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I went to Borders last night to draw and drink coffee. Afterwards I drove around and stopped by at Wal-Mart to look around and waste some time. While I was there I was looking at the XBOX 360 section and at the PS3 section and found myself again, less than enthusiastic about my imminent purchase of a next gen system. I am positive I will get a 360 once I decide to get into this again, but even then, I am not terribly excited. I ended up going home and playing some older games and eventually threw in some Time Splitters 3 and immediately was reminded how much I freaking love that game. I know that compared to PC FPS it is not all that awesome or whatever, but damn is it a fun console FPS. It is fast, fun, funny and it has all kinds of crap to do in it.

I have unlocked such a stupid amount of crap in that game and still have like 30% more to go. I recently got back into making levels for multi-player, ( I still play it regularly with my son) and was freaking blown away. I was making some pretty cool stuff, pretty damn fast, once I remembered all my level design tricks I had found while making levels in it a while back. This got me thinking that I never really heard or hear of anybody talk about this game, even when it came out. The only person who I have heard even mention it here is Schild.

After playing it this long, I can honestly say it is probably my favorite console FPS. SO that is the point of this thread. Games you played and found to be really, really well done and fun, that no one else talks about or may have just let slip by. There is still a lot of fun stuff to play, and if there is more stuff that is that good I am more than willing to pick that crap up and play it. SO post about games you played that you liked so we can talk about it or go out and find ourselves a copy so we can play it.

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I dont see a wall of text..........

But I bet you see an edit.

Ultima Underworld and Mutant League Football were my two favoritest games ever, and I don't have a copy of either of them at the moment.

« Last Edit: Today at 07:25:34 AM by HAMMER FRENZY »

Sneaky sneaky.

Timesplitters 1-3 is good.

Timesplitters 4 is for the Wii.

Series is dead to me.

:(:(:(

Well, the TimeSplitters guys (Free Radical) are working on Haze for the PS3, so that may alleviate the pain some. :)

Yes, I am stoked about Haze. But like Hammer Frenzy said, I might be the only one :(

Schild: Yeah, I am pretty interested in playing Haze. Man I wish we would have gotten to play TS3 together, I freaking love that game. SO damn fast hahahah. Oh and the TS$ on the Wii thing was quoted from GI, it was a as well kinda thing. There is no specified system as of yet, but it most likely will be PS3 or all systems.

One word for everyone:

Lemmings

Man I love Mutant League Football. I actually am happy that EA has not done anything with it. They need to leave that one alone.

TimeSplitters 2 instilled a deep-rooted fear of red gloves in me.

The first Ultima Underworld rocked! the second..not so much.

I may be the only person, but I've always loved Empire II: The Art of War (http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=2077). Aside from miserably stupid AI, it was a perfect, modest turn-based wargame. It could be played hotseat or email (real time internet gaming was uncommon in 1996, aside from the FPS crowd), and had IGO-UGO and simultaneous execution (a la the later Combat Mission series) modes. It had some "hardcore" details (line of supply, weather, normal vs. entrenched vs. transit modes), but nothing overwhelming to the player.

The game/art editors were easy to use. Editors are always a big draw with me. You couldn't change terrain types or muck with the code, but I was able to create everything from man-to-man SF combat to brigade-scale medieval to division-scale modern scenarios, all with their own unique unit icons.

I got years of play out of that game. I still have it installed, but the DVI monitor I got in January makes hash of the game.

For me:

Kyrandia 1 (2 and 3 were ok)
Lands of Lore 1
Might and Magic 3-5 (had 2 on the Genesis)
Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall
Doom (the original)
Ultima Underworld 1 and 2
Ravenloft
Cybermage
Populous 1 and 2 (had 1 on the Genesis)
Starflight 1 and 2 (1 also on the Genesis)

Raydeen: Man I hear Star Flight love all the time... I own it on my Genesis, I need to play it.

Tropico and all wrestling games (for realz).

God bless Tropico.

Also, I don't understand this thread. All these games were good to begin with. Why do we have to look at it with retrospecTIVA.

Edit: Oh, Retrospective was just a bad choice of words.

I'm pretty sure The Schild Chronicles covered a number of good games no one noticed. Like Metal Arms. And Digital Devil Saga.

Can you like any game on the Wii?

Its not like Timesplitters is fantastic (and LIGHT YEARS better than the Halo  series...) because of its clever level design and sheer pile of fun content or anything.

I guess you need your FPSes to have HI DEF BLOOM LIGHTING and voice chat so "NI^$ER J^W C(NT FA&^OT *teabag emote*" or they suck.

Seriously dude.  Your irrational Wii hate is about as overdone as the FPS is.  Except you never added HI DEF BLOOM LIGHTING to your same old schtick...

I think you guys are trying harder to defend the Wii than Schild is trying to hate it.

I don't think that's possible.

Loderunner
MULE
Suspended

Actually, yea it is. No one plays it though.


After Cannon Fodder, AVP and Flashback came out - I was a fan of the Atari Jaguar. I still have one and a Jaguar CD and about 40 games. It doesn't take much for me to like a system.

The Wii is not only a shitty system full of crap shovelware and absolute trash everywhere you look, that waggly shit is invading stuff I like. It doesn't take any effort whatsoever to hate.

Tropico is a fun city builder game. I really loved the sound track too. back in 2001 I used to play it a lot. I'm borrowing the CD from a friend this weekend to replay it. :-D

Age of Empires II
Quake III
Crimsonland

Why are you using two Amiga games to defend your love of the Jaguar?
Oh, and God Hand is criminally under-rated.

Off on a slight tangent, someone over on SA did a "Let's Play" thread for KOTOR2 including a bunch of the cut content and if Lucasarts hadn't pushed it out the door a few months too early I think it would have been ranking up there with Planescape: Torment. No, really.

Well, you're wrong about KOTOR. The source material made sure of that.

It's not that it was 2 Amiga games, it's that it was the best two versions OF those games. Also, AVP.

Yes, God Hand is even more criminally underrated than you made it. It's the best beat-em-up since the mid 90s.

Master of Magic was one of my favorites. Kept playing it for ages, everyone else seemed to be obsessing over Master of Orion at the time.

Sacrifice. Best spells in a game EVER, really fun when the eqholic and I were playing 1v1 LAN. Rival wizards casting Volcano and Tornado is one of the most visceral experiences I've ever had in three decades of gaming.

Jagged Alliance, but I don't think that is an obscure or sleeper title.
Operation: Flashpoint.

Loved both of those.  Still play MOO2 from time to time, and I need to figure a way to get MoM to work on my machine once again.  Had it running on the old box just fine, but the new one's being flaky. Grr.  Both need a legitimate sequel, but I think it's never going to come to pass.

Still much love for Civs in all flavors, and SMAC.  Star Control and SC2 as well.

Console-wise Bushido Blade didn't get enough love.  It was also way too dumbed-down in BB2.   My budget's always been too (self) limited to pick-up obscure stuff "just because."  It also means I don't have a shelf full of shit I should trash/ sell back to EB games tho.. so I'm fine with that.

Schild: The reason I used Good Games in Retrospective was because I also want people to look back at games that were not great, but were really fun. Games they could recommend to other people who may like the same thing. A good example is God Hand. I fucking love that game, but it was way to hard for many people and the game was all over the place. About 90% of the people who played it never knew just how deep the fighting engine is and that alone is not reason enough for a game to be great. We ( you and I) like it so damn much cause t is clever and it plays well, but it has its issues. It is not  great game, it is a great game for people who like this sort of stuff, and that stuff is basass character design, fantastic fighting engines set to surf guitar....God damn... This game is like a set up... there was no way i could not have liked it....Anyway the levels were really bland (really bad!) and the fighting was very repetitive...If you sucked at the game...But I didn't so It looked and felt awesome when I beat droves of guys to shit.

Anyway, the point is this thread is for great games that got overlooked and good games that are good despite their shortcomings and bad games you played and enjoyed for some weird reason and that you would recommend to someone else if they fit specific criteria.

So yes, for many people, excluding myself and Schild and a few other of you, God Hand was okay, but looking back it was actually really good.

Games in Retrospective. Could have been games in retrospect too...hmmm. :|

Anyway...I love Red Dead Revolver. Everything about it. I love that game.

Sacrifice fits that. There was an annoying mechanism where you got these (fragile) little followers called manawhores (heh) that gave you your power, and they had to follow you aroung the map. But the game was fun enough to overcome the shortcomings. And the spells. Zomg.

I'd also say Daggerfall, because it was rambing and buggy, but I probably played it for a year. One of my favorite moments was falling in a well, swimming to the bottom of it and I was like 40 levels deep in this massive dungeon. Took me forever to finally get out, but it was in a good way.

Guys, Phantom Hourglass makes the old GB/GBA Zelda's look like fucking masterpieces.

There is absolutely no reason to have a stylus in that game at all other than marking on the map :( :( :( and that could have been done with icons and the dpad on a grid.

Schild: I had a feeling that you would really dislike the Phantom Hourglass.  :roll:  I am sure that it will be fun, everyone I know that has played it enjoys it.

Oh, it's as close to a 16-bit Zelda we'll ever get.

But the stylus controls are COMPLETELY unwarranted. Which is a fucking shame. And some of the design is totally haphazard. Make little circles on the edge of the screen to roll? JUST MAP IT TO A BUTTON. DAMN.

Almost there....

Fuck a wii.

Edit: Oh shit, I just realized that Phantom Hourglass is the DS equivalent of Lair.

OK I get it.  Some of mine have already been covered, like Buggerfall which I still feel is better than Morrowind or Oblivion as long as you overlook the bugs.  Bushido Blade was overlooked but I can't think of anything wrong with it, except it probably was terribly unexpected for people who were looking for a traditional vs fighter.

I could put Metal Saga in there, too.  I love the fact that it has absolutely no main story.  None.  Atelier Iris 3 has a main story.  Metal Saga does not.  You just go out and do shit, which is practically unheard-of in JP games.

Phantom Dust.  This game was just too cool to live.  I don't know why people did not like it, although it did have a pretty long tutorialish section before you got to the good part where you start collecting cards and building decks.

I equate the stylus with the wiimote.

Oh god Phantom Dust.

Yeg: Man that is the best description I have ever heard.

Phantom Dust was indeed to cool to even exist.

That game needs a PSP/DS port with online line action.

A portable will never do that game justice. It would be a waste of the art, music, and effects.

It needs a PS3/360 port. Either one. Couldn't care less. Will never happen. Pipe dream.

Not every game needs a portable port. Most would suck balls on a portable.

I would love a 360/ps3 port, but I would also love a PSP port. And that is BS if you think that a PSP port wouldn't do it justice cause MGSPO was great, Puto.  :lol:

MGS has crap controls on any system.

Phantom Dust controlled like a dream.

Your comparison sucksmyballzyo.

As a card-carrying member of the Handhelds Can Suck My Balls Association, I'm with schild here.  Phantom Dust was too cool to live because it wasn't just a card game, it was also a shooter... thing... I'm not sure what the hell the combat was comparable to (GTA? Metroid Prime?), and the visual design was unique, and the music was enthralling.  Hell, I'd wander around the town just to listen to the various tracks, especially the haunting track in the bar.  The character animations were well-done in my opinion.  I think it also had a story in there.  Too bad the 360 emulation is shitty-shit-shit, but at least it can boot up.  It should have been on the PS2 so I could now play it in Looks-Better-Than-The-Original-O-Vision on the PS3.

Schild: the MGS controls thing is just your lame opinion. I enjoyed it. I totally think that PS could be on the PSP and control just fine with some changes. Either way it wont happen but it could be done.

I've enjoyed some shitty controls before. MGS' controls were Bad and completely COMPLETELY unintuitive.

Ask people who played the latest version of Metal Gear Online at TGS. It's only getting worse.

Exactly as I stated before, I enjoyed MGSPO and I don't dislike the MGS controls anyway. The point of this was that I think that PS could be done on the PSP, you said no it can't cause PS is so purty and sounds good and whatever. I used MGSPO as an example of how a game can look good, have good music and solid presentation on the PSP. Your opinion, or anybody else's  opinion on whether MGSPO's control scheme works or not is really pointless here because PS CAN look,sound and play good on the PSP and the controls CAN be mapped to work.  :roll:

Why would anyone ever ask for a twitchy game to be put on the PSP anyway? Phantom Dust DEMANDS analog sticks. I don't want that shit shoehorned in and neither should you. Stop letting your ability to take a game into the shitter impair the quality of titles.

I am simply stating that it would be nice to have a portable version of that game cause I like it. It is not like that game couldn't use some clean up anyway. When is the last time you saw anyone who wasn't a scrub use the d-pad shortcuts to the descriptors in a match? What the fuck is the point of mapping the jump to the left analog click and mapping target lock cycle to L? The game could be messed with, but it is neither here nor there cause no one played or plays that game. I was online ALL THE FUCKING TIME on that game, and it was dead almost all the time. It is obvious the game didn't take off too well on consoles and maybe it could do better on portable. Maybe that is just me, I really like portable games, but the point is, yes it could be done. And what is this twitch can't be done on PSP shit?  :roll: 

I think you've gone loopy. Too many beans. Get a steak.

Actually, fuck it, I'm just going to be perfectly clear:

Saying you want a game for the PSP when it's CLEARLY better suited for the PS3 or 360 (particularly for online capability), is as stupid as saying "When's the port to the Wii coming out?" and "What? No DS version?"

Don't do that.

Anyway, the point is moot. If there is a sequel, which there may be, Yukio Futatsuki left MSDS Japan, and would have to get the the licensing for PS to make a sequel externally, that agreement would be, from what he said, that it has to come out on a MS system and that will the 360 if he chooses to continue with it.

Ho HO!

I'm sure it could be done on the PSP but I'd really rather it not be.  I could say that about most any "serious" title on DS or PSP, which is of course my opinion and playstyle.  Handhelds are for little games you play on the shitter while some game requiring me to spend more than ten minutes getting into it deserves to be on a real system.  WarioWare, that's a toilet game.  Valkyrie Profile is not.  Phantom Dust is not.  I play the Castlevanias on DS but I cry inside whenever I do, it's like they sent a great historical figure off to the old folks home to wear diapers and stare out the window all day.

It's possible that Phantom Dust would have greater commercial success on a handheld and I submit that is because it would be cheaper to make (shitty art and music, smaller sets of cards, simplified play), and that's exactly why great franchises go to die on handhelds.  I'm shocked and pleased that Culdcept isn't being banshed to a pitiful handheld existence for whatever reason.

The point isn't moot! You're a fucking gamer that cares! And you made a suggestion that makes you part of the problem! Don't do that! It scares me.

I have to agree MGS has shitbag controls. I watched a friend play and was psyched when they released the xbox version...but the controls totally turned me off (even accounting for my feelings on console shooters).

I guess nobody else played Sacrifice. It's worth it just to track down a copy and check out the end-level spell effects, especially the aforementioned Volcano and Tornado. Especially any game devs in the audience. That's how spells should be done. Period.

I do care, but I LIKE PORTABLE GAMES and I don't think they are just for playing when you take a crap. There is no reason a portable game can't be really good and skill based. I personally would like a Phantom Dust on a portable system cause I would play it. You are telling me I am causing a problem by wanting games to come out on a system I wouldn't mind playing it on. That is retarded. You are basically saying, cause you like games you should not wish for games to come out here or there. Fuck you, I will leave the bitching about what systems I play my games on to you. I just want to play good/fun games. I would like PS on the 360 or PS3 too, it would be great, but we see how many people play that now...hmmm 1300 members at the PS site forum, how many of those play consistently???... I would buy and play a portable version and that is why I wouldn't mind it, but a 360 port would work fine too. If I could have my cake and eat it too, it would be great if Futatsuki had gotten the rights to make it on the PS# and also have a portable version, that would have been super cool.

Was that the white box with the brown beetle-mandibles logo on it?  Was meaning to nab that years ago but I am pretty sure it has disappeared from retail outlets.

I played Sacrifice. I reinstall it periodically and dick around with it in Skirmish mode every year or two. And yeah, the spell effects are how high-level spells really should be done - enormous, epic, awe-inspiring things. Not "puff of flame and big numbers".

Also, Volcano. :heart:

I know that. Never said otherwise. That part was a joke. Sarchasm, watch out for it.


Never said that. At all.


You would play it on ANY system.


No, brotha, the problem is you're damning the game to a less optimal system. The optimal system is the 360. You know this, I know this, everyone knows this, it's not even an argument.


So do I, on the systems they belong on. Not on the less than optimal system.


Yes, but playing in What Ifs is, you know,  just depressing. As a gamer, I really try to stay away from what if's whenever it doesn't involve guessing a new announcement. And of course it would be great on the 360 or PS3, it would in fact be OPTIMAL on those systems. They have the online backbone, the distribution system, the patching system, everything that is needed for a game like Phantom Dust. But see, the problem here, is you know me and you know I own a shitton of DS and PSP games and have played that vast majority of them. You know I have no fucking problem with games made for the right system. So I have to ask, why the hell you think a PSP Phantom Dust would even be fun?

I think that was Sacred from Ascaron. Also not a bad game, seemed like they were trying to be Diablo2, and not missing too badly. I lump it in with Titan Quest on the 'Great Potential Unrealized' pile.

Schild: PSP phantom dust would be good cause as a VS console game it did poorly. I think that at a smaller scale it would work better, especially if it wee more pick up and play.(You can add and patch stuff on the PSP too.) That was one of the games problems in my opinion, it has a very VS fighting feel to it but it is clunky at getting there. That would all be streamlined on a portable, (it could also be streamlined on console as well.) I think that the game overall has to be streamlined when it comes to vs play, it is annoying to set up.  Don't get me wrong. I would Love a console version. I would play it. But I know and you know that no one else would. MS would really have to market the hell out of it and let's be serious, it is not accessible enough for the casual gamer. I think that it would be a good game as a portable, if that were the only option I had, and I would enjoy it cause it could be a really good portable game if done right, and I would like to be able to play it anywhere.   

That post is beyond the borders of my mind's eye.

It is out there, yo.

Redneck Rampage!  lol, as I was playing through HL2 it reminded me greatly of Redneck Rampage but without the kick ass soundtrack and endlessly amusing chickens.  And if HL2 were to ditch the kick ass water the graphics would be about the same quality too.

Redneck Rampage was lame jajaja, but it was fun in a teenage lame game way. I use to play that with one of my buddies when I was younger. He freaking loved that game.

Guys.

Serious Sam.

Seriously.

That game was all over the place. I really didn't think that game would be good. Random.

Damn it. Red Dead Revolver. Didn't anyone else like that game!??!?!

Also, Batman Begins on Xbox....WTF. That game really wasn't that good but I played the hell out of it... If you like Batman, and like the movie...It was a good movie game...

Giants (pretty!)

I loved Red Dead Revolver. Also loved God Hand.

Giants and Serious Sam were both highly underrated. They were both excellent, excellent multiplayer titles. I'd love it if someone came out with a new multiplayer FPS with the same elements as the Giants multiplayer.

I enjoyed a lot of Empire Earth in college, but that's when I could afford to toss away 4 hours on a single multiplayer match. The expacks and sequels have been utter shit though.

I was also one of the freaks that liked M.A.X.

Hmm...

Tecmo Super Bowl...still the best football game ever made.
Ogre Battle.
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals for the Ancient Cave.

I always loved Kirby's Adventure for the NES. My favorite platformer to this very day.

http://www.amazon.com/Havas-FGC9510410-Sacrifice/dp/B00004TSX4 Amazon also lists a GOTY edition. Though listed as Win9x, someone posted on youtube with a video of it playing on XP.

Sacred was also a good game, but for some reason I never got into it. Probably got a bunch of new games at the time. It was less Diablo and more Divine Divinity, Diabloish combat but with actual rpg elements instead of hack-n-slash (although there certainly were huge swaths of hacking and the slashing).

I liked Redneck Rampage, fun game. Serious Sam was Not My Style of fps. Red Dead Revolver I always meant to pick up out of the bin.

I liked the whole Exile series and I still play Civ II from time to time, simply because I became the most familiar with it over III or IV.

I wanted to stop, but I have to say something.  Taking things out of Phantom Dust, reducing it because it's "too big", that's what is wrong with the entire portable game arena in my mind.  I might even get a little schildy and say IT'S WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE INDUSTRY or something.  I don't want to play a simplified Phantom Dust.  I don't want the characters to be chibi or the backgrounds to be pixelated or the music to be 16-bit-era PLINK-DEE-DOO or the card set to be reduced.  There are tons of games out there that are hampered by crappy and superfluous gameplay elements, but Phantom Dust is not one of those (except the lengthy tutorial).

It's interesting, I know HF is thinking of it as a vs fighter because that's his world, but I never thought of it as a vs fighter.  I always thought of it as a card-based combat game, just it required a little shooter skill.  Instead of timing your blocks and counters by the frame, you are finessing your deck and... well, timing your blocks and counters.  So I guess I can see that, but that's not how I thought of it.

I did not like Redneck Rampage.  It looked fine but didn't do anything new gameplay-wise.

My bad, I meant Off-Road Redneck Racing. Rampage was boring.

You are incorrect, sir.

Cannon Fodder + mouse = teh wins.

Still own my copy, I wanted to love that game the graphics were amazing and the camera and everything was great.  The only reason I didn't get into it was that I am just piss poor at rts games so nothing it could do about that.