Most underrated video game of all time?

D

danielhonigman

CAG Veteran
Lots of video games are released every year. Some are huge hits, while others take a while to build a following. (Not to mention that some are just plain bad.)



What do YOU think is the most underrated video game of all time? Why?


Discuss.
 
Total Annihilation to me was one of the most underrated games of all time. It came out and moved the RTS genre one big step forward with 3D terrain. But it remained in the shadow of the Command and Conquer series. I think over the past decade people have come to recognize it a bit more but it never made the money it could/should have.
 
[quote name='Kevlar281']Total Annihilation to me was one of the most underrated games of all time. It came out and moved the RTS genre one big step forward with 3D terrain. But it remained in the shadow of the Command and Conquer series. I think over the past decade people have come to recognize it a bit more but it never made the money it could/should have.[/QUOTE]


I agree with Total Annihilation being underrated. Cavedog Entertainment really went all out with their support of their game. They had free weekly DLC in the form of maps and units. Also they had their Boneyards online service that had a persistent campaign for multiplayer. Both of these were unheard of at the time.

They also knew how to make an expansion pack. The Core Contingency expansion came with 25 campaign missions, 75 new units, a map editor, new tilesets, and 53 new multiplayer maps.
 
there are a ton that would fit in this category. Some i thought were underrated:

Herzog Zwei for the Sega Genesis-a very underrated and not highly known action strategy game. My and my cousin spent hours on this game..cant tell you how many times we would have stale mates.

mikey mouse/donald duck- castle of illusions- being a disney game it should suck but it didnt. It was a great side scroller and vivrant backgrounds and great controls. Just because its mikey doesnt mean it has to suck

Disney's Alladin- another great side scroller action game. had tons of fun with this game. great controls and the sounds and graphics were spot on. Enjoyed this one too.

Zac and Wiki- Even though this is revered amongst CAG and many other sites...it still didnt get the attention it deserved. this is a must add for any wii collection.

other ones i like to note but too lazy to type in explanation-
Beyond good and evil
psychonauts
Time Splitters
Jet force Gemini
The oddworld games
Secret of Evermore
Illusion of Gaia
Shadowrun(SNES,Genesis)
Actraiser I,II
Conkers Bad Fur Day
Monster Party
Abodox
R-Type

those are some i could think of that I personally think are underrated
 
Off the top of my head, Kill.switch. Was one of the first cover-based third person shooters that got the ball rolling for every other TPS/FPS that uses a cover system. It wasn't too bad either.
 
[quote name='Kevlar281']Total Annihilation to me was one of the most underrated games of all time. It came out and moved the RTS genre one big step forward with 3D terrain. But it remained in the shadow of the Command and Conquer series. I think over the past decade people have come to recognize it a bit more but it never made the money it could/should have.[/QUOTE]
YES! YES YES YES YES!

I still play this game, even my bro is still addicted, and it's been 12-13 years down the line.

Game is fken amazing. That and red alert 2 are the two RTS' I will always love.
 
Suikoden 2, which barely just received over a 80% on game rankings despite being my favorite RPG of all time. There is just so much goodness in this game and theres a reason it still sells for over $100+ for a decent copy. Sadly Sony shot down the PSP collection to the US so most people will have to fork over the cash to play it on their PS1/PS2 legally while they only had to spend $5 to download the PSN classic of Suikoden. What gives Sony?

Runner up - Links, especially Links 2004 - Everyone rages over Tigerwoods but Links was still the best golf game ever to me, and I can still boot it up today and enjoy it from start to finish. It's a shame MS just let go of the studio along with Amped for basically chump change - though despite 2k showing off Amped and Top Spin I have yet to see another Links.

Lots of other games under rated, but those two stick out like sore thumbs to me.
 
I would go with secret of evermore, ogre battle 64, super monkey ball, rogue galaxy and vagrant story
I would say that I have put in over a hundred hours into each of those games
 
Advent Rising - Fantastic story and interesting characters. Sure it had some technical issues, but it was still very playable and an awesome game. Too bad the sequels will never happen :cry:
 
[quote name='whoknows']Advent Rising - Fantastic story and interesting characters. Sure it had some technical issues, but it was still very playable and an awesome game. Too bad the sequels will never happen :cry:[/QUOTE]

Advent Rising was a pretty decent game, I enjoyed it a lot.
 
[quote name='whoknows']Advent Rising - Fantastic story and interesting characters. Sure it had some technical issues, but it was still very playable and an awesome game. Too bad the sequels will never happen :cry:[/QUOTE]


I've been wanting to play that game for a long time. Did the whole contest have a hand in the series being put to rest?


I'll just copy my answer from the blog...


I wouldn't say most underrated, but one severely underrated is Mirror's Edge. It did have it's problem, including clunky combat and a bit thin plot, but the areas it did shine it, it really went above and beyond. It's one of the most vibrantly brilliant games I've ever played, and the FPP genre it's still alone in was awesome. I'll still enjoy that game for years to come.


I was praying for Mirror's Edge 2 to be at least mentioned at E3, but alas, nothing. I've heard back and forth that ME2 may or may not happen, but I think it has a decent sized fanbase and if they improved on the problems they had with the first, they could have a contender on their hands. An open world would be great, but I think there would need to be some limitation.. Plus, I hear people complain about the interior parts of the game, but those were the most beautiful. I could rant about the game for hours...
 
Heavenly Sword was really good in my own opinion...
And Little Samson for the NES - which is pretty much the best NES game ever made, gets no love though
 
I have to add my usual two games I add to every list like this(and I'm adding a third to this as well):

Zombies Ate My Neighbors(Genesis)
General Chaos(Genesis)
Cyborg Justice(Genesis)

My one buddy and I used to play ZAMN and GC for hours on end and the two player vs. mode in Cyborg Justice was hilarious. We literally had standoffs for over 30 minutes in many matches, since you could grab, pull off and graft your opponents weapons/arms to your own cyborg. We spent probably 4-5 hours the one night just doing vs. matchups and it was just hilarious.

Both were
 
I second the choices for Shenmue and Vagrant Story.

Edit: just glossed through the list again and didn't see Earthbound mentioned anywhere, so wanted to toss that out, too!
 
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When was EarthBound, Shenmue, Dead Space and Zombies Ate my Neighbours underrated? Obscure maybe, but there all seen as great games (even if Shenmue secretly sucks).
 
I think the original Spiderman game for the PSOne was an amazing game that IMO still holds up to this day. I think it did wonders for that character and Marvel. The game made Spiderman marketable for the masses and it was a good first step in getting to where we are today with the Spiderman series.
 
[quote name='Goemar']When was EarthBound, Shenmue, Dead Space and Zombies Ate my Neighbours underrated? Obscure maybe, but there all seen as great games (even if Shenmue secretly sucks).[/QUOTE]
Agreed, and I'd also say the same about the vast majority of what integralsmatic posted.

My own underrated game of choice: Startopia. It got decent reviews, but tanked at retail. It's a really good and addictive (and funny) management sim. Highly recommended, if only because I want more people to play it, dammit!
 
Eternal Darkness on GC.
I wouldn't say underrated in terms of critical acclaim, but I don't think it sold well and I rarely hear it mentioned these days. Sequel? Please?

This reminds me, I still want to play Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. A bit of a stretch, but Windwaker did not deserve all the shit it got for looking "kiddy." What a rockin game.

Splosion Man deserves way more love than it gets. I really enjoyed the Penny Arcade games too. I'd like to include Hakuna Matata/Afrika, but as much as I want to like it... I don't.
 
Freedom Fighters. Man i loved that game maybe not most underrated of all time but underrated of this and last generation oh ya
 
Indiana Jones & the Emperor's Tomb. It got a lot of bad reviews for technical problems, but it has great climbing and some of my absolute favorite melee combat. It's not as good as it's predecessor: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but is still one my favorites.
 
The Club seemed to be pretty panned and dropped to like £8 rather quickly. I loved that game, it was awesome.
 
Silicon Valley for the N64

Was a platformer made by DMA Design(Now known as Rockstar North who made GTA and the like). You play as this robot chip who reanimates dead robotic animals. You use the animals you're in in order to takedown other robotic animals to use their unique abilities to progress through the game. Pretty badass game I rented from blockbuster years ago that I never heard people talk about.
 
Shame that game was impossible to complete fully, you just walked through one of the golden trophy things - couldn't pick it up making the good ending only obtainable by game-shark codes. Great game though.
 
[quote name='Goemar']Shame that game was impossible to complete fully, you just walked through one of the golden trophy things - couldn't pick it up making the good ending only obtainable by game-shark codes. Great game though.[/QUOTE]

You can enter a nongameshark code on one of the menu screens to get all the golden trophies as well.
 
[quote name='Goemar']When was EarthBound, Shenmue, Dead Space and Zombies Ate my Neighbours underrated? Obscure maybe, but there all seen as great games (even if Shenmue secretly sucks).[/QUOTE]

Maybe unrecognized would have been more apt for Shenmue and EarthBound. My criteria was mainly if I asked an average Joe gamer about the game, would he have any idea what I was talking about.
 
I'm going to go with Shinobi for the PS2. Yeah, the level layouts are repetitive, but that's not the point. This is a game about being a bad-ass ninja that can slice through dozens of enemies in a few seconds flat. And it absolutely succeeds at that. Still one of the best hardcore 3D actioners out there.
 
[quote name='Gunslinger5000']Phantom Dust[/QUOTE]

Phantom Dust was great, but just overlooked, not really underrated...

I say GUNVALKYRIE. It got pretty average reviews from most and endless bitching about its unusual controls, but was fantastic fun if you put the effort into learning them.
 
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Anyone else notice that some games get so underrated that they become overrated? For example Ico, Earthbound & Shenmue.

Now Battle Arena Toshinden 3 is truly underrated.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']I'm going to go with Shinobi for the PS2. Yeah, the level layouts are repetitive, but that's not the point. This is a game about being a bad-ass ninja that can slice through dozens of enemies in a few seconds flat. And it absolutely succeeds at that. Still one of the best hardcore 3D actioners out there.[/QUOTE]

That game is incredibly awesome.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Anyone else notice that some games get so underrated that they become overrated? For example Ico, Earthbound & Shenmue.

Now Battle Arena Toshinden 3 is truly underrated.[/QUOTE]

I don't think any of those games are "overrated" except by those people who say they are without a doubt the best game of all time, which is not most. Except for Shemue not aging particularly well, all three of those are classics of their console generation.
 
[quote name='elwood731']I don't think any of those games are "overrated" except by those people who say they are without a doubt the best game of all time, which is not most. Except for Shemue not aging particularly well, all three of those are classics of their console generation.[/QUOTE]

I actually like all three games, but my point isn't just limited to those three. I was just using them as an example to say they are often mentioned in these type of threads. I feel they get enough appreciation already, maybe more than they should.
 
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