With titles like BioWare's Mass Effect (X360), Nintendo's Mario Galaxy (Wii), Crytek's Crysis (PC), and others retailing later this month, lesser-known games have a good chance of being buried beneath the onslaught of big budget releases. Shacknews has decided to step in and rescue these games from relative obscurity with a guide to this season's great under-the-radar titles.

We're not making concessions, either--all these games are worthy of your time based on their own merits. These titles span all platforms and were chosen by members of the Shack staff, with at least one staff member having hands-on time with each title. The bulk of these games have already retailed, so you can enjoy them as soon as you want.

PC Games

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (PC) from Gas Powered Games
Release date: November 6
Shack coverage: Preview

While so much about the large-scale real-time strategy title Supreme Commander seemed promising in theory, several glaring issues made the title from Total Annihilation creator Chris Taylor far less exciting than most had anticipated. But don't cross the series off your list just yet--Forged Alliance is a standalone expansion to the title that's basically what the original game should have been. The game's dumb-as-rocks computer AI has been scrapped and rewritten from the ground up. The Seraphim, a new alien race, and more than 110 new units have been added to give the races some much-needed distinction. The game's user interface has been overhauled as well, with a distinct look for each race. And perhaps most importantly, Gas Powered Games has given the game engine some much-needed optimization to make the expansion run more smoothly than the original. Owning the first title isn't necessary to play the new six-mission campaign for human races, but only the new Seraphim race is playable in multiplayer matches without the original Supreme Commander installed.

The Witcher (PC) from CD Projekt
Release date: October 30
Shacknews coverage: Review, Preview

Polish developer CD Projekt has made one of the most impressive PC RPGs to come along in some time, with The Witcher's mature themes and decidedly European overtones straddling the line between awesome and absurd through its entire 60-80 hour storyline. The game's gorgeous visuals enhance the immersiveness of the title's overly violent and sex-filled quests. Players take the role of the game's titular immortal--a hardass if there ever was one--who differs from Highlander's Duncan MacLeod in that he's figured out what living forever and being sterile is all about: You don't take shit from anybody, and casual sex has no adverse consequences. The title actually follows through on integrating long-term ramifications of in-game choices, reminding you of the decisions leading up to a consequence with a quick flashback sequence. You won't find stuff like this in any of the much-hyped PC releases coming up, guaranteed.

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World in Conflict (PC) from Massive Entertainment
Release date: September 18
Shack coverage: Single-player preview, Multiplayer preview
Grab the demo from FileShack

Massive Entertainment's real-time tactical game World in Conflict eschews the base-building and unit production of most real-time strategy titles in favor of instantly gratifying action, highlighted by the incorporation of fully realized nuclear war. A spiritual successor of sorts to the studio's Ground Control series, the title takes on a more realistic premise, with the Cold War era Soviet Union on the march. World in Conflict borrows both the frantic gameplay and character-centric narrative of War-based first person shooters in its single player campaign, which has players undertaking missions from both sides of the conflict. The abilities to drop in more units at any time and call in air strikes or even spectacularly displayed nukes keep multiplayer matches fast-paced and as addictive as Counter-Strike. Fans of RTS games or even those intimidated by them should have no problem waging a third world war with this title.

Turn the page for our picks of this year's underhyped multiplatform, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii titles.