Nayfin's Top 10 Bad/Unpopular/Unknown/Underrated/Low Budget Games Part 2

Well I figure I'd write part two now instead of waiting a whole week to do so, it's not as if it were a TV show where their aim is to leave you in suspense for a whole week after watching the first part of a two parter, Doctor Who I'm looking at you for I know full well you'll do that to me at least five times not to mention that one two parter is showing part one in June and the other part in September it has its reasons but really. Already into the first path I find myself digressing and should really move on, as I say there is no point to make you wait a week for a review about bad but good computer games.

Though now that I think about it, after watching a few videos of Zero Punctuation all I can hear that my voice is another man's better-then-mine British accent not to mention his wit so perhaps it's better that I stop now, grab myself a cup of tea and then continue or I may just do nothing but add sarcasm all over the place. So...

 Much better. So I if you've read my last blog you'd have seen at number 10 with its bad graphics, cheesy dialogue and odd gameplay is Deadly Premonition, number 9 with its unfavourable reviews and dodgy motion play is Red Steel, number 8 aimed at kids but isn't that different to Farmville is Viva Piñata, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness having bad gameplay and very tedious levels has a soft spot in my heart at number 7, and finally number 6 is Shadow of Memories which is basically an interactive story. All good games in my books and now for the rest:

Number 5: Eat Lead The Return of Matt Hazard

  Another game released for this current generation of gaming, a great game but not great enough to be listed as one of the top ranking games.

So Eat Lead begins with a man named Matt Hazard explaining about his history of computer games how he had risen and then fell as the games he starred in were great and eventually crap. So already we have an odd story, a game character who knows he is in fact a computer game character.

Matt Hazard has finally returned for a new game where he stars as some kind of a detective only to find out after the first level that his game has been hacked and a new hero would be replacing him, of course someone has noticed and has hacked the hacker and stopped him from derrezing Matt Hazard. So now Matt Hazard must play through the game to try and get to the source of who is trying to derezz him while another person, a beautiful female tries to stop this from happening by hacking in things to help him at every opportunity. Think of it as someone hacking into your Pokemon game to make your Iunno, Pikachu die, but another outside party stops this from happening, and now you and Pikachu must beat the Elite Four to somehow save your Pikachu. Can't see a possible conclusion or a reason for that matter? You'll have to play the game.

This game is absolutely brilliant, the game being hacked turns the game into Matt Hazards older computer games, ones that actually don't exist but in the world of Eat Lead they do. This ranges from the Wild West genre to troubles with Russia like old spy flicks and then to more stranger scenarios such as zombies and finally even older games that include 2D paper enemies oh and RPG moments. So with so many scenarios you're bound to come across a level that you like, even if you don't like the game play which is an over-the-shoulder third person shooter. The game has a lot of changes, guns, characters, funny moments and outrageous   designs you'd never expect from a serious game making this a very casual, non-serious and fun game. Even the achievements are fun. It's a game I'd expect to see on the Playstation 1, but with easier gameplay and better graphics.

Even if you're still unsure that my liking for the game might not suit yours, £5 at your local GAME for Eat Lead The Return of Matt Hazard is not a lot of money.

Number 4: Obscure

Now if it wasn't for Dan I'd have never played this game. Being another horror game this usually would take our interest, however being a game from an earlier generation we'd be less inclined to pick it up (Not saying older generations are bad, far from it, but a game we've never heard of isn't going to be the first to be picked up) It wasn't untill Dan noticed the back cover mentioning Sum 41 had a song in the game itself did he pick it up to notice something very interesting; the game had the option for co-operative multiplayer. Co-op horror games? That's a good enough reason as any to buy the game.

Now I can only imagine that games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill are to blame for leaving Obscure out of the spot lights. Saying that, this game has that cheesy high school feel and a lot of the characters seemed too perky or irritating, or maybe it was the difficulty that brought the game down. Again on the other hand Resident Evil had the whole Jill sandwich incident and it never really pulled any punches in terms of difficulty, in fact now that I think about it, I've completed Obscure, and unless we're talking about the remake, I've never completed the first Resident Evil which is something me and Dan should do sometime.

Now one thing to say about this game is that it is incredibly short, playing it on easy mode and getting to grips with it will probably have you playing it for about 6 hours till you complete it, 3 hours if you've already completed the game before. The game has a mildly good, if rather confusing story at first, though everything about it is predictable. The characters are lovable unless its Shannon because she just doesn't help at all but other then her abilities she's likeable enough. The game play isn't too difficult to get used to, in fact it's more or less Resident Evil but you're able to move while aiming your gun. Only problems I saw were two spots where you could die instantly if you did it wrong but they're easy enough to avoid, and if you do die, surely you have another character to continue with.

Maybe it's the unusual gameplay or that it just popped up during the time that Resident Evil and Silent Hill were in their prime but really I see no reason why this can't be a much loved game. Obscure 2 is even better, though have only really just started in that game. Plus co-operative horror multilayer, having a friend over to play it, with popcorn, or pizza and tea or pepsi/coke along with maybe another friend who enjoys watching, this game is great! If you and a friend are into horrors you should try it, if you don't like it, well that's not a lot of money down the drain. Old cheap games are good!

Number 3: EDF - Earth Defence Force 2017

  This game is pure arcade brilliance, simple third person shooter, all you have to do, is kill all the invading aliens known as Ravagers to advance to the next level, each level adds a little bit of story, maybe a new enemy, or some kind of huge boss. Two weapons are chosen at the start of each level and you can acquire more weapons by defeating each enemy, the harder the difficulty, the better the weapon drops.

With an infinitive amount of armour (which is dropped like weapons)to collect, each one adding a total to your health, 171 weapons to collect with some weapons added as a bonus for completing the game on a certain difficulty and 53 levels to play on as well as five difficulties this game offers a lot of arcade, shooting, collecting, advancing, alien killing fun. Kill the blasted Ravagers and get them off our planet!

This game would be nothing without its multiplayer values. I've spent hours upon hours with my boyfriend just trying to complete every difficulty and get every weapon. We eventually did it after taking down many an alien ant, robot and several other enemies.

As a budget game this game is sold for £20, maybe less now. You may not get a lot of out this, but as I'm a fan of simple games, and the voice acting is just so funny I'm bound to enjoy it.(With lines such as "I miss the sunlight." from annoying 'I miss the sunlight' man and "ARGHHDTHHGEH" from EDF unit dying in pure agony) If you're a fan then look out for EDF: Insect Armageddon coming this June or July.

Number 2: Alundra 2

So whether this game was well known back in the days of Playstation, or if it was another game left to collect dust on the shelves I have no idea, all I know is that whenever I ask someone if they know of this game (This includes then and now) all I get is a shrug and "I have no idea."

Alundra 2 is an Action-Adventure RPG that has no relation to its predecessor and sadly was also less successful. This game was originally bought for me by accident, I asked for a game and my Grandfather ended up buying this for me instead, and am I glad he did.

My feelings for this make me think of a mixture of Final Fantasy 7 with its higher technology in a fantasy based realm and Zelda in terms of gameplay what with the way you control the hero Flint, the world of which you can explore and also the dungeons and bosses.

There is so much to this game, it is a lot of fun and I can remember playing this game non-stop from morning till 2am just trying to complete it, only to have it crash on me (I had no memory card at that time) and to find out that I was actually only half way through the game.

The game had me going for hours upon hours and still I haven't completed it 100%. The characters are lovable, there are a few cheesy moments but the story is superb and the villains are the kind of RPG villains that I do love, evil and menacing. As a boss lover in these kinds of games, the bosses I really do enjoy fighting against, and the music in the game is really good, as I write this one of the dungeon themes is stuck in my head.

So if you enjoy Action-Adventure RPG games and you see this going cheaply, give it a whirl, I'd love to see a remake. Speaking of remakes, if only...

Number 1: Ephemeral Fantasia

...if only they made a remake of this. Ephemeral Fantasia, known for its bad graphics, anime styles that just were not what gamers got worked up about, weird camera angles, the fact that its impossible to complete without a walkthrough and the fact they all felt it was a waste of money, except for those like me who carried on with the game. I actually lost this game many years back, and a few years ago I asked that this be one of my birthday/Christmas presents, sadly when it came it wasn't compatible with my PS2, but I sent it back and got one that was.

Now despite the down sides, I played through, stuff that I could look past, sure I had to google a walkthrough but only to figure out points in time to look for things. This game has an incredible story, if not an incredible way of telling it.

We begin with our poorly named hero of the game; Mouse. Mouse travels to the Island of Pandule known as the Island of Endless Summer. Sounds beautiful. Mouse has been invited by the soon to be ruler of Pandule to create and play a song at his wedding to which he is going to marry the princess of Pandule. Mouse having his own agenda with one of his life long friends Pattimo, that agenda is; thievery. Pattimo I should mention here is the guitar Mouse carries around, sounds strange but actually Pattimo once was human who got caught trying to steal a guitar and this guitar belonged to a wizard who had powerful magic, he turned Pattimo into that guitar where he would live most of his days as. This bit of trivia was not actually explained in the game, in fact it's quite bad for explaining the main characters histories other then those already living on Pandule.

 Once in Pandule Mouse finds himself going through many traditions before the wedding ceremony, while meeting lots of new friends, enjoying the beach and oh lets not forget, facing demons who appear when things seem wrong, watching members of Pandule die due to catastrophic events and the soon-to-be ruler watching over everything as if everything was normal.

During the week that Mouse is visiting Pandule, a gang of thieves breaks through the castle to steal the princess, princess Loreille explains the outcome of this battle bit by bit, her predictions happen exactly as she stated. This is where Mouse realises something horribly wrong is going on and the soon-to-be ruler Sephiroth- sorry Xelpherpolis notices Mouses sudden notions about the island. It is here that Xelpherpolis is revealed to be the islands puppet master and everything on that island he controls.

As Mouse sees things getting worse and worse and Sephiroth- uh Xelpherpolis taking things not with fret but with laughter, Mouse feels enough is enough, and on the day of the wedding Mouse pulls out his sword and attacks Xelpherpolis only to be defeated and this is the time that Xelpherpolis explains that the Island was on a continuing loop, that the week would repeat over and over again and sure enough Mouse soon finds himself on the first day of the island, unaware that something is wrong, except it doesn't take long for him to realise that things were being repeated, it seemed that neither Mouse nor Pattimo are affected by the spell Xelpherpolis used on them to make them forget.

Few sorry about the long explination of the game. But that sums it up, from here on, Mouse must embark on going through the same catastrophes that had happened, again and again, with every bit of him willing to change things and break other members of Pandule from the spell. The story gets better and better with more twists and turns but I feel I've said way too much on the story.

Breaking the people of Pandule from the spell takes a lot of effort, and you really gotta know the right trick to doing things, more often then not, going through the week to see what happens to each member makes it a little easier to solve the many puzzles.

Lastly I'll mention the battles and the music. The battle is turn based and has excellent camera angles, shame about the camera angles when not in battle, the battles do seem incredibly easy apart from a few bosses but with a complex story maybe that's for the best. As for the music it really is magnifique if I wanted to choose to listen to RPG music it would be this, only second to Nobuo Uematsu.

Sadly it's not a game that one can just pick up and go with, if you don't feel that you can go through this games long lasting play, then you're probably not going to play through it like I did. If they made a remake for this game, improved the graphics, camera angles and have the ability to have more clues in the game to figure out what to do then maybe it'd see more play. But it's been 10 years since the release of Ephemeral Fantasia so who knows, I feel that Konami may have forgotten about this game or at least outside of Japan.


So that's my top 10 bad/unpopular/unknown/underrated/low budget games that I do very much enjoy. You might see some of these games in store and think "Well, maybe I'll give it a try." If you do hopefully you'll enjoy them as much as I did. Some of these so called not good games do actually turn out to be really good if you can have a reason to enjoy them.

Thanks for reading!


...so says Mr Stewart.

Nayfin's Top 10 Bad/Unpopular/Unknown/Underrated/Low Budget Games

I've just finished catching up on everyone's blogs that I have been neglecting to read and recently I have noticed that many of them are doing a top 10s. I also have noticed that, big as a gamer that I am, I haven't actually blogged anything to do with games. I figure that my top 10 games of all time had been done before, not that it'd be a bad thing to do one myself, but I figure I wanted to let the games that don't receive the spotlights a little spotlight of my own.

Introducing my top 10 bad, unpopular or low budget games that stay left on the shelves of Gamestation, GAME, or Gamestop. The games that constantly are bought upon release and a day later, or less returned because of how bad, boring, or non-capturing the game may be. We've all played games such as these, and some of us actually end up liking them for whatever reason. Like those people who enjoy B-Movies, I am one to enjoy the off B-Game or two, though some of these are not actually bad games, just low budget or just unpopular for whatever reason.

So let's begin with number ten and working my way down to my favourite at number one:

Number 10: Deadly Premonition

The game that made me want to write this particular top 10.

Now as a lover of horror games I'm always looking out for new horror games that haven't moved onto the action genre such as Resident Evil, or sad to say Silent Hill (Let's face it, Silent Hill 5 was not scary.)

So coming across a game in store, depicting what seems to be a mysterious figure standing in the rain, wielding an axe would make me instantly pick it up just to check it out course it was my boyfriend who brought it on home one day thinking the same thing I did; looking at the back cover I find the game to remind me of Silent Hill (Not 5 NOT 5!) Plus Desctructoid (A lesser known but usually good game review company) has given it a 10/10 perfect review. Looking at the Japanese front cover, even more does one think "Now that looks like a horror game)

This has to be a good game! So beginning my decent into the realm of a detective named  Francis York Morgan. The game begins with York driving his car, seemingly talking to himself about the case he's on about a girl who has been murdered, from here it has an off moment where the camera zooms in for a close up, giving the subtitle "Francis York Morgan" and has some really inappropriate jazzy detective music that you'd probably see in a 1960s detective sitcom. Here you also begin to notice that the graphics are very PS2.

So the game recovers soon after with York crashing his car after taking his eye off the road for a split second, only to suddenly see the hooded figure standing in the middle of the road. SUDDEN SWERVE, SLIDE AND CRASH! This is where we find our hero in a strange world full of strange zombie like creatures which moan and appear from the dark murky puddles scattered throughout the level. Here we find the gameplay is much like Resident Evil 5 with over-the-shoulder controls, it seems a bit dicky and tedious at points but that's something I can look past.

After getting out of the forest, away from the zombie like things (Which are actually a bit creepy sometimes) the sharp detective meets up with a police woman and the sheriff of the town and this is where the game shows us what it really is; a cheesy detective horror-comedy with limitations on the word horror. "I'm agent Francis York Morgan. But you can just call me York. Everybody else does." he says which instantly becomes his catchphrase to everyone he meets for the first time. His reply to those who get it right would be "Good. That's good."

We find ourselves with a very fishy character, one who talks to an imaginary friend, who says weird stuff, who looks at his coffee in the morning for predictions of the future - standing up with excitement and shouting "I SAW IT IN MY COFFEE! F...K... what does this mean?" Makes the players eyebrow raise. The game is complete with many over the top facial expressions, stupid scenarios such as making York look smart because he can solve chess puzzles, and very odd yet unique character.

I've said to much about one game for a top 10, but Deadly Premonition is possibly the weirdest game I've ever seen on the Xbox 360. That's right it's a new game. It's made me laugh countless times and I actually enjoy this game. But if you're wanting a serious and thrilling horror game, Deadly Premonition probably is one bullet you should most definitely avoid.

Number 9: Red Steel

Ah one of the very first Wii computer games built to use the full potential of the Wii remote and nun-chuck controller which sad to say was probably what brought this game down. Story? Excellent. Gameplay? Er well, not so good. I personally loved the gameplay but others not so much. The controls vary between using whichever gun you have acquired to moments where you would have one on one sword battles with your trusty katana.

During the game you're going to be firing a lot of bullets, whilst moving things out of your way, slamming tables down to use them for cover, and many actions that you use with your whole arms, rather then just your fingers and thumbs. So there's a lot to get used to, especially since you're no longer just using buttons to do control your actions, now you're using motion.

Using guns itself can be tricky as aiming with the Wii remote isn't as easy as aiming a cross-hair with an analogue stick though it doesn't take too long to get to grips with. The katana on the other hand may take many more tries and indeed I have failed many a battle just shouting at my remote telling it to "SWING UPWARDS!" but again it is another thing that eventually one gets used to. This along with the graphics of the game a lot of people seldom seem to rate as the best they've played, especially for a new console. Music on the other hand, a lot of people have said that the music in this game is excellent.

This was one of those games I found myself putting down after the first level, but eventually I decided to play through it, got addicted and completed. Apparently Redsteel 2 has great improvements to the gameplay, but lacks story. Guess Redsteel has troubles keeping one without the other.

Number 8: Viva Piñata 

This was actually a game I bought on a whim when out with a friend of mine, and she thought it'd be a laugh. Me being the kind of boy who likes childish things decided to go with it.

Now naturally this game would be popular with children, but oddly enough it can be quite attractive, as well as addictive to adults as well.

You're probably thinking this game is going to be crap, I do hope you're one of those facebook fanatics who love their games such as Farmville. Because Viva Piñata is exactly that; it is Farmville but with piñatas and a lot more colour.

It's not a bad game, it's not a boring game (Well it is at first) it's addictive and if you wanted there to be a negative thing about the game then it would be that it's childish and a bit repetitive.

So if you like gardening/farm games, don't just pass this one down, give it a shot, you might actually like it, just remember other people on Xbox Live can see your gamerscore and they'll know what you've been playing!

Number 7: Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness

Like Marmite you're either going to completely agree or disagree. Either you'll, like me, think this game compared to all the rest is the definite let down compared to the rest or you'll think there are worse Tomb Raiders such as Underworld.

Well I don't think this is a bad game at all, I actually like it, though despite I'm not actually stuck in the game, I have no wants to continue from where I left off. Despite my enjoyment for the game, I have to say it is the most difficult to play and is the most problematic.

The games biggest let down are the controls, Lara this time around moves way too slowly and doesn't always respond to controls that you input thus ending in huge explosions you tried so desperately to avoid, or perhaps that cliff side you tried to grasp a hold of was just an inch away because she didn't feel like it.

In terms of story Tomb Raider The Angel of Darkness has succeeded in making a good one, but of course you're not going to find everything out if you don't feel like playing the game itself. The music in this game is also an upside, probably the best orchestrated piece I had ever heard shortly after getting the PS2 for the first time ever was the theme for this game and still today I will say it has a great theme much better then Tomb Raiders recent games.

Now some would say that games such as Underworld are worse then this, though I'd agree, the point I'm making is that this is an unpopular game (Compared to its predecessors) when it really shouldn't be and Underworld is unpopular for good reasons. If you can get past the controls, this one is actually a good Tomb Raider, before it slowly got worse and worse.

Number 6 Shadow of Memories

Shadow of Memories or Shadow of Destiny depending on your region is a game that involves a young man who's life has ended, ended, and ended over and over again. Eike Kusch is living a day like any other, after taking his daily coffee at the coffee shop he goes for a stroll across the streets where he inevitably gets stabbed in the back, falls to the floor and dies.

Upon waking up Eike finds himself in a state of limbo of some kind where he meets up with an odd man (Whom I mistook for a woman at first) named Homunculus (If you know your myths it turns out I was wrong either way) Homunculus seems sympathetic towards Eike and gives him the chance to change his destiny though Eike seems unconvinced he accuses Homunculus of being 'The Devil'. Homunculus reassures Eike of only wanting to help him through his unfortunate disaster and gives him a device enabling him to time travel to not exactly specific places.

The story is all about trying to change Eike's destiny, there is no combat to the game or chases, it is simply a puzzle story game which may as well have been made to be a point and click game. The objective is to change things in the past so that Eike may have a future while at the same time trying not to run in to yourself by accident which would cause a paradox and wipe you from history itself.

I'd probably call this one to be an interactive DVD, though there's not a lot to it, the story is definitely worth the gameplay, especially when there is like several different endings and extra endings, the characters are likeable and the music is really good.


So that's my first 5 of the list, I figure I'll stop now as it'll be a bit too much to read and I fear it already is. Hope you enjoyed the first half and maybe you might actually think twice about these games you thought not to buy at first glance.

Thanks for reading!