Awesome/interesting games no one has heard of

[Oner]

Requiem: Avenging Angel by 3DO

You play as the angel Malachai, sent by God to Creation to save humanity from Satan's growing (worldly) influence and stop the scheme he's plotting. Weakened from the transit, your angelic powers need time to come back, but when they do, hail brimstone and lightning, stop time and fly high, turn enemies to salt and shoot everything to pieces that dare to stand in your way. The plot and the missions you get are interesting to say the least, and the game had some nice innovations in it's time. For instance, enemies had correct animations, they didn't turn around instantly (like in doom and co).

[Blarghagh]

Z Steel Soldiers

 

Territory control RTS with a lot of humor, and pretty good gameplay. Unnoticed like its predecessor Z

 

I loved Z but I really hated the sequel. I don't remember why though. Too long ago.

 

I loved the War Wind games though. I played through those a lot of times. I especially liked number two because every unit counted, moreso than most RTS games, since you had to conscript your units and conscripts were in short supply.

[Darque]

I've always wanted a copy of Omicron: The Nomad Soul......

[kingofsquid]

That reminds me: Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds is a game for XBox....and apparently PC:

 

http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:X1XNsf...ge/magicbat.gif

 

 

http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:HB5_3N...S600x600Q85.jpg

[Jaesun]

That reminds me: Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds is a game for XBox....and apparently PC:

 

http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:X1XNsf...ge/magicbat.gif

 

 

http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:HB5_3N...S600x600Q85.jpg

 

I always wondered if those were any good.. I am a HUGE closet MTG fan.

[213374U]

It sucked. The idea is to progress through different battles in sequence. Spell variety is... about a handful for each color. It's played in RT, so getting your casting tempo right is about half the work, the other half is identifying the holes in your opponent's game. And except for the first few matches, it's pretty much trial and error until you get the right combination of tempo and spells to win. Very little room for error, too. The game isn't really hard, you can probably beat it in one evening - it's just unforgiving and frustrating. Except for the flavor, it's not MtG at all.

[Tigranes]

I never tried it, but it can't beat the real MTG.

[HoonDing]

Drakan: Order of the Flame:

 

Chicks + dragons = kewl.

 

Game has a ridiculously derivative plot & hilariously bad voice-acting, but quite an uncharacteristic ending for a dark heroic fantasy game.

Edited August 14, 2009 by virumor

[RPGmasterBoo]

I never tried it, but it can't beat the real MTG.

 

It can - its actually affordable.

[Tel Aviv]

 

Tron 2.0: I never hear anyone talk about this game. It's Monolith so you know it's good, perhaps the best movie to game crossover I've played even. They do great things with the mythos and there are even some basic RPG elements thrown in for good measure.

[Oner]

The demo was a bitch to play with bad depth perception.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Oner

[SteveThaiBinh]

Flight of the Amazon Queen

 

Cool adventure game in which you play as a pilot that has to transport a stuck-up movie star back to America, but you crash above the Amazon after which things start to get... messy. Gameplay very similar to Fate of Atlantis & story that is incredibly goofy and basically a collection of various '50s B-movies.

 

The game is freeware, I believe, and readily available for download on the appropriate websites.

It's also on the iPhone now (not free though). Fascinating to see some many of the earlier graphics adventures making a bit of a comeback there.

 

The Worm in Paradise (part of the Silicon Dreams trilogy) was a text adventure with a great story about political intrigue, conspiracy theories and boasted an unforgettable transport system.

 

and Heart of China, an attempt at an interactive movie on the lines of Indiana Jones, with a great romance storyline.

[Purkake]

So, I dug a little deeper and found some more awesome games:

 

Supaplex - Kind of a puzzle game where you control a pac-man-esque thing that collects stuff and avoids enemies and falling boulders. It doesn't sound like much, but it's awesome, it's got a ton of levels and free.

 

 

Chip's Challenge - A bit like Supaplex, it's also a puzzle game, but the levels are more varied. I'm sure a lot of people have played it, since it came with a version of Windows, but it's still fun. I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the internet.

 

 

Jetpack - Another classic DOS game gone freeware. Basically you fly around the level, avoid enemies and collect stuff. The levels are pretty clever and varied. Also comes with a level editor.

 

[Gromnir]

battlezone and warhammer: dark omens were excellent games that some people has heard of, but virtual nobody played.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Oner]

Supaplex

 

Jetpack

Loved those.

[Shryke]

supaplex looks pretty much exactly like a game on c64 my mum used to love playing - boulderdash

[Purkake]

supaplex looks pretty much exactly like a game on c64 my mum used to love playing - boulderdash

 

It's the same game. I don't know why they changed the name. I know it as Supaplex.

[Shryke]

i used to play it when i was like 4 yrs old

 

later levels where there were actual enemies to look out for used to give me some trouble

 

the only way to kill them was to pretty much make a path leading back to where you lie in wait to drop a boulder on them

[Purkake]

i used to play it when i was like 4 yrs old

 

later levels where there were actual enemies to look out for used to give me some trouble

 

the only way to kill them was to pretty much make a path leading back to where you lie in wait to drop a boulder on them

 

Yup, those damn flying scissors were really annoying.

[Pidesco]

 

Tron 2.0: I never hear anyone talk about this game. It's Monolith so you know it's good, perhaps the best movie to game crossover I've played even. They do great things with the mythos and there are even some basic RPG elements thrown in for good measure.

 

 

Tron 2.0 is pretty awesome. It's basically NOLF in a different setting with more varied weapons and lightcycles.

[Calax]

Going to throw in my perennials that I always put into these threads (well the one anyway)

 

Zone of the Enders 2: the Second Runner (or Anubis depending on your region)

One of the few games to get Mecha combat right. Took the good bits from the first one (which sold a TON because of the MGS2 demo that was included...) and improved upon them and removed the stupid bits.

 

and then

Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth: Soulblighter. These were RTS's that were somewhat revolutionary, designed by Bungie they set it up so that units were limited (only got a set number for each level) and carried over. Veterancy meant something and the difficulty could be murderous sometimes. Basic story is that every epoch is punctuated by a razing of the empires by a dark force. Your little group runs around fending off the lords of the enemy (the Fallen Lords, Watcher, the Deciever, Shiver, Soulblighter, Balor, and a few more I believe) and defeating them (duh!) The second one picks the thread back up with Soublighter trying to force the cycle through early, which allows the players to try and break it. Besides, who couldn't love the dwarves that threw molotov ****tails and the fact that terrain meant something (throwing up hill usually meant you're troupe was going to die due to the molly coming back). Multiplayer actually had a "body count" mode where you picked an army set up and then went to war with your friends. The person who lost the most was the loser... or it may be "killed the most" but still... ahhh memories... watching a limb fly from my fight (on the west side of the map) onto my friends screen (on the far east side of the map) from the explosion of a molotov...

Loosely based on the Black Company books.

[RPGmasterBoo]

and then

Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth: Soulblighter. These were RTS's that were somewhat revolutionary, designed by Bungie they set it up so that units were limited (only got a set number for each level) and carried over. Veterancy meant something and the difficulty could be murderous sometimes. Basic story is that every epoch is punctuated by a razing of the empires by a dark force. Your little group runs around fending off the lords of the enemy (the Fallen Lords, Watcher, the Deciever, Shiver, Soulblighter, Balor, and a few more I believe) and defeating them (duh!) The second one picks the thread back up with Soublighter trying to force the cycle through early, which allows the players to try and break it. Besides, who couldn't love the dwarves that threw molotov ****tails and the fact that terrain meant something (throwing up hill usually meant you're troupe was going to die due to the molly coming back). Multiplayer actually had a "body count" mode where you picked an army set up and then went to war with your friends. The person who lost the most was the loser... or it may be "killed the most" but still... ahhh memories... watching a limb fly from my fight (on the west side of the map) onto my friends screen (on the far east side of the map) from the explosion of a molotov...

Loosely based on the Black Company books.

 

I would have mentioned them long ago, but it made no sense as they are hardly an unknown. In fact they are widely considered one of the best RTS strategies ever made. Since they have been brought up, I would add that they have the best fantasy story ever seen in an RTS with a great narrator telling the events through the diary of a common soldier. The feeling of impending doom and that you are fighting a fight you cannot win permeates the game and sets a great atmosphere - very Tolkien like.

 

In Myth 3: The Wolf Age, which was a good game in the series, though not as good as the first two- you get to play the very heroes which will later become Fallen Lords of the first game.

 

Edited August 15, 2009 by RPGmasterBoo

[HoonDing]

Age of Wonders:

 

Excellent turn-based fantasy strategy game featuring a good, Tolkienesque story with 6 different endings & great combat. In fact it's the only strategy game I like besides the Dune series.

[Hurlshort]

Heart of China was a great adventure game, as was all the Dynamix games. Willy Beamish anyone?

[Deraldin]

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident(2004) - An unique space strategy game. You only have a couple of ships, but you control all the different weapons separately, divert power from engines to shields, send fighters to destroy the enemies shield generator etc. It also has a pause feature ala BG2 where you can give commands and look at the beautiful battles from all angles.

I was so very disappointed by this game even though I never played it. I didn't follow it very closely at the time, but Nexus started life as Imperium Galactica 3. I absolutely loved Imperium Galactica 2 so news of a sequel was most welcome. I didn't hear about it again until Just before Nexus was released and was really disappointed that I wasn't going to get my desired sequel. The Solarian intro is still one of my favourite intro cutscenes ever. The ground combat section was crap even at the time, but I loved the space battles.

 

Dark Reign

 

Possibly the most intelligent RTS ever built, featuring programmable unit AI and complex waypoint system. Buried by Total Annihilation or Starcraft or whichever mega popular RTS came out at the time

 

So glad to see this game mentioned. Imperium Shredders FTW! Infantry? What Infantry? I never really got the hang of the waypoint system, but the AI stances were amazing. AI controlled scouts that would flee enemy units automatically. Hit and run specialists that constantly harrass enemy units and retreat when damaged? Artillery that actually had artillery like firing ranges? Awesome game.

 

As for games that haven't been mentioned, I don't think I have anything that I would really consider criminally underlooked. The closest I can think of would be Silent Storm and that's mostly because it's a squad based TBS. It was an amazing TB squad strategy game with full destructible environments. Sometimes suffered from the "One brick holding up an entire floor of a building" problem, but just the ability to shoot through floors and walls (mostly) blindly saved many, many soldiers of mine. Playing with the optional "Headshots=death" rule makes everything so much deadlier both for you and the enemy, but IMO, much more fun.