Fear's Take on Overlooked Games

               Fear's Take on Overlooked Games

        On this post I'd like to take the time to look at some of the overlooked games of the last few years. Some of these games might had rocky starts but improved with patches, some might have been good just not great games but still worthy of your time, and some are great games that just flew under the radar. As always this is just my opinion so if you really hate one of these games, or one that you would have like to have seen on the list, feel free to leave a comment.

        Assassin's Creed Unity/Rogue/Syndicate - Now I know it might look like I am cheating by grouping the last 3 games in the series together, but I honestly think Unity's launch hurt this franchise in a huge way. Thing is, Unity is not a bad game at all. I wouldn't put it in my top 5 of the series, but underneath all its issues lies a good game.

Unity had a bad launch, there is no denying that, just look at the patch for Xbox One that is larger than the actual game size. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot that I didn't like about the game as well. First was the map was so cluttered with chest that were thrown in there just so you would play the app. The present day story was once again a mess that ultimately made it seem like the Assassins were so desperate they would recruit anyone. The side missions all had the feeling like this could have been really cool if the developers had fleshed them out, but in the game they felt half-assed.

But, let's look at all the good the game had. Understand that I played this game about 8 months after release, so I only had 2 glitches, never had a hard crash or a missing face. The graphics on this game were mind blowing. This was one of the first games I played on PS4 and I couldn't get over how great they looked. The new combat system wasn't my favorite, I prefer the faster style of AC3, but there was a real weight to it. Arno was not a bad character and even his love affair was well done being that Elise was a Templar. There was some real standout missions and some great interior environments as well. I also enjoyed being able to customize my appearance and the "Legacy" outfits to wear, though I never understood why Shane's from Rogue would be a choice for Arno.

I gave this game a 7.5 in my Assassin's Creed Series blog a few years back and I still stand by that. Yes it's not going to blow you away or make you fan, but if the launch turned you off, you should retry, this game has a lot going for it. But that launch did almost kill the franchise. Between releasing a broken game that once fixed didn't live up to its potential and some series fatigue the next 2 games in the series suffered, which is unfortunate because they could easily be 2 of the best out of the series.

        Rogue was a great game, in fact I gave it a 9. It was the best of 3 and 4 combined with a fresh take on the series, the assassins, and the Templars. It was overlooked because it dropped the same day as Unity, which meant the bad press of Unity's launch hurt it. Not to mention it was on last gen systems, which could have given the impression it was the "lesser" game. And of course I'm sure the franchise fatigue was setting in as well. What people missed out on thought could have easily been one of the best games in the series. The characters people like in 3 and 4, the pirate life of 4, the fast action of 3, side missions, and even the multiplayer modes were refitted to become part of the single player. I loved the story and how Shay goes from an Assassin to a Templar, to me it made sense. It didn't feel like he ever went evil, nor did it make the Assassins even evil and the Templars good. It did make the Assassins look desperate, but I've always felt like they have been one step behind the Templars, even if they get the Apple or "win" in the end. If you are a fan of the series, this is absolutely a must play. If you not a fan of the series, but enjoy a good open world with a lot of fun and action to be had, play this. I honestly hate the thought we will probably never see Shay or a sequel to this game again. This game had the potential to start a sub series within the series playing as the Templars. And just like that I'm depressed that won't ever happen.

        Syndicate is probably the best game in the series since Assassin's Creed 2. What's crazy is if you read my prior blog from before launch, I mentioned how I didn't think anyone was excited for it and how I was very "whatever" about it. I was wrong, this game is blast to play and the story is great. Templars are still shady but again their motives are explained in a way that they still stay "bad guys" but not in the same light as say the present day Templars seen in Assassin's Creed 1. This game even had me finally into the present day story which I loved unit AC 4 when it just got dumb to be honest.

One of the best things about Syndicate is the fact that have the brother and sister characters wasn't done in a gimmick way. It wasn't about just putting in a female character because Unity was criticized for not have a female in multiplayer. Both characters were different, with different animations and fighting styles, personalities, and the way they were part the story as well. Jacob represented the newer games that focused more on building a gang, the action of the story and not much with the mythology of the series. That's were Evie came in. Playing her missions was where they tied the game into the far reaching and Sci-Fi elements of the series. I enjoyed both characters a lot, and again was saddened to hear then next game would be a reboot. These 2 could have easily been the next Ezio as far as leading the franchise for a few games.
This game just like Rogue suffered from Unity's launch issues breaking the trust of the fans, and of course the fact that Syndicate was the 8th major game in the series in 8 years. In all honesty all three of the last three AC games were hurt, not by Unity itself, but by just the state the game was released in at launch.


        Arkham Origins - I have written about my love of the Arkham franchise before in this blog, and I even gave Arkham Knight my GOTY for 2015 (and it earned a spot on last year's list as well). To say I've enjoyed this franchise is an understatement, but the most shocking statement is I think that Origins may be the best of the first three games of the series.

People, including myself, wrote Origins off as a cash in when it was announced back in 2013, especially since it was developed by WB and not Rocksteady. This had all the markings of a game that the studio couldn't accept waiting on the next true sequel, so why not throw an origin story and cut and paste the previous two titles. But that's not at all what this game is. Origins is a great game! First off the writing is excellent, the two voice actors for Joker and Batman knock it out of the park. The game has some of the series best boss fights, great new weapons, great combat, and side missions that are similar to the previous games, but are fresh. Sure the city wasn't as great as I'd have like, and there were some combat issues here and there, but this was solid.

The story is really what sets it apart. It started off with Batman vs Black Mask, however that turned into the meeting of Joker and Batman, which was played so well. We even seen the first introduction of Joker and Harley Quinn, and seen a trip into Joker's mind showing why he is connected to Batman. Bane was the real threat of the game and unlike in the other games, he was as menacing in this as he has been in comics.
I'm sad this game didn't get the recognition it deserved. Again, even I waited almost 6 months to play it thinking it would just be more of the same. I'm also sad this wasn't remastered last year so that possibly more people could have tried it out. If the rumors are true that we will be getting another prequel by WB, I will be stoked.


        Far Cry Primal - I have been a fan of Far Cry since the first game was ported over to Xbox 360, and fell in love with the series when I started Far Cry 3. Far Cry 4 only cemented the game as one of if not, my favorite FPS out there. When Primal was announced I had my doubts, a game set 10,000 years ago? I mean come on, setting C4 traps and road side bombs in 3 and 4 to catch convoys was such a "blast", how could being a caveman match up?

It did. First of all I have to say since Far Cry 3 the team has been crafting some of the best worlds in gaming. Primal may be my favorite world to just explore and walk around in. I spent hours just exploring, I rarely fast traveled because there were so many great places to find that set the tone for what you are playing.

The ability to call on animal companions was a really fun addition to the series and helped set up some great moments. I will say I never felt like I could be as stealthy as I had been taking over outpost in 3 and 4, but I had a blast in the chaos. The only knock on the game I really have was after 2 games featuring great antagonist and stories, this game's stories and antagonist were forgettable. But the missions were fun, the setting was great, and the Stone Age weapons were a blast to play with. The weapons being Stone Age added a level of freshness to the game. Sure we have had bows and arrows before in games, but these felt great.

Far Cry 5 has been announced and after the last 3 games in this series, and especially after the world they created in Primal, I can't wait to play it!


Hitman/Hitman Absolution - I'm been a huge Hitman fan since Hitman 2 had me spending over an hour on the first real level trying to figure just how in the world I get into the mafia house. I was about to return the game then I discovered how to really play the game (in 2002 it wasn't as easy to just hop online and find a guide). Since then I have enjoyed every game.

With Absolution the team decided to try something different and that was add the story to the forefront of the game. That ended up being the game's biggest mistake. See that forced a big change into how the game was played. No more were you able to decide a load out before starting a hit, because in most levels, there wasn't even a hit. Not to mention the story set up what you could take and what was taken away severely limiting your choices. Then you had the limitations of the hardware. If you could group the levels in one area and build one level out of them, they would have been massive. What happened though is the previous gen couldn't handle the size so they broke them up. Meaning you might start outside on a city block in one chapter. Find a back alley to get to the next block in another. Go into the building you need to in the next. Then finally get to the roof to end it in the next. Had they been one giant level, it would have been amazing and helped with the previously mentioned issues. For example, if you take the first level in the game, "King of Chinatown", it was like the Hitman levels in the past, closed off with several options on how to complete it. In fact I spent a lot of time just doing the challenges and finding new ways to complete it. Lastly there was a save glitch. The game would glitch while saving, forcing a restart. You know how every game tells you not to turn the game off if you see a certain icon? Well that's what this bug did. I was ¾ of the way done with the game when the bug hit. I had to start back over completely.

But after all that, here's the thing (that really should be my catch phase), I enjoyed the game so much I sucked it up and replayed it. Of course I always backed up my saves on a thumb drive after that just to be sure.  Sure the things I mentioned took away from the freedoms of the past games, but the soul of Hitman was still there. There was still plenty of ways to take out whatever targets you might have. The world was fill with the same black humor the series is known for. The layout to the levels might have broken up into several chapters, but as individual levels they were really well made.

Two things really make the game worth playing above what I just mentioned. First is the gameplay. The previous games were, and still are, amazing games, but they never have had great gameplay as far as close quarter combat, or sneaking. However in Absolution, the gameplay was as tight as any third person action game. Sneaking was as easy since it was no longer holding down a button while Agent 47 slowly crept towards a target, only to try and strangle them and miss. The gunplay was also bumped up to be very rewarding as well. Which might be odd for a Hitman game, but with some of the levels you had to be able to survive a shootout.

The second improvement was the ranking and points system. Almost every way to kill someone had points to it that totaled up at the end of the level. Between what weapons you used, if you were seen, and how fast you completed it all added up. Throw in the several different challenges each level had, Absolution provided you a reason to replay the levels several times. I can't believe how many times I'd replay a level to improve my score, which only helped in showing me all the game had to offer.

I also have to point out that while I am not a big fan of multiplayer, I loved the way contracts mode was set up. Take a level and find your own mark. Define how you want to kill him. Do it yourself, then challenge other players to complete it and see if they can beat your score. This made the game's replay extremely high as well. There was always a new challenge for each level.

        Jumping to last year's Hitman, sadly a lot of people didn't want to start playing it with the idea that they would wait for the full game on disk instead of taking advantage of the episodic release. Now I admit I was a little worried when I heard about the game being broken up over the course of 8 months or so into episodes. But as a fan of the series, I had to do the full pre-order. I'm glad I did. This game worked so well in an episodic release format for a few reasons.

First the story was kept to after mission cut scenes that mostly lasted between 2-3 minutes, giving a backbone to the game or "season" to tie everything together, but it never gets in the way of what you are doing. Being that each episode was one full level you had the freedom of choosing your load out, which you constantly were able to unlock new weapons that can not only be used in that level, but also other levels. New starting points and disguises as well kept each level fresh. The levels were also huge, some seemed small with just a mansion, but the mansion was huge with a ton of area. Other areas were the size of city blocks that had so many areas that even after all the time I spent on them I feel like there are plenty of areas still unexplored. This alone made the freedom through the roof. The amount of experimentation was huge. That is the main factor of this franchise and they nailed it.

Second the time between episodes, usually a month to 6 weeks, allowed for me to really get into each level. Whereas in other games of the series I would play the game straight through and then maybe replay a level here or there, only having 1 new episode at a time gave me plenty of time to dive in. Add in the challenges made a comeback, along with trophies for each level, and all of that added to your level mastery that helped unlock weapons, and you had a recipe for around 8-12 hour for each episode. If I had the full game in front of me, I can't say I would have really stuck it out for that much time on each episode.

Third the time between episodes really allowed the developers to get feedback and adjust the upcoming levels. We started seeing improvements in each episode. We also got new additions to each level like more escalation missions, and my favorite of the game Elusive Targets. These are targets that were only available for a few days, at first 3 days but they listened to feedback and they are now in the week long range. While I enjoyed the training missions and the first real level set in a Paris mansion, it was very apparent that the developers were listening to fans as they moved forward. While I won't say entire levels were rebuilt, but the AI progressed, rewards were added, and the game seen improvements with each episode that probably would not have happened if all levels would have dropped at once.

Not only were the levels great in this game, but the gameplay was again refined to be more in line with other 3rd person stealth action games. The amount of weapons and gadgets gave you so many ways to play. Escalation missions were a new addition that started off with a simple kill, but as you progressed over the course of 5 levels more objectives would be added increasing the difficulty. The previously mentioned Elusive Targets have been a fan favorite and even as the game is at the year mark, we still get fresh targets to take down. Contracts mode was brought back it is still as fun as it has ever been.

While this game still sold well and reviewed well, a lot of people held off for a full release and didn't agree with episodic nature feeling like they were being cheated. There was complaints that there wasn't enough level, even with the extra levels added. However this game was well worth the 60 and there was more than enough content. If fact it can be argued waiting and missing out on the Elusive Targets cost players a lot of time that the game offered.


        Mass Effect 3 - There has been a lot written about Mass Effect 3 and it's ending over the last 5 years. In fact when you add the ending, and the fact that the latest game in the series played it safe to the point players felt bored, the series has been put on hold. But while the ending has received a lot of (justified) criticism, the game itself is a gem for fans of action RPGs.

While I didn't like the fact certain endings could only be unlocked if you played multiplayer this game did a lot things right. The second game in the series was suicide mission and the tone of the game felt like it all the way through, this story felt like you were on a desperate mission to save the galaxy, which you were, allowing for each mission to have a certain weight to it. Sure the game suffered from the same issues open world games suffer from where you have a pressing issue but you decided to tackle side missions, but the story in this game overall had the right tone that made you want to keep pushing. You really wanted to save your squad as well. Some of them you had with you from the beginning, and some were new in this game, but all of them made you want to know more about them.

I'll be honest, I'd love to write more in detailed about this game, but it has been 5 years since I played. Yes I didn't like the ending and I felt like they could have just retconned it to being the Indoctrination Theory to make it more plausible. But that doesn't, or shouldn't take away from how much fun I had in the 30 hours I played it. Sadly that last 10 minutes is all people remember. I put in 30 hours into each of the first 3 Mass Effect games all taking me a combined 90 hours to do everything. I can't let 10 minutes ruin one game, let alone a whole franchise.


        Grand Theft Auto IV - Now I know this game reviewed well and people for the most part loved it on release, but in the years since it has taken on a negative reputation. Now I have written before about my love of the GTA franchise, and in that blog I mentioned my issues with this game. The cars handled bad and there was some freedoms missing from what we had in GTA SA. I have always said I thought they had to scale back from risking "jumping the shark" with the series, and I still believe the direction they took in GTA IV was the right move. Now 9 years after this game released, this game is looked at as the black sheep of the franchise from GTA 3 on.

Here is what people are missing with this game; the story is fantastic. We see through the eyes of someone chasing the American dream that really isn't all it's cracked up to be. We see a guy who is at odds with everything the game has him do, but he does it with the hope for a better life. That has caused a lot of people to mention how at Niko is at odds with the tone of the game, but they miss the point. The more Niko chases the dream and the way out of the life he is in, farther away the dream is and the more he is stuck in his life. There is no real happy ending to this game, but it fit the tone of the game perfectly.

There were a lot of great side characters, some cool missions, and yeah Roman wanting to go bowling got old, but hey bowling and all the other side activities were actually fun to play. I enjoyed my time with this game to the point I still pop it in time to time here 9 years later (I may even do a replay after I finish my current replay of San Andreas). The story was great, Niko was an awesome character, and yeah there was no jet pack or planes to fly, but there was a lot of fun to be had playing this game.


        Alien Isolation - I just finished this game recently and I felt like I had to add it to this list. This game really felt like more of a sequel to Alien then Aliens did. It was low on action, but heavy on suspense and horror. The reason I am including it to my list is that it just doesn't get shown enough love.

So off the bat the first few levels had me very intrigued by what was going on in the ship, you know other than rumblings of a creature and people shooting on sight. But then chapter 5 hit, and instead of minor heart rushing moments of sneaks, you are now alone and being stalked by the Alien. He is following you around a medical bay and all you can do is occasionally hide, or distract the Alien. Not only in this level, but at no point in the game can you kill the Alien. You eventually find a flamethrower that will make it run away, but the fear that you can't kill it, the fact that it will randomly appear, only makes moments when you hear it running in the vents so unnerving it will make you want to stay in cover. Then you hear the vent open and your heart will start beating like crazy. That's the beauty of this game, the fear and suspense it brings is second to none.

Of course it has its issues, chapter 10 until 14 had me wanting to just quit. Some of the scripted moments that you have to deal with the Alien can lead to some cheap deaths. Those chapters I mentioned seem unnecessary and just padding. There is a new android that seems way to over powered. And for as huge as the ship is, you feel like most of the game is set in a few areas you go back and forth through. Most of those issues are concentrated in those 3 levels, outside of those, they are spread out so they are not as noticeable. I feel like most players got to that middle point, started dealing with the game's issues all at once, and moved on. Which is a shame because again after those levels the game finds its stride again.

The game is also great because it really feels like a true sequel to the original movies. From the "retro-futuristic" look to when you find the face huggers and other franchise staples.  Visually the game the pretty good as well, with the alien looking like a carbon copy of the films creature. You feel like you are in an Alien film.

So yeah I had my issues and frustrations, but this game should be played by people that enjoy horror/suspenseful games. I'm not sure if it was overlooked due to it being a license game, people still not over how bad Colonial Marines was, or maybe the reviews put people off. If it put you off, trust for the price it is at now, especially if it goes on sale, this is well worth your time playing.


          Closing - You know, I don't think this really will be a true ending. Check back here and there because as I think of overlooked game, or I play games that get a bad reputation, I'll probably be adding them to this list. Again, some of the games on this list were not the best games ever, I know that. But they are on this list because they are better than their reputation gives them credit for. These games are all worth your time playing.