There are numerous kinds of overrated games in the world. There are ones that let you down right out the gate, with all the pre-release hype misleading us into making a mistake, a great example being the games Too Human and Lair, both massive failures on their respective consoles. There are the ones that split opinion, getting rave reviews from some and getting panned by others, such as Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts; I didn't think much of the demo myself but some seem to swear by it. There are ones that deep down have the makings of greatness but just don't live up to their potential, like for me the original Assassin's Creed or Halo: ODST; both paved the way for better games in the series. There are some that follow in the footsteps of greatness and simply can't match up. I'm looking at you Deus Ex Invisible War. And there are some that, with the beauty (or lack thereof) of hindsight we see were just never as good as we thought at the time: Sonic the Hedgehog anyone..?
Then there are some that everyone seems to think are good, getting highly recommended by our friends and peers, receiving a minimum of a 'good' review by most all websites out there, and even being labelled by some as the best that genre has to offer, 10/10, practically perfect. And yet we don't 'get it', we don't see what the fuss is about or why so many go gaga over this game or series.
It's this final category I want to discuss, because its this category of game that I find most fascinating. Some games, such as the Grand Theft Auto series or Final Fantasy series, I know are just not my kind of game; the genre or style or setting don't appeal to me on a personal level. While I may claim them to be 'overrated' by my own tastes, I know that independently of myself I have many many friends, whose taste (I think) is sound, who would vouch for the quality and value in these games. Equally there are some that I see as flawed, but I can't deny the fun they offer: Mario Kart Wii being a great example. I dislike some of the imbalances inherent in that game (and yes, I know you can turn off high level weapons like the Blue Shell, but no-one who plays against me ever wants to for some reason..) but I can't deny the amount of fun I've had with that game, and after all I'm probably not the intended audience for it.
The games I wanted to highlight and discuss are ones which seem to be universally acknowledged to be good-to-excellent games (so probably minimum of 80-85 on metacritic, that you've heard being spoken highly of by gaming websites or friends you know) but don't seem to be doing anything extraordinary, different or exciting to justify the praise.
I have a few I could discuss, but for me the most obvious one I've experienced is Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Rated 85/100 on metacritic, with no reviews below 70 from 77 critic reviews). I don't want this discussion to be too much about this one game, but I have to tell you I was really looking forward to this pre-release, and I'm not saying it doesn't have any merit - it certainly offers something different in the fighting genre. However to rate it that highly I think the game needs to offer way way more than it did - it literally gives us barely more than Marvel vs Capcom 2, which I have on my 360 (through classics on the marketplace) which was over 10 years older. I feel like the creators of the game were a lot more concerned about creating a cool looking, well-balanced fighting game that stuck to the original, that they forgot you have to actually offer a fully-featured game! Maybe I'm just out of touch with the fighting game genre but I'm sure it should have given way more than it did..
The Arcade mode is a joke: all you do is fight about 6 or 7 different dudes in a row before fighting the final boss (same boss every time), and then depending which fighter you won with at the end you get a few comic book panels telling you their ending. You can play versus locally or online, and there's a practise arena (although that's also pathetic, teaching you nothing about the game - its basically just an opponent who doesn't fight back). From memory, that is all that game offers. For a fan of single-player games, and a big fan of the concept the game offered, I was hugely disappointed and it is easily one of the biggest regrets I've had when purchasing a game. This annoyance is compounded by the fact that Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, which is the exact same game but includes about 10+ new characters and a couple new levels, was released recently to similar reviews, with most reviews brushing over the fact that this totally screws over those people who payed full whack for it two years ago!
I've ranted about Capcom's business practises before; the way they expect customers to 'double-dip' on series like Street Fighter and MvC Special Editions/Ultimate Editions/Super Editions/Give-Us-Your-$ Editions, the extortionate prices for their DLC, the locked content on discs they expect us to cough up still more money for. But this complaint is entirely separate from that; this game frustrates and baffles me because, unless I've missed something here, a cool concept and cool visuals don't make a game 'good'. A limited experience, and one I might add that didn't cater to anyone but a hardcore crowd, surely can't be worth the same as fully featured games like Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 3, Eldar Scrolls: Skyrim, FIFA 12, Gears of War 3, heck even shorter games like Call of Duty... you get the picture.
The fact that this game is rated higher than Castle Crashers, a game I think deserves a lot more plaudits and is 10 times more fun, doesn't sit right with me. While both are effectively button bashers with limited modes (and yes, I know there is an art to fighting games for the hardcore), one game cost me £40, the other £10. One I've pumped 20+ hours into and enjoyed with many of my friends, the other I spent a few hours with initially, played one game against my brother and then got bored. Can you guess which is which?
Now I'd like your input on which games or series you think are overrated, similar to the above criteria - games which seem almost universally praised and yet you just don't see why. Which games do you think don't live up to the hype? Which ones seem to be insanely popular but really don't do it for you? And what are your thoughts on these undeserving games - is it just a personal preference that's holding us back? Or is *shock horror* metacritic and the gaming press not always a good indicator of how good a game actually is?
Please leave your thoughts on this discussion below. Thanks
Alex
