Ten most overrated games of all time

[Risingred]

Makes sense. Just a touchy subject for me since I've devoted so much time and effort on it, I think.

What you're saying is that you don't care for the presentation of a lot of game narrative and I would agree. I think the gaming industry is failing pretty hard in that regard. The D3 team is at least thinking progressively with their "play, don't tell" philosophy but I don't really see it bleeding through into the actual game (that I haven't yet gotten the chance to play).

[xxdeadxx]

call of duty/battlefield. worst games ever. i know alot of people that get really excited and go to midnight release for these games... even though its really the same as the last version of the game..

[Technomancer]

For myself, I LOVE story and narrative, and an interactive movie/novel isn't such a bad thing to me. I can TOTALLY see how that's not for everyone though. I think a happy medium is where players that wanna play can play, players that wanna lore/story geek out can do that too. The balance can only really be achieved by keeping the forced story elements during play on the low side, but have in-game areas and resources for the story driven player to go and pour over.

I've played games with some level of this and it can work pretty well. Heck, look at all the Diablo lore fanatics. You can get through D1 and D2 without HAVING to sit through very much story at all, but it's there if you wanna talk to all the NPCs and read books you find along the way. If you have good separation, there's no amount of story that is too much imo.

[Sulle]

It doesn´t really make sense to say, that one or another game is overrated, because what kind of game you like is entirely subjective.

[Zarniwoop]

It doesn´t really make sense to say, that one or another game is overrated, because what kind of game you like is entirely subjective.

Maybe, but it makes for interesting discussion and perspective on what others like. I never would have imagined that anyone could find the Civ series overrated. It's just like discussing the best college football team of all time. Totally unprovable and nothing tangible is produced, but if you're passionate about the subject, its a lot of fun.

[pandaroc]

For me it was "Dungeons" it was announced as THE Successor of Dungeon Keeper. But it was no way near the Original Title. It had bad mechanics..no real Building like DK .... i was so upset i burned my CD. For real... i just burned it.. -_-

[Glurin]

I agree completely with pandaroc. I tried Dungeons recently as well, and for the same reason. Disappointment and rage don't even begin to describe my feelings after trying it. "Successor to Dungeon Keeper" my ***. You're not creating an evil dungeon to raise an army and destroy the heroes. You're running a ****ing theme park!

Even with the slew of bad reviews it's getting, that game is still highly overrated. No need to compare it with Dungeon Keeper, it's a lousy game in it's own right.

[LordC]

Half Life 2
*ducks*

... I really just don't understand why people like this game (and series) as much as they do. Half Life 1 at least managed to present a coherent (if derivative) narrative without tearing the player out of the game experience, which was a novel concept at the time (albeit a fairly obvious direction for FPS games). It also opened the doors for modding to go mainstream, but that doesn't make the game itself any better.

Half Life 2? Hmmm... Well, it had good graphics and a groundbreaking physics engine, but a physics engine does not a good game make.

The narrative was awful, involving a plethora of single-dimensional characters with whom you cannot interact. The writers even stooped to the level of using "mysterious" characters, creatures, and events to provide the illusion of story depth.

The single player gameplay could be best described as gimmicky, with lots of simple puzzles designed around the game's showpiece: The Gravity Gun. Reviewers raved about this feature. Don't get me wrong, it was unique and pretty cool, but plenty of other FPS games before Half Life 2 had unique and cool features: Descent had its 3D terrain, Tribes had its jetpacks, Goldeneye had its missions, Red Faction had its deformable terrain, System Shock 2 and Deus Ex had their RPG elements, Battlefield 1942 had its vehicles... Among these, only Half Life 2 enjoyed such unreserved critical acclaim.

I would just like to know what game critics saw in a game with such a shallow plotline, limited tactical strategy, and near-zero replayability.

I could level the same criticisms at Episode 1 and Episode 2, but they're even shorter games that added nothing of interest in the way of gameplay, storyline, character development, or even physics, so I don't feel a need to attack them.

[Zarniwoop]

Half Life 2
*ducks*

... I really just don't understand why people like this game (and series) as much as they do. Half Life 1 at least managed to present a coherent (if derivative) narrative without tearing the player out of the game experience, which was a novel concept at the time (albeit a fairly obvious direction for FPS games). It also opened the doors for modding to go mainstream, but that doesn't make the game itself any better.

Half Life 2? Hmmm... Well, it had good graphics and a groundbreaking physics engine, but a physics engine does not a good game make.

The narrative was awful, involving a plethora of single-dimensional characters with whom you cannot interact. The writers even stooped to the level of using "mysterious" characters, creatures, and events to provide the illusion of story depth.

The single player gameplay could be best described as gimmicky, with lots of simple puzzles designed around the game's showpiece: The Gravity Gun. Reviewers raved about this feature. Don't get me wrong, it was unique and pretty cool, but plenty of other FPS games before Half Life 2 had unique and cool features: Descent had its 3D terrain, Tribes had its jetpacks, Goldeneye had its missions, Red Faction had its deformable terrain, System Shock 2 and Deus Ex had their RPG elements, Battlefield 1942 had its vehicles... Among these, only Half Life 2 enjoyed such unreserved critical acclaim.

I would just like to know what game critics saw in a game with such a shallow plotline, limited tactical strategy, and near-zero replayability.

I could level the same criticisms at Episode 1 and Episode 2, but they're even shorter games that added nothing of interest in the way of gameplay, storyline, character development, or even physics, so I don't feel a need to attack them.

And that's what makes this type of discussion fascinating.

I adore the entire half life series. Doesn't make me right and him wrong or vice-versa. Its just really interesting to see all the myriad perspectives on games.

[Elly]

Half Life 2
*ducks*

I have to agree. Major disappointment to me.