Games you love but no one seems to talk about

[shrekfan246]

Outside of these forums I hardly ever hear people talk about games that we talk about here often. Okami, The Darkness, Darksiders, SotC and Ico, Jade Empire, No More Heroes, Mirror's Edge... When I mention these to people it's almost always the first they've heard of them. Sometimes they will of heard of one or two of those, but there's always plenty they've never heard of.

Really, I don't think you even need to qualify 'outside of these forums'. I think the only reason most of the website has heard of Okami is because of Daystar, most people hand-wave The Darkness, Darksiders, and Mirror's Edge for being bad or derivative (Note: not my opinion, I love all three of those IPs), nobody talks about the Wii in general unless it's to insult it, say nothing about No More Heroes specifically, and while Shadow of the Colossus will get brought up pretty often in "games that are art?" threads, I think nobody had heard of Ico until the HD collection came out.

... er, more OT:

I'm surprised how much Sleeping Dogs has gone under the radar. It's a pretty damn good game with a novel focus on melee brawling and a secondary focus on third-person shooting, instead of the other way around like most games tend to take. Okay, the combat feels derivative of Arkham Asylum, but I don't think that's a bad thing. And Hong Kong is a unique/new enough setting that it hasn't bored me like Grand Theft Auto or Just Cause 2 did. I didn't expect much from it, really, but it's certainly surprised me with how good it is.

 

[William Dickbringer]

For being a relatively wall known game series - as far as I'm aware - Dead Rising. I love it but even when the more recent ones came out (I wasn't part of the forums when the first one did so maybe they did then) no-one was talking about them.

loved the series both had something to hate 1st one had otis calling you non stop and 2nd had katie needing zombrex sure she could just die and I could go on but I'd be an asshole of a father if I did that never played off the record is that any good?

O.T. legendary I love the fps with mythological beasts fun game to play

 

[deserteagleeye]

Valkyria Chronicles and 999.
VC was just solid gameplay. I don't care how much it was luck based, shit was exciting and every member of your platoon had their own quirkiness to them, which made it even sadder when they die towards the end of a boss battle that has only a hairline bit of health left and you have to contemplate whether to let that teammate die or reload your last save so they're still alive. It doesn't help that they all have their own dying words too. :'( Holy shit did that feel intense!
999 is basically SAW but with less gore, an actually good story, and characters you care about.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2...

Devil Survivor 2 is probably the best handheld linear RPG I have ever played (It just surpasses The World Ends With You) Yet, I have seen very few people here who have even mentioned it.

It is a brilliant game with a great story that actually changes depending on your actions, 5 ending routes, fast and addictive combat, deep and rewarding customization and fusing systems, and let me say, it has a KICK-ASS soundtrack! Probably one of my favorites of all time.

I wish it got more love, it was very popular in Japan. It is a Japanese game, but with little to no archetypes (Shin Megami Tensei does JRPG's right)

I was actually planning on getting that after I finished the first one. Would you say it's better than the original.(Assuming you've played it.)

 

[Fijiman]

I never see anyone talk about Iron Brigade. It's probably because it's a n Xbox exclusive, but it was made by Double Fine and had to have its name changed from Trenched to Iron Brigade before it could be released in Europe because of some douchebag. It's a really fun game when you can get into a decent game.

 

[The Consequence]

Eve of Extinction . . . don't even know what I'm talking about. Do you! DO YOU!!

 

[unstabLized]

Emperor: Battle for Dune. A decent sci-fi RTS.

YES. YES. Finally someone knows that game! I have it installed on my computer and I absolutely LOVE IT!

I've had it so long that I really can't remember where I got it. Dune is a great book series. So we have an RTS based on it, made by Westwood... What's not to love?

I had the CD's since I was in 1st or 2nd grade. 4 CD's. Lost them though. Luckily I found the install files on the internet, cherishing them forever. Published by the good old EA, and Westwood. I don't know why the game is so fun.

 

[axlryder]

Resonance of Fate. I really wish Yahtzee would do a review of it. It is not like other JRPGs. I could cosplay as the main characters and no one would be able to tell.

Does that game ever get...less grey looking? I just picked it up and started playing it due to a few recommendations. I kind of like it, but the perpetual muted colors and lack of interesting environments are really wearing on me. I'm just about finished with chapter 2 or 3. While I enjoy the character banter, the story doesn't really make sense yet and the gun-kata is getting redundant so I was hoping the visuals would help pick up the slack.

 

[unit5016]

Lair, the last game by Factor 5 studios and basically made them go bankrupt because people couldn't figure out how to use the different controls so all the reviews say "great game but the controls are bad" which equals 6 out of 10 somehow. Then, they released a patch which allowed you to use a normalish control scheme which completely fixed it. It's an epic flight combat game where you ride dragons and fight massive armies with one of the best soundtracks of all time by John Debney, and its simply an amazing game overall.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Skip to 2:00. You can smash guys in the face with your riot shield, taser guys until they light on fire, butcher thugs with their own chainsaws, smash people over the head with molotovs, or just shoot them in the face with the meatiest sounding shotgun I've ever heard. And you're the good guy. I have never seen a single person talk about this game.

 

[Misterian]

I'll vouch for the first Saints Row.

When most people I know talk about the Saints Row franchise, they seem to speaking only of the last 2 games.

true gameplay wise it probably hasn't aged well, but I think the fun missions, excellent writing, and great characters do well to make up for it.

 

[Dfskelleton]

I don't hear very much about Beneath a Steel Sky, which sucks, because it kicks ass.
It's like 1984 with quirkiness instead of bleakness.
It features:
*A sarcastic robot sidekick
*A jukebox that makes a bunch of weird sex jokes
*More Freudian Slips than you could ever desire
*A figure by the name of "Mr. Cool"
*Some of the catchiest music ever to be in a game
*Some of the most amusing characters in videogame history
*Art and some direction by Dave Gibbons
*Robert Foster is great
*IT'S FREE

 

[-Drifter-]

Likewise, Legacy of Kain (although that's more of it being old than obscure). My only concern about possible reboots is that if they exclude Simon Templeton the new version will automatically be vastly inferior.

I'm more concerned with how the hell they expect to replace Tony Jay.

Speaking of, the game I love that no one talks about is, of course, Sacrifice. It's the kind of game who's brilliance you have to see for yourself in order to appreciate, as words alone simply can't do it justice. I've never played anything quite like it, either before or since.

 

[Faladorian]

Kingdom Hearts.
I'm talking about 1 and 2, to my knowledge all of the others are terrible except possibly Birth by Sleep.

Honestly I'm surprised at how little people talk about Kingdom Hearts.

And the only game in the series that's absolute trash is Chain of Memories. I actually sat through the entire game. It was so boring, and so so difficult. I get bored and tired just thinking about Castle Oblivion.

Just beat Birth by Sleep today. I enjoyed it, though the difficulty curve was more erratic than a seismograph.

 

[excalipoor]

Urban Assault, an RTS from 1998 in which you can take control of individual units. I only ever had a trial version of it, with like 5 levels, but I played and loved the crap out of those.

 

[Webb5432]

The Ratchet and Clank series. It's the only series I have played almost every game from, and I love the quirky humour, over-the-top characters, and just how multi-faceted they can be, like the series all-round cowardly antagonist Captain Quark, or the accidentally charming villain (which always make me smile) Dr. Nefarious and his sidekick-butler, Lawrence.

It seems that these games are lauded by critics, but I never hear the game industry talk much about them. Game play wise, they were all kinda samey, but I played them for the writing and the story more than the platforming and combat. Ratchet's reckless attitude and the cast of fun characters (especially Nefarious's freeze-up whenever he yells the name of his arch-enemy, which results in those hilarious moments of radioed soap operas and his butler enjoying the ability to smack around his master to fix them. He reminds me of Alfred from Batman, actually, if given a dumber master to serve) are just great fun. And the eventual mythos they got going was full of wonder, varied scenery, childish humour, and so much fun I couldn't wait for the next game to come out.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I'll second a couple of the ones already stated:

Bulletstorm -
I've yet to play an FPS that makes me think about my battles in such a way as Bulletstorm has. Should I shoot the enemy in the balls this time or should I strap explosives to him, kick him through the electrical wires and blow up his mates all while drunk? It also happens to be one of the few FPS games I've played where I actually feel like I'm playing as a character and not just a walking gun where someone calls me a different name. Grayson Hunt doesn't develop too much but unlike Duke Nukem where he spouts one liners in the middle of battle, Grayson has full conversations with his allies in person without having to rely on the 'Voice with an Internet Connection' system which makes a nice change and with all the creative and colourful dialogue the game throws at you it's hardly boring just to

Vanquish -
A really fun and fast paced cover-based shooter. Words I doubt I will ever bring up together ever again. It's great to slide around Sci-Fi ruins, jumping up and shooting three enemies in the head with a sniper rifle in bullet time. It surprisingly picks up the challenge in a few later levels but it mostly comes down to recognising certain One-Hit KO attacks, of which there are a lot in this game. The game is kind of short at barely 6 hours but it manages to cram alot into 6 hours and will hardly be a game you'll pick up and never play again.


And now one for my own:

MediEvil -
My favourite game of all time but sadly kind of unheard of. I only really see it on The Escapist when someone brings up games featuring the Undead as the protagonist or characters they want to see in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. It's a shame because it's a REALLY good game. The game is kind of easy and a little short (around 7 hours for full 100% completion, and that's generous) and the platforming is a little shoddy (which gets annoying at water-based levels) but what really makes up for it is the characters, atmosphere and music. The game manages to keep up a dark atmosphere but still manages to have some humor with the characters through either in-game dialogue or various texts written about or by the support cast. The game has an absolutely fantastic musical score which adds to the grim atmosphere the game is trying to provide but not enough to completely dampen your mood. A truly fun experience and is well worth buying if you happen to find it on the PSN. You shan't regret it.

 

[Gabriela D.]

Hah, I'm going to be that guy again.

The Gothic Series!

It's honestly a fantastic series of role playing games (Except for ArcaniA. ArcaniA is the Invisible War of Gothic) and it doesn't seem to get enough credit for how great it was. The main selling point (of the first two games at least) was definitely the atmosphere...Even at Level 30 a walk through the forest could be the end of you if you ran into a pack of wolves and reacted a second too late.

I couldn't agree more! My favourite was definitely the first one. Also, Avencast: Rise of the Mage. Great story, awesome visuals.

 

[EHKOS]

Most of the Star Wars games. I think that it's my favorite fictional universe. Yeah TFU2 was shit, but all of those Xbox games, and Rouge Squadron, and the PS1 things like Demolition. SWTOR has me by the bollocks right now. And it's funny because I really don't gush or talk about Star Wars that much.

 

[Starik20X6]

There's no love here for Animal Crossing. But it doesn't bother me that much, because there are other places I can go to talk about that.