Underrated and Underappreciated games

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-09-12 04:30am

I thought you all might be interested to know... Planescape: Torment is now available on Gametap.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2006-09-12 04:31am

Planescape: Torment was well recieved by the critics but I don't think it sold particulalarly well. I know it sold steadily for a long time as more people kept discovering it, but for some reason initial sales were pretty poor. I'd say that counts, because those poor initial sales were a nail in the coffin as far as getting more games like that goes.

Post by **Vympel** » 2006-09-12 05:09am

Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri.

No one talks about that awesome game.

Post by **Edi** » 2006-09-12 05:33am

Age of Wonders (the original). It came out just around Christmas 1999. As far as I know, it didn't make much of a dent in the strategy game market, despite being the best turn-based fantasy strategy game of its time. I still consider it far better than the sequels AoW2 and AoW:SM which garnered widespread acclaim (especially Shadow Magic, the base AoW2 was an unadulterated piece of shit, essentially no more than a poorly planned beta of AoW:SM).

The Dominions series. Yes, it has shitty graphics. Content-wise, you won't find anything richer in the strat game market. Of course, since they are not something the average beer & pretzels strategy game crowd can even begin to grasp, they will never be a mass market product.

Heroes of Might and Magic 4 is another game that is underappreciated. Most of that is ude to the massive hype that surrounded its initial release, which was so atrocious that the people responsible for it should have been shot. After the two expansions and the latest patches, it is a very good game but it's still saddled with the mud and shit clinging to it after the first release fiasco. Seriously, it costs next to nothing in the bargain bin for the Complete version, so if you enjoy this type of games, get it.

Edi

General Deathdealer · Post by **General Deathdealer** » 2006-09-12 06:49am

There was an old game called Scortched Earth that was fun. It had really shitty graphics, but the game consisted of 2 tanks on a battlefield with random hills. All you did was estimate the angle of your gun and how much power to give the shot to try and hit your opponent. Plus you could buy upgrades to give you better cannon rounds, like nukes or shots that rolled down hills before exploding. Plus the explosions would destroy the landscape.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-12 07:51am

General Deathdealer wrote:There was an old game called Scortched Earth that was fun. It had really shitty graphics, but the game consisted of 2 tanks on a battlefield with random hills. All you did was estimate the angle of your gun and how much power to give the shot to try and hit your opponent. Plus you could buy upgrades to give you better cannon rounds, like nukes or shots that rolled down hills before exploding. Plus the explosions would destroy the landscape.

When were you born? Because if you were a gamer in the late 80s/early 90s you'd know that Scorched Earth was in NO way underrated and was in fact fucking huge...

General Deathdealer · Post by **General Deathdealer** » 2006-09-12 08:12am

I was probably born before you, and I find it quite amazing that you were playing the game in the 80's when the game was not released until 1991. The big game was called Tank Wars and was for the original Commodore system. Scorched Earth was a shareware game based on Tank Wars. It did not start to get big until around 1994 when shareware started to become popular and PCs started to become affordable. But when I was playing it, it was underrated because it had just come out and other games released at that time were much better graphically.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2006-09-12 08:33am

I wouldn't call Scorched Earth underrated - I honestly don't know anyone who had a PC in the early '90ies, mid '90ies who didn't at least see the game.

--

I also second Terra Nova: SFC. It was (perhaps even better then) Mechwarrior 2 but with good cinematics and plot (how often do you see Earth forces who are not decipted as insane bloodthirsty tyrants as the bad guys?) but, alas, without a licence to boost its sales so it is forgotten now.

--

Jade Falcon wrote: The Longest Journey. One of the best point and click adventures I've ever played. Being european its also not afraid to use strong language, with frequent use of the 'f' word among other things. Again, a lot of dialogue which can become wearisome but the game is worth playing.

Unfortunatly, it seems that in the mean time, with all the contravery surrounding Hot Coffee, we won't be getting another game like it soon. The lead developer of that game, and the sequel Dreamfall, said on his blog that quite a lot of things in Dreamfall (including tasteful nudity which served the plot quite strongly and stronger lanugage) were cut as a selfcensoring measure as to not have controvery over their game.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-09-12 08:42am

There are several old games which sucked up my time like nobody's business, but I don't hear mentioned much. Power Pete, Lode Runner, and an old shareware program called Stellar Empires.

Power Pete is a third-person shooter where you have to navigate through several different levels filled with dinosaurs, fairy tale characters, and other enemies to save rabbits.

Lode Runner is a 2D game where you climb ladders and run away from evil monks while trying to collect gold.

Stellar Empires is a game simply composed of a big constellation where you produce ships and expand your empire by colonizing new systems following the pathways fo the constellation. (I've found it available for download here). It's a damned good game.

General Deathdealer · Post by **General Deathdealer** » 2006-09-12 08:50am

I am saying that it was underrated because once I left college, I did not really find too many people who had ever heard of the game. Granted, once I introduced people to the game, they thought it was great, but it took that kind of introduction for them to learn about the game.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-09-12 08:53am

Lode Runner is a 2D game where you climb ladders and run away from evil monks while trying to collect gold.

It got a 3D remake on the N64 in the late-nineties and a new version is in development for the DS.

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2006-09-12 10:07am

Shinn Langley Soryu wrote:I was also gonna mention Tales of Symphonia, but it's a rather dubious mention at best. I hang around lots of otaku when I'm not lurking around here, and quite a few of them absolutely REVERE the game. It's just that in a market dominated by Square Enix and Final Fantasy, Namco and the Tales franchise would be overshadowed considerably. I doubt few in the mainstream would be familiar with it.

I thought Tales of Symphonia was pretty "meh", really. Not horrible, but not great either. I suppose I would feel differently if I had someone to play it with, but it felt like watching a pretty generic fantasy anime + the hassle of endless leveling. If I need that, I'll play an FF title that usually has the budget for "ZOMG awesome!" graphics. It does deserve honorable mention for being a solid RPG on the Gamecube though, if nothing else.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2006-09-12 10:19am

Crazy_Vasey wrote:Planescape: Torment was well recieved by the critics but I don't think it sold particulalarly well. I know it sold steadily for a long time as more people kept discovering it, but for some reason initial sales were pretty poor. I'd say that counts, because those poor initial sales were a nail in the coffin as far as getting more games like that goes.

Planescape:Torment outsold the Fallouts games. I'm not sure where the idea came from that it didn't sell well.

Jade Falcon · Post by **Jade Falcon** » 2006-09-12 10:54am

Over here in the UK at least, Planescape Torment wasn't as common as the two Fallout RPG's, but then again, both of them were rereleased in budget labels firstly as single games, then as a twin pack.

Other games.

Evil Genius. It was a fairly high profile release, but I don't think it did overly well.

Both "No One Lives Forever" games.

Medic · Post by **Medic** » 2006-09-12 01:43pm

Hoping against hope show-trials in HAB don't get in vogue again:

Ring of Red, a hex-based strategy game with some real time combat and the most underrated Gundam game [indeed, one of the few that didn't just appalingly SUCK] Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front. 3rd person, up to 3 squads of 3 mobile suits, with a lot of fun tactics involved [though exclusively ground combat]

montypython · Post by **montypython** » 2006-09-12 02:07pm

I-War 1 and 2 were unfortunately very underappreciated, as other space games got all the attention.

Tasoth · Post by **Tasoth** » 2006-09-12 02:10pm

I back Iwar 2, Conquest: Frontier Wars. I'd like to nominate Disciples, both the original and sequels. Course, they may actually be popular.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-12 05:24pm

General Deathdealer wrote:I was probably born before you, and I find it quite amazing that you were playing the game in the 80's when the game was not released until 1991. The big game was called Tank Wars and was for the original Commodore system. Scorched Earth was a shareware game based on Tank Wars. It did not start to get big until around 1994 when shareware started to become popular and PCs started to become affordable. But when I was playing it, it was underrated because it had just come out and other games released at that time were much better graphically.

Wah wah. Yes, I got the date wrong. Big fucking deal. You seem to be the one now contradicting yourself about it being under-rated?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-09-12 05:56pm

ok I'll mention seirra's contribution of creating the two best FMV games ever. Not to mention two of the best horror genre games ever. Gabrial Knight: The Beast Within, and Puzzle in the Flesh.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2006-09-12 06:02pm

Graeme Dice wrote:Planescape:Torment outsold the Fallouts games. I'm not sure where the idea came from that it didn't sell well.

Probably because when asked about it on the BIS forums the devs openly said that the game sold poorly on initial release but made its money back in long-term sales. It's hard to find references to that now that the forums are dead and gone though. The only reference I can find is on answers.com here

Jade Falcon · Post by **Jade Falcon** » 2006-09-12 06:06pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:ok I'll mention seirra's contribution of creating the two best FMV games ever. Not to mention two of the best horror genre games ever. Gabrial Knight: The Beast Within, and Puzzle in the Flesh.

I liked GK2 a LOT, but I can't say I've ever heard of Puzzle in the Flesh, unless it was sold under a different name in the UK.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-09-12 06:17pm

Jade Falcon wrote:
The Yosemite Bear wrote:ok I'll mention seirra's contribution of creating the two best FMV games ever. Not to mention two of the best horror genre games ever. Gabrial Knight: The Beast Within, and Puzzle in the Flesh.
I liked GK2 a LOT, but I can't say I've ever heard of Puzzle in the Flesh, unless it was sold under a different name in the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasmag ... er_game%29

ow fuck, PitF was Phantasmagoria II (which incidentally sucked), but Phantasmagoria was kick ass

Faabio · Post by **Faabio** » 2006-09-12 07:08pm

I'd like to nominate King of dragon pass. Fun game based on Glorantha the world of Rune quest. Fun game with no animation. just text and art with different choices of action for how you'll deal with different cituations, even battles.
It was realeased in 1999 and wasnt a real mainstream success if i remember correctly.

Fun times I had with that game Stealing cows for the sacrifice to the gods, Exploring the dragon pass and trading with the other tribes all the while trying to vie for the postion of the king of the dragon pass.

Now i need to find that game again

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-12 07:39pm

That game rules. It's replayable, flexible, open-ended and rewards different playstyles. I don't know shit about the crazy world it's supposed to be based in: I just know that Flash always starts with like twice the cattle I do!

PrinceofLowLight · Post by **PrinceofLowLight** » 2006-09-12 08:28pm

Sacrifice. Interesting RPG/RTS hybrid with a good sense of humor, good voice acting (Tim Curry as the god of storms) and lots of replayability.