Most underrated games in your opinion?

[marky]

Which games do you think are the most underrated?

This topic was inspired by the game The Thaumaturge, which I just finished yesterday. In my opinion, it's probably the most underrated game of last year. A great and original storyline where our decisions really have an impact on the ending, a fresh new location, cool gameplay and finally the first really good use of Polish history in games. Poland has a history that is really interesting and not used in games.

There are a few more games that I think are definitely very underrated :

Batman: Arkham Origins - In my opinion, this game doesn't stand out from the level of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight. It was heavily criticised only because it wasn't made by Rocksteady and the Joker and Bruce/Batman weren't voiced by Hamill and Conroy.

Gothic - A game that didn't impress with its graphics back when it was released, but the story, characters and atmosphere really make up for it. On top of that, we don't play the hero here, which is supposed to save the world, but a prisoner who mainly tries to survive, in a world where everyone is a prisoner.

Stunt GP - A game that I don't understand why it was so underrated when it was released. It didn't have a lot of competition when it came to remote control car racing, plus these races are really fun, we have some cars to unlock, plus quite a lot of options to upgrade the cars (engine, wheels, battery, suspension, chassis)

Mobil 1 Rally Championship - For me, this game has destroyed every Colin McRae over the years. Special stages of rallies not shortened as in Colin McRae, but reflecting the route and length of the real ones, also when it comes to driving time, the fight not only in the general classification, but also in the car class, a more advanced system of breakdowns and damage than the first two ‘Colins’, advanced vehicle settings, 100 drivers in each rally - all this gave more realism.
In my opinion the best rally game until Richard Burns Rally came out.

 

[VampireLord1024]

It's just a guess but maybe these games:

Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 (My Summer Vacation 2)

Road Rash: Jailbreak

Sled Storm

RC Revenge

Tail Concerto

Maybe some other games if I take more time to look around.

 

[TamagatchiTamaHiro24]

The Darkness 2. It's a 360/PS3 era shooter where you play as a mobster possessed by a demon. You're trying to stop a conspiracy against your criminal empire while trying to not let your mind be taken over by this demon you have inside you, who is holding your dead girlfriend over your head as a carrot on a stick. You can shoot, of course, but you can use demon heads/tentacles to slash, crush, and devour your enemies. You have to avoid the light, as the demon only exists in the darkness. It IS darkness. This also means you can shoot lights to level the playing field and get stronger, so there's extra strategy in combat. Finally, it's short and sweet. Perhaps too short for some people, but it was a boon for me because I didn't always have a ton of time last year.

The game is awesome. Not perfect, but an underrated gem of the era. Definitely a series that got screwed over by 2K (though, that's no surprise. Is there any game series 2K hasn't screwed over in some way?).

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:28 PM

It's just a guess but maybe these games:

Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 (My Summer Vacation 2)

Road Rash: Jailbreak

Sled Storm

RC Revenge

Tail Concerto

Maybe some other games if I take more time to look around.

OOOOOOO! TAIL COCERTO! I want to play that game so badddddddddd!!! Maybe I can find it on the PS2ClassicsVault...

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:31 PM

Is Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 kinda like Attack of the Friday Movie Monsters on 3DS?

 

[VampireLord1024]

The Darkness 2. It's a 360/PS3 era shooter where you play as a mobster possessed by a demon. You're trying to stop a conspiracy against your criminal empire while trying to not let your mind be taken over by this demon you have inside you, who is holding your dead girlfriend over your head as a carrot on a stick. You can shoot, of course, but you can use demon heads/tentacles to slash, crush, and devour your enemies. You have to avoid the light, as the demon only exists in the darkness. It IS darkness. This also means you can shoot lights to level the playing field and get stronger, so there's extra strategy in combat. Finally, it's short and sweet. Perhaps too short for some people, but it was a boon for me because I didn't always have a ton of time last year.

The game is awesome. Not perfect, but an underrated gem of the era. Definitely a series that got screwed over by 2K (though, that's no surprise. Is there any game series 2K hasn't screwed over in some way?).

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:28 PM

OOOOOOO! TAIL COCERTO! I want to play that game so badddddddddd!!! Maybe I can find it on the PS2ClassicsVault...

Tail Concerto is on The Repo, (https://retrogametalk.com/repository/psx-iso/tail-concerto-usa/) if you wanted to play it. I played it last year and it was pretty good.

"Is Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 kinda like Attack of the Friday Movie Monsters on 3DS?"

It's made by the same people and I did actually beat Attack of the Friday Monsters last Summer, since I originally played a bit of it in 2014 but never finished it. The difference is that Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 is more of a peaceful game set in the Summer in the 1970's.

I did make a forum about Attack of the Friday Monsters last year, if you'd like to comment on it: https://retrogametalk.com/threads/attack-of-the-friday-monsters-a-tokyo-tale.647/

 

[RanmyakuIchi]

Probably not that underrated in the grand scheme of things, but Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge I feel gets unfairly overlooked a lot due to the baggage of being tied to the very stinky vanilla Ninja Gaiden 3. It feels like this turned around a bit when the Master Collection came out and more people actually played it though.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Underrated? Maybe Donkey Kong for the Gameboy, it's really fun and unique. It adds a lot of things like levels, enemies, bosses and moves while still having the original arcade look. One of the best games for the Gameboy

 

[RanmyakuIchi]

Underrated? Maybe Donkey Kong for the Gameboy, it's really fun and unique. It adds a lot of things like levels, enemies, bosses and moves while still having the original arcade look. One of the best games for the Gameboy
View attachment 21016

Oh, that's such a good one! Seeing the game expand after the original arcade levels as a kid was probably the first "twist" I ever saw in gaming!

 

[Cu-Neo]

The Ys franchise and Caligula effect

 

[DunkeyKong]

Oh, that's such a good one! Seeing the game expand after the original arcade levels as a kid was probably the first "twist" I ever saw in gaming!

That surprised me too! It's really clever of them to make that fakeout

 

[TamagatchiTamaHiro24]

Do video pinballs count? Because the 1992 Bally Doctor Who Pinball machine is god tier.

 

[BulletHammer]

The Ys franchise and Caligula effect
View attachment 21023
View attachment 21024

I was gonna try Ys III for the Sega Genesis but read somewhere that the official translation isn't good at all, so I looked and found a patch that fixes it. But I got lazy and didn't patch it x.x

I still plan on playing it tho, it literally looks like one of those modern "retro" indie games ya know what I'm sayin? Except it isn't a modern game trying to emulate the look and feel of classic games, it's an actual classic game that looks like a modern game trying to look like a classic game...

 

[TamagatchiTamaHiro24]

Tail Concerto is on The Repo, (https://retrogametalk.com/repository/psx-iso/tail-concerto-usa/) if you wanted to play it. I played it last year and it was pretty good.

"Is Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 kinda like Attack of the Friday Movie Monsters on 3DS?"

It's made by the same people and I did actually beat Attack of the Friday Monsters last Summer, since I originally played a bit of it in 2014 but never finished it. The difference is that Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 is more of a peaceful game set in the Summer in the 1970's.

I did make a forum about Attack of the Friday Monsters last year, if you'd like to comment on it: https://retrogametalk.com/threads/attack-of-the-friday-monsters-a-tokyo-tale.647/

Sorry Vamp. That game is on my "to-do" list, so I wouldn't be able to contribute much to that thread lol

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:53 PM

I was gonna try Ys III for the Sega Genesis but read somewhere that the official translation isn't good at all, so I looked and found a patch that fixes it. But I got lazy and didn't patch it x.x

I still plan on playing it tho, it literally looks like one of those modern "retro" indie games ya know what I'm sayin? Except it isn't a modern game trying to emulate the look and feel of classic games, it's an actual classic game that looks like a modern game trying to look like a classic game...

Weird, but I get what you mean.

 

[PhrawzT]

Re-Volt for the Dreamcast and PC is great, but no one ever talks about it.

Also the Crusader games No Remorse and No Regret were a lot of fun.

 

[RanmyakuIchi]

Do video pinballs count? Because the 1992 Bally Doctor Who Pinball machine is god tier.

I'd argue pinball as a whole is super underrated these days. Video game pinball just can't compare to a real, physical table, but, ya know, can't emulate that in MAME.

 

[rematche]

i hate to say it like a parrot but every super robot wars games are. it's an anime based game, yet not very big in the anime community. though i never want it to be mainstream but it's such a niche.

 

[taigaisak4]

I'm currently playing a psp game called 7th Dragon 2020 and it's soooo good, I don't see many people talking about it, it's a turn-based rpg with a chibi style and customizable characters, you can choose the class, appearance (there are 10 standard models) and even choose the VA! And there are well-known names like Yui Horie, for example

there is also a direct sequel for the psp and a third game on the nintendo 3ds (there was already a game in this same saga made for the nds)

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:58 PM

Re-Volt for the Dreamcast and PC is great, but no one ever talks about it.
View attachment 21027

Also the Crusader games No Remorse and No Regret were a lot of fun.
View attachment 21028

oooh i have played the re-volt mobile games and they are very good indeed

 

[rematche]

The Ys franchise and Caligula effect
View attachment 21023
View attachment 21024

i hate the dash jump. it only works when the game wants it to work.

 

[Lazerith]

Always felt Kabuki: Quantum Fighter was underrated.
Always felt like a mix of MegaMan and Ninja Gaiden to me. hard, but fun game

 

[VampireLord1024]

Sorry Vamp. That game is on my "to-do" list, so I wouldn't be able to contribute much to that thread lol

That's alright.

 

[BulletHammer]

Kagero: Deception 2 is an action strategy game where the player's required to set up traps and activate them at the right time to defeat enemie. It has a branching storyline with mutiple choices that affect the narrative and the game's ending. It's also pretty fun to combo enemies using different types of trap.

Bulletstorm is a sci fi firt person shooter that rewards players for killing in creative ways, it was releases in an era when every game tried to be either CoD or Battlefield, but while it took some features from those games, it pretty much broke the FPS mold of the time and gave the player tools to go crazy.

I feel like The Finals is too unique not to enjoy the recognition it deserves, a very fast paced objective foccused online first person shooter with completely destructible maps, and I don't mean the destructible elements have pre-set animations that will play once you destroy them, no, all walls and buildings have actual dynamic physics and will crumble in different ways depending on the method used, and this plays a key role in gameplay, it's amazing to see it in action.

Silent Hil 4The room was the last game in the Silent Hill series developed by Team Silent, and it tries to break away from many of Silent Hills tropes while still preserving it's identity.

For a AAA horror game it's very experimental and isn't afraid to "hurt" the player with it's punishing game mechanics.

Many criticize this game's unbalanced difficulty due to it's focus on combat and escorting segments, but I'd argue this to be the esiest game in the original 4 if you understand how the game works and what it expects from you. You're supposed to take it slow most of the time, use every tool in your arsenal and adapt, not rush through the game and bruteforce you way to the next check point.

During the escorting segments many people will just run and expect the character they're escorting to keep up when she can't run, many will not give her weapons to prevent her from fighting enemies when she's pretty good at defeating them as long as she's facing only one, many will try to avoid fights when some weapons will literally give the player 100% damage immunity during heavy attacks, plus all the ammunition the game just showers the player with.

Silent Hill 4's biggest flaw is it's failure to ease the player into it's gameplay structure, your first playthrough will probably be miserable because the game just fails to explain stuff to you.


These are a few games I think are underated.

 

[goregoregoregoregoregore]

Any competitive ArenaFPS. People always say the best things about how Quake 3 arena is so cool, how Quake Live is so fun, how Quake Champions is better than all those online FPS games nowadays yada yada yada, but no one actually plays them. C'mon people, hop on the arena, the community is great(unless you play clan arena in Quake Live), it doesn't matter if you are bad, the game is fun as hell, people don't mind, just strafe jump and bhop to eternity at mach speed and shoot some rockets, zap some rails. From 5-6pm forward you are for sure going to find matches in NA, weekends is games all day baby, and if you are from Europe you have it good my friend, Europe loves Quake. I will play this genre for all my life, doesn't matter if there is only 2 people on the servers

 

[RetroLuvr]

I'm currently playing a psp game called 7th Dragon 2020 and it's soooo good, I don't see many people talking about it, it's a turn-based rpg with a chibi style and customizable characters, you can choose the class, appearance (there are 10 standard models) and even choose the VA! And there are well-known names like Yui Horie, for example

there is also a direct sequel for the psp and a third game on the nintendo 3ds (there was already a game in this same saga made for the nds)
View attachment 21030

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:58 PM

oooh i have played the re-volt mobile games and they are very good indeed

yesssss this series is my roman empire

 

[Jeanfranc]

I think these are more "underhyped" than "underrated". An underrated game isn't an hidden gem or an unpopular title, it's a game the most people who have played it didn't appreciate enough or downright hate it.
I'd say that that Mother 1/Earthbound Beginnings is an underrated game, especially these days.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[TamagatchiTamaHiro24]

Alright. I got home and took photos of around 14 games in my collection that I just don't hear people talk about. For the sake of your sanity and mine, I'll narrow it down to just the ones I'm most passionate about the thread trying out.