Little known games that you really wish were better.

Im sorry if this sort of thread has been done before!

Im just really interested in games that youve played that really had something going for them that you loved. A great visual style, or a great gameplay idea or setting or story ... but overall, in the end, just werent very good! I dont mean the big hyped games that everyone knows about ... but the smaller ones that get lost in the land of bad reviews and nobody really remembers all that well but you felt either had lots of potential ... or there was just something that appealed to you on a personal level.

Ill start it off with the biggest one for me. NEOCRON! I still dream about this game and its atmosphere and setting. It was the perfect neo-punk environment (something I love) and I would truly love to live in Neocron if it was real. I just loved the setting and the way it was built and presented in game. I had two bouts of playing this game. I played the disastrous *synchronising: please wait* beta of this *synchronising: please wait* game, and then a 10 day free trial. And unfortunately got so bored in those short times. I really wanted this game to be deep and well made ... but other than the setting it really wasnt. The city of Neocron is still burnt into my memory though and I still get tempted to play the game ... even though I know full well its dull.

Genia

I know what you mean. There´s a lot of games with cool ideas, concepts or graphics that end up dissapointing because of poor execution.

A lot of games that could have been great, but failed, are almost all movie-related ones. Due to short deadlines, and emphasys in the money instead that in the game, usually end up being garbage.

One of the exceptions is Chronicles of Riddick (or Bourne Conspiracy), but in general a lot of potential was wasted in 90% of movie games.

Advent Rising. I really enjoyed this game's atmosphere, but most of all I'm sad that I'll never get to see how the story ends. If it just could have been a better game...

Bullet Witch. I kinda dig the idea of playing as a witch in an apocalyptic setting, taking out demons with a combination of gunfire and magic. Unfortunately it was poorly handled in just about every department, but I'm happy to say that Bayonetta might just get it right.

Galerians. Survival horror, but with psychics. It wasn't actually that bad, but forcing psychic powers into the traditional tank control scheme of the day really limited the gameplay. I loved how you could scan an area and get a psychic impression revealing some strong event tied to the place. Like you'd go in one room and scan it and you'd get this mental image of babies hooked to machines undergoing tests to tap into latent psychic potential. The sequel, Ash, wasn't too bad if you managed to make it through the boring first half. Really enjoyed the ending on that one.

Phantom Dust. Another game involving psychics but in post apocalyptic setting (the psychic thing just isn't done enough). It really had this Wind Named Amnesia vibe going for it (a good thing in my book) and the gameplay, when it got going, was very entertaining. The real problem I had with the game is that you'd load up a kit for your player, but you couldn't just start with the kit...you had to wait for orbs to spawn one by one and at random so that much of the first part of any battle was spent hanging around your own spawn point, hoping that the game would funnel your kit to you in a useful order. It really hampered the gameplay and slowed down what otherwise would have been a very fast-paced action/fighting game.

I was disappointed the way Haze turned out. I remember in the early days of the PS3 when this game was announced and shown, everyone was going nuts about it. When the demo came out I downloaded it and played through it several times. I loved it... but it was simply not as good as I expected. The way this game was shown off was just great. I thought it was going to be revolutionary lol. They even made the first Dualshock 3 "commercial"!!!

I hope that relates to the question you're asking.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Im just interested to see if other people dwell on games that just didnt turn out quite right. Sometimes Im really almost upset by the feeling of missing out on what could have been an absolutely amazing experience.

Its interesting coz after my post I finally read the Neocron review and it said pretty much exactly what I would have said.

Genia

Way of Samurai

Bushido Blade

Beat Down Fist of Vengence (I really loved this game)

Tenchu

Golden Axe (might've been better if it remained Action RPG like it was originally planned)

Vikings.

I think all those games had good potential to be great games, but missed a step here and there to be any good. Well some are still good (like Way of Samurai), but most certainly could've been better.

Valkyrie profile, well the game wasny bad but people did know about it and as well as Jet set radiotrophylocoste

I wouldn't change a thing in Valkyrie Profile.

It was perfect.

Well, actually I'd add new game plus, but that's it!