Gaming Video games that were amazing but didn’t get the recognition it deserved

Tottenhamguy said:
I was thinking the other day about a game called ‘Shadow of Rome. A game released around 2004 which for me was an incredible game yet today it’s not really that recognised and because of the poor sales of the game the developers ended up cancelling the proposed sequel and they ended up making Dead Rising instead.

A well developed game with great character development, great soundtrack and a great story which again didn’t get the plaudits and awards it should of done.

Anybody have any similar games they would like to share which they feel didn’t get the appreciation it deserved.
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feck me, Shadow of Rome

Loved that game but never finished it. The cellar where you're Augustus and you have a torch and tigers can kill you from anywhere gave me nightmares :lol: could never finish that level
 
GifLord said:
SIN - came out basically at the same time as Half Life
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Yeah I really liked that one. It looked poor next to Half-Life and had plenty of technical issues, but I still played it a lot. Great atmosphere. It's still available on GOG apparently.
 
Enslaved Odyssey to The West always comes to mind when a question like this comes up. The combat was pretty simplistic but worked well, and the world was so interesting. Great characters and story and it looked really good (for the time). Loved that game.
 
BusbyMalone said:
Enslaved Odyssey to The West always comes to mind when a question like this comes up. The combat was pretty simplistic but worked well, and the world was so interesting. Great characters and story and it looked really good (for the time). Loved that game.
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Certainly a memorable but flawed game. I look back in with fondness for the characters and environments. Shoddy performance on the PS3 though.
 
I was going to say Jade Empire as I rarely see it mentioned but I've just googled it and it seems that all reviewers rated and scored it very highly.
 
Aladdin on the SNES was an incredible game. Never gets talked about as much as other platformers from that era.
 
NFL Blitz on the PS1. Incredibly satisfying gameplay and physics compared to Madden and Gameday which were the more popular titles. It made those games look so clunky in comparison. Those late hits were incredibly fun.
 
I’m dating myself but I sunk 80% of my childhood waking hours into Blades of Steel and Baseball Stars.
 
Did anyone ever play the freeware point and click adventure game on PC: Out Of Order? I loved that when I was a kid with a crappy PC that couldn't play anything but DOS games.
 
ICO - an absolute masterpiece that didn't do well commercially. Hidetaka Miyazaki listed it as the game that inspired him to make the Souls games.

Deadly Premonition - Essentially Twin Peaks the game. It was janky as hell, and almost fits into the "so bad its good" category, but what a memorable experience that game was.

Shenmue I/II - Amazing games that were waaaay ahead of their time. Didn't sell anywhere near enough to make up for their monstrous production costs. Eventually we belatedly got Shenmue 3 as a kickstarter funded release, but it was released far too late and hasn't really aged to modern standards.

Sleeping Dogs - Honestly, the only 'GTA clone' that was amazing for me. Really sad that they stopped at one game.
 
Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Sega Saturn was a fantastic RPG. There's probably a fair few later Sega console games that were outstanding but nobody played them because Nintendo and Sony were making far better consoles which sold a lot more.
 
I really want to replay Sleeping Dogs now. Might pick up the definitive edition next week...
 
Seriously, some of these... ICO is critically acclaimed and one of the most beloved PS2 games of all time. It might not have sold well but few games have received as much recognition as that one. It's the same story with Shenmue, which despite poor sales is still recognised as one of the greatest Sega games of all time. Both games a cult classics.
 
WI_Red said:
I’m dating myself but I sunk 80% of my childhood waking hours into Blades of Steel and Baseball Stars.
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OMG the create a team in Baseball Stars was my childhood. Absolutely legendary, levelling everyone up and being unstoppable.
 
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Black & White
Spartan: Total Warrior
Brian Lara Cricket (PS1)
Supreme Commander
Divine Divinity
 
Stobzilla said:
Some SEGA Megadrive (Genesis) ones:

General Chaos
Landstalker
The Immortal
Super Baseball: 2020
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
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Some absolute bangers but I'd say General Chaos and Landstalker were super well received Landstalker in particular was really well received and seen a little as Sega's answer to Zelda, in Japan it was a huge console seller too and scored mostly 8.5's and 9's in reviews. Legend of a game, still load it up on the emulator from time to time.
 
padr81 said:
Some absolute bangers but I'd say General Chaos and Landstalker were super well received Landstalker in particular was really well received and seen a little as Sega's answer to Zelda, in Japan it was a huge console seller too and scored mostly 8.5's and 9's in reviews. Legend of a game, still load it up on the emulator from time to time.
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You also have to respect the fact that the playable character's name is Nigel.
 
Salt Bailly said:
You also have to respect the fact that the playable character's name is Nigel.
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For sure in a world, I remember laughing when I first saw that, makes me wonder where those old Japanese studios pulled the name from, having a feeling he was named after the one English dude at the company.
 
padr81 said:
For sure in a world, I remember laughing when I first saw that, makes me wonder where those old Japanese studios pulled the name from, having a feeling he was named after the one English dude at the company.
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I think Nigel had a bit more of an aura about it back in '92. Mansell, Clough, Martin, Winterburn, Benn, Havers... It truly was a golden age.
 
Wouldn’t say it was great, but I enjoyed playing The Warriors never hear it talked about much.
 
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Treasure Adventure Game:

It came out around the time of the classic Indie surge like Super Meatboy and that.

Its a Metroidvania ala Cave Story. Te soundtrack is absolutely mint! Great game.

I think the original is free on GOG, they remade it with awful graphics but I haven't played it.

Edit: Check out this 8 bit music delightfulness.



 
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Some great calls here - Shadow of Rome was amazing at the time, rip a guys arm off and beat him to death with it! Deadly Premonition - yep! Ico/SotC! Enslaved one of my all-time favourites. Black & White - <3 The start of the original Ori made me cry like a baby :-( but I think it was a success.

I'd add:
Eternal Darkness
Beyond Good & Evil
Prince of Persia 2008 - amazing art and I was in love with Elika
Thomas was Alone - was it a hit?
Too Human - I know everyone hates it but I liked the story.

But my absolute top three are:
Skullmonkeys
Vib Ribbon
Number 1 always will be - Darwinia - if the whole world all said the word Darwinia at the same time, there still wouldnt be enough people talking about it!
 
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.

Having played fighting games competitively, I can safely say this is definitely one of the best ever.

It bombed most likely due to the lack of familiar characters but has since garnered a cult following...
 
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