What games have been critically slammed but you really like?

[agbulls]

I was talking to a friend the other day about what games we choose to buy, and why we select those particular titles. Of course, average review scores often come up in these types of conversations. We often reference gamerankings.com and how we're hyped for whatever is the "next big thing."

However, we then started talking about the games that we bought and enjoyed REGARDLESS of them being critical punching bags. I'm talking games with scores of 6 or less that we've still enjoyed. Is it the liscense? Does the game have new ideas that didn't totally come to fruition but are still cool and fun? Or, are reviews in general just a bunch of bullshit and you ALWAYS have to make up your own mind?

Here are a few games I've enjoyed with their bottom feeding terd sucking average from gamerankings:

Astro Boy PS2 -- 56.7%

I really like this game and I'm not ashamed to shout it out loud. It looks just like the new cartoon series, has a ton of upgradable moves and the rocking Astro Boy battle music and theme. Everyone loves to hate Sonic Team -- who does make their fair share of crap -- and never gave this game a chance. The flying controls are also great. Was it basic? Sure. But a hell of a lot of fun if you love the character.

Superman Returns 360 -- 54.3%

Hands down the best Superman game to date with really sharp flying controls. Hold down the R button and you really feel like you're "cooking." The move set is huge, although the mission variety is sorely lacking. Great implementation of large scale battles -- the giant Braniac battle is a blast throwing giant trucks. The game never experiences slowdown too---which is worth noting due to the sheer size of the city and the open-world genre. A downloadable pack via XB Live could make this game incredible. No joke.

Advent Rising XB -- 67.4%

I never had a chance to play the PC version, but still really like this game. The story was original, the character design totally feels like Gatchaman (which is cool) and the flick controls work better than spoke of in reviews. SO many people slammed the elongated character designs in Advent Rising -- even when it was obvious they were going for a highly stylized Japanese manga look. Oh well, its not for everyone. Slowdown is nasty at times (although fixed on the PC from what I hear) but does not hurt the basic gameplay.

Think of a 3rd person action game + Superhero game + Halo + Psi-Ops+ Star Wars with a more interesting story (Orson Scott Card). That's Advent Rising.

At least that's what the developers we're going for. It's just too bad the game is so full of bugs (sound + music glitches abound) as this was too much to get past reviewers. Apparently the dev team was tiny and had an even smaller bugdet while obviously having HUGE dreams for a monster trilogy. With its terrible sales, its just never going to happen.

What are your guys' favorites that have been critically shit on? This could be a bargain hunting weekend...

:)

[roushimsx]

Headhunter: Redemption (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/914651.asp) -- 64%

I found it to be an excellent third person action game with a nice aiming system and some pretty darn neat level designs. I especially loved the Running Man-esque sections where you're stuck in a gameshow. For whatever reasons, critics found it to be generally average to substandard, which really irked me. Hell, I liked it more than the first game.

ChoroQ (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/921351.asp) -- 56%

ChoroQ was absolutely pure fun in racing form. Most reviewers never bothered to get past the first few races, so all they saw was a bunch of cutsey cars chatting and then a painfully slow race with a poorly controlling car. Anyone that stuck with it for a half hour or more experienced some excellent, imaginative and fun tracks with a wide assortment of car parts to spice things up. No, the "overworld" was not as well done as Road Trip and the racing grids were smaller, but overall it was still a superior experience and a brutally underrated/overlooked/unfairly-panned game. At least, I think so anyway.

[djsquarewave]

Astro Boy PS2 -- 56.7%
I suspect the GBA game had something to do with this.

I was going to say God Hand (brutally difficult, over-the-top bizarre, ridiculously old school beat'em'up from Clover Studio) because the only review I'd read was IGN's 3/10 blastfest...but apparently it's got a 75% on Gamerankings so I dunno.

Ghost in the Shell PS2 -- 65.8%
It's like Bullet Witch only good! Once you get used to the controls, it's extremely satisfying to even just move around in this game, not to mention hacking into enemy soldiers and taking out all their buddies without so much as letting yourself be seen.

WinBack 2: Project Poseidon -- 49.1%
This is about as uncohesive as a game can get. Sure, there's a lot of samey corridors, and it's more or less entirely made up of shoot-from-cover scenarios, and the music is really bizarre for the setting, and the voice acting is pretty bad, and...well...it's not a very good game. But I liked it nonetheless, and actually finished it. The last couple areas are actually rather cool, particularly the airport.

[bangtango]

I can only think of two. Blowout for Gamecube and Rogue Ops for XBox. Every review I've read on those two said they were very generic and do nothing new in their genres. Personally, I don't mind. I don't know about anyone else but I'd rather play games that are slightly generic than games that are actually poorly executed, riddled with bugs and/or unplayable.

[Slate]

The Great Escape and Sewer Shark.

[Snapple]

Saying "hands down the best Superman game to date" doesn't exactly mean much. Supe hasn't exactly set the bar high. I get what you're saying though.

There are probably some games I love that have been critically panned. I have to think about it though.

[Damaniel]

The first one I thought of was:

- The Nightmare of Druaga (PS2) - 56%

I don't think that any reviewer was very enthusiastic about it. In fact, I don't think any mainstream reviewer gave it more than a 7 out of 10, and some of them gave it much less. However, if you're a fan of challenging turn-based Roguelikes, then you can't go wrong with it. At the time I picked it up, I had stopped playing games for a while, since nothing could keep my attention for more than an hour or so anyway. Between this game and Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (which I got at about the same time), my temporary disinterest in gaming magically went away. ;)

[bazariah]

ring of red on ps2 got low scores of in the fifties somewhere in the uk magazine press, but i realy enjoyed it

[Kitsune Sniper]

Dr. Sudoku (GBA) (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/930472.asp?q=sudoku). This game is so cool I even wrote up an Amazon.com review for this. I can't understand why people gave it a score in the 65-75% range.

[shopkins]

Catwoman for Xbox, 49% on Gamerankings. Everyone slammed this for being associated with a bad movie and for being weird, but once I got into it I found a neat Prince of Persia Clone with some interesting combat ideas. It's not the greatest game ever and it could have frustrating objectives at times, including one multi-level climbing room and some places where you have no clue what to destroy to move on, and it has a horrid story, but overall it was a fun experience. I wonder if people would have been happier if the game was a generic side scrolling beat-em up that didn't try something different.

[E Nice]

Battle Arena Toshinden URA - SAT - 56%

This game always gets panned and none of the improvements over Toshinden 2 are ever mentioned. The life bars are bigger, so fights aren't as short as Tsd2. The characters have better animation rather than being jerking blocks. They say this game is 60fps? I don't know if that's true or not though. The only other Toshinden game to my knowledge that had that was Toshinden 3 but it was an option which activated removed the game textures. It even has a mode similar to Soul Calibur's Weapon Master Mode, before Soul Blade came out. However this was a hidden mode and there was nothing to be gained by winning fights under the specific conditions but it did boost the difficulty. There were two hidden menus that added additional features to the game, changes to Sofia's stage lighting, transparency, invisible walls, gravity pull and such. A final quirk was if you jump and then repeatedly press taunt in mid-air fast enough most characters will be able to fly. :D

D-Xhird - SAT - 14%

This game is always severly slammed. It has flaws, as the above game, but the good is almost never mentioned. I think this is one the Saturn's more graphically impressive games, especially for a 3D fighting game. Several stages were very impressive looking considering it was the Saturn, Izanagi's stage is a case in point. There is weapon trailing better than Last Bronx. There is lots of different types of transparency used, for backgrounds, walls, shadows, stage effects, even Karen's skirt (via code). The music is actually pretty good, albeit extremely short. This has Eiji Shinjo's best music theme since Toshinden 1. The character Boy could turn into his alter ego in a match under a certain condition, which would give him a bit of an altered handling. This game also added the ability to attack an enemies flank with a side attack to get around the constant blocking when you try to circle an opponent. You were able to do attacks off the wall, though Toshinden 3 did this as well but differently. If you fell out of the ring you could air jump back in, so long as you didn't fall below a point of no return. Weapons could break if they take too much damage, which left you with limited bare handed moves. You also had a defense shield that protected you from physical attacks, not projectiles, that acted like a combo breaker that knocked your opponent away. There was also some sort of frenzy mode you could activate that would make you move very fast, so you could combo any hit but you had to connect with the last hit or risk being left open to attack due to the long recovery if you miss.

[BHvrd]

Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon - N64


I loved this game on the N64! One of the few I beat and loved every minute of it. Critics rated like 5-7 in general, I feel the game was a definite 9 just for the sheer amount of fun.

Someone else said "The Great Escape", I think i'm confusing that game with another game where you escaped from prison, and went under buildings and listened to conversations, etc, that game was better than rated, can't remember the name though. Was it The Great Escape? I dunno I think it was called something else. It was on Xbox.

Good topic btw.

[Ze_ro]

Wild Metal (DC) -- 53.5%

I've always been a fan of "tank" games, and this one was probably my favorite. The physics in the game are a little wonky, but exploiting them is part of what makes this game so fun in my opinion. The enemies are pretty varied, and have their own methods of attacking you (some of them will ram you as their own way of exploiting the physics), and the levels are quite large and well done in my opinion. I ended up playing this game long into the night, always telling myself "Okay, just ONE more mission...", which always seems like the hallmark of a great game to me.

--Zero

[Slate]

Someone else said "The Great Escape", I think i'm confusing that game with another game where you escaped from prison, and went under buildings and listened to conversations, etc, that game was better than rated, can't remember the name though. Was it The Great Escape? I dunno I think it was called something else. It was on Xbox.

Good topic btw.

I meant the game based on the movie. When I checked on gamefly, It was rated 5 out of 10 stars.

[skylark]

Grabbed by the Ghoulies - Xbox
I actually think that this is a really good game. Instead of pointing in the direction of an attack and pressing X, you just pointed in direction. It's simplified and ingenious. I loved the graphics, the setting, and the variety of things you could use as weapons. Sound was good too.

Chibi Robo - Gamecube
This is a great game. It made me feel good every time I played it.

@BHvrd: Are you thinking of Prisoner of War?

[BHvrd]

Grabbed by the Ghoulies - Xbox
I actually think that this is a really good game. Instead of pointing in the direction of an attack and pressing X, you just pointed in direction. It's simplified and ingenious. I loved the graphics, the setting, and the variety of things you could use as weapons. Sound was good too.

Chibi Robo - Gamecube
This is a great game. It made me feel good every time I played it.

@BHvrd: Are you thinking of Prisoner of War?

Yeah Prisoner of War. Liked that one myself.

[Push Upstairs]

Predator: Concrete Jungle I admit I still don't like the idea of having a set "level" to roam around in as opposed to free roaming an entire city. But this game did have some pretty good "Predator" moments and that is really all that mattered. It's a shame is has no replay value though.

Bonus points for not tying itself in anyway with the "Aliens vs Predator" movie.

[mEgAsHoT]

Some that come to mind for me:

Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller- Xbox

This game was slightly slammed due to the fact that it was "more of the same" or it "was more like a collection of Crazy Taxi games than a new game." Or maybe they were sick of Sega? Anyways, this is the underrated, awesome sequel to Crazy Taxi 2. Too bad Sega didn't follow this one up with Crazy Taxi 4. I LOVE this game! It's quite possibly the best in the entire series of Crazy Taxi games. Quick gameplay, cool cabbies, and a great soundtrack. If you like Crazy Taxi, then by all means get this game. The controls take a little bit of getting used to, but after that, it's great.

Smashing Drive- Arcade, Xbox

I don't know what the big deal was with critics slamming this game. Sure, it may look like a poor Crazy Taxi knock-off, but it sure did had its moments. The shortcuts in this game are crazy (no pun intended). From going up a skyscraper to going through a theater, the shortcuts were crazy. Sure there wasn't a whole lot of modes (it's an arcade game, remember?), but it was fun for quick bursts, like Crazy Taxi. My brother and I are probably the only people who actually enjoyed this game to an extent.

Crusin USA- Nintendo 64

While the arcade version was met with great reviews, the N64 version quickly got butchered by critics. They said that the pop-up was horrible, the sound wasn't up to par, and the game just sucked. Well, I loved the fast paced racing in this game. It is pretty much a direct port of the arcade original. I found no noticable flaws in the gameplay that would warrant such poor reviews from video game critics for this version. The controls are a little sensitive, but once you get used to it, it's an easy game to play. Maybe the reviewers just sucked at the game?

[diskoboy]

Full Auto - Xbox 360.

I'm sorry, I thought Sega did a great job with Full Auto. There were a few graphical hiccups, but the gameplay was intense and the destruction was so much fun! :)

I wish that Sega didn't abandon its small fanbase and put the sequel on the PS3. Boy, that sounds familiar... ;)

[retroman]

Shenmue 1 and 2 for the Dreamcast.....Loved em, and am still hopeful that a 3rd one will come out. But the games scored mixed reviews.

[agbulls]

Shenmue 1 and 2 for the Dreamcast.....Loved em, and am still hopeful that a 3rd one will come out. But the games scored mixed reviews.

Great games, yes. But I would hardly call them critically slammed.

[klausien]

Golden Axe: The Duel - Sega Saturn
Sure, it isn't particularly well balanced or even good, and it's certainly not Revenge of Death Adder, but The Duel captures the vibe of Golden Axe very well. The fighting engine is so-so, but the 2D graphics are pretty spectacular. Nice animation, large characters, interesting backgrounds and that awesome SamSho zoom effect that we all know and love. It doesn't look as nice as something like Astal (which is like playing a Roger Dean Yes album cover), but it was quite a surprise when i first tried it. Beats the crap out of the Sega Ages remake.

Project: Horned Owl - Sony Playstation
Another game that was treated unfairly in the mainstream press. It is a solid gun game with art by Masamune Shirow. Straightforward hyper mecha police force anime action with pixellated, poorly animated 2D enemies. Looks much better with the PS2 smoothing turned on. Worth a look for anyone who loves gun games. Good luck finding one of those lime green Konami Justifiers.

Darius R - Game Boy Advance Jp only
Even those who moderately like Darius rip on this game. If you take it for what it is, a revival of the original with a slightly new coat of paint, it is an excellent game. Hard as nails, but a good fit for the GBA.

Neo Contra - PS2
It would have been nice to have the option of dual analog control like Smash TV, but I really dig Neo Contra. Actually, I like it better than Shattered Soldier. I see it as what Cannon Spike could have been.

NanoBreaker - PS2
Alright, the game is heavily flawed, but it isn't anywhere near as bad as the press would have you think. It's like the PS2 Castlevanias, only in a different setting. The combat is quite good, and you gotta love the blood,

Silpheed: The Lost Planet - PS2
As a vertical shooter, it is mediocre. Not bad at all, but not particularly great in any way. But, as a sequel/remake of Silpheed, it is right on target. I still love the graphics.

Wario World - GameCube
A bit of a stretch, as it got solid reviews, but this game is sorely underappreciated. 2D platforming in 3D. It just feels right. Get it.

Wii Sports - Nintendo Wii
It has been discussed to death. The game has received a barrage of criticism, but people keep buying Wii's to play it. The golf sucks, but the rest of it is a lot of fun with friends. It makes me drool for Wii Mario Tennis. I also love boxing against friends because of the Mii factor.

[Leo_A]

Sega Classics Collection for the PS2, I really enjoyed several of the games on it such as the remake of Outrun but I've never seen a positive review of it.

Super Off-Road The Baja for the Super Nintendo, I think I'm the only fan of that game.

[j_factor]

P.N. 03. It wasn't quite "slammed", but I do remember critics going on and on about how disappointed they were in this game. I don't see why; P.N. 03 is awesome! Yes, the rooms are repetitive, but that's part of the game's actual design and not just laziness (the rooms need to be similar for the scoring system to make sense). And even if the layout is the same, the game itself doesn't feel samey. Great game overall.

Also, Bangai-O. I think EGM gave it like a 5, and some magazines (particularly GI) didn't even review it. Now, I do agree that the control would have benefitted from a dual-stick controller, but using the buttons really isn't that bad (the SNES version of Smash TV was pretty well-liked...). What I really love about this game, aside from the humor, is how clever the level design is. Definitely one of my favorite Treasure games.

Additionally, Billy Hatcher was one of the best platformers of its generation IMO. I don't get why it was so disliked.

[Push Upstairs]

I played "P.N. 03" and ended up shutting it off after awhile because I really got tired of looking at a bunch of similar looking rooms. I think the same look to each room kind of took away from the sense of progress. Plus there was no "well what does the next level/room look like?" to help keep me going.

Controlled fine though.

[skylark]

Additionally, Billy Hatcher was one of the best platformers of its generation IMO. I don't get why it was so disliked.

Yeah, I'll throw some support behind Billy Hatcher too. Very good game that got panned for no reason at all.

[The Great Dane]

I have to say that one of the main ones that stand out for me is Deadly Towers. This is said to be one of, if not worst NES games ever made. But, I actually found it really fun. I think it has awesome music for the time, a pretty deep storyline which was also very unusual at the time, and interesting items and weapons.

[Slate]

I'll add these to my list:

Grabbed By The Ghoulies - One of my first xbox games. I liked it a lot.

Super Off Road The Baja - For some reason I love playing this game while listening to ACDC's Song Jailbreak!

[NoahsMyBro]

I actually liked Bubsy on the Jaguar. I never really understood why so many folks bash it.

[PentiumMMX]

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (PSX)
Most hated it because of Final Fantasy Tactics. I liked it because of the humor, decent story, and strange soundtrack.

[Juganawt]

All of the Dynasty / Samurai Warriors games get slated in reviews, but I can't get enough of them. I love the old-school hack and slash games.

[bangtango]

I actually liked Bubsy on the Jaguar. I never really understood why so many folks bash it.

I liked the Bubsy series in general. I was in the 2-3 percentile who thought most of those games were great. Many of the levels in the Bubsy games were really big and fun to explore. It sure as heck wasn't the ONLY game that ever came out with shaky collision detection and cheap deaths. Reviewers would have you believe it was, though.

I already posted in here but over time I also warmed up to the Spec Ops games on PS1. That and the Acclaim QB Club football games. I suppose my biggest crime would be saying that I like the 3D Sonic games much more than the 2D ones on the Genesis. For some reason, the newer ones are the best in the Sonic series to me.

[Frica89]

Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon - N64


I loved this game on the N64! One of the few I beat and loved every minute of it. Critics rated like 5-7 in general, I feel the game was a definite 9 just for the sheer amount of fun.


I too love that game. I always felt that it was greatly underappreciated.

[roushimsx]

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (PSX)
Most hated it because of Final Fantasy Tactics. I liked it because of the humor, decent story, and strange soundtrack.

No, most hated it because of the voice acting, story, music, and complete lack of anything resembling a challenge. Plenty of people that didn't like it didn't like Final Fantasy Tactics either (omg maps too small!) :)

[Steve W]

Club Drive on the Jaguar. I really liked the game, spent a lot of time playing it. I really liked the fact that it was the first game I had ever played where you could drive anywhere on the game map instead of a linear route.

Highlander on the Jaguar CD. I can't remember if it was GamePro or EGM, but they crucified the game. I have to admit, it was insanely frustrating to play the game at first. The controls were hard to come to grips with, but once you got it down, it turned into a good little game.

South Park Rally on the Dreamcast. A lot of reviewers slammed the game because the tracks weren't clearly marked, so it was easy to go the wrong route on the big open levels. But that's what I loved about it, especially in some of the oddball collect-the-item races.

[goemon]

Back in the PS1 era, Gamespot got their hands on an import copy of Choro Q2 and gave it either a 2 or 3 out of 10 (can't remember exactly). Having played the hell out of that game, I think it deserves no lower than 8/10. It far outclasses the first Choro Q -- the tracks are better designed, there's a town to explore, there are tons of hidden secrets, and the framerate got much better. The music tracks are shorter, but given the extra space needed for everything else I can see why they didn't go redbook. The other thing that wasn't massively improved were the graphics -- they didn't switch to a new engine until Choro Q3. Still, 8/10 is the lowest I think it should get. Maybe the reviewers didn't know enough Japanese to figure out how to tune their car or something.

[William_the_Saint]

They have both already been mentioned; Advent Rising (Xbox) and P.N. 03 (Gamecube).

Advent was really fun when it was working correctly and P.N. 03 had some very intense battles and made good use of cover.

[roushimsx]

Back in the PS1 era, Gamespot got their hands on an import copy of Choro Q2 and gave it either a 2 or 3 out of 10

ChoroQ games never get proper love in the US (critically or commercially). It's a fucking wonder that anyone even bothers to bring them out at all, but I'm happy as hell that they do. I guess the whole idea is doomed unless you're packing a Pixar/Disney license (in which case you'd be the second best selling game of the year (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4691&Itemid=50&limit=1&limitstart=14)).

Still, the success of Cars gives me hope that eventually the ChoroQ games will "click" with the general public.

[goemon]

ChoroQ games never get proper love in the US (critically or commercially). It's a fucking wonder that anyone even bothers to bring them out at all, but I'm happy as hell that they do.
[...]
Still, the success of Cars gives me hope that eventually the ChoroQ games will "click" with the general public.

I think the problem is marketing. As far as I know all the Choro Q releases in the US have been as "budget" titles, which poisons the well for reviewers. Secondly, the niche that the series exploits in Japan doesn't seem to exist in the US. From my observations, kids in the US grow up much more quickly than kids in Japan. The age group that, in Japan, would be playing games like Choro Q instead want to play "mature" games in the US (Around 5th to 8th grade). So I'm not surprised that Choro Q gets little love in the states. The games weren't blockbusters in Japan, but they sold nicely and were well promoted. Choro Q3, the zenith of the series, got reprinted twice (PStB and PSOne Books).

I don't like the PS2 games much but I think CQHG4 (ChoroQ in the US) is probably the strongest of the bunch, discounting Works and HG2, which I have yet to play.

[exit]

Clock Tower received less than stellar reviews, most of which complained about the point and click interface, but it's really a strong adventure game. I remember renting this game when my friend let me borrow his PSX and I spent hours playing this game, showing my friends how everyone died. The game had 10 endings, 5 for each character and scared the shit out of me several times.

[Push Upstairs]

Super Off Road The Baja - For some reason I love playing this game while listening to ACDC's Song Jailbreak!

I played this game via emulation and I always played it listening to the heavier songs on Smashing Pumpkins "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness".

Much more fun than the original. Sometimes I'd give myself infinite nitro and see how far i'd get using only the nitro before i trashed my truck. :-D

[Neil Koch]

I really like the Driver series, and those (especially part 3) were savaged in reviews.

[Rob2600]

I remember enjoying several Nintendo 64 games that I thought were slightly underrated:

Cruis'n World (6.6 on gamestats.com, 62.8% on gamerankings.com)

International Track & Field (6.6 on gamestats.com, 64% on gamerankings.com)

Paperboy (6.7 on gamestats.com, 67.7% on gamerankings.com)

Waialae Country Club: True Golf Classics (6.3 on gamestats.com, 63.4% on gamerankings.com)

War Gods (5.0 on gamestats.com, 45.3% on gamerankings.com)

Wheel of Fortune (6.6 on gamestats.com, 64% on gamerankings.com)

I know a few of those games haven't aged well, but they were fun at the time. Regarding War Gods, many reviewers missed the point that it was goofy, silly, and over-the-top on purpose.


Wii Sports - Nintendo Wii
The golf sucks, but the rest of it is a lot of fun with friends. ... I also love boxing against friends because of the Mii factor.

To me, the golf and bowling games a lot of fun, but the boxing, tennis, and baseball games could (and will) be a little bit deeper. That said, I understand Wii Sports is a simple showcase of Nintendo's new motion-sensing controllers. Overall, it's great and I'm excited to see the concepts taken even further by Nintendo and/or other developers.

Please note that Wii Sports received an overall score of 8.0 on gamestats.com and 76.6% on gamerankings.com, which are easily above-average ratings. :)


Back in the PS1 era, Gamespot got their hands on an import copy of Choro Q2 and gave it either a 2 or 3 out of 10 (can't remember exactly).

For what it's worth, THQ published published a Choro-Q game for the Nintendo 64 in the U.S. called Penny Racers. It received an overall score of 5.8 on gamestats.com and 55.8% on gamerankings.com, which indicates the game is average...playable, but not great.


For the record, the games some of you are listing did not receive low scores. For example:

Wii Sports for Wii received an overall score of 8.0 on gamestats.com and 76.6% on gamerankings.com.

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg for GameCube received an overall score of 7.6 on gamestats.com and 71.4% on gamerankings.com.

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon for Nintendo 64 received an overall score of 7.9 on gamestats.com and 73.8% on gamerankings.com.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies for Xbox received an overall score of 7.3 on gamestats.com and 70.7% on gamerankings.com.

Chibi-Robo for GameCube received an overall score of 8.1 on gamestats.com and 77.9% on gamerankings.com.

All of those scores are above-average.

[Leprakon7]

I liked flat out the first one alot.The magazines didnt give it much on the rating. I thought it was a fun racing game although it took awhile to get your car back on the track.But the mini games were the best. i havent played part 2 but im sure its fun too.

[Leo_A]

I'm going to add Miniature Golf/Arcade Golf for the Atari 2600, I think this game was highly underrated.

And even though it recieved average reviews, I thought Sega Arcade Gallery for the GBA deserved higher scores for the great ports of Outrun and Super Hang-On, even though Afterburner was poor and I didn't care for Space Harrier.

[j_factor]

For the record, the games some of you are listing did not receive low scores. For example:

Wii Sports for Wii received an overall score of 8.0 on gamestats.com and 76.6% on gamerankings.com.

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg for GameCube received an overall score of 7.6 on gamestats.com and 71.4% on gamerankings.com.

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon for Nintendo 64 received an overall score of 7.9 on gamestats.com and 73.8% on gamerankings.com.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies for Xbox received an overall score of 7.3 on gamestats.com and 70.7% on gamerankings.com.

Chibi-Robo for GameCube received an overall score of 8.1 on gamestats.com and 77.9% on gamerankings.com.

All of those scores are above-average.

What it receives on gamestats or gamerankings isn't always a true indicator, because they include everything and give equal weight to each source. I'm not criticizing their methods, but sometimes a game is considered critically panned when just a couple of the more famous review sources give it low scores. For example, Chibi-Robo got like a 5 or so in EGM, and that's really the only score I remember seeing; Billy Hatcher was often mocked, including on X-Play's review of Astro Boy PS2 ("between this and Billy Hatcher, Sonic Team has a lot to make up for"). Often, the big-name mags are overly harsh or overly lenient on certain games, for whatever reason, and the lesser-known reviewers are more honest. Or conversely, overall scores can be inflated by smaller review sites who are afraid to give low scores lest they lose their free-review-copies-of-games privileges from the publisher (which actually happens).

Also, you say those are all above-average, but isn't the average score on gamerankings like 73%? People like to say that 50% is "average", but it's definitely not the average score (as in, the mean score) given out.

[AMG]

Mortal Kombat Trilogy - N64
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - PS2
CastleVania: Curse of Darkness - Xbox

These three games didn't get much love from the press. But I enjoyed them.

[shoes23]

I know I'm a rarity, but I tend to enjoy the majority of licensed games. I really get into them if I'm interested in the in the intellectual property that they are based off of, but even if I've never had an exposure to the original material I can still squeeze a lot of enjoyment out of them. Who would've thunk it.

"ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD"

[skylark]

What it receives on gamestats or gamerankings isn't always a true indicator, because they include everything and give equal weight to each source. I'm not criticizing their methods, but sometimes a game is considered critically panned when just a couple of the more famous review sources give it low scores. For example, Chibi-Robo got like a 5 or so in EGM, and that's really the only score I remember seeing; Billy Hatcher was often mocked, including on X-Play's review of Astro Boy PS2 ("between this and Billy Hatcher, Sonic Team has a lot to make up for"). Often, the big-name mags are overly harsh or overly lenient on certain games, for whatever reason, and the lesser-known reviewers are more honest. Or conversely, overall scores can be inflated by smaller review sites who are afraid to give low scores lest they lose their free-review-copies-of-games privileges from the publisher (which actually happens).

Also, you say those are all above-average, but isn't the average score on gamerankings like 73%? People like to say that 50% is "average", but it's definitely not the average score (as in, the mean score) given out.


These are my thoughts on the matter, too. Grabbed by the Ghoulies has become, like Azurik and Kabuki Warriors, one of the Xbox whipping boys. GI ended its review with the phrase: "What a terrible game." In a later issue, the same reviewer compared another game to it in order to demonstrate in just how low a regard she held them both. I'd say GI alone offsets most of the positive reviews it may have received on gaming sites. Also, whenever someone wants to show how Rare has lost its touch (an opinion I don't share), Grabbed by the Ghoulies is the first thing mentioned. Whatever the actual average score might be, the final critical consensus seems to be that the game sucks.

I tend to think that 90% of review forums end up damaging gaming more than anything else. The same tiny group of smart-asses passing judgements from month to month making or breaking titles doesn't benefit anyone.