Underrated/Lesser-Known TitlesFollow

I was looking at the guilty pleasures thread, and thinking of some of my favorite games and how they're not guilty pleasures, but games that never seemed to get the attention they deserved. "Underrated" might not be the right term, since some of them were reviewed very well, but nobody I know seems to have played them.

So, what are some of your favorite lesser-known and/or underrated games?

Two of my favorites, both for the current generation of consoles, are Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and Vanquish.

Enslaved is Ninja Theory's re-imagining of an ancient Chinese story that basically plays as one long escort quest. It's fairly short, at around 9 or 10 hours, but the voice acting and story are really well done, and combat is fun. It's always one of the games I recommend to my friends who are looking for something to play, as you can typically pick it up for fairly cheap. While you'll probably only play through it once or twice, it's certainly worth a rental or used game purchase.


Vanquish is just pure adrenaline. A fantastic third-person arcade shooter, Vanquish features awesome action, weapons, and bosses, as well as an exceptionally cheesy story complete with evil Russians and super cheesy dialog that falls squarely under the "so bad it's good" banner. This one comes in short, as well, probably at around 8-10 hours, but it does have a decent degree of replayability as you can ramp up the difficulty and replay stages you've completed to try for higher scores. This is probably one of my favorite games, and a solid go-to choice when I just want some mindless action, or when I'm in between games.


Edited, Dec 19th 2012 8:06pm by Spoonless

I've not played it, though I do know of it. Black Isle Studios was pretty epic:

Developed:
Fallout 2 (1998)
Planescape: Torment (1999)
Icewind Dale (2000)
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (2001)
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter - Trials of the Luremaster (2001)
Icewind Dale II (2002)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (2004)

Published:
Baldur's Gate (1998)
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001)
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003)

My memory being as awful as it is, I'll just go through some of the more recent ones:

Syndicate: The story isn't very good. The setting, however, is one of the more convincing Neuromancer knock-offs I've seen in gaming, and the gunplay is top-notch. Every gun is fun to use, has secondary fire, and sounds great. The cover system and movement are excellent, particularly for an FPS, and the "breach" stuff (used for affecting the environment or making enemies kill themselves) is fun to use. Considering that you can get the game for a half-eaten burrito at this point, it's well worth a look.

Starhawk: Best multiplayer experience available right now, I think. It's a hybrid 3rd person shooter/resource managing strategy game, which is quite original. You can go from flying, to walking, to driving within seconds. It's incredibly chaotic, and it's got some of the most fun, dizzying aerial combat around. Single player's a bit poor, though.

Closure: Creepy, unique 2d puzzle game, where objects don't exist unless they're lit by a light source. It's got a goth art style that should please anyone who likes Jhonen Vasquez (of Invader Zim) or Tim Burton's darker stuff. It's also incredibly challenging, and has an interesting, subtle story/theme.

Dyad: I'll just leave this here. (Probably my favorite review that I've written for a game.)

Edited, Jan 9th 2013 12:55pm by Eske