Underated Video Games

[Kael]

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is one of my favorite games of all time, to bad more people haven't played it. I was surprised a few days ago when I checked the credits and noticed Civ5 veteran Ed Beach in the credits.

I also love Tropico, and though I don't think it's underrated (many people love it) the first version with the Paradise Island expansion is really incredible. Hmm... Ed Beach also worked on that. Maybe I just love Ed's games.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is one of my favorite games of all time, to bad more people haven't played it. I was surprised a few days ago when I checked the credits and noticed Civ5 veteran Ed Beach in the credits.

That game is unplayable now. Unlike Pharaoh or Zeus, Emperor has no widescreen/other resolution support.

One of the best i ever played, it's a pity the series stopped there.

 

[sherbz]

I have a few:

I always thought Lords of magic had the seeds of a good game, as it was actually pretty playable. It had the gem of a good idea but never quite managed to pull it off. I definitely think it might be worth a remake.

I agree with a previous poster that Total Annihilation was also underrated.

I also think the original unreal is massively underrated. I think the level design was excellent. I have also yet to come across a game where the graphics made such a giant leap forward. It was way ahead of its time, but kind of got swamped by Half life fervour 8 months later.

Thief, I know has a cult following, but again i think many people dont realise how influential that actually was as a game.

Finally system shock 2 rounds off my fairly modern list (again, has a cult following, but modern gamers have often never heard of it). Great game with one of the archetypal bad guys.

The only other ones are old ones that I think were highly influential, but never really get the credit they deserve:

Alone in the dark was a fantastic game, very atmospheric, and genuinely frightening. Resident evil was basically a copy.

I would also stick in X-Com UFO defence in here, but now people would know more about it for obvious reasons.

Syndicate was another excellent game.

Has anyone played space rangers? I hear good things about that, but its not exactly main stream.

 

[PhilBowles]

I would also stick in X-Com UFO defence in here, but now people would know more about it for obvious reasons.

A game has frequently topped media polls of the best computer games ever made over the past 20 years, and come to that with a monster (Chryssalids) also often voted among the best video game monsters, can hardly be considered underrated! At the time it sold more copies in the US (where it was called X-COM: UFO Defence, though even there is better-known as UFO: Enemy Unknown because the Gollops didn't change the title screen) than most European games, as well as performing very strongly at home.

It's more that in more recent years it has been largely forgotten outside the 'niche' community since it didn't spawn a major genre, only a number of more-or-less successful copycats

 

[Kael]

That game is unplayable now. Unlike Pharaoh or Zeus, Emperor has no widescreen/other resolution support.

One of the best i ever played, it's a pity the series stopped there.

Good news for us, it hasn't stopped there. Tilted Mill (ie: the guys from impression games) just announced Medieval Mayor, a game they say returns to the roots of their classic city builders. I can't wait!

 

[PhroX]

As for underrated games, I don't pay attention, or can't remember the ratings of many games I've played. But some games seem to be "not as popular" as similar games in the genre for some reason. Even if they are pretty good games. Neverwinter Nights 2 is the best example I can think of right now. I don't know how the game was rated, but it didn't seem to get much talk compared to the original. Although I think it was harder to mod than the original, which may be why it wasn't as popular (I admit to only playing the original campaign and the first expansion not any mods). I felt the original campaign in NWN2 was superior to Neverwinter Night's campaign.

Good choice, though I seem to remember it being reasonably well received at the time. NWN2's campaign was a significant step up from the original's. Not that that was particularly hard, as NWN's campaign was dire, but 2 was a good, though I wouldn't say great, game. And yeah, I've heard the same about the modding, though I do remember a few good ones (including one particular mod - I forget the name - which basically incorporated a scaled down version of Pirates into the game).

So I'll add to that for another really underrated game. Mask of the Betrayer - NWN2's first expansion. The gameplay was a bit iffy IMO, but that's probably just because I think 3/3.5e D&D sucks at high levels, but the story was simply brilliant. A bit different from the usual RPG affair, it was a rather interesting trip in to the morality of D&D's death and afterlife system. Probably the closest Obsidian have ever gotten to their Black Isle heyday of PS:T. Even if you can't be bothered to play through the main game's campaign, play this.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Good news for us, it hasn't stopped there. Tilted Mill (ie: the guys from impression games) just announced Medieval Mayor, a game they say returns to the roots of their classic city builders. I can't wait!

What? Awesome!


I loved Emperor and Pharaoh when I was a kid - played them all the time. I also played quite a lot of Children of the Nile when I was in Middle School - I also think it's underrated; it's a very slow game, but it also had some good ideas.

 

[ELITEOFWARMAN8]

The Quest For Glory adventure game series .

 

[Disgustipated]

Good choice, though I seem to remember it being reasonably well received at the time. NWN2's campaign was a significant step up from the original's. Not that that was particularly hard, as NWN's campaign was dire, but 2 was a good, though I wouldn't say great, game. And yeah, I've heard the same about the modding, though I do remember a few good ones (including one particular mod - I forget the name - which basically incorporated a scaled down version of Pirates into the game).

So I'll add to that for another really underrated game. Mask of the Betrayer - NWN2's first expansion. The gameplay was a bit iffy IMO, but that's probably just because I think 3/3.5e D&D sucks at high levels, but the story was simply brilliant. A bit different from the usual RPG affair, it was a rather interesting trip in to the morality of D&D's death and afterlife system. Probably the closest Obsidian have ever gotten to their Black Isle heyday of PS:T. Even if you can't be bothered to play through the main game's campaign, play this.

I agree about Mask of the Betrayer. I've been in the mood to play this and the main campaign again. Mask of the Betrayer does have sort of a Planescape feel to it. I think they were going for that on purpose. It may be a while before we see a RPG like this again, so I urge people to play this and the first expansion (I do want to get the second expansion too- I'll probably play that later this year). Most RPG's are of the Fallout/Skyrim/Dragon Age 2 variety now which have their good points. But I like the style of Mask of the Betrayer. It had some annoying feeding system iirc, but I think a patch took that out since.

 

[eduhum]

Railroad Tycoon 3. The settlers 6, rise of an empire. Dead serious.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

To the person who commented on Mario Galaxy - it isn't underrated by any measure. It's lauded (correctly) as a masterpiece. Also the fact that the Wii is in more homes than the PS3 and Xbox360 combine (IIRC) means that it isn't unknown or unplayed. I think though the users of this site aren't the Wii's primary demographic so it goes unnoticed here. In any case, it was a great game, as was Super Mario Sunshine before it. Has anyone heard how Mario Galaxy 2 is? I haven't played it.

I don't really know anything about 95% of the games mentioned here...I guess I'm not a hardcore gamer. Argh


One game I think was underrated was Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. It was on the PS2 and maybe the Xbox. It was open ended like GTA, but much smaller in scope (even though it's set on planets across the SW universe, most of the environments were pretty small).

In any case, it was a whole lot of fun to play. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Arakhor]

In DA:O, it was clear you were the "last hope" from about an hour in). DA2 was a smaller scale, more personal story, which I much prefer.

As much as I love Morrowind with the passion of a thousand suns, you are the focus of prophecy and end up as the be-all and end-all (literally) throughout Vvardenfell, whereas in Oblivion, whilst you are still involved in a literally Empire-shattering plot, you are "only" the Dragon to Uriel VII's last child and therefore have a much smaller, less intensive (and probably slightly more believable) role outlined the scrolls of time.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Railroad Tycoon 3.

I loved Railroad Tycoon 3 as a kid. So definitely this.

 

[cybrxkhan]

As much as I love Morrowind with the passion of a thousand suns, you are the focus of prophecy and end up as the be-all and end-all (literally) throughout Vvardenfell, whereas in Oblivion, whilst you are still involved in a literally Empire-shattering plot, you are "only" the Dragon to Uriel VII's last child and therefore have a much smaller, less intensive (and probably slightly more believable) role outlined the scrolls of time.

I've heard some people say that Morrowind's not as clear-cut on that. Certainly, you can view the story as the standard prophesized hero plot, though one with an amazing setting and background. However, some have said that the player's status as prophesized hero is not actually that clear-cut, and there is some vagueness on whether the player is actually the Neverarine (I can't spell it), whether Azura's just being a troll, and where exactly the lines between good and evil are drawn (particularly between Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal) - though I won't say much more since I'm not really good with Elder Scrolls lore, as much as I admire it.

That said, I still think Oblivion's plot, despite being much more cliche, had a lot of potential.

But those two games already have tons of love. So... yeah.

 

[sophie]

Not exactly underrated as its praises were sung from on high by everybody who experienced it, but one of the more unremembered great games of the early 2000s was certainly Psychonauts. It's a shame, as it is one of the most imaginative and fun platformers ever made.

Oh. And I liked Zeus: Master of Olympus. One of my favorite games as a kid.

I still play Emperor. I consider it the best of those historical city builders. I never really liked the format of caesar 3/pharaoh. The problem with Emperor was there were a lot of little contrived annoyances that the game threw at you that turned it very tedious, very quickly. I hated the ancestor worship part of the game. It wasn't fun, it was just irritating, especially when forgetting about it resulted in a flood or an earthquake, meaning you had to manually rebuild basically the whole city. I don't know if this is a design or a glitch in my game, but as soon as I conquered a city it would immediately rebel away from me (as in before I could even manage to send a gift) which meant I basically had to conquer every city twice, which made the "rule x cities" challenges a major chore.

Actually I remember why they did this. I would send the whole of my forces to conquer a city usually, so when the troops left the newly conquered city, the city would assess my strength and, seeing as how I had no troops in my city (they are all in his) the ai decides that they can safely rebel. However this is ridiculous and just means that I have to immediately turn my forces around and reconquer the city. It was just tedious.

 

[LightSpectra]

As much as I love Morrowind with the passion of a thousand suns, you are the focus of prophecy and end up as the be-all and end-all (literally) throughout Vvardenfell, whereas in Oblivion, whilst you are still involved in a literally Empire-shattering plot, you are "only" the Dragon to Uriel VII's last child and therefore have a much smaller, less intensive (and probably slightly more believable) role outlined the scrolls of time.

Ugh, disagree. Martin was a terrible character and Oblivion is one of the most hardcore cliche-driven video games ever made. Granted, I think all plots based entirely upon a prophecized "Chosen One" are kinda stupid, but at least the Tribunal and Dagoth Ur were really interesting villains. What's Mehrunes Dagon got going for him? He's a giant evil demon bent on universal conquest! Raaaaawr!

Underrated game: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Anybody who played this knows this is true.

 

[Arakhor]

Oh, I completely agree, LightSpectra. I loved MW's villains and thought that Martin was boring and so on, but despite OB's dreadfully clichéd and at times tedious quest, it did have the perk of not turning your character into a literal god-amongst-men.

Slightly more on-topic, I think that Planescape: Torment was underrated. It had an engaging plot, memorable characters, a unique plot and more in-game text than you can shake a stick at, but it was left unfinished and didn't even receive an expansion pack. It has its flaws of course, chiefly that its replayability factor is low, but it deserved so much more than it received at the time.

 

[LightSpectra]

Oh, I completely agree, LightSpectra. I loved MW's villains and thought that Martin was boring and so on, but despite OB's dreadfully clichéd and at times tedious quest, it did have the perk of not turning your character into a literal god-amongst-men.

Did you play Shivering Isles? You do become a literal god at the end of that.

Slightly more on-topic, I think that Planescape: Torment was underrated. It had an engaging plot, memorable characters, a unique plot and more in-game text than you can shake a stick at, but it was left unfinished and didn't even receive an expansion pack. It has its flaws of course, chiefly that its replayability factor is low, but it deserved so much more than it received at the time.

Greatest game ever made, imo.

 

[The_J]

Slightly more on-topic, I think that Planescape: Torment was underrated.

To cite a prior post, out of context, but still valid:

A game has frequently topped media polls of the best computer games ever made over the past 20 years [...] can hardly be considered underrated!

---------
I somehow have quite more overrated than underrated games on my list. Guess the general hype normally pushes the expectations, so that being underrated doesn't happen that often.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

More games I never heard of.

Lol, I guess that kind of is the point of an underated video games thread!