- 1,667
- Bristol
- MrCrynox
- Mr Crynox
Snap. Tried the first game one day out of boredom, it introduced me to true stealth & ended up becoming one of my favourite games of all time. Playing through it again now actually.
Games you underestimated?
- Thread starter Sonygamer455
- 48 comments
- 5,762 views
Snap. Tried the first game one day out of boredom, it introduced me to true stealth & ended up becoming one of my favourite games of all time. Playing through it again now actually.
- 5,616
- The US of A
Although I do not play that game, I can understand that. Sometimes it's nice just to play something easy again after having so many challenging games.
Things like that are why I like NFS Undercover on the PS2, I like how easy it is because it's a nice change from all the other NFS games they had done prior and it's like a nice stroll through the park.
Black Ops is actually my favorite game for zombies out of all the others. I got to thinking, I am sure the campaign is good, but it's just not for me. I never really cared for anything outside of zombies in COD for some reason and I don't know why, it just never interested me.
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- 5,616
- The US of A
Test Drive Off-Road 2.
So I grew up playing Test Drive 5 a lot and was quite a fan of the game as a kid. That said, I noticed inside the case, it showed the cover of Test Drive Off-Road 2, which depicted a yellow Hummer driving through a river and kicking up water. Okay, not only did I love Hummers as a kid, but the simple idea of going offroad, being able to drive through a flowing river was something that fascinated me back then (heck, it still does
) and the fact it was Test Drive was another. At a young age, I really wanted the game and a lot of wild fantasies as to what it would be like and thought it would be fantastic, but I didn't have an easy way to get it for a long time and never saw it anywhere.
Fast forward to 2015, many years later, I finally found it in a game store for like $2 and some change. While I was happy to find it, I didn't get my hopes up too high because I had gotten some games I wanted as a kid, namely 007 Racing and Twisted Metal 2, and ended up not caring too much for them. I didn't necessarily think it was going to be bad, it's just I had got older and I deemed a lot of what I had expected it to be as a kid as unrealistic expectations based games I had gotten in the past and didn't think it would be as good as I originally anticipated.
I was so wrong. The game was every bit as good I had originally anticipated as a kid, perhaps even better and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. Theirs a lot I could say, but the vehicle selection was interesting and had ones I had never heard of. The tracks were a total blast to drive on, especially since driving through water was required on some of them. The AI was not as absurdly overpowered as Test Drive 5 and actually felt beatable, unlike the others I played. So, not only did it live up to my childhood expectations, but it exceeded them! So much so, it completely overtook Test Drive 5 as my favorite Test Drive game even with nostalgia included. It's easily the 2nd best PS1 game I have ever bought and is somewhere in my top 5 list of games I bought in the 2010s. Years later, I still find myself wanting to play it at random times rather often and it's become a staple of my PS1 library now.
So I grew up playing Test Drive 5 a lot and was quite a fan of the game as a kid. That said, I noticed inside the case, it showed the cover of Test Drive Off-Road 2, which depicted a yellow Hummer driving through a river and kicking up water. Okay, not only did I love Hummers as a kid, but the simple idea of going offroad, being able to drive through a flowing river was something that fascinated me back then (heck, it still does
) and the fact it was Test Drive was another. At a young age, I really wanted the game and a lot of wild fantasies as to what it would be like and thought it would be fantastic, but I didn't have an easy way to get it for a long time and never saw it anywhere.Fast forward to 2015, many years later, I finally found it in a game store for like $2 and some change. While I was happy to find it, I didn't get my hopes up too high because I had gotten some games I wanted as a kid, namely 007 Racing and Twisted Metal 2, and ended up not caring too much for them. I didn't necessarily think it was going to be bad, it's just I had got older and I deemed a lot of what I had expected it to be as a kid as unrealistic expectations based games I had gotten in the past and didn't think it would be as good as I originally anticipated.
I was so wrong. The game was every bit as good I had originally anticipated as a kid, perhaps even better and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. Theirs a lot I could say, but the vehicle selection was interesting and had ones I had never heard of. The tracks were a total blast to drive on, especially since driving through water was required on some of them. The AI was not as absurdly overpowered as Test Drive 5 and actually felt beatable, unlike the others I played. So, not only did it live up to my childhood expectations, but it exceeded them! So much so, it completely overtook Test Drive 5 as my favorite Test Drive game even with nostalgia included. It's easily the 2nd best PS1 game I have ever bought and is somewhere in my top 5 list of games I bought in the 2010s. Years later, I still find myself wanting to play it at random times rather often and it's become a staple of my PS1 library now.
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A Plague Tale: innocence.
"Oh here is another mediocre free ps plus game I've never heard of, suppose I'll give it a quick go... " were my first thoughts then I started playing it and wow, my game of the year for 2021 (I know it was released before).
Loved the setting, the story and the gameplay mechanics. The sequel is now one of my most anticipated games.
"Oh here is another mediocre free ps plus game I've never heard of, suppose I'll give it a quick go... " were my first thoughts then I started playing it and wow, my game of the year for 2021 (I know it was released before).
Loved the setting, the story and the gameplay mechanics. The sequel is now one of my most anticipated games.
- 5,616
- The US of A
Wreckfest.
Having played Destruction Derby in recent years and liking it and generally being a dirty driver ever since I started gaming, it was natural I would eventually take an interest in Wreckfest. When I first saw it, I was quite pleased with what I was looking at and eventually considered buying it. While I didn't expect it to be "bad", my expectations were not too high and I had a feeling it would be one of those games I would probably try for a bit and not touch again for a long time since that's how I often reacted to newer games.
However, this could not have been further from the truth. Upon playing it for the first time, it connected with me on a personal level and I quickly became addicted to it, something that rarely happens. It looked good, it ran good, the car list was great, the damage was the best I've ever seen and it normalized pretty much every bad driving habit I've ever had in gaming and it just felt more "me" than most games I had played. The first 2 days I had it, I played it until my thumb hurt and the last time I did that, was back when I beat Need for Speed Carbon in early 2007. This game quickly became a huge favorite of mine and was easily one of the best racing games I had played in many years. So much so, it made my list of top 10 favorite racing games list only months after getting the game, when the other games had years worth of time before being listed, but it really didn't need it to make the list because Wreckfest was just that good!
I had many reasons for getting an Xbox Series X, one of them was to play Forza Horizon 4 and while I did give it a try, Wreckfest stole the spotlight for me and I never even played FH4 much at all afterward simply because I'd rather play Wreckfest. I played the game every day for about 6 months straight and that is very unnatural for me because most games never last that long, but it did and it was fun! Nearly a year and a half since I got it and it's still a game I find myself wanting to play fairly often. Been surprised before, but this one was like no other.
Having played Destruction Derby in recent years and liking it and generally being a dirty driver ever since I started gaming, it was natural I would eventually take an interest in Wreckfest. When I first saw it, I was quite pleased with what I was looking at and eventually considered buying it. While I didn't expect it to be "bad", my expectations were not too high and I had a feeling it would be one of those games I would probably try for a bit and not touch again for a long time since that's how I often reacted to newer games.
However, this could not have been further from the truth. Upon playing it for the first time, it connected with me on a personal level and I quickly became addicted to it, something that rarely happens. It looked good, it ran good, the car list was great, the damage was the best I've ever seen and it normalized pretty much every bad driving habit I've ever had in gaming and it just felt more "me" than most games I had played. The first 2 days I had it, I played it until my thumb hurt and the last time I did that, was back when I beat Need for Speed Carbon in early 2007. This game quickly became a huge favorite of mine and was easily one of the best racing games I had played in many years. So much so, it made my list of top 10 favorite racing games list only months after getting the game, when the other games had years worth of time before being listed, but it really didn't need it to make the list because Wreckfest was just that good!
I had many reasons for getting an Xbox Series X, one of them was to play Forza Horizon 4 and while I did give it a try, Wreckfest stole the spotlight for me and I never even played FH4 much at all afterward simply because I'd rather play Wreckfest. I played the game every day for about 6 months straight and that is very unnatural for me because most games never last that long, but it did and it was fun! Nearly a year and a half since I got it and it's still a game I find myself wanting to play fairly often. Been surprised before, but this one was like no other.
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- 3,599
- Connecticut
- SPhilli
- SPhilli911
Prey (the one from 2017) by Arkane Studios Austin.
Was eager to see what this game was about and played the demo before it launched but the demo didn't really sell me on it so I passed. Year or so later I bought it on sale and turns out I was very wrong about the game and it is now one of my favorite games ever, probably top 10. Maybe demos aren't always a good thing at demonstrating the final product...
Hurts that studio which made the game was just closed last month and we will probably never see a sequel.
Was eager to see what this game was about and played the demo before it launched but the demo didn't really sell me on it so I passed. Year or so later I bought it on sale and turns out I was very wrong about the game and it is now one of my favorite games ever, probably top 10. Maybe demos aren't always a good thing at demonstrating the final product...
Hurts that studio which made the game was just closed last month and we will probably never see a sequel.
- 3,337
- Mexico
Currently? Immortals of Aveum. Being a new PC player, I downloaded the demo out of curiosity and to see how my new rig measured. The experience was a bit rough then, so I moved on. But having recently launched on Game Pass, I gave it another chance in console and PC, and thanks to many enhancements (FSR 3.1 and frame generation) it ran much better, and I got deeper into the game mechanics specially, and is so much fun.
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- 638
- United Kingdom
Here’s a rather left-field one, New Super Lucky’s Tale. I do love a good 3D platformer and so does my four year old, so when I saw this on Game Pass I gave it a try and initially thought it was just another slightly generic Mario clone, a bit of a **** game but I’d download it because my son would like it. Like the Paw Patrol games, which utterly suck but he liked them so I don’t mind downloading them. But he didn’t just like Lucky, he loved it, adored it, and the more I played it I started to. It’s just a very nice platformer, not the hardest (although some of the boss battles take a few attempts) but charming and varied, each world feels really different and it’s got a really nice atmosphere and, yeah, it’s charming. I prefer it to an awful lot of so-called AAA efforts and while it’s not Mario Odyssey, it’s a very good and overlooked game, the kind of Game Pass find that really makes the subscription worthwhile.
- 267
- Yorkshire
- mtecRacing
Mine would probably be NASCAR Heat 4
NASCAR Heat 3 was a terrible looking, terrible sounding Unity asset flip with physics that feel more like trying to drive a giant rock than a (Admittedly very heavy) purpose-built race car, and I assumed Heat 4 would be more of the same.
I was very wrong.
The career isn’t really that different from NH3 (Although the drivers reacting to your on-track actions through legally not X™️ was a nice touch), but the physics, graphics and AI were such a massive step up from the last game that I found it hard to believe they were made by the same group of people. The sounds were pretty good too, especially the sound of the cars reverberating off the walls. It’s a shame that NASCAR 21 Ignition didn’t even come close to matching that experience, and although I am interested in seeing how iRacing’s upcoming official NASCAR game fares, I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it as much if it ends up being much more of a sim experience, as NH4 is a very accessible game once you learn the oddities of how a NASCAR car works.
NASCAR Heat 3 was a terrible looking, terrible sounding Unity asset flip with physics that feel more like trying to drive a giant rock than a (Admittedly very heavy) purpose-built race car, and I assumed Heat 4 would be more of the same.
I was very wrong.
The career isn’t really that different from NH3 (Although the drivers reacting to your on-track actions through legally not X™️ was a nice touch), but the physics, graphics and AI were such a massive step up from the last game that I found it hard to believe they were made by the same group of people. The sounds were pretty good too, especially the sound of the cars reverberating off the walls. It’s a shame that NASCAR 21 Ignition didn’t even come close to matching that experience, and although I am interested in seeing how iRacing’s upcoming official NASCAR game fares, I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it as much if it ends up being much more of a sim experience, as NH4 is a very accessible game once you learn the oddities of how a NASCAR car works.
- 13,294
- GTPlanet
- Street-King-07
- Quattro Saltire
Le Mans Ultimate
Given how MSG was operating behind the scenes after the disaster of NASCAR 21 and fumbling the Indycar and BTCC licenses, I was absolutely prepared to hate LMU as another broken and buggy dumpster fire.
Turns out the driving is solid and quite enjoyable. Car sounds are very good, especially the hybrid systems in the ACO hypercars. Tweak the AI difficulty to a decent level and single player races can be a lot of fun. It is still rough being an early access game but it seems like S397 and MSG are genuinely trying to turn things around now.
Given how MSG was operating behind the scenes after the disaster of NASCAR 21 and fumbling the Indycar and BTCC licenses, I was absolutely prepared to hate LMU as another broken and buggy dumpster fire.
Turns out the driving is solid and quite enjoyable. Car sounds are very good, especially the hybrid systems in the ACO hypercars. Tweak the AI difficulty to a decent level and single player races can be a lot of fun. It is still rough being an early access game but it seems like S397 and MSG are genuinely trying to turn things around now.
- 9,170
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
Another great thread by @Sonygamer455, the person contributing most to the conversation of games in general on this forum - thank you!
Tacoma is probably the game that has stuck in my memory most as one I underestimated, when I first tried it I probably forced myself to play it thinking I'd get anything like an informed opinion of it, I played about 15 minutes then swore I'd never play such a tedious and uninteresting game ever again.
Then in 2020, I played Scanner Sombre on a whim and asked r/patientgamers for similar recommendations and Tacoma was mentioned by a few people, so I gave it a shot and actually loved it, it's up there with What Remains of Edith Finch for me, just an excellent story in the clothes of a short, simple first person exploration game.
If you want to play it yourself, I recommend watching Moon first to get in the mood. I mean it's a completely different story, but there are a couple of common themes.
Tacoma is probably the game that has stuck in my memory most as one I underestimated, when I first tried it I probably forced myself to play it thinking I'd get anything like an informed opinion of it, I played about 15 minutes then swore I'd never play such a tedious and uninteresting game ever again.
Then in 2020, I played Scanner Sombre on a whim and asked r/patientgamers for similar recommendations and Tacoma was mentioned by a few people, so I gave it a shot and actually loved it, it's up there with What Remains of Edith Finch for me, just an excellent story in the clothes of a short, simple first person exploration game.
If you want to play it yourself, I recommend watching Moon first to get in the mood. I mean it's a completely different story, but there are a couple of common themes.
- 24,001
- It/It
- GTP_TheCracker
Grand Theft Auto
I'd been aware of the first two games but their concept never really appealed. By 1999/2000 we had Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo 2. We also had Driver, which felt like a proper third-person, 3D version of the then top-down GTA's which although they were well rated, at that time felt like old-fashioned 16 or 8-bit gaming. A friend of mine told me about how good the then new GTAIII was so i eventually, and probaby reluctantly, ended up renting it from Blockbuster one weekend and was instantly hooked.
I'd been aware of the first two games but their concept never really appealed. By 1999/2000 we had Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo 2. We also had Driver, which felt like a proper third-person, 3D version of the then top-down GTA's which although they were well rated, at that time felt like old-fashioned 16 or 8-bit gaming. A friend of mine told me about how good the then new GTAIII was so i eventually, and probaby reluctantly, ended up renting it from Blockbuster one weekend and was instantly hooked.
- 1,682
- Japan
Need For Speed Most Wanted (2012)
Frankly speaking, I hated this game until the other day.
It was a copy of Burnout that borrowed the name of a greatest NFS. That alone was enough to make me hate it.
But I found this game on Steam for cheap, so I bought it and played it.
In the end, this game was Burnout Paradise with the name Need For Speed.
So what? It's the gooooood game.
Great music, B2D but exhilarating handling. The fun of destroying all the police cars chasing me and acting like Taz.
It's been a long time since I've had a game that made me smile. It's fun. I should have let go of my prejudices sooner.
Frankly speaking, I hated this game until the other day.
It was a copy of Burnout that borrowed the name of a greatest NFS. That alone was enough to make me hate it.
But I found this game on Steam for cheap, so I bought it and played it.
In the end, this game was Burnout Paradise with the name Need For Speed.
So what? It's the gooooood game.
Great music, B2D but exhilarating handling. The fun of destroying all the police cars chasing me and acting like Taz.
It's been a long time since I've had a game that made me smile. It's fun. I should have let go of my prejudices sooner.
- 5,998
- Finland
The entire Sniper Elite series.
I know it sounds stupid to have underestimated such a big name in the genre but I had always had a "FPS or nothing" attitude when it came to shooters, coming from old school Medal Of Honor and Call Of Duty background, and initially wrote SE off simply because of it third person view. Eventually a friend managed to talk me into trying SE4, it turned out to be great, and we've now co-opped through 4, 3 and 5 in that order. Now I have nearly 400 hours on them combined so it's safe to say my initial impression had been totally off.
I know it sounds stupid to have underestimated such a big name in the genre but I had always had a "FPS or nothing" attitude when it came to shooters, coming from old school Medal Of Honor and Call Of Duty background, and initially wrote SE off simply because of it third person view. Eventually a friend managed to talk me into trying SE4, it turned out to be great, and we've now co-opped through 4, 3 and 5 in that order. Now I have nearly 400 hours on them combined so it's safe to say my initial impression had been totally off.
- 5,616
- The US of A
Spyro 2.
Just recently I decided to go on a playthrough of the original Spyro games starting with Spyro 3 since it was my introduction to the series and then I proceeded to play 1 and 2 after. To my disappointment, I didn't have as much fun with Spyro 3 as I expected and Spyro 1, despite playing through the entire game for the first time, didn't quite do it for me for various reasons. Seeing as revisiting the game that made me like the series in the first place failed to entertain me like it always had and doing my first ever complete playthrough of the first game didn't do much for me either, I honestly was starting to think my age was finally catching up with me and I was losing interest in Spyro. That said, while I was more optimistic about Spyro 2 than Spyro 1, I didn't get my hopes up too for the very reason I just mentioned.
This feeling quickly changed after I started playing Spyro 2 for the first time. Not even 30 minutes in and I was already having a lot more fun than I ever did with Spyro 1. The game appealed to me a lot more because it played similarly to Spyro 3, which is what I had been used to for the past 20 years, and it generally was more familiar to me. Not only that, but it had some things I really liked that never even made it to the 3rd game, so it gave me a new vibe while still being what I had been used to. It felt kind of like an expansion pack of the 3rd game for me and this was a great feeling! Did it frustrate me at times? Yes, lord knows Fracture Hils and Magma Cone did, but my experience overall was a very wholesome one, and it was the most fun I have had with a video game since I got Wreckfest. So much so, I poured more time into gaming than I usually would each day for the sake of playing it and had no regrets doing it.
Looking back now, I think the reasons why I didn't enjoy the other 2 was because in 3's case, I had played it a million times over the years and was just retreading old ground again and the 1st didn't appeal to me much because it wasn't what I was used to. (and that's putting it very bluntly) While I don't blame myself for tempering my expectations, Spyro 2 undoubtedly exceeded them and reminded me again of why I liked the series. I am pretty enthusiastic about revisiting it again in the future and I am especially eager to see how it's remake is when I am ready!
Just recently I decided to go on a playthrough of the original Spyro games starting with Spyro 3 since it was my introduction to the series and then I proceeded to play 1 and 2 after. To my disappointment, I didn't have as much fun with Spyro 3 as I expected and Spyro 1, despite playing through the entire game for the first time, didn't quite do it for me for various reasons. Seeing as revisiting the game that made me like the series in the first place failed to entertain me like it always had and doing my first ever complete playthrough of the first game didn't do much for me either, I honestly was starting to think my age was finally catching up with me and I was losing interest in Spyro. That said, while I was more optimistic about Spyro 2 than Spyro 1, I didn't get my hopes up too for the very reason I just mentioned.
This feeling quickly changed after I started playing Spyro 2 for the first time. Not even 30 minutes in and I was already having a lot more fun than I ever did with Spyro 1. The game appealed to me a lot more because it played similarly to Spyro 3, which is what I had been used to for the past 20 years, and it generally was more familiar to me. Not only that, but it had some things I really liked that never even made it to the 3rd game, so it gave me a new vibe while still being what I had been used to. It felt kind of like an expansion pack of the 3rd game for me and this was a great feeling! Did it frustrate me at times? Yes, lord knows Fracture Hils and Magma Cone did, but my experience overall was a very wholesome one, and it was the most fun I have had with a video game since I got Wreckfest. So much so, I poured more time into gaming than I usually would each day for the sake of playing it and had no regrets doing it.
Looking back now, I think the reasons why I didn't enjoy the other 2 was because in 3's case, I had played it a million times over the years and was just retreading old ground again and the 1st didn't appeal to me much because it wasn't what I was used to. (and that's putting it very bluntly) While I don't blame myself for tempering my expectations, Spyro 2 undoubtedly exceeded them and reminded me again of why I liked the series. I am pretty enthusiastic about revisiting it again in the future and I am especially eager to see how it's remake is when I am ready!
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- 5,616
- The US of A
NASCAR 2001 (PS1).
This one is an interesting entry because 20 years ago it was one that used to get borrowed from my cousin often and sometimes played at his house. While I didn't dislike the game, back in the day it never quite pleased me as much as NASCAR 2000 did due to its difference in physics and handling and generally, just the overall atmosphere of the game. Although I would lose in most NASCAR games by the time I turned I was at least 12 or 13, I did eventually get a copy of my own for the sake of memories, but I didn't exactly care much for it outside of that. However, when I started watching S1apSh0es on Youtube back in 2020, my interest in NASCAR as a whole pretty much exploded, and naturally, so did my interest in NASCAR games too.
So not only was I seeing NASCAR 2001 in a whole different light upon playing it again, but I later learned it had even more neat fantasy tracks that I had never raced on before, one of them even being on Mars! Despite knowing about this game for over 20 years, my thoughts on this game had changed dramatically and it went from being a game I barely cared about to one of the better NASCAR games I have played yet. Do I think it's better than NASCAR 2000? No, but it's certainly not too far behind it and it has a ton of merit to me now even if it didn't before.
This one is an interesting entry because 20 years ago it was one that used to get borrowed from my cousin often and sometimes played at his house. While I didn't dislike the game, back in the day it never quite pleased me as much as NASCAR 2000 did due to its difference in physics and handling and generally, just the overall atmosphere of the game. Although I would lose in most NASCAR games by the time I turned I was at least 12 or 13, I did eventually get a copy of my own for the sake of memories, but I didn't exactly care much for it outside of that. However, when I started watching S1apSh0es on Youtube back in 2020, my interest in NASCAR as a whole pretty much exploded, and naturally, so did my interest in NASCAR games too.
So not only was I seeing NASCAR 2001 in a whole different light upon playing it again, but I later learned it had even more neat fantasy tracks that I had never raced on before, one of them even being on Mars! Despite knowing about this game for over 20 years, my thoughts on this game had changed dramatically and it went from being a game I barely cared about to one of the better NASCAR games I have played yet. Do I think it's better than NASCAR 2000? No, but it's certainly not too far behind it and it has a ton of merit to me now even if it didn't before.
- 3,599
- Connecticut
- SPhilli
- SPhilli911
Starfield. Many reviews led me to believe the game wasn't up to the expectations of many players. Think you can blame the hype before launch for many people being disappointed by it, but many players find it boring too. I opted to wait for the game on sale and when I did finally play it I was hooked. I understand the complaints about the game, but I just don't share the same views in some cases and I've managed to find a lot of enjoyment in the game in my own ways.
Another similar example is Mass Effect: Andromeda. A bit of hype, some high expectations after the Mass Effect Trilogy and a rocky launch doomed this game, but I feel that it is worth revisiting today. If you can separate it from the Trilogy I feel that it is a pretty good game, especially now that you can likely get it at a steep discounted price.
Another similar example is Mass Effect: Andromeda. A bit of hype, some high expectations after the Mass Effect Trilogy and a rocky launch doomed this game, but I feel that it is worth revisiting today. If you can separate it from the Trilogy I feel that it is a pretty good game, especially now that you can likely get it at a steep discounted price.
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