Your Favourite Underrated Gems?

[alxhrmn]

Gaming, like every other medium out there, contains a steep popularity curve and there are dozens of immensely enjoyable titles which go overlooked in favour of big-budget releases and ignored by the hordes of tunnel-vision afflicted twelve-year-olds who jump on the CoD bandwagon without the slightest hint of an afterthought.

Case in point: Crackdown. Purchased by many to gain access to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta, but, unsurprisingly, a large proportion of those who bought a copy never gave the proper game a go. This is a true shame, as the game in itself, while short (the campaign can be completed in less than three hours if you try) is a literal goldmine of free-roaming entertainment. Hours of additional fun can be enjoyed alone, and when you add a second player into the equation the game's lifespan increases further, and the hilariously over-the-top physics complete a sandbox package which rivals GTAIV in terms of sheer entertainment value - despite Rockstar's opus having a single-player story which can take at least ten times as long as Realtime Worlds' effort to complete.

Shameless plugs aside, what are your favourite games which went somewhat unnoticed by the gaming populace?

 

[Marter]

Custom Robo was ignored by pretty much everyone, yet I found it to be one of the top GameCube games.

 

[Aulleas123]

The Civilization Series

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

On these forums, Modern Warfare 2. Everyone hates that game and I absolutely love it.
Among IW fanboys - World At War. My, was that a good game.
Overall, Heavy Rain. When the game is that hyped and it is best known because of Press X to Jason, that makes me a bit sad.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Prey. Did anyone else play that game?

 

[PipBoy2000]

There are several. I usually prefer underdogs over bigshots.
Painkiller, Sacrifice and Trine, just to name a few. Still have to play Aquaria and finish Psychonauts.

 

[Drakmeire]

Space station Silicon Vally for the N64 was (in my eyes) the first GTA game. you played as an alien microchip with the ability to take over animals to solve puzzles.
way ahead of it's time, I've met several collectors who have never heard of it.

 

[Librarian Mike]

I still don't get all the hate for Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. I mean sure, the metal music/emo guy hero is lame, but the game itself is every bit as fantastic as its predecessor.

 

[Kapol]

DJ Hero.

And I played Prey as well. Fun game, though very Doom3ish.

 

[Hazy]

Prey. Did anyone else play that game?

Played it and beat it.
It was good, but far too short and lacking in replay value for a $60 title.

OT: Harvester. I talk about this so much, but I seriously need to stress just how good it is. Especially since it came out in the mid-late 90's, an era heavily populated with horrid FMV titles.

 

[ethaninja]

It seems my threads just don't do it for everyone else

OT: Drakan: Order of the Flame.

 

[ethaninja]

Prey. Did anyone else play that game?

Played it and beat it.
It was good, but far too short and lacking in replay value for a $60 title.

Lucky for me I got it at the low low price of 15 But still, that game was PERFECT. Why they did not end up making a second one, even after the ending to the first one

Spoiler

To Be Continued

is beyond me. Great storyline. Fun gameplay. Pretty decent voice acting. I was driven the whole way through the game

 

[DarkPanda XIII]

MediEvil, that is all >.>

 

[Shock and Awe]

DEFCON and Fire Emblem

 

[SomeBoredGuy]

Lugaru HD. How many of you can honestly say you know what that game is?

 

[PurpleLeafRave]

Lost Odyssey is extremely underrated in my eyes. It's the best JRPG I've ever played.

 

[Sronpop]

Brutal Legend - Amazing story, amazing soundtrack, amazing characters. Amazingly profitable? Don't think so.

Saints Row series - Over the top fun, a game that knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be anything else, pure gaming fun that constantly gets ripped on as a not as good gta rip off

Red Faction Guerrilla - Fantastically fun game to play, taking down huge buildings with a hammer never gets old. Some awesome challenges too. Yeah people saw it as nothing more than a tech demo.

 

[JIst00]

Last Remnant, everyone seemed to hate it, I loved it.

 

[Sassafrass]

Viva Pinata has gone unnoticed by most people I know, who dismiss it as just a kids game. Which couldn't be farther from the truth.

Another one is Whiplash from back when the PS2 was new. Ish. Some of the best fun I've had was with that game and yet only about 15 people I know in real life and on this site have heard of it.

 

[HolidayBrick]

Custom Robo was ignored by pretty much everyone, yet I found it to be one of the top GameCube games.

Hell yes! I loved Custom Robo. I tried to move on to Armored Core, but it's still nowhere near as fun.

Lost Odyssey is extremely underrated in my eyes. It's the best JRPG I've ever played.

Agreed. I consider it to be on of the best game I've ever played.

Lugaru HD. How many of you can honestly say you know what that game is?

I appear to be playing a lot of these games. I played it in 2006 when the HD patch wasn't even out, it's still pretty great.

DJ Hero.

Yep, this too. Guitar Hero is one game that I enjoyed, but got too good at for it to be fun anymore. DJ Hero is still challenging. The music's not bad either.

MediEvil, that is all >.>

That game was great! I never beat it, but I played it quite a few times at a friend's house.

I suppose I'll come back later and have to quote everybody else because I don't have anything original to add...