

The story is classic corny samurai flick, but I loved the game for how it branched based on decisions, either reunite the warring clans, take sides, work with the government or be a lone sort of 'ronin' through the whole story (VERY short campaign, though) On top of that, a bevy of different swords, styles and moves to learn. I grew up watching old samurai movies like Lone Wolf and Cub or Seven Samurai- so I fucking loved that game.

I never played the sequel, though I heard there was some kind of added mechanic where police or militia would pursue you like cops in GTA- didn't sound as fun as basically kill warring samurai clans without much reprisal in the first one.

I've managed to play all three of them and I have to agree. The games are essentially Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books in the form of a game. Apparently the series is a bit like the Yakuza franchise in terms of popularity. The fourth game in the series will be coming out in Japan soon, but in the US the games are almost completely unknown (aside from a cult following).

The sword combat is nuanced and complex, and the story has more paths and branches than any other game I've seen (the third game has 22 endings not including the secret ending where you kill every NPC in the game). The series has kind of a odd sense of humor, but they really aren't meant to be taken seriously. It's quirky, fun, and gives the player more freedom than any other series on the market.

Yeah, I played and liked WotS 3, and it's definitely underrated, but this is the prime of example of a game with potential to be Amazing, and turns out just good.

The combat could be less stiff (and the could let you fight multiple opponents at time, because it just looks silly when you kill off footsoldiers one by one), the world could be bigger, and most importantly, the game could've be more stuck-proof. I remember locking myself from any possible ending (no more inklings on the map FOREVER), because I accidentally pushed the 'apologize' button in one cutscene. My friend did similar thing, when he tried to side with Shuzen, but didn't do enough sidequest to actually speak with him directly before the Nobunaga event. Then the gates were locked for him, and he was stuck forever. It really can piss you off, if you played the game for hours, and must start again because of something like that.

I'll admit that it could use a bit more polish, but considering how innovative it is, it's fine with me. I'd rather have a innovative but unpolished game than a polished but derivative one.

I guess the one advantage to the game being so short is that if you die or get locked out of an ending you can just start over with all items and weapons intact. When I tried to get one of the harder endings I got killed off because I failed a mini-game (damn radishes...) and it meant that I had to start over. Thankfully it only took me about an hour to get back to where I was since each ending is only about 2-3 hours.