Old games that deserve a second chance

[SephKing]

Hi.

I was recently working on an article that looks at games from the past that deserve a second chance at finding an audience.

The four i'm writing about at the moment are Oni, Battlezone 2, Urban Chaos and Freespace 2

The first article focuses on ONI (see below trailer I put together to go with the article)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrofD4wWT_U&feature=channel_video_title

What games do you think deserve a second shot?

[buemba]

I don't think either of these necessarily failed at finding an audience the first time around, but...

The Tex Murphy games - They had such an interesting setting and I really liked the puzzles and characters.
MDK - For me nothing in the entire game matched the first level, but it was still a very cool game.
Sacrifice - 3rd person RTS done right. It's what Brutal Legend should have been.

[Flint]

Heretic 2. An excellently done 3rd person action game with some great level design and all-around good general design. The staff is one of my favourite melee weapons in gaming. Wasn't much of a huge hit when it came out (IIRC) and it seems to have become somewhat of a lost chapter in Raven Software's tale, being the only one of their major games which hasn't gained a digital re-release. Probably thanks to not being a FPS like everything else they've ever done.

[Trash]

Last Expres is a gem and the only interactive 'movie' worth it, Freedom Force is spandex done right, Planescape: Torment is one of the best rpg's ever, Terra Nova shows why exactly Looking Glass was so awesome, Beyond Good and Evil can always use some more love, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat is still the best computer adaptation of Warhammer and defenitely do not pass up on Anachronox.

[Anthile]

Wheel of Time.

[acidtestportfolio]

depth dwellers

[PeteC]

Giants: Citizen Kabuto.

One of my favourite games of all time. I'd give anything for a sequel.

[R-F]

Wheel of Time.

Your wish has been granted. (http://bagofgames.com/02/obsidian-entertainment-to-develop-wheel-of-time-rpg/)

[Taidan]

Terra Nova shows why exactly Looking Glass was so awesome

Ah, you got in there right before me, first thing that went through my head.

Shortly followed by Hardwar.

[karthink]

KOTOR 2, with a restored content mod. The writing is some of Obsidian's best.
+1 for Last Express, The Longest Journey, and one of the Broken Sword games.

Other good ones:
Caesar 3,
Project: Snowblind,
Giants: Citizen Kabuto,
Murder-Death-Kill 2,
Evolva,
Jade Empire: Special edition

[soldant]

Battlezone 2 was awesome, so was Battlezone before it. My friend and I used to play MP every afternoon after school. Awesome fun.


Sacrifice - 3rd person RTS done right. It's what Brutal Legend should have been.
I love Sacrifice but the command and camera system was pretty bad, it's probably best described as "barely contained chaos" at the best of times. Still it's one of the best attempts at a 3rd person RTS... unless the Battlezone games count.

[BillButNotBen]

Project: Snowblind!! wow... i just realised that it is Syndicate the FPS.

[SephKing]

Battlezone 2 was awesome, so was Battlezone before it. My friend and I used to play MP every afternoon after school. Awesome fun.


I love Sacrifice but the command and camera system was pretty bad, it's probably best described as "barely contained chaos" at the best of times. Still it's one of the best attempts at a 3rd person RTS... unless the Battlezone games count.

Yeah Battlezone 2 holds up suprisingly well, visually and gameplay wise. Of all the games, it was the hardest one to track down a copy of.

[BillButNotBen]

Yeah Battlezone 2 holds up suprisingly well, visually and gameplay wise. Of all the games, it was the hardest one to track down a copy of.
There was a "freeware" portable battlezone with some modern fixes going around, though i'm not at all sure of the legality.

Oni - hmm. I played it back when it came out. I remember it having a pretty cool combat system that worked really well with a mouse (very unusual.). Though i suspect it was a little overcomplicated for many people. I also remember that it was famous because they hired actual real architects to design the levels (the first step towards today's "realism" trend?). And I remember that the levels were all horribly boring. (the first step towards today's "realism" trend ;-) )

Jade Empire - I actually DID just finish playing that for the first time. Though I wouldn't really call it an old game. It still looked lovely in places, and didn't play very differently from any more recent games. I wasn't sure about it at the beginning, but i rather enjoyed it by the end. (though it had a few rough spots, mainly in the plot/pacing).

Other recommendations:
Hostile Waters. (particularly for battlezone fans i think). It was on GOG, and it held up really well, but i have a feeling it got pulled for licensing reasons.
Jedi Knight (1), because it's one of the best FPS ever made, but it rarely gets the credit it deserves. I guess the early 3d won't look so great now, but the gameplay should hold up.
Albion - it's Avatar the RPG and it holds up pretty well.

An interesting thing for me has been how "overlooked classics" such as Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Beyond Good and Evil, Bloodlines, etc.. have been given such a new life by digital downloads (and piracy). These are all games that famously didn't sell well initially - and that famous fact has made them famous enough that these days everyone seems to have played them.
In other words, everyone has played them because no-one played them.

[Hoesoons]

I just started to play The Last Remnant after ignoring it for 3 years, also didn't have an X-box back then and heard it was filled with bugs etc...
Now I got it for PC and loving every minute of it. Great story with Japanese voice acting, turn based battle system, high lvl of immersion.
It makes me wonder where Squeenix went wrong.

[Wolfenswan]

Sub culture. (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sub-culture)

Incredibly charming Underwater-elite. You're a member of a tiny species living in the deep sea, harvesting natural minerals and human trash (e.g. you can use a grappling hook to carry stumps of zigarettes to the trading hubs and sell them for good money)

Nuclear Strike. (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/nuclear-strike)

Because rule of cool.

Future Cop LAPD (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/future-cop-lapd).

Super silly, cartoonish B-movie fun. One of the weapons shoots incredibly powerful robo-dogs.


+1 on Heretic 2 and Albion (but was the latter ever forgotten? I thought it's held in high regard all around)

[Grizzly]

O-R-B -- Off-world resource base. Its quite similar to homeworld, despite being in development for years. However, I found it to be much easier to control then Homeworld, and a much smoother experience overall, even though the story was meh.

I was like.. 13 - 14 when I last played it though...

[Tikey]

Sub culture. (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sub-culture)

Incredibly charming Underwater-elite. You're a member of a tiny species living in the deep sea, harvesting natural minerals and human trash (e.g. you can use a grappling hook to carry stumps of zigarettes to the trading hubs and sell them for good money)

Man I've been trying to remember the name of that game for weeks. I really liked it.

[Keep]

Urban Chaos

Wow, that game! I'd totally forgotten about it.

That blew me away. If you haven't played it - remember that first time you played GTA3, how impossibly exciting and mind-blowing it was, having this 3d playground of a city yours to mess around in? That was Urban Chaos, two years before GTA3 but for some reason a total sales flop.

Plus you could rappel along phone wires to get to different rooftops, brilliant.

[SephKing]

Other recommendations:
Hostile Waters. (particularly for battlezone fans i think). It was on GOG, and it held up really well, but i have a feeling it got pulled for licensing reasons.
.

Good call with Hostile Waters. I remember picking that up when it was crazy cheap in a sale and instantly regretted not buying it at launch. Might try and get hold of a copy (lost mine years ago).

Jedi Knight definitely needs to get a reboot/sequel. I was really hoping the force unleashed would take it's place but those games (especially the 2nd) were bitter dissapointments.

[Wolfenswan]

Wow, that game! I'd totally forgotten about it.

That blew me away. If you haven't played it - remember that first time you played GTA3, how impossibly exciting and mind-blowing it was, having this 3d playground of a city yours to mess around in? That was Urban Chaos, two years before GTA3 but for some reason a total sales flop.

Plus you could rappel along phone wires to get to different rooftops, brilliant.

Yes. YES. Great game but I think I never really finished it.

I'll add Battle Realms (http://www.mobygames.com/game/battle-realms) to the ever increasing list.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-hkoR0H8IQ&feature=related

[coldvvvave]

Interstate '76, it deserves both a reboot/remake with better visuals and a new sequel.

Sadly, it's sequel wasn't as good. And running even a gog version of i'76 on win7 x64 is a big problem for me.


Project: Snowblind!! wow... i just realised that it is Syndicate the FPS.
It was a Deus Ex Spinoff IIRC. Right until DE IW flopped so publishers decided not to go there.

[Fumarole]

I'd say Freedom Fighters qualifies.

[SMiD]

Urban Assault. Game came with a MS Sidewinder joystick as an added freebie. It's combo RTS and umm... vehicular arcade FPS? Anyway, it's incredibly fun if difficult in the later missions, and I'm sure it's a bitch to get running in Windows 7. But it's a unique gem.

[Spacewalk]

All the kids need to know what Blade Of Darkness is about. Maybe Die By the Sword but controlling your character is a bit of a hard time so you could probably just skip it and find another game. Worth considering though.

[Henke]

The first article focuses on ONI (see below trailer I put together to go with the article)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrofD4wWT_U&feature=channel_video_title
Awesome trailer! :D

I loved Oni and Urban Chaos. Played through both several times. :)

[soldant]

Urban Assault. Game came with a MS Sidewinder joystick as an added freebie. It's combo RTS and umm... vehicular arcade FPS? Anyway, it's incredibly fun if difficult in the later missions, and I'm sure it's a bitch to get running in Windows 7. But it's a unique gem.
Oh man, I'd forgotten that game! Haven't played that one in ages, but it was kind of Battlezone-y. Sort of.

Also, I'd never heard of Sub Culture! Reminds me of some other game that was set on Titan... it was Elite-style and you'd fly different ships called Moths or something. Can't remember what it was now.

[cybrbrnt]

I picked up the Delta Force: BHD games in a recent steam sale. I enjoyed them quite a bit. Enough to buy the older ones, which I also find pretty good. A more modern look and maybe a better control scheme would be pretty cool I think. And perhaps even refreshing!

[Megagun]

Reminds me of some other game that was set on Titan... it was Elite-style and you'd fly different ships called Moths or something. Can't remember what it was now.
Hardwar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwar_(video_game))

Sub Culture was amazing, by the way. :)

[karthink]

To the OP: Your Oni trailer is great. Please continue your project.

Also, I forgot to mention Tribes: Vengeance earlier. Short, sweet and jetpack propelled campaign.

[soldant]

Hardwar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwar_(video_game))
Exactly! Many thanks.

[squirrel]

Battle Engine Aquila

Played this well on original Xbox. May not be that excited, but very funny and interesting , and maybe relaxing kinda flying mech experience. Many years ago. I dont exactly recall if it was out in 2003 or 04, but doesn't matter. It's out for all PS2, Xbox and PC.

But by second choice I mean just give it a try. Would not be that rewarding experience to get deep into this game. Casual gaming only.

[Arona Daal]

Startopia? :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftqGpsXQZeI&feature=related

[Dugular]

Murder-Death-Kill 2,

I know you said that as a joke, but am I the only geek who knows that MDK stood for Mission: Deliver Kindness?

[Tom OBedlam]

I'd really like to see another game set in the Arcanum universe. That would make me a hugely happy man.

[Theblazeuk]

SubCulture! No way. I remember playing the demo for that

Baldurs Gate 1 +2 with a bunch of mods installed - just about to embark on a new game as a swashbuckler, looking forward to running through the whole game again. Was wondering whether to be an evil mage but as much as I love the game, I'm not sure how much sense it makes to be an evil character given my favourite party members... But it'll be over the course of the next year or so, given that Skyrim is out at the end of the week :)

Privateer The Darkening - My first encounter with Clive Owen in the game's astonishingly over the top FMV storyline, but it's a really really good game. Smuggling, a cool system for space travel where you can pay for speed or risk the pirates, factions (a little broken), everything you could want really. The best Elite-style game I've ever played.

[Theblazeuk]

I know you said that as a joke, but am I the only geek who knows that MDK stood for Mission: Deliver Kindness?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDK_(video_game)#Meaning_of_MDK

[gganate]

Vampire:the Masquerade-Bloodlines.

[Dugular]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDK_(video_game)#Meaning_of_MDK

You have just destroyed 15 years of me feeling special.

[Rinox]

Realms of the Haunting deserved a sequel...or at least a remake. I think a remake with a modern day engine could be amazing. You wouldn't even have to change that much of the game's dynamics to make it work. Of course, its blending of genres would now be shot down in a marketing boardroom as being "too confusing for joe xbox".

[Theblazeuk]

You have just destroyed 15 years of me feeling special.

My work here is done.


And if you haven't bothered listening to the RPS folk about Vampire: Bloodlines, I will add my voice to that recommendation. Just make sure you patch it with Wesps first, fixes some of the increasingly annoying broken combat and the first 2/3 is one of the best RPGs out there.

[Pew pew LAZORS!]

The Dark Eye


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiVzcm3JQO4

[squareking]

The Neverhood, which I think was well-received but didn't grab a big audience.

[spcd]

Silver; if you can get it to work


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd4tKhyCXUU