Gaming The Best Games You've Never Played

The two that stands out to me is " Beyond good and evil" and " Vampires the masquerade bloodlines"

Bloodlines was truelly a classic it deserves better than what it got, I finished it multiple time each time thinking that the update will make it better,sadly to say it did help but I feel that it still didn't reach its full potential,some segments of the game and story line was just too linear,bug wise after the first few chapter/parts you get use to saving in each new section and saving before and after a quest is completed just in case you complete it and it doesnt show it as completed,the only other thing that saddens me about bloodlines is the fact that there wont be a third installment in the series (as far as Im aware),its one of those sad times in the history of gaming,maybe if the creators of the elder scrolls series take on the vampire the masquerade series,then well have a game fit for kings ...

Beyond good and evil was great aswell, the thing that stand out from it is all of the mini games,even though the game did become a little repetitive there was just so many things you could do in it ,it was fun and there truly no other way to describe the game, it was fun.

What about Dune 2 it practically started the RTS genra...

PS thought hellgate london will fill the void that the lack of a sequil of VTMB left but it was a big disappointment...

 

Dune 2 was hugely successful for it's time though wasn't it, it's just an old game. Started playing BGE and I'm loving it, great game, shame about the console interface. This is obviously a game designed for consoles and ported badly over to the PC.

 

Nice Article.

 

Dune 2 was aweeeeeesome and paved the way for the RTS of the future - unfortunately none of them I enjoyed quite as much.

 

I think it was designed for the Gamecube first, and then ported over. I never really had a *huge* issue with the console port problems, but now you mention it I suppose they could annoy you. Either way, the incredible sense of character and drama should be able to carry you through. Let me know how you get on!

Dune 2 was an awesome game and one of the first games I played on the Amiga A500+. Great game.

 

I got a copy of Beyond Good & Evil as part of a compliation that had something else I was after, I might dig it out and give it a go after this. Planescape was a great game, so was Psychonaughts - full of simply brilliant ideas that were superbly implemented. If you can now get it for free then there isn't any excuse not to try it

I would like to make a nomination of my own, anybody remember Terra Nova by Looking Glass? In my opinion it was one of the finest games ever made and criminally overlooked by the buying public. If you've never heard of it then I mourn for your loss - true brilliance as far as I'm concerned.

 

Anything by Looking Glass Studios gets an instant honourable nod for awesomeness. Not played Terra Nova, but I will when I go back to XP.

Man, I love Looking Glass - Thief, System Shock, they can do no wrong.

 

Joe, fantastic article and collection.

Yeah, Dune 2 was really fun for me as well.

Then there was Syndicate from Bullfrog. It was revolutionary for my gaming life.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate_(computer_game)

I was addicted to Master of Orion series... it's a mix of turn-base, star treking, planets conquering, R&D tech and ship building. Latest iteration of this genre is Galactic Civilization series... it is a fantastic game only if they could fix the bad codes and the creator got some serious QC issues.

There's this Civilization like abandonware called Master of Magic which i replay every 6 months. There were innovations that kept me replaying it with dosBox, just to remind myself good game doesn't need great graphics and bloated codes.

IMHO, the most fun i got from RPG with FPS feel is Might and Magic 6. everything after that was a slippery slope. I regard that as having one of the best game play design - freedom.

 

Big ups for Beyond good and evil, NOLF 1+2, Psychonauts from me.

Bloodlines for me alternated between awesome (the characters, quests and general world) and terrible (most of the sections that force poor combat onto you for half an hour or an hour before you can get to doing anything else)

I'm tempted to mention MDK or maybe just MDK2 while I'm here, and UFO: Enemy Unknown (X-Com: UFO defense for the U.S. release) of course gets a mention too

 

I loved Outcast. It's terrible that my cd broke. It had elements which are considered to be original even today.

 

Oh yeah, Mafia, that game was truly excellent IMHO. I also liked an old game called Silver, but damn I never cleared the last boss without cheating :/

 

well I thought i would through my two sense in.... Angband anyone? it is based off the dungeon Lord of the Rings, it uses the random genrated approach as well, and it has developed many spin offs, give it a shot. Another that should be mentioned is homeword, probably one of the best rts, at least one of the hardest.

 

I've already stated on here that I bought BG&E and Torment based on their reputation, but I didn't get into either.

BG&E definitely had a childish, console feel to it. Couldn't take it seriously...

Torment *did* have the depth and the characterisation (and wit) it was famed for, but I couldn't get over the interface or the graphics. Probably a sad indictment of me/the state of modern gaming, but nevertheless it's the truth.

But some of the other games look worth investigating.

Point of Order - I paid £15 for a weathered copy of Torment on Ebay - the more polished copies generally traded for £25 - hardly common and available.

 

Dear Joe,

U really should play knight lore, Batman and gunfright. All of them from MSX and amiga. I know knight lore have a remake for PC. You are a lycantrophe (werewolf) seekin a cure for ur "disease". Each time the night draw, u become a werewolf.. Very interesting iso game. Quite old too 1984

 

i'll be honest joe, there's something about your writing style i just don't like. not quite sure what it is....(i think your words read a little like you just came out of uni and are learning professional writing/still have a hint of college humour...maybe i just thought bit-tech was a more intellectual read, this is all beside the point and you're writing for bit-tech so yeh carry on, you can only get better i'm sure, and this is of course my opinion and can be largely ignored....)....ANYWAYS, this is a great article. Definately will be checking out all these games. I've played vampire and thought it was great fun, play it thru once as any clan, then again as malkavian for shits n giggles! but yes, good article. i applaud you.

 

though i would just mention that i decided to replay the neverhood, and it was bliss, on vista 64bit it ran flawlessly, and being only 5mb installed only took a couple of seconds to install and had virtually no load times,

 

dont flame against me, but i love the halo series, i love the story and the gameplay.
to me they are #1

 

The Neverhood; I played that a few years ago in middle school, one of the teachers had it on a computer. Loved it.

 

Sorry to hear that and, although I have written professionally and freelance for a number of years previously, it may just be my writing style as a whole. Either way, you won't be ignored and I've written very seriously about games in the past, doing linguistic analysis', artistic breakdowns etc, but this is the style I naturally return to and am most comfortable in. Either way, I'm always open to advice and feedback, so feel free to send me an email and we can discuss it all in more depth if you like.

 

Beneath A Steel Sky YES! And somone else mentioned MDK! Totally.

However. I have Neverhood. The game isn't that great, even for a "no one ever played". I don't think that makes it any better. You do realize that most of these games were reviewed by readers/critics and at the time it was cool looking but the game is pretty "meh" when compared to other interactive adventuring games. Don't believe me. Go download the demo I am sure the website is still up lol.

Arx Fatalis, Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and condemned criminal origns are like neverhood. They are really mediocre. They get boring, repetitive. I wish you could rent PC games lol.

...I believe the best games on that list that truly are great but plus no one ever played were Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil, Planescape Torment. Tons of people played Loom and still do the following for lucas arts games is HUGE. So I wouldn't really put it on the list. More people want to hack their DS's or PSP's or whatever to play the whole lucas arts line up. But hey if looms on there why not The Dig?

A few other games I think a lot of people missed out on is the whole Broken Sword series, Syberia Series, and The Longest Journey . Poor adventure games.....with their well thought out dialog, characters, and stories like novels or good spy thrillers. Anyone who has played these games really can understand why some folks say that Mass Effect shouldn't be so easily freaking heralded for it's great "dialog".

Oh, oh and lastly. I guess maybe like Loom it shouldn't really count; for there is a huge following. The fallout games don't get much love either.

But most definitely one of the gems that got left behind like Wing Commander when Tie Fighter came out (srsly). Is Beneath A Steel Sky. Great stuff. Great box art/cover to

Great article! Need more!