Critically acclaimed or excellent games that just aren't fun

[Az]

I posted this in the Modern Gaming section since I feel it predominantly applies to games around the PS2 era and beyond. Are there any games that you find are objectively done well but just can't stand to play because you just can't find that intangible fun in them?

I got to thinking about this the other day when I was browsing through my 360 games. The 360 is probably the system which I have spent the most money on software for in my collection of consoles and the most actual time playing. I've only sold, traded, or otherwise gotten rid 2 or 3 games out of the 70 or so games I own for it. The good to garbage ratio of games I own for it is higher than any other console I've got, I can count on one hand the games I own that flat out sucked and most of them came bundled with something else. I really can't think of a title I bought and instantly thought, "wow, this is rubbish!"

The other day I picked up Battlefield 3 and 4 for cheap. I had not played a BF game since 1942 on my PC way back when it was first released. I popped them in, played some single and multiplayer and was disappointed with the online in that you start out with basically jack shit. You have to put in a few hours just to get basic equipment that was available from the start in 1942.

So as I put a few hours into each game it dawned on me that I wasn't playing the game because I actually enjoyed it, I was playing it to unlock trinkets and junk in the hopes of enjoying it. It wasn't that the game was horrible in a specific way but rather I didn't find it fun at all. Grinding for experience felt like a chore and even when awarded the items the game was completely vanilla; not bad but just something inoffensive that occupied my time while I sat on the couch. I might as well be staring out the window or reading a junk mail catalog while on the toilet.

Looking over my collection I found a lot of games like that. Games that were critically well received, sold well, were designed and put together well and as a whole were a fine package... yet I have hardly any desire to play them because I found no real fun in doing so. I couldn't point that the controls were bad, graphics lacking, or anything like that. I just find them not to be a sum of their parts and found nothing satisfying, fun, or enjoyable about them. The strange thing is none of these were games from genres I dislike to start with (sports, RTS, etc) or from series I never cared for anyway.

Can you think of any games like this from your collection? Why do you find them boring?

[sfchakan]

Depression Quest?















































It had to be done!!!

Honestly, after browsing Metacritic's reviews for all time for PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, and PC; I've found anything scoring higher than a 90% was pretty damn good for it's genre. The biggest disappointment that stood out off the top of my head was FF XIII... and it's got an average in the low 80s, depending on your platform. Pretty fair, I guess.

I have run across some indie games that got some really spectacular press that I definitely don't think was deserved. Sighting more examples might just make this another one of those threads that get derailed, though!

[CDiablo]

For me it's simulation racing games. Almost every PS owner I know buys Gran Turismo and hates it cause its a sim. The game sells like 10 million copies a generation and I've yet to meet anyone who actually enjoys it.

[bb_hood]

I found the 2 Little Big Planet games to be just boring.

[celerystalker]

Modern sports sims drive me nuts. Not because I hate sports; I like sports quite a bit. Modern sims, though, are too focused on realism to the point where a single game of baseball can take an hour and a half. I don't have that kind of time for a season, much less a franchise. Older sports games, especially baseball, did more to streamline the experience by distilling the high notes to capture the spirit of the game in a fast-paced, accessible package as opposed to a 1:1 sim.

[Tanooki]

I tend to not buy into the mainstream big name fluff, or if I do it is well after it comes out and super selectively like COD Ghosts a year after the fact.

My mistake was trusting a company with a track record for constant excellence, and that would be Bungie and their over hyped turd Destiny. They story is nice, the game play works well to a point, but the game itself in the overall design is a boring flipping drag. They talk up the community, but then dont bother to give you one since you can not converse with anyone in game as it has no chat, no lobby. You have faceless people who pop in and out at a whim and can help or hurt you, but in certain areas you are on your own and it is awful. They started to have addon packages and rolled them into the weekly events, the only way to get certain points to get the best gear in the game. It was forced into cash cow situation to keep bleeding more than the initial 60 off gamers. Had the game allowed for super easy conversation, teaming up and guild making like any other mmo or cooprpg like guild wars has I would have kept it and playd the game probably an easy 6 months instead of like 6 weeks off and on before selling it. I hated the setup as it sucked the fun out of the game.

[Nebagram]

For me it's simulation racing games. Almost every PS owner I know buys Gran Turismo and hates it cause its a sim. The game sells like 10 million copies a generation and I've yet to meet anyone who actually enjoys it.

I LOVE the GT games. I still rank GT1 as one of my top 20 games of all time, I much prefer simulation-style racers to arcadey racers any day of the week, and GT hits the spot perfectly. Frankly, I find games like Ridge Racer to be borderline unplayable.

Back on-topic, and I'm expecting some backlash for this, but I found Ico to be dull. Beautiful, yes, artistic, yes, atmospheric, yes, but it was one long escort quest. I loved Shadow of the Colossus, mind you.

[CDiablo]

Back on-topic, and I'm expecting some backlash for this, but I found Ico to be dull. Beautiful, yes, artistic, yes, atmospheric, yes, but it was one long escort quest. I loved Shadow of the Colossus, mind you.

Im with you on this one. I played ICO over a Christmas vacation several years back (before the PS3 re-release) and was pumped going into it. 4.5 hours later I completed it. The game was like a Zelda dungeon with less difficult enemies, easier puzzles and no boss that I remember. I loved the art direction, but as a game goes, it was trash.

[kupomogli]

Dishonored. One of the worst stealth games I've played last gen and the amazing storyline was boring as hell. No idea how this garbage got a 90+.

Anything Assassin's Creed. Hold R1, up, and x and the game plays itself on top of doing nothing but picking up collectables. Garbage series long before Unity broke anything.

God of War. God of War is merely decent. The storyline is passable and the gameplay is passable. Most games in genre that aren't God of War are better. I'd rather play X Men Origins Wolverine which gameplay is much more enjoyable.

Mass Effect. As an FPS it's surpassed by hundreds of other games. The storyline is good, that's it, but the quality of this series is blown out of proportion like each and every game is perfect in every aspect.

[Gamevet]

Since when was Mass Effect ever an FPS?


I'll go back further than the PS2, because I believe that there was just as much wrong in the previous generations of consoles, as there is today.


Goldeneye 007: I really don't get what all of the hype was about with this game. The AI was crap, the aiming was shoddy and seeing Pierce Bronson's face texture-mapped onto a square block was oh so wrong.

Beetle Adventure Racing: The pace of the cars was horribly slow, with very little sensation of speed. It played more like a kart racer with all of those collect-a-thon items to search for through hidden paths. It failed as a racing game for me.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

Most big name games on the market. Not a fan of dark, creepy, ugly, overly realistic styles. I find them very unengaging. Then again, Kingdom Hearts had the visual style I liked but I found the combat to be tiring. It had polish, but for ps2 action-rpgs, I greatly preferred the more obscure Dual Hearts. I got up to the little mermaid stage in KH before giving up because the hack-and-slash gameplay amidst the swimming mechanics was terrible. The only reason I tolerate realism with Final Fantasy is because it has a japanese elegance to contrast it. I also despised Bully. Such a boring and drabby game.