Hidden Gem Hunting will accompany me as I search charity shops, car-boot sales & discount stores for cheap video games. I will report my findings back here, once a week. Please bear in mind that these are my first impressions on these games, and are definitely subject to change once I have played them. If it turns out that a hidden gem or a heap of shit is among these, you’ll see a review pop up in the near future and I’ll link it here.

Kengo Zero: Legend of the Nine (Xbox 360) £1.00
Ever wanted to play Tekken with every character being Yoshimitsu? Look no further. Kengo is far from a button-masher, rewarding patience and precision as you strike down your historical foes with your blood-drenched blade. Receiving a 38 on MetaCritic puts this game in a tough place, but for £1 you can’t go that wrong. A spiritual successor to the PS1 classic ‘Bushido Blade’, Kengo has fans of the original hating it almost as much as the people who spent hard earned cash on it when it was released. I love myself a stinker.

Heavenly Sword (PS3) £2.00
An early PS3 title from the creators of the non-Dante DmC and Disney Infinity 3.0 comes a God Of War rip-off with ass.You play as Nariko, who’s apparently cursed and is also hot AF. Andy Serkis has a major role in the game, as an evil warlord attempting to crush all of the tribes so that he can have ultimate power. The game is predominantly a hack n’ slash action adventure game with some platforming elements and quick-time events thrown in. The game looks great but I doubt it’ll be memorable for much other than not being God of War.

Frank Herbert’s Dune (PS2) £0.75
Based on the 2000 sci-fi miniseries of the same name, Frank Herbert’s Dune already has something going for it which I love to see in a game. I’ve never heard of the series it’s based on, but it’s one of those games that had the power to end it’s developers. The story of the game has you earn the trust of an alien species on a desert planet in order to defeat the evil Baron Herkonnen, it’s a third person shooter/adventure game but I doubt it’ll have the lasting impact that other games in the genre flaunt.The game was published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, who were also behind classic shooters such as Gore and Painkiller.

The Bouncer (PS2) £2.00
A very early PS2 title, The Bouncer comes from a very prestigious developer, Squaresoft/Square/Square Enix. For those of you living under a rock, here’s a quick list of their remarkable achievements; Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, Hitman, Tomb Raider. This game has to be good. The game was marketed as being a playable action movie, with multiple choices and multiple consequences and repercussions. There’s three playable characters which you can switch between at different action sequences, and also take into the Vs. multiplayer modes.There’s also a Horde mode, which is rare to see in a beat ’em up, especially from 2000.This game has a lot of potential.

Fire Blade (PS2) £0.75
Fire Blade is a ‘Helicopter Gunship Simulator’ released in 2002. Midway have been responsible for so many awesome games like Stranglehold and some of the earlier Mortal Kombat titles, and then there’s this. The plot centers around terrorists, blowing shit up and blowing more shit up. there’s stealth missions that allow you to go into an FPS style sniping mode to auto-cannon individual enemies. I normally hate the helicopter missions in games, and I picked this up online without seeing the cover art due to it being called Fire Blade, which I assumed was going to be a hack n’ slash title. Hopefully this game can change my opinion on the mile high club.

Total Spent: £6.50
Pick of the Week: Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Sleeper: The Bouncer (PS2)
Most Likely To Suck: Kengo Zero: Legend of the Nine (Xbox 360)

Be sure to keep an eye out for reviews of these games to see if they were worth a second look, or worth retracting the first look everyone gave them. Check back next week for five more possibilities.