With E3 over and Arkham Knight’s release date come and gone, we now are facing a harsh winter in the gaming realm. Sure we may get a few DLCs such as shot our way, stumble upon a intriguing indie release or even the odd Telltale episode or two but aside from those it’s going to be a slow ride. Mid-year always seems to be the slowest period when it comes to game releases and studios tend to palm off the Winter season as the time to release remasters. Which is fine and all but there’s only so many times you can play God of War or Gears of War before you get sick of saying “of War”.
Maybe the publishers think, since it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere all the nerds would be going outside (HA!) but either way it makes our actual winter all the more cold. There’s still 68 sleeps before the next multi-platform triple A title is released in the form of Mad Max so now’s the time to gather resources to fight the chill. That’s why I decided to form a list of games that may have passed you by for your gaming pleasure.
Singularity
I never quite understood why Singularity sold so poorly, a survival horror, first person shooter that took place on a deserted Soviet Island with guns and time travel, surely that’s got all the ingredients to be a massive hit. Nevertheless, Singularity went under most people’s radar in 2010, including mine and I only came around to playing the game when I saw it in the bargain bin a few years later for $20.
Singularity’s game play is pure fun an once you take charge of the TMD(Time Manipulation Device) you start to really feel in control. The game will drip feed you new powers along the game in a way that doesn’t get annoying. As soon as you start to get bored of your new found ability a new one will be waiting around the corner.
The game’s setting is very reminiscent of the first Bioshock and you traverse a dungy, dark environment, learning about the island’s history through notes left by the past inhabitants.
As far as game stories go, Singularity is one of the better ones with not one but three twist endings to chose from.
Happily this game is still available at a pretty good price and you can find a second-hand copy in stores or online for less than $20.
Tombi
Tombi is not only one of the most harshly underrated game of all time but it may well be one of the best games of the first Playstation era. The problem with this game is that it looks and sounds crazy which seems to have hindered it’s popularity.
Tombi, who looks like the bastard son of Goku and a Troll Doll, is thrown headfirst into a quest against the gold-hungry Koma Pigs when one of them steals his grandfather’s golden bracelet. See, I told you it sounds crazy.
But if I’m honest Tombi probably IS crazy but that only adds to the charm. There is over 20 hours of mindboggling puzzles that you will probably turn to the internet before you solve and the game play is up there with the best of the platformers.
When it comes to availability, Tombi has good news and bad news. The bad news is that, I’m not the only one that thinks this game is a gem and you would be lucky to find a hard copy on eBay for less than $200. Fortunately though, after a long campaign by few of Tombi’s biggest fans you can get the American version, Tomba on the PSN for about $7. Don’t worry, it’s the same as Tombi except the name and the title music is a bit rubbish.
Dark Void
I’ll be the first to admit that Dark Void is far from perfect. There are quite a few glitches, the controls are a bit clunky until you get used to them and the difficulty is all over the shop. But if you put that all aside you will have a great time with Dark Void.
The game stands out from most third person shooters by introducing a unique, vertical cover system and combined with the hover/jetpack this stops the game from becoming boring half way through. The guns on the other hand are nothing new and they sometimes feel a little underpowered but the protagonist, William packs a hell of a punch and you can sometimes take goons out in one hit. Because as we all know, one punch can kill.
The game’s plot is also a nice surprise, so much so that there was even plans to turn the game into a film staring Brad Pitt before it was even released. Those plans, unfortunately went nowhere but the game’s story didn’t. Set during WWII, William Augustus Grey is flying over the Bermuda Triangle and enters an alternate reality which is in the midst of it’s own war. Oh and it has robots and Nikola Tesla.
Dark Void’s reputation is so low that you can probably find a second hand copy for less than $10 online.
Chip’s Challenge
It really get’s me down know that there is a whole generation that will grow up, not knowing about the beauty that is Chip’s Challenge. Released for the handheld Atari Lynx in 1989, Chip’s Challenge spread like a virus on all different systems and was even released free with some copies of Windows 95.
The game play couldn’t be more simple, you basically try to get the chip’s without dying. It is one of the most addictive games I’ve ever played and I’m still baffled by the fact that no one has released it on IOS.
When it comes to plot, as far as I can work out there’s this guy called Chip and he’s got a Challenge.
You can download this game to your PC for free online, which I’m not sure whether it’s illegal or not. If it is illegal, I didn’t tell you that and you can buy it on Steam for $2. Not only that, in my research I have discovered that a sequel was released in May this year. Well that’s my next week gone.
Destroy All Humans!
People often say that Portal 2 is the funniest game of all time. While, it is true that Portal 2 is hilarious, they obviously haven’t played Destroy All Humans!(I’m not shouting at you, that exclamation mark is in the title).
Set in 1959, the alien, Crypto 137, with the help of his mad scientist friend, Pox, head’s to Earth to rescue Crypto 136(it’s a long story). It really is a long story, but all you really need to know is that you are an alien on Earth, with alien weaponry, fucking shit up.
The beauty of this game is that it never takes it’s self seriously, I mean never, everything about it is a joke and even some of the weapons are funny.
The game play is quite enjoyable as well, it’s very much GTA with a spaceship and an anal probe.
There were a few sequels and the second one was quite good as well but none of them stand up to the original. There was even talks to turn the game into a sitcom on Fox but unfortunately that fell through.
Another one you can find online for about $20.
Have any others to add to the list, or just downright disagree with me feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Article by Daniel Priman.
