Underated Video Games

[BC1871]

Imperialism II is free, I played it a bit and it was a pretty fun game. Unfortunately it is also extremely fast paced with the colonizable land being gobbled up in a handful of turns :/

Imperialism II, never lived up to the original. Though it added some further unique concepts such as spies and as stated earlier the New World, however the span of technology made keeping an Army and an Empire(with the consideration of the pace, at which the game was played) made it far too unmanageable.

 

[OrsonM]

Jagged Alliance Back in Action for me. It's actually a really fun, if not super micro intensive, game (and a bit buggy there).

It reminds me of Arcanum to be honest (man there's a lot of items and babysitting). I think the original release didn't had fog of war, the patched version I'm playing does and it's a blast.

Although, out of topic, if we ever have an overrated games list, I'd put L.A. Noire on the top spot. The short missions, the lack of options in gameplay, hammy script and dead eyes acting just didn't do it for me. I'm probably alone on that one though.

 

[KaiserElectric]

My overrated game would have to be Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The gameplay was good, and I liked the story, but the ending really turned me off.

 

[Maniacal]

I don't think anyone really praises or recommends it for its ending.

 

[KaiserElectric]

Yeah, but it still had the same effect on me as Mass Effect 3 had on those who played it. It was lackluster.

 

[Ailedhoo]

Startopia; it is a British comedic space station management game released in 2001. It was made by former Bullfrog members. GOG has recently reintroduced it to the world.

 

[Zilkin]

This. Despite the fact that Fallout New Vegas is in pretty much every way better than Fallout 3, I still have better memories of playing Fallout 3. Just because of the setting. It felt a lot more like a real post-apocalyptic setting to me. There were actually times I felt isolated and "far". The exploration was more fun.

You are entitled to your opinion of course but I just wanna say two things. Fallout games have never been about survival in realistic post-apocalyptic world. Fallout 1 and especially 2 are closer to a comedy than horror. Second thing is the war which resulted in the nukes being used happens over 200 years before the time of Fallout 3.

 

[Arakhor]

Well, that and the Fallout setting relies on two general handwaves - that science (particularly radiation & nuclear power) works as 50s pulp fiction expected it to and that a post-apocalyptic society doesn't change or exhaust its own resources for two hundred years.

 

[Disgustipated]

You mean I can't turn myself into a ghoul by exposing myself to radiation? awww . I bought that medical isotope source for nothing. Because I really do want to become a ghoul.

And yeah 50's pulp fiction is what it is. As for Fallout 3, I can't find it that realistic. I'd think there would be nothing left of the mall and downtown D.C. No standing Washington Monument for sure. An H bomb would obliterate everything.

 

[Rub'Rum]

You are entitled to your opinion of course but I just wanna say two things. Fallout games have never been about survival in realistic post-apocalyptic world. Fallout 1 and especially 2 are closer to a comedy than horror. Second thing is the war which resulted in the nukes being used happens over 200 years before the time of Fallout 3.

What you say is true and I'm well aware of it. It doesn't change the fact that I prefer the more desolate, exploration-based, lonely feeling of Fallout 3.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Startopia; it is a British comedic space station management game released in 2001. It was made by former Bullfrog members. GOG has recently reintroduced it to the world.

I loved the biosphere. Awesome game, so sad it failed sale-wise.

 

[History_Buff]

Yeah, Fallout has always been a ridiculous setting by all appearances. I especially love that people are still eating foodstuffs from before the war, and somehow haven't run out of bullets yet. If you think about that, it's a pretty amusing commentary about modern America.

In the end, while I never did play the first two Fallout games, I still stand by Fallout 3 being a more enjoyable game than NV, purely because it keeps you in a lot of enclosed, claustrophobic spaces.

 

[cybrxkhan]

As for Fallout 3, that's not to mention that after two hundred years the terrain would probably be a little greener. (Right...?)

 

[Joecoolyo]

In the end, while I never did play the first two Fallout games, I still stand by Fallout 3 being a more enjoyable game than NV, purely because it keeps you in a lot of enclosed, claustrophobic spaces.

Blech, that's one of the reasons I didn't like 3 as much compared to NV. I felt so trapped, while NV felt a lot more "explorable" and open. I avoided DC until the very end for that reason.

Along with the other things like there's so much less to do in 3 compared to NV. I visited every location in the game, and was disappointing to barely find any quests outside of the main one (which went waaay to quickly IMO).

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Four pages about underrated games and no one has mentioned Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines or Alpha Protocol ? For shame !
Both games received lukewarm reviews and were quite buggy when they were released, but they are now very good Deus Ex like games with great atmosphere.
More importantly, they have great replayability because your choices really matter for the endings.

 

[Rub'Rum]

I'd agree that Alpha Protocol was quite underrated despite the mess it was. I had a lot of fun with it... Maybe even more so than with Deus Ex... (!). I think Vampire The Masquerades is generally well rated by almost everybody though. But yes, maybe it wasn't exposed as much as it could have been.

 

[OrsonM]

Well, you can't mention any Troika games without mentioning underrated there.

The bad part is that I heard about them after they went under, wish I've heard of them before that. What the hell were we all playing when Troika games were released?

Arcanum (2001): Civ 3, Diablo 2 LOD, Tropico, Black & White.

Temple of Elemental Evil: Sim City 4, WC 3 TFT, Patrician 3, Vietcong.

VMBL: Half Life 2, WoW, Dawn of War, The Sims 2, Doom 3

 

[Ailedhoo]

I loved the biosphere. Awesome game, so sad it failed sale-wise.

Alas we Brits have some sort of curse on our game companies. I hope one day someone with the will make Startopia 2 in all its full spirit and quality. Hopefully since its Square Enix, not EA that owns it, such a return will not be of ill... as we know from the ill of EA's attempts at resurecting games.

Off topic but not so much off topic on topic of the possible hope for Startopia 2: there was a intresting BBC article on the resurecting of old games.

 

[Arakhor]

Temple of Elemental Evil was terribly bugged, but I played Arcanum at the time. I now have a CD-less copy from GOG.

 

[Glassmage]

Age of Wonders series. It has been 12 years since the first game and people in the community are still making patches, mods, and maps for this. The universe, stories, gameplay, and music are superb. Even the graphic is better than Fallen Enchantress imho.