Every year, the question of digging through the stacks of releases to find which games are worth your time and money is a pretty extensive one. It requires a fair bit of research, a little bit of hocus pocus and also gut instincts to nab the things that you think will jive with your gaming preferences most fully. This becomes especially hard as the video game world becomes obsessed with certain games, sometimes hyping and potentially overhyping whatever new Messiah of gaming has shown up this year.
We’ve all dealt with our share of overrated games not quite living up to what we thought they would be. In fact, we’ve talked about that very thing a number of times here on the old Sushi. However, I was thinking about this issue the other day when talking about the Halo franchise to someone: can a game be both overrated but also still good?
Personally, I think it can be, and the Halo games totally fit the bill. They’re not quite as great as everyone gives them credit for, but they’re still pretty awesome, in my book. Other games that belong here in my opinion include anything from GTA IV to Bioshock (great but over-praised, I feel), Final Fantasy X and even one of my all time favorites, Final Fantasy VII.
So, what games would you guys put in that category? Can games be both very good but also overrated?
haha, you named most of mine in the post!
I may be killed for this, but Half-Life 2 didn’t really grab me. I am going to go back and try again one day, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe b/c I had just finished Portal. Hard for anything to live up to that.
Personally, I can’t stand the pre-RE 4 games in that series, but I understand they are good.
Modern Warfare 2 was a pretty cool game, I have some great memories playing online and during the very brief campaign I had some fun…but the hype was ridiculous, its not even in the top 3 of the series for me
Halo: Reach, this one just didn’t really meet my personal hype so maybe im being unfair, but when i heard you’d be in a squad of Spartans i figured we’d be kicking ass and taking names, but your squad members aren’t actually that great outside cut scenes.
But my actual one would be Skate. I heard it was an amazing game and was fun just to roam around in, so i picked it up and was bored with it in about a week.
Anthony I am going to submit myself to the firing squad as well. I did not personally find Half life 2 to be all that it was cracked up to be. I really liked it but it still was not the best PC experience that I have had. But don’t get me wrong I still would love another.
[quote comment=”13966″]Anthony I am going to submit myself to the firing squad as well. I did not personally find Half life 2 to be all that it was cracked up to be. I really liked it but it still was not the best PC experience that I have had. But don’t get me wrong I still would love another.[/quote]
I totally agree, I liked Half Life 2 but I don’t get why everyone loves it so much. Gordan Freeman doesn’t even count as a character (don’t give me that “you impose yourself through him” crap) and the story just didn’t do it for me.
I’m going to throw in a whole genre – open world/sandbox games. I’ve never been able to get into them. Oblivion, Fallout, Grand Theft Auto, I’ve never spent more than a few hours on each of them before I realise they just aren’t for me. If I had a 360 maybe Red Dead would change my opinion but as it stands right now, the whole genre is over rated, but I can definitely see why people love them, its just not my thing.
Half Life 2 also. It’s great, but I’ve played greater. And I have to agree with SK Beans, Freeman is a shit character. Any other ones I would hae said have been mentioned, MW2 in particular.
I’ll actually say that on my forst play through Bioshock I thought that it was very overrated but, for some reason, since I started it again recently it’s been way better than I remember it and I see why people praised it to the heavens. Why the hell is that?
I think if you played Half Life 2 with the Orange Box you missed the original genius. Granted i don’t know when all of you played it, but FPS had advanced quite a bit since HL2 had originally been released.
Madden.
I say it’s overrated because even though it’s almost always been a good series, people have just refused to see its flaws for so many years, especially now that it’s the only NFL football video game in town (a moment of silence for the NFL 2k series, please).
I would kind of agree with Bioshock being a touch overrated. I really liked it, but the last third of the game REALLY annoyed me and a huge portion of its praise is due to the inspired setting rather than any fundamental gameplay mechanics. If it wasn’t for that clunky and monotonous third act, I would be more willing to shower it with praise.
Oh heck yea!
The Halo Series (good, I played all of them except fully beating ODST, but not amazing)
Half Life Series (Havent beaten them all. Good games, just….they are NOT as amazing awesome sauce as the gamers say they are)
Gears of War (Never got too much into them. Good fun games I think, never finished 2, just couldnt get into them. Its in MLG, people like it. Just dont think its as good as people say)
I find that Halo series games are great. I can play for hours non-stop.