I made a topic earlier about how I believed that the general standard of reviews have gone down(only to be proven wrong) but, I found something interesting in that discussion that id like to bring to the table;

Can anyone recommend a game/s that has gotten an 'average' (or 7/10), or has been pigeonholed but is actually quite fun? I feel a bit stupid asking this, but I just have to know(or I cant really call myself a 'gamer' here)

well psychonauts for one. its been said, i know but still it deserves to be said again

Practically every vaguely decent game will get some good reviews, but games I particularly enjoyed despite some middling scores would include -

Sega Rally Revo - deformable tracks for the win.

Call Of Juarez - some of the sneaking levels are annoying, but the dual wielding, bible toting bullet time abusing psychotic preacher is an absolute blast to play.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - nothing extraordinary, but certainly an enjoyable first person hack and slash fest.

Condemned: Criminal Origins? Not sure if this qualifies, I've seen some good reviews for it, but at the time it certainly seemed to get a mixed response, at least on pc. Amazing atmosphere, well worth a play.

Assassin's Creed got a 7 from ign. Poop was flung because of this. Penny Arcade made comics.

I'm not sure if you can still get it on PC but back when i had a Mac there was this awesome game called "Escape Velocity Nova" by Ambrosia Software. it was the bomb, a full galaxy exploration, trading between planets, and fighting pirates. It also had some of the most kick ass story lines ever. There where three main factions the The Auroran Empire, Polaris, and The Federation; each had there own distinct ships, weapons, and society.

The Auroran's were war like and divided their politics into mafia type "houses". their weapons where mostly guns but they had some awesome laser turrets near the end, and they preferred armour over proper shields.

The Fed's were kinda like the enforcers of the galaxies, you know acting like jerks *cough* America *cough*. they had cool startrek like cruisers and their elite carriers where like something out of starwars. they where basically the middle children but had access to the most powerful missiles in the entire game.

Then come the mysterious Polaris with their trippy ships made out of organs, this leads to funky looking stuff (imagine if the Covenant from halo made a ship out of Flood then painted it purple and blue). They by far have the best Shields and their end ship (The Raven) had the second most powerful weapon in the entire game(in my opinion).

but you don't have to play the main time lines there is still the elite trading community Sigma, There is a Pirate story line where you become a pirate, there is the Rebellion time line for those who hate the Fed's, The Bureau missions which are kinda like the FBI, and the Velos story (the Velos where a race of psychics that where wiped out ages ago....or were they! dun dun dun) and there is still more.

plus when you get strong enough you can demand taxes of an entire planet. which does causes the planet to send its fleet at you, but if you win that planet forever sends you its money each day.

the only bad criticism i can find on this game is that the stories are continually thrust upon you, which is no big deal you can decline anyone of them (if you decline by accident it will probably reappear latter on). In short EVN is epic in size, gameplay, and story. i guess the graphics are a little outdated but that doesn't really matter.

Pirates of the Caribbean for x-box. Just pirates of the caribbean, released before the second movie. Got very poor reviews, but I loved it. It was only losely based on the PoC storyline (the black pearl turning up occasionally, and having a part in the storyline, none of the characters involved) but it is one the the best nautical games I've ever played, with all the various countries, combat FAR superior to Sid Miere's Pirates! (both on sea and sword fighting), RPG elements, allowing skill progression and ability unlocks, such as a 180 degree turn (a la movie), instant cannon reload, etc. Wide variety of ships, and more to the point realism within the ships, for example a spanish ship is tougher with more cargo space, whereas the english version of the same chasis is faster. Ability to choose cannon weight, affecting damage, range and reload times, different ammo types, realistic boarding (you don't just ram them, you have to get close and use grappling hooks), crew hiring and morale, the ability to hire officers to aid you on your ship, or assigned to their own ships, which will help you in combat, the ability to join in with large fights (picking a fight with two full squads of four ships, both from countries who don't like you, duking it out is fun.. just don't sail between them), attack ports by shooting out the cannon emplacements then attacking on foot, pistols that pack a real punch but slowly reload, different sword types, and the ability to explore islands for treasure. (And undead monkeys. Which drive you nuts.)

Bloody marvellous, pick it up if you see it, can't be expensive now.

Might be on the computer as well. Box looks like this:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PNHSKEM5L._AA280_.jpg

And it's Bethesda. That gets it brownie points for any free-roaming game.

Rygar: The Legendary Adventure
Tecmo (PS2)

This game has some of the most beautiful enviroments I've ever seen before. Fountains of sparkling blue water trimmed in gold with rainbows stretching in the mist. I loved this game, and can't wait for the sequel coming this year.

Predator: Concrete Jungle
Sierra (PS2/XBOX)

This game is gory. It feels like Shinobi but with more freedom. You can turn invisable, scan "a'la metroid", leap over rooftops, skin ppl, and custumise. Hell you can mimic ppl's voices.

Singing Gremlin:
Might be on the computer as well.

It is! I saw it in a supermarket near me for a fiver! MUST. GET.

Also, if you're a fan of Dynasty Warriors games, I haven't seen many reviews for DW Gundam for PS3, and haven't heard much mention of it about. Take my word on this, though: from the demo, I can tell you that it's crackin' good fun. I know that I'm buying it ASAP. Second Sight is such a worthy Game That Time Forgot. Third-person shooter/psychic powers action-adventure thingy. Like Psi-Ops, but better (sadly lacking Pyrokinesis D:). Oh, and although it's now pretty big in the cult-circuits, Killer7 was pretty unappreciated by many of the bigger reviewers, but if you haven't already, BUY IT.

Sniper Elite for PS2, X-Box, and PC.

You know that sniping mission in Cod4 that has been getting sucked off by everyone and their Grandmother?

Picture that, but it's the whole game. Plus, instead of just "point and shoot", you have to take into account things like the wind, your breath, and sound that you can use to cover your shot. If you play it right, it's a very slow paced game, but there is also the option to "run and gun" for those of you that hate waiting.

Two games I picked up that I found to be quite spectacular were Pariah and Rogue Trooper.

Pariah isn't all that well known, it's an FPS built on the Unreal 2.5 engine which I found to be as a whole, a real spectacular game. The story isn't as epic as say Halo or Halflife, but it holds its own. The level design, enemies, and weapon selection far outrank many other games out there. The guns are upgradeable with permanent universal powerups, which make the gameplay customized to each person's preferences. The levels are nicely varied, ranging from Halo'esque open highlands to military complexes, and also a nice fight where you must disarm and board a gunship/dropship while in flight and seize control of it.

The only (and I mean only) low point in Pariah was in the late endgame segments where you abandon all your weapons for a rechargeable "megaman cannon"... At this point, the difficulty goes from fair to PyramidHead-Forced-Bumrape. All in all, a great game, and a year ago when I found it, it was selling at like $5 CDN ($6.50 US... Yes I must rub it in, thirty years of payback due).

The second game, Rogue Trooper, I mentioned elsewhere already but it deserves another run... RT is in part, graphically an eyesore. You are a hiddeous bald blue warrior, and as the game is a third-person shooter (rare to extinct these days), you see your backside the most of the time. That aside, the rest of the game is par or better for its era's graphics. The enemies are nazi'esque troopers who give a real nice post-apocolyptic feel to the game. The game itself is a decent challenge, very addictive and enjoyable (unheardof these days), and quite lengthy. Throughout the game you must collect salvage materials which are used to upgrade your gear and manufacture ammo. The fact that you never "pick up" ammo, all of it must be made, gave a unique feel to the game. The levels give a nice mix of stealth action, base infiltration, all-out gun battles, and solo exploration. There's a tongue-and-cheek humor present in the urban sectors I found hillarious, and the enemy types range from infantry to mecha to aircraft. Another nice fact is that you can sneak up behind enemies for a silent no-ammo kill, and they applied it to the mecha too, for those daring enough to try...

On the downsides for this game, as mentioned the player's fugly looks (but hey, Freeman's no beauty queen himself)... My two complaints were in how sketchy the minefield was to plant at times, and that if you fired 25% or more of the ammo in a clip, it would auto reload if you stopped shooting for more than 20 seconds. Thankfully a good player finds enough salvage that this isn't a problem (every kill has salvage, stealth kills and headshots have more). As with Pariah, Rogue Trooper was a no-risk purchase for me, I heard nothing about it and it didn't actually LOOK that good from the box, but at $3 I took a chance. Having played it, I'd pay launch price for it had I known about it when it came out.

Onimusha series. Power Stone 1 + 2

I second that Rogue Trooper mention. Sure it's ugly, but otherwise it's pretty well put together. It has absolutely no challenge on some of the lower difficulty levels. You won't need to use anything other than the standard gun for most of the whole game if you play on a low difficulty setting. (In case you just like to blast through games real quick like I do, pick normal or harder). I know there was never much of an add campaign behind it (in the US at least) because it's based of a UK comic book. There appears to be a PS3 sequel on the way too.

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.

That game is awesome. Another third person shooter. I believe it was on all 3 last gen systems. I'd say it was better than Rogue Trooper. The first half of the game is better than the second. You're basically a robot on a robot garbage planet. You shoot other robots and hilarity ensues. You can shoot off the other robots heads/legs/arms. This game is a blast even if it loses steam down the stretch.

If you like platformers:

Scaler. It's obviously not as good as Ratchet/Jak/Mario/Sly cooper but after that it's pretty much better than all the rest. Controls well, has a pretty good variety of gameplay and levels to explore. You almost never have to deal with crappy camera angels or unfair challenges or other types of bullshit that lots of second rate platformers are full of.

Clownilingus:
I second that Rogue Trooper mention.

Thirded.

Jagged Alliance 2 : Stunning Turnbased Mercenary Combat.
X-Com/X-Com: Terror From The Deep
Master of Magic
No One Lives Forever
War of the Worlds
PSychonauts/Grim Fandango/Day of the Tentacle/Sam and Max Hit The Road
Paradroid
FAKK 2

Clownilingus (love the name...), thanks for the reminder... Scaler is wickedsweet. I just may go hook up my PS2 again.

The_root, X-Com shouldn't be on the list as it surely never "fell under the radar"... Even today X-Com still holds the top strategy game of all time award from PC gamer. And I second Jagged Alliance 2...

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for the PSX. Was considered average because it was pretty short (unless you went back for collectables) but everything about the game oozed quality. Probably the last great 2D platformer. I didn't like the sequel.

Psychonauts got rave reviews so that shouldn't apply here. Yes, it's a great game, but surely the point of this thread is where 'professional' reviews have underrated games?

Though far from a classic, I resent people who underrated Beach Life as I consider it the best casual sim game around.

Many underrated Discworld Noir for its cheaper graphics but forget to mention the game actually makes you smile, something most don't do these days.

Death To Spies. Most fun I've had in a long time; sneaking around and stabbing,choking, and theres nothing quite as satisfying as shooting someone in the head with the silenced nagant. The game is incredibly challenging (the last level is literally impossible)which makes you think before you make every move, and gives you a great sense of worth once you've beaten a level. It's really hard for me to get into a game and beat it, but I was completely sucked into this one.

Thanks for all the replies-ill look them up

The_root_of_all_evil:

Clownilingus:
I second that Rogue Trooper mention.

Thirded.

Jagged Alliance 2 : Stunning Turnbased Mercenary Combat.
X-Com/X-Com: Terror From The Deep
Master of Magic
No One Lives Forever
War of the Worlds
PSychonauts/Grim Fandango/Day of the Tentacle/Sam and Max Hit The Road
Paradroid
FAKK 2

FINALLY! Someone else who has played Master of Magic! I have lost sooo many hours to that game. X-Com too. STILL a ton of fun the both of 'em. Each had an unofficial remake (Age of Wonders and the UFO games) but they just weren't as much fun.
There was a game I was going to toss on here that I played on Game Tap, but saw for sale on the cheap rack at Target.. but I forgot the name! Gun Metal, I believe. Somewhat like robotech a bit.. You fly a jet that transforms to a mech and back. Pretty simple controls, Meh story, but lots of fun and I found it to be pretty decently challenging with a good pace, and it makes you use both aspects of your ride to full effect.
Also, even though it is now all about now, Puzzle Quest seemed to escape notice for a bit but can suck your life away like little else.

Hidden and Dangerous is stunning but I think that hit the Radar.

MDK 1 and 2 were also criminally under-rated.

I believe if you google underdogs, you might find MOM on abandonware as well.

Master of Magic was for me one of these games with a heck lot potential of which preciously little was realized, like Syndicate.

Great game going under the radar, that's "Sacrifice" for the PC for me. Anyone else ever played it. (...) Anyone?

Sphinx and the cursed Mummy was quite a surprise for me. Also did anyone get to play Winback: Covert operations for the N64? that was also underrated.

Copter400:
Assassin's Creed got a 7 from ign. Poop was flung because of this. Penny Arcade made comics.

Not exactly "under the radar" then, was it?

Also, whilst I don't really "do" review scores, a general impression of 7ness with occasional moments of 8ery is about right for Assassin's Creed. It's fun, but way too repetitive. A little more scope in the investigations would have helped it vastly.

Recently - Sins of a Solar Empire.

Rogue Trooper was awesome, played it none stop for like a week, completed it a few times.

Psychonauts for sure.

Beyond good & evil. Might seem kiddish, but it's excellent fun.

Hidden & Dangerous 2. Kind of got lost in all the FPs MoH & Call of Duty games, but it's a great team shooter with a lot of atmosphere.

Mafia. Not perfect and certainly not a 1920s version of GTA, but lovely looking and pretty good fun, albeit that the difficulty ramps up considerably at the end. Watch out for the racing mission though, it's pretty hard, though there are trainers about to get past that obstacle.

It's been said, but Psychonauts is well worth your money.

The_root_of_all_evil:
Hidden and Dangerous is stunning but I think that hit the Radar.

MDK 1 and 2 were also criminally under-rated.

There I was thinking I was the only person to have ever played these. Even though I've played the game to death several times over I never get tired of it.

I played MDK2. Great presentation, excellent soundtrack, but it just didn't click for some reason.

I just thought of one, not 'great', but pretty fun game for the DS - Asphalt.

It's a Burnout clone, with pretty bland graphics, but that was the art of it. It didn't try to be bigger and better, so it didn't fall over its own weight. Pretty cool soundtrack too. I even enjoyed it more than Burnout for the PSP.

Bushido Blade and Bushido Blade 2 were both games I never heard much about, but enjoyed greatly.

[quote=The_root_of_all_evil]
MDK 1 and 2 were also criminally under-rated.
quote]

I loved the murder death kill series.

but wtf was with the apples?

Not sure if this really counts, but Killer7, considering reviewers either loved or hated it. (It's essentially a rail shooter with some half-hearted puzzle elements. On the other hand, it's one of the most screwed-up things you'll ever play in your entire life.)

monodiabloloco:
FINALLY! Someone else who has played Master of Magic! I have lost sooo many hours to that game. X-Com too. STILL a ton of fun the both of 'em. Each had an unofficial remake (Age of Wonders and the UFO games) but they just weren't as much fun.

I actually found UFO:E more fun than Xcom... Mostly for the larger tech tree.

Oh yeah, D2. The game was apocalyptic in its story telling.

Irrok the Wide:
Oh yeah, D2. The game was apocalyptic in its story telling.

I heard you had to hunt animals to survive? Also, it was severely edited because of its references to sex, or even rape (a woman gets tentacles showed down various sections of her body for starters).

I heard the context was very original but executed pretty badly?

Shadow of the Colossus and Ico - kind of flimsy gameplay, a little annoying at times with puzzles, but my GOD are they beautiful games. I've never put down my controller and just stared at the landscape before that game came out. The Colossi in SotC are amazing, the fur, the way they move, they're just so very well animated.

Ico is equally as pretty, and though she's annoying as heck, you can't help but like the princess.