Underrated Games !

[bluepotatosack]

Max Payne 2 is a lovely FEAR-esque shooter that nails both the shooty bits and the talky bits. The gunplay is top-tier and it has one of the best and best-told stories in a game to date.

I thought Max Payne 2 was widely regarded as a classic? Great game regardless.

 

[octafish]

Battlefield 4

drops mic and leaves.

HEY! Come Back! I...I love BF4, sure it could be better, but it's still Battlefield.

I'm going with the Underrated/Overrated Alpha Protocol, if you love Obsidian, you already love it.

The original X-Com multi-player Laser Squad Nemesis, play by email X-Com, yes please.

...and Fallout Tactics, sure it isn't as good as Fallout 1 and 2 and it trashes the lore, but the gameplay is a lot of fun with the mix of turn based and real time.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Max Payne 2 is a lovely FEAR-esque shooter that nails both the shooty bits and the talky bits. The gunplay is top-tier and it has one of the best and best-told stories in a game to date.

Both , the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2 are extremely well known for their atmosphere , stories and gameplay and the ones who dont probably live below rocks .

 

[Rayce Archer]

And once again I'm using this opportunity to tell people about "The Cat Lady" and "Cryostasis-Sleep of Reason".

Cryostasis is my favorite mind-screw game ever. By the time you've

Spoiler

had a shootout with a movie

then

Spoiler

murdered the soul of a dead crazy man in the form of a spider made of ice by shooting it into radioactive cracks of a boat's life-force

and

Spoiler

been beheaded as a cow then solved an object-pushing puzzle as a bear

the part where you

Spoiler

play lights out with the titan Cronus using the souls of the dead to earn the right to go back in time and give a guy a toy boat

seems totally logical.

 

[joest01]

Hmm,

I have one game in particular that seems to get little recognition, probably at least in part due to the bad reviews back when it came out.

Talking I am of Enchanted Arms. A grid based RPG by From software with - at least for me - totally addictive gameplay. You assemble and level up a team of characters as well as Golem's, each with their own set of attacks and spells, that cover different areas of the opposing grid. It's a bit hard to explain, and looks pretty predestrian at first, but works incredibly well.

Other games worth mentioning:
Wild Arms XF, which actually got good reviews but is maybe just a bit to obscure a title to get much attention. But it's good. the PSP has a lot of strong srpg's. but XF took the cake. all the way.
Mindjack. Probably the worst reviewed game ever made. In part maybe because the premise sounded so damn cool (you jump into opponents in your own or other players games) and it defintely underdelivered on it, but it is still a pretty good time. As in fun to play in short bursts. Especially when you can find someone to play with online.

I'll make myself stop here

 

[Starbird]

Max Payne 2 is a lovely FEAR-esque shooter that nails both the shooty bits and the talky bits. The gunplay is top-tier and it has one of the best and best-told stories in a game to date.

I thought Max Payne 2 was widely regarded as a classic? Great game regardless.

Odd, I was extremely let down by MP2. 1 is amazing and went way out there with story, twists, guns and settings. 2 felt like a step back in many ways and the final boss was a massive letdown.

Another one for the list: Mechwarrior 3. Still my favorite mech game, great story, perfect balance between complexity and accessibility and just felt perfect. Except legging.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Rage: The game got decent reviews but nothing to write home about, but it feels like a constantly overlooked game. I thought the graphics were superb, the guns and items were great, the animations were incredible, the combat and shooting mechanics were excellent, and the world that it built was really immersive and well done.

I'll be the first to admit that the story was pretty awful, but beyond that it's one of my favorite shooters over the last few years, yet it rarely gets any sort of mention nowadays.

Rage is like Prometheus, in that it excelled in every regard except for story. it really is a shame, too, because every character in Rage was really likable. they were just hardly used at all. and the game just ended so abruptly.

they would have been wise to try and make the game a bit more like Mass Effect or Fallout; let players get to know the characters and actually interact with them.

Yeah, that definitely bugged me a lot. I remember beating the game and being like "wait, that was the end?". The other thing I found incredibly bizarre was that at one point in the game, they tell you who the "big bad" is, and so you immediately think "oh ok, he'll be the final boss". And then not only is he not the final boss, he's never even mentioned again.

Really hope a Rage 2 is released with an improved story, characters, and interactivity.

 

[Alex Baas]

This one might be more unknown over underrated but imma go for Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (now free on Steam, download now beat the rush.) Basically Fire Emblem In Space but without the friendship mechanics to carry you through the hordes of enemies and it can be really damn hard. I had to turn the difficulty down from recommended second hardest, to middle then casual. Even then the later fights were hard. Maybe my builds weren't the best, might look that up sometime.

It uses a whole bunch of different level setups instead of just wipe wap/kill leader thing Fire Emblem does, like the one where all the powerful ships are powered down until turn 3 so your early game party can deal with them.

The voice acting is good which is a surprise for an independent little indie game studio really. They only voice act in battles and i've just realised exactly how many pointers they took from Fire Emblem. This is a good thing. Also who ever decided that the Vanguard Cannon should be added to the game is a genius, it's a total tideturner if the AI fucks up its positioning even once and lines up six ships in a perfect line (worth using 3+ enemies in a line I think.) 2000 unavoidable damage six hexes directly in front of the Sunrider.

Fire Emblem you say? How much like Fire Emblem is it. I looked on the Steam store and read some Steam reviews and am not really getting that vibe. It looks quite focused on the visual novel aspect that for me was always a bonus in Fire Emblem. How much of the game does the combat make up? I am a huge sucker for the "win a long game of chess without losing a piece" aspect of Fire Emblem.

 

[The Wykydtron]

This one might be more unknown over underrated but imma go for Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (now free on Steam, download now beat the rush.) Basically Fire Emblem In Space but without the friendship mechanics to carry you through the hordes of enemies and it can be really damn hard. I had to turn the difficulty down from recommended second hardest, to middle then casual. Even then the later fights were hard. Maybe my builds weren't the best, might look that up sometime.

It uses a whole bunch of different level setups instead of just wipe wap/kill leader thing Fire Emblem does, like the one where all the powerful ships are powered down until turn 3 so your early game party can deal with them.

The voice acting is good which is a surprise for an independent little indie game studio really. They only voice act in battles and i've just realised exactly how many pointers they took from Fire Emblem. This is a good thing. Also who ever decided that the Vanguard Cannon should be added to the game is a genius, it's a total tideturner if the AI fucks up its positioning even once and lines up six ships in a perfect line (worth using 3+ enemies in a line I think.) 2000 unavoidable damage six hexes directly in front of the Sunrider.

Fire Emblem you say? How much like Fire Emblem is it. I looked on the Steam store and read some Steam reviews and am not really getting that vibe. It looks quite focused on the visual novel aspect that for me was always a bonus in Fire Emblem. How much of the game does the combat make up? I am a huge sucker for the "win a long game of chess without losing a piece" aspect of Fire Emblem.

The game is more on the combat side of things, in fact they cared some much about good combat they did an entire overhaul of it from their original Kickstarter version to their new Steam version.

You can skip some of the VN elements by not talking to the other crew members after battles (think Mass Effect-ish) and thinking about it you can skip side missions if you just want more VN. I wouldn't since you can get a couple of gimmick items and more money for upgrades if you do them but you can skip them. There's nowhere near a massive hour long line of talky bits if that's what you're worried about. Everything dialogue related is pretty concise, especially compared to other Visual Novels.

It doesn't feature permadeath since there's only six party members not including the Sunrider, though sometimes more in later battles and you lose instantly if the Sunrider goes down (like Fire Emblem.) If you lose more than like 2 party members in one fight later on you might as well restart because your firepower won't be high enough. Like if Chigara gets taken out early you're freaking done. You only realise how much you needed her until she's gone.

You also get an extra menu of special commands on its own separate resource called CP and you get more CP considering how well you did in every battle. You unlock more commands as the game goes on. This is where the Vanguard Cannon is. It's so awesome it isn't even featured in the Sunrider's own weapon selection (and Sunrider has every type of gun on it) you have to open a drop down menu and select the Summon Fiery Doom command. It helps it feel more of a last resort trump card you only use on occasion.

 

[Alex Baas]

This one might be more unknown over underrated but imma go for Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (now free on Steam, download now beat the rush.) Basically Fire Emblem In Space but without the friendship mechanics to carry you through the hordes of enemies and it can be really damn hard. I had to turn the difficulty down from recommended second hardest, to middle then casual. Even then the later fights were hard. Maybe my builds weren't the best, might look that up sometime.

It uses a whole bunch of different level setups instead of just wipe wap/kill leader thing Fire Emblem does, like the one where all the powerful ships are powered down until turn 3 so your early game party can deal with them.

The voice acting is good which is a surprise for an independent little indie game studio really. They only voice act in battles and i've just realised exactly how many pointers they took from Fire Emblem. This is a good thing. Also who ever decided that the Vanguard Cannon should be added to the game is a genius, it's a total tideturner if the AI fucks up its positioning even once and lines up six ships in a perfect line (worth using 3+ enemies in a line I think.) 2000 unavoidable damage six hexes directly in front of the Sunrider.

Fire Emblem you say? How much like Fire Emblem is it. I looked on the Steam store and read some Steam reviews and am not really getting that vibe. It looks quite focused on the visual novel aspect that for me was always a bonus in Fire Emblem. How much of the game does the combat make up? I am a huge sucker for the "win a long game of chess without losing a piece" aspect of Fire Emblem.

The game is more on the combat side of things, in fact they cared some much about good combat they did an entire overhaul of it from their original Kickstarter version to their new Steam version.

You can skip some of the VN elements by not talking to the other crew members after battles (think Mass Effect-ish) and thinking about it you can skip side missions if you just want more VN. I wouldn't since you can get a couple of gimmick items and more money for upgrades if you do them but you can skip them. There's nowhere near a massive hour long line of talky bits if that's what you're worried about. Everything dialogue related is pretty concise, especially compared to other Visual Novels.

It doesn't feature permadeath since there's only six party members not including the Sunrider, though sometimes more in later battles and you lose instantly if the Sunrider goes down (like Fire Emblem.) If you lose more than like 2 party members in one fight later on you might as well restart because your firepower won't be high enough. Like if Chigara gets taken out early you're freaking done. You only realise how much you needed her until she's gone.

You also get an extra menu of special commands on its own separate resource called CP and you get more CP considering how well you did in every battle. You unlock more commands as the game goes on. This is where the Vanguard Cannon is. It's so awesome it isn't even featured in the Sunrider's own weapon selection (and Sunrider has every type of gun on it) you have to open a drop down menu and select the Summon Fiery Doom command. It helps it feel more of a last resort trump card you only use on occasion.

Thanks. I will download this when I get home. It sounds exactly like the sort of game I clicked on this tread to find.

Mission successful.

 

[HaWkE_N7]

Underrated games
BLACK (2006)
Brilliant FPS, great gameplay and destructive environments. Best was is its story though, really gripping and ended on a cliffhanger that just begged for a sequel. Unfortunately, EA have yet to recognise this. The closest thing we got to a sequel was the rubbish spiritual successor, Bodycount.

Binary Domain (2012)
Looks great, plays great and has a great story too. Got great reviews but unfortunately it was published by Sega so got hardly any marketing. Then Sega complain that it didn't sell. Includes a great mechanic were you can actually speak to your AI companions via a huge list of different words and phrases the game will recognise. Tell them they're shit constantly then it will impact the game later on as if you get into trouble they won't come to your aid.

Alpha Protocol (2010)
By no means a great RPG, but not awful either. It does exactly what it says on the tin. Provides you with various different approaches both to levels and in terms of gameplay depending on what type of spy you wanna be. It tells a good story too and deserves a sequel so that Obsidian can iron out all the kinks that where an issue in this game. However, it didn't sell well enough for Sega. Again lack of marketing, though AP didn't suffer from that. It actually sold very well, outselling AAA title, Alan Wake, in its first few months after release. Sega as usual had ridiculous sales expectations.

Others:
Bulletstorm
Split/Second: Velocity
Blur
Defiance
FUSE
Hunted: The Demon's Forge
Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
Vanquish
Dragon's Dogma
Call of Juarez (except The Cartel, that was a steaming pile of horse dung),
Singularity
R.U.S.E.

 

[The Wykydtron]

This one might be more unknown over underrated but imma go for Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (now free on Steam, download now beat the rush.) Basically Fire Emblem In Space but without the friendship mechanics to carry you through the hordes of enemies and it can be really damn hard. I had to turn the difficulty down from recommended second hardest, to middle then casual. Even then the later fights were hard. Maybe my builds weren't the best, might look that up sometime.

It uses a whole bunch of different level setups instead of just wipe wap/kill leader thing Fire Emblem does, like the one where all the powerful ships are powered down until turn 3 so your early game party can deal with them.

The voice acting is good which is a surprise for an independent little indie game studio really. They only voice act in battles and i've just realised exactly how many pointers they took from Fire Emblem. This is a good thing. Also who ever decided that the Vanguard Cannon should be added to the game is a genius, it's a total tideturner if the AI fucks up its positioning even once and lines up six ships in a perfect line (worth using 3+ enemies in a line I think.) 2000 unavoidable damage six hexes directly in front of the Sunrider.

Fire Emblem you say? How much like Fire Emblem is it. I looked on the Steam store and read some Steam reviews and am not really getting that vibe. It looks quite focused on the visual novel aspect that for me was always a bonus in Fire Emblem. How much of the game does the combat make up? I am a huge sucker for the "win a long game of chess without losing a piece" aspect of Fire Emblem.

Thanks. I will download this when I get home. It sounds exactly like the sort of game I clicked on this tread to find.

Mission successful.

To be honest, i'm glad someone actually cared. Anyone who knows me/has been on his site for a while would probably go "oh it's this guy just ranting on about his current favourite, wonder when he'll first post on the next Persona 4 thread?" and move on.

This completely justifies all past and future splurges ^_^