Your Favourite Game That Never Quite Got The Praise It Deserved..........
- Thread starter conuk
- Start date
Finally bought Titanfall 2 thank you. £3.74 in Steam sale now. Rude not to.
Second these ones:
1nsane
RalliSport Challenge
I also find Star Wars Starfighter and Jedi Starfighter (maybe never released on PC) to be underrated.
Why? Whilst they are a bit shallow, maybe even short, the gameplay is so smooth and fun. Pickup and play arcade fun with the Star Wars universe and plenty of difficulty levels to keep you busy. I don’t think they were ever big sellers and only recently seemed to come back into the various storefronts online for some reason (which I’m glad about). Possibly also lost in a frankly ridiculous number of Star Wars games out there.
Sleeping Dogs - I think this actually has slowly amassed more recognition but I played this near release and just really enjoyed it. Not perfect game by any measure at all, but overall it’s enjoyable. Not sure if over time it would actually be better regarded than it was at first.
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage - not appreciated that much but it has everything that 1 and 2 have and kid of perfected the formula for me. Still a bit janky in places but again, very fun to play through.
Call of Juarez - Again I recall this wasn’t a massive game at the time but it’s actually extremely good and atmospheric and put you into the world as well as being pretty innovative technically I think for the time. Could be my bad memory there though - Ok looked it up, it was an early DX10 title maybe that’s what I was thinking.
Edit: Wanted to add:
Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix 4
Richard Burns Rally
Don’t think they were massive sellers but have amazing communities around modding and keeping them going.
Second these ones:
1nsane
RalliSport Challenge
I also find Star Wars Starfighter and Jedi Starfighter (maybe never released on PC) to be underrated.
Why? Whilst they are a bit shallow, maybe even short, the gameplay is so smooth and fun. Pickup and play arcade fun with the Star Wars universe and plenty of difficulty levels to keep you busy. I don’t think they were ever big sellers and only recently seemed to come back into the various storefronts online for some reason (which I’m glad about). Possibly also lost in a frankly ridiculous number of Star Wars games out there.
Sleeping Dogs - I think this actually has slowly amassed more recognition but I played this near release and just really enjoyed it. Not perfect game by any measure at all, but overall it’s enjoyable. Not sure if over time it would actually be better regarded than it was at first.
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage - not appreciated that much but it has everything that 1 and 2 have and kid of perfected the formula for me. Still a bit janky in places but again, very fun to play through.
Call of Juarez - Again I recall this wasn’t a massive game at the time but it’s actually extremely good and atmospheric and put you into the world as well as being pretty innovative technically I think for the time. Could be my bad memory there though - Ok looked it up, it was an early DX10 title maybe that’s what I was thinking.
Edit: Wanted to add:
Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix 4
Richard Burns Rally
Don’t think they were massive sellers but have amazing communities around modding and keeping them going.
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Archimedean Dynasty: great submarine game - genuine scary moment when a mysterious object suddenly shows and blocks your whole screen.
Anachronox : Built on the quake 2 engine, it's a well written character driven RPG that took you to far flung places. Bonus points for having a whole planet join you as a crew member.
Anachronox : Built on the quake 2 engine, it's a well written character driven RPG that took you to far flung places. Bonus points for having a whole planet join you as a crew member.
Titanfall 2 is a great shout, I remember it being recommended on here so I picked it up in a sale and it's probably one of the best SP games I've played in recent years; definitely has those late 90s/early 2000s shoot vibes!
My nomination would have to be Neocron, an FPSMMORPG set in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, with vehicle combat, territory capture, deep crafting system and full PVP. I absolutely loved that game, met some awesome people playing it (including a highly amusing weekend meet up which involved a lot of beer and pizza), but unfortunately, while the community was fantastic, the game gradually died due to a complete lack of marketing!
Looks like it is still running actually, might have to jump on and see what it's like these days
My nomination would have to be Neocron, an FPSMMORPG set in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, with vehicle combat, territory capture, deep crafting system and full PVP. I absolutely loved that game, met some awesome people playing it (including a highly amusing weekend meet up which involved a lot of beer and pizza), but unfortunately, while the community was fantastic, the game gradually died due to a complete lack of marketing!
Looks like it is still running actually, might have to jump on and see what it's like these days
Man. They just don't make games like that anymore. Tbf, they basically almost didn't at all!
You mean the days before our corporate overlords worked out how to milk every last penny from us?
The spirit of gaming in those days is still very much alive and well. You just won't find it in a AAA game very often. I've also just been playing through those games I missed because I was too young to really gel with the mechanics or didn't have a PC of my own until later in life. I've been playing some of the original Thief lately and, as someone who never played it back in the day and has no nostalgia for it, it holds up. I don't even mind the graphics. They're low poly but very charming. SWAT 4 also holds up. So does Heroes of Might & Magic 3.
Had a lot of fun with it at the time - far too clunky for me to enjoy playing now though.
It didn't do well commercially because it was released at the same time as Battlefield 1 and COD Infinite Warfare (which was also a space shooter). Also it was very similar to Titanfall 1 which many said at the time was the better game because in 1 you could customise the titans whereas 2 they are cookie cutter
Yeah, I'm struggling to think of anything else really like it, there was Tabula Rasa, which I seem to remember being a bit pants and died after a year or 2, but otherwise, the closest was something like Planetside (which was lacking the RPG elements) or Anarchy Online (which didn't really have the FPS side of it).
You're right about not making games like that anymore, AAA games all seem to follow a "safe" traditional formula, and I think an MMO like that is just too "big" a concept for an indie studio
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Tribes 2 from back in the day.
And yea, not many good games being released now and they just don't have the depth they used to. Usually awful writing too. Even MMOs now don't have the same level of content as the old ones.
That was a fun one, I actually replayed it last year. It really does go downhill towards the end though. I remember it's multiplayer being quite fun.
And yea, not many good games being released now and they just don't have the depth they used to. Usually awful writing too. Even MMOs now don't have the same level of content as the old ones.
That was a fun one, I actually replayed it last year. It really does go downhill towards the end though. I remember it's multiplayer being quite fun.
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Associate
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There are quite a few games i can think of but i must say for me it is Days Gone on PS4.
I did skip on release because of the bad reviews but played the PS4 to PS5 patched version and i really really enjoyed it.
One of the few games that i want to get some time to replay again even though the backlog of shame keeps pilling up.
Gameplay was really good and enjoyed it way more than Last Of us Part 2, i mostly enjoyed the horde aspect which differentiates this game in my opinion from the rest of the zombie games. Such a shame they didnt do a sequel.
I did skip on release because of the bad reviews but played the PS4 to PS5 patched version and i really really enjoyed it.
One of the few games that i want to get some time to replay again even though the backlog of shame keeps pilling up.
Gameplay was really good and enjoyed it way more than Last Of us Part 2, i mostly enjoyed the horde aspect which differentiates this game in my opinion from the rest of the zombie games. Such a shame they didnt do a sequel.
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Risen 2
Drakensang
Terminator Future Shock and Skynet.
Drakensang
Terminator Future Shock and Skynet.
Soldato
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Good call on Drakensang. I liked that gamea a lot too.
Others that come to mind:
Jade Empire - an early 2000s Bioware game set in Ancient China. It never got the recognition of their other RPGs, and is obviously overshadowed by BGII, KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc, but I thought it was a really fun game in its own right and barely every hear it mentioned.
Two Worlds II - yeah, this was super janky, but the magic system alone was worth the price of admission, and it kind of revelled in its own ridiculousness at times. Still one of my favourite magic system implementations of all time, in fact. Chucking a whirlwind full of anvils at enemies whilst the protaganist guffawed to himself was good fun!
Gothic 3 - this was panned when it came out, I recall, and I mostly only remember seeing mention of it when someone was warning other players off it. But with the community patch fixing a lot of the issues, I thought it was brilliant.
Others that come to mind:
Jade Empire - an early 2000s Bioware game set in Ancient China. It never got the recognition of their other RPGs, and is obviously overshadowed by BGII, KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc, but I thought it was a really fun game in its own right and barely every hear it mentioned.
Two Worlds II - yeah, this was super janky, but the magic system alone was worth the price of admission, and it kind of revelled in its own ridiculousness at times. Still one of my favourite magic system implementations of all time, in fact. Chucking a whirlwind full of anvils at enemies whilst the protaganist guffawed to himself was good fun!
Gothic 3 - this was panned when it came out, I recall, and I mostly only remember seeing mention of it when someone was warning other players off it. But with the community patch fixing a lot of the issues, I thought it was brilliant.
Soldato
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No-One Lives Forever 2. Very funny, and good gameplay. It looked fantastic at the time.
Anachronox. Such an imaginative game world, with a great story.
Freelancer. I think that was the last space game I liked.
Evil Genius. Another 60s spy theme here. I still play this occasionally.
Anachronox. Such an imaginative game world, with a great story.
Freelancer. I think that was the last space game I liked.
Evil Genius. Another 60s spy theme here. I still play this occasionally.
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I'd forgotten NOLF 2. It was a great game, still have a disk on the shelf.
Dark Legions - an SSI fantasy strategy game from 30 years ago. Can't remember it making much of a splash but I got out of a bargain bin and played it for many hours.