Back in the early 90s, while all my friends were having the Sonic vs Mario argument, I preferred James Pond. One of the games is Mario rip-off, another one is a Sonic rip-off, yet somehow the James Pond series just appealed to me a whole lot more!
My favourite childhood platformer was "Fire and Ice: the Daring Adventures of Cool Coyote". I wouldn't call the game "underrated" as such, as it got pretty good reviews, but it is fairly unknown. Or at least it was to most people I knew!
I also love Arcade America. Great cartoony platform game from the mid 90s that I love as much now as I did when I first played it. Another that I believe is quite unknown to many people.
Simon the Sorcerer 3. I know, I am embarrassed for myself.
But if you can ignore the horrible graphics and lousy interface, the writing and acting were both pretty entertaining!
You're not the only one! I complain about the graphics constantly, find the interface difficult to get along with, and I also don't like the uselessly gigantic scenes. But those are the only things I don't like about it really. Other than that it's a nice game (Simon's character is still as awesome as ever in that game - that's what was important to me!!).
I've probably sunk more hours into this game in the last six or seven years than into anything else, though I've been slacking lately...
You could call it a turn- and tile-based hack'n'slash game, but while it's got a lot of simple mechanics the combination of all those actually result in lots and lots of neat and brain-teasing puzzles.
np: Future Sound of London - Surface Water (Environments 3)
I also really like the 3D Sonic games, but only the early ones. After SA2, the series started to go downhill. Sonic Heroes wasn't as bad as everyone says it is, but it didn't live up to the quality of the previous games, plus the Emerald minigame was pretty much impossible for me. And Shadow the Hedgehog didn't deserve as much criticism as it got, though I wouldn't call it a good game either.
My personal guilty pleasure is Gothic (and Gothic 2, but that is more well known). It is riddled with design flaws, is brutally difficult, and has one of the worst control schemes ever conceived. It also somehow manages to be one of the best RPGs ever.
I thought people really like Gothic 1 and 2, just not 3? Although I mostly got that on a Gothic fanforum, so that might be the reason.
Never played 1 or 2, but 3 for me blew Oblivion out of the water. Now there's an overrated game. Both can't compare at all to Morrowind though.
I thought people really like Gothic 1 and 2, just not 3? Although I mostly got that on a Gothic fanforum, so that might be the reason.
Never played 1 or 2, but 3 for me blew Oblivion out of the water. Now there's an overrated game. Both can't compare at all to Morrowind though.
It's funny, I just came into post Gothic 3 as my choice. I've heard nothing but bad things about it, but bought it in the latest steam sales anyway and patched it up with the latest community patch and have been blessed with a killer RPG. Amazing world, decent story, great upgrade system. Weapon and armor upgrades that really have an effect. It's just a great, underrated game.
Agree with Oblivion also. Massively overrated, only made half-decent with a ton of mods.
Tron 2.0 had an interesting progression. As in any FPS, you got weapons of increasing power as you went along, the very first being the frisbee from the movie. But you also go removable modules that you could install in your weapons to upgrade them in various ways. The thing is, the frisbee was the weakest weapon, but also the one with the greatest number of upgrade slots. So toward the end of the game, when you had a lot of upgrade modules, you hit a tipping point where suddenly it was worthwhile to start using it as your primary weapon again.
Well, this only counts for the area I live in. Everyone dislikes (or loaths with a passion) point and click games except me, I've found. Why, you may ask? Their opinion is either "prefer COD" or "You should grow up and stop playing childish games that you can't talk about with anyone because no one's heard of it". Damn, that frustrates me. Maybe I should just make a seperate thread for this.
Anyway, I think Insecticide is awfully underrated. It was really fun to play, it had great humor, and I was very disappointed it got the very lukewarm reviews it did. While it's perhaps not as striking and sublime as Grim Fandango, a lot of the same people worked on it and it shows. (btw it's cheap on Steam right now).
I also think that anyone who thought the prologue of "They Stole Max's Brain!" was awesome would probably find a lot to like about Insecticide's conceit and execution. They created a really great world with the city of Troi, and I think I'm just as disappointed that their apparent attempts to pitch the premise as an animated series were as successful as their attempt to complete the PC version of the game. ¬
TRON 2 left me with different feelings, it was a nice game to some degree but i also can remember situations were i just had to force myself finishing the game which leads me to a small iPhone game where i couldn't stop playing although i already finished all the levels, just to try out new tactics or enjoy replaying it.
It's geoDefense, which meanwhile is rather old but still the best tower defense variant i have come around so far. It features a minimalistic 2d vector style, comes with good and challenging level design and is very good on the gameplay side, extremely rewarding for just $2.
I think Sonic 3D Blast isn't as bad as everyone says. When I was younger I was begging for that game for Christmas, and in anticipation I was looking all over for cheat codes and stuff. And when I played it, it was pretty enjoyable! Just top down sonic basically, and it has a good difficulty. Sonic R was great too, although sometimes the game creeped me out, but I don't know why.
Holy crap, Silicon Valley, I remember that game... confused the crud out of me and made me scared of nano-bots in any game...oh the memories....
Underrated game...hmm... it'd probably be The Bouncer. Too short, main character is a Sora/Squall hybrid (this game came out before KH1) and annoying camera, but I kinda liked the characters, especially Koh (Kou?). I don't know, it doesn't get a lot of heat, but it's not exactly a diamond in the rough within the Squaresoft library of games.
@Leak
This looks like a pretty good game. I'll give the demo a try once i'll find some time.
Actually, the demo itself isn't that great at showing off the game, but it allows you to play all user-made levels (with one set of environmental graphics instead of six) that can be downloaded from the site, so I'd recommend doing that after finishing the demo...
Actually, the demo itself isn't that great at showing off the game, but it allows you to play all user-made levels (with one set of environmental graphics instead of six) that can be downloaded from the site, so I'd recommend doing that after finishing the demo...
Okay, i'll most probably buy it. Btw which one would you recommend?
After playing the DROD demo for a short time i have the feeling that Death Spank could be influenced by DROD as well. I like the humour in there.
Okay, i'll most probably buy it. Btw which one would you recommend?
After playing the DROD demo for a short time i have the feeling that Death Spank could be influenced by DROD as well. I like the humour in there.
Weeell, DROD:RPG is a totally different barrel of fish, so not that one. The original version of DROD (called Architect's Edition, as it added the level editor) can be had for free at SourceForge, but it's looking incredibly dated now, and it's hold is also sold as "King Dugan's Dungeon 2.0" with voice acting and improved graphics, or you can download the original (non-improved) hold file here and import it into any of the demos.
The next game was "Journey to Rooted Hold", which was the first to sport improved graphics, in-game cinematics and voice acting, and it's probably the best hold of the regular ones. The (for now) last one was "The City Beneath", which has the newest engine, but probably isn't the best thing to start out on and it's levels aren't as good as the first ones IMHO.
BUT - if you buy any of the games and register them on CaravelNet (the online scoring and in-game hold and demo downloading service for 9.99 USD a year) you can download the hold files for KDD and JtRH in-game to play them in The City Beneath, giving you the best of all worlds.
1) DROD 1 is good due to good level design but outdated engine.
2) DROD 2 is even better but still comes with the same engine.
3) DROD 3 is more a RPG.
4) DROD 4 as it used to be but somehow less convincing level design but flashy engine.
5) DROD 5 is yet to come.
Okay, i only wanna buy one, for now, no subscription. Which one offers the best&enjoyable level design and humour?
I care less about the gfx, they are all more or less horrible, and don't mind if it's the RPG or not.
1) DROD 1 is good due to good level design but outdated engine.
2) DROD 2 is even better but still comes with the same engine.
3) DROD 3 is more a RPG.
4) DROD 4 as it used to be but somehow less convincing level design but flashy engine.
5) DROD 5 is yet to come.
Okay, i only wanna buy one, for now, no subscription. Which one offers the best&enjoyable level design and humour?
I care less about the gfx, they are all more or less horrible, and don't mind if it's the RPG or not.
Actually it's more like Architect's Edition is DROD 1.5 (1.0 was the edition sold by Webfoot games, which is a shareware version of AE sans level editor), Journey to Rooted Hold is DROD 2.0, King Dugan's Dungeon 2.0 is DROD 1.99 (same engine as JtRH, but same levels as 1.5), The City Beneath is DROD 3.0, and DROD:RPG is something completely different set in the DROD world, re-using scaled-up versions of the TCB graphics and actually kind of a remake of Tower of the Sorcerer.
If I had to choose one game to start out on, I'd go with Journey to Rooted Hold; there's probably one joke that's referencing KDD's level 10 in the very first level you'll miss out on that way... but you can always import the free original King Dugan's Dungeon hold (aka "level set") that I linked to above into the game and play through it.
(Disclaimer: while I might have the highest amount of rank points on the DROD forums I'm still quite bad at reviewing things and giving shopping advice... )
It's an awesome game for sure, but I was under the impression that most anybody with even the smallest affinity for action-adventure games and an ounce of sense also thought highly of it.
Sure, it has midi music and no voice acting, but who the hell cares?
@Leak
Okay, thanks, i just don't want to babysit all the time.
Well, there's usually no real need to babysit Halph - the monsters can't harm him unless a guard or slayer pokes him with his sword/hook or an explosion gets him...
Well, there's usually no real need to babysit Halph - the monsters can't harm him unless a guard or slayer pokes him with his sword/hook or an explosion gets him...
Oh well, you can kill him.
Really sad that i currently don't have a lot of time for playing as the demo of DROD 2 (the babysitting one) is just great. Nice levels and a decent humour.
Zeus: Master of Olympus and Poseidon. I played this game for the first time almost a decade ago and I play through a couple of campaigns at least once a year. It's never gets old and I wish there were more games like it. Rome total war is fun so is black and white but nothing has the same feel as Zeus.
It's an awesome game for sure, but I was under the impression that most anybody with even the smallest affinity for action-adventure games and an ounce of sense also thought highly of it.
Sure, it has midi music and no voice acting, but who the hell cares?
I've never seen that many people do much more than bash the crap out of it. Especially the Zelda fans. They did the same with Wind Waker too but now Wind Waker is like the holy grail. I wonder if Twilight Princess will be better viewed after Skyward Swords fails to fandoms expectations.
Well, I personally always thought Twilight Princess is a serious contender against Ocarina of Time for best Zelda game ever made. Perhaps best video game ever made (with the exception of games from the Monkey Island franchise.)
It always seemed to me that people who complain about the midi music or no voice acting are either critics who just want to complain or newbs who haven't been around the game industry long enough to remember playing any games that are older than Halo.
And maybe when people review it for Wii, they always feel the need to say "it looks like a GameCube game." Well, IT IS a GameCube game that was ported to Wii. It was released for Wii first only because Nintendo wanted it to be a Wii launch title.
Comments
My favourite childhood platformer was "Fire and Ice: the Daring Adventures of Cool Coyote". I wouldn't call the game "underrated" as such, as it got pretty good reviews, but it is fairly unknown. Or at least it was to most people I knew!
I also love Arcade America. Great cartoony platform game from the mid 90s that I love as much now as I did when I first played it. Another that I believe is quite unknown to many people.
You're not the only one! I complain about the graphics constantly, find the interface difficult to get along with, and I also don't like the uselessly gigantic scenes. But those are the only things I don't like about it really. Other than that it's a nice game (Simon's character is still as awesome as ever in that game - that's what was important to me!!).
I've probably sunk more hours into this game in the last six or seven years than into anything else, though I've been slacking lately...
You could call it a turn- and tile-based hack'n'slash game, but while it's got a lot of simple mechanics the combination of all those actually result in lots and lots of neat and brain-teasing puzzles.
np: Future Sound of London - Surface Water (Environments 3)
Never played 1 or 2, but 3 for me blew Oblivion out of the water. Now there's an overrated game. Both can't compare at all to Morrowind though.
It's funny, I just came into post Gothic 3 as my choice. I've heard nothing but bad things about it, but bought it in the latest steam sales anyway and patched it up with the latest community patch and have been blessed with a killer RPG. Amazing world, decent story, great upgrade system. Weapon and armor upgrades that really have an effect. It's just a great, underrated game.
Agree with Oblivion also. Massively overrated, only made half-decent with a ton of mods.
It's a 'love-it-or-hate-it' type of game. Some people are turned off by the fact that it's on rails.
This looks like a pretty good game. I'll give the demo a try once i'll find some time.
Also, DROD is just awesome.
This is new out but for many is already slipping under the Radar. People need to buy and play this now, it's amazing.
I also think that anyone who thought the prologue of "They Stole Max's Brain!" was awesome would probably find a lot to like about Insecticide's conceit and execution. They created a really great world with the city of Troi, and I think I'm just as disappointed that their apparent attempts to pitch the premise as an animated series were as successful as their attempt to complete the PC version of the game. ¬
It's geoDefense, which meanwhile is rather old but still the best tower defense variant i have come around so far. It features a minimalistic 2d vector style, comes with good and challenging level design and is very good on the gameplay side, extremely rewarding for just $2.
(A.K.A. That SCUMM point and click adventure game no one remembers.)
Underrated game...hmm... it'd probably be The Bouncer. Too short, main character is a Sora/Squall hybrid (this game came out before KH1) and annoying camera, but I kinda liked the characters, especially Koh (Kou?). I don't know, it doesn't get a lot of heat, but it's not exactly a diamond in the rough within the Squaresoft library of games.
I think it did pretty good when it was released, and everyone liked it.
Everyone stole the sniperrifle from it to use in their games at least
They're making an HD remake of all these games soon, maybe it'll get more attention?
And also, I'm not sure if people still absolutely hate this, but:
Come on, it's not THAT bad.
Aaaaaand..... I dunno if this game got bad reviews, but I really really enjoyed Mario Is Missing.... XD
Also... I dunno, but Homestar Runner fans might know of a game called "Where's An Egg?" Totally addicted to that. XD
After playing the DROD demo for a short time i have the feeling that Death Spank could be influenced by DROD as well. I like the humour in there.
The next game was "Journey to Rooted Hold", which was the first to sport improved graphics, in-game cinematics and voice acting, and it's probably the best hold of the regular ones. The (for now) last one was "The City Beneath", which has the newest engine, but probably isn't the best thing to start out on and it's levels aren't as good as the first ones IMHO.
BUT - if you buy any of the games and register them on CaravelNet (the online scoring and in-game hold and demo downloading service for 9.99 USD a year) you can download the hold files for KDD and JtRH in-game to play them in The City Beneath, giving you the best of all worlds.
Confused yet?
1) DROD 1 is good due to good level design but outdated engine.
2) DROD 2 is even better but still comes with the same engine.
3) DROD 3 is more a RPG.
4) DROD 4 as it used to be but somehow less convincing level design but flashy engine.
5) DROD 5 is yet to come.
Okay, i only wanna buy one, for now, no subscription. Which one offers the best&enjoyable level design and humour?
I care less about the gfx, they are all more or less horrible, and don't mind if it's the RPG or not.
If I had to choose one game to start out on, I'd go with Journey to Rooted Hold; there's probably one joke that's referencing KDD's level 10 in the very first level you'll miss out on that way... but you can always import the free original King Dugan's Dungeon hold (aka "level set") that I linked to above into the game and play through it.
(Disclaimer: while I might have the highest amount of rank points on the DROD forums I'm still quite bad at reviewing things and giving shopping advice...
np: Burger/Ink - Elvism (Las Vegas 2010)
Do i always have to take care of this little fellow?
np: Burger/Ink - The Jealous Guy From Memphis (Las Vegas 2010)
I don't get why people hate it so much. Yes, there are some things that still need to be fixed, but overall, it's one of the best games I've played.
Used to play this a lot as a kid. Not sure if it was generally disliked but still very underrated in my opinion.
wait, WHAT?
How is Twilight Princess underrated?
It's an awesome game for sure, but I was under the impression that most anybody with even the smallest affinity for action-adventure games and an ounce of sense also thought highly of it.
Sure, it has midi music and no voice acting, but who the hell cares?
Okay, thanks, i just don't want to babysit all the time.
Really sad that i currently don't have a lot of time for playing as the demo of DROD 2 (the babysitting one) is just great. Nice levels and a decent humour.
I've never seen that many people do much more than bash the crap out of it. Especially the Zelda fans. They did the same with Wind Waker too but now Wind Waker is like the holy grail. I wonder if Twilight Princess will be better viewed after Skyward Swords fails to fandoms expectations.
It always seemed to me that people who complain about the midi music or no voice acting are either critics who just want to complain or newbs who haven't been around the game industry long enough to remember playing any games that are older than Halo.
And maybe when people review it for Wii, they always feel the need to say "it looks like a GameCube game." Well, IT IS a GameCube game that was ported to Wii. It was released for Wii first only because Nintendo wanted it to be a Wii launch title.