|
Post by elchevalier on Jun 28, 2011 17:08:26 GMT -5
The only rule i would like to add to this topic is: don't saturate your post with a huge list of games. Try to go a game per post, two games per post max. I'll start:
Haunting Ground
Coming out near the release of Resident Evil 4 didn't help this game one bit. A spiritual sequel to the Clock Tower games, this is survival horror done right. An ordinary character involved in extreme circumstances. No fancy weapons or guns or anything like that, the best strategy will always involve finding a good spot to hide.
Now, the dog will be your main weapon many times, but you can't rely on him perpetually. You will have at your disposal items to distract or stun the enemies, but once that is done expect them to come after you once more. This creates a nice level of tension in the game, and while sometimes clumsy Fiona will get on your nerves all this just adds more flavour to the whole experience.
I have a thing for gothic euro-medieval settings, so the castle where the game takes place is a nice chance of scenario from the usual survival horror video game. The cast of characters is limited but memorable, the music is low key in the right dose. The game has several endings, overall this is a must for people looking for a true horror game. Something we see now less and less these days.
|
|
|
Post by feilong80 on Jun 29, 2011 0:26:38 GMT -5
I'm going to throw in this game:
Republic Commando
On the surface, this is just a meathead cash-in using the Star Wars license. You know, a game for the "bros." But underneath that, you have a very smart squad system that I haven't seen other games use effectively (though I don't doubt there are others that do it). Controlling several old Republic clone commandos, who have been allowed to develop some individuality beyond the usual clones, you can point them to cover and command them around, while YOU are kicking serious butt. It makes for some pretty fun fights that you manage via your own shooting combined with managing your other guys.
|
|
|
Post by ECM on Jun 29, 2011 17:26:17 GMT -5
I'm trying to think of something that's underrated (read: panned by critics) but is also super mega awesome that nobody has played....which is a lot harder than I anticipated, so, I'll be back later w/ something.
|
|
|
Post by ECM on Jun 29, 2011 20:58:36 GMT -5
How about: C all of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth? This game, along w/ Penumbra Overture, are probably my two favorite horror games of all time (please note: I didn't say "survival horror" which generally has as much to do w/ real horror as traveling by plane these days...no, wait...) This game was agonizingly unappreciated in its day[foonote:1]Being an XBOX-only (and later PC) game ensured that virtually nobody would play it since XBOX owners were too busy laying the groundwork for the FPS infestation we have to deal with today and PC gamers were too busy trying to extricate their noses from passing satellites since none of them could be bothered to play "a crappy-looking console game."[/footnote], and it really is a "horror' game in the meaingful sense of the word, w/ plenty of scares and real, honest-to-God, white-knuckled tension. It has what has to be one of the most intense sequences in video game history, eclipsing any number of movies to boot, so avert thine eyes if you don't want this sublime, you-gotta-experience-this-yourself, sequence ruined:
The hero of our tale finds himself, late one night, alone in his hotel room. At this point, he knows that something is terribly amiss in this shabby, little, town and he's put together enough of it to know that whatever happened, it didn't end well for the person he's searching for. Unfortunately, the townspeople have figured out that he's figured it out, so...
You are startled awake from your bed, your door threatening to leap from its hinges as a mob intent on one thing--spilling your blood--bludgeons it with fist and axe, shouting a rage-filled chant that sends your heart racing.
Springing to your feet, your panic-gripped mind focusing on only on escape, you make a mad dash for the next room, slam the door, bolt it and, as your heart hammers wildly, you search for something--anything--with which to blockade the door.
Spying a nearby book case, you drive your shoulder into it, forcing it against its creaky protests, to slide, inch-by-agonizing-inch, into place behind the door, securing it against imminent intrusion.
But what's this! There's another door into the room and that, too, is now an object of the mob's blood-thirsty, unbridled rage, forcing you to use a nearby desk to buttress the failing timbers.
Realizing that you're death is only seconds away, as both entrances begin to yield, all-too-willingly, to the blows of the mob, you wheel around, dread roiling your stomach, you see it: a window!
You make a mad dash for it, just as you can smell the sea salt tang of the mob and feel the salty spray from their maddened mouths out onto a ledge and, though precarious it may be, it offers a moment of respite...but that oasis is drained the moment you hear shouts from the streets below as gunshots begin to ring around you, blowing out windows and sending you tearing for the next building over....
(And it keeps going from there.)
It really is freakishly-intense, and most of the game does such a good job at building an overall sense of dread foreboding (amazingly, on purely generic stealth and limited FPS elements), that you can literally feel the oppressiveness of the town and its inhabitants. Add in the fact that you have access to (very limited) ammunition (and only for a pistol, at that) and that you're one man against a very strange world, and nearly every step feels like your life is at stake mainly because...it is!
|
|
|
Post by Justin on Jun 29, 2011 23:32:20 GMT -5
I have to throw my 2 cents in for Koudelka. 1 part Resident Evil, 1 part SRPG(lite), 1 part Shadow Hearts prequel and 1234513246234 parts of awesome music.
|
|
|
Post by elchevalier on Jun 30, 2011 16:37:50 GMT -5
I have yet to play Koudelka and the first Shadow Hearts. I liked the atmosphere in Covenant, and i like stories taking place around the end of the 19th century.
|
|
|
Post by ECM on Jul 1, 2011 15:27:59 GMT -5
I played them both and I can't remember a damn thing about Koudelka. I do recall not much caring for Shadow Hearts but, then, me and JRPGs were on the outs at that time. (We're talking again and have agreed to be friends, but it's still pretty tense.) I will have to dig up Haunting Ground, though. I know I have it but I honestly don't recall playing it, which is odd...maybe it got lost in the shuffle...and by shuffle, I mean WoW
|
|
|
Post by runinruder on Jul 24, 2011 12:21:21 GMT -5
Crimson Sea 2 - Koei really dropped the ball with this one. First of all, it was really fucking stupid to release a sequel to an XBox exclusive solely for the PS2. Secondly, it came out right around the same time as Samurai Warriors, so even most hard-core Koei fans decided to save their cash for SW. Mags gave it the usual scores they give "DW-alikes" (slightly lower than the "6's" and "7s" DW games routinely receive). But damn, I found it to be awesome. Cool characters and enemies, lots of different kinds of missions, a surprisingly rockin' soundtrack, and plenty of tense moments.
|
|
|
Post by ECM on Jul 24, 2011 17:39:55 GMT -5
Crimson Sea 2 is my all-time favorite DW-a-like (and I don't really like DW).
|
|
|
Post by runinruder on Jul 24, 2011 17:46:38 GMT -5
Crimson Sea 2 is my all-time favorite DW-a-like (and I don't really like DW). It's way up there for me as well, but I like Chaos Legion and the first Drakengard even more.
|
|
|
Post by ECM on Jul 24, 2011 18:12:42 GMT -5
I think it'd be:
1. Crimson Sea et al. 2. Sengoku Basara et al. 3. Chaos Legion.
I like Drakengard, but not so much that I'd consider it best of anything except, maybe, best game by Cavia. (But I do like Nier quite a bit even if, in the long run, it broke me, so maybe Drakengard is second-best.)
|
|
|
Post by runinruder on Jul 24, 2011 18:28:41 GMT -5
I like Drakengard, but not so much that I'd consider it best of anything except, maybe, best game by Cavia. (But I do like Nier quite a bit even if, in the long run, it broke me, so maybe Drakengard is second-best.) I haven't played Nier, unfortunately. Drakengard is at the top of my favorite Cavia games list, but Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a very close second. That one was a real sleeper and definitely has its own place in my Underrated Games Temple. I've always thought that Bullet Witch is something I'd enjoy, but I've never had the chance to play it.
|
|
|
Post by elchevalier on Jul 24, 2011 20:08:26 GMT -5
I wanted to like Drakengard more, i liked the story, the setting, and the basic concept, but the gameplay just killed me. Mostly the aerial battles, controlling the dragon is a pain, and the ground battles do leave you tired after a while. Nier improved the combat, and has better flow, it won't force you to be stuck in one place killing enemies for hours. If you focus too much on the side-quests it can get tiredsome, so it's a matter of going for them once in a while.
|
|
|
Post by ECM on Jul 24, 2011 20:26:08 GMT -5
Yes, if you play Nier do NOT be like me and attempt to do ALL the sidequests as you'll be so burned out after 2 dozen of them that you'll never see through the main story
|
|
|
Post by kog3100edw on Jul 26, 2011 15:32:22 GMT -5
This topic is kind of tough.
If underrated regards actual sales, I've got a lot of games I could list, but most of those are critical favorites. CRITICALLY underrated, I probably have a lot less.
And I'd have said, actually, that I don't regard critics' opinions very largely in my purchases. But it seems to have worked out that way in any case.
Huh.
|
|