It was overlooked because it was a mediocre FPS. I played it and was not impressed. It was the game that gave PS2 owners a Halo competitor they could brag about, but compared to other FPS games out at the same time, it wasn't nearly as good.
It was overlooked because it was a mediocre FPS. I played it and was not impressed. It was the game that gave PS2 owners a Halo competitor they could brag about, but compared to other FPS games out at the same time, it wasn't nearly as good.
Yeah , I agree . Killzone has always been kinda crappy .
A generally glitchy game, not to mention it was a Call of Duty 2/3 spinoff.
Why it is a Masterpiece:
I think it has some of the most notable Easter eggs (Dancing Germans, Random Teddy Bears). Not to mention you get to play as a girl, something not seen in games that much.
A generally glitchy game, not to mention it was a Call of Duty 2/3 spinoff.
Why it is a Masterpiece:
I think it has some of the most notable Easter eggs (Dancing Germans, Random Teddy Bears). Not to mention you get to play as a girl, something not seen in games that much.
wait what? dancing germans and teddy bears and the option to play a female character are your criteria for a masterpiece?
The nice thing about them is that they're generally a chance to be nice and positive, rather than angry and negative.
On the other hand, it always seems to be the same games that keep popping up. And the odd ones out always come off as a "questionable taste" or hipster-esque one-upmanship. Speaking of which...
Steambot Chronicles, or Bumpy Trot (one of the few cases where the original name is far more charming).
Why it was overlooked: A late PS2 title from a then relatively unknown publisher called Atlus, when everyone was looking towards the next generation. Also, bright colours, a plot that puts you in the shoes of basically a travelling musician and an English dub. In an age where everything is dank and grey, it was a ray light shining on cave dwelling vampires.
Why it's a masterpiece: It takes the open world premise, which somehow always boils down to becoming a crime lord, and makes it fun. After the required tutorials, you're free to become a Trotmobile gladiator, travelling musician, archaeologist, casanova or follow the plot. While it can sometimes come across as incredibly sappy (a grounded Macross if you will) and controls rather clunky, the game contains so much charm that you'll gladly glance over these faults.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Just Cause 2 is one of the best open world action games ever made. Just the way that you move in that game is amazingly fun; I shall literally never tire of grappling my way up a mountain and then jumping off, hijacking a low flying passenger jet on the way down and crashing into a military base. If the shooting had been just the slightest bit better and the voice acting a lot more nuanced and better written, I'm fully confident JC2 would be considered a classic.
I don't know if Catherine was necessarily "overlooked", but I feel like it deserved more attention and discussion.
If a 12 year-old played this game, they just wouldn't get it. As pretentious as that sounds, it's true. It's a game that forces you to answer mature questions about adult situations, and can really cause you to question your own interests and motivations. There are a lot of choice-driven games these days, but what differentiates Catherine from a Mass Effect or Dragon Age is that it asks questions about you, and how you would approach a situation--not your character. I could really identify with Vincent (who is a deeply flawed character), and I felt like I was truly able to mold his persona to match my own.
The gameplay was meh, but other games could learn a lot from the way Catherine made you invest in the narrative.
Why was it overlooked? F.E.A.R. wasn't really blammed by the critics, but as time went on the overall game soon became nothing but a footnote in the pages of history, and despite spawning a franchise, has become more of a cult favorite rather than something to glamor over. It's generally accused of having monotone levels, cheap jump-scares and one shitty plot.
The closest I've ever been to little girls, no matter what the judge says!
Why is it a masterpiece? Simply put, F.E.A.R. has some of the best FPS-action I have ever seen. The AI is to this day a landmark in that category, as the enemies can outflank you, use cover efficiently and most of all use uncanny teamwork to make you screw up. They don't focus on shooting you in the face, but instead making you get yourself killed. The aggression here is to this day unmet by most shooters, as all the Modern Warfare in the world will never beat these Armacham-forces using team work no matter how much they run towards you hurtling bullets.
The action is also greatly aided by your only true tactical aid - the ability to use bullet-time. Combined with an awesome amount of particles bouncing off of all surfaces when shot at, there is graphical beauty here of absurd proportions, as you run in slow motion through a hail of gunfire, breaking glass and sparks flying everywhere. Due to the limited amount of your bullet-time, you also have to apply it with great precision in order not to die really, really fast. The story may be somewhat subpar (although nowhere near as bad as in the sequels and expansions), but it's a good enough excuse to do some intense gunplay. The maps are somewhat monotone, but when you're constantly shot at you don't really pay much attention at how often Monolith reused the same textures in the cubicle walls. In consensus, F.E.A.R. is one of my favourite FPS-games, with a shooter mechanism at it's core that's gold to this day.
I remember the first time I played FEAR. I used bullet time liberally, and one of my favorite moments ever in a shooter is slowing down time and hitting a grenade in mid-air while I only had one or two health left. The grenade exploded, killing everything in the room except me. It felt amazing.
As you can tell by my avatar, I really enjoyed Heavy Rain. If only the voice acting had been better I think it would be considered one of the best games of this generation. I really hope Beyond: Two Souls is as amazing as I want it to be.
It was overlooked because it was a mediocre FPS. I played it and was not impressed. It was the game that gave PS2 owners a Halo competitor they could brag about, but compared to other FPS games out at the same time, it wasn't nearly as good.
Yeah , I agree . Killzone has always been kinda crappy .
killzone 3 i thought had really good gameplay but the story was so fucking bad. also, sweet titty suckin baby jesus the graphics.
I don't know if Catherine was necessarily "overlooked", but I feel like it deserved more attention and discussion.
If a 12 year-old played this game, they just wouldn't get it. As pretentious as that sounds, it's true. It's a game that forces you to answer mature questions about adult situations, and can really cause you to question your own interests and motivations. There are a lot of choice-driven games these days, but what differentiates Catherine from a Mass Effect or Dragon Age is that it asks questions about you, and how you would approach a situation--not your character. I could really identify with Vincent (who is a deeply flawed character), and I felt like I was truly able to mold his persona to match my own.
The gameplay was meh, but other games could learn a lot from the way Catherine made you invest in the narrative.
Agreed, I would have kept playing endlessly just to hang out in the bar.
Why was it overlooked? Oh, Obsidian. Alpha Protocol was called out for not only being buggy, but also it's very core gameplay mechanics. When you shoot someone, aiming carefully at their head, the bullet might hit the body instead. This was something most people did not enjoy, but...
The game also has the most hilarious romance I've ever seen in a game, with this lady.Why is it a masterpiece? There's a reason for why it won't hit the head. Alpha Protocol is an RPG. It is not a third person shooter. When you take aim and shoot, the aim is only half the battle. Dice are thrown at the background, using your skill meter and aim as help to decide whether or not you hit that nogging of the bad guy. You need to learn the in-game mechanics by, I don't know, reading the manual, before truly getting into it, as this will help you play the game. It is as it was designed. You need to play Alpha Protocol on it's own terms instead of pretending it's Splinter Cell Conviction. And boy, if you do! This is possibly the closest game we've gotten since the original to a true Deus Ex-sequel (excluding Human Revolution). The story branches off in hundreds of directions according to your decisions and actions, and most levels have several ways of navigating the terrain. The skills you can develop already give you about five or six different ways as to how to get through any situation with guns, electronics, speech or fists. The story is peculiar in it's creation, as it is unbelievably witty and funny for something this serious. The main character actually comes off as a charismatic secret agent, and the whole game I would describe as a gorgeous blend of the tv-show Alias and Deus Ex. Also, as a footnote, I never ran into any bugs during my three playthroughs on the PC. As usual with Obsidian, the publisher yet again screwed them over, making them release not only a technically unfinished game, but also banning them of developing any patches for it despite their best wishes. In short: Sega, suck a dick.
I'm going to amend my choice and go with this, too.
Scenario is a big thing with me, and it probably helps that I have such vivid memories of it.
Bought it in the Steam Xmas sale while my GF was out of town and it was snowingly softly, but heavily. We had a small courtyard out the back of the flat, and the snow was lit with this amazing orange glow from light out the back. I dragged the sofa through to the bedroom, opened a bottle of red and had the most immersive evening of playing games I've ever had.
Seems like no one has played this game, yet I still play it.
Nothing yet has matched this shooter in terms of mobility for me. You can literally charge around the map and do back-flips off walls. Also you can change between first and third person view on the fly and switch from guns to melee weapons. It is insane. Also Raiden is in the game and the Mortal Kombat announcer.
Lost Odyssey. It was the perfect amalgamation of old-school JRPG mechanics and a post-FF VII presentation. It managed to create a very emotional story without going off into overly confusing existentialist nonsense the way that so many other games have done in the past 15 years
Okami: A beautiful 3D platformer that was fun to explore the world. It's art syle was visually engaging even on the Wii. The story and the characters hooked me into it
Chulip: A fun, unique game where the premise is to kiss everything in order to gain the courage to kiss a girl you like. The world is absurd with many weird and funny characters. It reminds me of Shenmue with it's free roam adventure style and managing time.
Shenmue: It is one of my favorite games that I fondly remember. The world was alive with NPC's having schedules and moving around in the world. Literally, you could follow them and see their routine. NPC's had character to them that made it interesting to learn about them. It was a game where as soon as you start, you could precede however you want and in different ways. QTE's were done well and varied depending on if you succeeded or failed. The story and soundtrack set the stage for an epic game in the modern world was something that is not done often. We need a sequel.
@RadioactiveGazz: I thought this game was pretty fantastic at the time too. It was very cinematic while often being gloriously cheesy. Other games tried to use the twin stick game mechanic, Advent Rising being the one I most prominently remember and the Fight Night series which did it rather successfully. It is unfortunate that the combat in this game was so necessarily simple because I think it would have gotten a lot more attention otherwise.
It had a weird mishmash of different gametypes that don't all work that well really, it even has a text adventure, and has bullet hell bits. It didn't look that great, and had really boring and frustrating sidequests. But most of all: most reviewers only did one playthrough and assumed the next ones would be the same.
Why it is a masterpiece:
The story in the game is amazing, maybe I was extra affected because I have a daughter. The combat is actually extremely fun if you dig into it a little bit, and the world was really interesting and different from your run of the mill fantasy fare. It's not the most deep game ever, but the "spells" were really fun to use. But most of all: it blows your mind in the second playthrough by showing you a different perspective, and builds on that in the third and fourth.
That's the one thing I never understand when people talk about Nier, those subsequent playthroughs. Does it become a totally different story or does the ending get a little better each time?
WinBack Covert Operations - It did the RE4 shooting and the Gears cover system back in the mid 90's on the N64. And the voice acting is SOOO bad it's good.
Resident Evil REmake - The best Resident Evil game. They took the original and made it look and play better, and add just enough to make it feel new and super scary
Mirror's Edge - This game has problems, but when you once you start running (especially with people behind you) the game is an adrenaline rush.
Skies had trouble because it was a Dreamcast game and for some reason no one really paid attention to the Gamecube port, but it had an amazing premises and is easily one of the best RPG's I've ever played.
Summoner for the PS2. I think it was a launch title. It had ugly graphics (but some nice art and environments) and was one of the first console games to use that MMO type combat, that games like KOTOR and Dragon Age used. So I think many ignored it. But it had an amazing story, great characters, deep combat. I loved that game.
Rome Total War doesn't get talked about enough. For me, it is the ultimate PC game.
My thoughts exactly.
As for other games that I believe are overlooked, I think the Wario Land games deserve more credit. They sold decently when first released, but nobody seems to talk about them anymore. Personally I think they're some of the best platformers Nintendo has ever published. They have cool ways for your character to improve over the games, like after you beat a level you can learn how to ground pound enemies instead of stomping them to stun them. There were some very unique power ups that you got from being attacked, like if you are set on fire by an enemy, you can use a Wario to break blocks that only break with fire. They also had some great boss fights that you couldn't get in any other game, like Ball Bunny, who challenges you in a basketball match in Wario Land 2 and then comes back in Wario Land 3 for a soccer match where you have to score 3 goals by turning Ball Bunny into a ball and then shoot him into the goal. Seriously if any has a gameboy color or advance, get these games and you see what I mean!
Also, Age of Mythology is an overlooked spinoff of the Age of Empires games. It had the same elements from Age of Empires in which management was similar by getting food, wood and gold into your town center to increase resources to build new buildings and units to help your faction expand, but the mythology element brought something completely new to the table. Like once you advance to a new stage, you have to worship a lower god from the ancient religion and primary god you choose. THe lower god can have an impact on your strategy, like if you worship Zeus and then decide to briefly worship Athena, you can get specific powers and units to help your units, like recruiting Minotaurs, which can gore infantry units to death and can make battles against just normal units much easier. You also have god powers that will help you in the game, like if you worship the Egyptian god Ra, you can use Rain to increase the effectiveness of farms and fishing ports for a brief period of time. This is probably my third favorite RTS, only behind RTW and AOE 2.
Heart of Darkness for the PS1. It's a cinematic 2D platformer with realistic physics and jumping. (you can't jump 10 feet in the air like in mario.) It has amazingly beautiful graphics and the gameplay is a lot of fun. It's made by Eric Chahi, the guy who made Out of this World, or Another World in Europe. The only problem is that it's really hard, and the cutscenes and voice acting suck.
Also, Conker's Bad Fur Day, which has become sort of a cult classic over the years.
@Jace: i think people didnt like supreme commander because it was mostly who could climb the tech tree the fastest and who could pump out an experimental first.
I think Prince of Persia '08 should be held in much higher regard than it is.
...
No!!!
@ShiftyMagician said:
El Shaddai. The visuals alone scream masterpiece to me. I've probably typed the name in a few recent posts but I can't help but continue to state how beautiful that game is.
The First Two Penny Arcade games are amazing. The first one did pretty well but when the second one came out it sold terribly which is odd because the second game was vastly superior and honestly some of the most fun I've had on xbox live arcade.
FF9, best Final Fantasy, come at me 7 lovers! Only 7 though, people that like 6 and 10 aren't childish when they talk about them.
Viva Pinata is simply an amazing game for people of all ages. If you haven't played it go buy it now.
I love all them though... kinda like children I love them all equally but I like some of them a bit more than others.
@Gaff said:
@MEATBALL said:
@DeF said:
I love these kinds of threads :D
The nice thing about them is that they're generally a chance to be nice and positive, rather than angry and negative.
On the other hand, it always seems to be the same games that keep popping up. And the odd ones out always come off as a "questionable taste" or hipster-esque one-upmanship. Speaking of which...
Steambot Chronicles, or Bumpy Trot (one of the few cases where the original name is far more charming).
Why it was overlooked: A late PS2 title from a then relatively unknown publisher called Atlus, when everyone was looking towards the next generation. Also, bright colours, a plot that puts you in the shoes of basically a travelling musician and an English dub. In an age where everything is dank and grey, it was a ray light shining on cave dwelling vampires.
Why it's a masterpiece: It takes the open world premise, which somehow always boils down to becoming a crime lord, and makes it fun. After the required tutorials, you're free to become a Trotmobile gladiator, travelling musician, archaeologist, casanova or follow the plot. While it can sometimes come across as incredibly sappy (a grounded Macross if you will) and controls rather clunky, the game contains so much charm that you'll gladly glance over these faults.
Dammit, I always wanted to get that game but I kept forgetting about it! Damn my ADD!!!
@JeanLuc said:
Deadly Premonition. 100% serious.
Agreed, this one is awesome, Played through it and am planning on doing so again. Just an awesome game.
Another game I would recommend is The Thing for PS2/Xbox one of the few licensed games that is awesome. They WERE planning on making a sequel but it was canned sadly, it had a shitton of promise too. Look!
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers for the NES. If you look back at the massive library of NES titles, this game doesn't immediately stand out. It's a character platformer. It's based on a Disney property. It was made by Capcom. And there are at least a half-dozen games I can think of that fit each of those individually before I think about Chip 'N Dale. There were just too many games like it, and it was drowned out of history.
Why does it deserve recognition? Two-player co-op where you can actually interact with the other person in the game. Before New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Zelda Four Swords, and LittleBigPlanet, there was this game where you could be an absolute jerk to the person sitting next to you on the couch. Imagine the terror at seeing the other guy throw a box your way, knowing that if you didn't catch it, you'd get stunned just long enough for that mechanical dog to push you off a cliff. Imagine the glee at catching up to your "friend" and picking them up so that they flail about helplessly as you carry them through a stage, pleading not to get thrown at an enemy.
Yes, you could work as a team, stacking blocks and tossing each other up onto otherwise unreachable ledges, and the goodies that sat there. Like that would ever happened.
Chip 'N Dale was one of those early games where the second player wasn't just along for the ride, assisting in the push for that high score or that last level. That game gave you all the tools you needed to be a complete asshole during co-op play, and was all the better because of it.
I helped convince my mom to buy it for me, because I told her a lie that there was a contest between me and a friend to see who could get it first. I guess I won the imaginary contest.
As you can tell by my avatar, I really enjoyed Heavy Rain. If only the voice acting had been better I think it would be considered one of the best games of this generation. I really hope Beyond: Two Souls is as amazing as I want it to be.
As a non-American the voice acting didn't bother me, making it one of my favourites of this gen.
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