Underrated Games | Shoulda Been Classics | Your forgotten gems

[Nazulu]

I thought Metal Fatigue is unique and competent enough. An RTS where you can build little tanks, plains and other vehicles along with giant customisable robots that can be piloted with different experienced crews, and it has 3 layers of terrain you could fight on: land, sky and underground. And with 3 sides it had an interesting single player to boot. The multi-player options could use a lot more work though.

Here's a review if you're interested

 

[sky pies]

I thought Metal Fatigue is unique and competent enough. An RTS where you can build little tanks, plains and other vehicles along with giant customisable robots that can be piloted with different experienced crews, and it has 3 layers of terrain you could fight on: land, sky and underground. And with 3 sides it had an interesting single player to boot. The multi-player options could you use a lot more work though.

Interesting, aside from the 'giant customization robots' it looks a lot like 'Total Annihilation'.. TA was a great game series, a bit old fashioned by today's standards but really robust with lots of epic combat and strategy...

 

[Nazulu]

I thought Metal Fatigue is unique and competent enough. An RTS where you can build little tanks, plains and other vehicles along with giant customisable robots that can be piloted with different experienced crews, and it has 3 layers of terrain you could fight on: land, sky and underground. And with 3 sides it had an interesting single player to boot. The multi-player options could you use a lot more work though.

Interesting, aside from the 'giant customization robots' it looks a lot like 'Total Annihilation'.. TA was a great game series, a bit old fashioned by today's standards but really robust with lots of epic combat and strategy...

I love Total Annihilation. It was a big deal when it came out and I wasn't surprised at all to see that many other developers took inspiration from it.

Metal Fatigue was definitely inspired by TA but it does have it's own... feel to it, especially when you'll relying on the combots to do most of the damage. Actually, TA generally feels more fluent than most RTS games, even against new RTS games, but MF's strengths are with the combinations and aerial assaults with combots, and the alien technology I just remembered you could obtain. No other RTS really has anything like that.

Unfortunately, the fuck heads who rushed the game out before the developers could properly complete it didn't realise what they had and it became lost in history. Many want to see it come to GoG though, I keep voting that one up.

 

[sky pies]

I love Total Annihilation. It was a big deal when it came out and I wasn't surprised at all to see that many other developers took inspiration from it.

Interestingly, TA was the first game in the, what, space RTS genre that I actually had any respect for, because I once walked in on my older brother playing it - he lived in another country at the time - he was playing some mission which had a lot of flying vehicles involved... Like, lots... And yeah although I played lots of good RTS games that not everyone these days will have played - a lot of the Command and Conquer series that seems to have pretty much been forgotten by now - that scenario from TA is one of the key formative memories of the genre~

In an interesting twist I actually played a bunch of TA, in the form of the demo and it's three missions, but it never had the same impact on me that watching my brother play the full version for a few minutes did.

I tried to play the descendant game, Supreme Commander, but I couldn't get into it because the opening mission of the campaign was really boring. Kinda shallow and sad, isn't it

Unfortunately, the fuck heads who rushed the game out before the developers could properly complete didn't realise what they had and it became lost in history. Many want to see it come to GoG though, I keep voting that one up.

I was about to ask if it was available. Ah such a shame.

 

[Nazulu]

I love Total Annihilation. It was a big deal when it came out and I wasn't surprised at all to see that many other developers took inspiration from it.

Interestingly, TA was the first game in the, what, space RTS genre that I actually had any respect for, because I once walked in on my older brother playing it - he lived in another country at the time - he was playing some mission which had a lot of flying vehicles involved... Like, lots... And yeah although I played lots of good RTS games that not everyone these days will have played - a lot of the Command and Conquer series that seems to have pretty much been forgotten by now - that scenario from TA is one of the key formative memories of the genre~

In an interesting twist I actually played a bunch of TA, in the form of the demo and it's three missions, but it never had the same impact on me that watching my brother play the full version for a few minutes did.

I tried to play the descendant game, Supreme Commander, but I couldn't get into it because the opening mission of the campaign was really boring. Kinda shallow and sad, isn't it

Unfortunately, the fuck heads who rushed the game out before the developers could properly complete didn't realise what they had and it became lost in history. Many want to see it come to GoG though, I keep voting that one up.

I was about to ask if it was available. Ah such a shame.

Yeah, for some reason they forgot to make the movement and layout in Supreme Commander as fluent as TA, so I never saw it as anything related to TA because of that. Only after people told me it was meant to be did I know. Actually, it feels more like Metal Fatigue, but I preferred the custom robots over the big war machines. They are just more interesting.

Also, how is anything C&C forgotten? It still has mods being made for all of them and they are all cheap on Origin, some of the earlier games are even free now.

I just want to mention that the original C&C has the greatest defense tower ever, the Obelisk Of Light. How it looks, how it charges up, and after a second, deals that lethal blow with some of the most awesome sound effects. Why the hell can't any other RTS games make a defense tower as awesome as that? Big Bertha is a close second though.

 

[sky pies]

Also, how is anything C&C forgotten? It still has mods being made for all of them and they are all cheap on Origin, some of the earlier games are even free now.

If Red Alert 1 is free then I'll definitely play that again. Origin you say?

I think I have a different definition of 'forgotten', I've found that on this thread... I mean of course many people remember the games, I just sort of base this word off how often I actually see them mentioned nowadays. Even Red Alert 2 is apparently gone form the public consciousness, displaced by StarCraft 2 making everyone think Star Craft 1 was the only online RTS phenomenon... Of course my knowledge on this is limited, I could have it completely wrong, but it just seems to me that these games have been forgotten.

It may also be thanks to a couple of poor releases around 2009.. Generals seems to have been the last one that was really a big deal..

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Oh, quite a few. Here just the ones off the top of my head:

Phantom 2040
Starflight
The Story of Thor
Sub-Terrania
Illusion of Time/Gaia
Terranigma
Arx Fatalis
Clive Barker's Undying
Outcast
Sacrifice
Giants - Citizen Kabuto
Blinx - The Time Sweeper
Metal Arms - Glitch In The System
Oni
Shadowhearts (Covenant)
Tron 2.0 Killer App
Aliens: Infestation

Not saying all of these games are amazing or have stood the test of time, but they all offer something unique and interesting, whether it be mechanics, setting, story or simply serving as an inspiration for much more successful later games.

 

[sky pies]

Oni

There are a dozen games on your list that I would instantly agree upon, but I specifically want to focus on Oni. Thank you so much for reminding me of this amazing game! It's very special to me, because I bought it at a time when I was living in Germany, and was very bored.. I got it for just a few euros (might have still been Deutschmarks back then) and was just really relieved to find that it was in English, since most games you bought in Germany back then would have been in German.

I think I only completed the first level and a half, but I really loved every last bit of it. The combat and powerups were cool, but I really liked her smooth movement and the story progression. Cool level design too.

I wanna play it again. I wonder where I can get my hands on it...

 

[toonbro13]

tomba: a fun platformer that barley anyone gave a chance

Conception 2:is it perfect no but i consider it a guilty pleasure since the gameplay reminds me alot of the persona series

 

[Frezzato]

Oni

There are a dozen games on your list that I would instantly agree upon, but I specifically want to focus on Oni. Thank you so much for reminding me of this amazing game! It's very special to me, because I bought it at a time when I was living in Germany, and was very bored.. I got it for just a few euros (might have still been Deutschmarks back then) and was just really relieved to find that it was in English, since most games you bought in Germany back then would have been in German.

I think I only completed the first level and a half, but I really loved every last bit of it. The combat and powerups were cool, but I really liked her smooth movement and the story progression. Cool level design too.

I wanna play it again. I wonder where I can get my hands on it...

A Windows 7 patch [http://www.moddb.com/mods/anniversary-edition/downloads/anniversary-edition-pc] was made but it requires a retail copy of the game, which you can choose from here [http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00004Z0MH/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used].

The only places I'll buy used software from are Amazon and Game Stop (GS online is pretty good too). People trying to get into business through Amazon have to jump through a lot of hurdles because Amazon doesn't tolerate sellers with unhappy customers. I've acquired a few old games over the years through them and some of them were still sealed; not mint mind you, but sealed.

Regarding Oni, I still have it for PS2. But I don't have a PS2.

Hope that PS2 emulation thing is going to really happen.