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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
00:36Localization 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.
00:45And 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, and such was the unfortunate case of Dragon's Crown.
01:43Now, 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 because 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.
02:46And 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,
02:58especially 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 and isn't remembered
03:37much today. Another 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 with a bit of
03:46parkour thrown in. Still, 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, as the Nazi occupation is
04:03symbolized by a black and white filter over the city, and as you free each section of the city
04:07one by one, you literally bring color back to the city of lights. The Saboteur is a solidly built
04:13GTA clone with a cool aesthetic that's in favor of a strong narrative hook, and if that sounds up
04:18your alley, we'll definitely give this a shot. 6. 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. While some know them for Wolfenstein 2009
04:31or Marvel Ultimate Alliance, we 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, which is a shame seeing as how Singularity
04:44is one of the most solidly built FPS games of its day. While not on the levels of Bioshock,
04:48I mean, so few things are, Singularity swings way above its weight class and holds its own
04:52remarkably well. The guns feel weighty and responsive, and the sound design of the shots
04:57is divine, especially that shotgun. The game's central gimmick, the TMD or time manipulation
05:02device, is of course the highlight of the game, allowing the player to rapidly age up or down
05:06any object or person with the fictional element E99 in their system. Time manipulation also makes
05:12its way into the combat, with different guns having different time powers attached. And of course,
05:16this being the Bioshock age of high-concept FPS games, Singularity's story is suitably nutty
05:22with its time travel, giving you an interesting final moral choice with a third option that you
05:26may not think of your first time around. 5. The Simpsons Game
05:30The quality of The Simpsons may change with the weather, but when they get it right,
05:34they really get it right. While Hit and Run is the better-remembered time game,
05:38The Simpsons Game itself deserves to be remembered just as fondly. The open-world Simpsons title sees the
05:43eponymous family realise that they're in a video game, and proceed to wreak havoc in their specific
05:48brand of madness upon everything and everyone. Special powers, fun levels, and the dated late
05:542000 references ensue. While a lot of the humour has aged pretty poorly, remember when we all thought
05:59that the follow-up to the Xbox 360 would be the Xbox 720? Uh, uh, most of it holds up,
06:06and even when
06:06it doesn't, the gameplay more than picks up the slack. Each member of The Simpsons has a unique power
06:11that's utilised in both combat and platforming, and different levels pair up different members
06:16of the family to experiment with what can be done. If you get bored with the levels, then you can
06:19just
06:20wander around Springfield, grabbing collectibles and starting fistfights with the townsfolk.
06:24The Simpsons game may not be the definitive experience that such a title entails, but it is
06:28definitely a close runner-up. 4. 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, and one of them was
06:41Yoko Taro's Nier. Nier, in the same vein as its much more successful younger sibling,
06:46Nier Automata, potato patata, yes it's back, is a hack and slash RPG set in the long-running
06:51Drakengard universe. And also like Automata, don't worry, you don't need to know a damn thing about
06:56any of the other games to enjoy Nier. All you need to know is that there's a cool white-haired
07:00anime
07:00guy with a big sword, and he's going to kill a lot of people. I mean, that's all you ever
07:04really need
07:04to know in most scenarios, really. In all seriousness, though, this story is amazing,
07:09as tends to be the case for Yoko Taro narratives. The gameplay and frame rate are also heavily
07:13improved from the Drakengard games, but then any frame rate is better than those slideshows.
07:17The combat is snappy, responsive, and incredibly satisfying, and the atmosphere of this world
07:22is sublime. While lack of advertising and a Western market that was incredibly hostile to
07:27anything too Japanese at the time cost it the widespread success it deserved. But 2010's loss can be
07:33your gain, especially if you love to hear Laura Bailey swearing like a sailor.
07:373. 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 such a
07:59fun
07:59game. Platinum apparently thought that this game was so good that it could only go head-to-head
08:04with Black Ops on opening weekend. Needless to say, it got its butt handed to it. Playing it
08:09these days, however, will quickly yield the reasons why it received the rave reviews that it did from
08:14those few that reviewed it upon launch. Vanquish is the perfect lovechild of Gears of War and Metal
08:19Gear Rising, a blindingly fast-paced third-person shooter that rewards the player for blasting their
08:23way through enemies as fast as possible. Vanquish is viscerally fun in ways that it seems that only
08:29Platinum Games have been interested in giving people, at least in the AAA gaming sphere. Sure,
08:33the characters aren't the most interesting, and the most memorable bit of the story is the
08:36infuriating cliffhanger that it ends on, but that's not why you play Vanquish. You play Vanquish
08:41to murder as many Russian-styled robots as fast as possible and look damn good whilst doing it.
08:472. Sleeping Dogs
08:49Now, the GTA clone is a proud tradition in the world of gaming. The Crime Sam box template lends
08:54itself to a wide range of variations. But it's a shame that more franchises don't take advantage
08:59of how versatile that idea is, especially since the ones that do have a habit of sticking in the
09:03memories of those that play them, such is the case of Sleeping Dogs. Sleeping Dogs failed to meet
09:08the, as 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
09:18expectations, while Sleeping Dogs could have turned into their own GTA equivalent,
09:22just like Volition's Saints Row. The perfect marriage of GTA and Yakuza,
09:26this is a crime sandbox game with a focus on both gun and close-quarters combat,
09:30set 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,
09:39who is trying to get close to the various crime families in order to take them down from within.
09:44The game takes full advantage of its setting, featuring exciting chases and fights in exotic
09:48locations. If GTA isn't quite scratching your crime sandbox itch, then Sleeping Dogs should be
09:54at the top of your 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 energize interest for more. This is the sad,
10:07but also kind of weird fate of Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. Much like Vanquish,
10:12the expectations for this game's success right out of the gate was simply too high for a brand
10:16new IP. This was compounded by the fact that at first blush, there wasn't anything to set it
10:20apart from other fantasy game franchises out there. Compare this to 2008's Dragon Age Origins,
10:25which put the witty character writing and dark, broody tone front and center in every advertisement
10:30that it had. The appeal of Kingdoms of Amalur only makes itself apparent once you're waist deep
10:35into the actual game. The best thing about Amalur is the gameplay and its world building. You control
10:40an adventurer who should by all rights be dead, but isn't. And with that cosmic accident comes
10:45the ability to break fate, helping the otherwise helpless and saving the otherwise doomed. Gameplay
10:50is a remarkably deep spin on an RPG hack and slash formula. Not the most complex thing in the world,
10:56but enough to get you hooked. Kingdoms of Amalur was unfairly overlooked in its heyday,
11:01but the good news is that this new remastered edition means that that can be corrected.
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