That underrated, forgotten gem of a game.

[KissmahArceus]

WOW Mashed. It was incredible! Loved playing that game for hours on end. XBLA version seems a no brainer, wonder why it hasn't happened?

 

[SoulSalmon]

Phantom Crash on the Xbox would be my first pick. The original disk doesn't even work on the X360.
Custom mech game, story and music are generally praised by anyone who's played it, during fights there's an emphasis on stealth and evasion rather then trying to out-damage and out-tank your enemies.
Maybe it's nostalgia talking, it surely can't be as awesome as I remember it...

A better known pick would be God Eater, specifically God Eater Burst on the PSP.
It's kinda well known, but too many people dismiss it as "baby Monster Hunter" because it has similar (if not a little more limited) gameplay and a linear story.
Customization and upgrades are the largest focus, not only do you create and tinker with your own blades/guns, but the customization goes right down into making your own bullets.

 

[omicron1]

Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile. Tilted Mill's first and best managed to present a vision of the future of city-builders that was far beyond its time.
Sadly, instead of sequels we got another Caesar, a few indie games, and then years of silence.

 

[KissmahArceus]

I played Phantom Crash, it was kinda the bomb but I found it quite tricky and I owned Psi Ops!
But the last few levels with the ghost enemy thingys put me off finishing it. Shame really...

 

[Pink Gregory]

Anyone remember "Whacked!" for the Xbox?

It was alright, sort of a Powerstone-esque competitive game; but with amusing ad-breaks. Think Dan Paladin (Castle Crashers) may have had something to do with it, judging by the art style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKjCjh47oyQ&feature=related

 

[BOOM headshot65]

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. If you have never played it you are going yourself a grave injustice.

Oh hells yes. I also like how it tries to have fun and be slapstick without taking away from the seriousness of some of the parts, and I SO wish they had a sequal to it.

My favorite thing of all time was to kill all but one of the enemy bots, then just start smacking him so his limbs gets loose, and then when he fires his gun or tries to walk he just flails around and cant do anything.

PS2:
(Naval Ops Series) Warship Gunner 2:
Think Armored Core (but not as fucking slow, most of the time) with page after page after page of upgrades and ships types.
Play as everything from some little Currier to a submarine to an Aircraft Carrier and a story that's ripped out of the Ace Combat games, and you've got one of the most under looked games on the PS2.
The sales of this game were just plan shameful.

I will second this as well, with a question added on: You would happen to know how to unlock the other campains, would you? I have beat the starting campain, the "special" [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SillinessSwitch] missions, the boss rush, and the survival modes, but I still only have the one campain.

OT: Others I would add to this list are

Warship Gunner: Commander (PS2), which is much like the others in the series with extreme customization, but you fight from a birds eye view instead of a 3rd person, and you command a fleet of 3 ships instead of just one ship.

Nobunaga's Ambition (PS2), which is a stratagy game where you play as a daiymo of a Japanese clan in the Sengoku period, and I would argue is 10x harder than even XCOM or Diablo or (insert hard game here).

PTO IV (PS2), which is exactly like Nobunaga's Ambition, but in WW2 and commanding a navy instead of an entire clan.

Locomotion (Comp), made by and using the same systems as Rollercoaster Tycoon, this one instead is you have to create a transport empire using trucks, trains, busses, planes, and ships.

Operation Darkness (Xbox 360), because Nazi Vampires and British Werewolves in turn based stratagy game, enough said.

Darkstar One: Broken Allience (Xbox 360), one of the few good space fighting games on the Xbox and allows for multiple ways to make money in the game (trader, merc, soldier, pirate, etc)
EDIT:

Spoiler: and as for this generation, quite frankly the best Squeenix game I've played in a long time

And that one. That one too.

 

[ResonanceGames]

Before this gets flooded with games that are in no way underrated (and it will), I want to toss out Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I think both of those games have tons of great qualities and are absolutely worth playing, but some flaws and middling review scores have made them more or less forgotten.

I see your Dark Messiah of Might and Magic... And I raise you, Might and Magic (1-8). Everytime I try to recommend it to someone they confuse it with Dark Messiah which makes me think the damn thing isnt as underrated as people keep saying.

Those aren't underrated. They're extremely well-remembered and regarded, except maybe 8 -- which is kinda crappy, I'll admit.

 

[razor343]

Gothic and Gothic 2

Two basicly unnoticed RPGs from Germany

A bit unintuative but when you get the hang of it it becomes awesome

Also relativley large areas and a city that feels like a real city

Sweet Jesus! A fellow fan of Gothic! You have also spared others the pain of me bringing up this series once more!

 

[PH3NOmenon]

I can't believe that no one has yet mentioned War of the Monsters (PS2)

That was the game of my late childhood.

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

That was an immensely fun title. I picked it up on a whim, based purely on nostalgia for the Rampage arcade game. I was not disappointed at all.

 

[MetalDooley]

I'd have to go with Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. It was and pretty much still is, the only game to give you decent psychic powers that are actually fun to use.

Second Sight gave you a range of pretty useful and fun psychic powers.On top of that it had a decent story and one of the most memorable twists in recent gaming

 

[Zen Bard]

I'd have to say "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines".

I know it was mentioned in another thread some months ago. But man! I really enjoy that game.

It's a true "role playing" game and each playthrough as a member of a different vampire clan is unique. Yes, the combat mechanics are clunky and it's not nearly as open world as it should have been, but it's just so immersive and fun!

 

[Nim]

Sanitarium. It's a great, albeit somewhat clunky, adventure game with a good dose of psychological horror. Good voice acting overall, very imaginative environments and a really intersting story. I'm a little surprised I don't see it around here more often.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Before this gets flooded with games that are in no way underrated (and it will), I want to toss out Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I think both of those games have tons of great qualities and are absolutely worth playing, but some flaws and middling review scores have made them more or less forgotten.

I see your Dark Messiah of Might and Magic... And I raise you, Might and Magic (1-8). Everytime I try to recommend it to someone they confuse it with Dark Messiah which makes me think the damn thing isnt as underrated as people keep saying.

Those aren't underrated. They're extremely well-remembered and regarded, except maybe 8 -- which is kinda crappy, I'll admit.

Extremely well remembered and every time they are mentioned anywhere people think its Dark Messiah -_-

 

[mirage202]

Genesis Rising.

Sure it would crash without fail if you killed any factory or carrier in the process of constructing a ship, but I just loved the whole organic ships mechanic.

 

[ResonanceGames]

Before this gets flooded with games that are in no way underrated (and it will), I want to toss out Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I think both of those games have tons of great qualities and are absolutely worth playing, but some flaws and middling review scores have made them more or less forgotten.

I see your Dark Messiah of Might and Magic... And I raise you, Might and Magic (1-8). Everytime I try to recommend it to someone they confuse it with Dark Messiah which makes me think the damn thing isnt as underrated as people keep saying.

Those aren't underrated. They're extremely well-remembered and regarded, except maybe 8 -- which is kinda crappy, I'll admit.

Extremely well remembered and every time they are mentioned anywhere people think its Dark Messiah -_-

I have never, ever heard that. Generally people think I'm talking about Heroes.

Granted, the average X-box 360 owner isn't going to be familiar with them because they're old. But people who were playing RPGs in the early 90s generally consider them part of the holy trinity with Wizardry and Ultima. I couldn't really call either of those franchises underrated either, even if they've been relegated to the annals of early PCdom.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I've mentioned Area 51(Xbox/PS2) on this site multiple times because it's one of my favorite shooters ever, if not my favorite shooter ever. So if I had to switch it up, I'd say no one really talks about The Suffering anymore.

 

[47_Ronin]

Archimedean Dynasty - still waiting for proper sequels.

 

[Dustpan]

Shadowrun - SNES

 

[scorptatious]

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. If you have never played it you are going yourself a grave injustice.

THIS. SO MUCH THIS.

I remember first getting that game for Christmas not long after it came out. There was one point in the game where I got stuck for a very long time. It was the spy bot factory where you had to search through lockers to find a chip. And I kept getting caught even though I was standing where I was supposed to be standing when that mil scientist came back.

Years later, I played through that game again all the way up to that point and found that I was supposed to close the lockers after I searched through them. Funny how that works. :/

OT:I guess I'll throw in Valkyria Chronicles.


A TBS/TPS hybrid with a great story, a great cast of characters, strategic gameplay, beautiful graphics, and tons of replay value. What's not to love?

 

[Benni88]

Zatacka. The most easily available version is currently Zatacka 360 on Xbox Indie.

I shit you not. This game is probably the most simple, yet worthwhile purchase you could ever get if you have people to play it with. Think of it as Multiplayer snake in curves. Beautiful. Elegant. A duality of simplicity and complexity. And ofcourse, so, so, so underrated.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whdbcHk4bAM]