"Good Games" That are Actually Bad

[Nz17]

I could swear we've already had a topic like this here, and that I'm the one who even started one of them, but heck if I can find it. And thus so inspired by the reverse of the topic being brought up by a podcast I listen to (The Koopa Kast), I ask you, DP denizens: what are games which are seemingly universally praised as being good games - or even called the best of games - but are, in your humble opinion, lame games? We are talking about games which have nice budgets and good production values, but ultimately end up feeling to you like mediocre or even bad games.

[bb_hood]

Flower and Journey.
Both not good

[Tanooki]

Destiny, grossly flawed and lacking

[rxd]

Assassin's Creed. At least the early ones. Haven't bought any after the first 2. Gorgeous games that are boring as hell...

[Koa Zo]

Ocarina of Time
perhaps not bad, but surely boring and mundane.

[Tanooki]

Kind of agree with those last two, lesser so Ocarina as I did finish it, just had to force myself, but that first AC game turned me off ever playing one again completely.

And since Zelda was brought up, I'm surprised how many people actually find any value in or enjoy Majora's Mask, god awful entry in the series. Boring, smaller, annoying ass death clock that loses progress in some form, too many lame masks, etc. First time a console Zelda game made me hate the series.

[celerystalker]

I severely dislike Ocarina of Time. I was excited. I pre-ordered. I wore the t-shirt.

I was bored out of my mind. It was remarkably tedious with such a wide open field that was largely vacant, bereft of the secrets that were all throughout the previous games. I've talked about it many times, but having to play out all of the filler like arduously pushing blocks realistically, traversing open spaces endlessly until you got the traveling melodies, crawling through lengthly tunnels that serve no real purpose other than to make getting initial equipment a "quest..."

The closer the games got to becoming a Hyrule simulator instead of an adventure, the less I cared.

[Sailorneorune]

Majora's Mask is a pain in the butt. Film at 11.

I don't like Majora's Mask (Link to the Past is best Zelda), but I might give the 3DS version a chance. Apparently it's had some tweaks to reduce the :bullshit:level.

[Tanooki]

I severely dislike Ocarina of Time. I was excited. I pre-ordered. I wore the t-shirt.

I was bored out of my mind. It was remarkably tedious with such a wide open field that was largely vacant, bereft of the secrets that were all throughout the previous games. I've talked about it many times, but having to play out all of the filler like arduously pushing blocks realistically, traversing open spaces endlessly until you got the traveling melodies, crawling through lengthly tunnels that serve no real purpose other than to make getting initial equipment a "quest..."

The closer the games got to becoming a Hyrule simulator instead of an adventure, the less I cared.

I've never seen that term before on the evolution (de-evolution) of the Zelda franchise, but damn that fits so well it's just sadly on the nose. More of a hyrule simulator instead of an adventure I can agree with. Ocarina pushed the edge, MM crossed it plus it was just terrible, TP was well into this even more so, and even SS was even more so with the motion controls. Wind Waker was like this one throwback, despite being 3D it didn't take itself seriously and felt like a cartoony depth loaded 16bit era Zelda title.

[Koa Zo]

Golden Axe is a game that more people seem to be realizing it is hardly any good.

Panzer Dragoon is the first game that came to mind when I saw the thread title, yet ultimately I really love the game, so I had to think about why it has an underlying bad impression.
I always thought the initial Saturn games all looked rough and sloppy. The magazines I saw gushed about Panzer Dragoon. The artwork and play style were right up my alley. However I was completely burned on Sega and wasn't even considering buying a Saturn (I hated the PS controller, so wasn't interested in that either)
It was a Panzer Dragoon Zwei demo kiosk at the Montgomery Wards store that I worked at which finally got me to pay attention to the 32-bit generation (honestly, actually, it was a preview for Shining the Holy Ark which made me interested in the Saturn)

When I finally purchased a used Saturn package in 1996 I had the opportunity to play both part one and two fresh and with only minimal previous exposure.
The first game did indeed come off as sloppy and rough. I kept to my intention of playing them in release order to preserve the story experience. It was a struggle at times, and I remember it taking quite a few nights to progress in the game (and I think the last boss frustrated me to the point of leaving the game for a bit)

The music and style lift the game way above its technical stature. The 90 degree shoulder button shift is pretty rough imo, and the motion of the aiming reticule takes more than a bit of getting used to, add in the sometimes sudden pop-up of enemies or the extended periods of coasting along with no enemies and it's not a stretch to say Panzer Dragoon is a bad game. If it had not been so aesthetically blessed I doubt it would have spawned the development budget for Zwei.
Zwei cemented the universe and art style and of course we know Azel enshrines the whole series as a work of art. As such Panzer Dragoon is one of the more important games of that generation (and all time), however on its own (outside of the series) and in comparison to more technically polished rail shooters, Panzer Dragoon might have been as remembered as Vanark.

[The 1 2 P]

I'm going to nominate Metal Gear Solid 2 and here's my reasoning: back in the day it got universal praise and high scores. Then a few months to a year after it was released and all the way up to today people have done nothing but complain about it's convoluted story and having to play as Raiden for the last part of the game. That's fine to complain but since this complaining was also done by many of the people at magazines that initially reviewed it and gave it 8's, 9's and 10's why didn't they complain about it when they were doing the initial reviews? It's like they only gave it good scores because it was the next chapter in a major franchise and then they proceeded to bring up how disappointing of a game it was in subsequent issues.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

-Halo (the first one)
Accessible console FPS that was playable without the mouse-driven reticule shooting common to its PC counterparts. However, aside from the flashy glitz and glamour (which was really only effective during its heyday) it is a really mundane FPS.

-Kingdom Hearts (the main series)
Sora had a great design for a lead character but the story was terrible. It tries to appear deeper than it really is by being convoluted and vague rather than the actual themes it touches on (which was a problem with FFX's story too). Repetitive, exhausting hack-and-slash gameplay that is only made clunkier by the so-called 'moves' which you can equip. That, and the original enemies, such as the heartless, were boring and uncreative. It had the budget and just enough gameplay to make itself successful, but other than that I don't care for the series.

-Grandia
A game with a charming cast and story but braindead easy and graphically rough on the eyes. Some will admit this game did not hold up well over time. I personally have tried tooth and nail to enjoy it but never could really love the game. Never played the second but it looks more up my alley than this one.

-New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Decent, but not worth the hype and success it had. I finished it once and for the love of me do not remember what it was like. Yoshi was advertised on the artwork but had very little presence in the game outside of the first few levels. Total gyp. Same with the DS counterpart.

[ZeroCool]

Mario Sunshine be acceptable? Terrible camera and controls. Only Mario I really don't like.

[Tanooki]

Why not, it was/is popular with a lot of people. It did have an annoying camera at times. I still would throw it to the New Super Mario Bros series, more or less entirely with maybe the 3DS one being ok(not sure yet) and the WiiU one was solid finally. They're bland, boring, cookie cutter generic games with Mario stamps on it to make you think it's more fun. I had to force myself to push into world4 of the Wii one, and even then a year later I inched it into 5 and stopped as it was just that boring. The DS release original stunk too, weird physics, 1/3 of the total worlds couldn't be played without finding a hidden exit which was really stupid. The 3DS one I'm not sure on, feels like coin whoring but I need more time on it as it's not as bland as the first two. Back when it first came out on DS I was just so happy they brought back SMB the series, and it has been a chain of let downs since.

Another I'd love to throw under the bus would be Mario Kart on DS and Wii. The DS game with the online cheating (or as the cheaters called it, advanced moves) with the snaking and then the online hacks too. My problem with it isn't just that, but the 150cc game was loaded to fail. It would intentionally keep you in 2nd place while having the game break its own rule of attacking the leader and instead all the AI would just gang up on you making it a miserable experience. I did like it on the others since the abuse was spread around and the tracks were fairly well made, but I ditched it over the bad stuff. The Wii version was just generic and played out, tracks were a snore to me, and then forcing the use of those flighty stupid bikes on 100CC, I sold it. Yet you can ask any MK diehard fanboy and they'll call them amazing games, and I just don't see it, but they probably just play online mostly. The sad truth is Mario Kart has taken the fair split between driving and item usage and thrown it into nearly no driving skill and all items, it's like Mario Party on wheels, a crap shoot of failure. I say Mario Party because that's only good with all people, the AI is stacked to fail with cheap rolls and other garbage when you're alone.

[kupomogli]

I think a thread similar to this came up a few months ago.

Anyways, I'm a huge RPG fan and there are some games that have legendary status and just aren't good at all or worse than average. Games like Valkyrie Profile and Legend of Dragoon are two of such games that were overrated to hell and back simply because they had you doing something else other than pressing attack, and that's where the praise ends because there really is nothing else to praise. This oh so amazingly unique style of combat gets repetitive long before the game is over, and in the case of Valkyrie Profile, before you finish the first dungeon, and as unique as the attack command is, everything else is severely limited. If you don't attack in Valkyrie Profile, then there is no other option than using an item. Legend of Dragoon allows you to use magic with each character as long as they're in their dragoon form, but in human form you use either a single addition(qte attack,) defend, or items, and that's it. In Legend of Dragoon your character's additions actually become more powerful than the dragoon attacks, so if you're not using one of the very very few spells the dragoons can use, then there's no reason to even transform into one when you get further into the game. After you get the final addition, the most powerful attack, you'll see your character doing the same attack the rest of the game. Progression also isn't very good on either of these games in comparison to others released in the same gen, especially in Valkyrie Profile.

The PSX had such an amazing library of RPGs, yet two of the worst are placed on a pedestal above many others.

[SparTonberry]

Topic should probably be more like "good games you don't like".

Did you know that every game ever made is actually bad to SOMEBODY?

[Niku-Sama]

Has any one said cod yet?

[Gamevet]

I've never seen that term before on the evolution (de-evolution) of the Zelda franchise, but damn that fits so well it's just sadly on the nose. More of a hyrule simulator instead of an adventure I can agree with. Ocarina pushed the edge, MM crossed it plus it was just terrible, TP was well into this even more so, and even SS was even more so with the motion controls. Wind Waker was like this one throwback, despite being 3D it didn't take itself seriously and felt like a cartoony depth loaded 16bit era Zelda title.

Thankyou!

I love A Link to the Past and Wind Waker. The Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask got boring pretty quick. OOT was pretty cool looking the 1st time you see it, but once the flash wears off, the lack of good story and gameplay becomes evident.

[BetaWolf47]

New Super Mario Bros. (DS): Felt like such a step beckwards. I played it and a few other Super Mario games for comparison, and New SMB felt so much like a diet version of them. It referenced other Super Mario games everywhere without doing anything that set it apart from them, and save for more advanced physics and graphics didn't even feel like an improvement from the original Super Mario Bros. It was a franchise known for breaking boundaries that was now taking a gigantic step backwards.

[WCP]

Destiny, grossly flawed and lacking

It's weird, but I'm actually having fun with Destiny.

I'm not into MMO's or multiplayer or anything like that, I'm actually playing the game, trying to pretend it's another Halo single player, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. The story is absolutely horrible ( if there even is a story ), but the gunplay is very, very solid, and Bungie has the best skyboxes in the business. I guess I have to admit that I've heard so many negative things about Destiny, that my expectations were about as low as you could get, so maybe it's a pleasant surprise because of that. I'm relatively early on in the game and I understand that there is a severe lack of content, but at least the minute to minute gameplay is good. I'm talking about the encounters with the enemies. It's just like any other Bungie made Halo game I've played, in terms of the enemy encounters, and Bungie has always excelled at that, and I think they continue that with this game as well.

The graphics look really amazing on my new 70 inch TV as well. It's literally one of the best looking games I've seen on this TV for whatever reason. That has me digging the game as well.


I do fear that soon I'll run out of any appreciable content and keep doing the same things over and over and over, but I haven't got there yet, so I'm happy at the moment..

I know there are much worse games than this...

[Zthun]

Original Mortal Kombat.

[Tanooki]

It's weird, but I'm actually having fun with Destiny.

I'm not into MMO's or multiplayer or anything like that, I'm actually playing the game, trying to pretend it's another Halo single player, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. The story is absolutely horrible ( if there even is a story ), but the gunplay is very, very solid, and Bungie has the best skyboxes in the business. I guess I have to admit that I've heard so many negative things about Destiny, that my expectations were about as low as you could get, so maybe it's a pleasant surprise because of that. I'm relatively early on in the game and I understand that there is a severe lack of content, but at least the minute to minute gameplay is good. I'm talking about the encounters with the enemies. It's just like any other Bungie made Halo game I've played, in terms of the enemy encounters, and Bungie has always excelled at that, and I think they continue that with this game as well.

The graphics look really amazing on my new 70 inch TV as well. It's literally one of the best looking games I've seen on this TV for whatever reason. That has me digging the game as well.


I do fear that soon I'll run out of any appreciable content and keep doing the same things over and over and over, but I haven't got there yet, so I'm happy at the moment..

I know there are much worse games than this...

You know I did at first too and I detest MMOs. I think to be fair I think it would be best to give a why on that. It's the general poor design of the MMO aspect of the game. Who has ever heard of a modern MMO/Co-opRPG style game where you have no lobby? When I speak of that is a central hub/hubs to the game where there's an open area for people(adults usually) to text chat or even mic if available so people can make friends, talk with existing friends, set up raids, join a guild, manage a guild and so on? This game is as unfriendly as possible to try and get into a group let alone set up one. I never could get with anyone of value in a party for team stuff (non-combat zones, talking story/planets here) and never could we coordinate attacks or ideas how to stomp the enemy since you can't talk unless you add them to your PSN friends list which I think is super obtrusive if you don't know the dude/chick in the first place. Couple that with the various foul ups they did and PR screw ups too from the get go as I got it at launch and it just drove me off it after around putting 20hours or more on it. I got into Venus and Mars, didn't go further. It sickened me a group like Bungie who designed Halo could be so grossly inept in setting up communication lines with players to a point of crippling the enjoyment of the game. Had the game been with those lobbies and ability to chit chat with other players, much like a game like Guild Wars 1 or 2 on PC, Id still be playing it today, guaranteed, as I like space stuff.

[Zthun]

You know I did at first too and I detest MMOs. I think to be fair I think it would be best to give a why on that. It's the general poor design of the MMO aspect of the game. Who has ever heard of a modern MMO/Co-opRPG style game where you have no lobby? When I speak of that is a central hub/hubs to the game where there's an open area for people(adults usually) to text chat or even mic if available so people can make friends, talk with existing friends, set up raids, join a guild, manage a guild and so on? This game is as unfriendly as possible to try and get into a group let alone set up one. I never could get with anyone of value in a party for team stuff (non-combat zones, talking story/planets here) and never could we coordinate attacks or ideas how to stomp the enemy since you can't talk unless you add them to your PSN friends list which I think is super obtrusive if you don't know the dude/chick in the first place. Couple that with the various foul ups they did and PR screw ups too from the get go as I got it at launch and it just drove me off it after around putting 20hours or more on it. I got into Venus and Mars, didn't go further. It sickened me a group like Bungie who designed Halo could be so grossly inept in setting up communication lines with players to a point of crippling the enjoyment of the game. Had the game been with those lobbies and ability to chit chat with other players, much like a game like Guild Wars 1 or 2 on PC, Id still be playing it today, guaranteed, as I like space stuff.

http://www.destinylfg.com/

The community kinda fixed that problem. It's not an in game lobby but it's there. Destiny was meant to be played with close friends, not pugs.

[Gameguy]

Shenmue.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

^ Seconded. I loved the atmosphere but never understood the hype for that game.

[Tanooki]

I had that Shenmue game, bought it on a big sale being curious why people puffed it up so much. I mean I could get around, talk, see things and all that, but it felt like a tech showpiece and not a game. It was all atmosphere, models, but little else of value for the distance I went into it at least.


That is cool fed up people made their own external way to link up Destiny players, but it's very sad it had to come to that and not having Bungie patch something like that into the game. I don't hate Destiny, I found what I had done fun, but it just wore on my nerves with the omissions to the team up aspect. It gets nastier later into it where I was and being able to call in random people or friends through chit chat on a lobby, or joining a guild to do that would have made the difference of my continued ownership.

[BlastProcessing402]

Halo. If there'd been anything worth playing at Xbox launch, this one would be forgotten as the generic junk that it is.


MGS, I really don't see what people see in the series. I get why the first one on the PSX got attention, but that doesn't make it actually good. Kojima is not worthy of your worship, people!

[Tanooki]

KInd of have to really strongly agree with both those selections. Just as the first MGS was something special (as the GBC one was too considering the format) there's nothing awesome about it other than the awesome amounts of canned annoying stealth elements and poor camera/control issues up until recently. Halo is poor that's a definite and it would have been forgotten or just average level supported as another xbox random FPS title had it not been alone so long and puffed up so big to fill all that empty space.

[ZeroCool]

Earthbound. Its made out to be one of the greatest RPGs ever and although it isn't bad it isn't one of the top RPGs at least for me. The characters have no personality. Ness family had more and you only meet the mom for the first few minutes. The music sucks. The enemies were the only decent part of the game.

Shenmue as I agree what Tanooki said. I might of loved this game when it came out but when I played it in 2007 I was intrigued but not overly impressed. it got boring when you had to kill time to get to a certain point. Ryo was just boring as well.

Beyond Good and Evil another game highly praised I found boring. Although I didn't finish it, what I played I got bored. I'm still waiting for when the second one will come out as its been in production since 2009. Another The Last Guardian.

[Tanooki]

I'm sure some will be surprised by it, but I couldn't tolerate more than an hour or so of Shadow of the Colossus, and it raises some serious concerns with Last Guardian with me. I tried to re-do Ico which I loved on PS3 too and couldn't stand more than 1/2 of it as it aged badly even with the new coat of paint it received. Both those got raved about for years especially recently with the HD remasters. I also do agree with BG&E, cool characters and story element to it but boring as hell, I quit 1/2 into it, and never understood all the ranting and raving about it and wanting a sequel.


Totally off topic, but since Earthbound was brought up, I've always felt it mediocre but not bad, which is why I keep it around. But one thing I always wondered why all the rabid insane fanboys never did anything with it, but those trippy badass psychedelic backgrounds in all the enemy fights I would have loved to have had as an active background on my computer and further back in history as a screen saver. I'm surprised no one ever did it.

[TheBenenator]

Final Fantasy I: Weak story, grindy gameplay.

Final Fantasy III: Somewhat better, but changing classes was a pain. I'm trying to grind, don't make me suddenly powerless just because I HAVE to switch to a class that can cast the plot-required shrinky spell!

(Both were outdone by Final Fantasy V, even if that game doesn't take itself very seriously.)

Also, regarding Halo: **** y'all, that was a cinematic Masterchiefpiece, with in-person multiplayer and everything!!1! Seriously, though, it's much more fun than you're giving it credit for.

[Nophix]

COD Advanced Warfare, or whatever the new one is called.

I really dug COD2, and was praying for a modernized COD with a good campaign. I got that with MW, and several successors. It's no RPG, but a decent story and pretty believable.

Then come Advance Warfare. We had a ton of games just like it. Futuristic suits, poor story, just crap.

I'm not a multiplayer guy.

Aside from that, Mario Galaxy. Either of them. I get sick playing them. My family loves them, however.

[evildead2099]

-Halo (the first one)
Accessible console FPS that was playable without the mouse-driven reticule shooting common to its PC counterparts. However, aside from the flashy glitz and glamour (which was really only effective during its heyday) it is a really mundane FPS.

Agreed, but it's worth noting that Halo features the worst level design of any AAA FPS (ever). Only the game's outdoor stages are bearable. Even the seminal FPS game, Wolfenstein 3D, features more compelling level design than the original Halo.

[kupomogli]

Etrian Odyssey. A lot of Atlus games that get praised are deserving of the praise, this series isn't one. It's a first person dungeon crawler RPG series and imo the most boring, slow paced, grindy series in the genre.

[Daria]

Ocarina of Time
perhaps not bad, but surely boring and mundane.

I can't get out of that village. Such a muddy, dull beginning.