I thought I'd make a place for us to discuss about obscure games. Feel free to talk about games you liked, games you didn't like, or ask for recommendations. The only requirement is that the games must be "under the radar." I'll start with an example of each:
Zone of the Enders: The Fist of Mars - Zone of the Enders is already pretty obscure, but I'm sure even fewer gamers have heard of this GBA SRPG entry in the series. Released in 2002, this game could be easily dismissed as a Super Robot Wars clone (another series I'll be talking about later on). However, for a clone, it's a pretty darn good one. The story is actually pretty good for an SRPG, if a bit confusing. It's told through Still panels using portraits, which display a surprising about emotion, mixed with some fitting tunes.
The gameplay is also pretty good. It plays mostly like SRW: you move your units along a square grid, taking terrain (unless your unit can fly) and stats into consideration. Once you got your units in place, you engage the enemies using various weapons (some of which can only be used once the unit has gained enough "Spirit") with different ranges. What's unique here is that when you attack, yoiu actually aim at the enemy by aiming a cursor at it (and of course it'll move around trying to evade). All this is timed, so you have to aim quickly and carefully, because if you miss or the time runs out, they avoid your attack. Of course, when you're on the recieving end of an attack, you can avoid it, too, by moving around a cursor (which represents your unit) away from the target, which will chase your cursor until either the time runs out or they make contack for more than a second.
Other than that, the music is good, the graphics are okay, the mech designs are great, and the characters are likeable. It's just a good game, and I highly suggest playing it if you're interested.
Zak & Wiki - I'll just say this right now, I did not enjoy this game. The cartoony style and annoying voices got to me very quickly. I didn't like the gameplay, specifically the waggling, and I hated that you could die. I've never played a Point 'n' Click before where you could die, and I never want to play another one that includes that feature again. Trail & error is the essence of a P'n'C, yet they punish you for trying things. Not cool. Really, this game ended up being a total waste of my time. Luckily I only rented it, since I would've been ashamed to have it in my collection.
What do people think of A Boy & His Blob? I'm interested in getting that.
Also, just to note, personally I'm going to post about one game a day (this is tiring stuff), and I'll probably be talking mostly about games I like since I dislike talking about games I don't like.
A Boy and His Blob is pretty great. Just a classic, really well made puzzle platformer game with some beautiful art. Just don't expect anything too revolutionary.
Glover was a fun gem from the 64 bit era. It's one of those games that could have (and perhaps) should have been just another cash-in on the 3d platformer collectathon craze with laughable and extremely pointy 3d graphics and the entire game is in a way an escort mission but it was somehow incredibly fun against all odds. Just a cliched "how to make a good platformer" platformer. Basic, fun platforming and made interesting by consistently using the game's gimmick (in this case carrying the crystal that can transform into a rubber ball/bowling ball/marble to the exit).
Legend of Dragoon (PS1) - Great, great game. I'd rather not waste the time explaining once again why it's so great, but it just is. Such a fantastic game.
Battle of Olympus (NES) - I was really surprised at how good this game turned out. I just picked out the game at the video game store with the coolest box art and this one had a really cool artpiece on the front: http://pics.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/1184417353-00.jpg
The game ended up being an incredibly epic platformer with a lot of sidequests, stages, and some pretty awesome music. I also really love the fact that it's all mythology-based.
Metal Morph (SNES) Abysmal game. This game is so terrible that my brother and I had a competition on how long we could play the game before we just had to stop playing on multiple occasions. It was just that bad.
“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” - "Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them."
The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou (Win98) It's a creepy as hell game from japan that was made b the same people who made LSD: Dream Emulator. It's basically an exploration game (from what I've seen so far) where You play as Rin who has most recently gotten His soul stolen and He goes to the Island of Tong-Nou to get it back and that's about it.
VVVVVV - One of the most pure fun games I've ever played, bar none. Ridiculously infectious music doesn't hurt. Buy it for $5 on Steam or directly from distractionware (Terry Cavanagh) here.
Don't Look Back - Same developer, different direction. This is a game about atmosphere. And for the low, low price of free... Well, let's just say it ain't too shabby. Play it on Kongregate.
Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent - Don't listen to the negative reviews, because this game has an absolutely amazing story backed up by great dialog, charming voice acting, a beautiful, hand-drawn (yet somehow 3D), award-winning visual style; and some pretty decent puzzles to boot (all imo of course). Oh, and it'll make you scared of gnomes for the rest of your life (well, at least you'll never look at them the same way again, especially the red ones). Buy it on Steam, from the game's official website, or on and iDevice for five bucks; and on PSN for $10 (afaik; could be lower). Sadly it never came out for WiiWare but that shouldn't stop you from picking this up for cheap some way or another so you can get ready for the sequel this summer.
Jason Rohrer's Passage and Gravitation - You might find them moving, you might not. I certainly did in the 200-point DSiWare collection of them and and off-beat two-player-only game, Between, from the same guy. If you don't have a DSi/don't want to buy 1000 points for it, then you can always get Passage for free here and Gravitation for free here. It can't hurt to try them.
...And those are all of the good obscure games I can think of right now.
Virtual On: Force...a good multiplayer game but limited in what it offers.
Pier Solar....Very beautifully represented (menu wise and content) but the graphics aren't 1994 quality (AKA the Prime for a Mega Drive game...this was released in 2010 btw) and the Battle System is really challenging...but I need to know where to go next on it.
Phantom Dust (Xbox) is an action RPG which plays like a fast-paced card game. You basically build decks of psychic skills and draw hands to use in real-time combat. No one's heard of it but its multiplayer (4P split-screen/system link/Xbox Live) is pretty incredible.
The Last Express (PC) is a 1997 adventure game set in 1914 on the final Orient Express trip from Paris to Constantinople. Events play out in real-time and the characters all have pretty complex AIs which mean they move and interact with one another without your input and also respond to you based upon their personalities. It's very convincing, almost like actually stepping into the pre-World War Orient Express and seeing the culture and tension associated with that time. Impressive rotoscoped graphics and very convincing voice acting there. The characters even speak their native languages (such as French, German, Russian, Arabic), which are subtitled in English if the main character can understand them.
any indie game on xbla is obscure. and pretty much terrible
If you mean the Indy games on XBLA are terrible, you're wrong. If you mean the games in the Indie section of Xbox Live Marketplace are terrible, you're mostly right. There's some great ones, but you have to sift through a lot of crap to get to them. (not unlike Wiiware).
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Topic: Obscure Games
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