The Most Overlooked Video Game of All Time

Freelancer.

.

Features:

• Epic Single Player Campaign with Dark Storyline
• Huge Handcrafted Galaxy to Explore
• Buy, Sell and Trade Items
• Side Quests
• Secrets
• Mod Support
• Multiplayer with Private Server Support

Why Overlooked:

Very few people know about this game and even fewer have actually played it. It was overlooked when it first came out and then things became even worse when Microsoft pulled the plug and no one was allowed to sell the game. CD Projekt approached Microsoft couple of times to allow them to put Freelancer back on GOG but for some reason Microsoft didn't allow them to do so.

Today, there is no way to buy the game legally. So far I haven't even found a Single non modded Walkthrough of the game that is complete from the beginning to the end of the game. Despite being an amazing game (masterpiece in my opinion), this game remains the most overlooked video game of all time.

Developer:

• Digital Anvil
• Directed by: Chris Roberts

Publisher:

• Microsoft Game Studios

Genre:

• Space Combat Game (Indirect sequel of Starlancer)

Platform:

• PC

Release:

• 2003

Reception:

Videos

Intro:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVt7OMLar1s

Gameplay:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NFl8Yn7guE

In-depth analysis:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fOd7pkayVg

So, what is your favorite but most overlooked game of all time?

Hmm, currently playing Persona 2, and it is very very good may wind up topping 3, but we will see on that one. Yet it seems to be overlooked in favor of Persona 3 and 4 all the time.

How about Persona 1?

Or the original Megaten games?

Hell , the bird dating sim on the Vita is more overlooked then this.

I don't see it mentioned often, I only ever see P3-4, haven't played the original, probably will someday

If you're playing P2 , it's the same , only with some features missing , not going to spoil them for you.

I'll probably play it at some point, do need to play some of the other SMT games for sure though, think I've only played 4 of the others.

Find SMT if... , it's on the PS1 and Dreamcast i think.

Also Maken x on the Dreamcast is an SMT game , but the PS2 version is better.

Good topic, I love putting the spotlight on games that get overlooked

In recent years, i'd say Shootmania Storm. I freaking loved this game, but Ubisoft didn't put any effort into marketing, websites barely covered it, and as a result it failed to foster a decent community, and given that the game was designed around community-made content (ala Trackmania), it pretty much died before it ever lived.

This is a terrible shame since the gameplay mechanics were really damn good and even the default modes they included like Elite were a ton of fun. I'm still so bitter about this game not catching on.

Over a longer time period:

- Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. This game had great atmosphere, made a good effort at character development and a lot of effort was placed on historical accuracy. It just got overshadowed in a year of big FPS games like Half-Life 2, Far Cry and Doom 3. However, I probably enjoyed Pacific Assault more than Far Cry and Doom 3.

-Cryostasis - this game had excellent atmosphere and did the whole slow, methodical yet terrifying combat thing pretty darn well. It also happened to be really poorly optimized.

-Vietcong - this game had some derp to it, but it probably captured the Vietnam war more accurately than any other game that has tried (hopefully Rising Storm 2 changes this).

-Penumbra Black Plague - the game Frictional made before Amnesia. Arguably scarier than its successor, the monsters in this game were more aggressive in chasing you and the puzzles were probably cleverer.

This is the most underrated game, then EA brought this studio and shut them down R.I.P.

@with_teeth26: Thanks man. I'll check out Shootmania. I'd say No One Lives Forever series is also very overlooked because just like Freelancer, it's not even up for sale and Warner Bros. refuses to publish it or allow others to do it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=spxATsZoYIg

I remember Cryostasis and thought it looked really cool but never got a chance to play it back then. I'll check it out ASAP.

Deadly premonition

Totally ignored.

I'm currently playing through Kameo: Elements of Power (Rare Replay)... and I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it. It's a little hidden gem of a game I think. Not sure it's my "most overlooked game of all time", but it's the one that comes to mind atm.

War for the Overworld seems overlooked in my view.

All major websites ignored its release even though it was hype-fest when first announced.

I really thought Cold Fear was overlooked. I really enjoyed that one. Or Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. So good.

Hmm, most overlooked game

Sleeping Dogs, it might be a open world GTA clone, but it had a better story and setting than GTA V ever had.

A older game is The Movies, despite it being a Molyneux game it was actually a very good game, it could do with some polishing, but they should have continued with the franchise.

I think that Singularity, Binary Domain, and Vanquish are some pretty overlooked games. I wouldn't say that any of them were fantastic, well except maybe singularity, but they were all pretty decent.

Binary Domain was amazing.

@Cloud_imperium: Looks awesome!
If I were to have to choose one that fits that category ("Most overlooked"), I would have to say that a hidden gem is Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri.

The whole Call of Duty franchise!! lol....SERIOUSLY though, I would have to say Sleeping Dogs!

Viva Pinata games. Rare at its best. People just... didn't care without even playing them. Amazing games.

some overlooked indies:

Bloody trapland: super meat boy style hard as nails platformer but you can play 4 players at once, super fun and addictive

freedom planet: If sonic team knew how to make a good 2d sonic game this is what it would look like

castle in the darkness: combine metroidvania with hardcore difficulty and this is what you get

concursion: imagine a game that combined ninja gaiden, mario, pac-man all into one and this is what you get.

binary domain and vanquish are both fantastic games that don't get the recognition they deserve. I have never tried singularity, but if you are lumping it with those two then I probably should.

@isturbo1984: Rare Replay has been my first introduction into Viva Pinata, and I have to say its pretty addicting.

I second this.

Ahhhh yeah good one... definitely Sleeping Dogs. Totally agree that it had a way better story and setting than GTA V. Very underrated.

Peter Molyneux used to be one of the greatest game devs ever. Unfortunately The Movies was the last great game he made.

yeah, i even admit when i sampled it back in 2008, even i wasnt that impressed. it is pretty deep and pretty complicated, as the game sorta throws everything at you all at once, save for the upgrades and miscellaneous stuff you can buy. but once you get into the groove of things, you can loose yourself in hours and hours of gameplay.

and i loved how it retains all of Rare's classic charm. watching the making-of video on Rare Replay makes me love the games even more. I'd take a VP3 over any popular Rare sequel.

Deadly Premonition, one of my favorites. Not sure how overlooked it is, has a decent cult following.

Baiten Kaitos: Origins. It was destined to be ignored coming to Gamecube three months before the wii was released, but it is one of my all time favorite jrpgs. They made a lot of changes to the first games battle system that really sped up the gameplay.

Wet wasn't perfect but a lot of fun. Like they combined Max Payne with Kill Bill. I don't think it's sales numbers were terrible, but they were low enough that they couldn't find anyone to publish a sequel.

Brutal Legend. Heavy metal and video games go together like pizza and adolescent, bioengineered amphibians. Why didn't anyone buy this?

For me it has to be The Guardian Legend for the NES.

But a worthy alternative might be Sin

Too many to list!

Conclusion: PC games are the most overlooked games. I simply blame propaganda console based gaming sites & people that don't give a f**k about non-mainstream games.

Yeah thats a bizzare one for sure and sadly you're riight, the train of thought that if a game is not AAA or is not advertised or unrealisticly hyped then it somehow is not worthy of being played or could not possibly be any good...and im seeing that mentality more often as time goes on..

And it annoys the F**K out of me!

If i followed that train of thought i would have never tried Kerbal Space Program as well as many others.....and that would have just been a tragic loss ....honestly i would marry that game if i could :P

Condemned 2 : bloodshot. I don't know anyone else who played this, but it's one of my top games of last gen. Sure the final quarter of the game went downhill pretty fast. But the rest of the game had a great creepy atmosphere coupled with brutal first person melee combat. And there's a level where you get chased by a bear, what's not to love?

Cryostasis. Excellent atmosphere good story and good sound design. Even the graphics look quite good for todays standards . To bad though the developer went out of business

Blood. Back then all the rage was about Duke Nukem, Quake and Unreal. While Blood was rather popular still not recognized among the great fps shooters like Duke ( though imo better than all the other great fps of the era ) even though it did some thinks first like alternative weapon fire and the franchise eventually got lost thanks to fights over copyrights and what was rumored as a remake never came into fruition. Thankfully recently GOG put the original for sale after many years that it was rather difficult to find

Spec ops the line. Even though a rather standard 3rd person shooter this game worth a play just for the story

X3 terran Conflict . If you want the closest to Star citizen you can get before it get released this is the game to get and it has been the best space sim since freelancer

I actually wanted to buy Freelancer a few months ago but was surprised to see it's not on sale anywhere except ebay. I got a pirated version instead but haven't installed it yet. >_>

Freelancer had very simplistic controls and no cockpit, the story and campaign were pretty good but thats the thing it is too focused on the campaign i prefer darkstar one.

I tried getting into evachron mercenary too complex.

@yukushi agreed also singularity, dark sector and bionic commando, atleast on pc where you can control it.

Good call, amazing game with so much potential if extra's such as add-ons and modding were available.

Danganronpa series, 999 and Virtues Last Reward, Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Vesperia.

Play it man. You won't regret it and tell me if you liked it.

Yup,,, still it was understandable few years ago but have no idea why half assed cash grabs are still hyped to death while games that bring something new to the table are overlooked. And I'm not talking about some artsy fartsy games but games that are real deal. It's sad.

I don't think Freelancer was overlooked. It was developed with massive ambitious goals like Star Citizen, except it didn't have the practically unlimited funds so it was released lacking the crazy stuff they actually wanted to put into it. I remember even back then, they were talking about adding the ability to land on planets and walk around and now with star citizen they probably will have a fps aspect to it at some point. So freelancer got a good amount of respect by everyone who played it. Being a Privateer fan i was pretty happy with it, the ending though was very disappointing and didn't even know i finished the game right away because it doesn't even tell you. The graphics still look pretty decent even to this day.

A game more overlooked than Freelancer has to be Silent Storm. Next to Jagged Alliance 1 and 2, this has got to be the best turn based game ever made... and the physics and destructable everything make this game too much fun. And way too few ever played it or even heard of it. The only bad thing about the game is when they introduce the mech suits and the game kinda breaks at that point in fun and balance.

I just realised that copy I downloaded has been sitting there since december 2014 holy crap. I think I'll give it a shot in 2 weeks kinda busy atm.

Good luck! Hope you like it.

Vanquish: is a sublime third person shooter, it controls absolutely fantastically, is genuinely challenging even on Normal and has graphics that are still great. It doesn't have any forced RPG mechanics, any pretensions of being a Hollywood film or any real story whatsoever. It is basically an unlicensed Iron Man game where you get to play as a cross between War Machine & Solid Snake doing an impersonation of a metro-sexual Clint Eastwood.

Dragon's Dogma: The best open world RPG in existence, until The Witcher 3 came out. Amazing combat that not only controls as well as a hack-and-slash game but also allows you to climb a dragon's back, or fall out of the sky and be rescued by a transexual barbarian with a helium-filled voice. The best RPG of last generation, criminally slept on by a few select journalists that hadn't played it for more than 4 hours and then went on to pretend they'd liked it all along when the Dark Arisen expansion came out. The pawn system was a brilliant innovation that actually integrated multi-player elements into an engrossing single player campaign.

Thanks. :P

Hmm, I've never even heard of this game. It looks ahead of its time.