Didn't like this at all, played enough to get the TF2 hats and then uninstalled.
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2012 Year in Review: Good games that few people played
- Thread starter alfredofroylan
- Start date
Didn't like this at all, played enough to get the TF2 hats and then uninstalled.
Riposte
Member
For starters I disagree with everything you've said.
Though what I liked best about it was the flow of combat once you ditched the cover and used the crowd control (enemy dismemberment) mechanics to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed.
Broder Salsa
Banned
Big Bo isn't having any of this shit.
Diseased Yak
Gold Member
Wow this thread has convinced me to pick up that Transformers game!
metareferential
Member
I Am Alive
Metacritic: 69 Gamerankings 69
I'd say I Am Alive fits in there as well.
It's definitely flawed, but it's still quite the unique experience. The exploration and platforming aspect is great, the story is enjoyable and the voice acting is competent.
It's a worth ride, and it makes you feel vulnerable, especially when you're climbing towards something and you don't know how long it will take you to reach it: the stamina system is simple and clever, providing that constant feeling of uncertainty.
Combat is fundamentally broken, yet it still manages to convey that sense of realism you'd expect from a survival game. A missed opportunity here, really.
It's a good mix of Uncharted-esque platform/adventuring mixed with some old-school survival flavour. And it's the closer we're going to get to The Last of Us prior of its release.
Great thread. Every 3DS owner should play Rhythm Thief.
Whoa. I really thought Little Big Planet Vita would be among the more popular Vita games.
Little Big Planet Vita
Metacritics: 88 Gamerankings: 88
There isnt much to talk about this one. In Japan sold only 6k in its first week, in UK it debut at number 6 and disappeared quite quickly of the charts, meanwhile in America the title didnt chart in the September and October NPD. Still just like Gravity Rush this title will ended being a must have for new Vita owners.
YESMy two votes, for lesser known and awesome games of 2012.
alfredofroylan
Member
I forgot about these 2 Vita games:
Dokuro
Metacritics: 74 Gamerankings: 76
This's a beautifcul charming little game that has one of the most interesting artstyles I've seen on gaming, based on chalk drawings Dokuro is the story of a princess that was kidnapped by a Dark Lord, one of the Lord's servant (a skeleton called Dokuro) helps the princess to escape by solving puzzles. The game was released in Japan and Asia on Physical format and NA had a exclusive digital release. Great game.
New Little King's Story
Metacritics: 71 Gamerankings: 68
Little King's Story was one of my top favorite games on the Wii, the blend of RTS, RPG and artstyle was a delight, and to this day still holds as one of the best titles on the Wii. This new version takes a different route on the art department, the game still is good but the new style is not for everyone.
Dokuro
Metacritics: 74 Gamerankings: 76
This's a beautifcul charming little game that has one of the most interesting artstyles I've seen on gaming, based on chalk drawings Dokuro is the story of a princess that was kidnapped by a Dark Lord, one of the Lord's servant (a skeleton called Dokuro) helps the princess to escape by solving puzzles. The game was released in Japan and Asia on Physical format and NA had a exclusive digital release. Great game.
New Little King's Story
Metacritics: 71 Gamerankings: 68
Little King's Story was one of my top favorite games on the Wii, the blend of RTS, RPG and artstyle was a delight, and to this day still holds as one of the best titles on the Wii. This new version takes a different route on the art department, the game still is good but the new style is not for everyone.
someguyinahat
Member
After playing Theatrhythm - and loving it, despite not getting into the FF series of RPGs - I looked into Rhythm Thief. Gamestop/EB (in Canada) doesn't have it, none of the electronics stores I've been to have it, and Sega's own website redirects to Gamestop if you click "Buy Now."
So where do you get it retail? Or is the only option now to find someone selling it used?
Arc Squadron - iOS
I really enjoyed this game. Great little Starfox-like with ugrades n' shizz that plays really well on the iPhone.
Liberation Maiden - 3DS eShop
Not everyone is going to love this game, because it is really short. I liked it quite a bit for what it is though. It has a very Sega Saturn feel to it.
Resonance - PC
I don't like point n' click adventure games, but I got really into this one because the story is so good. I have heard hardly anyone talking about it though.
Desperate Gods - PC (FREE)
This one is pretty new and I've really been digging it. An RPG board game that plays like a real-life board game with pieces, physics, and everything! It also has online multiplayer and is entirely free. Imagine a mix between Diablo and Monopoly. Get this one right now and then let me play with you.
Download it here!
I really enjoyed this game. Great little Starfox-like with ugrades n' shizz that plays really well on the iPhone.
Liberation Maiden - 3DS eShop
Not everyone is going to love this game, because it is really short. I liked it quite a bit for what it is though. It has a very Sega Saturn feel to it.
Resonance - PC
I don't like point n' click adventure games, but I got really into this one because the story is so good. I have heard hardly anyone talking about it though.
Desperate Gods - PC (FREE)
This one is pretty new and I've really been digging it. An RPG board game that plays like a real-life board game with pieces, physics, and everything! It also has online multiplayer and is entirely free. Imagine a mix between Diablo and Monopoly. Get this one right now and then let me play with you.
Download it here!
I really thought Little Big Planet Vita would be among the more popular Vita games.
Well yeah.... that doesn't say much though. So small user-base, there really ain't any games in the sale charts for long.
D
Deleted member 81567
Unconfirmed Member
Mark of the Ninja
alfredofroylan
Member
I bought my copy from PlayAsia, none of the stores near carried the game. So ebay and Amazon seems to be the best options.
I liked this game a good amount. I don't think it's quite as good as the PS2 original due to some of the surface-level omissions, but it scratched that itch pretty well.
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Blade - 3DS eShop
This one may have been more popular than I think, but all I ever hear people talk about is Pushmo when it comes to the eShop and this is easily one of my favorite games for my 3DS. Super fun and challenging with lots to do. I played this one for over 20 hours!
Ether Vapor Remaster - PC
This is a little shooter that I totally fell in love with over the summer. It switches from horizontal to vertical and everything in between. It was released on Steam a while back too, but I never hear anything about it. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
The Real Texas - PC
A really wonderful little Zelda/Ultima-like set in a parallel universe version of Texas with all the personality of Earthbound. Do I have your attention yet? Buy this game and never look back. It is such a shame that it hasn't gotten more attention.
Phantasmaburbia - PC
What was that about Earthbound-y personality? This game has it in SPADES. A really fantastic little RPG that NO ONE is talking about or buying (I talk to the creator on Twitter quite a bit). Listen. Real talk. If you love RPGs you need to buy this game. It is so wonderfully and lovingly designed. Buy Phantasmaburbia. BUY IT. Don't worry about the graphics either. They may be simple, but the animations are great.
I can keep going!
This one may have been more popular than I think, but all I ever hear people talk about is Pushmo when it comes to the eShop and this is easily one of my favorite games for my 3DS. Super fun and challenging with lots to do. I played this one for over 20 hours!
Ether Vapor Remaster - PC
This is a little shooter that I totally fell in love with over the summer. It switches from horizontal to vertical and everything in between. It was released on Steam a while back too, but I never hear anything about it. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
The Real Texas - PC
A really wonderful little Zelda/Ultima-like set in a parallel universe version of Texas with all the personality of Earthbound. Do I have your attention yet? Buy this game and never look back. It is such a shame that it hasn't gotten more attention.
Phantasmaburbia - PC
What was that about Earthbound-y personality? This game has it in SPADES. A really fantastic little RPG that NO ONE is talking about or buying (I talk to the creator on Twitter quite a bit). Listen. Real talk. If you love RPGs you need to buy this game. It is so wonderfully and lovingly designed. Buy Phantasmaburbia. BUY IT. Don't worry about the graphics either. They may be simple, but the animations are great.
I can keep going!
I love these threads, as I always find lost gems in them. Thanks OP!
My contributions:
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
- More epic grand strategy in space. Can't have enough of that. If you know the series then you can't be wrong with this one.
Endless Space
- See above. Also, the UI in this game can't be praised enough. Modern, streamlined but still permitting a level of depth that is expected in this type of games. Nothing is hidden from the player. Everything is a few clicks of the mouse away from you, and the critical information is showed upfront in the main screen. And it's beautiful.
Wipeout 2048
- Wipeout wherever you go. It's a technologic achievement that Studio Liverpool managed to bring the Wipeout experience to the Vita with such fidelity. Even considering that it's not 60 FPS it's still a feat. Makes it even more sadder what happened to Studio Liverpool.
Lumines Electronic Symphony
- Another criminally overlooked game. Great soundtrack, great classic gameplay with some new tricks up its sleeve. And the typical simple to play hard to master type of experience that makes it addictive and so rewarding to come back to the game over and over again.
Darkness 2
- A refreshingly innovative first person shooter in 2012?! Yes. Great story writing, great characters, gorgeous to look at with its cell shaded?? (not sure if it's the right word) style. And fun to play. Really honest simple fun. The snake tentacles special powers mixed with the guns make for a great, never boring playthrough.
Spec Ops The Line
- Another refreshing entry on an over saturated genre (Third Person Shooter). Though not so mechanical innovative or original as Darkness 2, its writing and story were so. Despite being so heavily inspired in Heart of Darkness it was a nice change from the typical military shooter fluff that serves only as background noise to the bang bang explosions bang bang sections of these games.
Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai
- I got to confess... I am guilty of also overlooking this game. But I know it's great. Total War Shogun 2 is excellent, this has to be excellent too, if not even better as it is an iteration on an already great game. I'm afraid though that I can't yet play such a time consuming game, so I continuously postpone me buying and playing it. I will though. I promise.
My contributions:
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
- More epic grand strategy in space. Can't have enough of that. If you know the series then you can't be wrong with this one.
Endless Space
- See above. Also, the UI in this game can't be praised enough. Modern, streamlined but still permitting a level of depth that is expected in this type of games. Nothing is hidden from the player. Everything is a few clicks of the mouse away from you, and the critical information is showed upfront in the main screen. And it's beautiful.
Wipeout 2048
- Wipeout wherever you go. It's a technologic achievement that Studio Liverpool managed to bring the Wipeout experience to the Vita with such fidelity. Even considering that it's not 60 FPS it's still a feat. Makes it even more sadder what happened to Studio Liverpool.
Lumines Electronic Symphony
- Another criminally overlooked game. Great soundtrack, great classic gameplay with some new tricks up its sleeve. And the typical simple to play hard to master type of experience that makes it addictive and so rewarding to come back to the game over and over again.
Darkness 2
- A refreshingly innovative first person shooter in 2012?! Yes. Great story writing, great characters, gorgeous to look at with its cell shaded?? (not sure if it's the right word) style. And fun to play. Really honest simple fun. The snake tentacles special powers mixed with the guns make for a great, never boring playthrough.
Spec Ops The Line
- Another refreshing entry on an over saturated genre (Third Person Shooter). Though not so mechanical innovative or original as Darkness 2, its writing and story were so. Despite being so heavily inspired in Heart of Darkness it was a nice change from the typical military shooter fluff that serves only as background noise to the bang bang explosions bang bang sections of these games.
Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai
- I got to confess... I am guilty of also overlooking this game. But I know it's great. Total War Shogun 2 is excellent, this has to be excellent too, if not even better as it is an iteration on an already great game. I'm afraid though that I can't yet play such a time consuming game, so I continuously postpone me buying and playing it. I will though. I promise.
transience
Member
Loving this thread. Definitely want to see truly lesser-known games instead of stuff like Persona 4 Arena or Asura's Wrath. Everyone knows those games that posts here.
Unfortunately I don't have much to add. Haven't really experimented that much with indie games or unknown games this year.
Unfortunately I don't have much to add. Haven't really experimented that much with indie games or unknown games this year.
My vote:
Darkness 2- this was a game that improved on the original in many ways. the story was engagin; the powers were less cumbersome; and the new visual stye was a great fit.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron- this game was fantastic, but rather short. The greatly improved the story in the campaign and the scripted events were well done.The MP was also very good...just like the original.
My objections:
Syndicate- This game was terrible. it started ok, but immediately went downhill. It had one of the worst stories that i can remember, and the gameplay was also very generic. I honestly can't say anything good about it.
Spec Ops- This was also mediocre, except for a decent, but very telegraphed story. The gameplay was run of the mill...well, actually worse. It was ok, Gaf makes it out to be something amazing. It isn't.
Darkness 2- this was a game that improved on the original in many ways. the story was engagin; the powers were less cumbersome; and the new visual stye was a great fit.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron- this game was fantastic, but rather short. The greatly improved the story in the campaign and the scripted events were well done.The MP was also very good...just like the original.
My objections:
Syndicate- This game was terrible. it started ok, but immediately went downhill. It had one of the worst stories that i can remember, and the gameplay was also very generic. I honestly can't say anything good about it.
Spec Ops- This was also mediocre, except for a decent, but very telegraphed story. The gameplay was run of the mill...well, actually worse. It was ok, Gaf makes it out to be something amazing. It isn't.
A number of current-gen third-person shooter I've played fit your description of Binary Domain and yet Binary Domain is one of my favorite games of the year. Funny things, eh?
Yeah this is what I enjoyed most about it. Once I "got it," it was never a matter of pop and cover. It's one of the most fluid and engaging action games I've played in a while.
ranmafan
Member
It saddens me to see games like Persona 4 Arena, LBP Vita, Gravity Daze, and Asura's Wrath in a list like this. None of those games should be. Might want to add EX Troopers to it. Sold terrible in Japan so far, pretty much 0 chance of ever going west, and yet many of us really like the game.
Fox Mulder
Member
Wikipedia says people from bizarre creations and black rock studios helped make the game. I had no idea a d skipped the wiiu version because it was broken or something. They've had to work on a patch to fix a patch.
I got it through the Idle Thumbs Kickstarter campaign. It's a fun and smart exercise in non-linear storytelling in video games. I'm glad I played it, I'm not certain though that I would buy it if I didn't got it for "free".
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
Asuras Wrath is a abomination of a video game when judging purely on the strength of gameplay.
It is however, one of the better written game stories i have experienced this generation.
It had some amazing set pieces
It is however, one of the better written game stories i have experienced this generation.
It had some amazing set pieces
Square Triangle
Member
Binary Domain and Yakuza Dead Souls
TwiztidElf
Member
Happy Wars never gets any love on GAF. It's only got itself to blame for the botched launch match-making.
I enjoy it as a palette cleanser. A lot of meaningless online multiplayer fun after too much serious Starcraft2.
I enjoy it as a palette cleanser. A lot of meaningless online multiplayer fun after too much serious Starcraft2.
Regarding The Darkness games, is the first game good? I've wanted to play it since it came out, but it's not on PC, unfortunately. The second one looks great too, and it's on my to-buy list. I've been thinking of getting a cheap used ps3 for some exclusives. Would it be worth it to wait to get The Darkness 2 until I've gotten a console and 1?
The fucking QTEs in that game, though. Among the worst I've been subjected to.
Cain and Bo are masterpieces. Dan (is that his name?) is even a pretty cool character. I liked the main antagonist as well. There were some interesting twists.
The fucking QTEs in that game, though. Among the worst I've been subjected to.
alfredofroylan
Member
It's amazing but the graphics aren't as good as the second one and some of the special powers are quite annoying, but overall a really good game.
PumpkinPie
Banned
People may be waiting for them to sort out the save bug first. I am.
I loved the first- the atmosphere was so fucking incredible. Starbreeze really are masters at ambiance- and Kirk Acevedo was so perfect. There was nothing like watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" with Jenny.
I loved the second game too- so much, that I threw up the OT the night before the game came out on a whim. It's great- but for a different reason. The combat is really fun to mess around with but the story suffers a bit. The concept of the Brotherhood makes for some interesting encounters but they do get slightly repetitive. Even the multiplayer wasn't a throwaway addition.
Much love to both games.
D
Deleted member 81567
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, Binary Domain is a phenomenal game. So much fun.
I NEED SCISSORS
Banned
Binary Domain also had one of the best trailers this year.
It would take ages to explain why Binary Domain is great so i'll just throw some key reasons out there:
- Gears of War x Vanquish gameplay
- propped up with interesting mechanics like a trust system, character upgrades and a RE4-esque shop
- cool enemy dismemberment ala Dead Space with robots. extremely satisfying shooting.
- fantastic boss battles
- very evident Japanese touches. powered by pretty Yakuza graphics engine.
- Asimov inspired. feels like an I, Robot game (but good). even has the car chase.
- bit more story substance than most shooters, with unexpected twists near the end
- likeable characters - Big Bo, Cain, Faye
- excellent PC port
It's a very solid 8/10 game. Pains me to see mediocre games like Uncharted 3 do better critically and at retail.
It would take ages to explain why Binary Domain is great so i'll just throw some key reasons out there:
- Gears of War x Vanquish gameplay
- propped up with interesting mechanics like a trust system, character upgrades and a RE4-esque shop
- cool enemy dismemberment ala Dead Space with robots. extremely satisfying shooting.
- fantastic boss battles
- very evident Japanese touches. powered by pretty Yakuza graphics engine.
- Asimov inspired. feels like an I, Robot game (but good). even has the car chase.
- bit more story substance than most shooters, with unexpected twists near the end
- likeable characters - Big Bo, Cain, Faye
- excellent PC port
It's a very solid 8/10 game. Pains me to see mediocre games like Uncharted 3 do better critically and at retail.
darkjedi187
Member
Darkness 2 was loads of fun and I am play Transformers FoC right now. A definite step up from the last one.
TheBryanJZX90
Member
Dragon's Dogma got hammered on a bunch of review sites for being an open world fantasy RPG but not being Skyrim, 78 on Metacritic, and sold like 100k in America in it's first month. But it's actually awesome. Luckily people in Japan realized this so it should get a sequel.
AgentP
Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
Yep, better game in every respect than Skyrim. Best action RPG in years.
I NEED SCISSORS
Banned
They need to bring that fucker to PC already. The 25fps framerate, blurry visuals and black bars are the big things putting me off. It's offensive on a technical level.
I tried the demo a couple times and really hated it. The cluttered HUD combined with the insane letterboxing made it hard to see anything. Is the final game better in these areas?
Syndicate.
Better Co-op shooter than anything else I've played this gen.
The gunplay is basically perfect.
Imagine left 4 dead in a cyber punk world without awful zombies, and garbage source engine shooting.
Also Dragon'a Dogma/Kingdoms of Amalur are both complete ass no matter how much you hate skyrim.
Better Co-op shooter than anything else I've played this gen.
The gunplay is basically perfect.
Imagine left 4 dead in a cyber punk world without awful zombies, and garbage source engine shooting.
Also Dragon'a Dogma/Kingdoms of Amalur are both complete ass no matter how much you hate skyrim.