Poorly Reviewed Games You Enjoyed

[Harker067]

Yeah... most of the games on here (althought I often agree they are good games) are not what I would call poorly reviewed.... Maybe I'm just incredibly jaded by how people demand a 90 instead of an 80 but that doesn't really cut it for me. Below 60% on metacritic or it isn't really "poorly reviewed" I say!

 

[thatguy1]

Easy. Need for Speed: The Run

The thing is the game is really short and the story is incredibly weak for how much they tout it. I still love this game for the sole reason that it is a personal fantasy of mine to drive across the country at high speeds fearing for my life. This is the only game in which I can say I am seriously "role playing".

Plus the licensed soundtrack and how it's used in the game is brilliant.
When this game is good, it is a whirlwind of excitement and visual and auditory brilliance.

 

[Mr C]

Deadly Premonition
Too Human
Alpha Protocol
Final Fantasy 13

 

[Mr C]

ok ill bite;



Too human: ok I dare you to play this game drunk and call it bad, its such a hoot for the dialog alone.

And I thought Yoda lied when he said there was another (insert insult).

 

[tmckinzi]

I enjoyed the Shadow Hearts games. The first one got slammed in the reviews and I didn't even check on the others but I enjoyed them all. They had a good story and the gameplay was intriguing.

 

[FionaPhocidae]

Lair. Most critics found the Sixaxis controls were unplayable, but the control scheme didn't bother me too much, and everything else was pretty solid.

 

[Senare]

Mirror's Edge. Yes, the gunplay was terrihorribad, but if you look past that, the gameplay is new and refreshing with some amazing aesthetics.

How is the gunplay er.. "terrihorribad" in Mirror's Edge?

 

[Saulkar]

X2: Wolverine's Revenge. It was just... a comic book game. And a fun one at that.

Quite the same for me.

Other poorly reviewed games that I like include Turok 4, Escape from HorrorLand, Battlezone 2 (not a controversial position), Earth 2160, Slave Zero, Mechassault 1/2 (lambasted by the fanbase), Rebel Runner, Machines: Wired For War (Better described as vastly under-appreciated), The Divide: Enemies Within, and Operation: Blockade.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Metro 2033 on this very site ...
Otherwise, STALKER Clear Sky, even though I kinda get it... it was just too buggy on release.

Metro gets a lot of love here on the forums though. I say that even while being extremely critical of the game (and I only bought it for five dollars).

Despite their bugs, Stalker SoC and CS both got mediocre/mixed reception, so they weren't completely lambasted. Hell they would have been the first things for me to list if they had been panned.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I hate it so much but I love it so much too. I'm not sure how well it did on the critical side, but considering it's buggy and restrictive I'd imagine it didn't do too well. But I see some weird sort of charm to the game, it's something I could play possibly until the end of time.

Bloodlines is possibly one of the most beloved games that did poorly, it had a lot of character and feel but it was just clearly unfinished.

Also Enter The Matrix. Once we got over the disappointment that we couldn't play as Neo I had a blast playing through it. The fight with the agent in the plane was awesome.

Playing it now, it's quite dated. But other than the obnoxious sewer level and the vehicle sections, I did have a lot of fun with it.

Mirror's Edge. Yes, the gunplay was terrihorribad, but if you look past that, the gameplay is new and refreshing with some amazing aesthetics.

How is the gunplay er.. "terrihorribad" in Mirror's Edge?

The look sensitivity in the game is built for the running aspect and it does not transition well to aiming your weapon. Also the enemies hardly react to getting shot until they go down.

Of course this is because the game was built on the running, but that makes the option of combat seem weird.

 

[Suicidemoon]

Rebellion. Best 4x ever.

 

[FourCartridge]

Yeah... most of the games on here (althought I often agree they are good games) are not what I would call poorly reviewed.... Maybe I'm just incredibly jaded by how people demand a 90 instead of an 80 but that doesn't really cut it for me. Below 60% on metacritic or it isn't really "poorly reviewed" I say!

If it's any consolation, I'm jaded that most things I like get bile thrown at em so often I just assume it's hated. XD It was one of the reasons I was looking forward to Bioshock Infinite; I could finally be part of "mainstream" news and all that.

 

[spookydom]

Too Human, I loved it! Played it before I read any reviews and after seeing how badley everybody was coming down on it was genuinely surprised, by that time I was on my third playthrough.

Edit* For everybody dissing Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodline as unfinished and buggy google the Ultimate Bloodlines edition. Download it, play it, shut up! Also enjoy. In it's current state surley one of the best rpg's ever made for pc.

 

[Amaror]

Alpha Protocol was really good, fuck the haters.
I can also see the Budokia Tenkaichi series really easily getting shat upon by reviewers but I fuckin' love 'em.

Alpha Protocol? You mean James Bond: The Game? Yeah that was fucking awesome. Add that to my list definitely. Walking into a bar, then IMMEDIATELY dunking an important informant's head off the counter for fuck all reason just solidifys the game was amazing. It's all the little things like that that make it so charming.

Damn straight!
Oh man, and those bosses. Most are... poorly executed, but I love how silly cool they are!

FUCKIN' LOVE IT

Oh god, that boss was soooo annoying. He was the reasen i stopped playing the game. I specced into stealth all the way and then this asshole comes along and there was no possible way to win the fight. I was really strong at martial arts, but thats not really effective against his knives.

 

[Mordekaien]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I hate it so much but I love it so much too. I'm not sure how well it did on the critical side, but considering it's buggy and restrictive I'd imagine it didn't do too well. But I see some weird sort of charm to the game, it's something I could play possibly until the end of time.

You are absolutely right. The game is a buggy mess with overpowered skills, bad melee mechanics, incredible difficulty spikes and the last third of the game is pretty terrible, but right now I'm on my 4th (or 5th possibly) playthrough and still having a blast. I guess that the atmosphere and characters with pretty good plot make up for most of it's flaws, if not outshine them.

 

[Excelsior789]

Nier
A kind of action adventure game with a good cast of characters, a decent story, and some memorable boss fights/stages.
While it didn't get terrible reviews I don't really think they did it justice.

 

[Ickorus]

Aliens: Colonial Marines

I think there was more than a little bit of bandwagoning in regards to that game, it made some mistakes and they shouldn't have done what they did with the gameplay 'demo' but the game itself was pretty solid in my opinion; then again, I didn't pay any attention to it during development so I wasn't going into it with any prior expectations.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD.

There are a LOT of problems with this game. But despite all the flaws it's still the best Tony Hawks game to have come out since THPS4. The grinding feels wrong, the collision detection is horrendous, the camera spazzes out a lot and there is no multiplayer. But I can forgive these things because of it's low price tag and the fact that the gameplay is focused on the key mechanics of finding the best lines to earn the highest scores, unlike all the bullcrap such as stealth missions and driving that was introduced in THUG.

 

[tlgAlaska]

Alpha Protocal and Dragon Age 2.
Both games gave me dialog options to play an annoying smartass instead of the usual bland-good/stupid-evil hero/villain and for that I loved them, despite obvious flaws.

 

[maninahat]

Alright, lets take this to a new level:

Postal 2.

Reviewed poorly for its bad taste, poor humour, shoddy design, bad graphics and unenjoyable gameplay.

Nevertheless, I think there was always the potential for this ugly duckling to spread its wings and gracefully grow into a really ugly duck. Postal 2 is at its best when you play as a reasonable, non-violent person, trying their best to tolerate life's petty frustrations. The idea that there is a game in which I can join a queue, or try to get people to sign my stupid petition, is brilliant novelty. The notion that I can flip out at any time, murdering the guy for cutting in line, or kicking down someone's door to demand they sign a form, is also brilliant. Had the game been entirely about this, with an emphasis on trying to live life as normally as possible, trying not to go berserk in spite of an increasingly provocative society, I think it would have been reviewed better. The childish, racist jokes and shitty forced action wasn't enjoyable, but it had its moments when it wasn't doing that.