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GameSpy's 25 Most Underrated Games 83

Posted by simoniker from the most-thingie-of-thingie dept.
Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy.com just posted the final installment of its 25 Most Underrated Games of All Time feature. What under-appreciated classics made the list? Well, titles like Zork Zero, Ico, and Sly Cooper all make the cut. This most recent countdown is a follow-up to GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time piece from a couple of weeks ago." Although the 'X Most X' series sometimes draws howls of derision, it does still pinpoint some interesting choices.
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GameSpy's 25 Most Underrated Games More

GameSpy's 25 Most Underrated Games

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  • They Actually Listed My Favorite... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by the darn ( 624240 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @05:22PM (#7134252) Homepage
    Jumping Flash I & II...nothing else on my TV screen has ever induced vertigo quite like those games. I'd kill for an even-more-spiffy-lookin' version...
    • Most excellent. I remember Jumping Flash was one of the first 'platform' games I played on the PSX. It always reminded me of a weird mix of Pilotwings and a tyical 2d platformer. Not only this, but it was a good 'all ages' game, no questions asked. After playing through that game, I was so excited for all future 3d games. Needless to say, it's been a painful 8 years :)

      ---
      celebrate the new dark age with us. calculate the irony with someone you can trust.

  • Grim Fandango and Blood (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @05:40PM (#7134324) Journal
    Funny, the 2 games on the list I played where Grim Fandango and Blood. Both dark humor about death. Grim Fandango had some nice artwork and south american theme going with it. Very entertaining game, didnt realize it was underrated. The jokes and puns alone made it worth the money. Some parts in it where long, (The ghost car in the garage) but overall was a couple good weekends laughing my ass off.

    On the other hand, Blood was released late, and only supported IPX, and Duke Nukem/Quake took the large multiplaying games. Fun game, also dark humor, but everyone moved to Quake lan parties, and duke nukem was on the way out. I think Rise of the Triad should of been on the list, underrated, but also out late.

    Thou, my favorite, lan party game, that was the most under-rated was SkyNet. The terminator game, with some good weapons. Nice soundtrack, and sound of terminators chasing you, and some nice weapons made it a very fun game. Too bad an updated version on a newer engine never came out. The closet thing today, would be BF1942, as you can go into buildings, lots of weapons, and vehicals.

    Might as throw an RPG game in, Wasteland. The C64 version had to be, one of the most solid GURPS style playing games.

    I guess i've always liked Mecha vs Magica type games. RPG/FPS. Thou, mecha vs GOD/Satan has always been a good combo. Man vs Myth, Battle Royal. Something about pulling a trigger and taking out a demon, makes you feel so good.

    • As my wife would say..

      BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD!!!

      Our fav of the 2.5d shooters, by far. I was glad to see it on the list.

      Glad to see JFG made the additional list as well. I actually loved the controls for it. I got really good at shooting off the hip at that game. Was lots of fun.
  • Grim Fandango is my favorite game of all time.
    It's sorta bittersweet to see it make the list.

    One major oversight on this list was Sanitarium for PC.

    Overall though, I have enjoyed playing at least 15 of these games, and I'll be sure to check the others if I ever see them in stores.

  • Top 25, Ad Nauseum (Score:5, Funny)

    by TTop ( 160446 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @05:46PM (#7134356)
    At the rate they've been cranking out these Top 25 lists, we're gonna need a 25 games which have most often appeared on Top 25 lists.

    Top 25 games featuring Rod Stewart and stomach pumps or insert your favorite urban myth here.
    • Im with you on this - my problem is that every one has been pimped on games.slashdot.org If we wanted to read gamespy, we would go to www.gamespy.com .......
      • i agree, they do seem to get posted here a lot, especially if they get posted in pairs, one for the start and one when its finished.
        then again, i actually find the comments to them quite interesting usually, so i wouldn't want them removed. i guess there could be a new topic for top lists, so people that dont like them can exlude them
    • you can take a look at what Penny-Arcade [penny-arcade.com] thinks of GameSpy and their last top 25 list.

  • Good List (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Omega037 ( 712939 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @05:55PM (#7134390)
    I haven't heard of or played most of those games, but the ones I did play were really good. Unfortunately in today's game market, there is too much competition for some games to get popular. When so many FPS and RTS games come out each month, often times a good one is overshadowed by a better known game solely due to that games hype. Some of these games do eventually rise from near ashes by word of mouth, but that is rare. There are also a few other reasons that some good games never make it big. One major reason is the lack of quality graphics or multiplayer support. While multiplayer is not required to make a game popular(Ex:Max Payne), it is a big turnoff to buying a game. Also, much of the focus for newer games go into graphics and textures, rather than the actual gameplay itself. Back before graphics mattered, games just had to be fun to become popular. Now without professional artists and designers, it is almost impossible for a game to even make it to the shelf. I remember back when games were made by one or two guys in their basement and were just made to maximize fun. Back then the only concern for graphics was that the player could see and understand what was going on. Even now with all our hot new games, many of those old classics are still fun to go back and play.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:Good List (Score:5, Interesting)

        by bigman2003 ( 671309 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @09:32PM (#7135229) Homepage
        I agree with Mike-

        The whole 'games used to be fun, and now they are only pretty' argument is wayyyyy overused.

        Games are still fun.

        Old games weren't as fun as you might remember. Everytime I go back and play some game I used to love, I am usually surprised by the lack of depth, and how one-dimensional the gameplay is.

        A lot of new games are incredibly deep- they are also incredibly detailed.

        Wolfenstein 3d was a fun game for its time. But there was no vertical axis, there was no strategy. AND the graphics sucked. Todays games look far better, and play far better.
        • Games are still fun.. but I've yet to find a game that beats Zelda: A Link to the Past. That could possibly be one of the best games of all time. The 3D sequals seem rather dumbbed down in comparison, and way too easy. I still like the Final Fantasy series, but the music's definitely gone downhill from 6/3. (I haven't played much of 8 or any of 9 though). The games just don't feel as good either.. 7-10 seem like their designed for people who have enough free time to do all the ridiculously long sideque
        • Actually, old games ARE as fun as I remember. This is why in the past several years, I've revisited classic favorites such as Alternate Reality: The Dungeon on my Atari 800 emulator, Dungeon Master and Road Warrior 2000 on my Atari ST emulator, Outlaws and Fallout on my PC. These are in addition to my ever-growing list of older games that I'm planning on playing now that I've given up always having the hottest and newest games.

          Wolfenstein was popular because it gave birth to the first-person shooter genr

      • For those who RTFA, here are links to the articles about retro gaming [backseatgamer.com] and Nintendo [backseatgamer.com].

  • Thumbs up regarding.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MilenCent ( 219397 ) * <johnwh@@@gmail...com> on Saturday October 04, 2003 @06:11PM (#7134441) Homepage
    UmJammerLammy, which is everything the Gamespy reviewers say it is and more. (It's also mega hard, but you can handle that, right?)

    Wizardry 8, which should be near the top of the list.

    Herzog Zwei, one of the best games for the Genesis, and more playable, I'd say, that Warcraft, though harder to learn.

    Rocket: Robot on Wheels, simply amazing.

    Ico, cool, though I'm not sure deserving of #1. There are dozens of games that should be on the list but aren't. Gaming is filled of games that could have changed the direction of the world, except.

    Thumbs down concerning:

    Super Mario Sunshine, not on the list, derided by almost everyone for being too similar to Mario 64. That's still better than 95% of the rest.

    Few or no old-school games. M.U.L.E. is one of the best designed games of all time according to me, Chris Crawford and a lot of other people. These GameSpy guys are clued-in enough to know about Zork, but ignore almost all of computer gaming's too-brief past.

    Extra-lame superimposed-directly-over-article-text ads once ina while. Seeing even one of those on a site makes it worthy of hatred in my book. For that, Gamespy can go directly to hell, do not pass 'Go.'

    Now can we PLEASE stop with all the XX Blankest lists?! Or at least have more that aren't GameSpy?
    • Super Mario Sunshine, not on the list, derided by almost everyone for being too similar to Mario 64. That's still better than 95% of the rest.

      That would be kinda dumb, seeing as they put it on their list of the most OVERRATED games a couple of weeks ago. :)

      • I don't think it was overrated or underrated. When I bought it, I got what I was led to expect: a solid Miyamoto platformer. Certainly not his best game, but nobody was really claiming it was. I don't really remember it being all that over-hyped...

        Now, Metroid Prime was over-hyped, but it fortunately *was* as good as they said - no strafing when not locked on was a bit annoying, but they managed to make a 3d shooter that you could control with a gamepad, which impressed me nicely :)
    • As for UmJammerLammy, I can't see why this made the list. If it was going to be a rhythm game, then I'd much rather see Bust A Groove or Bust A Groove 2 on there. I just didn't particularly care for Lammy.

      Props for listing Sly Cooper (next to Jak and Daxter, it's THE best platformer for the PS2) and Ico, though...

    • I thought the timescale of their gamelist was somewhat ironic as well, given that they bemoaned how shortsighted gamers are in regards to graphics.

  • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Ico (Score:2, Interesting)

    by funkhauser ( 537592 )
    Ironic that they listed Ico as the most underrated game of all time: I personally think it's one of the most overrated! The game's visuals and atmosphere are really great, but the game is utterly boring! This game epitomizes style over substance.

    • Re:Ico (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nobodyman ( 90587 )
      I couldn't disagree more. The gameplay in Ico was sublime. It was easy to pick up and understand the controls, yet the game had surprising depth. The graphics were awesome, but the sound and score were incredible.

      I am not surprised that it faired so poorly, for the same reason that art films do so poorly relative to summer blockbuster. I know this will end up sounding elitist... but the game was probably over most people's heads. Things like artistry, powerful narrative, and emotion are lost on yo

      • Re:Ico (Score:3, Interesting)

        by funkhauser ( 537592 )
        Artistry, powerful narrative, and emotion are good things. And you're right that most Madden 200x fans probably don't grasp them very well. But at the same time, artistry, powerful narrative, and emotion alone cannot make a video game great. Being an interactive medium, video games have to be fun to play, and I found the Ico's puzzles to be tedious.

        That said, I think experimental and niche market titles are great. If they push the boundaries of some aspect of gaming, that's even better. But they still nee

    • ICO was the most beautiful game I've ever played. I'm not really a big gamer, therefore I don't judge the game by it's technique. I judge it by the feeling it gives me. I simply was stunned by the visuals and sound. The way the game could convey the atmosphere of this worl was simply overwhelming... You can call me a pussy, but the ending left me sitting there, bawling my eyes out, and I was 28 when I played it :)
  • I see they mentioned the "No One Lives Forever " I bought this game and was never able to get it working on any computer, it was buggy as hell, somtimes you'd gett he game started but textures would be all over, its not suprising nobody bought this game, if people had heard it was buggy, the same reason many did not buy the new lara croft game.
    • Sorry it didn't work on your comp, but they definitely did NOT mention NOLF.

      If anything, NOLF belongs on the top 25 most underrated games in history.
    • " I bought this game and was never able to get it working on any computer, it was buggy as hell, somtimes you'd gett he game started but textures would be all over, its not suprising nobody bought this game, if people had heard it was buggy, the same reason many did not buy the new lara croft game.

      I didn't buy NOLF for 2 reasons:
      1) The developer's titles are always buggy. When Blood 2 was released by GameSpy at a fairly cheap price with 'the patch' that was supposed to fix everything, I bought it, and it
  • but a couple of the games were great, especially for their day.
    The EA "Shockwave" series, an almost-free-flight shooter, was well done and had considerable replay value. And "PO'ed" was kind-of-twisted FPS with interesting level design, interesting weapons, a personal jetpack, and the first missile-cam I ever saw. EA also did a great rendition of "Road Rash" that was the most instantly-playable game I've ever seen.

  • They seem to think that Impression's Citybuilder series ended with Zeus/Poseidon, when, in fact, Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom has been out for almost a year. Also marks the first Citybuilder game with network multiplayer.

    Fallout: Tactics was NOT a good game. Any game where your crack commandos are thwarted by a waist-high pile of sandbags, because the maps aren't maps, they're hardcoded paths, is a bad game. ESPECIALLY when the brand prides itself on nonlinearity and multiple puzzle solutions.

    T

    • Fallout: Tactics was NOT a good game. Any game where your crack commandos are thwarted by a waist-high pile of sandbags, because the maps aren't maps, they're hardcoded paths, is a bad game. ESPECIALLY when the brand prides itself on nonlinearity and multiple puzzle solutions.

      I whole-heartedly (sp?) agree! If it had been a free form RPG with tactical combat it may have been great - course, then it would have been Fallout 3 :)

      IIRC, a lot of the perks and stats in the game were b0rked too. I went in with a

  • Green (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by NonSequor ( 230139 )
    Reading Gamespy just reminds me that I hate the color green. It's almost as bad as the colors for the logo for the Slashdot games section.

    It reminds me of all of the themes for various things that look like this [freshmeat.net].

    I've never understood why they chose such a garish color scheme for the X-Box either.
  • I'm surprised and a little disappointed that Battlezone didn't make the list (though it is mentioned in the reader's picks). For those who haven't played it, it's a hybrid of RTS and FPS with a simple and intuitive interface. Vehichles are piloted using FPS type controls and you can issue FPS type commands to AI piloted vehicles, but you also can command support units to build factories and defense structures. Visualize playing Command and Conquer but issuing your commands among your troops through a hai
  • When are they going to put together a list of the most "Overrated Underrated" games of all time?

    My vote goes to Rez. I gave the game a chance, but it sure didn't do anything for me. Maybe if I self-medicated, that would help me *get* it.

  • I can't believe they didn't mention any of the Thief.. series of games. It's one of the few FP games that makes you think, teaches you patience, and proves that you don't need lasers, billion-combo-moves, ninja-kungfu-fighting, mass destruction, aliens or that cartooney anime junk to make an excellent game.

  • Thumbs Up on Grim Fandango (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AvantLegion ( 595806 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @10:37PM (#7135464) Journal
    Thumbs Up for Grim Fandango. While the latest Monkey Island game seemed like heresy in 3D, Grim Fandango's art was ultimate. Perhaps it's because they got to design everything with 3D in mind, instead of trying to take a 2D classic and make it look similar in 3D. This game took "point and click" and removed both the pointing and clicking, opting instead for a keyboard control method that eliminated the dreaded "pixel-hunting" flaw of many graphical adventures.

  • Another good one... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Bagels ( 676159 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @10:38PM (#7135473)
    I rather liked Eternal Darkness for the GCN, which unfortunately got pushed aside because there simply aren't enough people in the installed userbase interested in such a game. It was quite innovative (the Magyk system - composing spells out of runes - worked very well) and had an extremely interesting story based around the stories of those such as Lovecraft and Poe (indeed, the game *begins* with a quote from Poe). It's also very interesting from an artistic perspective - the walls are covered in highly detailed murals, stained glass windows, etc. that you might almost expect to find in an art museum. Still, it's been demoted to the bargin-bin games... perhaps Silicon Knight's next game will be a bigger success, as it has an already established franchise (Metal Gear) behind it.

  • the list (Score:5, Funny)

    by ameoba ( 173803 ) on Saturday October 04, 2003 @11:31PM (#7135639)
    1. The City Building Series
    2. Wizardry 8
    3. Blood
    4. Um Jammer Lammy
    5. Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis
    6. Codename: Eagle Multiplayer
    7. No One Lives Forever
    8. Jumping Flash! I & II
    9. Suikoden II
    10. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
    11. Persona Series
    12. Rez
    13. Zork Zero
    14. Valkyrie Profile
    15. Clive Barker's Undying
    16. Wheel of Time
    17. Planescape: Torment
    18. Herzog Zwei
    19. Grim Fandango
    20. Rocket: Robot on Wheels
    21. Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus
    22. Alone in the Dark
    23. System Shock
    24. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
    25. Ico
    ...and to make the lameness filter happy I'm going to have to type in a bunch of stuff since, "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 7.3)." And some more BS goes here 'cuz "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 9.4).". Even more because 10.9 isn't enough either. Of course, I can just abuse the HTML formatting and make the list "one line". Fuck this.
  • I played and loved this game when it first came out, a few months later i played it again. Then i got rid of it, and like the article says it's near impossible to play it again, the only place i found it was on Direct Connect and our uni network limits DC access
  • I'd add MOO3 to the list. I for one was eagerly awaiting my new antaran overlords... but in the end the game didn't quite meet my expectations (and not just mine, I figured reading the postings in various discussion groups).

    Another addition would be Outpost from Sierra. Boy, that one sucked. Didn't even contain the elements mentioned on the box. No decent manual. But hyped beyond belief for the fancy graphics and AI... I only once bought a game without consulting a game magazine review first after that e
    • im wondering if MOO3 would have been more succeful if they hadn't marketed it as such, and thus not piss of all the MOO fanboys. i think the game does have its strongpoints (or would, if it hadn't been released seemingly unfinished), but its just a different game than the earlier MOO games were
  • There are some really excellant games there. I'm kinda wondering what system shock is doing on there, sure it might not have had record breaking sales, but underrated? That thing was practically the holy grail of gaming.. for a while at least.

    Of course the list is far from complete. The Underdogs have actually made a pretty good list of underrated games.

    Alot of old games would completely own new releases if the graphics engines and sound could be updated. Imagine Magic Carpet running off the HL2 engine (s
  • The persona games are certainly under rated, Persona 2 has got to be one of the most interesting RPGs out there, having an incredible amount of gameplay and an unpredictable plot. It's one of the ultimate hardcore RPGs.

    It's sad the rest of the Shin Megami Tensei series has been ignored except the terrible generic devil children games.

  • Wizadry (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kisrael ( 134664 ) on Sunday October 05, 2003 @11:32AM (#7137075) Homepage
    If they ever compile a list of the best computer and video game names of all time, "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" is right up there.
  • The impressions games should have definately been higher up on that list. My fiancee` has gotten atleast 20 people addicted to those games since I got her Pharoah for christmas one year. That game has probably occupied atleast 500 hours of game play for her, and that's saying something as usually she'll try a game, and then move on to something else within a week. Those games are highly underrated, and overall, I think the review was good.
  • Most of their choices are good, but I can't say I think much of the journalism. For example, the claim that there are no more <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers/index.s h tml">radio soap operas</a>...

    Or the claim that the voice acting in Valkyrie Profile was "excellent" (this for the one game that actually had me longing for the days of plain text!).

    Oh, and the frequent comments that such-and-such a game was very popular in Europe and/or Japan. Um, doesn't that kind of disqualify i
  • (Disclaimer: I have no hard evidence for any statements made in this post; it is conjecture. You are free to disagree at your discretion.)

    Given:
    1. at least one of a game's protagonists is an anthropomorphic animal,
    2. the game contains an evolving storyline, and
    3. the game is marketed to American consumers,

    then:

    1. the game will be hyped, everyone will buy it, but the gameplay will suck;
    2. most will think the game will suck, and it will not sell; or
    3. the game will actually be good; but since everyone will expect the ga
    • * The first two Sonic games sold very well, since they were pure gameplay. When, however, Sega began to flesh Sonic out as a "full" character, American gamers rejected him (e.g., the Sonic Adventure series).

      Unless you consider that the interlude portions of Sonic Adventure just drag the game down. Sure, there are a handful of side quests you can perform and whatever, but overall it detracts from what made Sonic, well, Sonic. The Sonic games were about platform gaming at a fast pace, and the Sonic Adventu
  • For the Sega Master System, "Zillion" beats them all! This was my first RPG and I was hooked in 1987!

    WOW! It's been that long ago?
  • Zak Mckracken has to be my number one underrated game. I spent months playing this game on my old Amiga 500 (with the .5MB to 1MB expansion card).

    Quirky, Funny, Challenging, Great storyline. The game makers of today tend to go for hard and fast action, at the expense of the story. Ask any one who played Zak, even over 10 years ago, and they will recall fondly things like exploding an egg in the aeroplane microwave, or the aliens, or the monorail on mars.

    The only game ever to come close to captivating my a
  • Return Fire, Tail of the Sun. Two of my favourite games, and they came out with barely a whisper. Return Fire was a first-gen psx game and game in one of those funky cardboard boxes. Tail of the Sun I recently picked up on amazon after a fleeting moment of nostalgia. Put it in the ps2 and crossed my fingers. It worked. The next thing I noticed, 6 hours had gone by, I'd killed 30 some monkeys, 5 deer, 3 hippos, uncounted birds, a smilodon and a couple boars. Love that game.
  • For those who have played blood, one of the most amusing points was the "deathmatch voice" - which announced various game happenings, coupled with the standard death announcements.

    For example, plugging somebody from behind with your double-barrelled shotgun would as some times pop up the phrase "Player gave player2 anal vengeance" (or something to that effect, I can't look up the exact phrase as it would look odd here at work).

    That in itself (coupled with the player names we used) would have been amusin
  • PS2:
    Frequency / Amplitude

  • No Panzer Dragoon Saga? Boooooo.

    It was one of the most original and engrossing RPGs ever and almost no one got to play it because it came out at the end of the Saturn lifecycle and only a handful of them were pressed.

    I can't believe this got left off the list. There were some weird choices on there too. Rez and Ico are both great games but they all got pretty good reviews. Maybe they just mean underrated by the public?
  • This game is a huge favorite of mine. I played the demo for months before the full game came out. The realism and HUGE play area just blew me away. I actually ordered the full game from the UK so I could get it before it hit the US stores.

    I think what held Operation Flashpoint back was:

    1. Difficulty. People *say* they want realism, but the casual gamer probably doesn't want to die in 1 or 2 shots.

    2. System requirements. Try to crank up the resolution or eye candy and it is very taxing on your
  • Is if they had links to locations where these games can be purchased. "Blood" is showing low on ebay's radar, and the link from the official "lith" site is expired...

    Games that are let out into the pasture should become available for free, or at least retain some form of ordering availability

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