AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Home Theater Gaming › Most Overrated Games Ever
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Most Overrated Games Ever  

post #1 of 120
6/30/04 at 5:35am
Thread Starter 
I was inspired by the thread "Games That Ruined You for Other Games," which discussed gaming excellence, to start this thread, which discusses gaming mediocrity. Actually, though, the point here is not to discuss simply bad games. Everybody knows that 'Drake of the 99 Dragons' sucked, and no one is surprised.
What I want to discuss are games that have been wildly overrated and over-praised, by the gaming press or by fans in general. The game itself may actually be decent, just not worthy of the hysterical adulation heaped upon it. I will get the ball rolling with two--

1. Halo -- this is an above-average FPS, and that's it. The level design was not that interesting, and the variety of enemies was rather weak. Fun for awhile, and then I got over it. Certainly not a bad game, by any means, but I do not understand all the "OMG Halo is the l33t3st game evR' type remarks.

2. GTA3 -- This game has an excellent concept. The city that allowed you to roam about at will was cool. The sound, both the voices and the audio, were top-notch. However, the graphics were nothing special. The controls sucked super hard. The saving system was atrocious. The game itself got very tedious, especially when you were attempting a difficult mission. It basically became: get in car, drive to obtain mission, get back in car, drive to mission spot, get killed (often because of ultra-crap controls), load game, get in car, drive to obtain mission, get back in car, drive to mission spot, get killed (often because of ultra-crap controls), repeat ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

Please discuss amongst yourselves.

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 120
6/30/04 at 6:55am
Halo. I've only played the xbox version, so I must also lodge a complaint against thumbstick controls in a shooter. I hate it, but apparently lots o people like it. I just want some games where multiplatform clients can connect to the same game server so some of us pc fraggers can school these consolers :P

Anyway, Halo's level design was horrid, especially the middle bits that got repetetive with the same textures everywhere. They threw out the coolest bit of enemy AI (the covenant) halfway through the game to zerg you Doom-style (I also dislike the mindless doom, I was playing Ultima Underworld when everyone was dooming).

If it had come out on the pc in 1999 or so when it was originally planned, it probably would have rocked.
post #3 of 120
6/30/04 at 7:20am
Playing Halo single player is pretty dull, but it is a lot of fun playing co-op with a buddy.

Anyway, here are a few of the games that come to mind:

-Morrowind, after all the incredible reviews this game got I expected a masterpiece. Instead I found a game that seemed to largely consist of repetitive fed-ex quests with boring npcs that all said the same thing and a rather weak combat system.

-Black & White. Great idea, implemtened very poorly.
post #4 of 120
6/30/04 at 7:36am
Another vote for Halo. When I got my XBOX Halo was the first game I ran out and bought. From everything I had read on reviews and forums, I thought I would be blown away. I did enjoy the game very much, but to me it was just your run of the mill FPS game. I will say that the controls were right on, but I found nothing else all that exceptional about the game. As you said, overall a good game, but I just don't understand all the hype. NOTE: I am only referring to the single player game as I haven't played any other parts of it.

Splinter Cell was another one where I did enjoy it, but thought it was way overhyped. The lighting effects in the game are cool and all, but the game is so dark most of the time that you have to keep your nightvision on constantly to see anything, so 75% of the game I was playing it in black and white and the lighting effects tend to become less noticable. Add to that the constant trial and error gameplay and I just didn't understand why the game was receiving such praise and won game of the year.
post #5 of 120
6/30/04 at 7:58am
Thread Starter 
I thought my mention of Halo would prove more controversial, but so far, there seems to be at least a few others of like mind.
I thought of another one --

The Sims -- basically a game where you watch your little Sims walk around speaking gibberish, and you have to make sure they get up on time, go to the bathroom when their bladders are full, and get to work. I don't know about you, but it is already a big enough hassle making sure I do all of those things myself. Why would I want to have to babysit a bunch of little computer characters for hours at a time?
post #6 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:02am
The only people I've ever known to buy or play The Sims have been female.
post #7 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:04am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by mrlittlejeans
The only people I've ever known to buy or play The Sims have been female.
Actually, this has been my experience, as well. I know males who gave it a try (like myself) but none of them really cared for it.
post #8 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:12am
Hmm... this topic will probably turn ugly quickly. On that note, I have an entry:

Final Fantasy VIII. I don't know if any of you have played this, but while it was a good game, it certainly bothered me how much "better" people thought this game was over FFVII or FFIX.

As far as the Halo discussion goes. I feel that Halo is a great game. Lots of fun to play. I also think that Halo gets a lot of attention because for a long time, Halo was really the only game on Xbox that would make it worthwhile to buy a whole new game system. Being the center of attention, the game quickly achieved legendary status even though it probably "only" deserved great game status.
post #9 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:15am
I've only had XBOX for about a 3 weeks now, but I bought it used and it came with a bunch of games. I also grabbed a bunch from Ebay based on IGN reviews and such.

As a big fan of old PC Doom and Duke Nuken 3d, I thought FPS games of today would be great. Not even close.

So far I've tried Halo, Unreal Tourn, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six 3, and Max Payne. I just can't get into them at all. How long do you have to spend playing before you actually "care" about whether you progress in these games or not?

I also try playing Mortal Combat, Panzar Dragoon Orta, Madden 2004, they all just suck.

The few games I keep going back to are Tiger Woods 2004, DDR ultramix, and Amped 2. Maybe I'm destined to stick with PC games.

Bobby
post #10 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:16am
Thread Starter 
Eawil,
You are probably right. Halo is not a bad game, but it has taken on legendary status that is undeserved, IMO.
As for the Final Fantasy series, I will stoke the fire by saying that I never saw what all the fuss was about in the first place. Completely linear stories, random repetitive combat, and interminable cut-scenes. None of those games ever really did it for me.
post #11 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:19am
Thread Starter 
Bobby_M,
I don't want to get this thread off-topic, but you might want to try Dead or Alive 3 (better fighter than Mortal Kombat, IMO) and Ninja Gaiden, which is very hard but very fun.
Okay, back to ridiculing overrated games!
post #12 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:28am
Overrated?

How about Black and White for PC? It got rave reviews, and yet actually playing it was pretty dull and tedious. Not sure how people could really stand to play it much past the first few boards.
post #13 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:32am
I would think that a lot of the Halo hype has to do with the multi-player aspect . At least thats why I still play it after 2 years. Halo Single player is like any other game, you play through it then move on. Thats why I believe Halo 2 is so highly anticipated, mainly because of the multi-player going live.
post #14 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:35am
I'm one of those people who got hooked on Final Fantasy 1 when it came out for the NES in the US. I've been playing them ever since, but I have to say that I have not been happy with their direction since the Playstation era. I can appreciate FF7 for the tight presentation of the story with the embedded movies, but in terms of gameplay, FF7 was a huge step backwards in my opinion. I'm one of the crowd who thinks that each character should actually have strategic pros or cons for why you would want them in your party... and that you should not be able to just dump some items on people to make them gain whatever abilities they want.

I still enjoyed FF7 but I still have a hard time associating it with the great FF games that came before it. But I would still have to say it is one of the most overhyped games ever. FF8 was even worse, but I don't think it got nearly the amount of kudos as 7.

In terms of fighting games, I cannot stand Mortal Kombat or early Dead or Alive games. While they look pretty, I can't say that I enjoy the feel of them. Too slow or something. Might just be my preference for fast paced/unrealistic fighting games =)

And I know this one's not going to be popular, but KoToR just didn't do it for me. I played through it, but the whole time I was wishing that I had real-time action control over my character. I totally understand that wasn't the design or intent of the game. I just think it would've been more fun. =)
post #15 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:37am
Oh yeah. Black and White for the PC tops everything I just wrote about. I don't know how I could forget that. That game was hyped so much that you thought it would eliminate the national debt or create worldwide peace.

Unfortunately when it came out, the game was not only slow and dull, but 90% of users couldn't progress past the 2nd level because of a huge bug that it took them months to fix. Oops.
post #16 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:39am
Good topic(s)!

When speaking about Halo, keep in mind that this game was released in November of 2001 - GTAIII was also released in October 2001, making them both literally DINOSAURS when compared to a game like Splinter Cell or Van Helsing which were just released this year to uber-fanfare...the commercials are still on TV!

The fact that games like Halo and to a much lesser extent, GTAIII are even still as popular as they are precludes them from being overrated IMO...personally, I was hooked on Halo for a while this year - until I bought Ninja Gaiden which is easily the best game I own right now. I'm sure I'll be back to Halo though because I haven't finished it yet.

Though I haven't played it (or received it) yet, I recently ordered Project Gotham Racing 2 via the DirecTV Sunday Ticket offer for $4.99...to me, this game has an ocean of hype to live up to and better be at least as fun as Toca2 no matter if it's an arcade racer...we'll see.
post #17 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:43am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Red Angel
The fact that games like Halo and to a much lesser extent, GTAIII are even still as popular as they are precludes them from being overrated IMO[/b]
I understand your viewpoint, but I think a game can be very popular and still suck. When I say overrated, I mean overrated by either the media OR the gaming public OR both.

But Halo and GTA3 are not bad games by any means. I just don't think they were good enough to warrant the reverence shown to them. The Sims, on the other hand, just sucked outright, IMO.
post #18 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:43am
Brute force was a disappointment for me. I bought it because of the pre-release hype and it didn't live up to it.
post #19 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:48am
The game that instantly came to mind when I read the title of this thread is (again) Halo. Followed closely by Black and White. This is sad that most of us have the same feelings about these games.

While not bad, I found Need for Speed: underground to be very disappointing. I love racing games, and this bored me very quickly.
post #20 of 120
6/30/04 at 8:53am
Halo-its a good game, but not much more than that.
post #21 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:00am
My point is that when Halo came out, there were not many (if any) games as good...if you bought it in late 2001 or early 2002, then it probably lived up to the hype...comparitively speaking, if you bought it this year and have played other FPS games that have been released in the last several months, then you probably are not as impressed as you thought you would be...keep in mind that most of the biggest hype is several years old - yet even now with the explosion of gaming industry this game is still holding its own against most if not all of the new releases of similar genre. Think about how hard it is for most people to stay focused on a game for any length of time and then consider the amount of time people have devoted to Halo.

Now you have Halo 2 about to be released and it has some HUGE shoes to fill and hype to live up to - time will tell if it is that good.
post #22 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:10am
Thread Starter 
Red,
You do make a good point about it being two years old. I think part of it for me is that I was coming from playing all my FPS's on a PC, and after Half-Life and No One Lives Forever, Halo just seemed a little dull.
post #23 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:11am
Yet another vote for Halo. Some people swear this is the best game ever made. To me it is just ok. I guess like was said most of the hype stems from the multi-player aspect of it.
post #24 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:17am
Although I've never played it, from what I read/hear, the Matrix game sounds like it was way over-hyped. Although, I guess it's sort of fitting..it follows the 3 Matrix movies over-hyping/under-delivering.

Also, another vote for the Sims. I played it for a few days, then sold it at half.com. oh yea, Midnight Club II..I can't see what's going on in that game. :D Mediocre graphics and gameplay at best.

Regards,
Matt
post #25 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:27am
Another for Black & White. I was so excited to get the game. Once I did, it just drug on and on. I had some issues, had to reinstall on 3 occasions. It pissed me off to no end that I was FORCED to replay the intro missions. Major waste of time.

I would also say that Anarchy Online was a big disappointment too. Advertised as the next big thing to EQ. I left EQ to play this game (because I couldn't stand Fantasy-based games). There was nothing to do. Bah!

I guess I could also add Earth & Beyond, but then again, they shut that game down, so that should tell you something!

As for The Sims, I am a man, and I played it for awhile. It is quite interesting. Gave my wife and I something to play together. :)
post #26 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:29am
Actually, Halo will be 3 years old this year...when did you start playing Halo and did you ever finish it? What level were you playing it?

Halo 2 is supposed to blow Halo away in virtually every aspect.
post #27 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:31am
Red Angel
I agree with your point, Think back to Dec 2001. Xbox's best game was Halo and .....
In 2001 the xbox was worth buying just for halo.
So I'm not surprised that people think it's over rated because that is definitely not the case now.
post #28 of 120
6/30/04 at 9:36am
<flame suit>
I'm gonna put my 2 cents in and say Star Wars KOTR. I tried to get into it - I really did, but I couldn't get past the feeling that there should have been a huge orange warning sticker on it saying "CAUTION - Do not purchase unless you are a Star Wars addict". I wasted a few hours talking with people in that game, never really hit any real fun, and then traded it in to EB.com for credit towards a wireless Logitech controller.

But then again, what do I know... I still love playing Halo! :D
</flame suit>
post #29 of 120
6/30/04 at 10:07am
Quote:
Originally posted by RankHypocrisy
As for the Final Fantasy series, I will stoke the fire by saying that I never saw what all the fuss was about in the first place. Completely linear stories, random repetitive combat, and interminable cut-scenes. None of those games ever really did it for me.
I do understand that the FF series is a love J-RPG's or hate J-RPG's type of thing. The fuss of FF really depends on when you started gaming. If you started after 1997 then it doesn't really apply, but FF really did usher in many new ideas into the game industry.
post #30 of 120
6/30/04 at 10:17am
Quote:
Originally posted by masteropp
I'm one of those people who got hooked on Final Fantasy 1 when it came out for the NES in the US.
Yeah, that's really the historical context I was referring to in the previous post of mine. FFI really was very different than any other game that came out in the US before it. FFVI (which is my favorite) really put the bar a lot higher in terms of characterization and story telling in games.
Quote:
I can appreciate FF7 for the tight presentation of the story with the embedded movies, but in terms of gameplay, FF7 was a huge step backwards in my opinion.
I know many people who agree with that. I personally liked FF7, and while I felt it wasn't as good as FFVI it was still a darn good game.
Quote:
I'm one of the crowd who thinks that each character should actually have strategic pros or cons for why you would want them in your party... and that you should not be able to just dump some items on people to make them gain whatever abilities they want.
I'm surprised that you didn't really like FFIX as much then.
Quote:
FF8 was even worse, but I don't think it got nearly the amount of kudos as 7.
You probably don't want to get me going on why FF8 was so overrated...... :D
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home Theater Gaming
This thread is locked  

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Home Theater Gaming › Most Overrated Games Ever