Best Games No One Played

That contrast is part of what makes World of Goo so appealing. Hand-drawn, 2D cartoons make up the game's landscapes, and brilliant music adds a deep sense of atmosphere. It might not have sold well, but it's still a game you need to play.

There's no trouble in this paradise: The second Viva Pinata is just as captivating as the first, with enough tweaks and new additions to make this great for everyone.

From top to bottom, this is a finely crafted experience take on the classic Bejeweled gameplay. Yet for some reason, it didn't become the breakout success that it should've been.

Hotel Dusk weaves an absorbing noir-style mystery with traditional adventure game elements and stylish presentation and does it all with a deft touch.

It might not offer enough new stuff to make it worthwhile for owners of FlatOut 2, but Ultimate Carnage is still a riotous racer in its own right.

We get it: Racing sims are hard. The ever-shrinking market for PC-based racing games is a testament to the public's opinion about games that seek to faithfully reproduce motor racing, but for those willing to commit to the experience, GTR 2 is a real eye-opener.

As if we needed one more reminder of the downfall of PC adventure games; despite unforgettable characters and a mostly superb story, too many people missed out on the second Longest Journey game.

Chick sorting. Pen capping. Ramen cooking. With a quirky list of game modes like this, it's hard to believe so few people picked up this thoroughly Japanese collection of minigames.

unfortunately this critic's darling didn't fly off the shelves, and it wound up selling fewer than 90,000 copies across all platforms. It isn't quite what you would expect for one of the most well-written and fun games in recent memory.

Trackmania is a fun and fast PC racing game that does the arcade racer excitement very well, throw in a great overall sense of presentation and an insanely deep track editor, and what you've got is a truly great sequel, just not the sales to match it.

Space simulators have dwindled over the past few years, so Nexus' poor sales aren't surprising, but a shame just the same.

Whether it was the victim of changing tastes, or merely a lack of press coverage and hype, is debatable, but the fact that Silent Storm sold fewer than 20,000 copies in 2004 is certainly disappointing to fans of the grand turn-based strategy games of yesteryear.

Although Codename: Panzers features a beautiful engine and tweaks the tried-and-true RTS gameplay formula enough to be unique (and very fun), it unfortunately entered the marketplace at around the same time as Axis & Allies, Kohan II, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And this nonlicensed nonsequel just couldn't compete at retail with the big guns.

Possibly one the best games of 2004, Beyond Good and Evil featured a magical combination of action, animation, and storytelling that won it many high ratings. Even though it did receive a decent amount of advertising from UbiSoft, shoppers just didn’t respond to this new title among a sea of big-name sequels that were released at the same time. While it receive many critical acclaims from both the press and the gamers that tried it, many BG&E cases were still sitting on stores’ clearance shelves.

Back in 2003, most Americans associated rhythm action with bizarre, quirky, intensely Japanese games like PaRappa the Rapper and Dance Dance Revolution, and though it shares very little in common with these games, Amplitude is guilty by association.

Though a number of high-profile Xbox action games turned out pretty disappointing, this one came out of left field and is truly excellent. Too bad most Xbox owners couldn't relate that to you firsthand.

For years, PC gamers have dreamed of a spiritual successor to the classic Sid Meier's Pirates!. They got one in Port Royale, but they were apparently too busy being nostalgic to take notice.

C&C is one of the most underrated co-op experiences. Forget about other co-op games that allow the leading player to drag the other player along through checkpoints - this game requires both players to complete puzzles and challenges together, otherwise neither player can progress. I’m sure it is often overlooked since it’s too cute for its own good.

Dark Omen got lost in the real-time shuffle of 1997. It was a hard game to classify because it wasn't a traditional fantasy turn-based game, nor was it a frenetic sci-fi real-time game. Its predecessor, Shadow of the Horned Rat, was a failure, and because hardly anyone played it, hardly anyone knew or cared about Dark Omen. But those of us who played Dark Omen know this game was incredible.

Twinsen's Odyssey probably bombed because of several factors: the unconventional main character, the apparently cutesy characters and environments, the state of the adventure market itself, and a lack of coverage from the media. Whatever the reason, people never warmed up to him. And so they missed out on a truly rewarding adventure-gaming experience.

The Last Express was, in many ways, unlike any adventure game to come before or after it. The game took place primarily in real time. Unfortunately, The Last Express didn't fare well with the general public. Some were possibly put off by the game's stylized art, featuring rotoscoped animation that blended from one frame to the next to suggest movement. But more problematic was the fact that very few adventure games are commercially successful, especially one that strays so far from the genre's formula.

The game was a sadly overlooked masterpiece. Combining puzzle solving and simple fighting-game mechanics, Bioforge was like a terrifying science-fiction version of Alone in the Dark, and it predated the current resurgence of this subgenre (such as Resident Evil) by almost a half-decade.

Developed by Treasure, Guardian Heroes is a beatemup with strong RPG elements, great 2D animation, a unique control scheme, and killer gameplay with the ability to level up and focus the skills that you choose. If the game caught on as much as it should have, it could have brought new life to the beatemup genre.

Terra Nova was one of the most visually impressive and fast-paced action games ever. Terra Nova's 3D graphics engine rendered realistic rolling hills practically as far as the eye could see, while a pulsing soundtrack made the game feel even more dynamic. However, it never enjoyed mainstream popularity.

Because Space Hulk was originally conceived for Panasonic's ill-fated 3DO video-game console, its subsequent translations to the PC, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn all seemed to lose something in the process. The game's unusual combination of play mechanics and its video-game style precluded its success on the PC, although the game earned a rightful contingent of fans among 3DO owners.

Magic Carpet swept up a number of awards and high praise from the gaming press, and yet it remains one of Bullfrog's worst-selling games. Why the disparity? Was Magic Carpet too technologically ambitious? A 486 processor was required to play the game at its lowest resolution during a time when the 386 was still popular.

More than a decade later, X-COM has still not been topped in terms of strategy. Although it may be lacking eye-candy, the depth of gameplay, open-endedness and amazing atmosphere created by the audio simply makes this game amazing.

The premise of Martian Dreams must have been too unusual for a mainstream crowd, and the Ultima VI engine, now recycled for the second time, lacked its old flair. Whatever the case, Martian Dreams remains one of the least talked-about games in the series. Even so, its elaborate story and its high style make it singularly unforgettable.

You could say that River City Ransom was a precusor to Guardian Heroes. It was the original beatemup on the NES that had entertaining RPG elements. It’s simple controls and deep gameplay have taken it from it’s originally obscure status to a bit of a cult favorite.

One of the greatest RPGs of of the 16-bit era, Phantasy Star 2 had rich storyline in a futuristic setting, several worlds to explore, and a cataclysmic epic with a truly satisfying conclusion. While the the Final Fantasy installments and other Square RPGs may have gotten all the attention on the SNES, Phantasy Star 2 showed that RPG fans could have fun on the Genesis.