Most overrated games and franchises (no order)

[Username]

I wrote this like 5 years ago. I found it stashed somewhere on back up discs and I find it amusing that most of it is still completely relevant. I don't mean to start a nasty flame war with this but to rather throw some content out into these forums.


Xenogears

Coming out after PS1 owners were desperate for anything like FF7 to come out again (never did), many house holds picked up a copy of Xenogears. In Japan it was seen a dissapointment due to repetative, long gameplay and unoriginal content. In the U.S. Ps1 crowd however, any game could've achieved incredible popularity despite the quality of the product (the "golden age" of the PS1).

At the time, all 10 Playstation magazines proclaimed it as a triumph and readers fell for it. But what makes the game truly overrated are three reasons: First, the game was advertised and WAS extremely long. Games that were too long were all the rage as gamers were excited by the concept of many, slow battles occuring every 2-3 seconds of running on abstract maps on a top-down, cant-see-sh*t-ahead-of-me-view. Second reason, the plot to many young teenagers was amazing. To anyone that has read a book or two knows that the plot is amazingly STUPID. Let's quote a game review: "Confusing shadowy conspiracies, countries waging war with giant robots, plagues of zombies, people with destructive mental powers and many more ideas are all woven together along with some strange religious concepts
into a single complex multifaceted story." Yeah, that's just the
beginning. If this was a movie; straight-to-SciFi-channel. Third, anime
cutscenes makes young teenagers get instant erections.



Dead or Alive

There is jerk off material, and then there is Dead or Alive. Regular jerk off goes a lot further than this polygonal ***-fest. The battle system always has been and always will be more shallow than most NES platformers. But the fact that high kick with the right character might equal 15 minutes of masturbation is more than enough reason to dish out $50. Here's how the original DoA game was made: Tecmo took all the ideas from Tekken and Soul Edge. Take all the cliched, faggish characters and make them senselessly duke it out in completely random places and name it Dead or Alive for no particular reason. Tecmo of course overestimated humanity and found themselves selling a million copies of the 4th installment which isn't even a fighting game anymore. Don't worry, Dead Alive Extreme Volleyball 2 is cuming guys! It's no wonder Namco chose the idiot console of the decade to "revitalize" the series.



Syphon Filter

Remember the Syphon Filter series? No? Well it DID sell MILLIONS REMEMBER?! There is absolutely not one single original idea in this entire series. Here's how 989 studios envisioned this masterpiece: Take all the cool elements of being a one man army and literally randomly toss it together but in a controlled environment so it'll be easy to produce. Even though your main character is trained to use 900,000 forms of gadgets, weapons, etc he always coincidentally only has the gear that will fulfill his linear missions. Thankfully, 989 Studios made sure not to forget the frustrating gameplay and consistent flaws. The whole thing is such a sham I don't feel like getting into it anymore. For all of you that went out and bought Syphon Filter 2 (which is actually more than the original), beat yourselves. And if you bought the 3rd one, blow your brains out all over the PS2 section in Best Buy.



GTA

They should really stop selling violent games to kids just for the fact Grand Theft Auto might sell a couple less copies. GTA is ultimately stupid, runs like crap, looks ugly, completely unoriginal, poorly designed, and unrealistic. BUT OH WAIT YOU GET TO SHOOT PEOPLE RANDOMLY IN A SIMULATED UNREALISTIC UNIVERSE! I understand the appeal of instantly stealing a car and running it in to a wall but come on people, ARE WE REALLY THAT F*CKING STUPID?! When GTA was 2D only 7 people liked the game. But slap a horrid 3D engine and put it onto the most popular console ever and we have a winner! I played about 4 hours of GTA3 and I'm pretty sure the game doesn't evolve anywhere outside random missions and driving off things. There's a reason why this game didn't sell **** in Japan; they don't ****ing care about stealing cars. Don't worry guys! They're not missing out on any real gameplay! Every sequal manages to sell more copies at the same time reducing the frame rate. It's quite insane to think that this gimmick is enough to move hundreds of millions of dollars in the market and perhaps even change the country's political environment.


Everquest

My LAN friends tried so hard for me to like Everquest, it's almost sad. Heck, I even got a character up to level 10. But then I realized something: I DON'T HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE. Of the hours of EQ I saw from a distance, not one second of it looks remotely fun or interesting. The overall artistic design of the game is complete garbage and the entire EQ universe is just random long names and cliched ideas. The game's technical design is simply the worst I have ever seen. The characters are composed of several carefully positioned polygons mapped with textures that have nothing to do with each other. In other words, this game makes Doom 2 look like a tech-demo. If I were transported to the Everquest universe I would immediately kill myself by cutting myself against some jagged polygon. The world's architecture is mostly simple geometric shapes and this **** goes on forever. Yes, the EQ world is massive, but only because it's so easy for a programmer to make 70 square miles of random triangle hills. Let's not forget the game's animation is a joke and the fact it runs like complete crap AND the fact the game is buggier than a rain forest. Sound? Even the hardcore EQ players drown out the awful sound with loud techno mp3s. As soon as World of Warcraft came out, EQ was an instant no-mention-ever-again.



Tomb Raider

A good way to flush out the idiots of this great society is to illegalize Tomb Raider. They should send shock troops into every home looking for copies of Tomb Raider. And if they find one, they burn your house and the owners should be put into death camps. I know what you're thinking: "We were all once stupid". NO LOSER, not ALL of us. During the whole Tomb Raider phase I knew the game was a complete pedicel of sh*t USING COMMON SENSE. Here's what the whole Tomb Raider meant to me: Awful graphics and gameplay starring the most unattractive **** that people liked because of the polygonal tits. The whole skimpy outfit thing was so obvious, it was a direct insult to modern intelligence. The reason this game got so far up the list is because WE ALL KNOW VERY WELL THAT THE GAME COMPLETELY F**KING SUCKED AND SOLD MILLIONS BECAUSE OF TITS. But what DID we learn from all of this? There is no God.


Final Fantasy past 7.

What is it with Final Fantasy and the fact it randomly makes it so popular that it's very name is worth more than some countries? FF6 and FF7 were great. After that rest were extremely bad. For a Role Playing Game the FF series proved that all you have to do is make the player THINK he's interacting. You don't PLAY Final Fantasy folks, you EXPERIENCE it. Walk from this room to this room and talk to some people that say the same thing and can't do anything unless scripted. Go here and a 17 minute computer-generated video pops up that scripts another event. Go here and hopefully another scripted event occurs that opens up another scripted event which will let you watch some more video. Slap on an extremely minimal battle system that is easy enough to understand for a house pet. Throw in some secrets and easter eggs which don't affect anything except to make the idiot player think he's accomplishing something and make the game somehow easier than it already is. This has usually been the recipe throughout the entire series give or take 800 minutes of video. And we all know the whole thing is so predictable with the whole "hero saves the world and meets friends" plot. That should tell you something about humanity in general. We like predictability. My Business Law teacher said society is nothing more than risk management. Idiots like to pay $50 for tits and pretty CG because they think it's not worth the risk. And it's everyone's fault. The ignorant are only ignorant because they don't know better. It should be up to smart gamer to enlighten to our ignorant friends. Next time you're in Babbages and you see a guy pick up a copy of the Sims Expansion just say "Hey, maybe you should try something else because you might like it more and your hard-earned money goes to people that make better games thus resulting in an overall improved game market and game quality". Or just say "Hey, that game blows and you're a dumbass".

[kpxgq]

Xenogears > *


over-rated:
-Halo series
-Doom 3
-Wind Waker

[PCJ]

I remember the first Syphon Filter to be alright.

Also, GTA is ridiculously fun if you play OJ mode online. Nothing like being chased by 30 cops who are all real people.

[Spaceman Spiff]

While I agree with most of your write up, I think you went way overboard on Tomb Raider.
Looking back, it had its flaws for sure, but it was quite enjoyable when it was new in 1996 ( and no, I NEVER gave a crap about Lara Croft's appearance), but I loved the "Indiana Jones" style feeling of exploring those ancient ruins and finding ancient relics and stuff. It had a great 'adventure' feeling to it.

I think the series should have stopped after TR 2 though.

[schultz]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

While I agree with most of your write up, I think you went way overboard on Tomb Raider.
Looking back, it had its flaws for sure, but it was quite enjoyable when it was new in 1996 ( and no, I NEVER gave a crap about Lara Croft's appearance), but I loved the "Indiana Jones" style feeling of exploring those ancient ruins and finding ancient relics and stuff. It had a great 'adventure' feeling to it.

I think the series should have stopped after TR 2 though.

I've been hearing some pretty good things about the newest one.

Can't really say a whole lot, though. Never actually played any of them (except one time at Walmart or Target where I played on a display model thing for like 3 minutes...and I couldn't figure out the controls ).

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally Posted by schultz

I've been hearing some pretty good things about the newest one.

Can't really say a whole lot, though. Never actually played any of them (except one time at Walmart or Target where I played on a display model thing for like 3 minutes...and I couldn't figure out the controls ).

Yeah, I really meant all the like 6 other games that came out after TR 2 on the PSX and Dreamcast that were all disappointing.

[soupnazi]

I concur. The first and second Tombraider's were quite good and the rest went downhill till the newest one. (it's probably because the original creator, Toby Gard, was not involved in the developement during those dark times) When the 1st one game out, it was one of the first 3D polygon action games for PC. Mario 64 had just come out that same year in 1996. Lara was our Mario 64 for the PC. Yeah, the latest Tombraider is quite good. (a little short but better movement/gameplay/graphics) The melon appeal definately sells the game though.


I agree that Halo is overrated. It may have been a revolution for console gamers, but it was outclassed by many PC games. I may get some flak, but I always thought Sonic the Hedgehog was overated. The speed aspect seemed like a gimmick to me. I've really tried to get into Sonic on my GBA but the gameplay can't keep my attention. Give me Super Mario anyday. The Sims never kept my attention either.

[Soul Assassin]

I only played Nude Raider.

[Brahma]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

While I agree with most of your write up, I think you went way overboard on Tomb Raider.
Looking back, it had its flaws for sure, but it was quite enjoyable when it was new in 1996 ( and no, I NEVER gave a crap about Lara Croft's appearance), but I loved the "Indiana Jones" style feeling of exploring those ancient ruins and finding ancient relics and stuff. It had a great 'adventure' feeling to it.

I think the series should have stopped after TR 2 though.

I agree. At the time of it's release, the original tomb raider was an incredibly good game and the series got worse with each new addition.

[Username]

If I had to add onto this thing I really would add Halo and Wind Waker. Plus many more.


Also, I actually had a chance to play Tomb Raider 1 like 10 minutes ago. All I can say the game is extremely difficult to control properly, is very slow and is boring. At best it was an "alright" game in 1996. The whole feel of "adventure" and "Indiana Jones" has to come from nostolgic memory.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I also only ever played the Playstation versions. I never bothered with the PC versions.
I don't know if the PC version had problems or not, but the PSX version for the time was pretty revolutionary and fun.

[Idiot356]

I like or have liked all of those games you mention, so I have to disagree. I don't think any of them are overrated.

I guess it depends upon when you played the games, and what you consider "overrated".

I went back and played Goldeneye yesterday, and I thought "Wow this game pretty much sucks compared to todays FPS!" So I guess I could say "Goldeneye" is overrated.

Perspective is everything, I think all of those games were damn good games at the time they came out.

[monroeski]

Originally Posted by Username

If I had to add onto this thing I really would add Halo and Wind Waker.

Wind Waker wasn't really overrated. Sold a lot based on name, sure, but it was never a smash critical success, and I don't recall too much hype being put on it for GotY considerations. Of course, I'm too lazy to look that up, and someone will probably come along and post links to like twenty awards that it won.

As far as the OP - The first Syphon Filter and Tomb Raider games were good, and the second TR was pretty good, too. After that, both series went downhill, and I think they hype and talk surrounding the games reflects that. Most people I talk to haven't even heard of Syphon Filter, and TR: Legend was the first game in that series in a long time that had any sort of good press after it came out.

I'll throw the MGS series in as overrated. They're pretty good, but I don't think they're anywhere as good as people make them out to be.

[taggart6]

Halo Series

[Transfurzz]

GTA: Uh-duh ? People like random violence. I like it either way.

You may call it just one gimmick after the other. And I agree with you on that point, GTA has barely changed since GTA3. What GTA truly offers is free roam. Thats its real strength.

All it really does is expand on that. If you noticed, that progressively the starting area your confined to for the GTA3 series have been getting larger. Quite a bit larger. Trust me a lot of people feel the same way as you do, but I enjoy GTA for its open-ended gameplay. Do whatever you want whenever you want. Its a lot like most RTS games, they gameplay wise have barely changed since their advent. The only real gameplay change so far is the population cap. The rest is just expanding on what RTS games do, massive battles. If there's anything changing gameplay wise in a genre, its usually more of the same thing. Refreshed and ready for the market. The only real gameplay change we've seen last decade ? Will Wright's Spore. And its not even out yet.

Violence ? GTA is actually barely more violent than most computer games I've seen. So I wouldn't worry. Whatever you do in it, including kill random peeps are all available in most games. Its the mature themes such as drugs, gangsters and swearing that I would look out for. And no matter how the critics try to place it, sex has always been the least of topics in the GTA series, hardly even a consideration. You might notice that even a few particular main characters, who get a lot of screentime, link drugs and sex as vice and disdain abusing either. With exception of Vice City, which showcased a mob town with you as a mobster. Probably why, its considered the best of the series despite its relatively small size. The sex jokes are pretty much what you would hear one guy say to the other. To be honest, the Godfather game is far more violent. It features intimidation and torture as a key game feature. Even the GTA dating system is bolt-on, what leads people to believe the game is sex-orientated ? It just is, most people have never seen a dev so open with views about sex. Pornography and certain 'aspects' of it are quite widely seen in the GTA world. Which as most people find hard to believe, quite very normal.

I would blame the lousy frame rate on the PS2. It doesn't even have a GPU. The GTA3 series runs just as well as San Andreas on any PC. The game hasn't changed much graphically, except for the detail on player models and car models. You may say it has a bad frametrate. But Rockstar has a proven track record of making fantastic ports with proper optimisation and better quality textures. Few have even come close to the quality of their ports. No framerate problems on those.

The GTA3 series are one of those titles which are take it or leave it. Its popularity with the adolscents just makes it obnoxious to be a GTA3 fan. Who appreciate it only for the violence. And I agree, it is gimmicky, but not so much as you think.