Ars editors pick the most overrated games

Araxen

Araxen

Golden Baronet of the Realm
10,659
8,104
I agree with this list especially Halo. It is such an inferior FPS that it's mind boggling how it became such a huge hit.

1. Dragon's Lair
2. Gears of War
3. Halo
Halo, how I dislike thee. A first-person shooter with few redeeming qualities, it's the kind of game that would have been released into obscurity had it not been a launch title for the original Xbox. The game sported mediocre graphics, a cliche-filled and unoriginal single-player campaign, and a tired and uninspiring set of multiplayer options. In spite of these detriments, its position as the only multiplayer first-person shooter available to Xbox users guaranteed its success. Apparently when you're dying of thirst in the desert, any drink will do, even if it's your own pee.

Halo's success is particularly cringe-worthy considering how ridiculously inferior it was to first person shooters available on PC. Its contemporaries include classic AAA titles like Aliens vs. Predator 2, Ghost Recon, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, all of which were vastly superior to Halo in every way but one: they weren't available to Xbox users clamoring for a way to frag their buddies.

The game spawned a plethora of (much better, actually fun) sequels and has legions of fans, but the first game in the series was just plain bad.
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4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
5. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
6. Super Meat Boy
7. Super Paper Mario
8. Wii Sports

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/1...errated-games/
 
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Smocca_sl

shitlord
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Twilight Princess seems really out of place there. I loved that game =/

Could use a link to the article btw.
 
Cantatus

Cantatus

Lord Nagafen Raider
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Article Link

Super Meat Boy is an odd choice, largely because his argument against it is that it's too difficult. While I don't disagree with that, it was the intent of the game, and it did well because it appealed to the segment of gamers that really enjoy a challenge. I never have been able to play the game for more than 10 minutes here and there because itcanbe a stressing experience, but I also recognize that the game is designed really well (particularly when just measured against other indie games), has fantastic music, and exudes a certain sense of nostalgia.
 
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Felonius_sl

shitlord
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Ah k, the twilight princess hate makes a little more sense now. He played it on the wii (which imo it sucked balls for) instead of the console it was designed for (the gamecube). Not fair, or smart, to review games on the systems they weren't even intended to be on. Confirmed retarded author.
 
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Sean_sl

shitlord
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Even on the Wii Twlight Princess was still a good game, it was just a bit clumsy. I don't see how it's overrated. I remember the general consensus was that it was "pretty good, but not OoT good" which was quite fair.

The whole article is pretty bad.

Halo's also pretty fucking important and not the least bit overrated. Halo is the reason that Xbox Live even exists in the first place and is single-handedly responsible for the online gaming we have onallconsoles today. It was also just plainfun. It may not have been the most technical or sophisticated FPS game, but it was fun as hell and that's the most important part of any game. It spawned a mega-franchise for good reason.
 
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Blide_sl

shitlord
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The whole "this console game is overrated because the PC did it better" argument doesn't hold a lot of water with me. Simply put most of those PC games either never made it to consoles or their ports were significantly delayed / bad. Say what you will about Halo but it was still the best console shooter to come out since Perfect Dark. It introduced a lot of things that had not previously been seen on the consoles. For that reason, I don't think it was overrated at all.

Overall, I'm not impressed with that list.
 
Caliane

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
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Blide_sl said:
The whole "this console game is overrated because the PC did it better" argument doesn't hold a lot of water with me. Simply put most of those PC games either never made it to consoles or their ports were significantly delayed / bad. Say what you will about Halo but it was still the best console shooter to come out since Perfect Dark. It introduced a lot of things that had not previously been seen on the consoles. For that reason, I don't think it was overrated at all.

Overall, I'm not impressed with that list.
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yeah, that is retarded. Goldeneye anyone? Halo was a VERY good console FPS. a place where FPS are inherently inferior to PC fps. Making a FPS on a console that plays well is inherently an achievement. Especially when its NOT using corridors and waste high walls to hide the limitations of control.

Wii sports. are you fucking kidding me? the game that single handedly made the Wii win the console wars this gen?
Wii sports was first and foremost a showcase for the wiimote. It's group based mulitplayer sold the wii, and its controls. Taking inherently motion based sports and translating known things into gameplay made simple to undersand.

this articles authors do not understand context at all.
 
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Sean_sl

shitlord
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I wouldn't say that the Wii won anything this generation. It may have pushed the most hardware units, but that gap has closed significantly. It also has barely any game sales compared to the X360 and PS3 due to the lack of third-party support. It sold a few exclusives well and nothing else, while the X360, and to a lesser extent the PS3, sold a whole fuckload of everything under the sun. Over all attach rate is winning, not big hardware sales with no games sold.

What the Wii accomplished was opening up a huge new audience to video games. That audience, however, quickly left their Wiis in the closet to collect dust and moved on to Mobile and Social gaming.

Wii Sports is definitely not overrated though. It was a ridiculously big Gateway Game that changed the industry, just not in a way that was actually beneficial to Nintendo in the long run.

Anything that completely changes the way that the entire game industry operates is never overrated. Halo (building an online network for consoles), Wii Sports (opening up gaming to an entirely new audience), Gears of War (spawning an entirely new genre of shooters and mechanics), etc, being on a list like that is absurd.
 
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Charles_sl

shitlord
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I've only played Wii Sports and Halo from that list but I disagree with them on both of those games.

Wii Sports was and still is fun, my brother (40 years old) still plays it. If you play games with older people or younger people it is very fun even now. So I don't agree with what Sean in saying that everyone who that game and the Wii appealed to have put them into their closet. I'm sure that plenty of people have but I would blame a lack of updated games that appealed to that group of players to begin with. Wii Sports Resort was not nearly as fun as Wii Sports was for example. If Nintendo were smart they would have focused on keeping those players via fun WiiWare games or more casual and fun games like the original Wii Sports.

Halo was also a fun FPS on a console, which was hard to do. I have played console games all of my life and there are very few FPS games that were any fun. The first game that comes to mind was already mentioned in the thread, Goldeneye for the N64, we had many all-nighters playing that game on the weekends and during the summer, and the very next game that comes to my mind is Halo. It brought fun PC-FPS elements to a console.
 
Mist

Mist

REEEEeyore
<Rickshaw Potatoes>
31,802
24,488
Every post-SNES Nintendo game is overrated. They are all complete shit.
 
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ThunderCougarFalconBird_sl

shitlord
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I know I am in the extreme minority with this opinion, but the most over-rated and over-blown games are those made by Bioware. From ME to DA to SWTOR. Seriously terrible games, each one being worst than the last. I did have a bit of fun with BG back in the day. Still have my 5-CD box somewhere. Anyways, I just could never get into their gameplay style, or supposedly great narratives. /shrug

As far as Halo, I agree that I think it was mostly just a console FPS with controls that didn't suck. At least for me it was.
 
Uriel

Uriel

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,954
2,445
Bad List, for reasons already posted. I want to especially call out Wii Sports though. That's probably my #1 played Wii game, I'd say it's a timeless game really, one you can always pull out and enjoy with friends. Resort added even more fun as well.

Also, queue Qwerty/Dumar calling us all fags for liking games post-BG2/Planescape:Torment.
 
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Charles_sl

shitlord
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Mist_sl said:
Every post-SNES Nintendo game is overrated. They are all complete shit.
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Are you referring to only game that Nintendo created or any game released for the subsequent Nintendo systems? Either way I strongly disagree.

Post-SNES Nintendo is the best. N64 is my favorite console by far, I had so much fun playing games on that thing and playing a console with 4 players at once with games that were actually created with that in mind (rather than some adapter to add more players) was amazing. Goldeneye as was already mentioned, Super Smash Bros., and a game that I don't see get nearly enough respect: Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey. They all offered amazing multiplayer experiences and hours upon hours of fun. How you didn't have fun playing those games and why you feel that they are overrated is beyond me.

If you are talking about games that Nintendo created... Well let's just say that Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time would like a word with you.
 
Gavinmad

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole
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54,012
I'm not gonna go so far as to say post-SNES games are complete shit, but the SNES really was the golden age of consoles in many ways. I mean they still do great shit today, but there really was something magic about the Super Nintendo.
 
Selix

Selix

Lord Nagafen Raider
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4
Goldeneye was/is still awesome. But I am amazed they didn't include Black&White and/or Spore.
 
iannis

iannis

Musty Nester
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17,660
They're completely wrong about Dragons Lair. I was still a little bit young for it, but that shit was a BIG deal for kids/teens and arcade gaming.

It was in the Arcade sitting next to Asteroids and Q-Bert. It wasn't so much the game itself, it was the fact that you were playing a cartoon. It's not over rated at all. It was just a period in time.
 
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Sean_sl

shitlord
4,735
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Iannis_sl said:
They're completely wrong about Dragons Lair. I was still a little bit young for it, but that shit was a BIG deal for kids/teens and arcade gaming.

It was in the Arcade sitting next to Asteroids and Q-Bert. It wasn't so much the game itself, it was the fact that you were playing a cartoon. It's not over rated at all. It was just a period in time.
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The Dragon's Lair pick was from an editor too young to appreciate it and doesn't get the nostalgia surrounding the re-releases. I feel ashamed opening this article up and giving these people more hits. The whole thing is just full of nonsense and "not getting it."
 
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