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Most underrated games you have played

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What the hell. I had this game sitting in my Steam library for the better part of two years, something I'd picked up in a Humble Bundle and then promptly forgotten about. I just recently got around to playing it in 2016 when I decided to clean up my backlog bit by bit. Considering I didn't hear anyone talk about it, I assumed it was mediocre at best, and couldn't believe that it wasn't just not bad, it was good. Sure, the combat is fairly typical 3rd person fare, but it's more than competent and the game does a good job of doling out a variety of enemies along the way to keep things as fresh as they can be in this style of game. The real shining aspect is the story, and the writing. Such a pleasant surprise that I'm glad I played.
 
XIII

Seriously SERIOUSLY under-appreciated for the multiplayer, art style and storyline.

Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars

Far from a great game, and barely even a decent game, but I had a good amount of fun with this one.
 
Star Fox Zero, Perfect Dark Zero, Ninja Gaiden Black (this one is of course, the best game of all time and most don't understand it)
 
SOMA. Yes it's not as scary Amnesia but I feel like that's besides the point. It's a thought provoking game and a bloody good one too.
 
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- Amazing graphics and visuals for it's time of release in 2000. Vivid open battlefields. 1-button for grenades. Vehicles in multiplayer and single-player.

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Maybe it got more love than I remembered back then, but I feel like Peter Jackson's King Kong game really drifted away in time. The King Kong parts probably felt a bit weak, and it was like 6-8 hours long or something, but the Jack Driscoll parts that made up most of the game anyway was pretty enjoyable and quite tense. I would probably love to try it again, but it seems I would have to get my PS2 out for that if I still have my game around.

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These games were shockingly solid 'survival horror'/puzzle games, especially if you're a fan of the movie series despite its increasing ridiculousness:

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The Wonderful 101
ZombiU
Nintendoland
Custom Robo Battle Revolution
Haunting Ground
Super Mario Sunshine
El Shaddai
Under the Skin
Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water
Resident Evil Zero
 
The Darkness (Xbox 360)
Toy Commander (Dreamcast)
San Francisco Rush (N64)
Star Wars Episode 1 Pod Racer (N64)

I'm sure there are others but these particular ones come to mind if I factor games that have been forgotten or just slipped under the radar in general.

I played the shit out of Pod Racer when it first came out. I know it sold quite well but even I tend to forget about it.
 
Dark Sector on 360. The boss battles were terrible, but the rest of the game was good fun; Gears of War meets Krull.

Except it was a lot better than Krull, because in Dark Sector you used your glaive to dismember enemies and set them on fire or electrocute them, all the way through the game.

In Krull the hero only uses the glaive for, literally, the last five minutes of the film. I couldn't believe it when I watched it as an adult.
 
I'm not recommending it or anything, but after playing enter the matrix a few years ago, I was surprised at the terrible reputation it had. It's not that good, but it's not ta bad, either. Especially for Shiny.
 
Ryse (XB1/PC)
Amazing graphics, very good acting and fun, albeit repetitive gameplay. If you are into ancient Rome or the movie Gladiator, it really feels like you are a Roman soldier in battle. What gets me are the facial expressions. When you attack or get attacked, you can see the emotion on the faces and it really adds to the excitement. It's short but a fun hack and slash game and worth the time.

Watch_Dogs (PS3/360/XB1/PS4/PC/WiiU)
The GTA5 comparisons really did this game a disservice as it really couldn't be further from it. The game is unique and there's really nothing quite like it. I would put it closer to a future-based Assassin's Creed but barely. The story is pretty basic but I think it's pretty well acted, the music is good and I like the main character. It feels like a cyberpunk/film noire type story and using your phone to hack the environment to take down your enemies is a lot of fun. The graphics are also still great to this day (especially on PC).
 
Terranigma is one of the best games of all time, but it never came out in NA so discussion on the title is severely limited.

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This is an oddly old thread but... I'd go with Amulets and Armour. It was released in '97 for DOS and was just a little too late to the party, but its actually a really solid game that i guess i'd best describe as a cross between Hexen (map structure) and Daggerfall (gameplay). I think if it came out a few years prior we'd remember it as a pretty good DOS game. Its totally free now, and has even been updated with the windows classic version making it very playable on modern computers. If you have any interest, check it out!.

Some of you have very bad definitions of underrated, posting quite popular and well received games.
 
Septic360 said:
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So good. So janky. Extra good for the janky.

This and the first one giving weapons special attacks was really neat to set itself apart from twisted metal. The meteor mortar which was down>down>up was my favorite. Creating giant craters to trap dude was awesome. Also up>up>up with the rocket made them a jet pack and was sweet for ramping across the map. Fuck. I need to get some beer goggles and play these again.
 
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I only started playing this game recently, good thing my friend let me buy it from him at a reasonable price because it's expensive as fuck on eBay now.
 
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Great strategy-meets-action game that worked fantastically on consoles. Switch between controllinf submarines, fleets of bombers and fighters, and a variety of ships; all while you were making high level tactics on the map. I miss the series so much, a sequel came out a few years after, but it wasn't nearly as good.


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Best racing combat game ever made. Pretty much Mario Kart without RNG. Great handling physics, poweups, and customization. It came out during a bad time imo, it could have been a hit. Still play it in split screen with friends occasionally.
 
reKon said:
one of the the best kart racers also received pretty good reviews, but was massively overlooked because it wasn't mario kart and has long loading times.
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Yeah this game was AMAZING to me. I thought it was better than Mario kart in every way. Customization added so much to the experience. It also helped having super artistic friends and so many custom tracks.
 
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Only golf game I truly enjoyed. Just rebought a copy on eBay yesterday. As a whole, the entire XSN Sports line was great.
 
Auctopus said:
- Siege
- Driveclub
- Hard West



Whilst its story tries to do something different, it's gameplay is utterly dull and no, it doesn't get a pass because "that's the point, mannn".
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Hard west is great, playing at the moment.

I do agree about the Line, I enjoyed my time with it but the gameplay is very repetitive. That said the UC series gets a pass for the exact same reason especially the 4th instalment.

I guess it's because as a whole we are actually starved for good game writing.
 
I wanna say blacklight retribution before they fucked it up changing the recoil so much. It was a far superior game than to someting like COD at the very least. There was also a time in CB where it was better than the actual release.

Crimecraft... this game had a lot going for it. It's a big game and hard to know where to start. It just had excellent support in some areas, but some frankly bad design decisions on some weapons and some issues with p2w that wouldn't fly on a modern f2p release. But it also had a lot of cool shit. And some of the gunplay was actually excellent. I think there are some aspects of the game that is legitimately unparalleled in most modern shooters. It even had a very skill based knife fight system.
 
Tricky Towers. A simple twist on a familiar puzzle game, and a blast to play with your friends.

Available on PS4 but should be coming to Xbox One this year too.
 
Gadget: Invention, Travel, Adventure (1993)

Battle Girl (1997)

Montezuma's Return (GBC) (1998)

Lode Runner (XBLA) (2008)

Escape Goat 2 (2011)

Eldritch (2013)
 
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