What's your "diamond in the rough" of 2011?

Basically, a game that isn't polished, isn't getting great review scores or whatever negatives are held against it; that you just love.

For me this is most recently apparent with Dead Island. The game has gotten reviews all over the place, but general consensus on forums and from myself and friends are that, although they game is rough around the edges and has some bugs, it is undeniably fun.

Also, I'd like to lump Two Worlds Two into this category. The first Two Worlds (on the 360 at least) was such an utter pile of putrid shit, it was hard to not have bias against Two World Two, which also has one of the worst gaming names ever.

But, getting it on a Steam sale, I found myself truly engrossed in its open-world goodness. Again, the animations aren't the best and it too suffers some jankiness, but damn if the world isn't massive, pretty (no boring grey and browns here like in Fallout), and just a fun game.

I would also nominate Warhammer 40K: Space Marine into this. A lot of reviews have been pretty "meh" on this game and focus solely on single player. I find the rock/paper/scissors class-based multiplayer to be amazing fun in this game, that most reviews (except Kessler, kudos there) overlook. I've had more fun with that game's online than most shooters this generation.

So, what's your diamond in the rough of 2011 so far?

Edit: I'd also like to throw in E.Y.E Cybermancy and Ghost Trick after having played them.

Still said no one agrees with me on Two World Two though... *sniff*.

Well, I haven't played many games from 2011, so the closest I'd have would be El Shaddai (closest doesn't necessarily mean close). For 2010, I'd say Fragile Dreams was my diamond in the rough, given that it got middling reviews from everybody...including myself. Man, I'm an asshole.

Alice: Madness Returns I guess.

Warhammer 40k:Space Marine, if they ever fix the fucking matchmaking on PS3.

I guess I would say Catherine.

Not really been any so far. Would feel wrong saying Catherine as the only bad review it got was from this website.

Can't say really... Although i can say that the one i enjoyed the most which has the least critical acclaim is vanquish. That game is fucking awesome!

Captain American Super Solider, I thought it was an fantastic game and thoroughly enjoyed it

I've played three games this year and L.A. Noire was the worst of them so uhhh that I guess?

El Shaddai.

I'm going to say Shadows of the Dammned, but I really enjoyed the SP in Warhammer despite sometimes not triggering the next scene, and have Alice and Vanquish lined up. I'm also despite some glitches, getting a good ride with Hard Reset. I just had to play from autosave to autosave without dying or quitting because the game froze, but past that point it's been okay. Also the comic-book like narrative doesn't kick in as it should

de Blob 2, a very underrated game that most people just missed out on.

@BleedingStarX said:

Captain American Super Solider, I thought it was an fantastic game and thoroughly enjoyed it

Yeah I heard that game was good, cool.

Anyway, for me i guess Kill Team on XBLA which I demo'd and dismissed. But I got so caught up in the whole 40K lead up to Space Marine that I bought it, played it and loved it. Fun, well made game, and only $10.00. Go get it if you are into the 40K universe at all. They really should have enabled the online co-op though(local co-op only), damn them.

I liked TW1, and TW2 was vastly improved in almost every way, so yeah that was a great game imo. And I loved Space Marine, but I can't see how it fits the 'diamond in the rough' category though. Just too damn well polished, and the mp has worked flawlessly for me on 360. Free co-op mode in a few weeks too :). Underrated fits that game better.

Radiant Historia, amazing rpg.

@bybeach: I totally forgot to add Shadows of the Damned, nice call!

Duke Nukem Forever, it's complete garbage but I had a blast going through it and laughing at (and sometimes with) the game. I wasn't expecting it to live up to some historical idea of a decent game, I just wanted to relive a little bit of my childish younger years when poop jokes and nude gifs were awesome.

Or maybe that's more of a piece of silver in the dust, but whatever.

im most likely alone on this but Dragon Age 2. i had a lot of fun with the game despite its problems

also ghost trick game seems to be under the radar

I have no idea. If I was being honest, it would probably be DA2, purely because I thought that game was the worst thing (without playing it) and, having just got it at a discounted price, having quite a bit of fun with it, it doing some things better than DA:O

of course, as far as actual diamonds go (at best DA2 is purely a ruby or something) Rock of Ages, that or the fallout: NV DLC if I can mention that

@Laketown: i think the combat in DA2 was a lot of fun but the story telling was really weak(especially toward the end

For me, it was Shadows of the Damned . . . until the start of the fifth act. I usually finish games, but I took the disc out after those two monsters in the courtyard before you go into the tower (the ones that melee you and you have to do an insanely fucking impossibly fast random QTE to survive). I haven't gone back to the game since.

Yep, Dead Island's my jam, fer sure.

Mortal Kombat surprised me a bit, considering most reviews were only somewhat positive, not game-of-the-year material, which it is.

Rock of Ages. Some serious gameplay issues, the biggest problem being that the entire tower defense side of the game feels completely worthless. But I can look past that glaring issue because of the beautiful and creative aesthetic. 

I liked Alice: Madness Returns quite a bit but no one else seemed to.

Shogun 2 and Dead Island. Both are really awesome games but hampered by terrible game ending bugs (mainly in multiplayer).

I don't do "diamonds in the rough". They're either diamonds or shit nuggets.

@slightconfuse said:

im most likely alone on this but Dragon Age 2. i had a lot of fun with the game despite its problems

You're never alone, brother. :)

I agree. Most people seem to violently hate it, and I can totally see where they're coming from, seeing as most of the game take place in THE SAME DAMN CAVE, but I love the game for its story and its characters, which is the most important thing for me in most videogames. It has alot of problems, but at the end of the day, I enjoyed my time with it.

Definitely: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

I haven't even bought the game yet but I know it will be Dead Island.

Dead Island for sure. I wasn't really following the game at all up until release. It was actually the quick look that got me interested in the game. I went ahead and bought it and I LOVE it. I have played through the whole thing and another play halfway through.

@Draugen said:

@slightconfuse said:

im most likely alone on this but Dragon Age 2. i had a lot of fun with the game despite its problems

You're never alone, brother. :)

I agree. Most people seem to violently hate it, and I can totally see where they're coming from, seeing as most of the game take place in THE SAME DAMN CAVE, but I love the game for its story and its characters, which is the most important thing for me in most videogames. It has alot of problems, but at the end of the day, I enjoyed my time with it.

While I'm not one to undermine people's opinions, I find it hard to accept categorizing a Bioware game as a "diamond in the rough". It's one of the few studios that releases consistently extremely polished games and I'd assume that what you call "problems" are in fact features and not bugs. A badly designed but technically extremely competent game maybe should be described as something other than a "diamond in the rough".

That said, I'd probably agree with all you'd have to say about DA2, that game had its problems.

And as it seems this thread was made thanks to the existence of Dead Island, I'll go ahead and throw in with that crowd as well. Buggy as shit, but a whole hell of a lot of fun.

Alice: Madness Returns. Maybe I'm just a sucker for some goddamn 3D platforming but I thought that game was amazing. Giant Bomb gave it 4/5 which is totally fair but overall people don't seem to like tit too much. 

Dead Island is fantastic.

Also I really like Dragon Age 2 as well. It's defiantly a huge step down from the first Dragon Age, but I put DA:O in such high regardless being worse still isn't terrible.

Aside from that I haven't really played much else that really warrants it this year however I do want to get Alice: Madness Returns and Shadows Of The Damned at some point.

Man, you guys have some pretty low standards for "diamond in the rough" if games like Dead Island and Warhammer 40K: Space Marine count, that were fairly high profile and got at least moderate reviews.

For a game that is a "low profile" diamond in the rough, I'd pick Ghost Trick. I loved every damn minute of it. It did get pretty positive reviews, and everyone on forums who has played it agrees with me that it's amazing, but it turns out that just isn't very many people. It's made by the Phoenix Wright guy, and I should mention that I liked all the Phoenix Wright games. That being said, the plot and characters were way better than any of the Phoenix Wright games (Phoenix Wright got a little too dopey at times for my taste; Ghost Trick is a lot smarter, but still lighthearted and fun). The music was better than all of the Phoenix Wright games except the first one. No DS game has better music than the first Phoenix Wright.

For a game that is a "not very polished, somewhat average review scores" diamond in the rough, I'd pick Frozen Synapse, which you may remember from the Quick Look. It's like controlling a 3-4 man Counter-Strike team from a top down, RTS-style perspective. I like the aesthetic it has, but the graphics are rather simple/outdated-looking, though it's a case where the developer is basically three guys. I've played a bunch of the singleplayer campaign, and I've played some multiplayer matches with a friend of mine, but I suspect that once I start playing random matches online, it will turn out that I am complete garbage at the game.

@Hugh_Jazz: You're probably right. I just saw a chance at telling people I like DA2 despite everything, and I took it, dammit!

EASILY dead island. Dragon Age 2 seemed pretty polished to me, no matter what you thought of it (i liked it)

I agree, it's totally Dead Island for me.

Very rough game in terms of polish, and it sort of drags on for a bit, but it's still just a load of fun to play. Makes me want more borderlands though.

@Bobby_The_Great said:

Basically, a game that isn't polished, isn't getting great review scores or whatever negatives are held against it; that you just love.

For me this is most recently apparent with Dead Island. The game has gotten reviews all over the place, but general consensus on forums and from myself and friend are that, although they game is rough around the edges and has some bugs, it is undeniably fun.

Also, I'd like to lump Two Worlds Two into this category. The first Two Worlds (on the 360 at least) was such an utter pile of putrid shit, it was hard to not have bias against Two World Two, which also has one of the worst gaming names ever.

But, getting it on a Steam sale, I found myself truly engrossed in its open-world goodness. Again, the animations aren't the best and it too suffers some jankiness, but damn if the world isn't massive, pretty (no boring grey and browns here like in Fallout), and just a fun game.

I would also nominate Warhammer 40K: Space Marine into this. A lot of reviews have been pretty "meh" on this game and focus solely on single player. I find the rock/paper/scissors class-based multiplayer to be amazing fun in this game, that most reviews (except Kessler, kudos there) overlook. I've had more fun with that game's online than most shooters this generation.

So, what's your diamond in the rough of 2011 so far?

yakuza 4

I haven't played many 2011-released games, but I guess I'll still nominate Fear 3.  

I haven't really played a buggy game this year that I like regardless. Played quite a few great, polished games that sold like shit though, the biggest being Bulletstorm. Still blows my mind it didn't even make prophet.

Dead Island, although for me, it's a pure motherfucking 24 carrot something gem of a game!

@Draugen: Divisive game like that, I can't really fault you for it.

Shadows of the Damned, for sure.

I don't love it, but I think Hunted: the Demon's Forge is better than the reviews it got.

Alice: Madness Returns I guess.

Hunted the Demon's Forge is really good fun when you play co-op, shame that the autosave kinda broken for co-op.

Also Ghost Recon Shadow Wars was one of the best SRPGs I've played recently, but was hardly talked about which was unusual due to its lineage.

Hard Reset; I just finished my second playthrough and have started on my third :o

Trenched I guess, I'm having fun with it but man.. sorry no disrespect Tim, it seems like you work with a bunch of aficionados: uggly graphics, clunky controlls, awfull menus, dumb sound design, buggy!

common!

Man. So far this year has been full of "rough diamonds"

Looking back, the game with the bigest disparity between my enjoyment and the overal critical reception would be The Cartel.

Panned up and down by reviewer and gamer alike, yet I damn near love the game! On a mechanical level, it works well enough. What I really got into was the story and characters, as lame as they might have been. The way it feels like the game was trying and failing to capture a The Wire-meets-Bad Boys 2 vibe is awesome... to me at least.