Top 10 (vol. 22, most underrated video games)
So we sort of covered some of this with our top 10 video games post, but we’ve been digging deeper into all the mediums lately so I thought this might be an interesting direction. INPO:
WinBack: Covert Operations (N64) - Still the best 3rd person stealth 4-player split screen multiplayer game ever.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day (N64) - Rare = awesome
NBA 2K3 (xBox) - The best basket ball game ever made, the controls are simple and intuitive and the character generator is robust enough to make reasonable facsimiles of all your friends. 2 v 2 street ball is about the funnest 4 player sports game ever. I still can’t believe they haven’t made this game backwards compatible with the 360 yet (actually, I just checked, and it has finally been added to the list, hooray!).
WWF No Mercy (N64) - Super fun, amazing character personalization possible, you could customize all 100+ moves your player performed in the ring, and again, great 4 player action.
Perfect Dark (N64) - actually, probably a better game than its predecessor, but the multiplayer levels weren’t quite as good and the campaign was just terrible, I hate when an FPS turns into an alien shooting gallery.
Micro Machines (NES) - great game, spent tons of time playing this game at a friends house growing up.
Clayfighter (Sega Genesis) - back when I still cared about graphics (and fighting games), this game blew my mind.
Tecmo Superbowl (NES) - still maybe the best football game ever made, and the savable season progress was revolutionary.
Base Wars (NES) - best baseball game ever made, on a close play you get to fight it out for the call.
Halo 3 (xBox 360) - Yeah, I did it, I know, I know, when a game is the highest selling game of all time, it can hardly be considered underrated, but it really is a great game, better than CE, and consistently rates below other titles on other lists published on the web, so say what you will.
-Keenan
Darkwing Duck (NES)- One of my favorite side-scrollers ever. Challenging, but not impossible. Surprisingly varied gameplay and enemies.
Banjo-Kazooie (N64)- Rare hasn’t been able to recapture what they used to have back in the day, but for a long time they were making the BEST video games, period. This one was no exception, and it’s endlessly awesome.
Aladdin (Sega Genesis)- Disney used to make some killer video games, back in the day. I loved this one. You can slice guys up with your sword, throw apples at them from afar slide down ropes, and race through the Cave of Wonders on your magic carpet.
Maximum Carnage (Genesis)- This game had branching paths, every few levels you had the chance to choose to play as either Spider-man or Venom. Guest appearances from practically every Marvel character ever, and the music is totally classic.
Star Wars Episode 1 Racer- This podracing game had a ton of tracks and a ton of different racers, not to mention a ton of ways to earn cash and a ton of ways to use that cash to upgrade your podracer. Lots of depth for a science fiction racing game, and the speeds you can reach is unbelievable.
Crackdown (360)- I’ve played this all the way through at least 4 times, and I’ll never trade it back to GameStop. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, targeting enemies in the air and blowing them away before you hit the ground, then picking up a truck and throwing it into a group of gang members. It’s a really short game and somewhat repetitive, but the superpowers combined with sandbox gameplay in a brilliantly designed expansive city just never gets old.
Fuzion Frenzy (X-box)- Best party game ever that doesn’t use a Wii-mote, for novices and experts alike. The simplicity of the minigames doesn’t make the close matches any less intense.
Path of Neo (X-box)- I’ve never actually played this all the way through, but it’s everything Enter the Matrix should have been. It’s pretty challenging, the graphics aren’t the best, and the controls and camera can be annoying, but I could fight 100 Agent Smiths all day.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)- After MGS2 sucked hard, this game (that came out near the end of the PS2’s lifespan) kind of got swept under the radar, but it truly is better than the original. The 1960s gameplay (changing camo patterns, hunting for food to eat, tending to broken bones and other injuries, using a battery to power electronic equipment and silencers that become less effective the more you use them) really makes you enjoy taking your time, as opposed to getting frustrated with the level of perfection it takes to get by enemies unnoticed. The story isn’t quite as good as MGS 1, but it’s pretty damn close.
Driver (PS1)- Back in the day before game characters were able to get out of cars and walk around, you had to spend hours driving around the cities of Driver, lining up jumps perfectly, driving down every alley looking for new stuff to do, and running from some of the toughest cops ever. The best part was making your own movies and saving them to your memory card.
I just noticed that 6 of the 10 games on my list allow simultaneous offline 4 player game play, and those 4 remaining games were on consoles that allowed a maximum of 2 players, which they allowed…
I don’t have much to say about this as I’m a nerd’s nerd reading fantasy books instead of playing video games, but I will say Amen to NBA 2K3 it is the only basketball game I’ve ever enjoyed and i’ve enjoyed the hell out of it.
at least you still read the blog…