Don't believe the hype.

[Caliostro]

A lot of games nowadays, specially sequels of successful games, seem to generate a lot of hype around them. Commercials, awesome reviews and previews (although generally those are "bought")... New games promise the earth and all the heavens while sequels promise to deliver everything we liked about the previous installment and fix everything they did wrong.

It's no doubt building up hype is generally crucial to assure your game doesn't get overlook, but it's also true that is usually raises the bar too high. It builds up expectations that are rarely, if ever, met.

So my question is easy: How many games, if any, ever lived up to the hype for you? If any, which, and how?

 

[Lukeje]

Fallout (the First one) playing it through at the moment, and it is indeed awesome.

 

[Baby Tea]

Fallout 3! Excellent successor to an awesome series.
Also, for me anyways, Endwar. I LOVE that game. I still only have the demo (Buying Fable 2 and Fallout 3 a week apart puts a dent in my 'Radio Broadcasting' paycheck. Just ask anyone who works in radio broadcasting), but I hope to get the full game soon. It's really good.

Also, to throw a bit of nostalgia in there: Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. I couldn't WAIT for that to come out, and it blew my mind. LOVE the series, and I still play them all to this day. Sweet.

 

[laikenf]

Agree, recently: Fallout 3. But there have been others; Metroid Prime, Mass Effect, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario World, Super Metroid. Just to name a few.

 

[Iron Mal]

Dead Space recieved quite a bit of hype, it was well earned hype however.

Fable 2 was pretty good, it wasn't anywhere near as good or ground-breaking as the ads and special features promised (I want my three piece chicken suit!).

 

[hem dazon 90]

saints row 2

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Saints Row 2 and Half Life 2. Halo 2 and that is at a pinch.

 

[The Iron Ninja]

Hype is a terrible thing.

I somehow missed out on all the hype for Fable 1, and as a result I found the game to be rather impressive. The lack of knowledge of all the broken promises and all that kept my view of it rather clear, so I could judge it by it's own merits.

I try to ignore all hype for all games, it's just fairer that way.
Even with that in mind, Mercenaries 2 was a steaming pile of shit.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Generally I discount hype, so most of the games I buy meet my expectations... when the game actually meets (or comes close to, anyway) the hype, like Fallout 3, Mass Effect, BioShock, and (IMO) the Halo series, then I'm pleasantly surprised.

-- Steve

 

[Theo Samaritan]

I have a built in hype filter, as a result of the particular persona of my mind that responded to it dying of a fatal heart attack after Driver 3.

With this in mind I can say the following:

Fallout 3 in my opinion is a great game.
Halo 2 and 3 are both no-where near as good as the original. Considering the original was an average - fun, but average, shooter, it gives you an idea of what I feel about them.
GTA IV is a good game, love its world.
Half Life 2 has a good story and the way it is told is worth playing for, even if the gameplay is a bit off the mark.
Portal. Fun, but short, and even with the mods and mappacks only has limited replay value.

 

[corporate_gamer]

Saints Row 2. But i didn't really get much hype from that one. Or any of the Total War series. All Hyped to the hills, none as good as shogun (due to lack of ninjas) but all really excellent games.

 

[Fiskmasen]

Okami and Shadow of the Colossus: I hyped those games 'til my bollocks damn near fell off. And when I played the games they (the bollocks) did fall off. Twice.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Lylat Wars, Goldeneye, Smash Brother Melee.

These games promised to deliver highly addictive gameplay and twitch gaming of the highest order. Succeded very much.

 

[CTU_Agent24]

I try to ignore all hype for all games, it's just fairer that way.
Even with that in mind, Mercenaries 2 was a steaming pile of shit.

Thats what i don't get about Merc's 2.
There is very little difference between Mercs 1 + 2, yet people seemed to label 2 as really bad.
Mercs 1 got 8-9/10 when it came out, yet 2 is luckey to get 6/10.
It's not TAT bad of a game

 

[haruvister]

BioShock. I got totally absorbed by the whole ad campaign, along with all the critical fellatio. You know when hype has worked when the game you actually end up buying is totally different to the one you conjured in your head - in this case it was BETTER than the one I conjured.

 

[Jharry5]

GTA San Andreas.
The hype around that game when it came out was immense... and I thought it lived up to it 100%

 

[fluffylandmine]

I don't listen to hype, I only watch gameplay videos or trailers(I know trailers hype, but the're just to much effort to ignore).

 

[The Iron Ninja]

I try to ignore all hype for all games, it's just fairer that way.
Even with that in mind, Mercenaries 2 was a steaming pile of shit.

Thats what i don't get about Merc's 2.
There is very little difference between Mercs 1 + 2, yet people seemed to label 2 as really bad.
Mercs 1 got 8-9/10 when it came out, yet 2 is luckey to get 6/10.
It's not TAT bad of a game

It was TAT bad a of a game.
Let me list a few points.
-Far too short, the whole game has maybe ten or eleven main missions to complete, and the side missions are very similar.
-The Australian girl was annoying enough in the original, but for some reason Pandemic decided to expand of her character. Just because I can see her breasts now doesn't change how frustrating it is to hear her high pitched whine every five minutes.
-The dialogue was written by someone with the comical wit of a five year old, the same dialogue gets repeated over and over again, with only five or six different sayings to choose from.
-Nuclear Bunker busters sound good in theory, but there were a few problems
1) They did less damage than normal bunker busters
2) They had about the same radius of damage as normal bunker busters
3) Whatever damage they were causing couldn't be seen though the blinding flash
4) You had to be really close to call one down, meaning you could never stand back far enough to actually see the mushroom cloud.
-I crahed a tank into a fire hydrant and the tank exploded
-I crashed a jeep into a tree and the tree exploded

 

[sms_117b]

Fallout 3, although I never played the previous titles it lives up to it's hype
Half Life 2, very enjoyable
Oblivion, i know a lot of people don't like it, but I loved it

I'm oping Resistance 2 lives up to the hype it's going to get, but, I don't read mags or anything anymore so I don't get hyped up about games

 

[Asymptote Angel]

I'd say Assassin's Creed, BioShock, and definitely Mass Effect lived up to the hype. I'd also list Call of Duty 4 but I don't think that was terribly over-hyped.

Halo 2 and 3, however...