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- Jan 2, 2007
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- 1,067
Give a top 5 list on the games you think are most under (or over)rated by press and communities. I guess the term 'forgotten gem' can count too. If you can, give reasons why, like I have.
Underrated:
1. Postal 2 [PC] Sure, the controversy has brought this game hype, but it's poor programming and lack of a total 'plot' has garnered it some of the worst reviews. I however, see it as a fun game that releases stress and provides video game politics satire mixed potently with dark humour. Is it well programmed? No. Does it look good? No. Is it fun? Hell yea.
2. Blood [PC] It got decent reviews, but it never picked up. This maddeningly frantic tribute to Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness is a great mix of funny but black as night humour, as well as some of the most over the top gore of any game, even today. The company that made Blood has, however, become well known today for games such as F.E.A.R., Condemned, and Aliens Vs. Predator 2
3. XIII[PC] The style was awesome, the story was cool, and even if the AI wasn't quite up to par, this game was fun to play because of it's comic book styling, and it provided fun level design and online maps, even if they were only put to deathmatch use
4. Typing of The Dead [PC/DC] I was never a fan of the 'House of the dead' light gun series, or any light gun game for that matter, but this game somehow makes House of the Dead 2 fun. The acting and graphics are still horrible, but especially for people who type high averages like I do, it can be fun and challenging to crank it up and blast zombies with some of the most bizarre and funny excuses for English Sentences ever. Or you can take a lower difficulty and type at your leisure.
5. System Shock 2 [PC/DC (DC version canceled)] What 'underrated' games list would be complete without System Shock 2? It was once again a game that got great reviews and a following, but never picked up in sales or a huge huge audience. It's mix of RPG, FPS, Horror and Sci-fi made one of the most compelling games of it's time, and it's still a fresh multi-genre game that doesn't fall apart with short-handed aspects that could have been great, as many ambitious games do.
OVERRATED
1. Halo 1/2/3 [X-box, PC, X-box 360] Although I feel Halo is one of the most overrated FPS games in recent times, I'm not saying I hate it. I simply feel that despite competent multiplayer and a nice sci-fi setting, it is a mostly mediocre shooter with level designs that get repetitive and annoying, especially with backtracking, and in each game only a small handful of these levels actually meet a good level of enjoyment, but even they do not rise to the level as most shooters can, and I am not whining about the fact it is on a console, I have seen the console churn out shooters that are still better (The original Perfect Dark, for example, is still one of the greatest in the genre, console or PC)
2. Half-Life [PC, PS2, DC (DC Canceled)] When Half-Life came round, having heard about it's excellent story and setting, I had to check it out. I've been wanting a good story driven shooter for a long time, but when I got into the game, the story ended up feeling nothing more than Doom, but on Earth and with Aliens instead of demons. The universe was more cohesive, but even it annoyed me with cramped hallways, and while many respect this feature, I felt many of the puzzles fell short of what I had once again heard they were. Half-Life was a good game, but I do not see myself replaying it for anything more than the mods. However, I feel Half-Life 2 truly fixes my qualms with the first, by adding a much more unique story (Although it definitely has gotten better and more developed in recent 'episodes') and much more unique puzzles.
3. Quake II [PC, PSone, N64, X-box 360] Quake is one of my favourite shooters of all time. It's setting was truly unnerving, H.P. Lovecraft inspired medieval worlds and excellent sound and haunting music design, and some great level design to boot. But Quake II came as one of the most disappointing sequels of all time for me, it's level design was mediocre, contained annoying backtracking, and it stripped the original games horror setting in favour of a sub-par sci-fi world. I only grew to give up these qualms a good 2 or 3 years ago, when I gave the game a second chance, but still felt it just doesn't live up to the original in the singleplayer or multiplayer arena.
4. WarCraft series [PC, PSone, SAT] While I consider WarCraft 2 and 3 to be competent RTS games, I don't consider them stellar. I could never get into their setting, with contrived plots and inconsistencies (Such as how #2 was pure RTS, but 3 was a mish-mash of RPG and RTS) and I never could get into RPG games, let alone MMOs and WoW just didn't do anything for me. I have always, and still do, prefer StarCraft, as the universe just seems more interesting as well as it's design.
5. Doom 2 [Too many damn ports to count] Doom is a classic game, and still today possibly my favourite of all time. Doom 2 can be called a classic too, as when the mod community that keeps Doom alive even today truly came round, it was with Doom 2. But Doom 2 was just plain mediocre, the level design was long, drab, and it didn't have the winning formula from the first. Doom 2 had good moments, but never great, and the small amount of monsters and only one weapon, made it feel more like a bloated expansion pack.
Underrated:
1. Postal 2 [PC] Sure, the controversy has brought this game hype, but it's poor programming and lack of a total 'plot' has garnered it some of the worst reviews. I however, see it as a fun game that releases stress and provides video game politics satire mixed potently with dark humour. Is it well programmed? No. Does it look good? No. Is it fun? Hell yea.
2. Blood [PC] It got decent reviews, but it never picked up. This maddeningly frantic tribute to Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness is a great mix of funny but black as night humour, as well as some of the most over the top gore of any game, even today. The company that made Blood has, however, become well known today for games such as F.E.A.R., Condemned, and Aliens Vs. Predator 2
3. XIII[PC] The style was awesome, the story was cool, and even if the AI wasn't quite up to par, this game was fun to play because of it's comic book styling, and it provided fun level design and online maps, even if they were only put to deathmatch use
4. Typing of The Dead [PC/DC] I was never a fan of the 'House of the dead' light gun series, or any light gun game for that matter, but this game somehow makes House of the Dead 2 fun. The acting and graphics are still horrible, but especially for people who type high averages like I do, it can be fun and challenging to crank it up and blast zombies with some of the most bizarre and funny excuses for English Sentences ever. Or you can take a lower difficulty and type at your leisure.
5. System Shock 2 [PC/DC (DC version canceled)] What 'underrated' games list would be complete without System Shock 2? It was once again a game that got great reviews and a following, but never picked up in sales or a huge huge audience. It's mix of RPG, FPS, Horror and Sci-fi made one of the most compelling games of it's time, and it's still a fresh multi-genre game that doesn't fall apart with short-handed aspects that could have been great, as many ambitious games do.
OVERRATED
1. Halo 1/2/3 [X-box, PC, X-box 360] Although I feel Halo is one of the most overrated FPS games in recent times, I'm not saying I hate it. I simply feel that despite competent multiplayer and a nice sci-fi setting, it is a mostly mediocre shooter with level designs that get repetitive and annoying, especially with backtracking, and in each game only a small handful of these levels actually meet a good level of enjoyment, but even they do not rise to the level as most shooters can, and I am not whining about the fact it is on a console, I have seen the console churn out shooters that are still better (The original Perfect Dark, for example, is still one of the greatest in the genre, console or PC)
2. Half-Life [PC, PS2, DC (DC Canceled)] When Half-Life came round, having heard about it's excellent story and setting, I had to check it out. I've been wanting a good story driven shooter for a long time, but when I got into the game, the story ended up feeling nothing more than Doom, but on Earth and with Aliens instead of demons. The universe was more cohesive, but even it annoyed me with cramped hallways, and while many respect this feature, I felt many of the puzzles fell short of what I had once again heard they were. Half-Life was a good game, but I do not see myself replaying it for anything more than the mods. However, I feel Half-Life 2 truly fixes my qualms with the first, by adding a much more unique story (Although it definitely has gotten better and more developed in recent 'episodes') and much more unique puzzles.
3. Quake II [PC, PSone, N64, X-box 360] Quake is one of my favourite shooters of all time. It's setting was truly unnerving, H.P. Lovecraft inspired medieval worlds and excellent sound and haunting music design, and some great level design to boot. But Quake II came as one of the most disappointing sequels of all time for me, it's level design was mediocre, contained annoying backtracking, and it stripped the original games horror setting in favour of a sub-par sci-fi world. I only grew to give up these qualms a good 2 or 3 years ago, when I gave the game a second chance, but still felt it just doesn't live up to the original in the singleplayer or multiplayer arena.
4. WarCraft series [PC, PSone, SAT] While I consider WarCraft 2 and 3 to be competent RTS games, I don't consider them stellar. I could never get into their setting, with contrived plots and inconsistencies (Such as how #2 was pure RTS, but 3 was a mish-mash of RPG and RTS) and I never could get into RPG games, let alone MMOs and WoW just didn't do anything for me. I have always, and still do, prefer StarCraft, as the universe just seems more interesting as well as it's design.
5. Doom 2 [Too many damn ports to count] Doom is a classic game, and still today possibly my favourite of all time. Doom 2 can be called a classic too, as when the mod community that keeps Doom alive even today truly came round, it was with Doom 2. But Doom 2 was just plain mediocre, the level design was long, drab, and it didn't have the winning formula from the first. Doom 2 had good moments, but never great, and the small amount of monsters and only one weapon, made it feel more like a bloated expansion pack.
![redspike[DAM]](https://gravatar.com/avatar/89b4c07af6fcf01fc67058dd9f93375c4bcff87a23b06ff545f24b76a47601d0?s=96){kind=avatar}
(for those stressful days) and XIII was an awesome game
