A while back, I made a thread about games that were oh so overrated. So, I pretty much decided to see if there are any under rated games out there. Feel free to share games that you think are really underrated. I'll start:

Strategy games: Pick a strategy game, any strategy game. They're really fun, but they really don't get that much hype, unless "Star Wars" or "Halo" is on the label. Age of Empires, Total War, and Civilization are extremely great games. Quite frankly, I believe people no longer like to think while they're playing games. Adventure games (as in the point-and-click type, like Sam and Max) and classic games could also fall under this description.

Snoopy vs. the Red Baron: Yes, this is an actual game. I'm actually kind of surprised that nobody gave this game a look. It's much like Rouge Squadron, and kind of fun as a result. It's definitely not one of the best games out there, but it is worth your time.

Edit: Also forgot to mention two games: LoZ: Wind Waker and LoZ: Link's Awakening. In the case of the former, it's rather underappreciated because "graphics aren't real so it suks!" type of attitude seems to be going around with some people, but the game is really fun. Ganon also gets arguably the best (and most brutal) death in the series.

In the case of the latter, the story is very strong, and the dungeon structures are nice - just about everything is nice about the game. Given it's not perfect, but it is one of the best games I've played.

Ping wrote:Strategy games: Pick a strategy game, any strategy game. They're really fun, but they really don't get that much hype, unless "Star Wars" or "Halo" is on the label. Age of Empires, Total War, and Civilization are extremely great games. Quite frankly, I believe people no longer like to think while they're playing games. Adventure games (as in the point-and-click type, like Sam and Max) and classic games could also fall under this description.

Who "under-rates" these games? Civilization is an immensely popular and well-reviewed series, AoE and Total War are all pretty popular, and no one really has anything but good memories of the LA-Adventure-game-heyday. They're not constantly hyped because they're older games, which is to be expected (although Civ 5 has been getting all sorts of hype).

Maveritchell wrote:

Ping wrote:Strategy games: Pick a strategy game, any strategy game. They're really fun, but they really don't get that much hype, unless "Star Wars" or "Halo" is on the label. Age of Empires, Total War, and Civilization are extremely great games. Quite frankly, I believe people no longer like to think while they're playing games. Adventure games (as in the point-and-click type, like Sam and Max) and classic games could also fall under this description.

Who "under-rates" these games? Civilization is an immensely popular and well-reviewed series, AoE and Total War are all pretty popular, and no one really has anything but good memories of the LA-Adventure-game-heyday. They're not constantly hyped because they're older games, which is to be expected (although Civ 5 has been getting all sorts of hype).

*shrugs* Meh, I just really don't hear that much hype about the games present-day, but I guess I just don't pay attention. I don't really remember any hype about Civ 4, but I guess I just don't listen enough.

Painkiller, it's a FPS where you can blast demons with a shotgun that freezes things. Having grown up playing Doom and Doom clones (kinda inappropriate, I know), I instantly fell in love with the simple premise and straightforward "shoot everything that moves, and everything that doesn't, too" approach of this game.
It's got nice level design, a large variety of enemies (every single level seems to have it's own roster of foes), some cool guns (did I mention the shotgun that freezes things? No? Well, yeah, there's a shotgun that freezes things) and a neat soundtrack based on heavy metal and horror flick motifs; it's everything you could possibly want from a raw shooter game and it's well polished enough to keep you entertained from beginning to end (although things only start to pick up in chapter two).

Painkiller has been praised many times for its ability to deliver quality gameplay, but still, people don't seem to talk about it that much. I get the feeling few people know about this game's existence.

Snoopy vs. the Red Baron: Yes, this is an actual game. I'm actually kind of surprised that nobody gave this game a look. It's much like Rouge Squadron, and kind of fun as a result. It's definitely not one of the best games out there, but it is worth your time.

dude i love that game one of my friends has it and it is awesome

Lego Island 2: I'm really not aware of the public concensus of the game, but I loved it as a kid, and love it now, although I've never heard anyone talk about other than me.

Grev wrote:Lego Island 2: I'm really not aware of the public concensus of the game, but I loved it as a kid, and love it now, although I've never heard anyone talk about other than me.

Heh, lego island extreme stunt was an awesome game! Skateboarding off a mountainto get a 1080 degree spin... oh yeah.

Grev wrote:Lego Island 2: I'm really not aware of the public concensus of the game, but I loved it as a kid, and love it now, although I've never heard anyone talk about other than me.

Yeah, I remember playing the original Lego Island . It was great fun

LEGO Racer and LEGO Racer 2. The former was just an awesome kart racing game with customization galore and the latter was my first free roam racing game, which was even more awesome. An interesting feature from the second, everytime you got hit with a weapon from your opponents, you would lose pieces of your car, and if you didn't heal up in time from the pit stops scattered across the track, eventually you would end up on your feet, making a mad dash towards the next pit. Oh, and it had a upgrade process through the interesting use of minigames, so you could improve your LEGO kart's shield, dash, tire grip, etc.

Honestly, I prefered the original's in-race item system, but the sequel just had so many improvements in its racing style, that it trumps the former.

Twilight_Warrior wrote:

Hidden/Spoiler:

LEGO Racer and LEGO Racer 2. The former was just an awesome kart racing game with customization galore and the latter was my first free roam racing game, which was even more awesome. An interesting feature from the second, every time you got hit with a weapon from your opponents, you would lose pieces of your car, and if you didn't heal up in time from the pit stops scattered across the track, eventually you would end up on your feet, making a mad dash towards the next pit. Oh, and it had a upgrade process through the interesting use of minigames, so you could improve your LEGO kart's shield, dash, tire grip, etc.

Honestly, I prefered the original's in-race item system, but the sequel just had so many improvements in its racing style, that it trumps the former.

QFT- on everything... except I never owned LR1, have played it though.

Yeah, Lego Racer 1 was a grat Mario Kart-ish racing game. Never beat, simply because the last person you to race against was a cheating bas***d.

He's supposed to be a "new and improved" version as the final boss in LR2 also. Except he's always the easiest boss for me... probably from all the minigame upgrades and defeated boss upgrades...

Ping wrote:Yeah, Lego Racer 1 was a grat Mario Kart-ish racing game. Never beat, simply because the last person you to race against was a cheating bas***d.

If you ever feel like going back just to feel accomplished, you have to get only green power up, then every white one in your path to get the warp. Only use the warp. Nothing else. Do not be satisfied with the dual rockets engines. And do not get red power ups.

Ping wrote:Strategy games: Pick a strategy game, any strategy game. They're really fun, but they really don't get that much hype, unless "Star Wars" or "Halo" is on the label. Age of Empires, Total War, and Civilization are extremely great games. Quite frankly, I believe people no longer like to think while they're playing games. Adventure games (as in the point-and-click type, like Sam and Max) and classic games could also fall under this description.

Actually, the more underrated strategy games I can think of are the ones labeled "Star Wars" or "Halo." AoE and Civilization are insanely well-known, highly-rated, and popular. At least where I live, almsot nobody knows anything about EaW, so I'll leave that out, because I don't really know anything about it myself. But Halo Wars is insanely underrated. It's great fun, but it got really low ratings last I checked, it wasn't super-hyped because it's an RTS and Halo freaks *generally* think that FPS is hte way to go (I know that from experience) and online there are onloy about 6000 people at any given time, but it's really a fun game.

@Fluffy: I'll have to take you're word for it. Halo Wars was developed by Ensemble Studios, who also did AoE, so it really couldn't be bad. I guess believing FPS is the only way to go is the consequence of it being overrated.

Edit: Also forgot to mention the Sherlock Holmes series of adventure games. Out of the five games, four of them are worth your time. Having just replayed the "Secret of the Silver Earring" game (which I said was okay in a previous topic), I actually found the game to be quite fun, with extremely well-done graphics, which I'd go so far to call Scenery Porn.

Gamespot's reviews of the games pretty much sums up my opinion on them - good or great, but not awesome, if you know what I mean.