So-
I was thinking about my gaming habits and found that I often play games that little of people know, but somehow shine over the genre. Yet-to-be-found gems or simply good case of underdogs...
For example:
Real-time strategy:
Act of War: Direct action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL3PrX2QMkk) and Act of War: High Treason
It's kind of weird how I simply picked this one up from discount game bin at local supermarket. I usually don't shop like this and I didn't even take a good look at the game disc. I though it would simply entertain me for an evening or so... boy was I wrong!
It became one of my very favourite games in genre - a RTS with modern, realistic touch, which always appeals to me. This game has units of modern day and even very realistic future, such as US Future Warrior combat gear or Stryker multifunctional troop carrier. Plus, it's all built onto a quite solid techno-thrillerish storyline.
And it's a RTS that stays true to original formula, having almost everything that made original Command & Conquer such cool game, unlike new games that try to change formula even if it makes game suck, just for the sake of having some "new approach to RTS genre".
Turn-based strategy:
Castles II: Siege & Conquest
It's quite simple game, best replacement for solitaire or other hour-to-waste filler I've ever seen.
Plus, there's not much games that have such wonderful music or option "behead him!" when enemy sends a messenger with peace offerings...
Adventure games:
KGB (a.k.a Conspiracy)
I would pay $100 to play a worthy sequel to this one. Or $300 to be able to make one myself.
When numerous death endings in Sierra's adventures often simply sucked, this game shows "game over" in style. It's realistic, gruesome, extremely thrilling & interesting and insanely difficult. Not something you hear in the review of adventure game too often.
I could continue this list, but it gets too long, I'm afraid.
Political strategy
Another titles of my reality-taste -
Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator, Shadow President, Hidden Agenda
Quite simply games that were once made, are unique, and there will be probably no more. Which is sad. Only company that makes games like this - is Paradox Interactive - and sadly, their games - while going into deepest detail - are not interesting enough for me to play. There's a deep strategy game and there's a damn Excel spreadsheet. PI makes latter, only with graphics. I wonder if there will ever be beginner-friendly versions of Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, etc--- much like three I mentioned..?
Do you have something similar to contribute? Games that are good, but less-known?
Severance: Blade of Darkness.. Great combat system.. honestly... try it.
Space Rangers 2: Very fun.. except the shit RTS bits tacked on the end.
Oni: Fantastic fight system.. there are not enough games like this in the world.
Psychonauts (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=20298.0) was a great mixture of action, adventure, platform elements. Definitely one of must-have-tried games.
Just a few that I could think of right now. (Have a Major Headache)
ICO for the PS2
Shenmue for Dreamcast
Shenmue 2 for Dreamcast and XBox
Blade of Darkness definitely was a fun game, and way ahead of its time in terms of detail and model decals. Die By the Sword had a very fun but very broken control interface for swinging the sword, but because your character's arm responded to mouse movements you'd often get it (and your weapon) stuck against walls rather than in enemy stomachs. That one Jurassic Park game where you've got a pair of tits you can look down at for a health meter had a similarly broken system, except your JELLO-ARM would stretch and then suddenly the weapon you had would pop out of your hand. This always happened at the worst possible time.
Oh, some great games in no particular genre or order:
1. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark and Elvira: The Jaws of Cerberus. Excellent adventure games if you like a challenge, some humor, and lots of gore. And Elvira's pixel-boobies.
2. Quest for Glory 1-4. Aside from Gabriel Knight and Freddy Pharkus, the only Sierra product I've ever really enjoyed.
3. Two Worlds. Very fun and detailed Oblivion clone that outdoes its competitors in a number of areas, not the least of which is a highly detailed armor set system.
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum. Most 'fun' I've had with a game in awhile.
5. Star Control II. Quite simply the best sci-fi action rpg I've ever played. I must have spent 200 or more hours on this when I first played it.
6. Blaster Master. NES gaming at its finest.
7. Super Metroid. SNES gaming at its finest.
8. Rogue Galaxy (PS2). Has a rather fun combat system and some nice sci-fi visuals for an anime style rpg. I don't normally like these, but this is a noteworthy exception.
9. Shenmue. Sadly I only ever played the original Dreamcast version, but it was a fun and sometimes frustrating fighting/sim game.
10. Fallout 1/2/3 (after modding). My current favorite post-apocalyptic series of rpgs. The Fallout series has always benefited greatly from fan community mods.
11. Realms of the Haunting. Very atmospheric doom-style action adventure. It's a really involved game and takes a lot of time and patience to get through so it's not for everyone.
12. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. I hated the second one and the third was a train wreck of bad 3d and puzzles, but the first will always be an example of the superior storytelling adventure games can offer.
I have more favorites but so does everyone else.
Progz:
I meant favorites that remained somewhat hidden and 8 out of 10 gamers wouldn't know about :)
But great titles indeed.
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Fri 25/09/2009 22:10:55
Oni: Fantastic fight system.. there are not enough games like this in the world.
I must have played through the demo a hundred times when I was younger and couldn't afford to buy real games.
Always meant to buy the real thing, and never quite got around to it ???
As for me, I only ever play mainstream games that everyone's already heard of :=
If you own a DS you must play Henry Hatsworth (http://www.henryhatsworth.com/)
Quote from: IndieBoy on Sat 26/09/2009 03:34:35
If you own a DS you must play Henry Hatsworth (http://www.henryhatsworth.com/)
I'm stuck on the final battle of the third world. I almost beat it the other day, but the nurse got the better of me :(
But yes,
hilarious game. The boss characters are so damn preposterous (in a very good way) that it is a pleasure to be beaten by them ;)
I'd add:
Knights & Merchants: the Peasants Rebellion - (RTS)Frustratingly dodgy at times, but has a nice tactics system.
Spenlunky - (Platformer)It's a GM game, but the fact that rescued damsels come under the heading of "Loot" is funny, plus it has nicely randomised levels.
Vector Vendetta: Vengance Version - (Arcade)An AGS game made by Radiant that is still beta testing, but is AWESOME!
Plus I hold the high-score at the moment, and that alone makes it cool. ;D
Blip&Blop: Balls of Steel - (platformer/shooter)Sorta dodgy, but blowing the heads of smurfs and (S)carebears is fun!
Frets on Fire - ...Wait...that isn't an unheard-of game. but hey, keyboards make better guitars...
Act Raisers..Imagine Castlevania and Metroid, if you ended up being a God, add a bit of a simstrategy game, and there you go..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJgct2AnTIw
Quote from: InCreator on Fri 25/09/2009 22:03:44
Hidden Agenda
I love you forever. :=
What I'd like to add are The Spirit Engine and The Spirit Engine 2. The combat systems are
incredible.
Quote from: wonkyth on Sat 26/09/2009 12:28:22
Blip&Blop: Balls of Steel - (platformer/shooter)Sorta dodgy, but blowing the heads of smurfs and (S)carebears is fun!
I remember this one. Man, that was fun, blasting smurfs, carebears and... lemmings!!!
And it's freeware too...
Return Fire: I used to play this computer game for months and months on end. It was excellent. I didn't remember it being 3d, but I just watched the old YouTube video and it all came back. Video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnWGxXyBGZA) I don't know how popular it was though.
Giants: I've heard a few people on here mention this game, but I don't believe it was very popular. It reminds me of Halo but it's filled with lots of comedy.
Black Dahlia: For the pc (there is also a movie called The Black Dahlia--haven't watched it though). It's an adventure game I played when I was younger. I don't know anyone personally who has played this game. But since this is an adventure community, half of you probably have.
I add my votes to The Spirit Engine and Return Fire.
Man, Return Fire. Nostalgia hits like a 17" CRT dropped from the 9th floor of an office block, and I'm left yearning for a time when games were so honest in their appeal...
I second K.G.B, brilliant game...
I also like to add the "Fedora Spade" game series into the mixture. Pure detective adventure games, old style, but incredibly fun to solve and also have good stories.
"Thief" 1&2
, 1 being total cult and underground. While not really unknown (because of Thief 3), very few gamers got past the first mission. It's a mix between action and RPG (classic crypt puzzles), but the main point is to AVOID engagement. So sticking to shadows is the rule number one. Add an exciting mission design and nifty tool selection - a great game(s) neglected by most gamers. (Which resulted in a funny fact - every company that has ever released a Thief had bankrupted. Both Looking Glass and Ion Storm)
Jagged Alliance 2
Maybe it's known among people around here, but it's rare anyone knows about it among general gaming society. The best (and the only) "small scale" turn-based strategy, that really needs tactics to succeed.
Red Faction
Again, popular somewhere and not known somewhere else. While I don't fancy 1st person shooters in general, this one really hooked me on. It has a great story and even greater sci-fi atmosphere. Apart from that, it's just a stupid shooter, but you'll forget about it after first few minutes.
Heh, wasted some big time on Return Fire and Star Control II (later Ur-Quan masters), which is truly magnificent.
Sky Roads
http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/skyroads/
A sweet arcade DOS game with literally breathtaking gameplay :)
And music is very nice too, btw.
Ryan:
Return Fire reminds me Urban Strike, Desert Strike and Jungle Strike somehow. I like it!
Oliwerko:
Jagged Alliance 2 might be less-known cult classic in western world, but in Russia, it's something like a national game along with Starcraft & HOMM series. Every year, some russian developer tries to release a game based on JA2 or with similar genre/gameplay. They made Silent Storm, Hired Guns: Jagged Edge, 7,62mm... list goes on. Sadly, most of those attempts won't get even near the original.
They even attempted JA3! I personally love turn-based strategies too... Pity there's no worthy contender to JA2.
Crimson Wizard:
Haha, Estonian game. It's quite old.
Offtopic (sort of)
Even though near-future addition, I'd name Tropico 3 (which I am playing right now).
Basically, for developers, it took 3rd installment to get everything right. It's marvellous.
Only problem is that while it felt really challenging at first, actually - once you know what to build, it becomes quite simple.
Spoiler
1) Make character with least negative influence on US and USSR
2) Starting money 15000 - build 2 tobacco farms, high school, church and garage near farms (quick education and education is the key here)
3) Wait for the tobacco export generate some money
4) Build cigar factory or two and a diplomatic agency. (Takes few freighter waits)
5) Both economy and relations solved! Raise payment for everyone a bit, especially palace guards.
6) Rest is easy. Start with college, then clinic and apartments. Then entertainment and then tourism
Somehow lots of well known games are mentioned in this thread... ???
Some Favorite Graphic Adventures:
Azrael's Tear (a great 3D FPP adventure game combining Knight Templar's and... dinosaurs. It is a bout a futuristic thief, it looks like Looking Glass' Thief, but it was actually released a year before Quake 1, the machines of that time didn't take the advanced engine very well - unique atmosphere and story, alternative quests, great innovative gameplay)
Dreamweb (the greatest cyberpunk adventure game of all time - great atmosphere and storytelling - a bit shortish though)
Some Favorite Interactive Fiction:
Lost in New York (through a strange series of events you find yourself visiting different periods of New York history, trying to find a way back to the future - detailed, atmospheric and with fun puzzles)
Lost Pig (delightful little adventure were you control a troll named Grunk who enters some kind of catacombs while searching for a pig - amazing parser, incredibly rich NPCs, great design and amount of interaction choices)
It's hard to judge exactly what titles qualify as known or unknown (one man's underdog is another man's classic), but I offer the following:
Pathologic (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/pathologic) (PC) must be tried. Nine out of ten cats won't get it, but those that do will recognize it as something special.
Breakdown (http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox/breakdown) (Xbox) is seriously flawed, but at times almost manages greatness.
Haunting Ground (http://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/haunting-ground) (PS2) is the natural successor to the Clock Tower series, and works pretty well as a whole.
Hagane (http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/hagane-the-final-conflict) (SNES) is hard as nails, but weirdly addictive.
The Firemen (http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/firemen) (SNES) is one of my favourite SNES titles of all time.
Cybernator (http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/cybernator) (SNES) is my favourite SNES title of all time.
SOS The Final Escape (http://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/disaster-report) (PS2) may be technically shonky, but you won't play a better earthquake simulator.
I could go on, but those will do for now. :)
Hmm, my one contribution would be either (or both of) Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive or Robin the Hood: The Legend of Sherwood for being dismissed as 'Commandos clones' that, for my money, are much better than the game they're supposedly ripping off.
Desperados has a very manageable learning curve, plenty of action, an interesting narrative and very memorable characters. (Anyone who has played this game will enthuse about Sanchez) It's nice and lengthy, too and has buckets of atmosphere.
Robin Hood is very similar in a lot of ways, but has different levels of difficulty and some extra challenges to the player (strategic planning of a civil war, for one!) to give it a fair bit of replay value, as well as boss characters, training for your men, recruitment, etc. One of the few games out there where the player is actively encouraged to avoid killing, as well.
Neither are perfect, but even though I like the original Commands series, I think those two games by Spellbound are a LOT more fun. Damn shame they never made any editors, though...
I totally agree, Desperados was fantastic. Part II even moreso, when you could seamlessly switch to a 3rd-person view. And yes, Sanchez was awesome. :)
Obscure titles, hmm....
If you're into the latest Resident Evil's, Cold Fear is a really good RE4 clone. It takes place on a oil tanker caught in a storm, overrun by zombies. Thumbs up.
Lingering in the horror genre for a sec, if you haven't checked out Penumbra, go do so. Real nice indie horror games that put a lot of focus on the atmosphere, and they have a really interesting interaction system.
And Infernal surprised me with how much fun it was for a cheesy B-game. You play as a fallen angel fighting against the legions of Heaven. Except you're some badass dude with a goatee and guns that shoot flaming bullets, and the devil is a black man in a suit with cornrows.
Penumbra rocked. I want to play it again... but there were spiders.
Why o why did they have to put spiders in there? Wasn't game scary enough? I completed both games once, though.
(I'm not really afraid of spiders - in run-away! sense, but whenever I see evil tiny-eyed, hairy bugs, I go into berserk-insane-panicked-killing spree, even in games)
Desperados would be great challenge to Commandos if it wasn't so unfairly difficult and had so hard controls.
I personally loved Commandos II and no similar game has surpassed it yet. Both in experience and possibilities to actually win a damn level. There's a line between challenge and masochism.
I have to second Thief 1 (Dark Project). One of my favorite games ever, incredibly atmospheric.
As for obscure adventure games, "Riddle of Master Lu" is a real gem from the late DOS days. But it is very hard to find and even harder to run flawlessly nowadays. Thank god for DOS Box.
Hmmm... A few of my personal favourites:
Chart Wars 3 - a free text-sim which puts you in charge of a record label. I instantly fell in love with this game, 'cos you can book really detailed tours and work closely with your bands. However, the only (and also the major) flaw with it is that it is incredibly buggy.
Imperialism 1 & 2 - two incredible gems of the TBS genre. The first one puts you in the shoes of the ruler of an industrial power (19th-20th) century and in the second you become the ruler of a country scouring discovering the New World. Both are very detailed and, in my opinion, a bit on the hard side, but I guess I'm not very good :).
Iji - a modern side-scroller with RPG elements, a good story, but it still has that "classic" feel to it. The final bossfight is one of the most epic I've ever seen! Also free!
Transport Tycoon (now OpenTTD) - man, this sim kept me many hours/days/weeks occupied when I was younger. Definetly a game of my childhood and one of the best strategy games ever in my opinion! Now, the Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe project offers all the things that made the original so good, but many new things like mods for new vehicles/industries! Aye, it be free.
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory - Dunno if this counts, but I enjoy playing this FPS online a lot. I'm especially present nowadays on the SexMad servers :). There are different classes, (medic, engineer, etc.) objectives, AND it's set in WWII, what more can you want?! It's also more streamlined than the first Battlefield ever was, in my opinion. Also free.
Call me old fashioned but I love micro-management simulation games, like Civilisation 2 and Championship Manager 00/01
RISTAR FOR THE SEGA MEGADRIVE!!!!
seriously one of the best platformers ever!
and damn you limpingfish! I was gonna say breakdown! wich I consider the best fps I've ever played!
I can see it's flaws sure but I don't care, it rocked!
also I really enjoyed advent rising for the original xbox! also very flawed sucky framerate and what not but amazing pace and cool gameplay atmoshpere one of my favs!
lost odyssey is a final fantasy like game for the xbox 360 it's pretty famous though kind of under appreciated!
I second lost odyssey. The memories make me want to cry.
Quote from: FruitTree on Mon 28/09/2009 10:33:44
also I really enjoyed advent rising for the original xbox! also very flawed sucky framerate and what not but amazing pace and cool gameplay atmoshpere one of my favs!
I have this for PC! And yeah, terrible frame rates and crap, but I really, really enjoyed playing through it! A lot of it is overblown bullet time and special effects, but it all feels really cool when you're playing!
I've tried playing through it again twice since finishing it, and both times have lost interest, but that first time was absolutely magical!
Gunstar heroes - Sega genesis: Super arcade action!
Front Mission - Snes: Old school tactical rpg.
Jagged Alliance v1.13 - Win: No comment. No competitors.
Football Manager 07/08 (the new one sucks) - Win: the notorious time hugger.
And a special two dungeon crawlers:
IVAN and DoomRL.
IVAN for the complete unfairness of the difficulty level and DoomRL for the atmosphere.
I have to say Shadow complex for the xbox360. Awesome 2d platform action with really beautiful 3d graphics. Like a mix of castlevania - symphony of the night, metroid and metal gear solid. I really loved that game. Bully is also a game I think deserves more credit. IMO I think rockstar should give up that crappy GTA series and focus on bully instead :D GTA feels sooo repetitive for me after a little while. Bully never does. Castlevania - symphony of the night is also a very good game by the way.
I think that some more epic games must be mentioned...
-Master of Magic
-Master of Orion
-System Shock
...and those old adventure games (fate of atlantis :D)
How many of you have played the original Master of Magic, and how many had problems with dos and "insufficient memory" :P
I'll go 3 per decade in various genres...
In the 80s...
Mail Order Monsters
The Eternal Dagger
Racing Destruction Set
In the 90s...
Civilization
Sam and Max Hit the Road
X-Com: UFO Defense
Newer
Psychonauts
Half Life 2 (and expansions)
Mount and Blade (impressive for a small studio)
"Planescape: Torment", "Kingpin", and "Fallout 2" get honorable mentions.
Just remembered another great, yet fairly obscure game I loved - Iron Storm. I can see why it didn't take off, because aside from the parallel universe angle the game was sold on a gimmick of "Hey, this game is INSANELY HARD!" but to me that adds to the appeal. Nothing was more rewarding in my gaming life than gruelling my way through this game.
Basically, anyone can shoot you once and kill you instantly if they're a good shot. Hence, it's realistic. But you're given a list of objectives to rival most Medal of Honour games. Oh, and you can only carry three guns. With pretty limited ammo. It's kind of like a war-hero sim.
Hmmm, maybe I'm a complete masochist gamer...
Blood This is an old shooter from Monolith games that puts you in the shoes of a soulless evil cowboy out to destroy Cthulu (or whatever they called him in the game). One of the best old school shooters I ever played.
Jagged Alliance Best tactical game ever.
Rocket Ranger Rocket ships, Nazi dominatrixes, jet packs, ray guns, blimps, fisticuffs, Aztec temples, Bettie Page. This game had everything.
Starflight So many wasted hours of my life. First game I ever played where I was absolutely blown away at the size of the game's world.
System Shock Those are still the most well done ghosts in any game ever, as far as I'm concerned.
Elvis In Space I can't even imagine how many hours I wasted at work playing this game back in the day. So strangely addictive.
Alone in the Dark Who knew crude polygons could be so effective? This was Resident Evil before there was Resident Evil. Too bad the series went off the rails after that first game. Undead gangsters? Undead cowboys? Sheesh, did those later games suck. But that first one is still effective.
Defender Yeah, I'm really dating myself with this one, but as a little kid in the early 80s, this was my drug of choice.
And that's my list. And now I feel very old.
Damn... i almost forgot that we (me and my better half) have had all versions of nintendo consoles, from Famicom/Nes to wii and new DS... So i have to vote
MARIO
;D
Moonstone: A Hard Days' Knight Strategic-fighting-rpg for PC from the early nineties, if I'm not mistaken. Amazingly funny, gory and (sadly) damn short.
System Shock 2: incomparably better than the first one, and the "sequel" (Bioshock). Similar but much better than Deus Ex, and it was older.
Anachronox (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/anachronox), the rpg by Ion Storm. Because it's not good, it's just godlike. Wonderful design, hilarious ironical humour spilled everywhere, and awesome sci-fi-ish atmosphere with some realy cool dramatic plot put in seamlessly and harmonically with all the funny stuff. This game overcame just any of my expectations with how brilliant everything there is from cutscenes to remarks of every npc you meet, the characters and all the story twists can't be praised enough.
I don't know how rpg junkies will judge roleplaying part of the game which seemed quite nice to me, but I expect every adventure gamer to fall love with it instantly as I did because of the story, characters and the whole feel of the game.
Well, why don't I also mention AquaNox 1 and 2. If you happen to like all the following things - cool cyberpunk/dark sci-fi atmosphere, underwater sceneries, wild shooting in all directions, lots of dialogues with unusual characters - then you're going to enjoy this game a lot.
Allow me to add 4 of my favorite games of all time:
The best music game ever made (and I do mean the best. I've lost count of how many I've played :P):Gitaroo man for PS2 (also on PSP)
Domino mentioned ICO, which is awesome, but curiously not Shadow of the colossus also for PS2. which I personally think is far superiour to ICO.
Lumines for PSP. A game that was hyped on its release but seems to only live as a crappy cellphone-game now. It was, and still is, the best puzzle game (tetris-clone) there is!
I know Okami for PS2 and Wii is well known, but I still include it because it's the best game ever :D! For those who don't know about Okami: it's like zelda, only much better and more appeiling, and you play as a god (sungod, a wolf). Played through it like 4 times (and it's a pretty long game).
If you were to pick up any of these titles, I swear, you won't be disappointed.