Underrated classic games

tok9 · 06-07-2014 4:25pm

Can it be considered underrated now since I'm still waiting for another game? :P

tok9 · 06-07-2014 8:48pm

On underrated games. I've started up Beyond Good and Evil HD again as I had lost my save file last time (extremely early in the game).

Initially I wasn't really sure why there was so much love for the game but I must say after playing for about 2-3 hours now, I'm really enjoying it.

CiDeRmAn · 06-07-2014 8:54pm

Loved that one, critically rated but ignored by everyone else. I had it for the GC I think and played it to completion.
Wonderful.

Metal Arms is another one.
I had it on Xbox and loved it.
I have it on PS2 now and it's not quite as impressive tbh.

SeantheMan · 07-07-2014 12:37am

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

But it was never under rated though, it sold enough to warrant two sequels.

Having sequels doesn't meant a game was rated highly. There are plenty of trash games out there with numerous sequels.

Cienciano · 07-07-2014 12:41am

Sleeping Dogs for me. I know that a good few on here will know it, but none of my friends did, and me neither till it came out free on PS+. Cars handle a bit weird, but once you're used to that it's an amazing game.

CiDeRmAn · 07-07-2014 1:30am

SeantheMan wrote: »

Having sequels doesn't meant a game was rated highly. There are plenty of trash games out there with numerous sequels.

A game that is trash but gets sequels usually means it was popular in spite of it sucking.

In Syphon Filters case it was both well reviewed and popular and got 2 sequels.
I'm not really sure what your point is.
The thread is all about games that were under rated.
That's either meaning they were under scored when originally reviewed or, and more likely, games that were ignored upon release.
Syphon Filter was neither.
Psychonauts was well reviewed but ignored by the buying public.
F1'98 was an awful game but it sold tons.
I'd say the thread is more about the former than the latter.

jacksie66 · 07-07-2014 1:33am

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CiDeRmAn · 07-07-2014 1:34am

Cienciano wrote: »

Sleeping Dogs for me. I know that a good few on here will know it, but none of my friends did, and me neither till it came out free on PS+. Cars handle a bit weird, but once you're used to that it's an amazing game.

It was originally a sequel to the earlier True Crime series on the PS2, Xbox and PC with LA and New York being the settings, then they went to revive the franchise with one set in Hong Kong but decided to make a fresh IP and called it Sleeping Dogs.

jacksie66 · 07-07-2014 1:36am

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krudler · 07-07-2014 3:17am

Wiz N' Liz on the Megadrive, great little game

Retr0gamer · 07-07-2014 8:44am

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

A game that is trash but gets sequels usually means it was popular in spite of it sucking.

People are mixing up old game with underrated game it seems.

Zero-Cool · 07-07-2014 8:54am

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

It was originally a sequel to the earlier True Crime series on the PS2, Xbox and PC with LA and New York being the settings, then they went to revive the franchise with one set in Hong Kong but decided to make a fresh IP and called it Sleeping Dogs.

It was actually an original IP but then Activision got their grubby hands on it and told the devs to change it and make it fit into the True Crime world. Then they said it will never sell and shelved the project. Thank God Square Enix picked it up and let the devs do what they wanted to do originally.

Such a great game and HIGHLY underrated!

ríomhaire · 07-07-2014 9:39am

SeantheMan wrote: »

Syphon Filter. I thought it was amazing back in the day.

I actually just bought Syphon Filter 2 in a retro game shop the other day.

07-07-2014 10:09am

Completed God Hand last night, Took me 20+ hours in total.
The last boss was an absolute ****! I must have used about 10 or more continues.

I have to say one of the biggest gaming surprises in a long time, pure gameplay perfection and also one of the most difficult games I have ever played.

But the great thing about the difficulty is that it's fair. There is never anything cheap about it. If I ended up dying it's because I wasn't good enough and had to get better, or learn a particular enemy attack pattern to dodge and attack.

This game surely had influence on Demon Souls / Dark Souls??

There's some amazing runs of this on youtube with guys getting near perfect runs (As in not getting hit :eek::eek::eek:)

Loved every minute of it.

07-07-2014 10:39am

Body Harvest on the N64 was clunky, reviewed averagely yet I loved it

Cienciano · 07-07-2014 10:47am

sheehy83 wrote: »

It was actually an original IP but then Activision got their grubby hands on it and told the devs to change it and make it fit into the True Crime world. Then they said it will never sell and shelved the project. Thank God Square Enix picked it up and let the devs do what they wanted to do originally.

Such a great game and HIGHLY underrated!

Yeah, probably more serious than GTA, but still plenty of laughs. But the story is brilliant and believable. And some parts of the gameplay (fighting, being undercover and leveling up cop ability and criminal) is far better than GTA.

CiDeRmAn · 07-07-2014 12:00pm

The cities in them though, they may have been somewhat accurate but they were simply not as fun as the condensed fun of Liberty or Vice City, or even the fun to be had in the bloated San Andreas, those locations were built to keep the player amused while the actual layout of LA is, well, not.

Cienciano · 07-07-2014 12:12pm

I've only ever played sleeping dogs, but another thing I like is when you put somewhere into your GPS, you get big arrows on screen telling you when to turn. I find in GTA you can spend too much time looking at the little small GPS map rather than the actual scenery and other traffic.
But GTA is if definitely better fun just driving around and acting the eejit.

sweetie · 07-07-2014 2:26pm

Plus one here for Metal Arms, lovely little game. Any mention yet of XIII which I loved the style and storyline and Psi Ops the mindgate conspiracy which was a better version of Second sight on the ps2 that came out around the same time. the daddy of underrated games on the xbox was Chronicle of Riddick: Escape from butcher bay. Had a blast with that game!

Generic Dreadhead · 07-07-2014 3:05pm

Pikmin 2
Bioshock 2 (with DLC)
Timesplitters 3 (i felt 2 was more popular)
Super Tennis (SNES)
Mario Party 2
Perfect Dark

CiDeRmAn · 07-07-2014 3:33pm

None of those under rated!
Just older titles!
They all sold loads!
I have them all and they're great.

Riddick even got a remaster on the PS3 and 360.

Retr0gamer · 07-07-2014 4:37pm

If anything Perfect Dark is severely over rated.

CiDeRmAn · 07-07-2014 5:47pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If anything Perfect Dark is severely over rated.

OK, I'll give you that.
It had a near unplayable frame rate at the time, even with the ram pack.
More importantly, whatever about when Goldeneye was released and it's PC peers, when Perfect Dark came out it was 2000 and the PC market was flooded with better games, on hardware that wasn't nearly 6 years old.

Mal-Adjusted · 08-07-2014 12:28am

I don't know if it qualifies as underrated because the critics (and most people who played it) loved it but NiGHTS into dreams but it sank like a lead balloon on release. even with HD rereleases on Stram and the PSN i don't think it's picked up any traction.

other mention is Vanquish, a great 3rd person sci-fi shooter that's really unlike anything else.

i'll probably think of a few more tomorrow

CiDeRmAn · 08-07-2014 12:52am

Nights is brilliant, still holds up today.
I have it on the Saturn with the analogue controller, and I got it last year for the PS2, a jap copy, it was used as the basis for the later HD version.
It's great as well.

Retr0gamer · 08-07-2014 8:19am

Nights sold really well on release on the Saturn, hardly under rated.

Jikashi · 08-07-2014 9:27am

Randomly popped into my head: Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy on Playstation 2. Iirc, a decent platformer with varied gameplay, clever puzzles, and a completion-inviting monster hunting aspect. I remember 100%ing it and enjoying it but not a lot else. Like what the story was lol

While it is well known and well liked, not a lot of people talk about MediEvil anymore. I'd love to see it getting the Oddworld treatment with a modern reimagining

tok9 · 08-07-2014 9:55am

I must say with Beyond Good and Evil.. the camera is absolutely terrible at times. Can be really frustrating.

Good thing the game itself is a lot of fun.

Had to restart a save from the beginning of the slaughterhouse yesterday as I lost double H and went looking for him in one area.. so backtracked and went into an area where I needed him to hit a button.

Mal-Adjusted · 08-07-2014 9:55am

I love MediEvil! one of the first games I ever played on the PS1. I must eventually go back and finish it. correct me if i'm wrong, but i think it had a PS1 sequel, a PSP remake and some sort of spin-off?

I remember from the late 90's there was a great little RTS called Wargames. it was loosely based on the film from the 80's. I played the first level of it on a PC World demo disc and looked through software magazines for any bit of into on it (no internet at the time). i think it just got swept up with all the other RTS's at the time and ignored

I'm not sure but i think there may have been a PS1 version but remade as a 3rd person tank shooter.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Nights sold really well on release on the Saturn, hardly under rated.

Appologies. I may have been confusing it with another title that came out at the end of the Saturn's life.

tok9 · 08-07-2014 9:59am

Actually this thread has reminded me about a game that I assume is underrated but I never got to play (just since they were the days I'd get about 2 games a year)

Freedom Fighters. I remember checking out previews for it and thinking it sounded and looked awesome.

I'm thinking I may pick up God Hand on PS3 and had a quick look to see if Freedom Fighters was there... no luck though.

Jikashi · 08-07-2014 10:16am

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

I love MediEvil! one of the first games I ever played on the PS1. I must eventually go back and finish it. correct me if i'm wrong, but i think it had a PS1 sequel, a PSP remake and some sort of spin-off?

It had a sequel on the PSone, MediEvil 2, set in Victorian London. There was a port of the first game on PSP called Ressurection but it's my understanding that it wasn't a well received port. There was no spin-off - besides appearing as a playable character in Playstation Allstars Battle Royale, Sir Daniel has been laid to rest altogether.

Mal-Adjusted · 08-07-2014 10:26am

i did a quick look and the game i was thinking of was Medieval Moves, a PS3/move game that...we'll say...takes a lot of inspiration from Medievil

Generic Dreadhead · 08-07-2014 10:35am

tok9 wrote: »

Freedom Fighters. I remember checking out previews for it and thinking it sounded and looked awesome

Played it on Gamecube, loved it.

Another one for me was ID softwares RAGE, great game, bit on the short side, missing DLC etc, had they just used that engine and pushed Doom 4 I don't think it would have panned as badly as people predicted.

Wingsticking some guy in the head from 5 foot away as he ran at you was great fun :pac:

Oh an Viewtiful Joe too, that was fun but no one I knew besides me had ever heard of it or played it, though it was critically praised

Jikashi · 08-07-2014 11:06am

Speaking of games that I have and noone ever talks about. Is there anyone out there who has played or even heard of a Playstation game called Attack of the Saucerman. Kind of a precursor to Destroy All Humans, it's a third person shooter in which you play as an alien escaping from Roswell and finding enough ship parts to escape Earth. A lot of innuendoish humour on the tropes of alien b-movies, a la Mars Attacks, and a pretty decent, if difficult, shooter platformer.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 08-07-2014 11:25am

tok9 wrote: »

Actually this thread has reminded me about a game that I assume is underrated but I never got to play (just since they were the days I'd get about 2 games a year)

Freedom Fighters. I remember checking out previews for it and thinking it sounded and looked awesome.

I'm thinking I may pick up God Hand on PS3 and had a quick look to see if Freedom Fighters was there... no luck though.

Freedom fighters was one of my favourite games on the old xbox.
Full spectrum Warrior is another great game that was underrated.

ríomhaire · 08-07-2014 12:12pm

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Freedom fighters was one of my favourite games on the old xbox.
Full spectrum Warrior is another great game that was underrated.

You can get Full Spectrum Warrior on Steam but it's really buggy and needs a few work arounds to get to work properly. Was never able to get the sound working properly on it.

CptMackey · 08-07-2014 1:01pm

Freedom fighters was a top class game. Pity we never got a follow up

Retr0gamer · 08-07-2014 1:46pm

Kane and Lynch was a spiritual follow up. Pity it was utter tripe.

CiDeRmAn · 08-07-2014 1:47pm

Haven on the PS2 is certainly an under rated game.
Sold poorly and was available for the price of a bag of smokey bacon crisps while on shelves.
But playing it then it was great, a third person adventure in the mold of Jak & Daxter with quite distinct areas using fractal maths to create quite striking visuals.
It tanked and never got a sequel but it's well worth finding.
Obscure simply by virtue of age and not fitting with the "cool" themes of the early PS output, Jumping Flash is utterly nuts, it looks very retro indeed but is one of the best or at least amongst the few games played in the first person that gets platform jumping right, as opposed to the badly aged Turok titles on the N64.
I have both Pal Jumping Flash titles and the Japan only second sequel and they're all great, still fun to play now.

Mal-Adjusted · 08-07-2014 3:52pm

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Full spectrum Warrior is another great game that was underrated.

ríomhaire wrote: »

You can get Full Spectrum Warrior on Steam but it's really buggy and needs a few work arounds to get to work properly. Was never able to get the sound working properly on it.

Back when Stargate was on sky, there were ads before and after the show and breaks for Full Spectrum Warrior if anyone remembers.

For some reason a while back there was a steam bug that informed me (and many others) that I had purchased FPW when i hadn't. I had no intirest in it until I saw some gameplay footage earlier in the year and realized it wasn't another by the numbers FPS. Saw the xbox version in CEX not too long ago and wanted to kick myself when i went in to find it was sold already. I always mean to get it at some stage. I'm almost positive it had a sequel or expansion pack.

CiDeRmAn · 08-07-2014 4:19pm

It sold enough to get the sequel Ten Hammers.
Did good numbers but I think the Medal of Honor and COD series simply took over that market, even though FSW was something quite different.
I have them on the Xbox but I haven't played them at all

Powerdrome on the Xbox and PS2 is an interesting one, it looks like a Wipeout one but is actually the successor to a game on the Amiga that themselves inspired Wipeout.
It was delayed for ever but I picked it up, it's pretty nice but quite hard, and low on spectacle compared to the likes of Wipeout 2097 and 3 that it was competing with.

TerrorFirmer · 08-07-2014 11:15pm

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

I had no intirest in it until I saw some gameplay footage earlier in the year and realized it wasn't another by the numbers FPS.

It's a pretty good game but it's not an FPS.

Mal-Adjusted · 08-07-2014 11:24pm

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It's a pretty good game but it's not an FPS.

that's what i meant

CiDeRmAn · 08-07-2014 11:37pm

Eternal Darkness is another one on the Gamecube was less than lauded on release but it probably has more good ideas than bad and certainly more good ideas than most recent mainstream horror titles on the big platforms of late.
Well worth a look and if you have a Wii you'll be able to play it.

the groutch · 09-07-2014 12:12am

Wakeboarding Unleashed, got lost in the mix with Tony Hawk's & SSX doing so well, but is easily the equal of either of those, possibly better.

Spunge · 09-07-2014 2:03am

Having only played it a couple years ago + with the release of the new game. Diving divinity is surprisingly underrated. I always avoided it for years coz of the silly sounding name + assuming it wasnt as good as baldurs gate or diablo, but its unique from those.

tok9 · 09-07-2014 9:11am

Finished Beyond Good and Evil there. For some reason I assumed it'd take me a long time to finish but it's actually a relatively short game.

Only thing I disliked was the very end.. considering the game is 10 years old and nothing has come out since.

Now.. might just pick up God Hand. It'd be nice if SCEE had more PS2/PSP sales.

sweetie · 09-07-2014 9:46am

Anyone else play Otogi and it's sequel on the xbox? Mad feckin games, like a cross between Ninja Gaiden, DMC and Bayonetta. Must dig out the old console and play them again although I recall they were difficult enough and not very clear on what to do!

Kimbot · 09-07-2014 9:47am

Actually one that was underrated somewhat at the time was "Soldier of Fortune" on the PC, me and my brother got countless hours out of that game.

Dave_The_Sheep · 09-07-2014 9:54am

jonny24ie wrote: »

Actually one that was underrated somewhat at the time was "Soldier of Fortune" on the PC, me and my brother got countless hours out of that game.

Great fun out of that, and it's sequel. Particular the localised damage, nut shots, taking off legs, etc. Great craic.

Underrated classic games

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