Underrated Video Games

[Frankie Blueberries]

That game seems similar to Kirby's Avalanche and Puyo Pop Fever, as they both involve puzzle games where you develop a chain to drop stacks on the other player.

 

[Shareefruck]

That game seems similar to Kirby's Avalanche and Puyo Pop Fever, as they both involve puzzle games where you develop a chain to drop stacks on the other player.

For some reason the feel and flow of those games have always felt kind of gross, draggy, poorly paced/sluggish, and uninteresting to me. There's something much more frenetic and visceral about Tetris Attack/Panel De Pon/Pokemon Puzzle League that those games lack, IMO. One big difference is that in the Puyo games, you're not swapping things all over the board in real time and trying to make split-second changes as you start to see chains develop.

In fact, when Puyo Puyo Tetris was released, I was like "Ugh, why would you ruin Tetris by crossing it with this crap?"

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

For some reason the feel and flow of those games have always felt kind of gross, draggy, poorly paced/sluggish, and uninteresting to me. There's something much more frenetic and visceral about Tetris Attack/Panel De Pon/Pokemon Puzzle League that those games lack, IMO. In fact, when Puyo Puyo Tetris was released, I was like "Ugh, why would you ruin Tetris by crossing it with this crap?"

I never played Puyo Pop but I loved Kirby's Avalanche growing up. That game had a lot of character.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

I'd say the Gamecube has the highest ratio of underrated games in regards to consoles imo.

Killer 7 is another game I was really into when it came out. Due to the art style, I wish it would've gotten the HD treatment a la Wind Waker, but it never built up enough of an audience to make it worth doing. Too bad.

 

[Shareefruck]

I never played Puyo Pop but I loved Kirby's Avalanche growing up. That game had a lot of character.

I didn't play that specific version so I can't speak to the charm of it, but I'm not really a fan of the raw mechanics of those games.

 

[firewagonHOCKEY]

Kenshi is the greatest game of the last few years but no-one talks about it. It has so much layers to it and so much playability. I mean it has lots of little things that you have to learn but the stories that come from it are awesome. And it has a free- demo on steam.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Kenshi is the greatest game of the last few years but no-one talks about it. It has so much layers to it and so much playability. I mean it has lots of little things that you have to learn but the stories that come from it are awesome. And it has a free- demo on steam.

Kenshi seems like a very deep game, but one that's hard to get in to.

 

[Gardner McKay]

This is still my favorite strategy game of all time. For a game made in the earlier 90's, it had so much depth.

Steam does a great job of explaining it:

The year is 1268, the English throne lies empty, and power-hungry lords are ready to wage war for newfound power. Your people now look to you to lead them to glory and prosperity. Manage your lands, strike bargains, betray alliances and ultimately destroy your rivals in this classic combination of turn-based and real-time strategy, and become the undisputed Lord of the realm!
Medieval Strategy on a Sweeping Scale

You begin as the ruler of a small county, but lead wisely and keep your people secure and thriving, and soon you’ll broaden your horizons.

Manage your farms, make trade negotiations, build castles, flatter and deceive your opponents and then march your armies into the lands of your rival nobles. Unify the land under your rule, and prove you have what it takes to be King.
Key Features

• Fight for the crown in England against up to five AI opponents.
  
• Strengthen your kingdom across seasonal turns, mastering quandaries like crop rotation, taxation, trade, transport and even thievery!
  
• Fortify your lands and design castles with moats, towers, drawbridges, keeps and more.
  
• Conquer your rivals in challenging real-time battles that test your tactical acumen.
  

 

[Osprey]

It's always perplexed me that Wrecking Crew wasn't more popular. It launched with the NES, was made by Nintendo and had Mario in it, yet was mostly overlooked and forgotten. It included a whopping 99 levels, had a two-player mode and included a level editor that let you create and play your own levels. I loved that game. My friend and I would create a level while the other was out of the room and then call him back in play it. I guess that it really only appealed to puzzle lovers and that's why it never gained traction. It's one of the few Mario games to not be popular enough to produce a proper sequel, but it's in the top 5 of my favorite NES games.

 

[Osprey]

I don't know how it was received at the time because I was too young to care or remember, but Lords of the Realm II was a lot of fun on PC. The higher difficulties were always incredibly challenging, at least at the time, and I liked that it had both the military strategy RTS-ish aspect along with the economic side.

Lords of the Realm II was received very well when it was released and still remains very fondly remembered. I wouldn't consider it underrated. It's probably considered in the top 20 of the best PC strategy games of all time. It's one of my most favorite. After over 20 years, I still have memorized (and sing to myself when no one's looking) the easter egg song that the developers made from the game's sound clips and hid as a WAV file on the CD:

 

[Whiplash27]

For somewhat more recent games:
The Witcher 1 & 2 - The Witcher series wasn't really big in the gaming world until TW3. After TW3's release and with the fact that the first two games aren't open world and don't have the greatest combat systems, the first two are really underappreciated and probably have never been tried by a lot of people despite their super low sale prices. Personally, I prefer the stories of the first two games over TW3

Jade Empire - The forgotten Bioware game. Was really fun, I enjoyed the combat and the story. A shame that they never made a sequel.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood - Considering the lack of western games out there, this game was pretty good for its time. A lot of people know Gunslinger, this was a bit more of a grounded game.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Probably the best RPG released since The Witcher 3 (at least IMO). Yet due to a shaky launch and because of the fact that it's from an indie studio, it hasn't gained as much traction as other games (especially from a AAA studio) would have otherwise.

I'm sure there are some old school games that can easily fit, but I don't feel like thinking of them.

 

[KingBran]

I have probably said it in here but...

The Mummy: Demastered.

If you are a fan of meteoidvania / platform shooters it is a MUST play. Criminally underrated game.

 

[SPV]

My friends and I used to play a game called Kung Fu Chaos on Xbox before & after going out. It was a staple for many years on game nights.
I've never heard anyone else talk about it though, and it only got ratings around a 6/10.

But I always thought it was really fun

 

[Oscar Acosta]

A lot of the pre-PS4 Spider-Man Marvel games are actually a lot of fun. They got bad reviews but most of them have the most important thing of fun for them:

X-Men Origins Wolverine - 9/10
The Amazing Spiderman 2 - 7/10
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions - 8.5/10
Deadpool - 8.5/10
Captain America Super Soldier - 8/10
The Amazing Spider-Man - 6.5/10

 

[Randy Butternubs]

A lot of the pre-PS4 Spider-Man Marvel games are actually a lot of fun. They got bad reviews but most of them have the most important thing of fun for them:

X-Men Origins Wolverine - 9/10
The Amazing Spiderman 2 - 7/10
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions - 8.5/10
Deadpool - 8.5/10
Captain America Super Soldier - 8/10
The Amazing Spider-Man - 6.5/10

I enjoyed the fighting game X-Men: Next Dimension on GameCube. Buggy as hell, but fun to play with a friend.

X-Men: Next Dimension Review

 

[CartographerNo611]

Delete

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I had an absolute blast with Bionic Commando 2009. I never understood why that game was mostly panned by critics.

 

[tacogeoff]

Freedom Fighters for PS2. Had a lot of fun with ti.

 

[Beau Knows]

A lot of the pre-PS4 Spider-Man Marvel games are actually a lot of fun. They got bad reviews but most of them have the most important thing of fun for them:

X-Men Origins Wolverine - 9/10
The Amazing Spiderman 2 - 7/10
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions - 8.5/10
Deadpool - 8.5/10
Captain America Super Soldier - 8/10
The Amazing Spider-Man - 6.5/10

It's surprising how few console/PC games there are based on the Marvel movies. As sick as I am of the ridiculous amount of passable comic book movies being made, they would make for fun games.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Freedom Fighters for PS2. Had a lot of fun with ti.

f*** yeah! Loved the hell out of that game. The first time I heard a Jesper Kyd OST. What a man!

 

[Morbo]

Painkiller

 

[RempireStateBuilding]

Metal Storm for NES.

Brave Fencer Musashi for PS1.

Vagrant Story for PS1.

Golden Sun for GBA.

I don't know if it was actually any good, but Evolution for Dreamcast. I remember being really in to it growing up.

 

[Wild11MN]

Meteos for DS. So much fun.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

The Warriors - PS2

 

[Jovavic]

Robotrek - SNES

Gets left off of most "Best SNES JRPG" lists, deserves to be there