Your Favorite Underrated Games

[SlySpy]

Obviously, Deus Ex would come to mind in this situation and although it is my most favorite game, I'm not going to talk about it. Anyway, maybe I'm just weird, but I seem to come across many underrated games which I wind up liking more than most games.

One game I believe is underrated is a game called Shenmue. In my opinion, it is by far the best game on the dreamcast, with it's great storytelling and it's innovative mechanics (at the time of its release). Since the dreamcast stopped selling and there wasn't much advertisement for the game, Shenmue didn't get much popularity. Shenmue had a sequel which came out on the dreamcast, but only in Japan and a few countries other than America. There was an American version released on the xbox, but again there wasn't much advertisement. Despite the lack of popularity, it did gain some hardcore fans who still try to get Sega to release Shenmue 3 to this day.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvNp3hvYSqs

Another game I would like to mention is Breakdown on the xbox. Breakdown has some of the most interesting concepts in such an interesting story. The game's strong point was not only its story, but its levl of immersion. You literally play the entire game in first person view, even the cutscenes. This makes you fell pretty powerful whent he main character starts gaining abilities throughout the game. Plus, there is a first person puking scene in the beginning of the game. How cool is that?
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAhta6va ... re=related

Lastly, I would like to mention The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Butcher Bay doesn't get enough credit for being one of the best games based on a movie. There are a few ways to go about playing the game. You could be a stealthy character, or you can be straightforward like Rambo. It isn't as choice heavy as Deus Ex, but it's still a worthwhile game to play.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xVPvFz3bQ

If you would like to mention any underrated games you've played, post them here.

[Solid_Choke]

Obviously, Deus Ex would come to mind in this situation and although it is my most favorite game, I'm not going to talk about it. Anyway, maybe I'm just weird, but I seem to come across many underrated games which I wind up liking more than most games.

One game I believe is underrated is a game called Shenmue. In my opinion, it is by far the best game on the dreamcast, with it's great storytelling and it's innovative mechanics (at the time of its release). Since the dreamcast stopped selling and there wasn't much advertisement for the game, Shenmue didn't get much popularity. Shenmue had a sequel which came out on the dreamcast, but only in Japan and a few countries other than America. There was an American version released on the xbox, but again there wasn't much advertisement. Despite the lack of popularity, it did gain some hardcore fans who still try to get Sega to release Shenmue 3 to this day.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvNp3hvYSqs

Another game I would like to mention is Breakdown on the xbox. Breakdown has some of the most interesting concepts in such an interesting story. The game's strong point was not only its story, but its levl of immersion. You literally play the entire game in first person view, even the cutscenes. This makes you fell pretty powerful whent he main character starts gaining abilities throughout the game. Plus, there is a first person puking scene in the beginning of the game. How cool is that?
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAhta6va ... re=related

Lastly, I would like to mention The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Butcher Bay doesn't get enough credit for being one of the best games based on a movie. There are a few ways to go about playing the game. You could be a stealthy character, or you can be straightforward like Rambo. It isn't as choice heavy as Deus Ex, but it's still a worthwhile game to play.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xVPvFz3bQ

If you would like to mention any underrated games you've played, post them here.

I loved Shenmue, I really wish they would have actually finished it. If I remember correctly they only released 2/3rds of the game and I had to play the European version of the second episode. So many good memories...

[Mr_Cyberpunk]

Shenmue 2 was seriously the most craziest game design I've ever seen.. turning boring tasks such as going to work into gameplay.. Genius! somehow that made it very fun. You literally feel like you just moved to Hong Kong and are struggling to make ends meet .

I've also been playing Children of the Nile, downloaded it off steam (its also on Impulse.. same deal) for AU$25. VERY AWESOME game, buggy, but awesome. It didn't score too well back in its day but it has some very cool gameplay- of course Pharoh was a much better game than COTN but they're both different games based on the same thing- Pharoh just has waaaaaay too much content so COTN is a refreshing change. If you're looking to kill a lot of time definately give Children of the Nile and Pharoh a try- especially Pharoh though because it is very in depth- I still haven't finished it and it includes the expansion pack too.. which is even MORE content. I picked up Pharoh for AU$9- crazy value for the quantity of content you get. I have to get the rest of the Caesar series. (excluding number 4 because it SUCKS)

[Jonas]

The game's strong point was not only its story, but its levl of immersion. You literally play the entire game in first person view, even the cutscenes.

Sooo... like Half-Life, then.

I loved Escape from Butcher Bay. I don't know if I'd call it underrated, everybody who's played it seems to hold it in very high regard, it's just not as well known as it might be. But then it is a very peculiar game, it's much more intimate and intelligent than most action games, especially one based on a Vin Diesel franchise (incidentally Pitch Black was awesome, I don't know what they were thinking when they greenlit the sequel).

Neverwinter Nights 2 is litterally an underrated game. A lot of people trash it for being stereotypical and clunky, but they're not giving it credit for the branching (it has two completely different mutually exclusive questlines in one large part of the game), the fantastic trial scene, the elaborate fortress management, the epic battle, and a few really emotional scenes of character interaction. That game has a lot of good stuff and it deserves better than to be dismissed like that, even if its main plot is clichéd and many of its characters are stereotypes.

Knights of the Old Republic 2, interestingly from the same developers, is another grossly underrated game. It's bugged, crippled, and broken due to a stunted 13 month development cycle, but it does so many things well. Just the potential of what this game could've been (which is evident if you play it) is enough to put it on my top 10, though it must ultimately yield its place there to its predecessor simply for not being a finished game.

[DDL]

Riddick wasn't QUITE designed to be played like DX, sadly.

Or at least, they didn't fully test it. I managed to break the game on a few occasions and have neatly half the prison convinced I'd escaped, and be on full alert with gunturrets blazing, while the other half seemed to think I was still happily in captivity. Kinda hobbled a few subquests.

"Hey riddick, think you could get me some drugs from my stash in the canteen? Just ask my buddy over there where it is."

"Uh...your buddy over there is both already dead, and STILL being repeated shot by a sentry cannon, so I'd think...not anymore, no."


As for underrated games, I'm gonna go super oldskool and say..DarkStone, by delphine software.

If only for the voice acting. And the chickens.

[Jonas]

If you want to go old-school, I'm bringing up Might & Magic 6. That game should be regarded as a classic on par with Baldur's Gate.

[SlySpy]

The game's strong point was not only its story, but its levl of immersion. You literally play the entire game in first person view, even the cutscenes.

Sooo... like Half-Life, then.

Funny you should say that, because I was going to touch on that but I decided not to. While you may play from first person view the whole time in Half-Life , it's not really the same as in Breakdown. If you were to play it, you would know what I mean. Half-Life plays more like a regular shooter than Breakdown, whereas Breakdown feels more realistic because of some of the things that could happen in the game. There are even certain parts of the game that could probably disorient some people.

I would have to agree with you on KOTOR 2. Obsidian had a really good thing going for them during development, but they cut too many things out so it wound up being rushed. Despite that, I still managed to like the game, aside from the ending which kind of ticked me off. I rememebr hearing that some mod team was going to try to get some of the deleted stuff into the game but I haven't really looked into it. I can't anyway, since I have KOTOR 2 on the xbox.

[Jonas]

Yeah KOTOR2 is being restored by Team Gizka, but they've been in beta for ages and I don't know what's up with 'em. There's alledgedly a leaked beta build of their mod somewhere on the internets, maybe they found that and called it quits out of irritation

[Jetsetlemming]

Harvest moon.
Seriously, goddamn, I just don't get how they manage to make a fun series out of FARMING, but they did, and while most people rightfully pass it off as a farming game those unfortunate few of us dare to try it out and get hopefully addicted. I'm playing Rune Factory on the DS right now and haven't been this addicted to a videogame since... ever, really. Not even pokemon could touch this. Adding Zelda style action and dungeon crawling to Harvest Moon is not dissimilar to adding Bejeweled to World of Warcraft.

[Mr_Cyberpunk]

If you want to go old-school, I'm bringing up Might & Magic 6. That game should be regarded as a classic on par with Baldur's Gate.

Jonas wins

[Jonas]

Jonas wins

\o/

I don't, actually. Never completed it. Played it for 6 months (count 'em!) with a friend, two days a week on average, some time around 7th or 8th grade IIRC. We made crude spreadsheets with notes about obelisks and shrines, we wrote lists of trainers, we even spent a whole day messing around with alchemy just to work out a list of the game's potions, even though we could've found just such a list readily available on the Internet (our way was far more fun though).

We eventually found all the legendary weapons and all the special items and spells, we made it to the Oracle and learned to use "Ancient Weapons" (man, what a plot twist - it easily rivals KOTOR's mindfuck), but for some reason, I don't know why, we stopped playing just before going to the devils' temple for the final quest.

MM6 had an oddly comforting... well, formalism to it, for lack of a better word! It was like the whole game was designed in a spreadsheet (which it probably was, actually). Everything fit into a system. I think MM6 was the first time when I really understood a game - when I played it so much as to be able to see exactly how everything fit together.

[that guy]

pokemon. So many people assume that, because its a game designed for children, adults can't enjoy it.

[DDL]

They said the same thing about lego island adventures, and I proved them wrong!

(though as I recall, I broke that game too )

[EER]

They said the same thing about lego island adventures, and I proved them wrong!

I liked that man!

however, I was a kid ... hmm

[metzger44]

Well... i do kinda like star wars jedi knight II and star wars jedi academy, pretty fun to jump insane heights, slice off hands and heads and push ppl into holes with force push!(w00t kinda sounds like George Bush ) but still, was very fun, i wish they made a sequel to jedi academy and i loved Kotor 2, for some reason the first 1 wont work in my computer