20 overlooked games for under £20: Love this? Play that. (UK)

The game drought is over. Why? Because even during the summer, when chuff-all is worth buying new, there are always six or seven games that launched before Christmas that you simply didn't have the time / money to play. That's why we've scoured the bargain bins of the interwebs and found you these great games - all for under £20, all a little bit like the games you already know and love.

Love Halo?

play Crysis 2

Dev Crytek

Year 2011

Price £16.50

Where Amazon.com

Why it's for you You like shooters with lots of aliens to murderise

Crysis 2 is a dressed-up sci-fi shooter. What sets it apart from Halo is the nanosuit - a nifty bit of kit that gives you sundry ways of doing battle. Sure, you can tear up the New York streets with superb guns, but you also have invisibility for stealth attacks, or super-speed so you can plunge from rooftops and smash all below.

Love: Gears Of War?

Play: Vanquish

Dev: Platinum Games

Year: 2010

Price: £8.82

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: Superb cover shooting and mega boss battles

Shinji Mikami's jet-heeled blast-'em-up packs in some of the slickest moves ever as you slide, kick and shoot your way to glory through some absolutely mesmerising set-pieces.

Love: Bioshock?

Play: Metro 2033

Dev: 4A Games

Year: 2010

Price: £8.97

Where: Play.com

Why it's for you: You prefer your dystopias on dry land

Surviving nuclear fallout by heading to the depths of the Russian metro system provides a unique setting for this creepy shooter. Just as in Rapture, there's a real sense of desperation here.

Love: Forza 4?

Play: Project Gotham 4

Dev: Bizarre Creations (RIP)

Year: 2007

Price: £8.44

Where: Play.com

Why it's for you: Slick sim racing with an arcade finish

Before Bizarre sipped from the poison chalice that is Activision's James Bond license, they used to make the finest racer around. The Kudos system rewards flair, making this a show-off's dream.

Love: Skyrim?

Play: Dragon Age II

Dev: BioWare

Year: 2011

Price: £11.99

Where: Play.com

Why it's for you: Because the dwarf bothering never stops round here

Dragon Age II soared high upon release in 2011, but it quickly fell away as Skyrim marched in and magicked away the crowd. The original Dragon Age is the fan favourite (many complained DA2 dumbed down and is too linear), but this sequel is more accessible, so it's less of a jump from Skyrim to Dragon Age. There are dragons to slay, tough moral decisions, and you get to sex up an elf, which is nice.

Love: SSX?

Play: Pure

Dev: Blackrock Studios

Year: 2008

Price: £19.87

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: Downhill tricks but on an ATV

Bear with us: there are huge similarities between this and SSX, primarily the huge jumps and crazy tricks. It's got a great sense of speed too.

Love: NFS?

Play: Midnight Club LA

Dev: Rockstar San Diego

Year: 2008

Price: £8.58

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: You love being chased by the cops

Zoom around an incredibly detailed recreation of LA. There's a deep customisation kit, and plenty of police chases to test your evasive skills.

Love: Modern Warfare?

Play: Bulletstorm

Dev: People Can Fly

Year: 2011

Price: £8.74

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: You're sick of the same old FPS

Bulletstorm gives the worn out FPS a much needed kick up the bum. Marrying incredible weapons with an arcade scoring system for killing enemies with outrageous, sickening style, it pulls off the almost unthinkable and makes shooting feel fun again.

Love: Dark Souls?

Play: Dante's Inferno

Dev: Visceral Games

Year: 2010

Price: £13.96

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: You like offing the undead, but don't like dying so much

Undead beasts to kill? Check. Hellish setting? Check. Repeated deaths? NUH-UH. This trip through the seven circles of hell isn't as taxing as Dark Souls, but the action is every bit as compelling.

Love: Fallout?

Play: Borderlands

Dev: Gearbox

Year: 2009

Price: £13.09

Where: Play.com

Why it's for you: More weapons than you can shake an AK-47 at

Like Fallout, Borderlands has a huge wasteland to wander through, but here you get a buggy and some online friends to explore with. It also contains the largest variety of weapons you'll see until Borderlands 2.

Love: Battlefield Bad Company?

Play: Red Faction Guerrilla

Dev: Volition

Year: 2009

Price: £13.50

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: You want more destruction in your shooter

If Bad Company set the parameters for in-game devastation, then Red Faction exploded everything with Guerrilla. Every man-made structure on Mars is totally destructible, and the shooting is solid, so you have plenty of fun making all that mess.

Love: Street Fighter?

Play: Marvel vs Capcom: FOTW

Dev: Capcom

Year: 2011

Price: £7.99

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: Because you've always wanted to squash Spider-Man

The exceptional art style and superb selection of Marvel superheroes makes MVC an uppercut above the other challengers. Assemble a team of your favourite fighters and tag them in to finish off Ryu, Hulk and the like in this classy comic book scrapper.

Love: Portal 2?

Play: Braid

Dev: Number None Inc

Year: 2008

Price: 800MS

Where: Xbox Live

Why it's for you: You want something to strain your brain

Old-school platforming with devilishly tricky time tinkering make this one of the cleverest games about. The quaint design (both graphically and technically) charms as it baffles.

Love: Guitar Hero?

Play: DJ Hero 2

Dev: Freestyle games

Year: 2010

Price: £19.99

Where: Play.com

Why it's for you: Because you're better at cross-fading than you are at drumming

That price above not only includes over 100 tracks to mix, but also a brilliant turntable peripheral that originally came in at over £50. Get the crowd jumping with your seamless skills as you blend tracks like a pro. Want more? Grab the first game for pennies.

Love: Saints Row The Third?

Play: Just Cause 2

Dev: Avalanche

Year: 2010

Price: £10.09

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: All the fun, less of the smut

One of the most overblown games we've played. There's just so much to see and explode - it even has you racing a nuclear missile in a jet-fighter.

Love: Max Payne 3?

Play: Stranglehold

Dev: Midway Chicago

Year: 2008

Price: £7.99

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: Because Max doesn't slide down banisters while shooting

The first bullet-dodging title of this generation is mostly forgotten, but its dives, rolls and table slides are great.

Love: Assassin's Creed?

Play: Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Dev: Ubisoft

Year: 2010

Price: £11.01

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: Swordplay!

No open world or stealth, but POP does have exceptional free-running and sword fights that better Assassin's Creed.

Love: Mass Effect?

Play: Deus Ex Human Revolution

Dev: Eidos Montreal

Year: 2011

Price: £12.32

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: Because you love sci-fi and the freedom to do what you like

The Mass Effect trilogy offers an absorbingly huge and detailed world, but when it comes to depth - both in the 'fiddly customisation' sense and in the 'profound sci-fi commentary on humanity' one - Deus Ex is king. Ignore the yawnsome bosses and you're looking at a futuristic playground that really does let you go anywhere or do anything. Sneak, hack or head in guns blazing in Eidos' superb adventure.

Love: Resident Evil 5?

Play: Shadows Of The Damned

Dev: Grasshopper Manufacture

Year: 2011

Price: £14.24

Where: Play.com

Why it's for you: Japanese horror thrills mixed with gratuitous shootouts

The demon hunter title from EA barely grazed the charts on its 2011 release, but that's no reflection on the game itself. A collaboration between Resi brain Shinji Mikami and Suda51, this helltrip is a blast to play. Matching classy third-person shooting with overblown horror, Shadows has you popping demon heads, stomping their corpses to pulp and fighting mega bosses. It's funny too.

Love: GTA IV?

Play: Mafia 2

Dev: 2K Czech

Year: 2011

Price: £12.84

Where: Amazon.com

Why it's for you: You want the crime-sim without the nagging calls from Roman

It may not have the vast scale of Liberty City, but the focused world of post-WW2 Empire Bay is a joy. From changing seasons to the brilliant period-appropriate music pumping from car stereos, Mafia II provides an amazing backdrop to all the killing.

[via CVG]

Some really good recomendations there. Mafia 2 is great & POP:FS is really worth a play through.

Vanquish for GOW fans? Might be worth a look. Very Happy

Sure, you can tear up the New York streets with superb guns, but you also have invisibility for stealth attacks, or super-speed so you can plunge from rooftops and smash all below.

I looked into geting Vanquish. It's very cheap but it's only single player so I passed.