2. Spe-Ops: The Line
Year of Release: 2012
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Spec-Ops: The Line is a great game and appears on many people’s hidden gems list. Released in 2012, Spec-Ops is a third-person action game developed by Yager Development and published by 2K games for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The player assumes the role of Captain Martin Walker, who is sent into a post-catastrophe Dubai with an elite Delta Force team on a recon mission. As the game progresses, Walker’s mental health deteriorates as he begins to experience hallucinations and slowly realizes the horror of war and his hand in it. It’s a clever storytelling twist that elevates the game from standard shooter fare.
Gameplay is well done, with cover-based shooting mechanics that use the desert setting almost as a supporting character. Sand plays a key role in the gameplay mechanics and can be used as an aid to defeat enemies. With so many shooters on the market, it’s hard for a game to differentiate itself from the rest, but Spec-Ops: The Line successfully accomplished this, in spite of being commercially overlooked.
Via GMagazine
1. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Year of Release: 2010
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
While far from being a perfect game, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West lands in our number one spot of the decade’s most underrated games. Loosely based on the classic Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’, players are cast as Monkey – a strong, brutish loner who is forced to partner with the tech-savvy, yet physically weak Trip on a journey to freedom. An action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory, well known for their work on DMC: Devil May Cry series as well as 2017’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Enslaved was a commercial failure for the studio.
However, the game features some great chemistry between the two lead characters performance captured by Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw. Gameplay features some tight 3D platforming, decent combat, and some clever puzzles. The story may have had grander designs than what was seen in the final product, but the game is worth the price of admission for its gorgeous visuals and level design alone.
Via Gamesplanet
Charles Rogers
Charliee Rogers is a freelance writer, father of two, and video game player!