The "Games that deserved better" thread - Page 2

I think you're talking about STAR RAIDERS, not STAR VOYAGER.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Raiders

STAR RAIDERS was a port of the classic Atari 400/5200 space combat game. Because the 2600 had no keypad, they included the extra one with the game. But the port was pretty good and it sold well.

Controller-wise, you're right; it was a wasted potential. A similar game did exactly as you suggested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starmaster

STAR VOYAGER was a knock-off from Imagic:

http://www.vgmuseum.com/atari.htm

But, yeah, STAR RAIDERS remains one of my favorites to this day. If you have an Xbox or PS2, you can play it on ATARI ANTHOLOGY.

Oh, man, I owned and loved STAR RAIDERS. They keypad may not have done all that much, but it made the game feel SO MUCH COOLER AND MORE COMPLEX.

Pilotwings 64. This was the first game I ever turned on to play and just relax/explore. Loved flying the Gyrocopter around the Little States map and seeing all the cities represented. Skydiving was fun, the jet pack levels were challenging and hang gliding was super relaxing. Still can't believe we haven't seen a sequel/s.

I'm disappointed Herzog Zwei never got a Herzog Drei.

The former was released on the Sega Genesis in 1990 and was pretty much the first real-time strategy game. While resource gathering was utterly basic and the number of different units and maps was limited, a myriad of strategy/tactic combinations were possible and you used arcade-style controls to deploy your troops with a jet fighter that transformed into a battle mech. Just a graphical update with online multiplayer would work for a bargain-bin sequel.

I always thought the NBA Street series deserved more love. The first two were awesome.

And you know what else was awesome? War of the Mosters on PS2. You got to duke it out with other giant monsters. Great graphics, really funny sense of humor, and the fighting and individual powers of the monsters were great. A sequel with the graphics capable today would be great. Just imagine all the property damage you could do now.

Manhunt was a damn great game, Manhunt 2 was decent enough, and got so plagued by controversy that there will probably never be a Manhunt 3.

I'd have loved to been able to play the original version of Resident Evil 2.

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy was the first title that came to mind for me. Although the narrative was derivative shit, the game engine and mechanics were great. I think there was a lot of potential in a franchise, especially on the current-gen systems. Alas, it was not to be.

Gaming is littered with great titles that leave you wanting more that ultimately never comes. I could list dozens but instead, I'm just going to talk about a single title:

Shadow Man

It's been 10 years but I still look back more fondly on it than most other titles of the time. The main character and his glorious habit of pretentiously waxing poetic at the start of each new area; his ever chirpy skull-headed Irish snake chum; the utterly grim and despairing afterlife displayed where everyone's either mindless, wailing ghouls or meat to be processed and sculpted into something vile; the creepy and opressive Victorian architecture; the fantastic soundtrack, both in terms of music and ambience (the gurgling babies, squeaky toy, powerdrills and hysterically sobbing-cackling women of the Playrooms particularly stand out); the chaos of the prison riot and terror of the Canary Killer's apartment block and Jack the Ripper's disused underground station...

All these are great and the game was a fun take on the usual Metroid/Castlevania formula but what really sealed it for me was the antagonist, Legion. For a story that plays up talk of prophecies, ancient gods and the like, the final confrontation was absolutely classic: he plays you for a sucker, and calls you a 'pillock' for 'believing all that bollocks'. He's just a brilliant asshole.

Of course, the game was successful and, unlike most of the ones mentioned in this thread, it did receive a sequel. Alas it was utterly terrible and, to cap it off, so damn buggy I was never able to progress more than a couple of hours in before getting stuck in a never-ending loop of crash-restart-crash. The series died there and then and that was all she wrote. Yet I still hold out hope that one day I might get to walk in Michael Le Roi's shoes again and stand at the confluence between worlds as the immortal voodoo warrior, the Lord of Deadside...the Shadow Man.

Battlefield: Vietnam. Stuck between BF:1942 and BF2. It was a blast to play and my favorite out of the whole series.

After a fantastic time playing the classic Pilotwings64 over the weekend (yes, it's ugly as sin, but still incredibly fun to launch guys out of cannonballs and hangglide into icy canyons), I was going to suggest that one.

But today I learn we will receive a new Pilotwings on the 3DS at launch. That is just so frikkin badass. Here's hoping for the glorious return of the rocket boots.

IO interactive's: Freedom Fighters: Battle for Liberty needed more love.

And a sequel, instead of the creation of the Kain and Lynch franchise.

Amen to that. One of the most underrated games on the PS2. It got maligned because of the crude stealth mechanics, leading people to believe that it was primarily conceived for shock value. But thing is, the simple gameplay just works, cause you're only focused on one thing: survival. Since you don't have a dozen clever gadgets at yr disposal à la MGS or SplinterCell, when you're caught yr as good as dead unless you run (apart from the few shooter levels). And every element of the game is primed to augment the dread of the hunt- the taunts, the dismal locations (the abandoned zoo must be one of my favourite game locations ever) and that superb Carpenter-esque score.

Yeah, so anyway, I thought the criticism was largely undeserved. It may not be yr cup of tea, but it's far from a broken game, like some reviews suggested.

"Weapon in my hand. My hand, the arcing deathblow at The End of All Things. The horror. The horror. I embrace it."

Good post, and agreed. Loved that damn game, despite all the technical problems. Awesome music, sound, and voices. Great "serial killer epic" feel to the whole thing. Those Leatherface pig things were some of my fave enemies outside of Resident Evil and Silent Hill games.

By the way, the guy who did the voice for Mike LeRoi has a proper career now as a LaFontainesque movie trailer/commerical guy. It's quite jarring to hear Shadowman himself doing ads for Legoland. His "I am the Lord... OF DEADSIDE" was badass.

Oh and thirded on Rockstar's Manhunt.

Have to agree here. I don't understand how Arcanum didn't become the next big thing. Loved that game and the universe they created.

Got to veto Manhunt. Great concept, and man, if you never played that thing with the XBox's headset plugged in, you missed out on so much fucking awesome, but the game itself played like total shit.

Agree wholeheartedly with Shadow Man, though. Aside from the weirdness of being a cartridge with a load time on N64, so many things were right with that game.

Probably too difficult to find that big an audience; I thought it was fantastic fun. I really liked the rebel hideout you operated out of between missions. Kind of reminded me of the rebel hideout in Crusader: No Remorse (which was the scene of one of the greatest plot twists ever in a video game).

Sweet nothings from Brian Cox= inspired

Sad you're not a bigger fan of the game though, Justin.

Grand Prix:Legends. Probably the best racing sim of all time. And it is being kept alive by one of the most dedicated fanbases out there. Guaranteed, every new version of Windows brings a new patch to keep the game playable, often with improved graphics.

And I share the love for Planscape:Torment. BTW it has just been reissued in the US for 20 Bucks on a DVD rom. So now you got no excuse.

Autoduel would be my call. The ability to build your own ride and then go out in the world and do what youwant, from fighting in arenes to running courier missions to working for the FBI to just being a pirate killing other cars and stealing their loot. I loved the variety of options for building whatever ride you wanted, from a speedster to a heavily armored death machine. No game has truly captured that for me.