Favorite Underrated Games

[Heroine of Winds]

I felt like making a new thread today. There are games that people talk about constantly, but there are games that not many have heard of before (whether it's due to poor advertising or just how the game is in general). What are your favorite underrated games that not alot of people talk about?

Here are mine:

Klonoa (the entire series): This is a franchise that never got good advertising since day 1 (blame Namco Bandai). Which is a darn shame because this is a really great series. If any of you have ever heard of Klonoa, then you're aware of what it is already. To those who don't, it's a 2.5D platformer series that got started on the PS1 & ended with the remake of the first game for the Wii. After the poor sales of the 'Wiimake', Namco Bandai put the series on ice for good. Even though the series may not be picked up again for a third entry, it doesn't stop the fact at how fun the games are. Hopefully Namco Bandai will bring back Klonoa for the eighth generation of gaming, but only time will tell.

Dust: An Elysian Tail: A great Metroidvania-styled game, but not many people seem to talk about it (mostly because the game stars anthropomorphic animals (a.k.a.

Spoiler

furries

)). Darn shame because I enjoyed the hell out of it. For an indie game, it's got tons of effort put into it. Sure most people may not enjoy this type of game, but it sure didn't stop me from playing this awesome indie title.

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg-Neat little platformer, but sadly never got alot of ads back when it came out. The game may be cutesy, but it's also a really tough one when you progress through it. I highly recommend this game to those who enjoy 2D/2.5D/3D platformers. It's not perfect, but it's still a fairly enjoyable game.

 

[Blue Star]

I always wanted to try Dust: An Elysian Tail. I'll have to get around to it.

The only underrated game I can think of at the moment is To the Moon (PC). This one does get really good reviews, yet I haven't bumped into many who have actually played the game. The gameplay mechanics aren't the greatest, but the story is amazing!

 

[Mercedes]

Resident Evil 6! It may be a crap horror game but I think it's an awesome action game. Had a tonne of fun with it, I adored the gameplay and mechanics of it, sprinting around and stuff. Very exciting. Should have been a new IP though.

 

[JuicieJ]

Metroid: Other M. I've gone over my thoughts on this game before, so I'll keep it brief. It's a game with fantastic gameplay that is held back by linearity, a hamfisted script, and a forgettable soundtrack. One of the better games on the Wii, but not one of the best. (Same thing for Prime 3, though.)

 

[Salem]

Meteos and Polarium for the DS.

 

[tketle]

Kirby: Canvas Curse. Possibly the best in the series if you ask me.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Okami, which sold poorly in the past, despite being seen as one of the best games of all time. Honorable mention goes to Viewtiful Joe.

 

[ihateghirahim]

Wii Xenoblade Chronicles- an excellent if excessively lengthy RPG. It has good story, great gameplay, and a vast and creative world. I've talked about it before, and its a game any JRPG fan could enjoy. I'm also excited for X later this year.

 

[JuicieJ]

Wii Xenoblade Chronicles- an excellent if excessively lengthy RPG. It has good story, great gameplay, and a vast and creative world. I've talked about it before, and its a game any JRPG fan could enjoy. I'm also excited for X later this year.

Xenoblade is far from underrated.

 

[Heroine of Winds]

Okami, which sold poorly in the past, despite being seen as one of the best games of all time.

I hate it when good original games sell poorly. Imo, it's very tragic. Thankfully Okami got a sequel, but it feels more of the same as its predecessor (still a good game, though).

 

[Snow Queen]

I think this game is less underrated and more overlooked. Etrian Odyssey is a modern dungeon crawler for the DS and 3DS. It's a truly beautiful game series if only for the interesting gameplay.

 

[Ganondork]

Dust: An Elysian Tail: A great Metroidvania-styled game, but not many people seem to talk about it (mostly because the game stars anthropomorphic animals (a.k.a. furries)). Darn shame because I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Dust isn't underrated at all. In the indie community, it's a pretty beloved title, and it's one of my recommended titles for anyone looking for a good game. I will say that the writing was okay at best, but it shone at times. I loved the combat system, but even on Hard, I didn't find it to be all that difficult. It's a bit of a shame, because that game would be great on a really difficult setting.

For an indie game, it's got tons of effort put into it.

I don't know what that is supposed to mean. Indie devs pour their hearts and souls into their games, but the fact that game engines and various other factors aren't cheap make it difficult for them to make a game that looks as appealing as a triple A title. Despite this, a lot of indie games are fantastic, and some I would say are better than big budget games. Give Thomas Was Alone a try; the game is very simple, yet the writing, narration, music, and puzzles are easily some of the most fun I have had in awhile. Want some more substance to your environment? Try Nihilumbra.

The only underrated game I can think of at the moment is To the Moon (PC). This one does get really good reviews, yet I haven't bumped into many who have actually played the game. The gameplay mechanics aren't the greatest, but the story is amazing!

To the Moon is one of my favorite indie titles, but this one isn't very underrated, either. Find someone who actively searches for indie games, and they will more than likely say they have played - and loved - the game. I am stoked for the next installment.

------

With that said, my favorite underrated games would have to be either Pepsiman or Nihilumbra.

Pepsiman is a hysterical game about a human pepsi can's adventures that was only released in Japan. With that being said, it's still very fun, even though the PC port isn't really the best. I wish music actually played in the background like it should, but beggars can't be choosers, and Pepsiman is a relatively rare game. I have gotten to the halfway point before losing, but I will eventually beat it.

Nihilumbra is another great title. The music is amazing, and I can't wait to buy the soundtrack. Some of the writing really shines, though other parts of it really aren't that great. I love the amount of thinking that goes into the game, and it has great replay value. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good puzzle platformer.

I'd like to list Thomas Was Alone and Skullgirls, but neither are that obscure in the indie community.

 

[Zorth]

I absolutely loved Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, a fantastic game. Actually very similar to the 3D Zelda titles in some sense, although set in the beautiful ancient Egypt. Very underrated game and just rare overall it seems, I've only met a few other persons ever, both on the internet and IRL, that have seemed to heard about the game, even less that actually played it and liked it. Recommend the game to anyone looking for a nice "old school" ps2/GCN game, would've probably been even more awesome than it is right now if the game itself was on par with these next gen / current gen consoles.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I have a few:

Fallout New Vegas
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and actually call this "underrated". Yes it's the follow up to one of greatest RPGs of all time (or widely conceived to be) and yes it sold well, but it actually got rather poor reviews, which I think are unjustified in many ways. For one, if reviewers could get past the fact that this is similar to Fallout 3 then this game would have gotten a much better score across the board. I honest believe if this game came before its predecessor then it would be the higher rated one.

The only donwside is the bugs. I guess you could say the atmosphere is slightly lighter and the story isn't as strong; however, the mood of the game is much more akin to the series as a whole; it just fits in with the humour more. Plus the story does feel less emphasised, but that was a beneficially sacrifice for giving the player more choice and even more freedom - something the series is also known for. This gave a great sense of: "I'll mould may own path". You could choose a plethora of options or just basically kill everyone.

This game also expanded a lot. The actual land mass was a lot more open. Now I know this is quite controversial, but it has been proved (I just can't find the source). Fallout 3 was rather big, but a large sections of the map (the downtown area) was segregated and filled with invisible walls. Anyway, NV had better combat, a better and more varied ranking systems, a ton of new perks, new guns/armour, items and it's economy system was much, much better. I can honestly say that New Vegas improved on most things, yet it goes brought down for being more of an add on, and the fact that it had a lot of bad glitches when it first came put. Look past that, and this game beats it's predecessor in all most every way... Oh and for true Fallout fans, this game is much more in line with the lore of the franchise, which is something that it's predecessor lacked.

Prototype 1&2
I don't have much to say on this game, but this game gets rather overlooked and dismissed as a bland and one dimensional super hero-esque game; it's actually not. I freaking love this series. Yes it can get slightly repetitive, but the sheer amount of fun you can with it makes up for that. You're so powerful that it makes other super hero games look rather tame. I don't think this game necessarily deserves amazing ratings, but I wish more people would give it a chance without even playing it.

Killzone 2
I was gonna say the entire series, but this is easily the best title. People tend to look at this servility a shallow view. They see a futuristic shooter and ultimately think it's a Halo rip off; it's far from that. The graphics are stunning and it creates a rather unique atmosphere in the game. The controls probably aren't as smooth as some of the more popular shooters, but that adds to the realism of the game more so - it makes it a lot harder to aim and shoot (realistic sway and recoil).

The story in this game is also rather good; it's not mind blowing, but it's more than enough to keep you intrigued, and it also feels more personal as you have your own squad so you tend to become attached to that squad. Then you have the multiplayer, which I thought was one of the best I've played in terms of shooters. It didn't copy the more popular franchises and that was it's main advantage. It followed a simple class set up, but you could read up that class the more you played with it and unlock more special abilities. It really catered towards what type of player you was. The maps were also fairly large (Battlefield like), but they also had multiple areas with high and intense action. This made it quite diverse as you had long range combat as well as short range and intense action all within the same game.

Resistance FoM/2
This one is very similar to what I believe for the other game above, people tend to look at this and think it's an empty shooter. However, a lot of these have actually never played the game before. Resistance is a series that focuses a lot on story and atmosphere; even though it's a shooter, it can get rather tense and almost horror like. Mission variety is a big factor - you'll have simple linear missions that involve you and a squad fighting, you'll have giant boss battles, stealth missions, survival-like missions etc. It's just really diverse and fun. The story also takes place in familiar locations - the first game is set in England so you'll see a lot of places you may recognise, while the second is set across the entirety of America. For me that made it feel more realistic.

The multiplayer of this game was also great. It had a rather large online (60 players in the second) which was big at the time of it's release. And since every gun was available from the start it made the battlefield a lot fairer and balanced. That's another thing, the guns are varied - from old fashioned WWII guns (that's the time the game's set in) to futuristic weapons. So yeah, I think this game deserves a lot more credit than some people give it.

 

[MW7]

People have probably heard of these games, but they are not especially popular.

Hitman Blood Money: This game is somewhat popular, but for me it's off the charts enjoyable. There are very few games that match this game's freedom and nonlinearity. I've beaten missions in countless ways and still find new things on occasion. The game has a nice mix of missions though. The more linear missions tend to be more challenging and demand precise execution. The large open missions are overwhelming only in terms of how many possibilities there are. The game taunts you by offering hints of different paths which may be harder or easier than the way you have done things before. The end result is a really challenging and rewarding game that has extremely high replay value.

007 Nightfire: This game is kind of a throwaway shooter for lots of people, but for me and my friends it's the multiplayer shooter of choice even today. The maps are all terrific and the customization of game scenarios allows for tons of unique experiences. One of my friends and I have a particular favorite scenario that we replay- explosives weapons on the smallest map and we compete to see who can get the most kills of AI.

Simpsons Hit and Run: I can't defend the gameplay really, but I still love the game. I am a huge Simpsons fan so just wandering around the game world is a treat for me. The missions are fine, but the little in-jokes that are everywhere make this game awesome.

Trauma Center/Team: I have Trauma Center Second Opinion and Trauma Team for the Wii. These two games are only really for a niche of the gaming market, but I would be a part of that special interest group that loves the games. The surgery only game is extremely difficult for me on the highest levels, but at the same time it is very rewarding. Trauma Team is just a really interesting experience that I'm glad I had. The internal medicine and forensic missions are really neat, and I had a lot of fun playing them.

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: I love Mario and Zelda, and this game was a blatant rip-off of both. The biggest criticism of the game was how it was exceptionally Japanese and little effort was put into localization. For me this just makes the experience more unique, memorable, and enjoyable. Of all the games I'm listing this would be the best. I would think most people would enjoy this game, but unfortunately few have played it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: I've played this game so many times I've lost count. 99% of the time I played it co-op so that just increased the fun factor. The gameplay is extremely simple, but I think it's fun nonetheless.

Double Dribble: This is a NES game that I still play occasionally. It's a really basic basketball game, but it's easy to have fun playing it. The draw of the game originally was the cutscenes close-ups of dunks, but now this is just kind of a strange side-note. What makes this game interesting for me is how a press of a button is an automatic steal 100% of the time if you are positioned correctly. I'm bothered by more modern games that rely on statistics and probabilities in determining whether an attempted steal is successful. Double Dribble allows defense to be completely skill-based which is a nice change of pace from modern games. Offense is kind of random though, or maybe I just still haven't figured out how it works.