Itâs a criminally under appreciated game, very unique mix of stealth and puzzle/platforming. You have to steal sheep from under Sam Sheepdogâs nose, itâs bit like a cartoony splinter cell but the levels are all big puzzles. Itâs really cool, not something youâd expect from a Looney Tunes licensed game.
And it got me thinking how I know about this game due to a demo disc and then renting it back in 2002, otherwise I wouldnât know or care about this game.
So whatâs your âhidden gemâ â an obscure game you can recommend to anyone to try out. Can be retro, can be relatively new, Iâd love to hear about some more shockingly good games.
Iâll pick The Italian Job (PS1) itâs like a mini (pun intended) 1960s GTA. Great handling, level design, missions, music. Technically itâs also great as it features data streaming.
The climactic Turin escape level is quite amazing for PS1: over 7 minutes of continuous driving across a city.
Apparently it did well on release but I only played it last year.
Infogrammesâ licensed games were a big part of my early gaming childhood and itâs really quite remarkable how many of those games I played were well made and interesting to play. Particularly on Game Boy Color. Smurfâs Nightmare, Bugâs Bunny: Carrot Crazy.
To add to Mattâs post about Italian Job, I think the somewhat sniffy attitude people have toward licensed games means thereâs probably quite a few hidden gems that have been overlooked from the era.
Kemcoâs Crazy Castle 3 and 4 on Game Boy Color would rank among them, I think. And Konamiâs Yu-Gi-Oh titles in the early 2000s.
AND the Choro Q series of racing games - based on the wind-up toy cars - has continued to blow me away. Iâm planning to make a whole thread about the series as each new game that I play has (and Iâm not kidding, despite the cringe here) delighted me in ways I never imagined.
