Most underrated video games of all time (ever)

[Tengu]

I wouldn't put Lufia 2 as my favorite SNES game myself, but it is very good - the story is pretty interesting, the puzzles are interesting and the dialogue between the characters is one of the best in a jRPG I have ever seen. Combat is pretty bland, but at least goes fast - and it is not the focus of the game.

[Om]

Total Annihilation for the PC. It seems like it's got a strong cult following but I don't see it mentioned a lot in any serious RTS conversation.

Its not hard to see why - despite its qualities TA was never revolutionary on the scale of the original C&C - but TA was a commercial and critical hit on release.

To my mind underrated does not equate to "old". It is natural that people no longer avidly discuss games that are a decade old. That does not mean that at the time a game was not lauded or appreciated.

[Tom_Violence]

Well UFO was well known and it did spawn a whole range of sequels and clones. Maybe its an age thing but the X-Com series was always well regarded and popular.

The only true sequel to UFO that I consider was Apocalypse (which I am currently desperately trying to make work again). Terror From The Deep was basically a fudge, and the new ones follow the same vein (nice enough ideas, but a serious lack of quality of delivery). So yes, only one sequel, eons ago. And I think I already asserted its popularity anyway.

[warty goblin]

Its not hard to see why - despite its qualities TA was never revolutionary on the scale of the original C&C - but TA was a commercial and critical hit on release.

To my mind underrated does not equate to "old". It is natural that people no longer avidly discuss games that are a decade old. That does not mean that at the time a game was not lauded or appreciated.

I think that it could be argued that TA was revolutionary in ways that Starcraft was not however, and Starcraft still recieves plenty of recognition for "revolutionizing" and "defining" the RTS genre.

Games that I find to underrated:
- Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Sure its not great, but its really pretty good, and it had some pretty fun fights in it. Fights that I found every bit as memorable as those from games like Halo, which I also liked a lot.

- Overlord. This game has a great sense of humor, and is actually refreshingly different to play. I never played Pikmen, with which it is frequently compared, but I found that the combination of third person action and RTS elements to be most appealing.

- Age of Wonders. Sure it got pretty good reviews, but I have an almost feverish devotion to this game, having beat the campaign multiple times on various difficulties. Plus, who can't love a game with suicidal goblins blowing up elves?

[MellowMelon]

So many have mentioned Majesty that I looked it up. Is it worth a $10 download?

Anyway, I'd like to add Shadow Watch (PC) to the list. It was a turn based tactical rpg that was pretty cool. It got pretty bad reviews because of it's poor presentation and length. It was lackluster in places but it was still loads of fun to create your own missions.

[† Dran †]

Id like to add F.E.A.R to this list. Never heard anything about it apart from the reviews when it came out but i picked it up 2 weeks ago along with its expansion and i got to say im loving every moment of it. Great mix of horror and good old fps with a pretty damn twisted story.

[Celitholar]

Majesty. This game captured the spirit of an adventurer's world without being an RPG which is an accomplishment in and of itself. But its also a really fun game.

Agreed. It was awesome.

[The Duskblade]

Donkey kong country II. I absolutely loved that game. But I never here anything about it. (Bless'es the Wii's virtual console.)

[Om]

The only true sequel to UFO that I consider was Apocalypse (which I am currently desperately trying to make work again). Terror From The Deep was basically a fudge, and the new ones follow the same vein (nice enough ideas, but a serious lack of quality of delivery). So yes, only one sequel, eons ago. And I think I already asserted its popularity anyway.

The quality of the sequels is unimportant though (personally Terror From The Deep was my favourite) when gauging the reception of a game. UFO spawned half a dozen sequels (not including spiritual successors). It was also a commercial and critical success at the time. So hardly under-rated then

I think that it could be argued that TA was revolutionary in ways that Starcraft was not however, and Starcraft still recieves plenty of recognition for "revolutionizing" and "defining" the RTS genre.

Again, I think this is the age thing. I would compare TA to C&C, the two being rough contemporaries, without even thinking of SC. All three were praised and sold well. SC obviously went on to conquer the world (or Korea at least) but by that relative standard every other RTS ever made has also been under-appreciated.

[Jakezor]

Bard's Tale For the Xbox, Hillarious, totally worth every penny (I have a soft spot for hideous singing and dancing midgets I guess) Only problem being that it's short.... 4 1/2 hours short, but I was laughing the whole time. more than I can say about any "comedy" movie i've seen recently... and this game is twice as long to boot. Not for those who cry over broken 4th walls.
Jade Empires Pitty the combat was a tad too simplistic for my tastes, it would have made it... well, even better. Its just, well, after the first hour or so, you can basically beat every encouter in the whole game on the hardest difficulty without taking a blow. a learning curve like a sidewalk curb. Verticle, but about 3 inches high.
Colonozation Silly provides me with hours of amusement, and the games been out for, what? 12 years? I don't even remeber.
Oregon Trail 2 You have died of Cholera
The Way of the Samurai I don't care that a play through the game only takes 3-4 hours. I don't care that the camera could be clunky, the best (realistic (sans easily surviving several cannon shots)) samurai action game to date. Be as divine and helpful or as horrible ad spiteful as you want. Murder anyone who happens to even slightly cheese you off, or be a self-sacraficing hero. Doom a small region, or unite it (though the latter was quite difficult and took me many play throughs)
To a lesser extent...
The way of the Samurai 2 Some said the first was too hard. so they made it easier. Unfortunatly, they made it a bit too easy (read: jade empires) but the storylines were much longer and more in depth, but required less finess to pull off to the end in most cases, and so much in others that you can only get some endings if you just so happen to be in exactly the right place and exactly the right time 3 or 4 times in a row. Other than that, an amazing (if less realistic) game.

Theres this other game too, one I've been searching for for ages. I think it was for playstation or playstation 2... I don't really remember much about it, except you killed monsters, got "coins" of them from defeating them, and then could transform into those monsters using those coins... Anyone know which game this one was? Whenever I ask, people look at me like i've got something large and silly on my face... But yeah.

[Tirian]

I'll give a shout out to Beyond Good and Evil, Majesty, and Star Wars Rebellion. For heaven's sake, if everyone who loved BG&E bought a copy, how could the sales have possibly been so disappointing that they didn't make a sequel (yet)? Grrr.

Anyway, here are a few new ones to throw on the pile.

Ultima IV: It was the first CRPG that involved a gameplay device other than defeating a BBEG. I'm not positive, but it might be the only one.

Magic: The Gathering (Microprose): Fully functional MTG Make your own decks for free, including banned cards.

Heaven & Earth:The most enjoyable puzzle game ever. I might be the only one who ever played it.

Star Wars DroidWorks: LucasArts takes the Quake engine and uses it to make a physics tutorial. And it's great fun at the same time.

A Mind Forever Voyaging: Someone's got to bring up the old Infocom text adventures. This is probably the simplest, but far and away the most moving.