Tavel

What do you guys think is the most underrated game(s).

Mine is definitely Mirror's Edge.

1. Innovative Gameplay: Metroid Prime is the only other first person platformer I can think of...but it doesn't come close to the fast-paced flow of Mirror's Edge. Mirror's Edge is all about movement, and you're doing something wrong if you stopped.

2. It's GORGEOUS! The brilliant colors and clean lines are so welcomed in this age of games painted with every shade of dirt. The city is just so beautiful with its colors and architecture, and surreal with it's white foliage, I sometimes just play it to imagine I live there.

How many games make you really, really wish you could live there?

sirdarksol

I don't think Mirror's Edge was really underrated, it just didn't keep its momentum for too long. It stole the limelight when it came out. I think it faded quickly, however, because of the limited game time. I got to the last board and was saying to my wife "this is it? I want more, more, MORE." It definitely stands alone as far as realism of movement in a 1st person goes. After playing it through, I went to play Half-Life 2 and had to stop because the movement was so phony.

Two of the most underrated series, in my opinion, are Need for Speed and Armored Core.
Need for Speed wasn't the most realistic game, but it was really fun to trick out a ride, paint it, decal it up, throw on some neons, then try to outrun police without all of the excessive violence of the GTA series.
Of course, they've thrown that all away now. The new NfS game is all about racetracks and feeling like you're in a real racer.

As far as Armored Core goes, there's just something about piloting a ten-ton war machine armed with plasma cannons capable of wiping out a city block. Like with Mirror's Edge, the movement felt more real than it does in a lot of the mech games *cough*Gundam*cough* There were physics to it. If you're moving forward (or down) at a good clip, it takes awhile for your boosters to get you going the other way.

Red1313

I don't know if I can think of any of my games that are under-rated. My favorite one has basically been forgotten now since x-box and microsoft were too lazy to make a patch for backward compatible on the 360 for it. Would that make it under-rated?

Tavel

sirdarskol: I feel that mirror's edge received a lot of popularity at the onset because people were infatuated with the novelty of something different. They didn't really care HOW it was different. In that respect it was underrated, people lost interest because they didn't recognize it as a real game, just that "experiment"...they wanted to get back to good 'ol shooting aliens in the face.

I thought it was too short as well...not that i feel ripped off, but that I would LOVE to have more! I still get tons of replay value out of every stage. I've almost done the whole game without any combat. That's hard, especially the bit as you flee the sniper scene.

How many games make avoiding fights a rewarding experience? hahaha

I haven't played need for speed or Armored Core. I haven't played a mech game since Mechwarrior 3.

BTW: I call half life 2 "the hoveround" hahahaha

Red: yeah, that's underrated. MS didn't think highly enough to make a patch for it...but you disagree ;-D

sirdarksol

I agree with Tavel, that definitely counts as underrated.

I disagree with this. I know that people cared about how it was different. When GI reviewed it, they were ecstatic about the fact that it wasn't just another blaster game, and that you could really interact with the environment. It took me about eight hours to complete the game. It will be another three or four before I get the last ten satchels. Another three or four to finish all of the speed trials. After that, I'll go back and play the game periodically. I have more patience than the majority of gamers. Talk to the folks at GameStop, and you'll hear that a lot of people buy a game, finish it, and then trade it in for a new one.

I feel kind of ripped off. Not money-wise, but story-wise. The story could have been a lot longer. However, I understand that, because the game was doing something almost completely new, and they put a lot of work into the physics of the game, it could only be so long before their budget became absolutely enormous.
And, you're definitely not the average gamer. You sound as OCD as me. My wife once said to me, "I bet you can't make it through Resident Evil 4 with 100% accuracy." I'm three-quarters of the way through the game and haven't missed once

Siphon Filter did, although the second one pushed things a bit too far (an entire board of sneaking from pillar to pillar, trying to hide from museum guards... took me hours to complete). Resident Evil: Nemesis did, too. But no game that I've played has made it as much of an art as it is in Mirror's Edge.

Tavel

Well those make fight avoidance the objective, but it's not necessarily rewarding to do what you're told ;-D

Although, there is that one scene where you kick the cop off the scaffolding...that's just fun every time =D (nothing against cops...just crooked cops shooting at unarmed women ;-D)

Mirror's Edge is more like a dance because it involves movement and time.

grimly024

Yes - Mirrors edge is an awesome game - after you beat it be sure to try the time trials. They are extremely challenging.

sirdarksol

I disagree. Surviving a flight from the Nemesis, particularly if you've got to run past it, can be very rewarding. And aside from that stupid museum scene, it was also rewarding in Siphon Filter. I would sometimes avoid fights just because I could.