Poorly recieved favorites?? (Blog w/ discussion)

With such a dependence on review scores it seems like there's a lot of games that people miss out on simply because a few people who play games for a living didn't enjoy them as much as you possibly could have.

So I wanted to see what everyone's low rated or socially unaccepted games made a real impression on them this gen.

I'll start with my own.

1.) Nier

I know that this might not be all THAT unknown, I think it might have achieved some kind of cult status in the core gaming community.

Nier to me was an amazing game because of the engaging story and endearing characters that weren't what you usually see in a lot of games. The soundtrack was simply brilliant and many of the dungeons and bosses were extremely well done and presented you with a lot of variety.

One major complaint lodged against it is the side quests and repetitive combat. The combat CAN get repetitive, but I always seemed to enjoy it. As for sidequest, well.. if you don't like them don't do them, but you will miss out on some pretty touching side stories (Lighthouse lady!)

It was made to appeal to older gamers, which is why Nier is a middle aged man who wants nothing more than to cure his daughter of a disease with no known cure.

2.) Enchanted Arms

Ok so this game was probably dismissed by most people at the very beginning of the game because one of the supporting characters is gay, and while that's not a problem, the way that he is portrayed is. But he doesn't appear past the 1st hour so shut up and deal with it. If you do you'll find a game with an interesting story and pretty awesome villain along with a turn based combat system that is half way between something like classic FF and Fire Emblem.. really its great. I'm sure the graphics look terrible today and a lot of the voice acting while not bad, isn't great either. The characters are pretty fun to get to know and there's also the always fun monster capturing mechanic. Give it a try and you might be pleasantly surprised.

3.) Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands

I actually am not sure how this rated, but I never heard anyone talking about. It was released around the time the movie came out so I figure people believed it would be a bad movie tie in because, let's face it, Sands of Time really was the last GREAT PoP game. In my opinion this game is just as good if not better than SoT. I know that sounds like blasphemy, but really it was amazing. I actually went ahead and played it long enough to achieve the platinum trophy. The mechanics really aren't all that different, just more puzzle platforming. If you like that, give this a try, I seriously doubt you'll be disappointed.

4.) Deadliest Warrior: The Game

I'm not really the biggest fighting game fan in the world, but this is definitely the best game to play with a group of friends. It's fun and the round go really quickly so the game can move a long fast. The game is very casual but very fun. And there really isn't anything cooler than going head to head between a ninja and an Apache.

5.) Papo & Yo

In many ways this game is a little flawed, but there really hasn't been any other game that felt more like it had a soul behind it. I really felt like the developer was letting me into his mind and his memories. It was very personal because in a lot of ways I identified. The game mostly consists of various puzzle and platforming segments. The presentation is pretty awesome and I'd almost go so far to say that some parts of the game are trippy. I believe this game is criminally underrated and should be experienced. At the very least the developer deserves the support for putting not only his time and effort into the title, but also his heart and his soul.

Ok well that's all for now, maybe what you guys say will remind of some others that I should have listed here, because I know there's many more. Oh, I would have done Haze, but I just remembered it and I'm ready to wrap this up and hear what you have to say!

Papa y Yo was rough around the edges in terms of game design, but the visuals were lovely and the story really drew me in. If you read about the creator's life story, you can see how the game kind of allowed him to face (and kill) his demons. Checking their website, I'm glad to see the team is still kicking and working on a new project.

http://www.weareminority.com/

Anyway, another weird game I am a fan of is Loco Roco. Its a platformer where you play a big singing blob who can break into a bunch of smaller blobs (to get through narrow spaces or what have you). The bigger the blob is, the more little blobs it breaks into (up to 20). What is crazy is that the song changes based on which blob form you're in (the smaller blobs sing higher pitched than the larger ones and of course they are singing in a chorus). One thing that was nice about it was the controls were simplified for kids (the shoulder buttons controlled everything). It was far and away my kid's favorite game up until LBP hit.

On a totally different note, I was a huge fan of Def Jam Vendetta Fight for New York. I enjoyed the campaign and I enjoyed playing it in college with my friends. It dudebrotastic and I would pay $60 for this game in HD. I doubt it will ever happen. It had a ridiculous amount of rappers (Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Method Man, Ice-T, Fat Joe, Lil Kim, NORE) in it so licensing would probably be extremely expensive if not impossible.

I was a huge fan of the original Alone in the Dark on PC. It was a polygonal survival horror game in which you choose between a man and a woman and solved puzzles and dodged monsters (combat was infrequent in part because ammo was limited, in part because some monsters could not be killed). The characters were polygonal but the background was 2D. The much more commercially successful Resident Evil shamelessly stole from it and its never gotten its proper due (though it pretty successful in its day IIRC). There's a nice retrospective at the link below. I abandoned the series after the disappointing second game but the first was a masterpiece.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/06/23/alone-in-the-dark-restrospective?page=1

@CarnageHeart:

I am very happy to hear their making another game!!

I've always wanted to play the original Alone in the Dark, it always looked interesting to me. That weird art style is almost unsettling to me haha.

As for Loco, I tried playing it on PSN, for some reason I never figured out how to play!

P.S. Thanks for reminding me I needed pics. I knew there was something missing!

Great idea for discussion. :)

I'm going to go back to the PS2 and original Xbox era for some of these, not just current gen.

• Star Wars: Obi-Wan This was a very poorly received game both from critics and fans. And in truth, it kind of deserved the critical panning. As an Xbox launch title (launch or early in it's cycle), it was pretty busted if we're honest. But I still found it very fun. The glitches were numerous and the single player was shallow. But using the force to send robots flying while swinging your lightsaber was still entertaining. And the multiplayer was actually kind of fun. It was one-on-one and each player picked a Jedi and you tried to slice or ring out the other player. It wasn't a great game, but for a $5 used game, it provided enough good times for me to remember it fondly.
• Otogi: Myth of DemonsA fun romp through an ethereal playground full of destructible set pieces. Championed by an interesting character that was designed very well.
• Ninety-Nine NightsA hack-n-slash beat 'em up in the style of a Dynasty Warriors. Certainly not the best game ever, but still a lot of fun with several characters who has some genuinely great special attacks.
• Star Trek: Tactical Assault(3DS) More enjoyable than it had any right to be. The fact that most licensed games turn out to be crap meant my expectations were very low. Turns out it wasn't some arcade style actioner, but a real starship game with simplified touch screen and standard controls as well as a customizable crew that you could staff your ship with in key departments. Really fun story mode too.
• Iron BrigadeYet another Double Fine game that brings a fun and imaginative reality to life. Shooter coupled with Tower Defense and an upgradable mech (trench) that you can customize to your heart's content. This is one of November's GAMES WITH GOLD offerings.

@ZZoMBiE13: Thanks!

Ninety-Nine Nights sounds familiar. I always liked the gameplay in the Dynasty Warriors games just got tired of playing through the same story with different missions!

Otogi looks pretty aweome too. I might have to check those titles out!

Oh yeah, if you like Dynasty Warriors you'd probably like Ninety Nine Nights. Be warned though, it was an early 360 game, so it will probably not be the best looking piece o software. But I have fond memories of it and it should be super cheap.

They made a sequel, but I only played the demo. You kinda have to be in the mood for that kind of experience and I just wasn't at the time. Still, it's probably OK if I'd given it a fair shake. :)

I really enjoyed Forgotten Sands on the Wii. It had some issues, namely the combat took a huge step backwards, but hot damn, when the game took off the training wheels and let you use all the tools at your disposal, it was great fun.

I suppose you could say Knights in the Nightmare; the ridiculously complex mechanics made reviews almost as mixed as they come. It defined a love it or hate it game: it's technically well made, but it's so different and unique that it turns some people off. Me personally, I freaking loved the game.

Sonic Chronicles and the Dark Brotherhood was another one. I understand all the flaws, and there are several; the battle system is so so, the story is entertaining but pretty typical, and the exploration is rather simplistic. In spite of that, I really enjoyed the game. The unique atmosphere was fun, as was controlling a party of Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow.

And, to summon an oldie, I really enjoyed Star Wars Bounty Hunter. Even though it really is just button mashing and has very little strategy, I think the game made you feel like a total badass. Plus it had a neat story that ties in well with the movie.

I don't have a 360 right now, but I'm getting one soon for for Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia (I have a thing for JRPGs) so I'll look more into that and maybe pick that up to. Probably cheap as crap now.

@good_sk8er7: I got Lost Odyssey for about seventeen bucks. I've only played a few hours but it's decent... I don't mind really traditional JRPGs, so I can dig it. But just know it's pretty much like every old school JRPG; grindy gameplay, random encounters, etc. The story is really interesting due to Thousand Years of Dreams, which are really well novel esque sections about Kaim, the main character's, background. So, yeah, if you love old school JRPGs, and get it for udner twenty dollars, Iit'll be a good purchase. I've heard it's around forty hours for the story, with mroe sidequests to complete and New Game +.

I really want to play Tales of Vesparia. I played Tales of the Abyss and loved it... It's a series I want to get in to.

Out of curiosity, what other JRPGs do you like? What systems do you play them on?

Warhammer 40K Space Marine was great fun. I suppose hacking up horde after horder of Orks would get repetitive, but I never tired of that game. It wasn't overly complex in design but everything from shooting to slicing (which moved seemlessly with each other) was awesome. It also had pretty good multiplayer to boot, with some DLC additions I didn't think were complete garbage. One of those games I'd like a sequel for considering how big the franchise is and the potential behind it.

I thoroughly enjoyed BloodRayne Betrayal. It was a side scrolling platformer akin to Castlevania's early days with a great artstyle and fun soundtrack. It took a lot of flak in reviews because there were some outright cheap moments, but most of it was a blast to play.

Alice: Madness Returns certainly had it's problems but it was one of those games that I simply couldn't stop playing. I liked the simplicity of the combat as it made travelling the demented Wonderland a fun experience. The art style was something worth seeing and the story had some really memorable moments.

Deadly premonition

Most people hated this game. I mean why wouldn't you? Horrible ps2 graphics on current gen. Sluggish clunky controls. Highly flawed game. A map that was tedious when trying to find things. YET underneath that all....

The best music soundtrack in gaming. My Favourite story in gaming history, had me guessing till the end. One of the best main protagonist who steals the show. Such a creepy game and easily one of my favourite this gen.

If I had listened to the reviews and what other people were saying, I would of never got to play this gem.

There is absolutely nothing in this industry that can compare to how weird and wonderful the whole experience is.

Judged as a piece of entertainment, as a game that consistently surprises and amazes and leaves jaws hanging, I have

no choice but to say thatDeadly premonition goes above and beyond. This game is so bad, it's not just become good. It's pretty close to perfect.

@IndianaPwns39: Good call on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. That was a great game. And the weaponry was so satisfying. The sniper rifle especially. But the constant upgrades to new and effective guns made the single player a fantastic good time!

I'd also add Dead Island into the mix. I only remembered it because it came out the same day as Space Marine. But now that I stop and think about it, I had a blast with that game once I watched Giant Bomb's Quick Look and Brad made mention of the analog attack option. Complete game changer. It was OK with default settings of course. But once you tried and got the hang of using the stick swing, you could really have some fun. At least in the first couple of levels. I admit though, that I never beat that game. I've heard it gets kinda crap during the second act, but I never got to it. But what I played of it was a lot of fun.

SoT wasn't the last great PoP game. WW, TTT, and PoP2008 were all great. The Forgotten Sands was pretty good, very short and easy, took 1.5 playthroughs to platinum, and while it did some interesting things it didn't feel extremely fleshed out. Honestly, I would have rather had a PoP 2008 sequel.

@marcheegsr: If you like Deadly Premonition you should watch Twin Peaks. Deadly Premonition relies heavily on it. I'm playing through Deadly Premonitions now after finally finishing Twin Peaks a couple months ago.

i like deadly premonition a lot. there's a fine line between tongue in cheek and just plain bad, but it's sort of telling when one developer's silly use of the blockbuster formula is better than a lot of earnest ones.

the original mount & blade is pretty awesome too (never played warband). a lot of people didn't like the lack of any firm structure (narrative or linear mission sequence), but i like that it gets a lot of fun and fulfillment out of a delicate balance of a lot of systems. the great combat doesn't hurt either :P

nelson tethers: puzzle agent is another. it's cathartic to see a developer so savagely rip apart the unnecessary puzzles found in a lot of adventure games. it's also strangely unsettling in how well they use puzzles anyway.

i'll mention god hand too. the fighting is undeniably awesome. more than that, it has a brazen disregard for manners, sense, and the player that is sort of endearing.

i suppose all those games are hovering around 70% on metacritic, which doesn't mean they were universally panned, but the point of the thread doesn't seem to be that narrow anyway.

I keep hearing about twin peaks. Going to check it out.

Two of my absolute favorite games this generation were smacked around pretty tough by the critics-

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames was a next gen sequel built directly on the bones of it's last-gen predecessor. And it showed. But how could I argue with a ho hum shooter when it included- focussed on, even- the ability to rain firey doom from the sky? I still remember the first time I levelled a building- the rumbling, the smoke, the glorious collapse... good times.

Captain America: Super Soldier was panned far and wide as an Arkham Asylum ripoff. And you'd likely agree unless you actually played the living hell out of both games. It wasn't as technically precise as any of the Arkham games, but the grab button in lieu of the cape for stunning a grunt felt so much more hands-on and the shift away from drawing out combat encounters for higher combos in a risk/reward balance and toward crushing your enemies in as forthright and efficient a manner as possible really makes the two stand apart from one another. Not to mention all the little nuances the combat offered like the wall attack or the various little combat details like the second animation for stringing two shield throws or shield bashes together.

Other favorites include WET for slomo acrobatics and the best soundtrack of the entire generation, TMNT: Out of the Shadows for taking Arkham combat and applying it four ways, and Samurai Warriors Chronicles for sheer volume of potential badassery.

@turtlethetaffer:

All of that sounds great with me.

I really miss the good old classic turn based rpg's or old. That's what really piqued my interest!

I haven't actually played a Tales game yet, my first one will most likely be Xillia.

@marcheegsr: :

I'm glad you mentioned both Warhammer and Alice. I thought they were both really great games.

I was actually going to include Warhammer in my original list but didn't want to make too long of a list!

@good_sk8er7: Do you have a DS? There are several ports/ remakes of old school JRPGs on that system. I'd reccomend checking out the Dragon Quest games.

@turtlethetaffer: I don't really like handhelds much :/

If I were to get one I'd have to get the Vita since I already have lots of games for it (PS Classics and PS+)

If it was up to me, I would own every system.. But I really don't have a lot of choice there, I'm just a broke college student trying pay bills.

If I may I'm gonna bounce around a bit with my game selection. I have so many games that I think are very under-rated or were just completely forgotten about going back aways.

Steel Empire was a shooter for the Sega Genesis. It seems like it was kind of generic, but once I played it I was hooked. The soundtrack was amazing for the Genesis. It was the first shoot em up that really grabbed me. One of my favorite parts of the game was the choice between a blimp and a bi plane and the difference in the way they handled and the firepower they had. To me it really added depth, and as you made it further in the game affected your strategy.

Red Steel was a Launch Title FPS for the Wii. I thought it really showed what could be done with the wii at the time. It was critically panned by most publications at the time, yet I thought it was great fun especially, the local multiplayer. The wii mote control scheme seemed to equalize the gameplay since even avid gamers had to learn a new way to play. The graphics were not that great, but I loved how the angle you hed the controller affected how your hand was on the game. Obviously the second one is much better, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the first, since it seemed so innovative at the time.

Sakura Wars: So Long My Love is a Strategy/ Dating Sim Rpg for the Wii. The quirkiness and story really pulled me in. I really wish we would see more games like this released in the US. I think it's just so far from the norm that it seems so original and different. It's really something you must try to understand what it's like. It's not for everyone, but if you enjoy jrpgs you should be able to see it's charm.

I could probably go on with this list all night but I'll just list a couple more that I spent a lot of time with that nobody seems to remember.

Red Faction: FPS for PS2 with destructible environments and bots

Fighting Force: Beat em up for PS1 that I played through at least 10 times.

Ikaruga: Shoot em up for GC that is so beautiful in every way that nobody seems to have heard of.

Battalion Wars: Spin off of the Advance Wars series for GC and Wii, but you actually get to control your army.

Rippin Riders: Snowboarding Game for the Dreamcast that I still enjoy playing from time to time even with it's wonky controls.

LAIR: Was an Action/Adventure game with Dragons for PS3. After the control update it was a pretty good game. When I read the reviews I thought it would be terrible, but a friend said they had a controller option update and it made the game much more playable

Ooh, I got another one!

Justice League Heroes- This one was released at a bad time. The Snowblind engine games of the PS2 and original Xbox era were pretty great action RPGs. But Justice League Heroes came out at a weird time right as the 360 and PS3 were getting ready to launch so a lot of people I don't think even knew about it. X-Men Legends was out only a year or so earlier and it received critical acclaim as well as being pretty well received by fans. JLH played very similar since they're running on the same engine. Ron Pearlman is even in the game! AS BATMAN!

The only real knock against the game is that most of the levels have predetermined sets of heroes that you have to use. The opening level sees Batman and Superman respond to a call for help from STAR labs. Though there are levels where you can choose from a roster and take whoever you like. Three different Green Lanterns, Flash, Zatana, etc. And the PSP version even had Supergirl and Hawkgirl available to unlock. Later levels have you assaulting Mars and battling robots and all manner of DC enemies. You fight Brainiac, White Martians, and more.

If anyone is interested in checking it out,and if you have a Sony Vita, can still download it. It's a PSP Classic (or whatever), but I have it downloaded on mine and it works fine. And as with most action RPGs, the game play holds up really well.

I might edit my post later with descriptions, but my suggestions would probably be Magician Lord (AES/MVS) and The Sea Will Claim Everything (PC).

Otogi: Myth of Demons is awesome. Just beware... it's not backwards compatible with the xbox 360 - you will need an original xbox to play it.

@jd7904 said:

Ikaruga: Shoot em up for GC that is so beautiful in every way that nobody seems to have heard of.

Ikaruga is actually a pretty overrated (actually... very overrated) title in the genre. It's been critically acclaimed ever since it's release on Dreamcast. Tho if you're not familiar with the genre, then you probably wouldn't know of many titles in the genre. I'm glad you listed the GC port, because the GC and DC ports dominate the 360 port.

@jd7904:

Lair WAS actually a pretty good game after the control update. Those sixaxis controls though...

@ZZoMBiE13:

That game sounds fun. If I ever end up picking up a Vita I'll definitely look into that!

@Some-Mist: I guess I don't remember the game getting much publicity, and everyone That I play games with always say Ika.....HUH?!? I picked it up for 10 bucks at a pawn shop back when Gamecube was still selling in stores. I really didn't even know much about it other than it was made by treasure who had made gunstar heroes, one of my favorites of all time. I guess I just assumed it had not received good ratings because of it's very limited release and lack of interest by many. I din't even realize they had released it for 360 XD

not to mention it just got steam greenlit:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/comments/183195387

the release really isn't that limited when you take all platforms into consideration: DC, GC, XBLA, ARC, NESSiCA, and now PC.