Alpha Protocol really opens up after the lengthy tutorial. Loved every friggin' minute after that. The dessert missions were just a glimpse of what you could do, but after that, it was a blast. Binary Domain has a nice story, great atmosphere, some nice boss fights and most of the problems that were on the PC were solved in the final patch. Just lose the voice command option. That thing can't be fixed by no one. So use mouse+keyboard commands and you will be fine. Depending on the loyalty of your companions at the end, the endings will change. To get the "happy" ending ( not quite happy, but definitely the best ), you have to max the loyalty. That means rotating your companions.

As for Valkyria, i don't think that i need to present it. And the pattern is: all those games are/were published by Sega, had poor or no marketing and all are great in their way. Would love to see Valkyria Chronicles series on PC...

deadly creatures for the wii. it's the only game that allows you to play as a spider and a scorpion. you also get to eat crickets, so there's that. :D it's not as known as mario or other wii games, but it probably does have its fans, me included.

Ring of Red, a ps2 game.

Breakdown, one of my favorite Xbox games of all time.
Panzer Dragoon Orta was one of the first games to make me cry.
The Punisher video game.
Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance 2 (the console version that was more of an action RPG)
Jet Set Radio Future (to be fair, it got great reviews, but it is still an awesome game)
The Lufia trilogy/Golden Sun trilogy.

Yeah, that tutorial really cooled my interest in it. I'll have to dive back in sometime when I can stand to go through them. I'm guessing Binary Domain is similar in terms of slow/iffy start, then grows out of the initial impressions you get of the characters? I can't remember too much of it, but none of the cast seemed remarkable at first. May have to try the demo again sometime.

Also, yeah, Valkyria's so fantastic. As with most games I pick up, I can't remember what led me to it, but it turned out even better than I expected. I love the class and personality diversity they use to differentiate it from other tactical games. It's a shame it wasn't multiplatform. =/
I just picked this up the other day. Are the translation issues as bad as some reviews suggested, or pretty much par for the course? I read through the manual and that seemed fine, but that tends to be the case with some of these games.

Also, since I haven't mentioned a game in this thread yet...I'd have to say Guardian's Crusade for the PS1 and maybe Blazing Dragons too. I can't remember too much of Blazing Dragons besides bouts of frustration, as it was one of my earlier experiences with what amounted to a point & click adventure on a console, but it was pretty fun once you figured stuff out. Although, I do remember an insane asylum set up in the base of a Magic Bean Stalk. As to Guardian's Crusade, it was a bit childish, but living toys as summons and a transforming companion were pretty cool features to me back in the day.

For somewhat more recent and PC titles, I'd have to say The Void gets missed a lot, like many of Icepick Lodge's games, mostly because it's pretty slow and tosses you in without much, if any, handholding. Add in their usual unusual setting and characters, and it's little wonder it doesn't get much notice. I know some people may have seen me tossing this around in some other threads, but it's for good reason I feel. I have hardly run into anyone that talks about it and it's disappointing to me, since it's such a unique game.

I don't remember any big translation issues. I beat this game awhile go and I understood the story just fine. Maybe the reviewers just dissected every word and noticed it more than I did.

Indeed, Binary Domain doesn't give a good vibe on the characters initially. But they do grow on you. There are somre nice moments when you will feel like beating the devs... For all the right reasons. For making you care about hose characters. Yes, some characters might be the usual archtypes, but dammit, they make you care about them. I was initially in the "wtf" mode and about to drop it. The gameplay it's like any of the modern shooters: a Gears of War clone. But the story and the atmosphere is where Binary Domain wins. if you are a fan of the japanese cyberpunk ( Ghost in the Shell, Cyber City Oedo, Appleseed, Vexille ), you will definitely love Binary Domain.

Also, Sleeping Dogs was at launch criminally overlooked. Square did a rather poor job in marketing the game. Word of mouth made this underdog into a mainstream hit. It fares better than the Thief, Hitman: Absolution, Tomb Raider Reboot. And why?! Definitely not because Square promoted it...If you still did not play Sleeping Dogs, grab it. The devs deserve their money ( as little as they get from Square, they still deserve them ).

Creeper World series, especially Creeper World 3

Earthbound!!!!!! (The Mother franchise in general)

Freedom force. It raised the bar for what was possible with superhero games.

Freedom Fighters. One criminally overlooked game, created by IO Interactive and with an OST that was made by Jesper Kyd. The ending it's more of a beginning and the game creates one hell of a mood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmegCkd5LqI&list=PL5B3435A49B32FDA3&index=14

And, yeah, i know that the gameplay it's not exactly stellar. But everything else it's so damn well done.

That would be my bet too. I only ever noticed this kind of stuff, which was mostly only typos, in older games when I later revisited them. I'm sure it won't be that bad, criticism usually exaggerates the problem rather than accurately portrays it.

Oooh, GitS and Appleseed, I'll definitely have to look back into it. You played it mainly on PC and it was fine, yeah?

As to Sleeping Dogs...Yeah, that one came out of nowhere, and while I know it's not necessarily unloved, I feel like if the Infamous series wasn't backed by Sony, it'd get similar treatment. It's one of the few great unlicensed superhero games out there, especially since Prototype fell apart.

Oh, and while they're technically not very great, Cyborg Justice and Dinosaurs for Hire are some great old titles that I think haven't been given much love. Cyborg Justice lets you rip off enemy 'bots limbs and smash them with them, or if you can get the combo right, replace your limb with them and blast them with their own limb. Dinosaurs for Hire has you playing anthropomorphic (in body, not exactly face) dinosaurs fighting an array of enemies ranging from ninjas to random sewer tanks.

Beyond Oasis was also very cool, and it was kind of like Sega's answer to Legend of Zelda, you might say. It had some fantastic visuals for the time, and a fairly interesting world as I recall, if a bit mysterious due to the constraints of the system.

Binary Domain played fine of PC after the second patch. So, yeah. You should get back to it. When the game ended, i so wanted a sequel or an expansion. I still hope that there will be a sequel.

And if you did not see Vexille, please do. It's a great movie. Not well known, but definitely better than any of the recent Appleseed stuff. I could put it right next to the original GITS.

I'll have to try the demo for that at some point. I watched some videos to figure out just WTF is going on in the screenshots, and it's basically a RTS where your enemy is an ever expanding gel. That's so bizarre that I really like it.

=) I'll look into it and Cyber City Oedo for sure, they're right in my favorite genre from the sounds of it. It's not animated or anything, but if you can find any scans or actual copies of NOiSE and Blame! you might like them. They're far, far future and pretty grim, yet very fascinating at the same time. The art style's very atypical for manga as well.