I see your overrated games, but what are some UNDERRATED gems?

I liked the list people were making over in the overrated games thread. It's nice to know I am not crazy (or at least a little less crazy) for just not getting some of the huge titles. Halo of course is on people's shortlist, but I am not trolling, I seriously don't know why A: people think it's fun, it feels just like a shooting gallery to me with no real substance, and B: why they take the franchise seriously, when there is so little to chew on, no interesting enemies, completely uninspired lead character, and flat sci fi art. I have to admit though, Halo reach looked vissually stunning, I didn't play all of it to see if it's action held up, but man, no one talks about how good that games looks, odd.

ANYWAY, this isn't about that, this thread is to give credit where credits due, what are some of your favorite games that are barely on people's radar? I have a few, but they aren't totally unknown nor hated, just sort of lonely.

Trackmania 2: Canyon

I played the free trackmania back in 2008, I can't exactly remember the name of it, and that's exactly my point, I played it and loved it, but sort of faded away and I had no real interest to play it ever again. Well when trackmania 2 canyon came out around this time last year, for some reason I thought it looked leagues better, maybe because the handling looked sane from the trailers. So I picked it up and within a month I was straight up baffled that not many people were singing the praises of this game. This title is like an arcade racer with a core approach, and it was simply FUN. More fun than any arcade 'racer' I ever played before, and I'd say I've played some fantastic arcade racing games in the past. Not only that, but this game is doing something hugely unique, a time trial game that works on your schedule, and none of the pressure if someone is going faster than you, it's all about lap times, not lapping eachother. So it's sad to know very few players are in my home nation of U.S., it's completely unknown here outside of the inner gaming circles. Sad.

Mortal Kombat 9

I know what you're saying, "but MK9 was praised by gamers and critics alike." True, but this is an underrated thread, I don't think this game has the praise it deserves even at that high level. Seriously, this is my favorite fighting game of all time, and yet if you watch some fighting tournaments, some people still hold their nose above the title and scoff. Sure some of that comes from how childish it is, but surely you'd think a fighting game player in a tournament would understand how superb it is. I don't know, I think this is the best game of 2011.

Grand theft auto 4

Yeah, this game got 10's everywhere and sold like peanut butter sandwiches, but it almost seems cool to hate it now. What's up with that? It had a really interesting angle with the story and the engine is still my favorite for a sandbox game. It came down to substance and I think this was a hearty serving, and yet people shudder when someone talks highly of it. Sure it didn't have jetpacks or flame throwers, but that's what made it more enjoyable to me, when I did something crazy, it made it crazier and funnier that it was happening in this universe. F*** the haters, this is one fantastic game.

So what's yours?

TrackMania 2 and Mortal Kombat were Game of the Year nominees at my podcast, and while they lost to Saints Row The Third (with Witcher 2 and Bastion as the runners-up) they're still beloved amongst my local community. Grand Theft Auto IV is far more beloved than it is hated, I assure you; the loud minority just outvoices the quiet majority.

I think Catherine is highly underrated, as are Deadly Premonition and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

@Little_Socrates: You're very right, I guess it is the vocal minority that shoot down GTA4 love. Also good on you for liking good games, weeee.

Dead Island! I know it's got its problems, but damned if I don't love it anyways. It's my adorable mongrel of this generation of games.

There is one answer to this. It is called Clive Barker's "Undying". That is all.

• Viva Pinata
• Ace Attorney
• Ghost Trick
• Echo Night Beyond
• Creatures

Nier

E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy

Resonance of Fate

Ghost Trick

Alpha Protocol

Metro 2033

BINARY DOMAIN! It has some flaws, but godfuckingchrist, i love that shit.

@Animasta: 100% agree with Alpha Protocol.

@BestUsernameEver: The FGC doesn't like MK9 because for the first half of it's life it was incredibly unbalanced with only 3-4 characters being played at tournaments, so they just moved on from it instead of waiting for patch after patch.

Oh my... people stopped dropping Planescape: Torment instantly. (even if it is amazing)

@MikeGosot said:

BINARY DOMAIN! It has some flaws, but godfuckingchrist, i love that shit.

oh I totes forgot that one, but this too.

• Company of Heroes
• The Lord of the Rings: the Battle for MIddle Earth I & II
• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Twisted Metal and MK 9

• Alpha Protocol: Despite its flaws, I enjoyed it.
• Crysis: Anyone who calls this a generic tech demo should go back to playing COD.
• The Witcher 2: It deserved more critical acclaimed and GOTY awards than Skyrim.
• Killer7: Its a love it or hate it game, and I love it.
• Nier > Final piece of shit Fantasy 13
• Metro 2033: One of the most engrossing experiences I've had in quite awhile.
• Binary Domain: It deserves more credit than just being a Gears of War clone.
• Lost Planet 2: The train segment wasn't THAT hard.

Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock

Sonic Unleashed HD

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

Ghostbusters

Eternal Sonata

Tornado Outbreak

Silent Hill Homecoming

Final Fantasy XIII

Bionic Commando

Beautiful Katamari

Lips

Rumble Roses XX

Stranglehold

The Simpsons Game

Deathsmiles

Monster Madness

L.A. Noire

With the same arguments you made for GTA IV.

Timeshift used to be my go-to answer for this question. I thought that game was awesome.

Also, a lot of people that have actually played it have liked it, but Singularity. I do not at all see how anyone can call that completely and utterly by the numbers. It certainly takes a lot of inspiration from Bioshock and Half-Life, but it's hardly devoid of creativity and it definitely isn't devoid of good design. The game has its drawbacks (more games should be made where I can hold all of the guns), but no more than something like Bioshock itself did.

Speaking of Bioshock, the sequel. It also gets a fair bit of hate because... er... I couldn't tell you.

However, I understand that everyone has their own opinion. I just don't see how those two games can be called "boring" and "inferior" when there are plenty of other, far worse games out there.

@zombie2011 said:

@BestUsernameEver: The FGC doesn't like MK9 because for the first half of it's life it was incredibly unbalanced with only 3-4 characters being played at tournaments, so they just moved on from it instead of waiting for patch after patch.

The handling of the contents was poor, but the game under it all is amazing. I do get your point though. Also the char selection were much more diverse last year than say tekken, where it was just bob v bob matches constantly.

@CouncilorChief: witcher 2 was not underrated, skyrim was just overrated; an important distinction.

Dark Souls. Most people are either in awe of, or completely put off by its difficulty.  But the praise of it's level design and story telling is woefully inadequate.

@Animasta said:

@CouncilorChief: witcher 2 was not underrated, skyrim was just overrated; an important distinction.

*shrugs*

I believe the game deserves more than a 88 on metacritic because it was arguably the best RPG of that year. And so far, the Enhanced Edition is also the best RPG of 2012. IMO of course.

WinBack: Covert Operations is one that comes to mind. It did the RE4 laser pointer and the Gears shoot/cover/shoot mechanic YEARS before either of those games came out.

STALKER is pretty cool too. It's got a lot of crap for being pretty much fucked upon release, but after a few patches all of that crap went away, and there is a huge mod community that helps make the game amazing. I've yet to play a game does everything that STALKER does.

Alright finally someone who feels the same way about mk9

No one has mentioned Asura's Wrath and that proves my point for my selection.

I've never played a video game start to finish (including ending DLC) that totally put my expectations out the fucking window.

Jesus christ that game is amazing.

@Turambar said:

Dark Souls. Most people are either in awe of, or completely put off by its difficulty. But the praise of it's level design and story telling is woefully inadequate.

Weird! I think the Souls games have some of the best level designs of any game I've ever played. Everything is where it is for a reason.

EDIT: Jesus fucking christ I'm a fucking idiot and we both agree that Dark Souls' level design is really cool sorry probably just don't read anything I say ever

Pokemon Trading Card Game for the GBC.

don't get something like GTA4 would be considered underrated but there ya go

but I have one and I know Brad would back me up on this:

http://www.giantbomb.com/viva-pinata-trouble-in-paradise/61-20682/

Eternal Sonata. One of the best JRPGs on the 360 and PS3.

Bully

TrackMania 2 and Mortal Kombat were Game of the Year nominees at my podcast, and while they lost to Saints Row The Third (with Witcher 2 and Bastion as the runners-up) they're still beloved amongst my local community. Grand Theft Auto IV is far more beloved than it is hated, I assure you; the loud minority just outvoices the quiet majority.

I think Catherine is highly underrated, as are Deadly Premonition and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

I agree with so many of these, and add DJ Hero. You can get the 2 turntable + mic edition of DJ Hero 2 for around 20 bucks, folks. Get on that shit if you like rhythm games and overlooked this gem.

Final Fantasy XII was my favorite game of that year.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes almost always seems to get dismissed, and I think it was the best Metroid Prime game.

Excite Truck. It still holds up as one of my favorite Wii games. My friends and I really got into it when it came out, taking turns trying to unlock everything and get all the S ratings. It made really good use of the Wiimote too, to the point where motion controls looked pretty cool for a minute. For a minute. Still a great game though.

Super Monday Night Combat

@FancySoapsMan: It's also one of the most unique games ever made. Seriously, that kind of style is pretty hard to replicate.

valkyria chronicles. i only heard about this game when i asked the people here what game to get. this game is amazing. and whenever i mention it, nobody seems to know what it is. :(

@CouncilorChief: people thought the train segment was hard?

Ace Attorney games. The wait for the next one is literally killing me slowly.

@connerthekewlkid said:

@CouncilorChief: people thought the train segment was hard?

I don't know why either.

@CouncilorChief: wait was that in brads review of the game? :/

@connerthekewlkid said:

@CouncilorChief: wait was that in brads review of the game? :/

I always take Brad's review by a grain of salt.

Warhammer 40,000 : Space Marine

Best Space Marine simulator ever. Now all I want is a Warhammer 40,000 : Ork Boss, and I'd be a happy camper.

Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Alice: Madness Returns ( The art style was great and honestly I had a lot of fun with it )

Mount and Blade: Warband ( It's just so damned addictive. Nothing like charging a warhorse at a line of soldiers and picking them off with your spear one by one )

Deus Ex: Human Revolution ( This was one of my favourite games of this generation. Yeah the boss fights sucked blah blah blah but they're only 10% f the game )

Legend of Legaia ( Amazing RPG with an interesting story and like-able characters. Beautiful game. Oh man that battle music!!! Sends chills down my spine to this day )

Oh! I almost forgot Wolfenstein (2009). Really fun game.

I have to say, I want to try everyone of the games that have been mentioned on this topic. Singularity for example, sounds pretty cool, as does Mortal Kombat (the new one) because I love fighting games.

For me, a very fun game that's underrated is Alpha Protocol. The game is a little glitchy, but that's the only flaw I can think of in the game. It's a game that rewards you for finding intelligence items that boosts your dossiers on your various items, so it does make you feel like a spy.

@NMC2008 said:

Tornado Outbreak

For real? I have passed over this game a number of times and never bought it. I like the art/graphics, but the gameplay seems a little bland from what I've seen. What did you like about it?

It's not really current generation, but I really like the Fire Pro Wrestling games. If you have a Gameboy Advance or a Nintendo DS, you should pick up the portable versions. If you own a PS2, you should grab the PS2 version. What these games lack in graphical presentation they make up for in depth and customisability. These games stand toe-to-toe with the old AKI N64 games.