Underrated games

[Arsenic]

Sleeping Dogs was a brilliant game for me. From the story to the gameplay everything was perfectly set up for me. All-in-all one of my top 5 games

 

[TheBaconToastie]

I'd have to agree on Deus Ex and Alan Wake. Two of my favorite games that seemingly almost no on has played. Super excited for the soon to release offerings from both studios!


On the bright side, no one has put Destiny here yet. Probably because it deserves it's awful rating!

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed such a damn shame as well.

...and Destiny... I'm guilty as a long time player but for I short while I thought it had redeemed itself with The Taken King but it's going back downhill already.

 

[Boomerang Cutter]

One game I feel that's underrated is Yoshi's Story. Aside from the tough act it had to follow for not being Yoshi's Island, I enjoyed it when I was younger because of the challenges you can impose (melon only, one piece of fruit only, and so forth). It's a bit easy though but it can throw you off if you do something reckless.

The soundtrack's really damn catchy in a good way, such as the underground sewers with "Yo-Yo Yoshi" playing for instance.

 

[JJ Styles]

Necroshot.

XIII:

A ubisoft FPS game that utilized cel shaded graphics and a heavily modified unreal engine 2. This is one of the more story driven yet action packed FPS games with a mix of action and stealth sections. I remember getting this game and I thought it was a really good game, and the generally positive reviews also helped/ However, it did had some of its flaws such as the lack of quick saves which for the FPS game of the time, was really needed instead of the whole checkpoint system that is pretty much used nowadays, and the tedious stealth sections, notorious for their trial and error natures really needed quick saves in order to be less irritating to play.

Everything in XIII in terms of the style was pretty much spot on with the comic book style graphics, the wide arsenal of firearms and gadjets, the stylish headshots, the story, and the voice acting were all pretty immersive. Of course i did agree on many of the reviews that it had some really frustrating flaws that should have been addressed but at the end of the day, most of the flaws are subjective and to each his own, though i really thought that if it utilzed quick saves it could have been a lot better. At the end of the barrel, XIII was one of those games that had a generally positive reception but the poor sales didn't help. XIII wasn't a bad game, heck it was a pretty damn good one. And if anyone is pretty curious, check the game out. Its worth playing.

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Doom 64. Oh yeah.

What i remember so fondly about the N64 was not Super Mario 64, but the great library of console FPS games that it had. Turok, Perfect Dark, and the mother of all console FPS games (and the best movie licensed game ever) in Goldeneye. Then Midway with coop from id software wanted to capitalized on Doom and the N64's awesome library of FPS games with the "64" spinoff of Doom.

So yeah other than it being "Doom" with pretty much a lot of the core gameplay, what i really liked about Doom 64 was it being more than just an N64 port of a doom game. It served as a spinoff sequel of sorts and with some changes to the style from the PC games. The darker and more horror like atmosphere, the scarier appearances of the monsters, the more advanced lighting effects and other modifications of the doom engine, and a unique boss type monster as the game's primary antagonist. Of course the reason why Doom 64 may not have sold well compared to its competitors on the n64 is mainly compared to the likes of Goldeneye, Turok, and Perfect Dark, is that those other games simply had more to offer than what Doom 64 did. One funny criticism of Doom 64 that i read was the lack of the ability to look up or down, as well as crouching and umping, which pretty much points out the dated feeling that D64 had compared to the big three that was mentioned. Obviously for hardcore or long time Doomers out there, its how Doom was.

 

[thedestinedblade]

I can agree with Tactics Ogre; game needs more recognition. Enjoyed it more than FF Tactics.

I'll say Shining Force III definitely needed more (or still needs) recognition. Sadly, for it, it was released on the Sega Saturn. Only one of three interconnected scenarios, all of which combined to make a giant cohesive storyline, made it here to the West. (though the rest have been thankfully translated) Team Camelot had a serious falling-out with Sega, which resulted in there having been no proper turned-based SRPG iterations of the Shining Force series since. Sucks, because of that, Sega has turned the Shining series into a bunch of mediocre Action RPGs.

The game in itself is very simple, not going nearly as heavy in terms of depth as many other strategy games, and that may be why it's so much fun.

 

[Sir Codin]

I have to admit, despite all of its flaws:

DOOM 3

Sure, the horror-cliches were not very Doom-like and the action was very slow, but it had a nice B-horror movie charm and I really can't stand people trashing the game. Also, you CANNOT tell me those Cherubs weren't disturbing as fuck.

 

[classiccartoonsftw]

Rayman 2: The Great Escape.

 

[JJ Styles]

Spartan Total Warrior.

Remembering this game that i played since i was looking for a hack-n-slash game for our PS2 aside from Dynasty Warriors, I thought this was a really excellent "above-average" game.

Strong Points:
- The Music. Really intense music that matched well with the historical fantasy theme of Spartan. A great mix of ancient Greece + electronic techno rampage that kept players on their toes. The excellent soundtrack was easily the strongest point in this game.

- Solid Sound Mixing. The sound effects of metal cutting through flesh and bone is so deliciously satisfying to hear, especially when it comes to cutting down those hundreds of Legionaries for the name of Sparta.

- The setting. Sparta and The Roman Empire co-existing? While its obviously historically inaccurate, what also got me liking the game was that it reminded me of your typical Ancient Greek + Roman themed fantasy game with set pieces and elements that made it resemble a typical 90's Action movie such as modern-style'd weaponry, less formal language, and explosions.

- Voice Acting. The voice acting in Spartan is pretty much spot on, with every character sounding like their supposed roles and with the voice work being well delivered by their respective actors.

- Varied enemy types. From basic Roman Legionnaires to Pratorean Katana wielding Elite guards? Legionnaires with FLAMETHROWERS, Gladiators committing slave revolts, Barbarians, Giant Trolls, and even a Certain Wrathful God?

However, as much as I loved Spartan Total Warrior, it did have its weak points which is why the game isn't as well received or well known.

- Cheap gameplay sections = there were some sections in the game that required the player to defend a certain objective while fending off loads of enemies. While this may not sound very difficult for anyone especially in a Hack n Slash game, some objectives were so easily damaged by even the most basic of mooks, while said basic mooks are accompanied by bigger and stronger mooks that can easily overpower the player even with the acquirable upgrades relative to the level, while causing heavy damage to the said objective, at the same time. Oh and this game has too many escort missions... Escort Missions in muh hack n slash game?

- Too few weapons and some of them being underwhelming at best. So the weapons for this game include the basic Sword and Shield, a pair of dual wielded gladius, a hammer that the player swings slower than a senior citizen, and a spear that does not offer a good amount of reach or spread despite the fearsome length. Sadly the first 2 mentioned melee weapons are the best ones compared to the later acquired ones.

- This one's more of a nitpick but it needed moar blood, gore, and decapitated limbs and flying body organ parties. Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome were ultraviolent times filled with blood, gore, and rampage. The lack of gore in such i feel is a nitpick that i wish was rectified when the game was made.

Gameplay Footage, courtesy of MonsterGamer236

Spoiler:

Sadly, it didn't have the advertising to help back it up, otherwise this could have been a classic.