Games Which *Weren't* Well Reviewed/Liked...But You Liked Anyway.

[stroopwafel]

Most games nowadays are technically sound so its much more difficult to find a proper 'bad game' compared to the olden days. If I go by games that weren't all that well received by internet communities then I really enjoyed Dark Souls 2, Arkham Origins and Watch Dogs(just to name a few recent titles). All these games were awesome in my opinion.

 

[rahnborshko]

For me

Deadly Premonition
-A fun campy game that's so bad it's good.

Spec Ops The Line
-A well done intellectual game that didn't get as much love as it should have.

Binary Domain
-A finely put together story mixed with awesome Sega shooting action (and lots and lots of robot bits).

Marlow Briggs
-God of War Clone (yes). As good as God of War (probably not). Stupid silly story that understands it's a stupid silly story but doesn't care (Sometimes works and in this case it does).

 

[Zen Bard]

Remember me... kinda forgettable...

That right there is the definition of irony.

OT: I'll throw in my two cents for "Diablo III". I got it when it was finally ported to console so I was able to skip all the "always online" and "auction house" nonsense. But it was still so radically different for D2 in tone, graphics and character management that I really didn't expect to like it.

I was pleasantly surprised how wrong I was! Played through it as a Monk and Shaman and had a blast each time. The play styles for each character were different enough that I plan to revisit the game again with the remaining classes.

 

[Guy_of_wonder]

Q.U.B.E.
The game was brushed aside, being called a "portal clone", but it does many things better than portal. I like the mechanics of having to interact with cubes and it spices up the puzzles with new mechanics. The best change is when all of the lights turn out and the cubes glow. I felt challenged to solve a puzzle and never lost, unlike portal where a died multiple times trying to figure out where to go. i can't wait for Q.U.B.E 2

 

[ilayoeli]

For me

Deadly Premonition
-A fun campy game that's so bad it's good.

Spec Ops The Line
-A well done intellectual game that didn't get as much love as it should have.

Binary Domain
-A finely put together story mixed with awesome Sega shooting action (and lots and lots of robot bits).

Marlow Briggs
-God of War Clone (yes). As good as God of War (probably not). Stupid silly story that understands it's a stupid silly story but doesn't care (Sometimes works and in this case it does).

Agreed about Spec Ops: The Line
The game is an absolute gem, it featured what is one of the most profound stories in recent years and even in gaming history.
Its art design was beatiful and the soundtrack was brilliant - criminally underrated and overlooked.

 

[GundamSentinel]

FF12, though I played it after FF13-2 was released iirc and never did finish it. It's also the only FF I've played, admittedly.

FFXII it still my favorite Final Fantasy game, and I can't for the life of me understand why people dislike it so much. IIRC it did get very decent reviews as well.

Final Fantasy XIII - It reviewed well enough, but as you probably know, most user reviews gave it pretty low scores, and it's probably the most disliked Final Fantasy game. I can see why people dislike it, and it certainly is flawed, but I still thought it was pretty decent.

Yeah. I can completely agree with people who hate FFXIII, but I couldn't help enjoying it all the same.

I liked Beyond: Two Souls. Not as much as Heavy Rain, but that got mixed opinions, too, right?

Beyond Two Souls.
I don't like it as much as Heavy Rain but it's not really *that* bad.

As a whole it was a convoluted mess, but it had some absolutely stellar scenes and performances. I just can't dislike it because of that.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
I know reviews for this were all over the place but I'll throw it in anyway. If nothing else, I still like the Star Destroyer scene when Galen pulls it out of the sky. Maybe it was a simple quick-time-event, I don't care, it was an absolute spectacle.

It was an amazing game to just run around and splatter everything with OP Force powers. Worked for me. For the same reason I even liked TFU 2, even though everything else about that game was pretty awful.

Maybe Dragon's Dogma, but then I'm fully aware of the problems this game has, and understand many people's unwillingness to see past that.

I actually liked the unwieldiness of some of Dragon's Dogma's mechanics. It's a weird game, but I thought it was amazing.

Some of my own:
Dante's Inferno. Yes, I could see all the cheap pandering around its release and yeah, it was a total GoW ripoff, but I really enjoyed the battle system, possibly even more than GoW's.

Prince of Persia (2008) and Forgotten Sands. Formulaic maybe, but they were colourful and a friendly and played like a dream.

Kingdoms of Amalur. Ditto.

 

[layne]

Resident Evil 6.

Everyone and their dog hated this game and it honestly deserves most of the criticisms it had, but...

Damn if it isn't a LOT of goofy, silly fun

This is the one I was thinking of too. It's such a fun game whether playing solo or coop. I sunk quite a few hours into it and enjoyed them all!

 

[Jacques Joseph]

Dragon Age 2. Aside from the review here on the Escapist, Dragon Age 2 was, for the most part, panned across the board, but I loved the game. I understand the criticisms: Criminally overused dungeons, boring city, a huge step back in terms of scale from Origins, and I get them, but the game was still pretty fun. I felt that there was a huge improvement to combat, especially in terms of animations, the companions were a bunch of fun, especially Varric and Isabella, and despite the step back in terms of scale, the story was still a blast, especially acts 2 and 3 of the game. Could there have been improvements? Hell yes, but the game was enjoyable.

This is pretty much my exact answer. I loved how involved the combat felt and I enjoyed the cast far better then the group in Origins.

Aaaand right after venting my frustration with Dragon Age: Origins, here I am to say that I enjoyed the generally poorly received sequel
Most of other people´s complaints I saw as improvements over the original. More action-oriented combat? Well, since the tactical combat didn´t feel at all tactical to me, I´d much prefer something action-oriented if it means it will be fun. Simplified dialogue options? Well, since the original options were already simple, who cares? Plus, these at least allow some basic form of role-playing, giving you various "moods" in which to react. Smaller scale? Fine with me, as it seems I´m one of the few who feel that it means they traded a big yet shallow world for a smaller but much deeper city that I felt genuinely involved with by the end of the game. A love-hate system that actually rewards in both cases? Cool, that means I don´t have to refrain from antagonizing certain of my party members. Add to that enjoyable characters and the result is a game I really had fun with.

 

[Timpossible]

Dead Rising 3 (PC):
I mean I understand why some people have problems with this games. I have those, too. But I still have a shitload of fun with the game!

FF12:
I love it. I think it's better than 8 and much much better than 13. Actually liked the Gameplay. The Charakters where nice (Well...not the main but most of the others) and it looked fuckin' awesome. I mean...it's fuckin' PS2 and you can still watch it and enjoy the style.

"Edna bricht aus" or "Harvey and Edna - The Breakout"
I love this Games. Yeah. It looks like it was drawn by a 4 year old and in it's unpached version it plays like shit. But hell...I just love the humor and the texts. It's just fuckin' awesome! I love Games from Poki.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Aaaand right after venting my frustration with Dragon Age: Origins, here I am to say that I enjoyed the generally poorly received sequel
Most of other people´s complaints I saw as improvements over the original. More action-oriented combat? Well, since the tactical combat didn´t feel at all tactical to me, I´d much prefer something action-oriented if it means it will be fun. Simplified dialogue options? Well, since the original options were already simple, who cares? Plus, these at least allow some basic form of role-playing, giving you various "moods" in which to react. Smaller scale? Fine with me, as it seems I´m one of the few who feel that it means they traded a big yet shallow world for a smaller but much deeper city that I felt genuinely involved with by the end of the game. A love-hate system that actually rewards in both cases? Cool, that means I don´t have to refrain from antagonizing certain of my party members. Add to that enjoyable characters and the result is a game I really had fun with.

You know, you've almost sold that game on me. I absolutely despised Origins, and didn't even want to touch the sequel, but this just seems a whole lot better in every way.

 

[wetfart]

Deadpool. I like the comics. The game felt like it made the transition from comic to game quite well for me.

Duke Nukem Forever. I liked this game a lot. Granted, my gameplay experience was "Turn game on. Turn brain off." But, despite all the flak the game got, I enjoyed it.

 

[fieryshadowcard]

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Probably my second favorite game in its series, but many fans hated it with a passion.

I agree. I enjoyed the hell out of AJ:AA.

Hmm... let's see... a lot of these answers seem to be coming from within the last 10-15 years. We need to go further...

Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City

Action-Adventure Platformer where Michael Jordan throws basketballs (some with different abilities) as projectiles. On a mission to save various NBA players who've been kidnapped. Also, there are basketball hoops littered throughout the various stages that award items or function as save points because reasons. It was glorious, and I don't say that ironically. Color me surprised when looking up info on it after all these years, I find that it was universally panned by critics.

 

[Michael Tabbut]

Dragon Age 2. Aside from the review here on the Escapist, Dragon Age 2 was, for the most part, panned across the board, but I loved the game. I understand the criticisms: Criminally overused dungeons, boring city, a huge step back in terms of scale from Origins, and I get them, but the game was still pretty fun. I felt that there was a huge improvement to combat, especially in terms of animations, the companions were a bunch of fun, especially Varric and Isabella, and despite the step back in terms of scale, the story was still a blast, especially acts 2 and 3 of the game. Could there have been improvements? Hell yes, but the game was enjoyable.

Dammit you ninja'd me.

OT Fallout Tactics. Story's shit and more or less an excuse for the gameplay but I had a blast with the thing. That and it had a guest character of sorts for your squad that I love; Richard B. Riddick from Pitch Black/Chronicles of/Riddick.

 

[Lalo Lomeli]

I want to be an asshole and say "Final Fantasy : All the bravest"

 

[Jacques Joseph]

Aaaand right after venting my frustration with Dragon Age: Origins, here I am to say that I enjoyed the generally poorly received sequel
Most of other people´s complaints I saw as improvements over the original. More action-oriented combat? Well, since the tactical combat didn´t feel at all tactical to me, I´d much prefer something action-oriented if it means it will be fun. Simplified dialogue options? Well, since the original options were already simple, who cares? Plus, these at least allow some basic form of role-playing, giving you various "moods" in which to react. Smaller scale? Fine with me, as it seems I´m one of the few who feel that it means they traded a big yet shallow world for a smaller but much deeper city that I felt genuinely involved with by the end of the game. A love-hate system that actually rewards in both cases? Cool, that means I don´t have to refrain from antagonizing certain of my party members. Add to that enjoyable characters and the result is a game I really had fun with.

You know, you've almost sold that game on me. I absolutely despised Origins, and didn't even want to touch the sequel, but this just seems a whole lot better in every way.

Be warned though that the general consensus still seems to be that most people didn´t like it. On the other hand, we who didn´t like DA:O may be better disposed to enjoy DA2. Might be worth a shot but if you do, try not going in expecting much. And definitely get ready for re-used dungeons. A lot of them.

 

[cubikill]

Too Humam, I am suprised no one else has mentioned this game yet.
I loved this game, and I played it for several hundred hours. It's set up was cool, it story while treading dangerously close to pulp was good. Now given a basic knowledge of North mythology and there is no surprise at what happens at the end. The loot systems and Leveling were fantastic and easily the best of consoles. It still saddens me that it go no love, and there will never be a sequel.

 

[GinraiPrime]

I loved the 2010 Splatterhouse Reboot, which was pretty hated by most critics.

I don't think I'd call it a good game, but... what the hell were you expecting, IT'S SPATTERHOUSE! It's SUPPOSED to be a style over substance, gratuitous, filthy, disgusting, unapologetically gory and violent game for the sake of being gory and violent, that's what Spatterhouse has ALWAYS been!
And honestly, as far as aesthetic, tone, and theming go, Splatterhouse 2010 hit the nail on the head across the board, it feels like your playing a grindhouse exploitation film, and that's exactly what I wanted from a Splatterhouse game!
And hey, it included full, uncensored ports of the original three Splatterhouse games from back in the day, that's worth the price of admission in and of itself if you ask me!

Spoiler: it also has pretty much the most metal box art of all time

Sucks that it bombed and there's probably never going to be another Spalatterhouse game, at least not of this size and budget, but hey, at least it went out on a high note, from a fans perspective anyway.

I was going to post here saying Splatterhouse aswell but looks like ya beat me to it lol.

The 2010 Splatterhouse game was a pretty awesome game in the series and its just such a shame that somany people shat on it simply because critics didn't like it. From what I understand it was because Bandai Namco decided for whatever reason that the game would bomb and therefore pulled all ad revenue for it at the very last minute and then, I guess in childish retaliation, many places started taking a shit all over it. However most Splatterhouse fans who have played it pretty much all agree that, with the exception of afew bugs, its a solid title and having all 3 original Splatterhouse games aswell makes it ideal for any fan!
I love Bandai Namco for the Tales series and their various Gundam games but if there's one thing I don't forgive them for is for how they've treated Splatterhouse. Must've been them who Capcom decided to take after in regards to treating Mega Man like turd....

 

[Zombie Badger]

Kane and Lynch 1 for me. The gunplay was bad, the cover system only worked half the time and the AI was braindead but I really enjoyed both the story and setpieces, the latter of which was basically 'what Michael Mann movie can we play today?'. K&L2 though I didn't care much for. It improved the gunplay a bit but everything fun about the original was gone.

Trying to judge the reaction to a game by its Metacritic score is pointless by the way. An average or poorly-received game still gets a 7/10 just by being merely functional because critic's standards are at rock bottom.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Duke Nukem Forever. I liked this game a lot. Granted, my gameplay experience was "Turn game on. Turn brain off." But, despite all the flak the game got, I enjoyed it.

That's another one I liked that most didn't. "Turn game on. Turn brain off." is basically Duke Nukem in a nutshell. Most of the complaints I've heard about the game seem to be from people expecting WAAAAY more out of DNF than they should, and in particular they seem to be whining about things that have always been a part of the IP to begin with, like how much of a Marty Sue character Duke is and how much the world revolves around him, crap like that, while failing to recognize that Duke is a walking parody of that kind of character. In short, people that don't like Duke Nukem and never did are the ones that are whining about it.

Probably the ONLY legitimate complaint I hear is about the 2 weapon rule, and even then, that never seems to hamper the gameplay any, and most players would end up only using one or two weapons the vast majority of the time anyway, I know I did.

 

[DeltaEdge]

Gonna go with Tales of Xillia 2. The game gripped me more than I ever thought it would, and I pretty much spent all of my free time playing it until I beat it at around 65+ hours in. And I am/was working full time, and this was within two weeks. So yeah, I loved that game quite a bit, but it definitely got some seriously mixed reviews.

While I loved the game, there was definitely a fair amount of valid criticism to be had with it(the debt system, allium orbs, awkwardly silent protag, etc). I can understand that people have different views and opinions, which is why I almost never look at reviews for games before I play them, so seeing people tear into the game and treating it as if there there were nothing good about it and berating the game because the characters or other things didn't appeal to them personally reminded me of why I don't read reviews in the first place.

I think it's completely fine if they don't like the game personally, but it always bothers me because a lot of people have that one or those couple of reviewers that they let dictate which games they do and do not buy, and basically let the reviewer form their opinions for them, and I hate to think that someone who might have liked, or even loved the game now will not buy it because a reviewer they worship didn't give it their seal of approval.