10 Criminally Overlooked Ps3 Games

Right, okay, there's no beating around the bush here. The seventh generation was a rough time for Sony

While the esteemed competition, the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, were basically money printers

the PS3 started slow and had to fight tooth and nail for every inch

But you know what? There were some absolute bangers on that console

However, some of them definitely didn't get the love and appreciation they deserved

So let's rectify that today and have a chat about them. as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 criminally overlooked PS3 games

10. Legend of Heroes, Trails of Cold Steel Localization can be a cruel mistress. While the process has become much more reliable nowadays

even in the age of simul-dubbing, it isn't a guaranteed thing. And just over 10 years ago

it was even worse. If you couldn't land a proper distributor in time, get ready for your game's

relevance outside of your home country to be shot in the foot. And this was unfortunately the case

of The Legend of Heroes Trials of Cold Steel. Due to distributing issues, Cold Steel didn't come

out in the West until way after the PS3's relevance, being one of the last franchise

releases for the console. Add onto this the fact that the Trails series has always struggled over

here, and what you get is a game that not a lot of people played, which is a true shame, because

this game rocks. If you're looking for a really fun turn-based RPG with dating sim mechanics

and Fire Emblem Awakening isn't what you're in the mood for at the moment, well you will have a lot of fun with Trials of Cold Steel

9. Dragon's Crown You would think discourse would guarantee a game would be better remembered, but sometimes the

discourse can eclipse the game that helped it get going in the first place if the issue at hand is

large enough, and such was the unfortunate case of Dragon's Crown. Dragon's Crown, while a huge

success for developer Vanillaware got caught up in a long overdue discussion of the treatment and

depiction of women in video games. Its depiction of the sorceress in particular drew eye for how

blatantly sexualized the character was. Combine that with the inexorable march of time and you

get a game that people might vaguely know about because of some controversy they remember from

years back but not much on the game itself. Now as a game, Dragon's Crown is a fun fun title

combining hack and slash with multiplayer and RPG elements. The art style is gorgeous

brilliantly mixing 2D images with 2.5D environments. If you've got some cash to spare and some friends willing to throw down in some swords and sorcery fun

you can do a lot worse than Dragon's Crown. 8. Enslaved Odyssey to the West

It feels like an aberration that a game with Enslaved's prestige isn't better remembered

Developed by Ninja Theory, written by the great Alex Garland, and featuring none other than Andy Serkis in a leading role

I mean not only that but the highly cinematic gameplay of Enslaved is very close to what has become the bread and butter of Sony recent prestige library And a lot of this is likely to do with the fact that Enslaved doesn have a sequel As vocally as some of the sectors of the internet decry the over on franchises

sequels do help titles stick in the collective minds of the gaming public

especially several generations on. Plus, there's also the fact that, true to its one-and-done nature

there's very little reason to go back to Enslaved once you've finished it. But there is something to be said about a game that does exactly what it sets out to do in one game

It makes the best case for itself that it can, and just leaves without another word

7. The Saboteur Before Call of Duty Modern Warfare, World War II was one of the quintessential settings for video games about war

But as the FPS genre moved on to the modern day, audiences just weren't looking for that anymore

World War II games have become stale and overexposed, and the audiences just didn't care

and this was likely the biggest reason why the saboteur didn't do so hot and isn't remembered

much today. Another reason is probably the fact that GTA 4 had just been released the year before

and the saboteur is basically GTA but you're shooting Nazis instead of comps with a bit of

parkour thrown in. Still, as GTA clones go, the saboteur is right up there with the best

GTA provides a solid gameplay template for a variety of settings and seeing it applied to

Nazi-occupied France is certainly interesting. The coolest part of this game though is the

aesthetic, as the Nazi occupation is symbolized by a black and white filter over the city

and as you free each section of the city one by one, you literally bring color back to the city

of lights. The Saboteur is a solidly built GTA clone with a cool aesthetic that's in favor of a

strong narrative hook, and if that sounds up your alley, we'll definitely give this a shot

6. Singularity Before they were turned into one of the many studios keeping Call of Duty alive

Raven Software had some big ambitions of their own. While some know them for Wolfenstein 2008

9 or Marvel Ultimate Alliance, we know them here for the FPS gem known as Singularity

While reviews ranked it above average, Activision was disappointed with the sales

shooting all hoped for a continuation in the foot, which is a shame seeing as how Singularity

is one of the most solidly built FPS games of its day. While not on the levels of Bioshock

I mean, so few things are, Singularity swings way above its weight class and holds its own

remarkably well. The guns feel weighty and responsive, and the sound design of the shots

is divine, especially that shotgun. The game's central gimmick, the TMD or time manipulation

device, is of course the highlight of the game, allowing the player to rapidly age up or down

any object or person with the fictional element E99 in their system. Time manipulation also makes

its way into the combat, with different guns having different time powers attached. And of

course, this being the Bioshock age of high-concept FPS games, Singularity's story is suitably nutty

with its time travel, giving you an interesting final moral choice with a third option that you

may not think of your first time around. Number five The Simpsons Game The quality of The Simpsons may change with the weather but when they get it right they really get it right While Hit and Run is the better time game The Simpsons game itself deserves to be remembered just as fondly

The open-world Simpsons title sees the eponymous family realise that they're in a video game

and proceed to wreak havoc in their specific brand of madness upon everything and everyone

Special powers, fun levels, and the dated late-2000 references ensue. While a lot of the humour has aged pretty poorly

remember when we all thought that the follow-up to the Xbox 360 would be the Xbox 720

Uh, uh, most of it holds up, and even when it doesn't, the gameplay more than picks up the slack

Each member of The Simpsons has a unique power that's utilised in both combat and platforming

and different levels pair up different members of the family to experiment with what can be done

If you get bored with the levels, then you can just wander around Springfield, grabbing collectibles and starting fistfights with the townsfolk

The Simpsons game may not be the definitive experience that such a title entails

but it is definitely a close runner-up. 4. Nier It's tragic that the 7th gen was when anti-JRPG sentiment was at its peak over here in the West

because this era produced some truly great examples of the genre, and one of them was Yoko Taro's Nier

Nier, in the same vein as its much more successful younger sibling, Nier Automata Potato Potato, yes it's back

is a hack-and-slash RPG set in the long-running Drakengard universe, And also like Automata, don't worry, you don't need to know a damn thing about any of the other games to enjoy Nier

All you need to know is that there's a cool white-haired anime guy with a big sword and he's going to kill a lot of people

I mean, that's all you ever really need to know in most scenarios, really In all seriousness, though, this story is amazing, as tends to be the case for Yoko Taro narratives

The gameplay and frame rate are also heavily improved from the Drakengard games

But then, any frame rate is better than those slideshows The combat is snappy, responsive, and incredibly satisfying in the atmosphere of this world

is sublime. While lack of advertising and a Western market that was incredibly hostile to

anything too Japanese at the time cost it the widespread success it deserved, but 2010's loss

can be your gain, especially if you love to hear Laura Bailey swearing like a sailor

3. Vanquish Platinum Games has garnered a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most consistently

fun game studios in the business, and most people know them for Nier, Automata, and Bayonetta

but another of their games from this era goes criminally overlooked, and that is Vanquish

And to be honest, it's not hard to see why this is, although it is just ridiculous. It's such a fun game

Platinum apparently thought this game was so good that it could only go head-to-head with Black Ops on opening weekend

Needless to say, it got its butt handed to it. Playing it these days however will quickly yield the reasons why it received the rave reviews that it did from those few that reviewed it upon launch Vanquish is the perfect lovechild of Gears of War and Metal Gear Rising a blindingly fast third shooter that rewards the player for blasting their way through enemies as fast as possible Vanquish is viscerally fun in ways that it seems

that only Platinum games have been interested in giving people, at least in the AAA gaming sphere

Sure, the characters aren't the most interesting, and the most memorable bit of the story is the infuriating cliffhanger that it ends on, but that's not why you play Vanquish. You play Vanquish

to murder as many Russian-starred robots as fast as possible and look damn good whilst doing it

2. Sleeping Dogs Now, the GTA clone is a proud tradition in the world of gaming. The Crime Sam box template lends

itself to a wide range of variations, but it's a shame that more franchises don't take advantage

of how versatile that idea is, especially since the ones that do have a habit of sticking in the

memories of those that play them, such is the case of Sleeping Dogs. Sleeping Dogs fail to meet the

as usual, astronomic expectations of Square Enix. After a lacklustre online follow-up

United Front Games shut down, taking the IP with it. If Square had more reasonable expectations

well, Sleeping Dogs could have turned into their own GTA equivalent, just like Volition's Saints

Row. The perfect marriage of GTA and Yakuza, this is a crime sandbox game with a focus on both gun

and close-quarters combat, set in the seedy underworld of Hong Kong. The story is shockingly

compelling as you take control of Wei Shen, a cop working deep undercover for the Hong Kong police

who is trying to get close to the various crime families in order to take them down from within

The game takes full advantage of its setting, featuring exciting chases and fights in exotic

locations. If GTA isn't quite scratching your crime sandbox itch, then Sleeping Dogs should be

at the top of your list. 1. Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning You know you're destined to remain a cult classic when you have exactly enough hype to generate

interest for a remaster, but not enough to energize interest for more. This is the sad

but also kind of weird fate of Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. Much like Vanquish

the expectations for this game's success right out of the gate was simply too high for a brand new IP

This was compounded by the fact that at first blush, there wasn't anything to set it apart

from other fantasy game franchises out there. Compare this to 2008's Dragon Age Origins

which put the witty character writing and dark, broody tone front and center in every advertisement

that it had. The appeal of Kingdoms of Amela only makes itself apparent once you're waist-deep

into the actual game. The best thing about Amela is the gameplay and its world-building. You control

an adventurer who should by all rights be dead, but isn't, and with that cosmic accident comes

the ability to break fate, helping the otherwise helpless and saving the otherwise doomed. Gameplay

is a remarkably deep spin on an RPG hack-and-slash formula. Not the most complex thing in the world

but enough to get you hooked. Kingdoms of Amela was unfairly overlooked in its heyday

but the good news is that this new remastered edition means that that can be corrected