Defend the games you love nobody cares about

Silent Bomber needs recognition, it has everything. Chunky late PS1-era polygons, cheesy dub, forgettable story, simple yet satisfying action and cool bosses. It feels like an arcade game, works both as a single playthrough and a score attack type deal. The Red Star fills the same niche but I'm not quite as fond of it.

@monetarydread: I'm on board with the first Unreal, I remember taking it home and being blown away at what my PC was handling. Wish it had gotten a proper sequel.

Here's a few of my favorite forgotten/unloved games:

Heretic 2 - Awesome fantasy 3rd person action

Otogi 1 and 2 - Great character action games with a uniquely 'zen' aesthetic

Shogo - Mechs that transform are always cool

Space Marine - One of the best shooting/melee mechanics in any third person shooter, one of the few games I've played through multiple times

Max Payne 3 - Most palpable atmosphere in a game last generation. Captured depression and substance abuse in a perfect noir mood, didnt mind the disconnect between the action and the story at all.

Max Payne 3 - Easily one of the best first person shooters of the generation. Its smooth, its fun, its stylish, its challenging. It's a god damn blast.

Space Marine - Another really great third person shooter. This one is really unique though because it encourages, and pretty much forces you to be extremely aggressive. Since the way to heal is to preform special kills, you gotta constantly be smashing guys. You just feel like such a badass playing it too.

I really like both of you, thank you for bringing up such great games.

Most of the stuff I played on the ps1 is considered shit, but I was a kid back then and couldn't tell the difference. I really loved the game Streak, but it was reviewed pretty poorly. Haven't played it in a long time, but I remember it being awesome. Kind of curious to know if Jeff reviewed that game or not. It just says gamespot staff when looking at the gamespot reviews author. I also really liked the game evil zone, but I wouldn't be surprised if that got bad reviews as well.

Actually, reading the really short gamespot review for streak makes it seem like the person thought it plays well, but was too similar to the developers previous games (which I never played). Not sure about that game, but I'll stand behind evil zone. I thought the characters were great and their individual stories were awesome. Not a crazy in depth fighting game, but its attempt at a story was pretty good for the time (seeing as most fighting games had no stories back then. Some still dont).

I really thought Winback Covert Operations was cool.

You know what's a good time? Alan Wake. I LOVE this game. The atmosphere is great, the combat is better than I had expected, and this was the first real story in a game I cared alot about! The twin peaks vibe it gives off really scratched that itch for me.

Alan Wake! Totally have big love for Alan Wake. It's all the things I love about Stephen King, even including the terrible weird stuff like the ghost dude in a diving suit.

I don't care that Mount & Blade: Warband looks like it was made in 1999, and has a super janky interface, and is confusing as fuck, and it takes ages to get anywhere. Once you get past all that bullshit - and I'll admit it's a decent amount of bullshit - what you'll find is one of the deepest, craziest, most absorbing and most fascinating RPG/strategy hybrid games in existence. I've lost hundreds of hours to it, and still haven't done everything there is to do.

Also, back in late 2012, I was so indignant that almost no one on Giant Bomb was talking about Crusader Kings II as a Game of the Year candidate, I wrote a blog post defending it, and gave it the incendiary title of "Why CKII is the Best Game of the Year, and Why You're All Assholes". In hindsight, I would have handled myself differently, and acknowledge that CKII is a super niche game that is very imposing and caters to a specific set of interests that doesn't really overlap with Giant Bomb, but it's one of the few games that I'm so passionate about that I'll actually try and evangelise for it. This also applies, although to a much lesser degree, to Europa Universalis IV. Paradox in general is a developer that I think gets overlooked by too many games outlets; they make some of the most interesting and playable games on the market at the moment.

And why does no one bring up Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes when discussing the great handheld games of the past few years? It's a fantastic puzzle/strategy game and is Capy Games' magnum opus.

@stonyman65:

I didn't get a PSone till very late in the game. This was my "metal gear" on N64.

Conquest frontier wars, some of the most fun i had with an space based rts and no one seems to remember it :(

F1 World Grand Prix for the N64

Mission Impossible for the N64

You and I like the same games. You're all right.

Shadow Man, man.

Fucking haters.

Also, Max Payne 3 has literally the best 3rd person shooting mechanics ever designed soooo stop drop and cry if you can't handle the truth.

Whomp 'Em. I absolutely loved this game as a kid, and it still holds up pretty well after plaything through it in the last year. They dismissed it pretty quickly during the Freedom Stream, which is a shame (but completely understandable) because it's a progression game where you start out kinda weak.

Easily one of my top 10 NES games, maybe even top 5 since it does kind of hold up... but that might be a stretch.

If you like Mega Man and weird-ass niche NES games, give Whomp 'Em a chance.

I would but I just don't give a shit if nobody likes what I like, I can't be bothered to defend any game I like, it's a waste of time. I came into this thread to read it but felt I should post my view, I will continue reading though. :)

Some of the games I like that get shit:

• Guitar Hero 3 - Warriors of Rock
• Final Fantasy XIII/XIII-2/Lightning Returns
• Silent Hill Homecoming/Downpour
• Lollipop Chainsaw
• DmC
• Alan Wake
• Bioshock Infinite
• Sonic Unleashed
• The Amazing Spiderman
• Splatterhouse
• Rumble Roses XX
• Star Ocean 4 The Last Hope
• Splinter Cell Conviction
• Hitman Absolution
• Bullet Witch
• Tomb Raider 2012
• Rage - The ending is incredible though, the bad kind of incredible
• Wet
• Infinite Undiscovery
• Resident Evil 5/6
• LA Noire
• Bionic Commando 2009(it was 2009 right)
• Beautiful Katamari - Some say it's the worst one.
• Saint's Row The Third

I've said all I ever really want to about Disgaea, so I'll just say to try one (probably D2). They look intimidating, but that one's accessible.

As for games I haven't bleated about incessantly, Enchanted Arms had horrible characters and story, but the combat mechanics were interesting. Worms Golf is a stupid amount of fun for about an hour. The Blackwell games have a ton of heart and some clever puzzles based on paying attention. The Runaway series might be super hit and miss, but again, there's a lot of heart behind Pendulo's games and they're not afraid to explore some varied themes. Banished is hugely engrossing, and considering it was made by one guy, it's a remarkable achievement. Omerta is far more fun than it's given credit for.

Muramasa the Demon Blade is one of the best games I've played in years. Its so god damn beautiful on the vita and it plays so slick and stylish. Its FUCKING FREE on PS+ right now, so go get it if you have a vita and make me happy

Came into this thread to post this exact thing. Good man.

I don't love any games that nobody likes (because I don't like bad games) but how about this: Mega Man X. Every time the "best Mega Man game" discussion comes up it's almost always an immediate acceptance of 2 with the potential argument for 3. Mega Man X is far and away the best game in the series. It's smart, tightly-paced, takes all the best things about the old games and leaves behind many of the old contrivances and annoyances...and it has a rippin' soundtrack and great level/boss designs to boot. It's easily one of my top five favorite games ever, but it often gets left behind in Mega Man discussions by the mainstream gaming media.

Asuras wrath and The Darkness have some of the best moments of the last generation/

Knights of the Chalice is the best shitty mid-80's RPG made in the last 10 years.

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on NES. 3rd person overhead action rpg, party based mass combat, 3rd person side view dueling.

Medal of Honor 2010 - Best first person war game from the PS3/X360 generation and the only one whose plot brings me to tears (Rabbit's death).

Splinter Cell Conviction is the best game in the series.

Modnation Racers has better feeling racing than any Mario Kart and the kart, driver, track designing was insanely fun. I will say that the load times, weapon system and multiplayer stuff was all kinda garbage.

Dragonquest IV: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is the best JRPG of all time, but no one wants to admit it. I know I'm right, damn it!

Warhammer: Space Marine is the only third person shooter I can think of that had both satisfying melee and shooting mechanics.

DmC: Devil May Cry was amazing, one of my favorite games of last year.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

The one Spider-Man game I've played to get the movement of Spider-Man right, particularly the speed. Getting around the city is a blast. The combat tends to boil down to the web-zip attack over and over, but it's a lot of fun to mix in other attacks, zipping from enemy to enemy. Fighting on the ground one moment, then on the side of a building, and next purely in the air, hopping from enemy to enemy.

The story was alright. It was an original story focused on the symbiote doing it's thing, so it's got that going for it. Fighting symbiote Wolverine was pretty cool. In addition to Wolverine, there's some Moon Knight and Black Cat and Luke Cage, among others. But it's mostly just the traversal and that web-zip attack that makes this game so much fun. For a good few years it was my podcast game. Just load up a bombcast and swing around the city. Sometimes I'd have to find another podcast to listen to, it was so relaxing.

Remember Me

Love the look, love the music, love the story, game plays great. The combat is fine. You leap to enemies like in the Arkham games, but there's no counter, only a dodge, so it's a lot more acrobatic and kinetic in that sense. Fights eventually become almost puzzle-like, with you putting together combos with the appropriate property to get through the fight.

For instance, some enemies will always damage you when you attack them, so in order to actually survive the encounter you need to create combos that heal you as you attack. Couple that with other sorts of enemies, and then you've got to figure out how to work in enough properties to get through it. It's not terribly complicated, but it's interesting enough to keep the otherwise simple combat something you need to think about.

The Old Republic

The grand failure of an MMO. I loved how this was basically a single-player BioWare RPG mixed with World of Warcraft and set to Star Wars. I dabbled in the beta but only got in more seriously when it went free-to-play. Eventually I lost interest but recently have come back hard. Deleted all my old characters and started fresh. I'm more into MMOs now than I was, and I've also come to appreciate much more how darn nice it all looks.

TOR and FFXIV: ARR are probably the most polished looking MMOs I've played. I'll might hop back into ARR sometime soon.

Watch Dogs

Just had a lot of fun with it. The driving is great, the sneaking is great, the gunplay is decent, it's got bullet time, and the world is one of the best looking I've seen. I'll be trying GTA V when it comes to PC, and from what I've seen of that it's no slouch. Chicago in Watch Dogs looks appropriately sized though. I'm not talking about accuracy, I'm just talking about the spacing of things and the size of them. Roads look realistically sized, and buildings look like genuinely large structures rather than oversized props. It's nice to simply walk around in.

Assassin's Creed 3

One of the best Assassin's Creed games. It only really fumbles on the ending, and considering what was at stake (the end to the Desmond trilogy), it's a pretty fucking big fumble. But everything else was fantastic. They refined the free-running, refined the combat, the game looks great, the story of Conner is wonderfully dreary but hopeful.

It's the one Assassin's Creed game that frequently reminds you that history kinda fucking sucked. You helped the Americans? Great! Now all you're people are going to die. You got your revenge and protected the Assassins? Wonderful! Why don't you do something about slavery, you thoughtless bastard.

A strangely sobering game. AC1 was a similar experience, looking at the bad that's around you on all sides of a conflict. The Desmond stuff also mostly delivers (again, except for the end). We probably won't get a modern day Assassin's Creed game, but the missions you go on with Desmond are the next best thing. Crowded areas? How about a busy stadium during an event. Intensely high climbing? Here's a half-finished high-rise, have at it. They even got guns to work out well.

Great game.

People who dislike Crash Bandicoot are people you don't need in your life.

I think best is somewhat debatable because Blacklist was really, really, really good. But they are close no matter how you look at it. Both Conviction and Blacklist are better than any Splinter Cell game that came before them.

DmC: Devil May Cry was amazing, one of my favorite games of last year.

Yes. Definitely. And I played DMC since the first game.

Most dismissed Volition's take on The Punisher as a cheap license game out to make a quick buck. Screw those people.

The Punisher is one of the most immersive games I've ever played. It makes you feel very much like The Punisher. After playing the game for a while, when you enter a room, you immediately learn how to pick your targets. You're there to punish some assholes who deal dope, guns, people, whatever. You quickly zoom your eyes across the room, checking the weapons and proximity of the people in it. Grab the nearest dude with the shotgun for a human shield, position yourself properly and take the other two out with headshots, then dispatch of the shield with a well-placed shot to the nuts. You take no prisoners. You're The Punisher. You kill. You stab people in the face, feed them to piranhas, throw them off buildings, anything you can. You're an unstoppable killing machine of bizarre proportions, and nothing, I repeat, nothing will ever stand in your way.

This is the feeling the game actively enforces upon you. It scores you points depending on how well you play as The Punisher, using human shields, interrogation techniques and not biting the bullet until there are no more punks left to kill in the world. The game throws enemies at you with different weapons who require different tactics to overcome, and this keeps the experience fresh. You can play this like a bullshit shooter where you run up to everyone and quick kill them, or if you play this the way the developers intended, you will get one of the better third person shooter-experiences ever.

Killer7 is still the best game Suda51 has made. It's also perhaps one of the few games of the past decade that has really pushed the boundaries of creativity. Every single component of it, from the presentation, the gameplay, to the story, is still fresh and exciting in some way, and there's been really nothing released close to it since (not saying it's the best game ever though).

I had a hard time coming up with a title, but then I thought of Angry Birds. It's obviously extremely popular with the masses, but that popularity is kind of for the "wrong" reasons. And at the same time the game seems to be dismissed by gamers that are invested in games beyond just phone and Facebook games. I got completely obsessed with getting all three stars in Angry Birds HD for the Ipad and in that pursuit I realized how much precision there is in that game. It got to the point where I was counting pixels in order to get the right angle with the slingshot. Finding the weaknesses in the structures was just so much fun as well as finding the exact time to use a particular birds special power. And you actually get rewarded for treating it as a accurate physics simulator. From time to time the engine seemed to act a bit random, but it felt more like the occasional bug/glitch and not that the actual game was random. The franchise itself probably deserves some flak for how it's been exploited and I can understand people being tired of seeing Angry Birds everywhere. But it's a bit unfortunate that the game also just got dismissed as a whimsy game with stupids birds and a lot of randomness.

@vierastalo: The Punisher's gameplay was fun but screw the boss fights in that game. Twice I experienced game breaking glitches during the boss fights in that game.

The first came on the island boss fight when you prevent the nuke from detonating by fighting against the Russian if my memory serves me right. I can't remember what exactly happened but he disappeared and I was forced to restart to the last checkpoint.

The second was during the final fight where after struggling all night to defeat Jigsaw, I finally dealt the final blow only for the game to crash.

So yeah...fun game but screw those boss battles.

• Assassins Creed 1 & 3 - Other than Brotherhood, the best in the series
• Warhammer 40K: Space Marine - The best TPS since Gears of War 1
• F.E.A.R 2 - A fantastic action game, very moody atmosphere and man that ending...
• Alien Homonid - Why is there no love for the little yellow alien fella? This game is up there with the first Geometry Wars and N+ in early Arcade games on the Xbox 360, that proved how important downloadable titles would become.

Alan Wake kicks ass for sure!

My entry is:

THE DARKNESS

I'd write a big defense but I gotta run. (great game though)

Treasures of the Deep (PS1) was a great game, loved the detail in the mission setup and scenarios.

F.E.A.R 2 is my favorite in the franchise and say what you will about the 3rd but it did make good on the ending of 2.

I'm also going to throw Binary Domain into the ring. It is actually a really good game, it has some absolutely gorgeous visuals/art design and even with all of the silly business that was the voice prompts when talking to the team mates, the story and acting actually wound up being really enjoyable, I mean it had 4 industry vets in it, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Johnny Yong Bosch and the guy whose name I forget but is married to Laura Bailey. The characters were fun (BIGBO!) and it kept an engaging narrative while managing not to take itself too seriously.

It also had some of the best boss fights/boss designs I've seen in a while, you fight a gigantic six legged robot and by the end when you've destroyed all but one of it's legs you think it would collapse but it just holds its body straight up in the air and jumps at you like a pogo stick to still attempt to kill you, it's great.

If you're in the mood for a silly but fun time, man, man,man, you guys, it is a pretty good game.

@zolroyce: Oh man I forgot all about Binary Domain! That game was great! It's a slow, kind of generic start but when you arrive at that really colourful city and you get involved in a car chase with a beret wearing, French robot the game becomes something amazing and really unique. Interesting ending too! I wish more people played that game, because it might have meant we get more third person shooters like it from Japan. Only a Japanese company could make what seems to be a Gears of War clone and turn it into a crazy ride about pregnant cyborgs.

100% with you. Mechanically it is just about the perfect kart racer. Physics feel good, it looks nice, the commentary isn't bad, and I really like the design choice of having to use boost meter to defend against weapons, and how weapons level up as you collect more of them. Makes for much more interesting races than any mario kart. Only downside to it is how long the load times are. They're pretty atrocious.

The N64 Turok series, nobody even remembers these games existed and when they're reminded they usually respond with "well it must have been pretty bad if I didn't remember it" and I just thing fuck man, these games were good as hell. For their time they were seriously good shooters, back when shooters were trying to be entertaining rather than being safe, annualized, and BORING.

Also the Command and Conquer series, excluding 4. I see tons of people make fun of it being "not a REAL strategy game" and yeah it's pretty mindless, but I think that's the fun of it. It's simple, with solid gameplay. I kind of want to use the term "arcade-y" to describe it? It doesn't lend itself to competitive play and that's why I love it. No real meta-game, no APM bullshit, just straight up fun. Also the older ones had Frank Klepacki behind the music, so that's an instant win.

A lot of people care about PoP'08. I care.
Imagine a sequel in AnvilNext!

@mjhaylett said:

I might be over three months late, but YES. God-damn it yes. The commitment to raw first person survival in Far Cry 2 makes its numerous flaws totally worth it. I did everything I could to make Far Cry 3 feel more like it; disabled all the assists and even installed a mod to reduce HUD elements. There's nothing quite like Far Cry 2 though.

Just made the shameful realisation I never finished it; never came close. Must be rectified.

Killer7 is the best game on the Gamecube.

The Yakuza series is easily the best exclusive Sony has. Fuck Dan and Jeff for saying otherwise (Akiba's Trip Quick Look).

Zone of the enders series is so goddamn good

also deus ex 3 is great (and so was 2 until it just became outdated engine-wise)

neverwinter nights 1 is probably one of the best games of all time

Everyone always talks about Mechwarrior 2, but the sweet spot for me with that old franchise was always Mechwarrior 3 Mercenaries. Hiring pilots with different personalities and turning salvage into new and better mechs for your next mission are mechanics that get no play today, and for reasons I can't even fathom.

Ferrari Challenge on the PS3 is a nifty racing title that plays careful homage to the Dreamcast classic.

This all day.

I fucking loved the Shadowrun Multiplayer, it was so much fun and different and team orientated, i loved the different classes/races/abilities and genuinely holds a dear place in my heart. It remains the only console game i've ever got into the clan scene and made some good friends. Fond memories.

In general Alien Hominid did review well (http://www.gamerankings.com/gamecube/922130-alien-hominid/index.html) but I think the XBLA version didn't get much buzz because most of the press/people who were interested in it already played it either on flash or when it was released for the PS2/Xboxoriginal/GCN generation. In many ways it was better suited as a downloadable, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit as a PS2 game.

The XBLA version may be the definitive one but it's hard to get super excited for a re-release of a relatively recent game

Lego Island is the greatest game of all time.

I wouldn't say i love it, but i liked Resident Evil 6 way more than most people. It's by no means a great game, but i still thoroughly enjoy playing it. Maybe there's just something wrong with me

There is something wrong with you. It's called not being a cynical asshole. You should try being one with the rest of us, it's great when it doesn't suck balls.