The last generation of video games certainly had many fantastic titles. There are however numerous great titles that simply didn't get the attention or sales that they deserved or were undeservedly disliked. Here are our Top 5 Most Unappreciated games of the last generation.
5. Duke Nukem Forever
There is no denying that Duke Nukem Forever was not a great game. It had its issues such as long loading times, graphical glitches, dated graphics, bad level design, and it just tried too hard to be controversial. The reason I defend it is that from a game that had a development hell of thirteen years - was Duke Nukem Forever, ever going to be a great game?
Despite it's obvious issues it nevertheless caught the essence of Duke Nukem beautifully and it was great to take on the role of the '90s-style, over the top, egotistic, one liner, action hero after so many years without a Duke Nukem first person shooter. Upon release, Duke Nukem Forever received an average score of 50% or below. The game sold only 376,300 units upon its first month of release, half the initial expectations of the developer and publisher.
4. Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon was one of the first games I remember playing on the Xbox 360. A good old-styled JRPG in the veins of Final Fantasy, with an interesting story and wonderfully designed world. Despite its character development and combat being somewhat dated, it was overall a very enjoyable title with plenty of hidden secrets to find.
Upon release, it was received with very mixed review scores. Some being in the 70s while others in the 40s, 50s or 60s. It sold just under 200,000 units in America. Despite this being the goal for sales of both Microsoft and developer Mistwalker, I feel that Blue Dragon deserved so much more than both the scores and sales that it received.
3. Lost Odyssey
It bewilders me as to why Lost Odyssey was such an unappreciated game. It has one of the most wonderful stories of any game and a beautiful world to go with it. I admit it's combat system and mechanics was somewhat dated by general RPG standards of its time and at times felt a bit stale, never the less it was a most enjoyable and original IP.
If there was ever a game I would love to have a remake for this video game generation, Lost Odyssey would be it. Despite being a good game and highly praised by critics, it didn't sell very well by typical AAA standards. It sold only 104,417 units in Japan as of 17th February 2008, several months after its release, and sold only 348,000 units in America by 2009.
2. Shadows of the Damned
Shadows of the Damned was an extremely weird game, to say the least, perhaps even too weird to the point that it put players off the title. When I say weird, this game was completely off the rails to the point it was as if the developers just let their imagination fly.
It was gruesome, completely over the top, full of references, dark and sometimes immature humour, tons of swearing, never took itself serious, and I loved every minute of it. It had a bit of that old school '90s action adventure to it both in combat and in collecting of gems for upgrades. Sadly, despite critics giving the game good review scores, it sold very few copies by general AAA standards. Only 24,000 units were sold in America, Xbox and PS3 combined and 9,145 unit in Japan within a week of its release.
After the sales, it was announced that there will most likely not be a sequel to this great game. It is a shame as I would love to see a sequel developed for the current generation consoles.
1. Bulletstorm
I loved People Can Fly as a developer before they had even begun developing Bulletstorm after their awesome old school FPS title Painkiller. When Bulletstorm was released, it was a must buy for me and it was one I certainly didn't regret.
It was everything that I love about the '80s and '90s action movies but in a video game. It was ridiculous, over the top, action-packed, gruesome, and had more swearing than I could say in several months. The addition of the skill shot system that encouraged the player to kill enemies in the most imaginative and gruesome fashion possible with each weapon available was fun as hell to use.
If there was ever a logical reasoning for this being so unappreciated, it was most likely due to it's multiplayer having no competitive mode. As of July 2011, Bulletstorm had sold just under a 1,000,000 units a number far below what would be expected of such a fantastic game. It was a game with solid combat that was something different to the norm and still remains one of my favorite games of all time.
That is my top 5 most unappreciated games of the last generation.
Would you agree with the list? All the titles mentioned in the list are those of games which I have played. There may be many others out there which I am simply not aware of. Do you know of any titles from the last generation that are highly unappreciated? Why not share them in the comments?
Published: Nov 2, 2015 06:27 am