The Most Overrated Games that Aren't

[SnakeTrousers]

While there are some valid complaints about Spec Ops, I can't stand people who obviously played the game because they heard it's a deconstruction and then say "it's obvious what will happen in the phosperous scene", the whole point is that someone who hasn't heard of the game won't expect the outcome, don't act like some know it all pricks.

Except that that just makes it a twist for the sake of a twist. Sure, if you didn't know it was coming and assumed all those white dots were "enemies" you might get a shock, but if you did have prior knowledge, or you replayed it, that scequence becomes utterly meaningless. It holds no power beyond the initial surprise shock.

Not sure what you mean by that, I mean it is sort of a major turning point in the plot. Myself, I knew about the twist before hand and I'd still say, narrative-wise, it works just fine.

I was gonna be all snarky and say, "None", since the entire notion, either way, is subjective. But then I realized two things:

1) OP is asking for our OPINIONS, so chiming in with a subjective answer is warranted

THANK YOU.

 

[Pyrian]

It holds no power beyond the initial surprise shock.

A surprise isn't surprising when it's not a surprise? I'm surprised!

Well, when it's just a surprise and nothing else, then it holds little value, yes.

Why? I'm not sure how much value you're expecting to get out of this, or how much you feel you need to. Shock value is still value, and in this case I don't think there was any particular shortage. It was notoriously powerful to those who hit it cold, whether you personally think that counts as "little value" or not.

 

[bug_of_war]

Gonna chime in on the Spec Ops train here, but it is waay more criticised than it really deserves. It's not overated, it's gameplay is pretty average though and it does rely mostly on it's story. But that story is quite good. Yes, you're forced to do the WP section, narrative wise you had to do something terrible. But every other section where in which you can make a potentially terrible decision is entirely left up to you, and with no hints you can choose to follow down the decaying mind of the protagonist, or you can try and be a better person. Also;

"What's that you say game, mindlessly blowing people away from a position of remote invulnerability is kind of fucked up? Gosh, thank god I have you to tell me that game, never would have figured it out otherwise. It's not like I realised that while playing CoD4, or hell, while watching actual gun-cam footage."

What's that Apocalypse Now? War is bad? What's that Crash? Racism is bad? What's that Reqium for a Dream? Addiction is bad?

Fictional stories have always made statements, whether they be good or bad. A story shouldn't be given shit because it's message is something that most people should know. Everyone knows it's bad, and this is just exploring how bad it could be.

Other games that I wont go into much detail with:

Skyrim - Morrowind is nigh unplayable without mods, and it's nice that the race I choose gives me slight bonuses in some areas and not make it so that if I'm anyone other than race x I will be unable to do action y.

The Last of Us - It's a solid game with a few issues that are overlooked because the story is very well done. Not the most original, but very well done.

 

[ceyan]

You guys really need to revisit what you're talking about here. A blog post and every 20th person shitting on a game does not make it have a general opinion of overrated. Skyrim, Last of Us, and Bioware Infinite (to use some examples from the second page) were all well recieved, had far more favorable than unfavorable comments, and are still discussed regularly in a positive light. Spec Ops is a good example of what I think you're trying to work out though.

If you're going to start saying a few detractors or random forum people talking shit counts well let me know when you find a game that isn't on that list.

 

[Dalisclock]

For me, Bioshock: Infinite. I wanted to like the original Bioshock a lot more then I ended up doing, but Bioshock: Infinite is one of those games where I love the atmosphere and the plot grabbed me(noticing on the foreshadowing on the second play-through made it better, in my opinion). While certainly not without it's own issues(Abuse of the Timey Whimey ball, for one), I still get a hankering to replay the game again just to visit Columbia again. I replayed the game a couple months after my initial play-through in the wake of the backlash, and I still can't see it as "overrated".

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

You guys really need to revisit what you're talking about here. A blog post and every 20th person shitting on a game does not make it have a general opinion of overrated. Skyrim, Last of Us, and Bioware Infinite (to use some examples from the second page) were all well recieved, had far more favorable than unfavorable comments, and are still discussed regularly in a positive light. Spec Ops is a good example of what I think you're trying to work out though.

If you're going to start saying a few detractors or random forum people talking shit counts well let me know when you find a game that isn't on that list.

Not in my experience. I can't even mention Skyrim anywhere anymore without tons of "Blech that game sucks" or "Morrowind was SOOOO much better" comments. Heck, just go read the comments on that Top RPG list that was posted on this very site recently. On one forum it's gotten so bad that I've just stopped bringing it up altogether. And that same forum isn't kind to The Last of Us, either. Yes, I agree they're still a minority (just look at the user ratings on all the various websites) but the internet has the power to make the vocal minority obnoxiously loud to the point where that's the only thing many of us hear anymore.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The same thing happened with Oblivion too.

Now Oblivion I can understand though. Because no one knew about the stupid level scaling until it was too late... Skyrim though had no such thing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Feel the need to quote both of you to tell you that the second time I played the game, the scene worked a thousand times better for me. Not quite sure why, but I suspect at least part of it is because I don't think there was supposed to be a twist to begin with. From the start, it was declared that what you're about to do is morally wrong and absolutely horrific, and that notion doesn't get "twisted" in the slightest, it just gets escalated:

Spoiler

First you're murdering armed but unassuming soldiers, then you're murdering soldiers who are just running for their lives and finally you're murdering innocent civilians.

By the time that happens, it's already obvious this wasn't going to be just a normal military shooter, so I fail to see the twist.

I can see what you're getting at, since the whole game is about a situation spiraling horrifically out of control. The thing with the WP scene is that you're obviously meant to be in the dark about it. Your character certainly is and it is presented in a way that the player should be as well.

Spoiler

So that once the smoke clears that feeling of satisfaction at what you thought were enemy troops turns to shock when you realize you've burned a bunch of innocent civilians to death.

But I actually knew beforehand what was going to happen, because it was pretty impossible to avoid certain spoilers for this game once it got critical acclaim. So when I got to that scene all I could think was...

Spoiler

'Well, here's where I kill the civilians and feel shocked'.

Not helped by the fact that you're forced to do it, taking away any sense of personal involvement that might add some emotion. It's like being strapped to a rail in a haunted house knowing in advance when and where the ghost is going to pop out. And beyond that it doesn't do much except go 'DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN!!!'

The scene way later on...

Spoiler

where you're surrounded by an angry mob who just lynched one of your team mates and are seconds away from doing the same to you is way more effective, and holds that on consecutive playthroughs. And that's because not only is it very morally ambiguous, but it gives you a choice in how to handle it that works in tandem with the game's primary mechanics. When I first played that scene I just reluctantly shot a couple of people in the crowd. Then I realized I could've easily aimed my gun upward and given warning shots overhead to scatter them, and I felt kind of shitty as a result.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The Halo franchise.

Show me another multiplayer game where you can play 4 player split screen online from a single account. Can't do it? No, didn't think so.

Halo is one of the best multiplayer party games because you can get 4 people on a single console playing against other players from around the world. It's fucking great and it's something no other game does.

.... Uh CoD?

I guess that might as well be my entry. Contrary to popular belief (well obviously its just my opinion), CoD's gameplay doesn't actually suck, its just gotten stale. Eat bacon for a year and you'll end up regurgitating everything once you see some delicious deep fried pork.

 

[FateWitch13]

Dragon Age 2.

A lot of people seem to hate this game. Dragon Age: Origins was about this whole world which was evolving and changing. Dragon Age 2 was about the individual journey of Hawke and her friends. So, obviously two different experiences. But different shouldn't be coded as bad. Dragon Age 2 is an amazing game. It is not some long, massive arching story that ends with that fight you've been leading up to this whole time. It is smaller stage. It is about the various things in life that shape us, twist us, torture us, delight us. There really are three "main plots" in Dragon Age 2 and this is what seems to bother people the most. I think it is more realistic for character development. I think the way it progressed made Hawke a more real character than The Warden. The lack of travel to a bunch of places can be read as a problem but it's more of a sandbox style game than an open world. It's different and bold. It tried something new.

More games should take chances with their sequels.

 

[jhoroz]

MGS 4-I know there was a critical disonnance when that game came out, and there are some severe flaws in that game (e.g. retcons, some really uninspired twists) but I still found it to be a fantastic experience. I thought the presentation of the game when it came out to be mind blowing. There are moments in the story that still to this day make me tear up (e.g. this is good isn't it?). It took out all the bullshit mechanics in 3 and refined them (e.g. such as the food system) and got away with all the menu iventory bullshit that came with the original camoflauge by introducing the octo-cam suit. I thought having the option of sneaking past an active battle field or choosing to side with the local rebels was awesome and made the environment feel vibrant and alive like never before in an MGS game. And while that was kind of dropped half way through, the second of half that game was also great (e.g. return to shadow moses, Ray vs Rex, the walk through the microwave hallway)

 

[elvor0]

snip

Never thought about saying a Final Fantasy game, but now you mention it; I'll see your 7 and raise to 10. Unless I'm going senile, 7 still appears in quite a few "best" games lists, either ever or for original PS etc. however I think people generally give more shit to 10 than it deserves, and especially more than they give to 7. For example: I hate when people complain about blitzball in 10, you literally are made to play 1 game in the story; that's it, if you don't like it just ignore it. Also, bear in mind 10 came out about 1 year after the PS2, the graphics/aesthetic are still some of my favourites of the series and it was the last FF game that made me care about pretty much all the primary characters; haven't played the MMO games, 12 I cared about 3/4 characters and 13 is just horrible in every way, in my opinion.

Well, while FF7 does still top best of lists, outside of that /most/ discussion I see, especially here, is just complaining that it's an emo broodfest.

Now, while I do really like 10, I've never seen anyone say it's "overrated", just that they didn't like it. People don't rave about it in the same way that people /apparently/ "rave" about FF7, which leads to the notion that that is overrated.

Obviously that laughing scene gets unnecessary flak, but people who don't like it generally don't like it because they didn't like the linearity (didn't bother me, the world was far less open, but it was chock full of stuff to do and all felt very organic, UNLIKE FF13), or didn't like the characters. Which I can get behind, I'll argue the purpose of the characters, but not about whether or not they liked them /as/ characters and if you don't like the "linearity", that's fair enough. FFX is devisive enough that it's fair to see it as differing tastes between people rather than butting heads over things they remember wrong or make up like people do over FF7.

Yes, 13 is horrible in every way, NOTHING about it works properly. Even the fact that it looks pretty is lost by the fact that you can never touch it, for it lies outside the tube. It's kind of amusing that the Eidolons come down and attack the party when they start trying to DEVIATE FROM THE PATH, like the in universe will of Square Enix slapping you in the face, telling you to get back on the path and stop asking questions.

 

[Loonyyy]

Eh. The term overrated is stupid. You like something differently to what you percieve to be the mainstream/majority's average view of it? Cool. That sounds like every other opinion ever, the only difference is scale and personal involvement. Given anything, I'm going to rate some things higher or lower than you, or an average of any collective of you. Calling it overrated when I pin it lower betrays that I think mine is the right view, and that yours is the wrong, even when we're talking about subjective judgement and personal taste, which is stupid. Unless you think they are genuinely misinformed or mislead, then there really is no reason for this, because there's no reason you should be objectively right.

Then making a judgement on not being overrated in response is extra silly. I mean, in the sense that I don't really believe in the term, it's true, in that I don't think anything is really overrated, at least when we're talking about things that have actually been experienced (A lot of things are popular because they're popular). But in the sense that someone else is wrong for saying that something is overrated usually suggests that their opinion of the game, and it's worth is wrong, and we're back at the same pissing match. Barring the obvious exception of you think that their estimation of the majority opinion is wrong.

 

[Pr0]

Call of Duty.

Everyone says its over rated, and it continually out sells every other title in the industry almost annually.

Overall I think the people that slam Call of Duty the hardest are people that are simply just not good at it. Far as what the game attempts to do, it does it better than anything else on the market and its spawned more clone games trying to get a piece of its action than World of Warcraft has spawned clone MMO's trying to do the same.

Overall, Call of Duty is consistently hammered as overrated, and consistently outperforms every single title released to market in total overall sales.

Now granted it is the "McDonalds" of gaming content, and just because its edible and acceptably tasty doesn't mean its specifically good...but, it is probably the largest example of a serialized title that is consistently held up as the greatest example of being over rated, which consistently out earns everything else produced by the same industry.

Captcha answer: Winning...and yes, apparently Activision still is.

 

[VincentMm]

Suprised that FF7 hasn't been mentioned yet so I'll go: FF7. You rarely ever see FF7 mentioned for praise, other than in specific Final Fantasy threads (now addmitedly I do like FF7, but it's a way from being one of my /favourites/), instead, when it is mentioned it's just people ragging on it being overrated for bizarre reasons that defy what the game actually was.

It's become Flanderized far past the point of rational, to point where even Square Enix remember it wrong. People who've played it, remember it wrong and people who play it now, are determined to percieve things that were never there.

A primary point of contention is that it's an emo brood fest, which is a flat out lie. None of the characters brood, except perhaps Sephiroth when he's in that library. Cloud is not a grumpy loner and does actually have a laugh with his friends who he trusts to the ends of the earth and sees as brothers in arms. He's cold at some points, but that's quite the opposite of emo, he is supposed to be a professional mercenary, wherin he "lies" about his past in order for people to percieve him as cool and himself trustworthy. Even if Cloud does at one point brood, it would be completely justified due to his character suffering from delusions and PTSD.

Ironically it's right before FF8, which really was a broodfest, Squalls brooding was part of the plot, as was teenage angst. Even with that in mind, FF7 broke from tropes before it and was actually quite revolutionary at the time, people have /copied/ it, which somehow makes it retroactively generic.

Now I'm not necessarilly praising the game here and you're welcome to have not liked/enjoyed it, just make sure it's for the right reasons and you haven't been sucked in by the hatedom and Advent Children.

I don't think I've ever seen anybody put it better.
FF7 came out of nowhere, was hailed as the greatest achievement of modern games, had so much hype built around it and has come to represent some kind of holy grail.
Now I love the game, it's still my favourite game of all time and I replay it about once a year, but even I know it's not this mythical exhibit of perfection.
I think that people who loved it at the time but never revisited it have created that magical aura around it and set it up to disappoint new players, which is really very sad because if they'd gone in with no expectations I'm sure they'd have loved it too.

 

[the_great_cessation]

Ocarina of Time

The holy grail of "overrated titles" due to it being the go-to choice when gaming magazines and websites want to crown a game the "best of all time". For years this title was a sacred cow but as of late it is probably one of the most dissected and criticized games in all of gaming. I really don't get this. For it's time, it was really miles ahead of what was released and holds up well to this day (which can not be said to the majority of games from it's time). It was a technical masterpiece and was the grandfather for both cinematic and open world gaming. It was also decidedly subtle for a video game (in both design and theming) and as a result is still discussed to this day. I feel as though a lot of the criticism comes from thre camps.

1) The 2D Zelda purists who feel Ocarina of Time ruined the series (ie; Egoraptor and his "sequelitis" video)
2) Younger gamers who have never lived in a world without 3D and fail to understand the significance of a game as cinematic and polished as Ocarina of Time during it's release.
3) Hardcore Zelda fans who feel that Ocarina of Time is too "vanilla" and "archetypal" in relation to the "true" masterpieces (Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening - basically any game that has something distinctivly non-traditional about it)

As far as I'm concerned though, Ocarina of Time was a milestone title that impacted millions of kids and young adults the world over and is THE standout title of early 3D gaming.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Well, I have a problem with the concept of "overrated", but as Vigor points out, the OP is asking for opinions, so whickering away about how poncey it is to consider something overrated to begin with is kind of needlessly antithetical.

So, let's see some of the common ones. I'll try concentrate on contrasting common complaints against common praises, to elucidate how certain games have appeals that might not be universal, so rather than being "overrated" perhaps they are just not for you. I'll bold titles that I myself bitched hard about.

1. BIOSHOCK INFINITE

Why they hates it - Bad gunplay, "plot holes", arguments the game was thematically hypocritical

Why it appealed - As a story it was an emotional/character driven piece about redemption, not a rube-goldberg puzzle about multiple dimensions and alternate realities. The science fiction/fantasy was secondary to the characters and themes being explored. It was also aesthetically beautiful.

2. MASS EFFECT 3

Why they hates it - One of the worst endings in modern fiction, lots of janky engine issues, pacing problems

Why it appealed - Some people did very well at viewing the entire 30 hour experience as an extended "ending", others liked the attempt if not the result to do a hard left turn into "thinking man's sci-fi" from the previous space opera. Some just liked the multiplayer.

3. DARK SOULS

Why they hates it - Repetition, repetition, repetition. Shitty controls. Washed out graphics. Opacity.

Why it appealed - The Sisyphean nature of the game play combined with the melancholy atmospherics made it one of the rare games to communicate complex emotions (sadness, dread, loneliness) without relying on traditional narrative formats.

4. SKYRIM

Why they hates it - "Width of an ocean, depth of a wading pool". Shallow RPG mechanics.

Why it appealed - It's a mod-friendly sandbox and seems to delight actual roleplayers. This is true of all Bethesdas games. Those interested in systems-heavy meta-gaming often find them befuddling embarrassments to the genre, those capable of willful suspension of disbelief and immersion find them near bottomless rabbit holes of entertainment.

5. THE LAST OF US

Why they hates it - Shockingly shitty/formulaic game play for a "survival" game, lots of QTEs, cheatin' AI

Why it appealed - Like Infinite it's a game where game play takes the back seat and lets story and characterization take over. Both of them are stories about bad men, father-daughter relationships, and redemptive paths. They are both differently cynical. I found Infinite the more elegant, less frustrating title, but they share a lot of strengths.

6. THE WALKING DEAD/TO THE MOON/GONE HOME/ETC

Why they hates it - It's not even a gaaaaaaaaaaaame / it's part of a SJW conspiracy

Why it appealed - Oh just shut up you plonkers.

7. HALF LIFE/HALF LIFE 2

Why they hates it - It's 10+ years old and the game play is no longer revolutionary

Why it appealed - At the time of their release, the game play WAS revolutionary. Both titles were masterworks of pacing. While there is little to no character or storytelling in either title, there's pretty strong indirect storytelling/ambient storytelling through good level design.

8. ANY MMO, MOST PARTICULARLY WOW

Why they hates it - They knew a guy who knew a guy who got addicted once, the game play is repetitive

Why it appealed - The better designed ones DO appeal to the systems/meta-gamey crowd, and offer nigh bottomless content for people who relax easily into reward loops. Even the least grand amongst their number tends to offer in the hundreds of hours of game play.

 

[veloper]

I was gonna be all snarky and say, "None", since the entire notion, either way, is subjective. But then I realized two things:

1) OP is asking for our OPINIONS, so chiming in with a subjective answer is warranted

THANK YOU.

I hope you're enjoying all the tame and boring answers here, because I don't see how you're going to discover any unknown gems with such a question.

So, "The Most Overrated Games that Aren't"...

The correct answer can actually still an objective one: none.
Goes like this:
By definition, an overrated game will be more highly rated (higher than the subject thinks is reasonable) somewhere. Usually this will be some place where you can actually gage the average rating, like on Metacritic.
So you're basicly asking for games that are on average rated too highly (our opinion), that aren't on average rated too highly (again our opinion). 1=0? FALSE
***

The most informative posts you're now getting, interpreted the question this way: name game(s) about which it was said, that on average it is rated too highly (always a MINORITY opinion), that are on average NOT rated too highly (poster's opinion, which will in this case will coincide with the MAJORITY opinion) and you can always find some dissenting opinion on just about everything.

Those just boils down to: a bunch of highly rated games (on Metacritic for example) that some random, anonymous handles on the Escapist also happened to like.

So for the list, just go to metacritic already. Works faster and you actually get the full list.

For potential hidden gems ask for "underrated" games instead. Results may still disappoint with random, anonymous handles though.
Still, in that case, play Marlow Briggs (only rated 65 out of 100 on M). Game's dirt cheap and a barrel of laughs.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Usually the only ones where it sort of bugs me is when people hate on games for what seem like really arbitrary reasons. Not really criticisms of the gameplay, but just a sort of vague dislike of the game 'type'.

For example,

Gears of War: A lot of people seemed to hate on these games for no other reason than "oh they're 'bro' games starring giant roided-up meatheads", but at the end of the day, I just thought that they were really, really fun games. Isn't that the point of gaming?

God of War: "Kratos is an unlikeable asshole". That's true, but that's sort of the point. And same as before, I just had a lot of fun playing them.

X-Com: Enemy Unknown: "The game is too 'dumbed down' from the original". I get this point too, but sometimes 'dumbing down' is a good thing. In the original, you could literally get screwed because you forgot to give one of your guys ammo prior to the mission. We're supposed to be believe these guys are humanity's best Soldiers, yet someone needs to remind them to bring ammo to a battle?

Skyrim: "It doesn't have __________". True, but a game of the size and scope of Skyrim can't possibly be all things to all people. The problem with games like this is that the more they add, the more people want. Not to mention that, whatever your "_________" is that you're missing, there's probably a mod for it.

 

[jhoroz]

I was gonna be all snarky and say, "None", since the entire notion, either way, is subjective. But then I realized two things:

1) OP is asking for our OPINIONS, so chiming in with a subjective answer is warranted

THANK YOU.

I hope you're enjoying all the tame and boring answers here, because I don't see how you're going to discover any unknown gems with such a question.

I don't think he was looking for hidden gems, just popular games that he believes don't deserve the mess people seem to talk about them and reasons as to why that's so.