Hello Giantbomb community ;) Just thought I'd create a topic were members could possibly name drop a few personal gems that people may not be aware of, but should definitely play. Personally many of the games I play are pretty well known, so I cant recommend to many occult classics, just some adventure games really; Beneath a Steel Sky, the first two Broken Sword games and Zork: Grand Inquisitor. Not too unknown but classics nonetheless ;)
Just in case, I apologise if this is one of those topics that are continuously popping up, I'm still kinda new to this creating a topic thing. So uhhh.... be nice :I
God Hand - A marvel of game design, and the best damn beat 'em up of all time. A dynamic difficulty system ensures that it's constantly challenging, while a brilliant fighting system, great enemy design and tight controls ensure that it's never, ever cheap. What this means is that it remains engaging and satisfying every step of the way, from the very first enemy to the final boss.
Viewtiful Joe - A fantastic 2.5D beat 'em up with beautiful -- or should I say viewtiful -- stylized graphics. The core combat -- you've got punches, kicks, high dodges and low dodges -- is tight and satisfying as it is, but what makes the game remarkable is the VFX powers. With the press of a button you can temporarily slow down time, which makes it easier to dodge and increases your attacks' power, activate Mach Speed, allowing you to move at incredible speeds and generate damage-dealing after-images, or zoom in, which grants you a bunch of new moves and greatly increases the power your regular ones. The games' poorly designed puzzles can be a real pain the the ass, but thankfully, they're few and far between.
Tales of Eternia - A JRPG that at first glance seems fairly generic. What sets it apart from other games in the genre is its battle system. It's like a fighting game had a baby with a traditional, turn-based RPG: You fight in real time on a limited 2D plane, and only directly control one character. This works a lot better than you'd think; the party members' AI can be customized in great detail (you can decide what enemies they should prioritize, if they should move close or keep their distance, at what point they should start using healing magic, how much TP (this game's version of mana) they should use, and much, much more), and whenever you want, you can pause and give them direct orders. What you get is battles that feel as dynamic and alive as those of a bombastic action game, while still requiring traditional JRPG strategies. The combat isn't the game's only strength; in addition to the lengthy storyline, there are countless sidequests to complete, secret locations and dungeons to discover and explore, and optional bosses to fight.
Mega Man Battle Network 3 - Pokemon meets Mega Man. A grid-based, real-time battle system, stellar boss fights, kickass music, and over 200 battle chips -- your only means of attack, save for the largely useless Mega Buster -- to collect.
Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly - Forget Resident Evil and Silent Hill. This game, called Fatal Frame II in the States, makes them seem about as scary as an episode of Care Bears. In fact, this game is so scary, I never even finished it.
@mylifeforAiur: The first one, while very creepy, is not that scary. The second one, however... I played it in the dark while wearing headphones, and man. Hands down the best -- or worst, depending on how you look at it -- experience I've ever had with a horror game.
Yes, it and the somewhat difficult to find sequel are very good. Imagine a 3rd person Metroid/Zelda game in the Mega Man universe, with voice acting and an open world to explore.
My own game to add is Robot Alchemic Drive for PS2.
I'd add the Panzer Dragoon series, but recommending games you need to find a system for as well as a rare $300 game in the series is a bit much.
"Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly - Forget Resident Evil and Silent Hill. This game, called Fatal Frame II in the States, makes them seem about as scary as an episode of Care Bears. In fact, this game is so scary, I never even finished it. "
I second God Hand. One of the best action games ever made. I actually liked it more than Bayonetta on my first play through, the adaptive difficulty keeps me at the edge of my seat, and the better I play, the more intense it was.
" Also there's Battle Realms which is a lesser known RTS for the PC, but it's easily one of my favourites. "
Oh i love battle realms. Homeworld and Ground Control games rock too. I also loved Cold Fear, Spartan: Total warrior, Gun Metal and Thief 3 for the original xbox....oh and second sight was great too.
I thought about getting ego draconis, but it looked pretty weak from the GB QL :/ "
It's worth a try. It gets much better as you level. MUCH better. "
music? story? atmosphere? are they any good? "
The music is GREAT. I got the soundtrack because of it.
The atmosphere is a very nicely-rendered medieval forest/dungeon/strange-plane-of-existence-you'll-get-to-later-on type of setting. The game uses Oblivion's GameBryo engine and uses it well (while it runs at 60 frames per second on Xbox 360, there is sadly some screen tearing, but not much).
The story is not going to blow you away at all HOWEVER there are some great characters and voice acting.
I thought about getting ego draconis, but it looked pretty weak from the GB QL :/ "
It's worth a try. It gets much better as you level. MUCH better. "
music? story? atmosphere? are they any good? "
The music is GREAT. I got the soundtrack because of it. The atmosphere is a very nicely-rendered medieval forest/dungeon/strange-plane-of-existence-you'll-get-to-later-on type of setting. The game uses Oblivion's GameBryo engine and uses it well (while it runs at 60 frames per second on Xbox 360, there is sadly some screen tearing, but not much). The story is not going to blow you away at all HOWEVER there are some great characters and voice acting. "
A few, I guess. I own so much shit that I randomly play an old PS2 game and realize it's pretty bad ass.
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is a terrific third-person shooter/adventure game. Really funny and really good gameplay. Crazy hard, though. Zone of the Enders 1 and 2 because nobody seems to remember them. There needs to be a third one. Like, real bad. XGRA is a crazy awesome racing game. Like WipEout, only on motorbikes that break the sound barrier. Trapt is a creepy strategy/action game. You set traps in this awesome castle to kill dudes. It's great, albeit a little janky. Armed and Dangerous is a hilarious third-person shooter and probably one of the best original Xbox games to date.
There's probably more but it's kind of 4 am. I need to sleep.
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