Most underrated games you've ever played

[Da Werecat]

Doomkid said:

Castlevania (specifically SOTN and before, not that new faggy "Simon's Quest but with pretty graphics" b00lshit)

Wasn't SotN exactly that?

[BaronOfStuff]

Doomkid said:

I can't believe [DM] isn't a more popular gamemode, being totally dwarfed by CTF, Survival and Cooperative.

I don't understand the popularity of CTF in Doom, myself. Nothing about the game was ever designed with CTF in mind, and it fucking shows. I absolutely loathe it.

As for DM, blame the MP community for this one losing so much steam compared to its peers. The same maps over and over again, with the same shitty "everyone starts next to a SSG" design (I'm looking at you in particular, D5M1, you insufferable cunt). New players come along, get trashed by so-called "pros" who essentially live on said maps, so when they suggest a new map for a more even ground all they get back is a wall of autism and apparent fear of new/different things. Change is clearly terrifying when you're a "pro" and can't just sweep around a map you can run through blindfolded, going through the same old motions.

Survival is popular because of the challenge it can present (it eventually gets more difficult with more players), and encourages more cautious/skillful play (not to mention genuine co-operation, not just rushing around trying to look better than everyone else). Basic co-op is still popular simply because it's an easy-going, noob-friendly mode with no long-term punishment for death.

[Doomkid]

Da Werecat said:

Wasn't SotN exactly that?

Totally fair call. Yes it was, but at that time it was new, fresh and exciting, and to be blunt, SOTN rocks the fuck out of all the other half-assed, half-baked ones that came later.

I think CV4, Bloodlines and even CV1 are better than SOTN (a pretty unpopular opinion) but if I said I didn't enjoy SOTN, I'd be a total liar. That said, it has the least replay value of the "classics" IMO.

BaronOfStuff said:

Unqestionable truths about the MP doom community

God damnit, you're totally right and I hate it - I get so tired of the same old duel maps over... and over... and over. I mean, I enjoy them from time to time, but judging someones "true Doom skill" by d5m1, ssl2 and judas23_ is fucking bullshit because there are a LOT of maps out there which require the player to think differently and they just get ignored. Go to a duel40 server and just try to pick one of the more modern maps. GUARANTEE your opponent will say "pick something we all kno dude wtf".

I wish there were more of us that enjoyed casual, fun FFA alongside the hardcore dueling. Sometimes it's fun to go balls out, but sometimes it's fun to play a new map none of the players know and see who figures it out first... That takes a ton of skill in it's own right, a type of sill that sadly often goes ignored.

[Da Werecat]

Well, it's pretty obvious that a GBA game won't compare with a big PS1 title. The sound is crap, the backgrounds are washed-out (to help you see the characters on a small dim screen), and there's less stuff.

Technical limitations aside, I don't see anything inherently bad about the GBA sequels. Not a fan of the second one - the protagonist runs like a twat, and the levels are mind-numbingly boring, but even that one has its moments. The first and the third are pretty good, if not great.

The formula got a little stale during the NDS era, but I didn't play the NDS games long enough to form a strong opinion.

[Buckshot]

Doomkid said:

... Castlevania (specifically SOTN and before)...

Ahhh!!! remind me of another. And It's one of my favorite games... Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow. Quite possibly -the- most underrated game of all time. Was just phenomenal all around. I remember my buddies and I couldn't believe so many passed on this and it got only decent reviews. Anyone I talked to was equally shocked, we all thought it was every bit 10/10 score, and I'm not even that big of a Castlevania fan.

If you have a few bucks, grab the Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow Ultimate Edition on steam... worth every penny and you'll thank me later.


I know a lot of reviewers later recanted their luke-warm reception of the game and came back to say it was far better than they originally gave it credit for some months later.

Also, this game has one of the most incredible musical scores of any game (or any media) that I've ever heard. Oscar Arajuo was the composer, and it was just absolutely breathtaking and magical. Even the somewhat mediocre sequel, Lords of Shadow 2, had Araujo's tracks and they are equally as impressive. If anything... grab the soundtracks for those two, and just sit back and listen. Like sex... but in your ear.

[VGames]

Black - FPS for PS2

[mrthejoshmon]

Turok Evolution was one of my favorite Xbox games, the game was so fun to mess around with (using the gravity gun to gently place enemies out of skyscrapers and using the spider mine to gas entire rooms of the slegs (it was slegs, right?). The brutal (for the time) gore system was hilarious (as they were going down you could just lop chunks off for hillarious deaths). The game did go south real fast in the flying sections though.

[SavageCorona]

VGames said:

Black - FPS for PS2

Holy hell I didn't even know this game existed before Nerd^3 made a video about it and was the reason I bought a PS2 again. I'm probably not bothering with any more second hand PS2 games after the absolute fucking faff I had with Gran Turismo 4 though. I had to take it back twice before the third copy just barely worked after the (different) guy in the shop cleaned it on their disk cleaning machine and on top of that my dad putting some rubbing alcohol on the disk and the disk reader inside the PS2. I shat myself when it apparently did nothing trying to read the disk but it worked on Tekken 4 immediately after.

[Pedro VC]

A lot of N64 games : Jet Force Gemini, Mace : The Dark Age, Shadow Man and MK Mythologies.

[VGames]

JET FORCE GEMINI!!!

[VGames]

Battle Tanx!!!

[BaronOfStuff]

Red Faction II. While it isn't as memorable (or as fun overall) as the original, it's still a pretty solid FPS with a nice selection of weapons. Huge shame that there's no true multiplayer on the PC version. S'all botmatches and shit.

[Ed]

Jaxxoon R said:

I would never in 100 years call Crash underrated. Mostly forgotten, yes, but those that remember usually have only nice things to say about the old spinny weirdo.

I just started replaying them and I was floored at how fresh they still feel. There aren't many PS1 or N64 games that have aged quite as gracefully as Crash 2/3.

[Hoodie]

Croc and The Legend of the Gobbos

[VGames]

Alice: Madness Returns

I loved this game and I would have modded the crap out of it like I did with the original game. Sadly it was not given enough attention sales wise and so the SDK was never created.

[Buckshot]

VGames said:

Alice: Madness Returns

I loved this game and I would have modded the crap out of it like I did with the original game. Sadly it was not given enough attention sales wise and so the SDK was never created.

This. loved the first (in fact have a huge Cheshire cat tattoo on my arm)

I think the second game got alot of bad rap for having its design and art "outsourced", which to me didn't make much difference. I understand how some said the textures and later level design was kind of "meh", but I really didn't notice that.

[Avoozl]

Man, I got into the Alice games earlier this year, I played through Alice 2 completely before playing Alice 1 any further and I pretty much enjoyed it, however I don't so much feel like going back to it for the collectables I missed because you have to re-collect even the items that you already obtained in order to get 100% so I thought fuck it. I still need to get back to Alice 1.

[VGames]

Shameless promotion:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/american-mcgees-alice-madly-enhanced

[vinnie245]

Forgot to post this last time but Disruptor.
Someone make a PC port for this please :'(

[Dav_NW]

Blazing Angels and Heroes Of The Pacific, they're both great ww2 flight games.

[TheMightyHeracross]

I actually like Corridor 7.

[elic]

Redneck Rampage, or at least the first episode of it. The quality of the level design plummets in E2, but E1 is a very consistently fun batch of "realistic" maps.

[Varis Alpha]

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is something i remember being fairly good for what it was. it's basically a stiffer version of Tomb Raider with slightly better graphics and good 'ol Indy starring it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing; the stiffer controls makes it easier to perform certain jumps and not fall off to your death, although that still happened a few times. aside from one terrible underwater scenario in the 4th or so level, i remember the game being genuinely entertaining. odd how that game isn't on GOG but Emperor's Tomb is, given that the latter is a bit more recent than it.

[Doomkid]

Gunbound! A great "worms clone" geared for online play. Last I checked (many years ago) it turned to shit because all the good stat items that used to be bought with in-game gold now required real, actual money, and the items now earned with in-game gold aren't as good. Shame because before that, this was in my top 5 games list. Wonderful music and appealing 2D graphics. (Though, this would have been when I was like 13. Haven't played it in about 6 years at least.)

Buckshot said:

If you have a few bucks, grab the Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow Ultimate Edition on steam... worth every penny and you'll thank me later.

Definitely going to, thanks for the recommendation!

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Heh I think judas23_ is one of the reasons I stopped playing ZDaemon and duels in general :P

I gotta get back in to mp action

Also I think Dark Cloud 2 for PS2 (never played the first one) might need some more love, not a fan of the whole town building progression blocks though

Apocalypse for PS1 looks cool, never played it though.

Army Men RTS is pretty nice

[Clonehunter]

SavageCorona said:

Holy hell I didn't even know this game existed before Nerd^3 made a video about it and was the reason I bought a PS2 again. I'm probably not bothering with any more second hand PS2 games after the absolute fucking faff I had with Gran Turismo 4 though. I had to take it back twice before the third copy just barely worked after the (different) guy in the shop cleaned it on their disk cleaning machine and on top of that my dad putting some rubbing alcohol on the disk and the disk reader inside the PS2. I shat myself when it apparently did nothing trying to read the disk but it worked on Tekken 4 immediately after.

Hm, I wonder if I can fix my PS2 copy of Soldier of Fortune doing that.



Something I should have mentioned are some other Jurassic Park games, like Chaos Island (An RTS that played rather smooth, though it could have been better), and Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. JPOG suffered from the fact that it was rushed near the end, and as such several graphical bugs exist, and there is an absolute shit load of either cut or flat out unfinished features that you can find strewn throughout the game files. Certain Dinosaurs may have been reasonably cut due to limitations for the console releases as well as the fact that the cut animals were waay to similar to the ones that already existed (Panoplosaurus is essentially the same as Ankylosaurus, but no clubbed tail). A vet station was cut because the same functions it had could be done with the normal Helicopter station. But some things seemed like they were almost ready to published, but then they didn't have time.

It's a fun game, but it's not very deep after you build some parks, a large number of missions were cut, and a lot of features for a deeper game were removed, either because of time or console compatibility. It's too bad BlueTongue and Universal Interactive went under, so we probably wont be seeing a new release anytime soon. The modding community still lives on, though, and have recently made some breakthroughs in order to keep the game afloat. So there are some upsides. It's expensive second hand, probably because it didn't get a wide release.

[Lila Feuer]

Run Like Hell for PS2 and the original XBOX. Its universe is akin to Mass Effect (different races living together) and its actual story is similar to Dead Space (malevolent aliens). It has good writing (courtesy of Brian Freyermuth) and voice talent (Lance Henriksen, Clancy Brown) brought down by some average gameplay (non-scary third person shooter and simple puzzles) and an obvious band advertisement (Breaking Benjamin), but it's one of my favorite games and I wish it got the sequels it deserved. Dead Space is essentially its spiritual successor though.

[Quast]

Total Annihilation and Warzone 2100. Warzone 2100 is now also completely free and open source.

[j4rio]

Gruntz, a silly but unique puzzle game from the very late 90s. Also little fighter 2, probably the best beat 'em up / fighting game hybrid - I've played it maybe twice as much as doom, maybe around 10 years on-and-off.

[kmc]

j4rio said:

Gruntz, a silly but unique puzzle game from the very late 90s.

hell yeah