Most underrated game(s) you've played this generation?

@Animasta: Bingo.

1. Viva Pinata
2. Spec Ops: The Line
3. Bulletstorm

@Animasta: I dunno, I prefer the idea of just running the entire country rather than playing a character.

Heavenly Sword got some pretty harsh criticism when it came out due to the general distaste for the PS3 at the time, and some unfair comparisons to God of War. (This game isn't as good as the best game in this genre, obviously it sucks!) Which is a shame because a lot of people missed out on a neat little story because of that. Prince of Persia is one of my favorite games this generation but a lot of people didn't like it for a host of reasons I don't agree with.

Singularity, Fear 3 (the combat felt great with mouse and keyboard, by the way) and Mirror's Edge.

Brutal Legend. Definitely one of my favorite games this generation; maybe even of all time.

El Shaddai: Ascention of the Metatron. I really liked that game.

The Simpsons Game. Looks and plays exactly like the show, with some clever videogame humor sprinkled along with way. Especially in the later levels.

Alpha Protocol. The fact that this game was panned is a fucking war crime.

Also New Vegas. The fact that this game missed its metacritic mandate by 1 point because of skipped QA by Bethesda, meaning Obsidian had to lay off like half their fucking staff, is worse than the Holocaust.

New Vegas - It improved upon just about everything from Fallout 3, though seems to get more hate than anything. Never understood that.

Shadows of the Damned - One of the most entertaining shooters of this generation, in my opinion. Definitely didn't sell what I feel it deserved to. Was a bit short though.

Wolfenstein and Singularity - Raven just can't seem to catch a break. Made two extremely entertaining shooters, both did moderately well at best.

Metro 2033 - Possibly my favorite shooter of this generation. Great atmosphere, gunplay (with Ranger Pack installed), and just a visually stunning game.

Mafia 2 - Great characters, gunplay, atmosphere. The game nailed just about everything down tight. The game, however, didn't sell all that great, sadly.

Alan Wake - One of my favorite games this generation. Did alright once it came to pc, but the game deserved to sell more. Much more.

@emem said:

Singularity, Fear 3 (the combat felt great with mouse and keyboard, by the way) and Mirror's Edge.

I played Mirrors Edge and it was okay. It did give me one of the highest highs I'v felt in a long time playing video games (The part where the clones are chasing you and you have to get away from them and you can hear there footsteps behind you) Although the general game was not great. Felt like a concept.

My under-rated game would be the original Mass-Effect.

I personally love Valkyria Chronicles. I don't really think it's super underrated, but I don't think enough people played it.

This:

The best use of motion controls (especially the wii) of this generation. Used clunky/nonaccurate movements of the wii and nunchuck best: to get the gross movement and immerse the player in the action. For some reason, no game has done it as well as since release. God, if only other game took a note out of this playbook and didn't use motion controls/kinect for fine motor control.

Want to choke a guy? Make the sticks parallel to each other, infront of you chest, quickly increase and decrease the distance between the sticks, resembling choking. Want to snap a guys neck while he hilariously goes "WHY I OTTA-~*CRUNCH*!" ? Just hold the grab button and fling violently to side. Want to beat a man to death on the counter? Assume choking position and move both sticks to the side as if slamming on the counter! I hope there is a video of this stuff on youtube so you people can see it.

Dammit, even thinking about how this game and its ideas for controller use were overlooked makes me sick.

@Chaser324 said:

Valkyria Chronicles. I really wish that game had gotten more attention here in the states so that we could've seen an English release of Valkyria Chronicles 3.

@fuzzypumpkin said:

I personally love Valkyria Chronicles. I don't really think it's super underrated, but I don't think enough people played it.

Agreed, Valkyria Chronicles is a genuinely great game that didn't get enough love.

I'd put Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts vat the forefront of this conversation too. That game is bloody brilliant, but got sorely overlooked in general. I also really, really liked Little King's Story, another game that flew under the radar.

@AlexW00d: Well, on the plus side, at least we know Wargame is getting a sequel. With Jets.

@ArbitraryWater said:

Once again, I have to ask what the heck "underrated" even means, as this thread seems to pop up every few weeks or so.

It means that the general opinion of the game is negative, but you believe that this should not be the case. Unfortunately, people seem to confuse it with underappreciated, which is just when you discover a good game not many people even know exists.

@ArbitraryWater

Once again, I have to ask what the heck "underrated" even means, as this thread seems to pop up every few weeks or so.

It would seem that underrated would mean: not rated, by enthusiast press, as highly as a person had expected, or it could also be a perceived "rating" by the community, in this case probably GiantBomb's community members, if that said community doesn't talk about "such-and-such" game very much.

I would say that underrated is about as ambiguous as the word delicious.

While I find raw horse meat to be delicious, other people might think it is an abomination. In the same vein, if I think that Skyward Sword is underrated because it didn't get perfect 10s from every reviewer, then that is my opinion about the perceived quality of the rating.

I dunno. This generation has been too long.

Maybe Vanquish?

Does Dragon's Dogma count?

I find it hard to consider what is an underrated game, that I like, since to me I rate the game highly therefore none of the games I play are underrated?

Edit: Oh, Brutal legend. I know everyone hates that game, but I love the shit out of it.

Binary Domain is the most recent one I can think of. I loved the game. Thought the characters, dialog, and game mechanics were really well done. It's a solid third person shooter that adds a few twists of its own to make it fun and interesting.

I guess Deadly Premontion. Personally I fucking love that game.

Bayonetta was the most underrated game of this generation, despite the fact it got crazy good scores from the majority of reviewers. It took everything that DMC did and vastly improved on all aspects of its gameplay, visuals and style so much so that DMC is almost unplayable afterwards. Of course it will not get a sequel but we will be getting inferior DMC games forever, proving that the majority of video game players are sheep.

@sopachuco13 said:

@DeF I definitely agree that the Ninja Theory games were underrated. I just played Heavenly Sword for the first time this year and I thought that it was an amazing game. I guess when you don't weigh the quality of a game on the purchase of a $600 machine, the game is a much better investment by itself!

Yup, that's why I think previews and reviews of launch games are mostly silly since they very often just amount to "but should I buy [XYZ$ console price + 60$ dollars] for it?" which is ridiculous.

It's also a little sad that Naughty Dog gets all the credit for the "cinematic game" when Ninja Theory brought something just as good if not better to the table this gen.

I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with previews or reviews in and of themselves. I do think that the people who write the previews and reviews shouldn't take the price of the system into account. I would be nice if we could excise the part out of the reviews process.

Far Cry The Second.

Nier is the greatest game of the generation. According to reviewers it shouldn't be played under any circumstances no matter who you are and what you like.

@emem said:

Singularity, Fear 3 (the combat felt great with mouse and keyboard, by the way) and Mirror's Edge.

I played Mirrors Edge and it was okay. It did give me one of the highest highs I'v felt in a long time playing video games (The part where the clones are chasing you and you have to get away from them and you can hear there footsteps behind you) Although the general game was not great. Felt like a concept.

Lost Oddysey was great but because it was a Xbox exclusive the Japanophiles didn't like it.

I'm going with Dragon Age II >_>

The only thing I can think of is Far Cry 2. Gunplay was top notch, and I really enjoyed burning down jungles and starting grass fires in that game!

I don't know if Enslaved was underrated, exactly, but it was definitely underplayed. Too bad the sequel was canned.

Silent Hill Shattered Memories.

The Darkness

Binary Domain.

Brutal Legend

Wolfenstein

Risk: Factions

Probably between Mafia II, Lost Planet 2, Binary Domain... There's quite a few.

@Jimbo said:

Probably Alpha Protocol.

He said "games" bro!

There are probably quite a few but the one that comes to me now, most likely because I just played it recently is Dead to Rights: Retribution. I have very fond memories of the first game that not even the pretty terrible sequel could tarnish. I see where Jeff was coming from in his review of it feeling like a game that came from the late PS2 generation but I liked it for those very reasons. It gave me the good vibes of the original while adding some things from this generation. The game certainly didn't blow everyone away but I've always enjoyed a good third person shooter and Retribution was very enjoyable.

Shadow's of the Damned is a good choice as well. Although I've seen it get more recognition on this forum then most other places but that game certainly did not get it's dues in the retail market. With it being my favorite game headed up by Suda since Killer 7 was really disheartening to see it not sell as well as it should of. If I'm to be honest that was probably my favorite game of 2011.

Binary Domain. I've seen a lot of people talk about it like it's garbage but I thought it was a really fun, solid game.

Splinter Cell: Conviction. It's a good game, I don't understand the disdain for it.

Duke Nukem Forever.

Honestly, I think El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron was a pretty great underrated game.

I'll throw my hat in the Metro 2033 ring. Got average scores, but I just love that damn game.

Both The Darkness and The Darkness 2 are some of the best single-player FPS games to grace consoles this generation, and are overlooked by many, many people.

Also on the handheld side, 999 for the DS is one of the most intelligently written things I have ever seen, video game or otherwise. It's writing puts Inception to shame.

Bulletstorm is one of the most original and fun FPS games since CoD 4.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Lost Oddysey was great but because it was a Xbox exclusive the Japanophiles didn't like it.

This is mine as well. Genuinely one the best Jrpgs that I have played in a long time. I just wish more were being localized. Blue Dragon by the same dev team, although not as good was still a fun game as well.

Dark Void, I really loved it, sure it had its issues but it was damn fun and a sequel would be great, not that im expecting one

@SecondPersonShooter said:

Both The Darkness and The Darkness 2 are some of the best single-player FPS games to grace consoles this generation, and are overlooked by many, many people.

Also on the handheld side, 999 for the DS is one of the most intelligently written things I have ever seen, video game or otherwise. It's writing puts Inception to shame.

I... those... Yeah... Well, fuck me. I couldn't have said it better myself. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. I picked up The Darkness based on Patrick's comments about it and loved it. The Darkness II is a terrific follow-up, even if it trades off the "open-worldness" of the first one in favor of a more streamlined progression.

And 999 is a fucking beast of a game.

Some I really enjoyed are Folklore, Resonance of Fate, El Shaddai, No More Heroes: HP, Mirror's Edge, and Yakuza 4. Not sure if these would count among underrated titles however they're pretty niche.

EDIT: Oh yeah and Vanquish... definitely Vanquish, yes to Vanquish.