Your personal biggest underrated game of all time

[Strazdas]

Postal 2. dont get me started.

I'm not sure underrated is the right word. So far as gameplay and graphics are concerned Postal 2 is decidedly unpolished, but the free roaming level design has some great ideas behind it that sadly the tech just can't live up to, and of course it's relentlessly, unashamedly outrageous and offensive (and hilarious) to a degree that makes other 'controversial' games just pale into insignificance by comparison.

I admit that neither graphics(altrough ok for its time) nor game engine is shining there. The free roaming and ideas it had for dark humour, like the whole petition thing were great fun. IT dared to be brave, but not brave enough. This could be technical limitation of course, but dismembering a vomiting head goes old quite fast actually. its no masterpiece by any reason, but when people talk about it as it was the worst game ever made all the time it really is underrated.
when people say violent games like psotal make you violent... what if the first gameplay i laughed all the way though, does that make me a comic now?

 

[Bordersane]

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.
It had issues on arrival...what with glitches, poor reviews, less-than-stellar sales.
but I still love that game. it has a rather original concept, and its good fun. it ended up becoming a large influence on the design and game mechanics the ended up in Skyrim.

 

[SpaceBat]

Someone mentioned crap controls in another thread. I don't know. I don't remember them feeling crappy at all. I was actually very impressed with how real it felt controlling Ico and how real it felt leading Yorda around - the little tug, followed by a sprint, then the sudden halt and how momentum would carry her on for about a sec. I thought it was of some beauty you play as a weakling escorting a weaker weakling. It all felt very vulnerable. One poster dismissed it as crap controls but I'm not sure.

They're not crappy at all, in fact the controls work pretty flawlessly. They're responsive, the tug does stand out very well and what you said rings entirely true. And yes, Ico is severely underrated.

 

[Brandon237]

Destroy All Humans.
The first game was so well made, had such character, brilliant humour, replayability and weapons and powers that were varied and fun.

That game is a solid 95% from me, and about 113 out 10 in the "fun factor" category.

Captcha has been watching my gf and I >.> "Ear mark", creepy captcha!

 

[tangoprime]

Postal 2. dont get me started.

I'm not sure underrated is the right word. So far as gameplay and graphics are concerned Postal 2 is decidedly unpolished, but the free roaming level design has some great ideas behind it that sadly the tech just can't live up to, and of course it's relentlessly, unashamedly outrageous and offensive (and hilarious) to a degree that makes other 'controversial' games just pale into insignificance by comparison.

I admit that neither graphics(altrough ok for its time) nor game engine is shining there. The free roaming and ideas it had for dark humour, like the whole petition thing were great fun. IT dared to be brave, but not brave enough. This could be technical limitation of course, but dismembering a vomiting head goes old quite fast actually. its no masterpiece by any reason, but when people talk about it as it was the worst game ever made all the time it really is underrated.
when people say violent games like psotal make you violent... what if the first gameplay i laughed all the way though, does that make me a comic now?

Also, the kicker, it's only as violent as you want it to be, loved that about it. The hilarious voting thing, buying the milk, cashing your check- you don't HAVE to get violent in any of those. The graphics and engine were extremely weak, but, I mean, we're talking about a game where you can use a cat as a shotgun suppressor...

 

[MrPhyntch]

I was going to say KoA, but got Ninja'd by the OP. So time to go on to my backup:

The Conduit.

A respectable FPS with a slightly confusing but decent story, great controls and puzzle mechanics. It's basically Halo on the Wii. Also a fully customizable HUD, so you can put anything anywhere it's easiest for you.

Hell, they even coded a new powerful engine for this game, giving it graphics comparable to that of other early X360 games (such as Halo 3), even on the Wii. It also showcased exactly what the motion controls could do for FPS.

Sadly, it really flew under the radar outside of gaming publications, and I've never met another person who recognizes this game.

 

[Iwata]

As of late, most Raven Software games. Singularity, Wolfenstein, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, for example.

 

[Raika]

Nier is the best game of this generation and hands-down the best story ever told through this particular medium, but very few people have heard of it and even less have played it. On a more familiar note, I'm obligated to blow a kiss to my beloved Final Fantasy X-2, which only really qualifies as 'underrated' outside Japan, where it was very well-received. The West wasn't so kind to it, but that's because this was during a time when everything had to be serious and dramatic in order to garner any praise. A self-aware tongue-in-cheek comedy wasn't going to resonate with American audiences who needed at least five or six excuses to cry in any given game.

 

[aXFireXHeartXa]

I'm going to go with Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. That game was hilarious. The only people I know who played it are the ones I let borrow.

Also, pretty much every Dynasty Warriors game.

 

[VeryOddGamer]

Okay, most of these have already been mentioned, but I'm going to be a badass rebel and mention them anyway.

Just Cause 2: Just awesome.

Alpha Protocol: Choices that actually have consequences.

Knights of The Old Republic 2 with a restored content mod: Better than the first one.

Neverwinter Nights 2, more specifically it's Mask of the Betrayer expansion: Planescape: Torment level story.

 

[Ranger 17]

These are my top 3 underrated games of late 2011 and 2012:

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - I totally agree, was TOTALLY underrated. Awesome game. Tbh I still haven't beaten it cause theres SOOOO much to do in it! It's ridiculous! It's a cross between dragon age/fable/god of war/ Skyrim's lock picking system. The combat is great, the story is great, quests are fun, the fact R.A Salvatore helped write the game was awesome, crafting weapons was fun. Overall the game was a blast! Very well done..just...really long lol

Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Best Lord of the rings game since Lotr Return of the King for the Ps2/xbox (Which was Brilliant!!) Snowblind studios did fantastic on it! You could only play up to 3 people, but the co-op system was great! It made it so much more fun with people online, itsticks you in the role of you NEED to play co-operatively with your other players (or even the AI which was ok) so that brings you closer together with friends or even random people online. Also the separate looting system is a total YES moment cause I get so sick of looting and everybody steals all the best shit right off the bat (Borderlands is a prime example! Still great though) Combat and skill trees were fantastic hands down. As far as the story and graphics, very well done. It all takes place during the events of the lotr with movie rights and book rights round up, so you get a lot of the major lotr characters looking like their movie selves with a book lore. A great antagonist, great seprate story, great exploration. As far as the graphics and the mechanics of the game, they did so well with the dynamic environments! Rain hitting your armour and running through the streets, rolling around on the ground or snow and the dirt and snow actually get on your armour, a troll swings his club and ACTUALLY knocks everything away even any orcs or goblins in the way of his swing. Very well done game, I could go on but yeah...time to move on.

Dragon's Dogma - By far one of the most underrated games of all time, or less publicized games. Developed by Capcom, Dragon's dogma sticks you as a villager fully customizable from size and age and gender in a tiny village down by the ocean, where you are attacked by an ancient dragon who takes your heart and in doing so, transforms you into something called "The Arisen." The dragon challenges you to take your heart back from him, so you go through this massive open world and do all many quests and go through this really intricate and amazing story to get it back. But what makes the game awesome is if you expect there to be a difficulty setting, don't bother. This game has none. it doesn't babysit you, its a slightly toned down version of dark souls, but you can encounter fearsome dragons and chimeras or whatever really early on in the game if you aren't careful. This game makes you think carefully about where to go and what level you should be in order to take on these various monsters. Around level 20 is when you could actually be considered good enough to fight these monsters. The combat is brilliantly done, really smooth, fast, and theres nothing more satisfying then grappling to a griffins wing while its flying and hacking away at it, or climbing up these massive other creatures you see in the game and start going to town. This game was so well done!

 

[zzkill]

Mount&Blade: Warband, one of the best games. Has a good modding community, great mods, good concept and I still heard people say it's not good. I can't believe them...

 

[Miles Maldonado]

Tossup between two really obscure games:

Codename Panzers, Phase 1, an RTS game for the PC, and Naval Ops: Warship Gunner 2.

I keep praying that one day we'll see either a Warship Gunner 3, or a spiritual successor. The off-the-wall craziness of Warship Gunner 2 featuring things like *cat lasers* and *Gurren-Lagan style drill battleship hulls* and the high customization gameplay made for an amazing experience. I seriously want to see what they could do with a modern gaming system.

Hopper is UP, needs a buff.

 

[Lucky Godzilla]

Probably Ace Combat Assault Horizon or Vanquish.
Especially Vanquish, that game needs more love.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Monster Hunter, the thing that got me onto consoles (well, PSP) and great for the amazing monsters and soundtrack. Hard to get into I admit, starts slow. And the PSP, although I liked it at the time, was probably a poor choice for the game.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

On these forums? Dragon Age 2. It was a problematic title in many ways but it didn't deserve a fraction of the frothing hate it got. It got Ultima IX level hate around here, which is just silly.

In general? Alpha Protocol. Once the bugs were sorted out it was actually pretty darn entertaining.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Okay, most of these have already been mentioned, but I'm going to be a badass rebel and mention them anyway.

Just Cause 2: Just awesome.

Alpha Protocol: Choices that actually have consequences.

Knights of The Old Republic 2 with a restored content mod: Better than the first one.

Neverwinter Nights 2, more specifically it's Mask of the Betrayer expansion: Planescape: Torment level story.

just going to steal your opinion all together, agree with all of these.

 

[Zeles]

Star Control 2 / Ur-Quan Masters. I'd be surprised if many people on here have even heard of it. But the Mass Effect series ripped off so much from this series it's almost criminal. The combat is extremely well balanced, the story is rich and full of humor, the alien races are unique and memorable. Nothing has come close to it to date. Best game I've ever played, hands down, period, /end.

I know that game! I haven't actually played it, but my brother has. It isn't really my thing, but from what my brother has said about it, he really likes it. I like the Scottish/Irish space Pterodactyls.

 

[Timedraven 117]

From what I've seen of the Escapist, this might not be considered all that 'underrated', but from how I personally feel about a game? Gotta be:

Sure, it actually received decent ratings when it came out, and both non-fans and fans of Star Wars alike have positive things about it to this day, but I felt at the time it came out like nowhere near enough people played it, and even less appreciated its significance.

Here was a game that proved you didn't need lightsabers, Force powers and Jedi to make a console game feel like Star Wars and stay fun to play. To this day, I can only think of one other that managed it, and that's the first Battlefront (hipster opinion: the better of the two). It had tons of atmosphere, managed to render down that most generic of all Star Wars cannon fodder - the freaking clone army - into four surprisingly different, surprisingly likeable characters, and not only were you able to splatter Geonosian goo all over your screen with a knife (that came out of your goddamn wrist way before Assassin's Creed), it even had a little energy thing to wipe it all off again. Immersion!

Having a gun that was actually three guns was badass, and dat squad AI... Man, at the time it seemed like perfection. Honestly, I feel RC taught lessons that a lot of games today could still stand to learn from. The simplicity of giving orders, the squad being useful... but mostly, the idea that if you can revive squadmates, they should be able to revive you.

Long overdue for a sequel, IMO. Just imagine that game with current gen graphics and Imperial rather than Republic gear...

*Sigh*

It did have a squeal i think. It was a book. I loved this game younger, i wish i still had it. It made super battle droids FEEL like super battle droids. unlike in Battlefront. And the variety of grenades and weapons, and the trandosians, the damn trandosians. If they needed to make a scary game they knew how to make it.

EDIT: My bad.

OT: Darkest of Days. Its was fun, the game worked, and it showed two under appreciated times in history gaming has to touched. The first world war, and a GOOD civil war part of the game. Also not to mention the story was interesting too. Wish they made a sequel.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Basically there's a game that I genuinely quite like (perfect presentation, good gameplay, very user-unfriendly) called Unlimited SaGa on Ps2, metacritic of 45%


7 Main stories, all great, innovative battle system that needs some explaining but is great fun, absolutely incredible aesthetics and audio, one of the best soundtracks in gaming.

The only reason I would not recommend it is because you NEED some walkthough or guide to even play the game, seriously.

It's a unique gem of a game with no user friendliness as its major downfall.

Also this battle theme is by far my favourite battle theme in any game, same guy who made the music for FFXIII too which I also bloody love