Surprisingly good games

[Rekindled]

So I was inspired by this video
Top obscure 10 NES gems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXWgk4ooE0Y

What have you played, that you may not have expected to be good but was really enjoyable and one of your favorites from the 05-'12 erra.**

Mine were:

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (RTS) PC - 2007. In 2007 I kinda liked RTS games, but it seemed like (to me) there were only 2 big ones, Age of Empires 2/3 and SC1 -perhaps red alert. I actually did not play this till 2011 when a few mates and I wanted to try an RTS that none of had tried and when we gave this a look we were amazed, an incredibly in depth but easy to understand game with interesting aspects. Give it a look.

Bayonetta: (PS3 and 360 2009) Skill based action games are rarely done well, I feel that they either offer insta death or no challenge, but this game by SEGA of all people is really good striking a fine balance between progression and challenge with a very interesting 'vivid' artstyle. Though it got a bit of attention back in the day, it was released along side a plethora of other titles and was a little over shadowed, particularly by darksiders. Plus the fact that Sega made a game that was both not sonic and good surprised me.
But if you do play it gun for the 360 version, the PS3 version has some frame stutters and controls feel less responsive.




**This is not a thread for games that we KNEW were going to be good (SC2, GTAIV so on and so forth) these are games that may not have been super main stream or were made by a developer that hasn't been going well for a little while. Please keep this current generation, we all know that there are gems on the NES SNES AND PS1; but since there is about a 0.3% chance that most people own
a) an old TV
b) working console
c) will actually want to play a super old game after waiting 5 weeks for an ebay order.

[Throren]

Overlord and Overlord 2

These games were seriously under-rated and so fun, its basically a mix of third hack n slash and troop building/army leading. (A good example would be Brutal Legend when you have troops follow you about)

Essentially you are an evil Overlord and you control a horde of minions. You dont often find medieval fantasy games where you're the bad guy, plus it is filled with dark cheeky humor (Plus killing little obese hobbits is fun). I personally preferred the first one but The 2nd is still well done.

Overlord


Overlord 2

[Newbryn]

1st off bayonetta was in no way overshadowed by any other action game that came out in 2010, second I'm pretty sure everyone knew it was gonna be good, after all its made by the same guy who made devil may cry, so unless no one knew that then it was in no way a surprise.

[wariofan1]

A game which I think that they lacked on that list: Ufouria. I think it was only released in Europe though, so that may explain why it lacks on the list. Basically I expected this soft bad game, but I had decided I wanted to beat a random NES game for the fun of it. Turns out I stumpled upon one of the best NES games I've ever played. You can switch between 4 different characters, each has a special ability, and you'll earn lots of different powerups throughout the game. The world rivals that of Metroid in size (not quite as big though), and it is definately joyful to play. Only problem I had with the game was that I played through over half of it without knowing how to kill enemies, turns out you have to press down while landing on the enemies' heads, who'd have thought?

[Caiada]

Professor Layton and the Last Specter. An astonishingly well-written story-based puzzle game and a giant RPG on the side? Sign me the hell up, now!

[Rekindled]

I might have to dust off the old DS to check out the layton game. Thanks for the recommendation. I did play overlord 1 actually, surprised it slipped my mind good catch ^.^.

Also I gave my reason for why bayonetta is on the list. I was surprised by it; being, probably, the best game I got a hold of on my 360, and that is competing with Halo3... and I freaking L-O-V-E Halo3.

[Duruka]

I might have to dust off the old DS to check out the layton game. Thanks for the recommendation. I did play overlord 1 actually, surprised it slipped my mind good catch ^.^.

Check out all 4 of them, they're all pretty good. The 3rd being my favourite.

I can't really think of any obscure games I really enjoyed. One series that surprised me was Metal Gear Solid. I know it's not unknown at all, but I'm usually not a fan of that genre. I did quite like the stealth elements and the story though.

[Jon]

Demon's Souls (PS3 exclusive)

It's somewhat better known now that its spiritual successor Dark Souls has gained fame, but when it came out it flew under the radar of many European and North American gamers.

[Mechazod]

Monster Tale (DS): a super under rated Metroidvania style game with some great combat, an amazing soundtrack and also uses a pet raiser style mini-game mixed into the action that effects your special attacks. Some what short and a tad bit on the easy side, but none the less it is an essential buy for anyone who loves classic style adventure scrollers.


Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii): made by Vanillaware, the creators of Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire on the PS2, Muramasa is a fast paced hack and slash side scroller with an amazing art direction and some minor RPG elements and progression sprinkled into it. This game is so fast paced and so freaking fun I can not stop giving it enough praise. If the Wii's hard ware limitations resulted in the creation of games like this then I am so glad those restrictions exist. Basically its almost like a game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta except 2D, similar to of Odin Sphere except less RPG and more action. If you don't like Nintendo's first party series then I would say this is the reason to get a Wii (not to mention the countless other non-download awesome classics that also exist on the system).


Orcs & Elves (DS): this is a very classic PC game inspired title, inspired by classic first person dungeon crawlers like Ultima Underworld and the Lands of Lore series. A description I would give to it is sort of like taking a Elder Scrolls game and adding in some minor turn based elements. Every action and move you take, while seemingly real time, acts as a turn for you, for example if you see an enemy down a hall way then every step you take towards the enemy will count as a turn and so then the enemy will also start either attacking or moving towards you as well, acting as their turns. In a sense its sort of like a strategy RPG but from a first person perspective.


Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (PS3/360): this is a pretty standard 3rd person shooter as far as game play is concerned, the real attention this game deserves is on its plot and characters. Matt Hazard is suppose to be a late 80s classic arcade action game hero who has come out of retirement for a new modern gen game. Basically all of the levels and enemies and homages to various video game genres which results in parody levels of Goldeneye on the N64, battling a JRPG main character in a boss fight, battling 2D cut out Nazi's Wolfenstein style and plenty of others.


Barnyard Blast: Swine of the Night (DS): a homage/parody/clone of the Castlevania series right down to the whip wielding hero, the soundtrack and the enemies/story. Filled with tons of classic video game references and quotes that made me giggle. The game is also fairly more difficult then any modern Castlevania and plays more like the original NES ones.


3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3): When this came out every Nintendo/Zelda fan boy was in an outrage saying that Sony made their own Zelda clone for the PS3 while avoiding the fact that this game wasn't even made by SCE and wasn't a clone, but rather a homage to the Zelda series as well as other classic NES titles. Basically what Dot Game does it take the top down style Zelda games, but makes them 3D so its sort of like an isometric view of the action, I would imagine if the rumors of a new sequel/remake of Link to the Past is true that it would be in a similar style. I love the graphics of this game, pixel based 3D characters and environments as far as the eye can see with the ability to make your own character block by block. If you are a Nintendo fan/classic game fan who has just recently found them self in possession of a PS3 and don't know what to get then this is your game.


WET(360/PS3?/PC?): a 3rd person shooter which makes heavy use of bullet time effects like in the Max Payne series. The game play tries and mimic a over the top action movie with moves like jumping and shooting two enemies at once, sliding and shooting and various fast paced acrobatics to dispatch enemies. The game is pretty short but still a decent action game for anyone wanting to try something different.


Sakura Wars: So Long My Love (PS2/Wii): Ive played the older entries into this series, but from what I remember this may of been the first official English release. Sakura Wars is a tactical RPG where you make use of mech suits to battle enemy robots. The game is turn based except rather then moving between squares you have free movement on the battlefield until a meter runs all the way down. Positioning your units together can allow them to do combo attacks and there is also times where your mech will transform into a jet and combat will be a bit more aerial. The primary plot of the Sakura Wars series is that its set in a parallel reality Earth set in the early 1900's and very much steam punk style. The various games revolve around a group of world defending organizations who use mechs to defend the planet from various enemy threats while using the guise of their organization being a stage performance group. This is the first game in the series from my memory to take place in New York City and beyond the SRPG game play its also heavily based on your interactions with other characters while not in combat(which in turn has effects on the characters.) For anyone who wants to try something different in the genre I would recommended this.


Jurassic: The Hunted (PS3/PS2/360?): I know most people didn't like this game, but I need to recommend it because it provided me with exactly the kind of game I am always on the look out for: a shooter where you get to fight against dinosaurs. Beyond the single player story there is also a mode where you get to defend a structure against an onslaught of dinos, repairing various parts of them and trying to see how long you can survive which is a nice added bonus to a bargain bin style game. Jurassic gave me exactly the kind of game I wanted so I have no real gripes with it besides the lack of a co-op mode which would of been nice.


Half-Minuet Hero (PSP): Four game play modes exist in this game: classic RPG, RTS, top down shooter and a sort of escort/tower defense mode. The thing that makes this game unique is that you only have 30 seconds to complete each stage of the game. The result is a frantic fast paced game that has you planning ahead, grinding levels as fast as possible and hoarding/obtaining any extra seconds you can get in the very short amount of time you have. Very fast paced, very frantic, very good music and very fun overall.


NIER (360/PS3): This is a 3rd person action adventure game that reminded me of the first time playing Ocarina of Time. While not open world in the sense of Elder Scrolls or Two Worlds the game has some fairly big environments to explore along with dungeons. Its a bit more fast paced then a Zelda game with some elements of it almost seemingly based off bullet hell arcade shooters. For some reason not a lot of people liked this game which I really cant figure out why because I thought it was one of the best games of this generation.


Beat Hazard (PC): I generally dislike download only games, but fortunately I managed to find an official CD release of this gem. The game play is similar to the Geometry Wars games except the pace of the game is effected by the music that you are playing, either the default ones built in or your own custom tracks. The faster the music the faster the game play with everything from bosses, power ups and your own fire power being effected by the tune.

The Dark Spire (DS): another dungeon crawler for the DS except the game play is generic classic turn based/random encounter style like Swords and Serpents on the NES and the Wizardry series. The game is inspired and based off these classic games and reflects it in an optional mode that lets you play in a classic wire frame version of the game with 8-bit music and enemy sprites(which is safe to say is the mode I played this the most in) as well as the option to play in a modern version of the game. The game is also no push over and is comparable somewhat in difficulty to the Etrian Odyssey series as well as you needing to almost figure out on your own how a lot of things work such as items and gear.

Brutal Legend (360/PS3): an open worldish hack and slash adventure game inspired by heavy metal music and also containing RTS battles to the game where besides just commanding your units from an aerial view you also get to dive down into battle and fight along side your soldiers. Awesome world, story, characters, humor and soundtrack. I cry every time I see this game in the bargain bin along with Bayonetta.

SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 (PS2/Wii): a collection of various SNK classic NeoGeo titles such as Metal Slug, Fatal Fury, King of the Monsters and the original King of Fighters. Besides its fantastic selection of games this is also the single best title to make use of the achievement system in modern games and I wish more games would use a similar style. For each game their is a selection of various objectives to complete and every time you beat one you will unlock something in the game, things like pieces of art work, music and combo move directions for the characters in the fighting games, also by collecting a set number of objectives you unlock bigger things such as the original World Heroes game. More games with achievements/trophies need to use a similar system as this instead of just awarding you with "Gamer score" (along with separating multiplayer/single player achievements).

[Evilmaniac]

Some great old ones I remember were Mickey Mouse and the Magical Quest- Made by Capcom and a real good platformer. Only disney game I ever played. Heard Capcom made all the disney games good back in the SNES era.
Zombie ate My Neighbors- Hard game is HARD. I got to level 54 out of 55. Was on the SNES and Sega. I think it's gained a lot of recognition though since the people talking about nostalgia on the internet.

[mistuhbull]

Reccetear: Basically, you are being extorted by a fairy and run an item shop in an RPG. You can hire adventurers to go into dungeons (which you then play as) to collect goods to sell to the people of the town. You can pick it up through steam

[Skizzit]

For fans of the Professor Layton games (I really need to pick up the 4th one day soon), have you guys played Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective for the DS? Really fun and unique puzzle game. You play as a recently departed spirit and your whole goal is to find out who killed you. As a spirit, you can rewind and replay time a small amount and interact with various items to cause them to do things like open and close umbrellas, spin wheels, and turn on or off electronics. You use these abilities to solve puzzles and rescue people. It has a really cool art style and features one of the most amazing little doggies ever, Missile!


Another great DS game that I think is pretty well known now even though it was really obscure when it was released is The World Ends With You. Really fun little action game with a great art style (designed by the same team who worked on the Kingdom Hearts series) and a great soundtrack. Most of the characters from TWEWY are going to play a big role in Kingdom Hearts 3D it seems. Lets hope this is the first step towards a TWEWY sequel!

[Moralio]

Darksiders - really good action adventure that reminds me of my old time beloved LoK:Soul Reaver. Not really innovative in terms of gameplay, but it has amazing comic-like design. Also plot wise it is loosely based on christian mythology, something not often used.

[Venziir]

Dark Cloud/Chronicle for the PS2 - may seem like a Zelda rip-off with some odd Simcity elements, but all-in-all very great games.

Anno 1470, quite recent but still, I really like it even though I'm beyond terrible at it.

Summoner 1 & 2 for the PS2, not a lot of people I know have ever heard of this franchise - again great games.

I'm sure I could easily mention a lot of others, I just can't think of any yet heh, still early here.

[Pancha]

I have to add Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It is seriously one of the best third person games I've played. It is old though (12'ish years).

[Bznga]

Its not anything special but to this day i still play crash bandicoot on ps1.