Underappreciated PS3 games Part 1

In my last post I wrote about the most influential, awesome PS3 games that never got their due. Once more, my working definition has been: games that are well-made, creative, or important, but never got the recognition, sales, or attention they deserved—even today. Yes, these games are all either very well-made, creative or important.

This is part two and features Tier A games and some honorable mentions. While the criteria isn’t as strict as for Tier S, these games were not just underappreciated at the time they came out, but are still underappreciated and overlooked today. I will continue to update this when I discover new games. Without further ado here is the remainder of my list:

Finally, heads up—I earn a small commission if you buy anything through my links. No extra cost to you, and it helps support the site!

Tier A – Deeply Underappreciated

New Game:  The Club (2008, Bizarre Creations)

The Club is one of the PS3 era’s sharpest arcade shooters that almost nobody bought, a ruthless score-attack experiment that deserved far better. Bizarre Creations built it like a “racing game with guns,” where you sprint fixed routes to keep a combo timer alive, chasing leaderboard perfection rather than scripted set pieces. You pick from eight fighters—a Russian convict, a detective hunting The Club itself, a gambler dodging the mob—all forced into modern gladiatorial combat by a shadowy elite betting on who survives.​​

It flopped commercially yet inspired later hits: Bulletstorm’s Skillshot system owes a debt to its combo-chaining DNA, and Resogun echoes its score-multiplier obsession. Critics admired its speed and depth, with Kotaku noting it was constantly name-checked by designers despite not being a hit. Eurogamer’s 2013 retrospective calls it a misunderstood hybrid that is still worth playing for its pure, unforgiving arcade thrills. With disc-only availability, it remains a hidden gem on original hardware.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (2008, Ascaron)

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is the PS3’s overlooked loot-grinder that hinted at what Diablo III would later mainstream. Its world of Ancaria goes from desert dunes to cyber-steampunk temples, a continent with day-night cycles and mobs to shred. Six different classes add lots of replay: the Seraphim jet-dashes through crowds, the Temple Guardian bolts lasers to his arm, and the Shadow Warrior literally fights as his own corpse.

Combat pushes pace and strategy at once. Skills chain into combo arts you unleash mid-sprint, while your mounts—a lava tiger, robot wheel, even a celestial dragon—turn exploration into mounted combat. Better yet, Sacred 2 lets you loot with friends: four-player online co-op, or old-school split-screen so a buddy could drop in instantly.

So why was it forgotten? A middling 71 Metacritic and messy launch drowned it beneath flashier RPGs. But Sacred 2’s open world, combat mounts, and hybrid couch-plus-online co-op foreshadowed features action RPGs wouldn’t embrace for years. It’s not just another hack-and-slash; it’s the blueprint everyone missed.

Tokyo Jungle (2012, Japan Studio/Sony)

Tokyo Jungle is another digital-only release in the US (it was a disc release everywhere else), and it’s one of the most original games ever made. It’s a survival sim where you play as animals trying to outlast each other in a post-human Tokyo. You could be anything from a Pomeranian to a lion to a dinosaur, with every animal having its own survival style.

Every run felt like its own little story of hunting, hiding, and adapting. People in North America mostly brushed it off as just another weird Japanese game, even though Europe got it and loved it. TJ built this ecosystem where you really had to think about food chains, territory, mating, and the environment — stuff no other game has really tried before or since. It’s a totally groundbreaking idea that got overlooked because of cultural bias and bad marketing.

Singularity (2010, Raven Software)

Singularity is yet another digital-only release that is deeply underappreciated. It is one of the most frustrating examples of a great game getting buried by bad timing. It had really creative time-manipulation mechanics like aging or restoring objects, or messing with time in ways that were fun and tied into the story. Plus it had a solid sci-fi plot.

Critics loved it and kept calling it a hidden gem that would probably get ignored. They were right, because Singularity is a shooter that launched right during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, so nobody noticed it. Activision barely marketed it and treated it like an afterthought.

Later on games would take ideas from Singularity’s time-bending systems, but the original never got credit because it was lost in the noise. It’s a class case of how bad timing can sink a game, no matter how good it is.

Resonance of Fate (2010, tri-Ace)

Resonance of Fate might be the saddest case of bad timing in JRPG history. It introduced one of the most creative battle systems ever — the Tri-Attack system — mixing real-time movement with turn-based strategy in a way no JRPG had ever done before. Fights looked like slow-motion action scenes, with characters diving through the air while managing ammo types, weapon durability, and angles of attack.

Its failure scared publishers away from risky JRPG experiments, even though this was exactly the kind of creativity the whole genre needed. Unlike other games, RofF never got rediscovered or celebrated. Until now.

Folklore (2007 Game Republic)

Folklore had one of the best takes on Celtic mythology in gaming. It’s an RPG that mixed a dual-world setup (an actual researched Irish village and an Otherworld) with creature-collecting based on real Irish legends like the Cait Sidhe and Barghests, not generic fantasy monsters. It had motion-controlled combat and a two-character story, with depth you didn’t see much back then.

It used the SIXAXIS in a really creative way too. But it dropped in 2007, the year of BioShock, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, and COD4, so it got totally buried. Critics brushed it off as just another monster collector, missing how it could’ve kickstarted a whole genre of folklore-based games. To this day no one’s done anything quite like it. It was a gem that got lost in the flood.

3D Dot Game Heroes (2009, Silicon Studio)

3D Dot Game Heroes was ahead of its time with a voxel art style that came before the big indie pixel-art boom, yet it barely gets mentioned. Released in 2009, it took classic Zelda-style gameplay and gave it a twist with a 3D blocky world. The game nailed that retro vibe and added a modern polish with boss fights, puzzles, and exploration that was somehow both nostalgic and new.

Even though it got good reviews and genuinely innovated in visual design, it’s mostly been forgotten—probably because it was stuck as a PS3 exclusive and never made it to modern digital platforms. It’s a clear case of underappreciation: a game that helped pioneer a look that later exploded in the indie scene with games like Minecraft and Shovel Knight but gets almost no credit for it.

Blur (2010, Bizarre Creations)

Blur is one of the most overlooked racers of the PS3 era. Developed by the Project Gotham Racing team, it fused licensed cars and real driving physics with Mario Kart-style weapons, creating a unique hybrid of arcade action and street-racing grit. It looked great, handled well, and supported 20-player online races with clans, progression, and social features that were ahead of their time.

Critics loved it but it launched the same week as Split/Second and ModNation Racers, in a genre pile-up. Its identity—too gritty for kart fans, too arcade-y for sim racers—meant it didn’t click with any core audience.

Today, Blur is not available digitally, not backward compatible, and nearly forgotten. Only one major retrospective exists, and while its gameplay refinements weren’t revolutionary, they were polished and well-executed. It deserved a better fate.

The Darkness (2007, Starbreeze Studios)

The Darkness is here because of its tentacle combat! Okay I’m sort of kidding, but that is part of it. It was a smart, mature take on comic book adaptation, which pushed game design forward but has gotten little love since. It let players dual-wield guns and supernatural tentacles, blending classic FPS action with powers that let you grab enemies, manipulate the environment, and pull off some killer finishers. On top of that it nailed the dark, cinematic vibe of the original comic, delivering a story that was more like an interactive movie.

Even with that, most reviewers skip over it and focus on its sequel. The tentacle mechanics influenced later games, but you wouldn’t know it from how little it’s mentioned in gaming history. It’s another textbook case of underappreciation.

Asura’s Wrath (2012, CyberConnect2)

Asura’s Wrath earns its spot for its combination of over-the-top action with full-on anime-style presentation to create what was basically a playable anime series. AW broke rules with its episodic structure, cliffhangers, recaps, and next episode teasers, making the whole thing feel like a mix of game and show. The combat was wild, and combined  interactive cutscenes to keep you engaged while delivering insane spectacle.

It was way ahead of its time, experimenting with a format that blurred the line between game and animation long before interactive movies became a trend. Unfortunately AW mostly gets remembered for flopping. It’s an example of a game that took big swings, influenced later games, but got overlooked because it didn’t sell.

UFC Undisputed 3 (2012, Yuke’s)

UFC Undisputed 3 is here because it represented the technical and mechanical peak of fighting games, before EA bought everything out. Practically everyone still thinks it’s the best MMA game ever. U3 added a new level of depth in its fighting mechanics, and it included both UFC and Pride rules that fundamentally changed things.

The Pride mode was huge, allowing soccer kicks and stomps that completely altered the meta-game and gave variety that has been gone from everything since. Career mode allowed you to move between weight classes and featured great commentary, the culmination of years of development. It delivered the most authentic MMA simulation–again, to this day it is the best ever made. It’s untouchable.

EA Sports MMA (2010, EA Tiburon)

Here’s the deal: UFC Undisputed 3 and EA Sports MMA are both games that deserve to be here, but for very different reasons. First, know that Undisputed 3 came out in 2012 and MMA was released in 2010.

EA Sports MMA deserves to be here because it was a legit, technically solid MMA sim with features the UFC games didn’t have at the time—Pride rules, Strikeforce as a headline promotion, deep fighter creation, and different rule sets—but it’s almost totally forgotten today. It also pioneered live-streamed competitive gaming with real commentary in 2010, predating the mainstream esports streaming boom by several years.

When it dropped, critics talked about its graphics, submissions, and smooth ground game. But it barely sold, and once EA got the license it almost vanished from history. It proved you could build a good alternative to the UFC titles, but corporate drama buried its innovation and execution.

Mini Ninjas (2009, IO Interactive)

Mini Ninjas is a well-made action-adventure that deserved way more buzz.

You play as Hiro, a young ninja with magical powers, leading a team of six pint-sized warriors to stop an evil warlord who’s turned forest animals into samurai minions. The game’s about exploring worlds fusing stealth, spellcasting, animal possession, and non-violent combat where defeated enemies burst back into cute critters instead of dying. It’s got puzzle-solving, platforming, and boss fights, all wrapped in a lighthearted story emphasizing harmony over gore.

Critics praised its constant charm and accessibility, but knocked repetitive combat and short length, leading to modest sales. It innovated with kid-friendly mechanics years before similar trends, yet has just 2-3 niche retrospectives calling it a “hidden gem.” No mainstream rediscovery, and while available on Steam/Xbox for easy play, it remains overlooked—a perfect example of polished fun that flew under the radar.

Tier B – Honorable Mentions

I have to say there are about 20 games I wanted to put here but I’ve got to limit my space a bit, so I’ll just list three.

The Saboteur.  The Saboteur is another brilliant game buried by bad timing and weak marketing. It had a Will to Fight system where Nazi-occupied Paris started out in black-and-white, and color returned as you fought back. It’s a good mix of art and gameplay that actually meant something. The idea of freeing areas and changing the world around influenced other open-world games — Far Cry 4 even borrowed the concept and used “Saboteur” as a perk name. But dropping into the market against Modern Warfare 2 meant almost nobody noticed.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. It basically shaped post-apocalyptic game design—especially through the designer Mark Richard Davies, who went on to influence The Last of Us after bringing over ideas from Enslaved. The game brought a super-colorful take on a ruined world, which stood out in a sea of gray-brown shooters, and its Journey to the West adaptation gave it a different kind of story. While it’s gotten some late recognition it still hasn’t gotten the full credit it deserves. It’s a hopeful case of a game moving from overlooked to slowly appreciated.

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