Console Games: The 15 Best Ones Everyone Skipped (And 15 Bad Ones Everyone Played)
Table of Contents
Some console games get more recognition than they deserve, and some of them completely slip under the radar.
You Are Reading :Console Games The 15 Best Ones Everyone Skipped (And 15 Bad Ones Everyone Played)
Video games, as we all know, are not created equal. Some, from the very first time they’re announced, are hyped out the wazoo. Remember the fervor when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was first teased? We didn’t even know the game’s name. All we saw was the reflection of a logo in an Inkling’s eye, and it was enough to send the internet into meltdown.
I mean, how do you possibly live up to that kind of attention? Ultimate is going to be rammed the gills will content; characters, stages, music, unlockables and all the rest, but we’re still going to find reasons to bash on it.
There’s always a reason to bash on things. You know what we gamers are like. It’s impossible to please everybody, especially in this industry. The more a AAA title is promoted, the more there is at stake.
By the same token, though, just as many games are far, far better than they’re given credit for. Some indie masterpieces like Hollow Knight and Darkest Dungeon go on to grab the following that they deserve, but some many don’t. And that goes for more than just indie games.
In this rundown, then, we’re taking a look at some of the most underrated console titles ever, right alongside some of the most overrated (in my eyes, at least, don’t @ me). If some of the latter could have traded their popularity with some of the former, we’d have a far fairer and more just world today.
30 EVERYONE PLAYED: Wii Sports — Swinging Like A Mad Thing
Back in 2005, the motion-controlled voodoo of the Wii’s remote was still a novelty. Wii Sports was the pinnacle of the wave it around with the whole family concept, and it was a huge deal. By virtue of being packed in with one of the most successful consoles of all time, it’s ‘sold’ an outrageous amount of copies.
Even so, there’s little doubt that it’s a fun, glorified tech demo. Eventually, you realize that a simple wrist movement is enough, and you don’t need to flail around like Rafael Nadal.
29 NO-ONE PLAYED: Asura’s Wrath — Kratos? Never Heard Of Him
Asura’s Wrath hit PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2012, and it was clear right from the very start that it had one goal in mind: to be as unhinged, dramatic and action-tastic as possible. In style, it’s similar to the likes of God of War or Bayonetta, but the gameplay takes a much more cinematic and QTE-heavy approach.
This, naturally, didn’t go down too well with a lot of players, and Asura’s Wrath was largely forgotten. This vengeful journey does have something truly different to offer, though, if more conventional hack and slash titles aren’t really your style.
28 EVERYONE PLAYED: No Man’s Sky — There’s A Lot Of… Space For Improvement
In recent years, gaming has been thoroughly dominated by the whole free roaming thing. Grand Theft Auto V, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2… all these games have been advancing the scope of what a free-roaming sandbox can be.
Sometimes, in pursuit of that, a game becomes far too darn ambitious. No Man’s Sky was an unfortunate victim of this.
Hello Games’s procedurally-generated space survival adventure was not looking too hot at launch, it’s safe to say.
It’s seen a lot of significant updates since, but it’s tough to recover from that sort of PR disaster.
27 NO-ONE PLAYED: Soul Sacrifice Delta — PS Vita Has Exclusives?
That’s right. I said has. I’m not quite ready to speak about the Vita in the past tense just yet.
Yes indeed, there were some excellent gaming experiences that were exclusive to Sony’s formidable-yet-forgotten handheld. One of which was Soul Sacrifice, a Monster Hunter-esque action RPG that saw players take the role of a doomed sorcerer. You fought a series of demonic monsters using a customizable set of spells, which let you use everything from magical spears and swords to flaming traps.
The save or sacrifice mechanic allowed you to be as moral as you liked, and the whole thing was wrapped up in a sublimely-presented narrative. A digital-only sequel of sorts, Soul Sacrifice Delta, followed in 2014, and sold fairly abysmally.
26 EVERYONE PLAYED: Kinect Adventures — Let’s (Not) Go On An Adventure!
As was the case with Wii Sports, Xbox 360’s Kinect Adventures succeeded on much more than its own merits as a game. Whenever some spangly new gaming tech is released (touchscreen, dual screens, motion controls, whatever it happens to be), games are going to appear that try to cash in on that action.
For Xbox’s Kinect, Kinect Adventures! was that game. I’m not sure it warranted that exclamation mark at the end of the title, friends, but there it is anyway. It was just a compilation of a few minigames, Reflex Ridge and Space Pop among them, that was meant as an introduction to Kinect.
25 NO-ONE PLAYED: Vanquish — Vanquish Those Doubts
When it comes to super-stylish hack and slash titles, Platinum Games just rule that arena. They have credits like the Bayonetta series and the utterly manic Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on their side, and you can’t argue with that. You simply cannot.
Another of their credits is Vanquish, a game that definitely deserved much more of a reception. Critics totally dug its innovative shooter/beat ‘em up mechanics, style and innovation (even if it was over too soon), and it’s a shame that more players who appreciate this kind of game didn’t get on board.
24 EVERYONE PLAYED: Zelda II — The Adventure Of Link
Sequels are a tricky business, aren’t they? If the original was a huge deal, as the very first Legend of Zelda title was, that’s a darn hard thing to follow up.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link took a bold stab at the sequel thing on its release in the late 1980s, and… well, some weren’t quite sure what to make of it.
It made a good amount of money and garnered positive reviews, but it also featured some unusual design decisions, such as the whole levelling up thing. Lots of players has mixed feelings about all this.
23 NO-ONE PLAYED: Heavenly Sword — Almost Heavenly
The good old PS3 had its shonky moments (that launch wasn’t pretty, let’s not kid ourselves here), but that’s true of any console. By the time its successor arrived, PS3 bowed out gracefully with a impressive library of games to its name.
Some of these are much-beloved titles, while others just didn’t get the appreciation they deserved. Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword certainly didn’t set the gaming world alight, but those who gave it a chance were rewarded by an interesting action adventure game; one of the more unusual first-party titles in Sony’s repertoire.
22 EVERYONE PLAYED: Brain Age — A Daily Shot In The Arm Of Self Confidence
Thanks, Doctor Kawashima. I logged in and played a quick daily game before getting out of bed. Now you’re telling me that my ‘brain age’ in 62 and I hate myself before I’ve even had a morning pee. Thanks, guy.
Of all the lifestyle apps that the Nintendo DS and Wii saw, Brain Age (or Doctor Kawashima’s Brain Training) was one that I just couldn’t get on board with. Wii Fit? Sure, I can appreciate that. Brain Age just seemed a little inconsequential, another of those tech demos.
21 NO-ONE PLAYED: Little King’s Story — This King Deserved To Be Much Bigger
If you’ve played Nintendo’s super-quirky RTS Pikmin, you’ll know that cutesy little units and adorable resource management can go a long way in this genre. If you’re a fan like myself, you’ll also know that it really does deserve more of a following.
On those levels, Little King’s Story is very similar. It was originally released for the Wii in 2009, and sees players taking control of said teeny king and managing the kingdom, by assigning your followers to different jobs (farm work, fighting and so forth).
Little King’s Story was later re-imagined on the Vita as New Little King’s Story, not that the Vita would help much with expanding the audience.
20 EVERYONE PLAYED: 50 Cent: Bulletproof — Fiddy Strikes Again
There’s just something about a license, isn’t there? Video game adaptions of movies have a bad reputation, but we continue to buy them in droves because they’ve got Pirates of the Caribbean or whatever emblazoned on the cover.
We’re paying for the name, really, buying into the brand.
Another video game that sold super well was 50 Cent: Bulletproof, a Grand Theft Auto-like adventure that released for PS2 and Xbox in 2005.
Fans and those who were simply morbidly curious got in on the action, despite the fact that the game suffered from some awful mechanics.
19 NO-ONE PLAYED: Lost Odyssey — A Sad Loss
For the RPG fans among us, there are two key names among the Lost Odyssey development staff that should have piqued your interest: Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. That’s right, the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise and the composer of much of the series’ celebrated music respectively.
Lost Odyssey was an Xbox 360 release, a very-familiar-yet-different RPG from genre veterans. While it performed well worldwide, critics and players were divided on key issues like the story and characters, and it has largely faded away.
18 EVERYONE PLAYED: Superman 64 — No. Just No.
That’s right, friends. We’ve already spoken about the horrors of licensed video games, and now here’s the boogieman at the heart of all of that. Superman 64, the face that launched a thousand lame licensed games. Or something.
When this one launched in 1999, we bought it thinking we’d get to enjoy the heady thrill of playing as the invincible Son of Krypton. Instead, we got to fly him through rings, like it was freaking Baby’s First Deeply Questionable Flight Sim. An injustice, by all accounts.
17 NO-ONE PLAYED: Jet Grind Radio — Like A Cel-Shaded Grand Theft Auto For The Cool Kids
We all have the one that got away. You know, that console that you never got around to owning, because you’d pledged your allegiance elsewhere during the great Mario vs Sonic wars of the 90s. For me, that system was the Dreamcast. I’ve only owned one for the last few years, and I’ve been enjoying that quirky controller and catching up on the console’s classics.
One of which, most Dreamcast owners will tell you, is Jet Grind Radio. The cel-shaded adventure sees you taking the role of a Tokyo gang member, skating around the city and spreading graffiti. It plays out a little like a free-roaming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and it’s fantastic.
16 EVERYONE PLAYED: Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games — Never The Twain Shall Meet
Speaking of the Mario versus Sonic pitched battles of the 90s, that was some darn serious business. Friendships were won and lost on schoolyards across the world over this very issue. Console wars were more personal back then.
Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation fans couldn’t just leave bitter messages in the YouTube comment section in those days.
Those of us who remember those times will understand that it was a huge deal when these two gaming icons teamed up like this. Sadly, though, Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games was just another very popular minigame compilation.
15 NO-ONE PLAYED: Kirby Canvas Curse — Touch The Pink Puffball
Early in the lifespan of Nintendo DS, touchscreen functionality was super novel. It’s odd to think that this was ever the case, in a time when everybody has smartphones permanently welded to their hands, but there it is.
As a result, the functionality was being used in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it was shoehorned in for the sake of it, and other times it was done fantastically well. Kirby: Canvas Curse was an example of touch control done right: the player would ‘paint’ paths for Kirby to follow. It was simple, very effective, and sorely underappreciated.
14 EVERYBODY PLAYED: Enter The Matrix — Enter A Half-Finished, Half-Hearted Matrix
Much of the criticism around licensed titles centers around the fact that they’re often just so lazy. They’re safe sales, which means the developers can put in as little effort as possible. However mediocre the experience winds up being, though, it’s usually at least finished.
Not so in the case of Enter The Matrix. They were clearly in a hurry to thrust it through the game-o-matic machine; so much so that they didn’t actually put some of the game itself in there. With some more development time, it may have been solid.
13 NO-ONE PLAYED: The Saboteur — Sabotaging Its Chances
As I say, gaming certainly hasn’t been short of open worlds, sandboxes, sidequests and the like of late. That was the trend before the whole battle royale thing hit.
Naturally, with so many to choose from, it follows that some open world games aren’t going to get a fair shake. Pandemic Studios’ The Saboteur is one of them. It’s set in occupied Paris, and used an interesting color (and lack thereof) mechanic to signify the player’s status at the time.
It was a little rough around the edges, but good.
12 NO-ONE PLAYED: Ōkami — Beautiful Brushstrokes
Let’s be completely real with ourselves here, Ōkami was always going to be a shoo-in for this one. A critically-acclaimed and cult-beloved adventure title, it’s one of the most compelling arguments we’ve seen for video games as art in a good long time.
I mean, you’re playing as a wolfish sun-god who uses the power of a magical paintbrush to fight enemies and solves puzzles. Is that something you see every day? You’re darn right it isn’t.
Ōkami first released on the PlayStation 2 in 2006, but didn’t really catch on until the remasters for later consoles.
11 EVERYONE PLAYED: Super Mario Sunshine — It’s (Not) Always Sunny In Delfino
That’s right, friends. We’re going to dial the realness up several thousand notches here, hopping back to the GameCube era and looking at the much-maligned Super Mario Sunshine.
It received almost universal praise from critics, but a lot of players still look back at Sunshine with contempt. The whole F.L.U.D.D controversy, the shonky camera, the questionable shines (a criticism also leveled at Super Mario Odyssey’s moons) and blue coins… I enjoyed my time with Sunshine sixteen years ago, but I feel there’s a reason that it’s often considered one of the weakest in the series.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/console-games-best-no-one-played-least/