- 2 months ago
The passed over gems of Sony's seventh gen console.
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00:00Right, okay, there's no beating around the bush here.
00:02The seventh generation was a rough time for Sony.
00:05While the esteemed competition, the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii,
00:08were basically money printers,
00:10the PS3 started slow and had to fight tooth and nail for every inch.
00:15But you know what?
00:15There were some absolute bangers on that console.
00:19However, some of them definitely didn't get the love and appreciation they deserved.
00:23So let's rectify that today and have a chat about them.
00:26As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:28and these are 10 criminally overlooked PS3 games.
00:3210. Legend of Heroes, Trails of Cold Steel
00:35Localization can be a cruel mistress.
00:39While the process has become much more reliable nowadays,
00:41even in the age of simul-dubbing, it isn't a guaranteed thing.
00:46And just over 10 years ago, it was even worse.
00:49If you couldn't land a proper distributor in time,
00:51get ready for your game's relevance outside of your home country to be shot in the foot.
00:56And this was unfortunately the case of The Legend of Heroes Trials of Cold Steel.
01:01Due to distributing issues, Cold Steel didn't come out in the West until way after the PS3's relevance,
01:07being one of the last franchise releases for the console.
01:10Add on to this the fact that the Trails series has always struggled over here,
01:13and what you get is a game that not a lot of people played,
01:16which is a true shame because this game rocks.
01:19If you're looking for a really fun turn-based RPG with dating sim mechanics,
01:23and Fire Emblem Awakening isn't what you're in the mood for at the moment,
01:26well, you will have a lot of fun with Trials of Cold Steel.
01:309. Dragon's Crown
01:31You would think discourse would guarantee a game would be better remembered,
01:35but sometimes the discourse can eclipse the game that helped it get going in the first place
01:39if the issue at hand is large enough,
01:41and such was the unfortunate case of Dragon's Crown.
01:44Now, Dragon's Crown, while a huge success for developer Vanillaware,
01:47got caught up in a long overdue discussion of the treatment and depiction of women in video games.
01:52Its depiction of the sorceress in particular drew eye for how blatantly sexualized the character was.
01:57Combine that with the inexorable march of time,
01:59and you get a game that people might vaguely know about
02:01because of some controversy they remember from years back,
02:03but not much on the game itself.
02:05Now, as a game, Dragon's Crown is a fun, fun title,
02:09combining hack and slash with multiplayer and RPG elements.
02:12The art style is gorgeous, brilliantly mixing 2D images with 2.5D environments.
02:18If you've got some cash to spare and some friends willing to throw down in some swords and sorcery fun,
02:22you can do a lot worse than Dragon's Crown.
02:258. Enslaved Odyssey to the West
02:27It feels like an aberration that a game with Enslaved's prestige isn't better remembered.
02:33Developed by Ninja Theory, written by the great Alex Garland,
02:36and featuring none other than Andy Serkis in a leading role,
02:38I mean, not only that, but the highly cinematic gameplay of Enslaved is very close
02:42to what has become the bread and butter of Sony's recent prestige library.
02:47And a lot of this is likely to do with the fact that Enslaved doesn't have a sequel.
02:50As vocally as some of the sectors of the internet decry the over-reliance on franchises,
02:55sequels do help titles stick in the collective minds of the gaming public,
02:59especially several generations on.
03:00Plus, there's also the fact that, true to its one-and-done nature,
03:03there's very little reason to go back to Enslaved once you've finished it.
03:06But there is something to be said about a game that does exactly what it sets out to do
03:10in one game.
03:11It makes the best case for itself that it can, and just leaves without another word.
03:157. The Saboteur
03:17Before Call of Duty Modern Warfare,
03:19World War II was one of the quintessential settings for video games about war.
03:23But as the FPS genre moved on to the modern day, audiences just weren't looking for that anymore.
03:28World War II games have become stale and overexposed, and the audiences just didn't care.
03:33And this was likely the biggest reason why the Saboteur didn't do so hot,
03:37and isn't remembered much today.
03:38Another reason is probably the fact that GTA 4 had just been released the year before,
03:42and the Saboteur is basically GTA, but you're shooting Nazis instead of cops,
03:46with a bit of parkour thrown in.
03:48Still, as GTA clones go, the Saboteur is right up there with the best.
03:52GTA provides a solid gameplay template for a variety of settings,
03:55and seeing it applied to Nazi-occupied France is certainly interesting.
03:58The coolest part of this game, though, is the aesthetic,
04:02as the Nazi occupation is symbolized by a black and white filter over the city,
04:05and as you free each section of the city one by one,
04:08you literally bring color back to the city of lights.
04:11The Saboteur is a solidly built GTA clone with a cool aesthetic that's in favor of a strong
04:16narrative hook, and if that sounds up your alley, we'll definitely give this a shot.
04:206. Singularity
04:22Before they were turned into one of the many studios keeping Call of Duty alive,
04:26Raven Software had some big ambitions of their own.
04:29While some know them for Wolfenstein 2009 or Marvel Ultimate Alliance,
04:32we know them here for the FPS gem known as Singularity.
04:36While reviews ranked it above average, Activision was disappointed with the sales,
04:40shooting all hopes for a continuation in the foot,
04:42which is a shame seeing as how Singularity is one of the most solidly built FPS games of its day.
04:47While not on the levels of Bioshock, I mean, so few things are,
04:49Singularity swings way above its weight class and holds its own remarkably well.
04:53The guns feel weighty and responsive, and the sound design of the shots is divine,
04:58especially that shotgun.
04:59The game's central gimmick, the TMD or time manipulation device,
05:02is of course the highlight of the game,
05:04allowing the player to rapidly age up or down any object or person
05:08with the fictional element E99 in their system.
05:11Time manipulation also makes its way into the combat,
05:13with different guns having different time powers attached.
05:16And of course, this being the Bioshock age of high-concept FPS games,
05:20Singularity's story is suitably nutty with its time travel,
05:22giving you an interesting final moral choice with a third option
05:25that you may not think of your first time around.
05:285. The Simpsons Game
05:30The quality of The Simpsons may change with the weather,
05:33but when they get it right, they really get it right.
05:35While Hit and Run is the better-remembered time game,
05:38The Simpsons Game itself deserves to be remembered just as fondly.
05:42The open-world Simpsons title sees the eponymous family realise that they're in a video game,
05:46and proceed to wreak havoc in their specific brand of madness upon everything and everyone.
05:515. Special powers, fun levels, and the dated late-2000 references ensue.
05:55While a lot of the humour has aged pretty poorly,
05:58remember when we all thought that the follow-up to the Xbox 360 would be the Xbox 720?
06:03Uh, uh, most of it holds up, and even when it doesn't, the gameplay more than picks up the slack.
06:09Each member of The Simpsons has a unique power that's utilised in both combat and platforming,
06:14and different levels pair up different members of the family to experiment with what can be done.
06:18If you get bored with the levels, then you can just wander around Springfield,
06:21grabbing collectibles and starting fistfights with the townsfolk.
06:24The Simpsons game may not be the definitive experience that such a title entails,
06:28but it is definitely a close runner-up.
06:304. Nier
06:31It's tragic that the 7th gen was when anti-JRPG sentiment was at its peak over here in the West,
06:37because this era produced some truly great examples of the genre,
06:40and one of them was Yoko Taro's Nier.
06:43Nier, in the same vein as its much more successful younger sibling,
06:46Nier Automata, potato patata, yes it's back,
06:49is a hack and slash RPG set in the long-running Drakengard universe.
06:53And also like Automata, don't worry, you don't need to know a damn thing about any of the other
06:57games to enjoy Nier. All you need to know is that there's a cool white-haired anime guy with a big
07:01sword, and he's going to kill a lot of people. I mean, that's all you ever really need to know
07:05in most scenarios, really.
07:06In all seriousness, though, this story is amazing, as tends to be the case for Yoko Taro narratives.
07:11The gameplay and frame rate are also heavily improved from the Drakengard games, but then
07:15any frame rate is better than those slideshows. The combat is snappy, responsive, and incredibly
07:20satisfying, and the atmosphere of this world is sublime. While lack of advertising and a
07:25Western market that was incredibly hostile to anything too Japanese at the time cost it the
07:29widespread success it deserved, but 2010's loss can be your gain, especially if you love to hear
07:35Laura Bailey swearing like a sailor.
07:363. Vanquish
07:38Platinum Games has garnered a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most consistently
07:43fun game studios in the business, and most people know them for Nier, Automata, and Bayonetta,
07:48but another of their games from this era goes criminally overlooked, and that is Vanquish.
07:53And to be honest, it's not hard to see why this is, although it is just ridiculous. It's
07:58such a fun game. Platinum apparently thought that this game was so good that it could only go
08:03head-to-head with Black Ops on opening weekend. Needless to say, it got its butt handed to it.
08:09Playing it these days, however, will quickly yield the reasons why it received the rave
08:13reviews that it did from those few that reviewed it upon launch. Vanquish is the perfect lovechild
08:17of Gears of War and Metal Gear Rising, a blindingly fast-paced third-person shooter that rewards the
08:23player for blasting their way through enemies as fast as possible. Vanquish is viscerally fun in
08:28ways that it seems that only Platinum Games have been interested in giving people, at least in the
08:32AAA gaming sphere. Sure, the characters aren't the most interesting, and the most memorable bit of
08:36the story is the infuriating cliffhanger that it ends on, but that's not why you play Vanquish.
08:41You play Vanquish to murder as many Russian-styled robots as fast as possible and look damn good
08:46whilst doing it. 2. Sleeping Dogs
08:49Now, the GTA clone is a proud tradition in the world of gaming. The Crime Sam box template lends itself to
08:55a wide range of variations. But it's a shame that more franchises don't take advantage of how
08:59versatile that idea is, especially since the ones that do have a habit of sticking in the memories
09:04of those that play them, such is the case of Sleeping Dogs. Sleeping Dogs failed to meet the,
09:09as usual, astronomic expectations of Square Enix. After a lacklustre online follow-up,
09:14United Front Games shut down, taking the IP with it. If Square had more reasonable expectations,
09:19well, Sleeping Dogs could have turned into their own GTA equivalent, just like Volition's Saints Row.
09:23The Perfect Marriage of GTA and Yakuza, this is a crime sandbox game with a focus on both gun and
09:29close-quarters combat, set in the seedy underworld of Hong Kong. The story is shockingly compelling,
09:35as you take control of Wei Shen, a cop working deep undercover for the Hong Kong police, who is
09:40trying to get close to the various crime families in order to take them down from within. The game
09:44takes full advantage of its setting, featuring exciting chases and fights in exotic locations.
09:49If GTA isn't quite scratching your crime sandbox itch, then Sleeping Dogs should be at the top of
09:54your list. 1. Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning
09:58You know you're destined to remain a cult classic when you have exactly enough hype to generate
10:02interest for a remaster, but not enough to energise interest for more. This is the sad,
10:07but also kind of weird fate of Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. Much like Vanquish, the expectations for
10:13this game's success right out of the gate was simply too high for a brand new IP. This was compounded by
10:18the fact that at first blush, there wasn't anything to set it apart from other fantasy
10:21game franchises out there. Compare this to 2008's Dragon Age Origins, which put the witty character
10:27writing and dark broody tone front and centre in every advertisement that it had. The appeal of
10:32Kingdoms of Amalur only makes itself apparent once you're waist deep into the actual game. The best
10:36thing about Amalur is the gameplay and its world building. You control an adventurer who should by all
10:41rights be dead, but isn't. And with that cosmic accident comes the ability to break fate,
10:47helping the otherwise helpless and saving the otherwise doomed. Gameplay is a remarkably deep
10:52spin on an RPG hack and slash formula. Not the most complex thing in the world, but enough to get you
10:57hooked. Kingdoms of Amalur was unfairly overlooked in its heyday, but the good news is that this new
11:02remastered edition means that that can be corrected.
Recommended
11:11
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