Critically acclaimed games you didn't like.

[MisterDyslexo]

Half-Life.

Don't get me wrong, I see the greatness, I understand its importance, but I just never really liked the game.

 

[mariofan1000]

Deus Ex.

WELL BYE GOTTA RUN

 

[Puddleknock]

Well I feel compelled to mention Gears of War. Normally with critically games I don't like I at least see the game as being average or trying an interesting idea. The Gears series is one of the poorest excuse for games I've played, didn't find them fun on any level. To me it was the only critically acclaimed game I can think of that had no redeeming aspects.

An example of a critically acclaimed game that I didn't like but also didn't hate would be the Legend of Zelda games. I can see why they are fun but can't see why they are so celebrated. Certinally good games for some but the way they are treated is baffling to me. I always found the games to be rather bland.

 

[tkioz]

Bioshock, I'm sure it's got a great story and the intro is awesome... but the game play made me want to stab myself.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Dragon Age 2. I'm looking at you, Greg Tito. Seriously, I still reckon the Escapist was paid to write that review.

 

[Mallefunction]

Bioware, I'm sure it's got a great story and the intro is awesome... but the game play made me want to stab myself.

Think you mean Bioshock hon. Bioware is a developer.

 

[JokerCrowe]

I didn't really care for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. But I think I'm just a little tired of stealth games. And despite being given the option of not stealthing, having a "reward" in the form of a lot of XP called "Ghost", I get the feeling you ARE supposed to be stealthy.

Maybe I'll play it later when i'm done with Infamous 2, ICO and Fallout: New Vegas.

 

[tkioz]

Bioware, I'm sure it's got a great story and the intro is awesome... but the game play made me want to stab myself.

Think you mean Bioshock hon. Bioware is a developer.

Yea, brain isn't working

 

[Becial]

Oh gosh, here we go. Mind you some of these games I can respect for their dependability and their general game play. However, I just saw nothing inspiring, personally fun, in some cases terribly unique, or good enough to take my mind away from the mindset that I hadn't already seen it done before, or that I was doing the same thing over and over.

Infamous (series)
Halo (series)
Uncharted (series)
Oblivion (mainly just this one)
Call of Duty (beyond MW2)
Fallout 3 and New Vegas
Saint's Row (series)

I know I'm forgetting some. Topping my list in order starting with absolute worst though is Halo, Uncharted, and the Fallouts.

 

[Denariax]

Final Fantasy VII.

Buggy, horribly written, tripe covered in the excrement that would soon follow its surprising popularity.

Also: Resident Evil 4. I hate this game with a passion. Resident Evil died with Raccoon City.

 

[Fall from Honor]

Halflife 2, now I loved the first part but constantly bugging me with more physics puzzles really just pissed me off...

Starcraft 2, again, loved the first part and loved the second part roughly 80% through the story, but the last few missions and the ending took such a sudden turn that it put me off of the game entirely

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Dragon Age: Origins
- I'm trying it again and it's better but nowhere near as engrossing as the Mass Effect series.

Resistance: Fall of Man
- Wow, I was just bored.

Killzone (Series)
- Yes they're well put together shooters but really nothing special.

Call of Duty (Since the original WW2 games)
- I was there at the beginning when COD was a good quality competitor for MOH and it actually won. Now it's just a yearly cash grab and I have no interest in it at all.

Sants Row
- It's just too immature for my liking and lacks a compelling narrative. GTA4's change to a more serious game world appealed to me more.

Halo 2
- Seriously guys, I love Halo as a series but Halo 2 was NOT as good as everyone says. By far the weakest link.

As for me? I don't get Halo. The level design is copy-pasted metal hallways (or at least was, I haven't played the latest ones). I dunno, it just annoys me so much.

I don't get it when people say that; I've played them all and I never noticed anything repetitive about level design.

I am a huge Halo fan and Combat Evolved is my all time favourite... but I will agree with the above statement. If some people have only played Halo: CE there is a good chance they will find the levels repetative. Especially during the Library and Two Betrayals where a lot of the architechture is very similar and the objective is to visit several levels or installations that look the same or have the same purpose.

But like you say, these are places all built by the same race... they aren't exactly going to design them all differently just because the Reclaimer might get bored when he's shooting the place up.

Red Dead Redemption.

Oh and that, all of that. I hear what you're saying about having things in the world simply for the sake of it. I was excited when I saw an entire railroad network that could be ridden. But that was about its only purpose, as stage dressing and a means of transport. I wanted to explore more themes along the lines (no pun lol) of the impact the industrial revolution has on the wild west. There is a small mention late in the game about motor cars when Marston first sees one, but that is about the extent of the impact.

Once you reach Blackwater, the game throws you a few more missions and pretty much ends. That should have been a much larger chunk of the game, a stark contrast to the things Marston is used to. But it all just felt too limited for me to really believe it.

It's a great game but I have not the heart to return to the world.

 

[SmegInThePants]

i second:

uncharted
halo
team fortress 2

 

[kurtzy23]

I dont know if i was critically acclaimed but little big planet.
Im not buying a game that just makes me make my own because the designers were just to lazy to make one.

 

[Ravnican]

I believe the most recent to be The Witcher 2 (though, I didn't like the first one either). I know it's good, but it's just not fun for me.

 

[Closet Superhero]

Assassin's Creed 2 (got bored)
Beyond Good & Evil (no better than numerous action/adventure games, and worse than plenty)
Monkey Island series (humor does not a game make)
Metal Gear Solid 2

Generally, it's games that get high critical acclaim for their stories. In these games I found the stories still, by non-video game standards, fairly uninteresting. This was exacerbated by their length and/or bland gameplay.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

Anything by BioWare, really.

- Gameplay is meh, solid at best
- repetitive characters and settings (oh look, you're part of a small elite above-the-law faction, start with two bland humans and pick up companions while defending them from fantastic racism on your quest to slay the humongous outlandish beast)
- not a fan of the storytelling in any way; the stories themselves are rather bland and a good chunk of the world is explained in exposition dumps called codex pages. Not well-utilizing the medium.
- Dialogue options rarely fit what I'd like to do and are usually good/neutral/evil to the extreme
- Can't bring myself to like any of the characters, they just feel bland. Also chemistry or buildup is completely lacking in romance, you just have to pretend you did more than explore their past in dialogue and battle a bit together.
- last and least, really uncanny models, especially when it comes to facial animations and body types (Depending on what you equip her with, DAO's Wynne can have a young body and an old face - yikes)

 

[Denariax]

Can I just say that, screw Bioware? A game cannot simply say it has good story and expect me to believe it, especially when it laughingly has a 'moral choice' brigade. In fact the only game that has flawless story is Neverwinter Nights, and that's solely because you can create your own, because story can sometimes fly over the heads of the dumb.

 

[doctorsilly]

Bioshock. It doesn't matter how good the sory was, or how cool rapture looked, playing it felt like drinking wet plaster and I only kept on going to get to the next level.

 

[yahtzeesbitch]

Skyrim (Don't hurt me angry crowd!)

Yes that one environment looks nice and I'm sure it would be fun to explore but the combat is so boring. Sorry people!