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25 Most Overrated Games of All Time?
AriesGeek writes "GameSpy is running the 1st of a 6-part special on the 25 most overrated games of all time. From the article: 'Over the next several days GameSpy is taking a tour through the 25 most overrated games of all time. It's not a pretty list. It's a tale of tragedy where hype gets out of hand, or good licenses and great ideas fail to live up to expectations.' You think Zero Wing will be on there?" As with previous charts, predictions for the Top 5 are welcome, we'll run another story at the end of the week to see how people did.
I could never get into that game. And I certainly don't have any desire to purchase all of the $20-$30 add ons they produced for it.
The Sims didn't have the same interest level because I have no desire to have a second fake life I need to take care of. I don't want to worry about going to work, reading, excercising, etc... in a game when I have to worry about that in real life.
Games like Sim City on the other hand would let you use your imagintation, and allow you to do things that most people will never get to do in real life are much more entertaining in my opinion.
And splinter cell should be there. Once you replay the game and the pretty graphics have been seen, you notice the poor AI and the horrible collision detection.
I once clipped through a guard while going up a ladder. The guy didn't notice me. I then jumped on his head. It's a good thing we didn't clip then, I might have hurt my balls.
It had great graphics and an innovative interface but Black and White did not deserve a 10 from Gamespot. (They game a 9.7 to Metroid Prime, their highest rated game in recent memory). The game was supposed to revolutionize the entire industry and reviewers were scarred that they would miss the badwagon.
...and all its derivatives (Doom, Quake, etc.)
Enough, already. Stop the madness. Think of the children - won't anyone think of the children?
Why do we need all these _new_ games? Everyone knows gaming was perfected with BZFlag. It's a scientific fact!
seriously.. it was just meant as mindless shooting fun. No seriousness or anything out-of-character. Pretty world with lots and lotsa of monsters and lotsa and lots of ammo. Good sound effects (I can still hear the damn suicide bombers or the horse-like-skeletons comming at me from behind).
Serious Sam is a game most would spend 10 hours on. 10 hours over its entire life not in beating the game.
Anyway the game was just meant to be silly and mindless fun, and I think it succeeded in that.
If we're talking mindless viole- I mean, fun, lets nominate Soldier of Fortune II. Again, slow graphics, poor storyline, and plenty of gratuitous violence. Not worthy.
--- Egads, I glow in the dark!
Daikatana
Tao Feng
Enter the Matrix
DDR
Unreal 2
Resident Evil (even though I love the game)
Sim Copter
"Infants flesh will be in season throughout the year." -Swift
I'm not a troll...I'm an _OGRE_! :)
Games: (The) N most foo games of bar (optional meaningless question mark)
We've had about one of these per week by now, right?
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
Specifically Dragon Quest VI. I kept hearing all this hype about the Dragon Quest series from Japan, how it was suppossed to be even better than the Final Fantasy series, how there's some law against a game in the series being released on a school day.
Got a rom of DQ VI (it was never officially translated into Englsih so you have to use a fan translated version) and boy was it boring, I put about 35 hours into, got to the job system and played around to that, then gave up. The combat system was simplistic, the characters uninteresting. Not as good as FF VI or Chrono Trigger, the other big 16-bit rpgs.
Maybe I'll give it another go someday, but it just didn't live up to the hype for me.
Gamespy has a really crappy way of protecting stuff for the future articles.
Screenshot for game #1
Just change the last number in the URL for the other 2-20 games.
Okay game? Yes. Best ever? Not by a long shot.
Goo goo g'joob.
If anyone remembers Outpost and the previews/reviews it got I'd think youd understand. I got burned by it. I hope it makes the top 5 and lives forever in infamy.
Hmm asking for suggestions for what slashdoters think are the most overrated games ever, how is this not going to turn into a mod-for-trolling-a-thon as opinions clash? I mean, by definition an overated game would be one receiving undue acclaim right?
Anyway, Let me say a few of mine:
Halo: Now hold up before you set fire to me, I loved Halo, it was one of the only games I played on X-box for a very long time. I have never regreted spending the $50 on my copy, and i have never regreted The LAN parties I have attended in which Halo was the top attraction. But, the fact is that despite what a lof of people seem to beleive, it is not the best game ever. Half-life had a better single player, and better multiplayer. In short, great game, but not the "best game ever"
Everquest: Popular? yes. A good game? No.
Splinter Cell: yeah, a cliche trial and error exercise in futility with a bad camera but very impressive lighting effects is the game of the year? please.
Final Fantasy 7: This is the best RPG ever? ever play Fallout? ever play Deus Ex? Arcana? Final Fantasy 4 (2 in the US)Balder's Gate? there are plenty of RPGs that run circles around this game. many of them aren't as pretty as FF7 was in the day, and most of them do not feature a blonde haired blue eyed white dude with giant hair and a even larger sword, but i assure you there are better games.
That is all.
Forget the levels, people bought the game because of the _story_, right?
:P
oh, wait..
The two Zelda incarnations on the N64 were in my own opinion totally overrated game. It offered somewhat new gameplay, but it just wasn't a Zelda game. It's like that old Coke commercial where you had two guys in front of abottle of a noname Coke-Clone and are comparing it to a real one :
Moves lile coke...
Looks like coke...
Smells like coke...
Tastes like... chicken???
It's as if Nintendo just took the visuals from Zelda and basic story elements (save the princess from Ganon, and you're Link), and used them for a totally unrelated game, like they did with Super Mario Bros 2, which is not a Mario game in Japan. Nintendo swapped the sprites for the American release and named it Mario 2 to cash in the name of the first game.
I remember the Zelda's prior 64 as an all out action game, while the two games on the N64 were about walking a minute in a direction on the world map, kill a monster, walk again, repeat until you reach the next dungeon. I haven't played the latest game, but it looked like a rehash for the 64 version but with cell shading, so I wouldn't call it innovative either.
Think about it:
- Zelda 1 was awesome.
- Zelda 2 was fun, but not a really innovative game.
- Zelda 3 introduced you more of the same, but had a city, somewhat 3d levels, talking characters, two worlds to explore who overlap and more special goodies then you could ever dream of.
- Zelda : The awakening fish or something on the Gameboy was mostly a rehash of Zelda 3.
After that, the only changes were 3D. Nothing to brag about here. Mario 64 was out as the same time as the console and already did that.
I'll go with most of the ones of your list, save Halo and Myst.
First of all, Halo wasn't really "rated" at all. As I recall, when I bought the Xbox along with Halo (one of those infernal bundle deals) the day the xbox hit shelves, the press hadn't been very kind to Halo. In fact, the prior E3 press completely trashed it, citing poor framerate issues, weak gameplay, corny plot and dialogue. The list went on.
2-3 years later (has it really been 3?) and Halo is still *the* reason to own an Xbox. What's more is that it is nearly singlehandedly responsible for reviving the long lost co-op play. In many college dorms, Halo replaced the aging Goldeneye as game of choice. The single player - ehhh good. But Halo's multiplayer impact is unprecedented. Sure, it'd been done on PC. But we're talking two different worlds here, and Halo brought that over to the console.
As far as Myst goes, Myst very much *did* singlehandedly usher in the CD-ROM age. I'll tell you this much: it wasn't that Tim Curry FMV crap that did it. CD-ROMs would've eventually become standard, but it did so in such short a time solely because of Myst. And in reference to my defense post of the Sims, it garnered a huge amount of non-traditional gamers.
Black & White should be first on your list. My guess is that it'll definitely be #1 on Gamespy's.
A few words in defense of Myst, The Sims, and Halo. They are prevelant in the threads here, and they may very well end up on the top 25 on gamespy (but I doubt it).
First of all, there's a definitive PC slant here, while my guess is that Gamespy will most likely lean towards the console side in their list.
Secondly, I think it's easy to automatically dislike games that are extremely popular, such as Myst, The Sims, and Halo. They make easy targets, and in a very underground-esque kind of way, it's cool to dislike what's, well, cool. But merely because we dislike something doesn't mean it's necessarily overrated. I really dislike GTA3, but I can't deny its impact nor the fact that it may very well be a good game.
Likewise, and in regards to Myst, I'm not a fan. But Myst single-handedly opened the door for CD-ROM as a viable storage format. Yeah, it also opened the door to an onslaught of FMV and wannabees, and Myst isn't exactly a shining example of design brilliance. It's a slideshow with clicking But it isn't *that* bad, and what's more is that it brought in a tremendous amount of non traditional gamers, more commonly known as "females."
The Sims has done exactly the same thing, and in many ways is the spirital successor to Myst (without the technology push). In fact, long before GTA3, The Sims, very much in the vein of its predecessors, was pioneering open-ended, emergent, sandbox gameplay. More than that though, is that the game is largely played by moms and girlfriends and daughters and sisters; *not* by the guy who just got home from a 72 hour straight LAN party to sit down to play 3 more hours of Battelfield 1942.
Myst and The Sims are mass appeal titles, but merely because they are mainstream doesn't mean they're overrated. I would suggest that their importance in gaming cannot at all be overstated, and would go as far to say that there should be far more of these games. Even if I don't like to play them.
Halo is very much the same way, but on a smaller scale. It's a PC first person shooter...for the console. That alone is significant, and it also explains why it's making the slashdot overrated lists posted here. In college dorms everywhere, Halo replaced Goldeneye as the 2:30am procrastination technique. It revived co-op gameplay. But to many of you, it's just another PC FPS (albeit, you would argee, a fun one). What should prevent Halo from being in any overrated list is its multiplayer. To us, this is nothing new. But to console gamers, Halo is *the* original multiplayer shooter, not Team Fortress, or Quake, or Counterstrike. And there's nothing wrong with that.
My advice? Step out from the standard Doom-Lineage (Doom to Half Life 2)/PC covering and look around again. Mass appeal does not (always) equal overrated. Use Black & White as a paradigm for something not being what it ought to have been, not Myst or The Sims.
DDR is not overrated. Here in Hong Kong this game was a big hit. I got addicted to this game too and lost some body weight because of it. If it didn't get popular in your place, it was probably a cultural thing.
I don't think they caught on, but I couldn't get that URL to work either. Try this:
v er rated/images/25_graphics_#.jpg
http://www.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25o
replace # with the position
Well, at least in BG2 that would mean you're just not playing well. It's really not a very difficult game.
In BG2 you're supposed to think. Which means building a balanced team, not having all mages or all warriors, learning balanced skills (good combination of defensive and offensive spells), etc.
Of course, maybe you think that's boring. But if you think about it, it's logical. You aren't going to live for very long if you just charge at your enemies yelling like a madman. Now, if you go with a good team, ambush the enemy, use your strong skills, etc, you're going to live much longer.
Then maybe it's just not the kind of game you like.
1) Black and White: Cool technology. I bought it, took it home, and was bored in 3 hours. Most damn repetitive gameplay ever created. Which leads me to number 2....
2) Diablo 2: Hey look! It's a hack'n'slash. I can gain levels and I can kill lots of mindless enemies with my friends. I failed to see the appeal to the game when it came out, and, except for a brief moment, I still think it's extremely repetitive and mindless.
3) Everquest: See Diablo 2. Except here, you mulitply all the time factors by 5. Ability system is slightly better.
4) Metal Gear Solid 2: I hate to say this, cause I thought it was a great game, but after playing the first one, it didn't seem all that revolutionary. There's a pop-backlash against this game which had a good (albeit out there at times) story and solid gameplay which was in a class of its own with the exception of the first game.
5) Final Fantasy 7: Good, one of my favorites in the series. It managed to combine new technology in a good way (usually smoothly integrates FMV for the most part rather than the "Oh look, we're doing a movie" like many other RPGs, opening sequence is a good example). Ability system solved the problem of using unused characters (although at the expense of individuality) and had a deeper ability system than gaining levels and completing two quests (I'm looking in your direction FF4). Good storyline (other "old school" FF fanboys tend to dislike to sci-fi feel of the game compared to previous games, and then complain it was unoriginal). But like I said, it doesn't matter what's good or bad, only what people think. And for those of you wondering. I played the original when it came out, and have beaten every one since with the exception of 8.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
If we're talking overhyped at all in context with the article then I firmly vote for The Sims Online.
Jesus Christ! It was on the fucking cover of Newsweek!!
People were expecting hundreds of thousands of subscribers to the service, they saw it bridging the gap and getting "regular folks" into online gaming.
And what happened? Nothing.
Few signed up for it, lag was everywhere, mobs formed in the game and overall it was boring! Who wants to play a game online just to chat with other people? At least in Everquest you get to hit things with swords.
There was one big problem in the translation: combat. Zelda was never particularly combat-centric--but z targetting in the 3d zeldas makes 95% percent of all the fighting completely easy--just push the attack button at the right time. Combat in the 3d zeldas is more of an emotional, graphics oriented experience rather than a challenge, gameplay oriented experience.
But I still loved Ocarina of Time anyway. I'm not sure if I accept the received view that its the best Zelda -- A Link to the Past is always closest to my heart. And then there's the original Zelda...nope, I just can't decide. They're all too awesome.
Majora's Mask time travel business was really annoying. What's the point of solving subquests and helping people if time keeps getting reset and the people remain unhelped? I've seen an awful lot of people who were confused about how owl-saving worked in that game and lost progress because of that annoying feature. Wind Waker's vast, empty oceans are simply unforgivable.
Oh. Video Games?
#1 - Atari 2600 Pac-man. A poor, rushed, half-clone of the arcade version pissed off a lot of sugar-shocked kids.
#2 - I'd have to go with Call to Power: Civ 3. It was the first game that I was sorry I bought.
#3 Duke Nukem Forever. Yes, it's not out yet. Seriously - DNF better wank me off for the amount of crap I've had to listen to. I've been teased less by high-school girlfriends.
#4 Duke Nukem Forever. Make that two times.
#5 Outpost - I was lucky enough to have this hyped to me directly from a Sierra rep. I also remember a exceedingly high rating from a 'reputable' PC mag.
#6 Michael Jackson Baby Drop - great for those with flash and without Bejeweled.
#7 Karate Champ for the Apple II - I actually bought this, copied it, returned it, played it, deleted it. Wasn't worth pirating, or hyping. I just thought I'd throw it in there.
#8 Myst - I thought I turned my screen saver to 'Starfield'? I beat on this one because they won't let it die.
#9 Diablo II - I was addicted. I played it all the way through. Hours and hours. Hey, I get to do it all over again! Nethack for people who like to know how movies end before they see them.
#10 Slashdot - What good is Karma when you're maxed out all the time from insightful posts like mine? Trolling is fun, but still waiting for the good gameplay patch.
Best games? Nethack, Rescue Raiders, Quake 1&2, Fallout, Ultima Underworld, Civ 2, Simcity 2000, Castles (by Atari- find this rom!), Comet and Cyclone (pinball), RTCW(demo:), GTA 3, Defender and some cyber-robot football arcade game that I remember from Pop's Arcade in Minneapolis. ahh, good times...
I personally think you can't consider Daikatana an overrated game. I've yet to meet one person who had anything nice to say about that piece of dribble. If anything, many reviewers could not wait to go to town on the reviews before the game could ever come out...