Name a universally good game

Gamers can be so critical about games even the highest rated ones receive some hate. Can there ever be a game that is liked by everyone? The only game I can think of is Tetris because it succeeds in what it sets out to do perfectly.

Any thoughts and/or arguments?

Pokémon? Anyone who says they don't like it are clearly not part of "everyone" as they simply cannot be human.

Not going to happen. There's always going to be someone that will claim something is crap.

Tetris is probably the safest bet though :P

Deadly Premonition.. :P

Tetris DS is the only one that comes to my mind too.

Chess? You didn't say that it had to be a video game.

@ThunderSlash said:

Chess? You didn't say that it had to be a video game.

Well, there are heaps of Chess games, one of them even stole the TNT music :o

There is no such thing as a truly universally liked game. Quality is subjective, peoples' tastes are different, and whatever the game there are always going to be people who don't like it. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. While gamers can get too cynical about things, criticism is ultimately a good thing and I don't think we should frame people's dislike of certain games as "hate", this is something that's often done to dismiss people's perfectly valid dislike of things.

tetris really is the only right answer

@cheddartyme said:

tetris really is the only right answer

This might actually be the only game I've ever heard a person not hating.

@Cloudenvy said:

@cheddartyme said:

tetris really is the only right answer

This might actually be the only game I've ever heard a person not hating.

Let me introduce you to Petiew:

@Petiew said:

I don't like Tetris.

@BeachThunder: He sounds like a bad person!

Rapelay

Solitaire?

I'm yet to meet someone who actively dislikes Civ.

Edit: when asking my friend this question he said he actively disliked civ because it sucks so many hours of his life down the drain. Seriously though I'm sure there are some people who don't get the appeal of civ now that I think about it.

Universally though I'm gonna say Pinball.

I disagree with Jeff's assertion that Tetris is the greatest game ever by default but I will have to concede that the game is at least universally respected. Some people like it, even fewer love it but never met a person who hated it.

I have met people who hate Tetris Battle Gaiden though.

Bejeweled is another game like Tetris.

How about Lumines? It closely resembles Tetris anyway so maybe it gets a pass.

Portal?

Mario?

It has to be Tetris. Not because of the game itself, but because it was made bySoviet scientists.

Well...there are times that i hate Tetris, but not quite as badly as the times when i hate XCOM.

I don't hear a lot of hate for the earlier Mario games.

Everyone likes Mario , right ? Maybe not LOVE Mario , but come on.

If it were possible the only real choice would be a Mario game, unless you count non-beret wearing counterhipster-hipsters who are too cool to be cool as people.

Then again, your title is misleading - a universally good game is far different from one that is universally liked.

Portal? Never hear an ill-word spoken of that game.

There will never be an answer to this question.

This is like asking if there is a food that everyone likes. There isn't. No one thing is going to appeal to every person, it just isn't the way it works.

In terms of modern games I'd say the closest I ever saw was the original Portal. Everybody loved that game when it came out.

For classics I'd say Pac-man.

Nothing, nothing, nothing is universally considered good. For anything that exists, there is someone, somewhere that hate's it with a passion.

Red Dead Redemption

Curiosity.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Yeah, I'm not really a Tetris fan either. I loved Hexic though. It still bothers me to this day that I was 2 turns away from the six black pearl achievement when a bomb exploded. I will never, ever, get to that point again. Don't have the time or the desire, but that would have been one of my proudest gaming moments if it happened.

EDIT: I'd have to agree with Mario Bros.

There is no such thing. Something will always be the opposite of what someone likes. Tetris is close too, though.

I dunno... the original Mario Bros? Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1, maybe?

I've never really seen anyone bitch about Super Mario 3 or Super Mario World. Same goes for Portal - hell, I think I was the most vocal person about my issues with the game, and even I came around to loving it. Also, maybe the original Monkey Island and/or its remake from a couple of years ago? I know people don't like the adventure game in general, but that game seems mostly favorable to all sorts.

Classics wise:

Mario, Doom 1, Quake 1/2, Starcraft, Zelda: Ocrina of time, Bastion

Yeah Portal can be another one. I mean WHO would hate that game? I'm sure the humor won't jive with everyone but the puzzles themselves are quite good and the fact that it was a breath of fresh air.

How about Metroid Prime? Can't see a problem with that game either.

@Zekhariah said:

Zelda: Ocrina of time

I've never met anyone that hates Ocrina of Time; Ocarina of Time on the other hand...well, that's a completely different story :o

Diablo 3. Never seen a word against it. The Blizzard forums are just filled with love right now.

(because this is the internet: THAT THING I JUST SAID WAS A JOKE.)

Super Mario Bros.

@cheddartyme said:

tetris really is the only right answer

I don't really agree, I don't dislike Tetris. I'm just no good at it so I have a bad experience every time I play it.

I would say that The Sims is a universally good game, nobody can hate The Sims right?

@JasonR86 said:

Super Mario Bros.

Nope. I didn't care much for Super Mario Bros.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, everyone I showed it to had a lot of fun playing it.

@Hizang said:

I would say that The Sims is a universally good game, nobody can hate The Sims right?

I tried playing The Sims once. Holy crap that game was boring.

@BeachThunder said:

@JasonR86 said:

Super Mario Bros.

Nope. I didn't care much for Super Mario Bros.

...Satan?

The Sims.

@JasonR86 said:

@BeachThunder said:

@JasonR86 said:

Super Mario Bros.

Nope. I didn't care much for Super Mario Bros.

...Satan?

Not that I'm aware of; just a regular person that didn't find anything particularly interesting about the game who didn't play the game when I was four.

Pokémon? Anyone who says they don't like it are clearly not part of "everyone" as they simply cannot be human.