Great games that have gone 'under the radar'

[sapient]

Ikaruga, a Raiden-style top down shooter with a sort of ambiguity to it that I loved.

And Blast Corps, back on the N64. Brilliant destruction based game.

 

[Antlers]

Hello *newbie wave*

Am I the only person who didn't like Ico much? I see loads of praise for it all over the forum. I finished it but found it kind of boring.

It's been said but Grim Fandango, Sam and Max, Psychonauts. I only just recently bought Psychonauts because of Yahtzee's review.

There's another game series *no one* seems to have heard of (I work in a game shop, and none of them have heard of it, so that counts as "no one" for me) called Quest for Glory for the PC. The first four of them are really old (we're talking Pixelated), but they brought out QFG5 sort of recently (as in the last 10 years...) and it's one of the best RPGs around in my opinion. It's funny. Something nearly every game lacks these days.

Also Starship Titanic.

 

[Altair-Ego]

A BioShock "knockoff" called You Are Empty is a hilarious game. Horrid physics, horrid AI, but the box claims they're top of the line. Not a "fun" game, but looks Hilarious.

 

[Jindrak]

Well, I could just post the link www.spidweb.com, but I guess I should put all their games I love and actually -bought- instead of just keygened.

Exile 1-Blades
Avernum 1-5 & Blades (It's a remake of Exile, though they kept going, adding titles four and five)
Geneforge 1-4 (Eventually 5)

Though after the fifth Geneforge they're supposed to be making a new series. That's going to be interesting.

 

[Lukeje]

I'm a huge Discworld fan, do you know if any of the Discworld games are technically abandonware yet? I'd love to try Noir, but I'm quite confident it wasn't even properly released in the US.

I'm pretty sure you can download the first one from 'Home of the Underdogs'... not sure whether it's entirely legal though...

Also... I'll second 'Starship Titanic'... noone ever seems to have heard of it... The puzzles were just insanely illogical in a logical sort of way...

 

[GyroCaptain]

Also... I'll second 'Starship Titanic'... noone ever seems to have heard of it... The puzzles were just insanely illogical in a logical sort of way...

I've heard a lot about Starship Titanic, doesn't it have a parrot voiced by John Cleese and a script written mostly by Terry Jones? Based, of course, on a fleeting mention in H2G2 then general outline from Douglas Adams.

 

[Kiytan]

second the original PoTC game, its awesome, and has more or less sod all to do with the films (e gads the black pearl! is about as close as it gets). amazingly realistic ship battles as well (ever tried fighting spanish fleets in a whirlpool? its sodding difficult)

And definatly agree with whoever said the onimusha series, not sure if they're really underrated tho. 3 is the best imo (jean reno!) Dawn of dreams a close second (Roberto <3 )

Evil genius is another game that i think was underrated. It's dungeon keeper mixed with austin powers, and is totally awesome.

Anything by introversion

 

[Fullmetal X]

The Zone of the Enders games. These two games have pretty much defined what I consider to be the second school of mech based combat, the first being of the slow clunky variety one sees with Mechwarrior. If you wanted to make a fast paced mech combat game the games to study are the Zone of the Enders games.

I second the Z.O.E series. The games are just great, though the second game, Z.O.E: The Second Runner is greatly superior to the first, and really hard to find.

 

[end_boss]

Hello *newbie wave*

Am I the only person who didn't like Ico much? I see loads of praise for it all over the forum. I finished it but found it kind of boring.

It's been said but Grim Fandango, Sam and Max, Psychonauts. I only just recently bought Psychonauts because of Yahtzee's review.

There's another game series *no one* seems to have heard of (I work in a game shop, and none of them have heard of it, so that counts as "no one" for me) called Quest for Glory for the PC. The first four of them are really old (we're talking Pixelated), but they brought out QFG5 sort of recently (as in the last 10 years...) and it's one of the best RPGs around in my opinion. It's funny. Something nearly every game lacks these days.

Also Starship Titanic.

Yes, you must be new here. Most people around these parts are sick and tired of hearing me go on and on about how much I love the Quest for Glory series.

 

[Adnaan]

Hey everybody.

Has anyone mentioned Ever17: The Out Of Infinity yet? I remember hearing about it on this forum somewhere ages ago and I finally got my hands on it. I don't remember who put up that post all that time ago but I'd like to thank them.

Yeah and just how the heck can I get my hands on Starship Titanic? I've been looking for that one for ages.

Oh yeah ICO!...But I guess everyone has heard of that now that Shadow of The Colossus has done so well.

 

[josh797]

i knooooowwwww its a great game it took me forever to find it, but its online for free, some flash game. you want it? heres the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml

 

[Adnaan]

Haha I remember playing the Infocom version of this...It was awesome.

 

[Copter400]

Assassin's Creed got a 7 from ign. Poop was flung because of this. Penny Arcade made comics.

Not exactly "under the radar" then, was it?

Also, whilst I don't really "do" review scores, a general impression of 7ness with occasional moments of 8ery is about right for Assassin's Creed. It's fun, but way too repetitive. A little more scope in the investigations would have helped it vastly.

The way I understood it, Captain Bland was referring to an excellent or otherwise good game that had received an average or otherwise terrible score from a professional reviewer.

And while I'd like to argue with you about the quality of AC, it would get us nowhere. It's the Vegemite of the gaming world. Those who love it truly do love it, heart and soul, whilst those who hate it firmly believe it should be dumped in Chernobyl, where the radiation will kill off anyone before they obtain the horrible stuff.

 

[Choukou]

Mischief Makers for the N64. I don't know what it is about this game that I love. It's just pure and simple fun. It satisfies the casual gamer with short levels but also accomodates the more hardcore gamer with collectibles and so on. If you still own an N64, you truly owe it to yourself to dig up this game and play it.

 

[AlexanderAstartes]

Gladius
Psychonauts
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders (also KUF: Heroes)

 

[Yerocha]

For me, the greatest unsung game series is, and always shall be, the Disgaea series. That does count as under the radar, right?

 

[Batadon]

I miss Descent and Descent 2 a lot, there's nothing like them that I know of -_- Descent 3 just wasn't the same as the first two...

Also I had a game called Alien Logic, based off TSR's Skyrealms of Jorune. That game was pure awesome. An indigenous race(Shantha) that uses "magic", several slave races left behind by a now extinct(?) interplanetary conqueror race, humans stuck on this rock after Earth blew itself up, a few races a human scientist developed because Earth blew itself up, a whole lot of frightening and DEADLY wildlife, and you in the middle. Oh yeah, and nobody gets along ^_^