777

Hello. Christmas is almost here, and for those with small budgets, how about we post awesome game that weren't that popular. These games will sell for $30 or less.

Here's my picks:

Ico for PS2.
Action platformer. Good old "Save the Princess" fun as you try to find your way out of the castle hand-in-hand with a mysterious girl.

Otogi for X-Box.
Action platformer. Based on Japanese mythology, your hero jumps so high, you'd think he should be flying. One of the best games no one has heard of. It's sequal is out this year.

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"I don't know that I ever wanted greatness, on its own. It seems rather like wanting to be an engineer, rather than wanting to design something - or wanting to be a writer, rather than wanting to write. It should be a by-product, not a thing in itself. Otherwise, it's just an ego trip."

Roger Zelazny

Coppertop

Starcraft and Brood War currently sell for $20 or less.
Fallout 1 and 2 - $5
System Shock 2 - not sure of recent price, but dirt cheap

All great games, those. And very inexpensive.

edit - yeah, these were popular, but go get them if you haven't yet. Or buy for a relative/friend.

silver26

Eternal Darkness for Gamecube, Gamespot gave it a 9.7 / 10, and you can get it dirt cheap

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Coppertop

Just got back from Fry's and found Ground Control 2 there for $20. Good deal.

kiwiman

Morrowind is only $5 here.

Ganguro

Alien hominid. Brand new shooter game from Behemoth games. you can play the original at newgrounds. Can be had new for 25-30 bucks.

shadowalker

final fantasy dawn of souls for the gba is a great choice for under 30 bucks, 29.99 close enough.

Your getting both FFI and FFII How great is that.~!!

edit: after christmas when you happen to get gift cards to the stores you want, every game becomes bargin bin games!

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Derwood

The new round of XBox platinum titles:

Ghost Recon
Star Wars: KOTOR
True Crimes
Soul Caliber

All under $20

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Homey_V

Im pretty Sure Tron 2.0 has reached Bargain Basement prices, which is a shame, because it was an excellent game.

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Church

Enter the Matrix! I think I'm in the minority of people who actually liked this game. I think one of the aspects I like is that if you cheated in the game, you got screwed over. haha

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HK726

Madden 2005 is now $20

Locke

Katamari Damacy for 20
Res Evil Code Veronica for ps2 is 6 bucks at Toys R us
I just picked up fallout 1 and 2 for 5 bucks as was mentioned above

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Xenomorph

If you haven't played Knights of the Old Republic yet, I would strongly advise you to pick it up on the platform of your choice. I think it's the best game that's been released since Deus Ex, which is another title that screams to be bought at the $10 or whatever it is now if you haven't played it yet. The graphics will evoke memories of gaming at the turn of the century, but they're certainly playable. DX is the only truly great game I know of that completely defies genre. It's an experience that can't be had anywhere else. I want to play it now from just typing about it.

I'd steer clear of Deus Ex 2: Invisible War, though. It's very much a step backwards from the original, and it's more expensive. Only diehard fans of the original who ended the first game with sticky pants and drooling to see what happens next should pick IW up.

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grayman

Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition with two additional expansions included also just made platinum status on the X-Box.
I found Freedom Fighters for the X-Box to be a decent title for the $12 I paid for it.

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777

Here's a few more picks:

Hitman 2, for PS2 and GC. Stealth assassin action. Charge in with dual .45s or zip in, take out the target, and zip out before anyone realizes there's trail of blood coming from the closet.

Spyhunter, for PS2 and GC (and Xbox?). Modern update to the classic arcade quarter muncher that sent the game cabnet's owner's kids to college. Race through the streets in a tricked out ride with machine guns, missles, and a smoke screen.

Mark of Kri, for PS2. Dispite the Disney look, we have an inovated action game here. Assign a button to each enemy and dispatch them as you see fit.

__________________
"I don't know that I ever wanted greatness, on its own. It seems rather like wanting to be an engineer, rather than wanting to design something - or wanting to be a writer, rather than wanting to write. It should be a by-product, not a thing in itself. Otherwise, it's just an ego trip."

Roger Zelazny

lpj8

Viewtiful Joe, Metroid Prime and Zelda: The Wind Waker can be had for $20 or under these days. All great games, and well worth the price if you have a gamecube.

silver26

I picked up Spyhunter in a $10 bin (Canadian!) the weekend. The graphics are very choppy but it has some interesting game mechanics. And you can't beat the price.

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I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the inbetween is mine.

flamingdog

What kind of logic is that? It's a shame a great game is at a bargain basement price?

Faygo

Morrowwind is a good game. I picked it up for 10 bucks but really haven't been able to play it all that much. I need a new video card and some more memory in this old box.

Counter strike should be pretty cheap since Source just came out.

sinjien

I completely agree with everything mentioned about KOTOR. Its going for $20 and it is a must experience even if you arent going to play the sequel. Trust me, if rpg's and the Star Wars universe appeal to you in the slightest then pick it up. You wont be disappointed. If you are then come see me on HALO 2 LIVE. You can decide how you would like to dispatch the messenger. But a must cap your kill limit to 5....need to keep my stats up.

thecoldone33

Ratchet & Clank 2 is $20 bux now. Grat game though i have not tried the 3rd game yet.
Project Gotham Racing 2 and Rally Sport Challenge should both be $20 as well. Both great racing games.

blitz.fenix

call of duty can be picked up pretty cheap
Operation Flashpoint ditto
and a must have is Fallout 1 and 2 which I will be playing during the Christmas break.

pixelbend

Just bought KOTOR and Sudeki in the bargain bin for $20 each. My bro-in-law bought me X-Men:Legends and he just got Fable. Plus I am pretty close to the end of PsiOps. What to do?!

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Tycow

Game (in the UK) are having a big sale. I picked up Psi Ops: Mindgate Conspiracy for the PS2 for £10 today. Their website has games going for 50p.

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clavus

Serious Sam Second Encounter is CHEAP. And if I'm honest with myself, I'll admit that it was more fun than Doom3 and more fun than HL2.

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blitz.fenix

Don't think anyone mentioned Diablo or the Hidden and Dangerous series.

Pellaz

On PC, the *absolute* best bang for your buck is the Baldurs Gate 2 Collecters Edition , if you haven't played it. The problem being, most of us have .

I spoke about it a bit in a strategy thread a while ago, but again, Total Annihilation can still be found with expansion occasionaly irl and all over the net, and is probably just below Starcraft (another great bargin, of course) in my book.

I second Ico on ps2, although it isn't for everyone, and throw in The Adventures of Cookies and Cream, if you're in a household with 2 gamers and don't need to shoot things to have fun. This is most assuredly one of the best hidden gems in modern gaming. I can't give the sheer fun of it and the originality of the concept enough props, and the closest I can think of to describe it might be to cross Toejam and Earl (genesis) with Crash Bandicoot.

Again with the not shooting theme, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, designed for ps1, is a wonderful bang for the buck.

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Remember it took three of you to kill me.
A god, a boy, and, last and least, a hero.' "

Slavakion

Soul Calibur 2 has been down to $20 for a while. Just got my copy today. Swords, whee!

ZenFilthPig

I recently picked up Quake 2, Doom 2, Thief 2 and Deus Ex all priced for $10(AUS) and then got 25% them because it was a sale. $7.50 each.
Not the greatest games in history but it's nice to visit some classics.

Slavakion

Thief 2 and Deus Ex are definitely worth that price (something like $6 USD).

FngKestrel

Slav, what version of Soul Caliber 2 did you get?

blitz.fenix

I just got back from they store and they had Baldaurs Gate collection pack and Neverwinter Nights collection pack for around 20 bucks each. Was tempted to buy them but I was short on cash.

mac03

Call of Duty was a let down. You can beat the SP in 3-4 hours. The MP is very very disappointing.

spectre

I really like Super Monkey Ball 2 for the Gamecube. Monkey Target and Monkey Bowling are perfect for multiplayer games. It's pretty good for $20.

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No goddamn slave
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Slavakion

The GameCube version. Yeah, yeah, I wanted Link.
I had heard horrible things about how you had to use the tiny D-pad (the joystick works fine) and how the controller wasn't designed for fighting games (get used to it ya pansy) and how the GC sucks in general. Works fine for me. And I get to see Link kicking real ass for once!

On a slight off-topic, does anyone know when the new Zelda game is supposed to come out? The one with the amazing non-cartoony graphics?

pixelbend

Last I heard it was officially just 2005, so that probably means late 2005.

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FngKestrel

Yeah, I got the Gamecube version too. Heihachi is okay, and Spawn is pretty sweet, but come on, it's Link. No contest.

"Non-cartoony graphics" Yeah, it took me a while before I could bring myself to play Legend of Celda. No idea on the new one. But kind of related to the topic at hand and Celda, what about Beyond Good and Evil? That was supposed to have gameplay like Celda but not be as cartoony. And I'm sure it's totally discounted right now. I suppose that could go into the underrated games thread as well.

And Jak 2 is now 20 bucks. The first one was great, but for some inexplicable reason, I never picked up the second one. And no idea if I'm going to pick up the third one.

Slavakion

Yeah, the graphics are pretty much realistic, with maybe a dash of anime. It got good reviews on Judgment Day if I remember correctly. Hey, don't look at me like that! I was waiting for TSS to come on -- the not-new TSS!

And I saw Jak 2 at Best Buy. I had to decide between SC2, Jak 2 and FFX-2, all for $20. I figured, hey, I need a real fighter game. Super Smash Brothers/Melee is fun, but it's not a "real" fighter. And that's just how exciting my life is...

FngKestrel

Yeah, for fighters, it's one the better ones. SSBM is okay, but yeah, not really a fighter.

I'd have to go with Jak 2 if I were presented with your dilemna. I've already got SC2, and while I played through FFX and was waiting for FFX-2 to go down in price I just remember reading a review of it. "Pros: Lots of stuff to do. Cons: Lots of stupid stuff to do."
I've got Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, but it's not really a platformer in the way that the Jak and Daxter series is, more old school "I can jump with a spin now" kind of action. Hmmm, maybe after my current batch of games, I'll go swing by the bargain bin.

Pellaz

Beyond Good & Evil is similar to the 3-d Zeldas only as much as any other modern adventure game, imo, and it's far, far superior to both MM and WW. It's fair to say, if you wanted to place it in terms of other games, that it's 3 parts zelda, 2 parts metal gear, 1 part pokemon snap, and 1 part mark of the kri. A truly wonderful game, which just also made me think of...

The Longest Journey- Quite possibly the best dramatic point and click adventure ever made, you can still find this one floating around in gameshops, and probably more so in the upcoming year as the sequel gets closer. The character models are very dated at this point (and probably were when it first came out, to be honest), but the eviroments are jaw dropping beautiful. And the story and gameplay are top, top notch.

__________________
" ' Big Mouth.
Remember it took three of you to kill me.
A god, a boy, and, last and least, a hero.' "