Sparrow's Top Three Most Underrated Games

[Sparrow]

Contains more unoptional spoilers than an IGN forum.

#3: Dark Void​

So, in another attempt to make myself a household name, the first game on my list is Dark Void, which was developed by Airtight Games using Unreal Engine 3 and published by Capcom for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. In the game, or so Wikipedia says anyway, "players must face an alien threat that humanity had previously banished. The game mixes on-foot and mid-air combat". The game received less than stellar reviews from generally, well, everyone. Even Yahtzee says it was pants, but he says everything is pants so maybe he wasn't the best example to use.

Now I know what you're thinking. If everyone says this is a crap game, it must be. And they're right. It is a crap game. The storyline is shite, the shooting mechanic is basically ripped from Gears of War and the only thing that saves the terrible cutscenes is Nolan North's rather sexy voice. So why is it number third in my list, you say? That's because I picked it up for the stupid price of ten pounds.

And for that low-cost of a tenner I discovered that, although unoriginal, the shooting mechanic did it's job by generally being quite fun and you fly a fucking jetpack. Just skip every cutscene, ignore every piece of storyline and power through the game by shooting the giant monsters with your jetpack of doom. The game in itself lasted me a good five or so days of casual play and I've found myself replaying missions to grab a couple of easy achievements. It's silly, stupid fun and for ten quid you can't go wrong.

Anyone interested on getting the game on the cheap, head over to Play.com as I did and buy it for the low, low price of nine-hundred and ninety-nine of my homelands English pennies. If all else fails, I wouldn't be surprised if eBay has a copy of this up for a couple of quid, because as much as I praised it, it's only really worth one play through and a go on the free DLC. Y'know, because it's bloody free.

#2: DJ Hero​

The second game on my list is what many people refer to as Guitar Hero's younger and more shiny brother. Whenever anybody says that to me, I just think the kid must have something wrong with them. Anyway, DJ Hero is a "music video game", which apparently is a genre in itself nowadays, developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision as a "rhythm game spin-off of the Guitar Hero franchise". Or in other words, it's a giant rip-off.

The game scored generally positive reviews as it goes. Most big named gaming reviewers such as IGN, Gamespot and Eurogamer all gave it 8 out of 10, which is fairly respectable I'd say. It also has a Metacritic score of 85 and GameRankings score of a giant 88%. However, the game didn't sell as well as Activision would have liked. It sold 789,000 copies in North America, which is apparently well under what was wanted. Regardless, it still performed well due to it's rather high price of 100 English pounds. Who said there's a recession on?

However, I have noticed the game isn't very well-loved among the Escapist population. On the What's Your Favourite Music Game? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101202-Question-of-the-Day-June-9-2010] question of the day, a very small 24 votes out of 847 votes went to DJ Hero. That's not even three percent! Where's the love folks? As we proved in the Dark Void segment of this strange form of review, all those critics can't be wrong can they? So then, the only explanation is that all those people either really love Guitar Hero that much (yeah, and my middle name is Hitler) or none of them have actually DJ Hero.

That doesn't surprise me really. I mean, everyone wants to be a guitar hero. So, when Guitar Hero came out you were allowed to live out your fantasy. However, not many people dream of being a DJ hero. So when DJ Hero came out, well, nobody bought it because they didn't want to be a DJ hero you crazy PR loonies. And, well, there's an elephant in the room here: stereotypical gamers, which sadly is a large portion of those people who call themselves Gamers, aren't exactly the target audience for this game. So when you take into account that most of the people on this site are what most would assume are "hardcore" gamers, it only makes sense they wouldn't fork out a whole days wages for the average working man for a game they don't want.

However folks, there is an alternative. I myself bought this fantastic game, which I may add makes you feel a lot more like a DJ than Guitar Hero does a guitarist, on Play.com (seriously, I love that site) for the low, low price of 35 quid. Sadly, the offer is now over, but there's still one place you can pick it up cheap. Yes, that's right folks, I'm talking about eBay. Don't you look at me like that, eBay is good sometimes! Most people are selling the game for under thirty pound with everything intact. Shipping might be a bit of a *****, but it's not going to cost you more than a fiver. So there you have it, a cheap way to get a fantastic game!

#1: The Saboteur​

The top game in my list is The Saboteur which Wikipedia says is, deep breath, "a third person action-adventure video game set during World War II in German-occupied France". The game is the last ever released by the now dead Pandemic Studios and published by the evil and diabolical folks at Electronic Arts. It follows Sean Devlin, the biggest Irish stereotype ever along with French pals who seem to be unable to pronounce the word "the" without using the letter "z" and his buddies Mr Bishop and Ms Skylar, or as I like to call them, the biggest English stereotypes that have ever graced the face of the planet. Did I mention you were part of "the Resistance" fighting Nazi's? I could not make this shit up if I tried. Well, actually, I could. Most five-year olds could, that's kind of the point.

The stupid characters out-of-the-way, the game has a pretty decent score of 73 on Metacritic and was rated 7.5 by IGN and 7.6 by Gametrailers. That's fairly decent right? Apparently not. The game didn't sell massively, though I doubt anyone at what's left of Pandemic really cares, and the rest of its reviews give it rather average scores. Then there's that whole business with the game not working on computers that use ATI graphics cards. That couldn't have done it much good.

So why is it number one? Because it's fantastic. Honestly, screw anyone who bashes the storyline or who says it's a rip-off of GTA. Because quite honestly, the giant cliche-filled characters with their giant cliche-centers are fantastic. Seriously, you look at them at first and you think they're poorly written and you write off the premise as a piece of crap but it's not like that. The game's storyline is subtly awesome. Seriously, it's fantastic. I don't know how they did it, but it's one of the first games in a good time where I've been rooting for the main character to kick the baddies ass and have generally been quite sad when certain characters die.

And then there's the gameplay. My God I love the gameplay. You see, it basically is a rip-off of GTA, but it's a good rip-off. It's a bloody fantastic rip-off. It's definitely better than GTA's latest installment, as it allows you to be free. GTA IV boasted a free enviroment to do as you wish, but what could you really do? Shoot pigeons? Shoot policemen? Shoot cars? Seeing a pattern here? Well in Saboteur, you can do so much more. You can attach explosive to cows for christ sake. You can lay makeshift IEDs in roads to ambush tanks. You can jump in a giant turret and blow the fuck out of everything ever. Not to mention the giant array of guns. Flamethrowers, scoped bolt-action rifles, automatic pistols, silenced assault rifles, automatic shotguns, the list truly does go on.

And the best part? You can pick this up for fifteen quid on, you guessed it, Play.com for both PS3 and Xbox 360. That's fifteen pound, not even half of todays major titles, for a game that will last you weeks. Months, even. The map is no Just Cause sized affair, but it's nice and chunky and there are definitely more than enough missions to keep you going for a while. I've seriously not even mentioned the best bits, like the awesome old racecars, the awesome perk system, the awesome ending, the awesome-- actually, just go play it for yourself. I shall tell you no more.

So, Escapist users, what are your top three most underrated games?​

 

[Starke]

#3 - Hellgate: London: This is almost more of a missed opportunity than an underrated game. The multiplayer aspect was interesting, and convenient and is now gone. That said, at least with four of the six classes this was a really fantastic old school shooter in the Doom and Painkiller sub-genre. That said, the best mode for the game Nightmare (IIRC) was a subscriber exclusive. Nightmare ratcheted up the monster spawns to a genuinely challenging level and made the game a lot of fun. It's a shame that today it's a wake for a really underrated game.

#2 - Two Worlds: Two Worlds got blasted on release for a bad plot, shitty writing, poor gameplay, and failing to live up to its claims at being "Oblivion on Steroids". First, the writing itself is actually slightly above par, but what sets it apart is a hilarious mock old English dialect that really puts the tone into some kind of prolonged Monty Python sketch, though this does leave a lot of room for personal taste.

The gameplay is another kettle of fish. The game really only ever gives you a few basic insights into how the game system works and turns you loose. This means there's a lot of hidden, and sometimes very old school, features that you can only discover by messing around, in the game and seeing what happens. The item upgrade system in particular is something I would love to see become more widespread in ARPGs.

One caveat, the PC version is the version to hunt down. The 360 version is a very faithful port, it just lacks a mouse, and with it, most of the interface becomes borderline unusable.

#1 - Titan Quest: Hands down, this is quite solidly the best Diablo clone I have ever played. I'm not sure what else to say. If you loved Diablo II, this is a fairly faithful update, with a distinctive personality all it's own (something somewhat rare in the genre). The class system is easily one of the more robust systems in ARPGs, allowing the player to effectively dual class for a huge amount of variation with fairly decent game balance.

 

[Worgen]

3. Heroes of might and magic V: this one tends to get hate from ppl who loved the other heroes games since it kinda reboots the plot, or so Ive heard
2. Dark Sector: I dont know why this game gets alot of venom, its a pretty fun experience and the blade is cool
1. Brutal Legends: I can under stand ppl being put off by expecting a brawler and getting a pseudo rts game but I loved the stage battles personally along with almost every thing else about the game

 

[CrashBang]

I bought The Saboteur to tide me over while waiting for RDR and, at first, thought it was great, very artistic and fun. But after a while I realised I had no attachments to the characters or the plot, the missions had no structure and it was too dark to see which just got infuriatingly annoying. So yeah, gave it a shot and ended up selling it after a week. Just my opinion though

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I played the demo for Dark Void and found it unresponsive, bland, boring and fiddly. The controls drove me nuts and Unreal Engine has never looked so ugly.

 

[Korten12]

3. Heroes of might and magic V: this one tends to get hate from ppl who loved the other heroes games since it kinda reboots the plot, or so Ive heard
2. Dark Sector: I dont know why this game gets alot of venom, its a pretty fun experience and the blade is cool
1. Brutal Legends: I can under stand ppl being put off by expecting a brawler and getting a pseudo rts game but I loved the stage battles personally along with almost every thing else about the game

Dark Sector is a great game, got for $20 or $30 bucks when I went on my school quebec trip (it was on sale!) so I own a canadian version of a game. same thing as the na version though. got to play it again.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

If you don't include Star Wars Republic Commando in your list, then your list is wrong.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

3. God Hand. It's become somewhat more famous now, but no amount of praise will ever adequately express how amazing this game is.
2. Genji: Dawn of the Samurai. PLAY THIS DRAT YOU! I HATE THE WORLD FOR THIS GAME'S LACK OF PUBLICITY!
1. Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure. Nobody takes this game seriously. Which is a shame, because it's a glorious combination of Final Fight and Kirby's Adventure. And it has over 26 unique playable characters. No repeats. And it has replay value. And 2p versus. And every copy contains a warm, freshly-baked scone with your choice of butter or local strawberry jelly.

 

[Jenova65]

Well going by sales (not by escapist standards as I know that most escapists appreciate these games)
Beyond Good And Evil
Ico
Eternal Darkness
Three great games that massively undersold.

 

[Pokenator]

Sacrifice.

I loved that game, bought it soon after it came out, no one I speak to ever seems to have heard of it though.

 

[Aggressor and Usurper]

I only have one, and it's Wario Land 3.

One of the finest platformers ever made, and I seem to be the only person in the universe to have heard of it. It got 9.0 on IGN and 98% on Gamespot, and pretty much rave reviews everywhere else.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

#2 - Two Worlds: Two Worlds got blasted on release for a bad plot, shitty writing, poor gameplay, and failing to live up to its claims at being "Oblivion on Steroids". First, the writing itself is actually slightly above par, but what sets it apart is a hilarious mock old English dialect that really puts the tone into some kind of prolonged Monty Python sketch, though this does leave a lot of room for personal taste.

The gameplay is another kettle of fish. The game really only ever gives you a few basic insights into how the game system works and turns you loose. This means there's a lot of hidden, and sometimes very old school, features that you can only discover by messing around, in the game and seeing what happens. The item upgrade system in particular is something I would love to see become more widespread in ARPGs.

One caveat, the PC version is the version to hunt down. The 360 version is a very faithful port, it just lacks a mouse, and with it, most of the interface becomes borderline unusable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2PzNLeZBZg

Watch that beginning cutscene and then tell me this game deserves anything more than a large turd on a plate. Naow~!

..*Ahem* OT:

3) Final Fantasy XIII: The cutscenes are fairly good and well designed, along with the voice acting (..But do not get me started on Vanille, Snow, and Hope. FUUUU-!). Besides the 30 hour "tutorial", it was decent enough.

2) Halo Series: Space Marines and a fundamentalist religious Alien Covenant nuking it out, massive ring worlds, and Sergeant Johnson. I admit, it was average gameplay wise, but it was a decent series nonetheless.

1) Prototype: Who doesn't want to be a super virus-mutated killing machine that can spawn its limbs into more weapons and beat-power than Batman on steroids?

 

[Starke]

#2 - Two Worlds: Two Worlds got blasted on release for a bad plot, shitty writing, poor gameplay, and failing to live up to its claims at being "Oblivion on Steroids". First, the writing itself is actually slightly above par, but what sets it apart is a hilarious mock old English dialect that really puts the tone into some kind of prolonged Monty Python sketch, though this does leave a lot of room for personal taste.

The gameplay is another kettle of fish. The game really only ever gives you a few basic insights into how the game system works and turns you loose. This means there's a lot of hidden, and sometimes very old school, features that you can only discover by messing around, in the game and seeing what happens. The item upgrade system in particular is something I would love to see become more widespread in ARPGs.

One caveat, the PC version is the version to hunt down. The 360 version is a very faithful port, it just lacks a mouse, and with it, most of the interface becomes borderline unusable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2PzNLeZBZg

Watch that beginning cutscene and then tell me this game deserves anything more than a large turd on a plate. Naow~!

Laugh at it, its what it probably wants. And if it doesn't want to be laughed at, tough shit. It gets more hilarious as the game goes on. Lines like, "A bold man you say? For what purpose prey?" crack me up to this day, especially with the delivery.

 

[MellowFellow]

I think Alpha Protocol is a very underrated game. While it can be glitchy at times, I found the game to be enjoyable. The addition of a timer to their dialog system was a great idea, because you didn't have an infinite amount of time to thoroughly make a decision. Also, your choices do have some impact on the story, some larger than others. Lastly, I found that their reputation system was also well done, the fact that having a bad reputation with someone could benefit you as much as someone liking you is something you don't see too often.

 

[GrinningManiac]

1. Evil Genius
This game was a hidden gem, or, more appropriately, a diamond in the rough. It wasn't very polished, with a few (usually innoticable) glitches and a lack of graphical finess (even for 2004). It was, however, one of the funniest, most addictive strategy games ever produced, with awesome music, designs, art-style, humour, concepts and basically everything you look for in an enjoyable game (remember them? Before we decided it was cool to be miserable and hide in corners whilst we recovered from the tomato sauce squished across our eyes from being shot in the stomach with the Kills-a-lot-3000?). It stands to this game's credit that it has MASSIVE replay value, and that I still play it today, in 2010 (I'm about to go on it again in five minutes)
Beyond Good and Evil
I'd make the case for this game, but it's apparant that people on the Escapist already know how good it is. If you don't, then F*CKING BUY IT!!!
War of the Monsters
Select your monster, be it a 'King Kong' or a 'Godzilla' or even a 'Giant Sentient Aztec Statue' or 'Huge eyeball encased in a humanoid form of pure energy'. Then take these 400-foot monstrosities and battle it out in large cityscapes based on the likes of Hawaii, San Francisco, Tokyo, Las Vegas, an Airport, a Metropolis, an Alien Spaceship and so on. Impale each other with attennae and lightning-rods ripped from buildings, pummel each other with bits of debris from the skyscraper you just tore down, beat each other with your own fists and projectiles, collect enough little 'power orbs' to activate personal special abilities that wipe opponents off the face of the earth. GOD I HAD FUN WITH THIS GAME. GO FIND IT, IT'S A SPLITSCREEN PARTY WONDER!.

Fan-trailer​

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

3. Chrono Cross

Innovation comes at a price. From the element system that gets rid of MP, without making magic weak, or breaking the game. From the Stamina system that helps to balance the magic. To the world and characters. Games with this many characters in your party/team/group end up making most of the characters who aren't plot internal suffer in terms of personality and dialogue. Chrono Cross...didn't. How, you ask? Easy. By allowing their personality to show through in combat, long past the last time they really had any length of dialogue, which is usually shortly after recruitment. From the big, lisping, pink female god (Poshul) that attacks by rolling itself into a ball, to the psychic paranormal investigator luchadore wrestler (Greco), you will remember nearly all the side characters long after you beat this game. Add in one of the greatest plot twists of all time and you've not one hell of a game.

Oh, and the fact that it is hailed as one of, if not THE greatest soundtrack ever.


And the graphics hold up well, too. Square worked MAGIC with the PS1.

PS1 right there. Not PS2.

Spoiler

At the mid point in the game, you switch bodies with the villain, and have to go across the world convincing old allies who you are, and recruiting new ones along the way to getting your body back.

2. Legend of Mana

Great realtime combat, great graphics that aged wonderfully, a lighthearted story, and a fantastic world map creation system that gave different quests each time you played. Unless you used some kinda internet guide for perfect placement or something. But why ruin the fun like that?

3. Grandia

Ahh...the first RPG I ever played was indeed a good one. There's a reason I still love the genre, you know. This is as good as turn based combat gets, interrupting attacks and charging spells, while having to actually get near the enemy to attack them, too. No trading blows across the middle of the screen here. No stupid airship (airships=sidequest time) and limited backtracking keeps the pace fast, without sacrificing length for filler like breeding chocobos. As you progress, old areas are closed off by means of the plot. It's starts off simple, a bunch of kids want to reach a giant wall known as...The End of The World. Once they reach it about 2/3 through the first disc of 2...the adventure really begins.


Ahh...My favorite scene. With no real spoilers other that the fact that the game has a ghost ship.

 

[SirDX]

#3 : Dark Sun - Wake of the Ravager: A great game horribly disfigured by bugs. If you can avoid the game-breaking bugs, this was one of the best games I've ever played.

#2 : Fallout Tactics: By Fallout standards, it's horrible. By the standards against the rest - a really effin' great game for when you had spare time.

#1 : Legend of Dragoon: The only JRPG I've ever loved with all my heart.

 

[irequirefood]

I only have one, and it's Wario Land 3.

One of the finest platformers ever made, and I seem to be the only person in the universe to have heard of it. It got 9.0 on IGN and 98% on Gamespot, and pretty much rave reviews everywhere else.

First GameBoy Colour game I ever got. I have finished it countless times and love it to death

Also, I agree with some of the earlier posts with Republic Commando and titan Quest. They are great games that should have sold much better.

 

[pyrosaw]

No more Heroeson't go saying "oh, I love No More Heroes!"How come you didn't buy it then?

Dot hack series:A JRPG series that was left in the dust during the PS2 era.