The Top Eight Most Underrated Games I've Ever Played

For games that really don't deserve the praise they get, see my other recent article: The Top Eight Most Overrated Games I've Ever Played

1. Shadowrun - Xbox360, Vista

   Shadowrun gained a lot of interest and anticipation before its release, sales-wise however it was a complete failure once it came out. The game was heavily criticised for its lack of single player, and the disappointing amount of content generally - with only ten maps, a multiplayer mode and two gametypes it barely warranted its full RRP. However, the core gameplay is immensely fun: Counterstrike with magic. Being able to play as a variety of different races, and with the choice of a large assortment of spells and technologies as well as weaponry, resulted in innumerable possible combinations of ways to play the game. From being a hang-gliding dwarf with a minigun, to a teleporting katana-elf - the endless ways you could tackle the game meant it had a lot of longevity despite the small amount of maps.

2. Audiosurf - PC

   This game is probably not that well known yet, as it is only distributed through the Steam platform, and without knowing much about it and from seeing its meagre $10 price tag, you would be forgiven for letting your eyes glaze over it in disinterest. But Audiosurf is a very unique game, combining music, puzzle and racing elements into one great addictive package. What makes Audiosurf so unique is that the soundtrack is your own music library; choose your favourite songs and it will transform them into a track to play on. You play the game to get high scores to compete on worldwide online leaderboards for the best score for every song ever played. This means that if you are a music lover with a large music library, this game is going to keep you hooked for ages.

3. Psychonauts - Multiformat

   Despite decent reviews generally from the press, this game sold very disappointingly. A great shame, because it is an amazingly wacky, funny and unique platformer. It's basically one of those games you have to play yourself or hear about by word of mouth; when I first saw it in a shop I disregarded it - from the cover it looked like a kid's game to me. However I bought it straight away after hearing how good it was. Luckily, since the game's release it has amassed a well-deserved cult following, and the honour of being one of the only game to receive a positive reviewing from Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation.

4. Earth Defence Force 2017 - Xbox360

   This is one of those games that just screams "bizarre japanese budget title," and it didn't exactly get a lot of praise from reviewers. The basic premise involves storming around with ridiculously powerful weaponry fighting equally ridiculous hordes of gigantic enemies, generally consisting of giant ants and robots. There are over fifty missions, each with the objective of obliterating everything on screen, and hilariously there are probably about ten different enemy and level variations, so it's just all copy-and-paste. However it's just pure crazy, unadulterated fun. There's even a co op mode so you can enjoy the mindless destruction with a friend. I've spent hours on this game, it has a strange relaxing quality to it where you can just sit back and destroy everything with ease. It even has a basic RPG element to it, where you increase your maximum health and range of weaponry with pickups from dead foes, to use in future missions. What really sealed the deal for me was that brand new, this was only £17.99.

5. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - PC

   Imagine my surprise when I went down to my local GAME store at the release of this game, ready with £30 to splurge when I look on the shelf and see it hastily reduced to a tenner. Bloodlines is a classic example of rushing out unfinished games to meet deadlines; it turns out that the game was impossible to complete without installing a patch - it would crash, guaranteed, on any system at a certain point in the storyline.
   
   
   Well, with this advice from the friendly cashier, I downloaded the patch and sat down to play one of the most inspired and engaging RPGs I have seen. This game has an open-ended environment, allowing you to wander round, discovering and completing quests at your will. There are even decisions to make that will influence what happens later in the game. It plays like a hybrid of action, RPG and adventure, with a fascinatingly mysterious game world and storyline that really keeps you interested, along with above-par graphics. The few bugs that are left in fail to ruin the enjoyment that can be had from Bloodlines; unfortunately the studio that made it liquidised shortly afterwards.

6. Gitaroo Man - PS2, PSP

   Long before music games needed a plastic guitar peripheral to be regarded as fun, there was Gitaroo Man. Along with crazy Japanese songs from just about every musical genre, even crazier characters and an intuitive control system, this game is infectious. No one I ask has ever heard of it, though. However, despite having only ten levels and songs, Gitaroo Man has such a steep learning curve that it can take a while to finish at first, and it has such replayability that you'll be beating your high scores and playing multiplayer with friends for ages. Originally released on PS2, it was then remade for PSP - the easier version to find, the PS2 version is fairly rare these days. Definitely recommended if you're after an original music game.

7. True Crime: Streets of LA - Multiformat

   A blatant Grand Theft Auto rip off, yes. A bad game, no. True Crime only really received lukewarm reception at its release, not really living up to the standards of the GTA series. But it was a very good game in its own right. The experience was overall very action packed, arguably with better combat than GTA, with lots of martial arts combos to take your opponents down. Set in a huge city, it had lots of entertaining missions. It certainly wasn't perfect, but all in all, it made a very good alternative that was worth a try.

8. Universe at War: Earth Assault - PC, Xbox360

   One of those games that no one knows about, that's inventive and original but slightly flawed. I bought Universe at War recently and it's some of the most fun I've ever had on an RTS. The reviews haven't exactly been full of praise for this game, and the sales incredibly disappointing, but any RTS fans need to give this a try. It's main trump card is the diversity of its factions; the Hierarchy commanding humongous walker units that are customisable on the fly, the Novus operating on a network they build all over the map that allows them to transport anywhere almost instantaneously, and the Masari that have two distinct play styles, light and dark, that can be switched at any time causing a big shift in the gameplay. There are some technical issues and the interface and control method are very outdated and unhelpful, but patches are being released that are ironing out the flaws. The quality of gameplay outshines any problems it may have, and I've been much more entertained on this than I have on a game like C&C3.