Rave about your favorite underrated games

This is the thread that celebrates the games you feel didn't get enough respect. A thread where Sincerity Mode is in full force and you fanboy out to your heart's content.

I feel like Shadow The Hedgehog is a legitimately good game. Yes, it's kind of cheesy, but that's part of why it's so entertaining for me. It's kind of hilarious to see brightly colored kid's game characters swearing up a storm and blowing everything up, and if you can look past that, the storyline underneath all the swearsplosions is actually pretty interesting and I found myself getting involved in the mystery of the plot. The other thing that makes it entertaining for me is that I think the gameplay is a blast. It's fun running at 100 miles per hour, holding down the fire button and watching everything blow up left and right, then jumping into the air and spinning around while unleashing a barrage of explosions.

Eat Lead The Return Of Matt Hazard is also pretty underrated in my opinion. The gameplay did admittedly have flaws, but the writing was fantastic and Matt had much more personality than say, Duke Nukem. It actually managed to make me feel invested in the main character and his problems, as opposed to other comedy shooters where the protagonist is basically a one-liner delivery system. Plus, the Wolfenstein 3D parody was fantastic. I still haven't played Blood, Bath, and Beyond, I really need to fix that.

Also, as crazy as it sounds, I think E.T. for the Atari 2600 is actually pretty good. First, all of the characters actually look like something other than a square. E.T. looks like E.T., the scientists look like scientists, and the secret agents look like secret agents. It's also one of very few 2600 games I can think of that has a title screen and it has a definite ending (complete with a rudimentarey cutscene), as opposed to going on forever like most 2600 games do. The location of the phone pieces is randomized every time, which gives it replay value, and it's frantic trying to get to them while avoiding the enemies. If there's one legitimate complaint I have, it would be the infamous problem of falling back into the pits after climbing out of them. However, this only happens if you hold up on the joystick to get out. If you just repeatedly tap up once you get close to the top, you can usually get out of the pit without falling back in, once the screen changes back to the overworld, you just need to go sideways, making it more of a minor annoyance than a game breaking bug. Overall, I think it's pretty advanced for a 2600 game.

edited 27th Jul '12 6:56:24 PM by cfive

Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk 2. The original game was a pretty dire JRPG with some very obscure gameplay mechanics. This sequel, however, fixes everything that was wrong with the first. Not only that, but its wonderful battle system and high amount customization make it a great RPG in its own right. It is, unfortunately, derided by the public and critics for its "anime" style and large amounts of fanservice. IT'S THEIR LOSS. It's srsly the best game I've played this year. So far.

Guys Bastion is amazing. It's like someone looked up the definition of gorgeous and decided "There needs to be a game to properly show off this word."

The Fairly Oddparents: Shadow Showdown is the only thing coming to mind at the moment. It's a solid puzzle (sort of) platformer with memorable and fun gameplay. It's not particularly hard - pretty easy, actually, but it's easy to get into. Also, collecting the extra... collectables is a lot a fun. I love using the wishes to explore the stage.

edited 27th Jul '12 7:21:07 PM by PhysicalStamina

Alpha Protocol. Seriously, just Alpha Protocol. I've played the game more times through than probably any game I own aside from Chrono Trigger, and I still periodically haul it out and play it again. And when I read about other people playing it? I still learn new things I never encountered before.

Definitely Shadow The Hedgehog. I can get why people didn't like Sonic 2006, but little was actually wrong with Shadow's game. The controls at best were a bit iffy, and some glitches. The rest is more directly personal preferences, not so much bad stuff.

Quest 64 as well. Although it's been getting quite a lot more these days. Fanart galore, a mini-wiki, Game FA Qs' boards sometimes being super busy with it, etc. May be considered a Cult Classic now.

Lagoon. I love the game, but my god is it hard. I need a Game Genie to win.(and it doesn't always work)

I second Alpha Protocol, that game is great.

Spongebob Squarepants: Lights, Camera, Pants is a great party game that, in my opinion, is even better than Mario Party in some respects. It only got average reviews, but I really like it and it's great fun with friends, especially this one really addictive minigame where both players are thethered together Knuckles Chaotix style and have to cooperate with each other to use momentum to fling to different pegs (It's kind of hard to explain, so here's a video on youtube). Really needs more respect. Just don't get the PC version, because it's a completely different game consisting of nothing more than about five or so So Bad Its Horrible ultra-simplistic 2D minigames such as checkers that could have been done better in flash. Plus, the few 3D graphics it does have are worse than those of the console version.

Also on the topic of Spongebob games is Battle for Bikini Bottom. It got better reviews than Lights, Camera, Pants, but they were still somewhat mixed. It's really a great 3D platformer with massive, well-designed levels, fun combat, great graphics for it's day, and several crowning moments of funny. Just be sure to get it on a console; for some reason, the PC version of this one also a completely different game. The PC version is a collection of poorly disguised minigames based off of other games, such as Snake or Jungle Hunt. It's not really bad, and the minigames in this one are actually well produced, unlike the PC version of Lights, Camera, Pants, but they've been done better elsewhere and really aren't worth your time.

edited 27th Jul '12 7:54:10 PM by cfive

I second both Shadow the Hegdegoh and Alpha Protocol, both game have its moments

Shadow has the music, narm, and the Gatling Gun. Especially the Gatling Gun.

I admit, I had a lot of fun with Sonic 2006, too. But to say it was good... I can't even do it. And it's actually one of the ones I like to play a lot.(along with Shadow, Sonic Battle, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle(and the regular Sonic Adventure 2... if I could get it working and Tails' Adventure)

I actually enjoy Shadow the hedgehog a lot. I think it was the best you could do with the old 3D sonic formula without totally revamping it. And I mean it's kind of fun to make fun of the story. It just takes itself so seriously I can't help but laugh at it.

Can't say the same about Alpha Protocol though.

Little King'sStory: Oh. My. God. This has to be the greatest Wii game I have ever played. It's just... no... no... I will not continue. I will rave until my computer explodes. Just buy this game if you have a Wii. I think the reason it didn't get a lot of sales is the cover. Here's a review I wrote on Gamestop (mine is the "Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover" entry): http://www.gamestop.com/wii/games/the-little-kings-story/72037

As for Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom and Spongebob Squarepants: Lights, Camera, Pants!, I agree with you. It was probably the first party game I ever played. I loved how the minigames were actually in-depth, not just a bunch of little menial tasks like "race to see how fast you can cut down a tree" or "flee from the invading Communists." I also liked the whole structure of it, when you had to move along to different parts of Bikini Bottom to determine who gets the roles in the movie. Battle for Bikini Bottom was one of the first video games I have ever played, and I feel bad for selling it because I had an extreme bias against liscenced games at the time.

I don't know if Dante's Inferno, Dead island, Resident Evil ORC, and Age of Mythology are considered underrated, but I love them all.

edited 27th Jul '12 8:47:20 PM by Dudeacus97

Robopon The first game got a ton of flak for being a Pokemon ripoff, but it had a pretty unique monster customization system, a good difficulty curve (though perhaps too hard for some), great, weird monster designs, and it's peppered with sidequests and weird features that give it a surprising amount of depth. Admittedly, the bizarre sluggishness of the game is a drawback, but I think the game as a whole is worth it.

And Yoshis Story. SO much hate when it first came out. That seems to be abetting now that its original target audience is grown up and has some Nostalgia Filter for it, but I also think people are starting to appreciate its level design a bit more now that they're over the "Waah it's not an exact clone of Yoshi's Island" stage. I hate to bandy about claims of the "right" way to play a game, but it really is a very different experience when you go for all-melon runs.

Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3.

DAII has its faults, sure, but I still enjoy the game, and it has some decent morally gray choices, for me at least.

And ME 3... it's probably the best game I've ever played. I love it to bits. Yes, the original ending was flawed (I feel the extended cut made up for it, though) but damn if the rest of the game wasn't jaw-droppingly amazing.

Gee, I wonder what game I could possibly mention...

Gotcha Force. Fucking Gotcha Force. Sure, the gameplay is a bit symplistic. Sure, the AI is pretty flimsy. And sure, the children voice actors are perfect examples of why you don't hire children voice actors. But man oh fucking man, do I love this game.

While the gameplay isn't very skill challenging (constant lock-on being the main gripe here) it is still fun. I mean, my time-stopping samurai just cut up your giant electrical dragon while my cowboy teammate faces down a UFO.

The aesthetic of the game is my favourite on the Game Cube. Okay, it isn't super high fidelty or whatever but the bright colourful realm of Safaritown and the flashy looking borgs look gorgeous and perfectly in place. The human characters also have their own visual quirks and charms to them.

The music. So amazing. Not to mention amazingly named. I'd post links to 'Sup and Just Die Already but I'm on my phone and writing this post is difficult as it is.

What's the best part about this? A large portion of the Japanese division of Capcom, the publisher, say that Gotcha Force was their favourite game. That's pretty awesome if you ask me.

A running joke with my friends is that everytime I play some of the soundtrack on my phone, we start talking about playing the game some more. Basically, it is our Deus Ex.

YES! Yoshi's Story was awesome! The Yoshi's singing between levels was a bit grating, but other than that, the whole thing is great. I actually like it a bit better than Yoshi's Island because you don't have to keep track of annoying Baby Mario.

Also, The Adventures Of Bayou Billy is awesome. Sure it's Nintendo Hard, but if you watch Lord Kat's guide it's not that bad. Plus, the shooting stages that caused Lord Kat and Spoony so much greif when they tried to play them with a controller are actually really, really fun if you're playing on an actual NES with the Zapper (don't throw out that CRT tv!). The fact that the using the Zapper highlights all the targets with a box also makes it good for finding the hidden extra lives (shoot the tree!). The controlls for the driving stage aren't as tight as they could be, but nowhere near as bad as people say they are, and once you do master them, it sort of becomes Mach Rider with a jeep and is actually pretty fun once you've memorized the road. Plus, the Gameplay Roulette makes it feel like more of a modern action adventure game, and not in a bad way. It's really worth a look if you have an NES and a TV that the Zapper works on, just watch this first.

Back on the topic of underrated Spongebob games, there was this 2D platformer for the Playstation 1 called "Supersponge" that's pretty good and reminded me a bit of Super Mario Brothers 3 for some reason. It's been a while since I've played it, but I remember that the levels were expansive, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Not sure how it fared with critics, as it doesn't have a metacritic, but the reviews on Game FAQS are decidedly mixed.

Just thought of Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure. I think it's a great puzzle-based adventure game, but it got very mixed reviews. Admittedly it doesn't always do the best job of letting you know when you can't solve a current puzzle without having solved another one already, but the puzzles that rely on solving another one before hand amount to maybe two or three and all of the self-contained puzzles are fantastic brain-teasers that give you a good sense of accomplishment once you've solved them. It's great if you're into games like The Seventh Guest. Currently, it's 5 bucks on Steam, but I got it even cheaper in the summer sale. Just make sure to turn off fullscreen in the config file, because it doesn't work in fullscreen for some reason.

edited 28th Jul '12 5:40:26 AM by cfive

All time? Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics. Only one of which had the translation skills of the average demigod applied to it (Vagrant Story, natch), but the other two were classics in their own right.

Recently? Saint's Row the Third. Which I love to bits. I really cannot see why every games review site on the planet queued up to take a dump on it. It boots GTA IV's mardy, moody, forced jollity in the knackers, steals its wallet and ipod and runs off smiling.

Okay, the underrated part *might* be debatable, but...

The Blackwell series from Wadjet Eye Games. They've also done The Shivah and Gemini Rue.

The reason I think it's underrated is because Gemini Rue is the more popular of them, and even that game probably is underrated. Also, it's a point and click adventure game, and nowadays people don't really play those games.

To me, it's hard to explain why I love the Blackwell series so much. Might help that I just love the main character. It also helps that the story isn't stupid, and the dynamic between Rosangela Blackwell and Joey Mallone really works.

The thing is, it's hard to convince people to buy this game, since, well, believe it or not, point and click has become a niche genre. I mean, Telltale Games lately has been releasing less point and click games over the past year. Perhaps because they realize that they aren't really needed anymore, since there are enough other developers, indie developers, out there making excellent games.

Perhaps the biggest part of the reason I love the Blackwell series is that it has a sort of retro vibe, and that the puzzles are actually quite clever.

Just because a game is horrible on nearly every account doesn't mean it's unenjoyable. I've had more fun dicking around in Big Rigs over anything in a COD game, despite the latter being a better game on every account.

Also "The Misadventures of P.B.Winterbottom" is a great Puzzle Game. It's clever, it's got a fantastic score, a great gimmick and some really twisty puzzles. It's also really cheap on Steam.

Alpha Protocol which was already mentioned...

The Last Remnant: sure I'm playing PC version, but consider Metacritic 66%...I love the game's combat system, really do...I think it's very fun...and it's pretty cool to control many characters in the party and that they can have LOTS of builds...

edited 28th Jul '12 6:53:23 AM by onyhow

Seconding Robopon, especially the first game. The second is great, don't get me wrong, but there's certain things only the first game can give me.

Will add more when I'm more awake.

edited 28th Jul '12 11:01:39 AM by lalalei2001

Seconding Saint Rows the Third, though I disagree that is better than GTA IV, due to the former having LOTS of cut content, whereas GTA IV restored most of it with the DLCS

Thank god there's a tread like this, now I have a excuse to talk about one of my favorite games! Let me tell you all about a game. It's called Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, it's for the DS, and it has one of the greatest stories ever told ever. Never heard of it? LOOK IT UP, NOW. Done? Alright. Well anyways, Ghost Trick is a 2-D action-puzzle game following the journey of Sissel, a recently deceased ghost looking for his lost memory. It might not seem that special, right? You'd be wrong, then. It's the metamorphosis Sissel goes through as he travels down his path on his quest, as he becomes more attached to the characters he meets, as he has to selflessly protect them. How does he? Buy the game and find out!

This game is just... God, I don't think I have a single gripe with this game! The puzzles are clever, the game's intuitive as fuck, and the story (with witch I've established I want to have my babies), is, once again, AWESOME! The animation's very nice too, even if the DS's graphical limitations make it look a little odd. The characters are fun to just look at walking. Or, alternatively, doing the Panic Dance. The music is nothing to scoff at either, easily establishing the desperate and tense situations that the characters encounter. Here's one of my favorites—

In summary: BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT

edited 28th Jul '12 2:57:51 PM by ShadowDimentio

I've been meaning to pick that one up for awhile. Glad to hear it's so good.

Just thought of another one that gets no respect: Famicom Star Wars. If you've got a Famicom, it's really not a bad import. Most of the distaste for it comes from how different it is from the movie (scorpion Darth Vader, black-haired Luke, Boba Fett and Hoth showing up in a game based on Episode IV), but I find the differences are entertaining in a hilarious way. I mean, Darth Vader turning into a shark has a certain comedic appeal. Plus, things like Luke having black hair are kind of unavoidable with the console's 3 color limit for sprites, so that's excusable. The main gameplay complaint comes from the fact that the lightsaber hit detection is not too good, making it so you have to be really close to an enemy to kill it, which is a legitimate complaint, but it's not as bad as the Angry Video Game Nerd made it out to be. Most of the smaller and flying enemies can be defeated at a range, with the stormtroopers and bosses being the one's you have to get close to (and even then, you can usually strike before they do), so it's mostly a non-issue. The platforming element of the surprisingly good, and the jumping and air controls are very responsive. My two main complaints are that it uses Ratchet Scrolling, which is fine on horizontal levels, but bad for vertical levels, and that the Death Star level can become unwinnable very easily (not sure if it's by mistake or by design). Overall, it's pretty good.

I once got LEGO Creator for a very small price here in Brazil during the Nineties. It was quite fun to build stuff, walk around as the minifigs and explode everything without fear of making a mess on my room or losing any bricks. Sadly, the game's loading times worsened the more i worked on my stuff, to the point where it could become unplayable.

That game was awesome! It was like Minecraft before minecraft. I would build stacks of dynamite that went as high as the game would let me (much like I now do in Minecraft) and blow it all up. I've still got the disc arond here somewhere. They also made a version based on the Knight's Kingdom theme, which for me was an Even Better Sequel, due to having a better interface. I also had the first Harry Potter themed one, but it didn't get much playtime due to the fact that it was always crashing and having problems on the computer I had back then. No doubt it would probably run just fine on my current machine.

While we're on the topic of underrated Lego games, Lego Racers. I've had it since it came out. The few reviews I have seen of it are mixed, but it's one of my favorite games of all time. It's even better when you use the command line to play it in full 1080p. The disc is in my drive right now.

Actually, most of the pre-Lego Star Wars Lego games can count as underrated classics. Most of them got average reviews, but anyone you talk to who played them as a kid will have nothing but praise for them.

edited 28th Jul '12 5:20:20 PM by cfive