What games bashed critically you loved?

Sometimes reviewers are blind to the awesomeness of some games. They bash them left and right and only a few people happen to play and enjoy such experiences.

This is the thread for those scorned yet compelling games. Help me and your fellow gamer find such awesome and underated games and enjoy them.

What games bashed critically did you like or even love?

Does Zeno Clash 2 count? =(

This is an old school PC game that was relatively poorly received but man did I love Star Wars Rebellion.

There are several. Maybe not love, but I like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Two Worlds was fun (save for a couple very frustrating glitches), there's an Xbox game called Breakdown that I really like also. I'll conclude by saying that I love Bloodrayne 2, but it's been a long time since I played it so my glasses may be a little rose tinted.

I can't name a ton because that would require me to play a game that others have said sucks. I generally don't go down that road...often.

Would you say Alpha Protocol was bashed? Because I'll say Alpha Protocol in that case

Yesteday I came to one of them:

• Dante's Inferno - while the game has almost the same gameplay of the God of War franchise, it is so much more! The levels of Hell are so awesome characterized, you find mythical characters like Vergil (the greek poet), Cleopatra, Marcus Anthony, King Minos, and so many others, you have the choice to absolve them of their crimes, or punish them. The graphics are great, although not as great of God of War III or Ascension.

Yeah it was. Panned critically. :(

The Ar Tonelico games. I will even go as far as to say that the second one is the best game that Gust has ever made. Anyone that disagrees is a jerk that is probably often wrong about things.

Secret of Evermore. I liked it, but in magazines back then all I saw was bad reviews.

Also: King's Field.

Tenchu Z. In fact I kinda want to go play it right now.

No, but I do love a bunch of games that are constantly bashed by gamers

Gta4, and heavy rain seem to be universally hated by every gamer on every forum, and I have no fucking clue why

pretty much every warriors game so looking forward to dynasty warriors 8.

I liked Resident Evil 6.

I.....I liked Clive Barker's Jericho....

I came here to say the same thing about GTA IV. I absolutely love that game and don't get the weird hate what so ever.

I think Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing is deeply misunderstood, and is in fact a very touching social commentary on the French revolution (1789-1799).

totally! People were way too harsh on that game and it's a huge bummer :(

also Alpha Protocol, Nier, Resonance of Fate

DK64!

Star Wars: Galaxies - An Empire Divided, my first MMO, and that first year was probably the most engrossing gaming experience I've ever had; then it went to shit so fast it was unbelievable.

Mercenaries 2. I carped on about it the other day so won't say any more.

I really liked Deadly Premonition (non-ironically) and it's one of my favorites games of the generation.

Critical reaction to that game was all over the place though, so I don't know if it counts.

@naru_joe93: most gamers seem to like them. I personally find both unplayable though.

My answer to the question is basically what @animasta said.

I'm not sure about that particular statement, generally, the games I really enjoy but which were panned are game I see plenty of issues with, but where I can look past those because I enjoy another aspect of them. Some review outlets try to write reviews from the position of what the general audience is likely to think of the game, and then it's probably hard to praise something that is pretty much made strictly for a niche group. Or for that matter, the reviewer may not personally like that kind of game, which is fine too. I try to find critics whose views are similar to mine, so that something they personally like or dislike is likely to be true for me to, doesn't make the others blind to some games' awesomeness, but, opinions and stuff.

As for games like that, I think Dark Horizon is a really weird but still good space combat game. The translation is among the weirdest google translate-y things I've ever heard, bordering on incomprehensible. It's unmistakably Russian, and is really atmospheric and fun to play, despite dialogue like this:

I also really loved Dune 2000, which it seems the majority didn't think was very good (on flip side, the Red Alert series is pretty much my least favorite Westwood games, and they seem to be the most popular among everybody else). And, yes, I had played both Cryo's Dune and Westwood's Dune II beforehand.

I also thought Armor Command was a pretty good early 3D-RTS. Not exactly on par with stuff like Homeworld, Ground Control or Warzone 2100, but it was released two years prior to them, and still managed to get the camera controls to work better than just about any of the present day polygonal RTSes (like Dawn of War, Company of Heroes or StarCraft 2).

I do think it's the most fun I ever have had with a game when watching others play it.

Dead Island got its fair share of grief, but despite its glitchiness and repetitiveness, I enjoyed it very much. Something about bashing zombies (in analog combat, mind) never got dull. Now Riptide deserved its bad reviews, just because it's a full-priced expansion, more or less.

Tenchu Z.

I liked kane and lynch 2 alot! I also can't stop playing RE:ORC.

Castlevania on N64. I know it wasn't great, but I don't understand the all-out hatred. I actually enjoyed it.

Matt Rorie's Alpha Protocol and 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand

Me too. That game had a LOT of issues but I still enjoyed my time with it immensely. The other one that's worth mentioning is Path of Neo. I played that game a bunch and still think that some parts of it are really cool.

Bullet Witch. Definitely not a good game, but I still really enjoyed it for some reason.

I wouldn't say LOVED but I did enjoy my time with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days and everyone seemed to have hated it. The multiplayer was especially fun and innovative - the way you were pulling off a heist together but could gun down your team mates right before extraction to get a bigger split of the cash.

Only one that comes to mind is Deadly Premonition but some critics liked it. There are a lot more games critics loved that I did not care for.

Kane and Lynch 2, through and through.
I absolutely loved that game to death... I put so many hours into the multiplayer, so many.

It also has some of favorite game trailers ever made, this being one of them.

Seriously, how fucking awesome is that whole scenario?

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Kane and Lynch

Definitely not bashed, but I just finished Max Payne 3 and found it criminally underrated

Resident Evil 6. One of my favorite games of this gen.

Alpha Protocol. It was an awesome spy RPG.

Kane & Lynch(both of them). The personality and stories of those games are just magnetic.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. One of the more underappreciated games I've seen in a while.

There's a lot more, but those four pop up in my mind pretty quick.

@artikay: really? that's mindblowing. do you remember what issues reviewers had with evermore?

I quite liked

Yanya Caballista: City Skater

on the PS2, and its weird skateboard controller accessory. Also played through almost all of

Pimp My Ride

on the 360, but that one I wouldn't care to defend very much. And as someone who owns two Dynasty Warrior games, I thought Dynasty Warrior: Gundam 2 was pretty fun when playing with a friend and listening to music.

A lot of the "critically panned" games in this thread have a Metacritic of near, or above, 70.

Second the Alpha Protocol love. Also I love Dragon Age 2 despite its' inherent flaws.

None. I only like good games.

Yeah Im with this too. I enjoyed every facet of that game to a great degree and i feel even though it was reviewed relatively well the general feeling in the writing among the press was kinda ehhhh

People seem to bash on Donkey Kong 64, but I feel like it's Rare's best game.

I really enjoyed playing through Call of Juarez: The Cartel with a friend. So much that we played through it twice.
Then I played through it a third time alone.

@animasta: I'm not sure you could call Resonance of Fate a critically bashed game, it got average reviews, I'll agree that it's definitely underrated. One of my favorite games this gen. That battle system is so damn good.

Super Mario Sunshine. I dunno if it was 'bashed' exactly, but it kinda has a reputation as a not-so-good game for whatever reason.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is one of the best games to come out this generation.

Also while I didn't "love" it I enjoyed Dragon Age 2 more than seemingly anyone else did. I thought the story and characters were miles above the first Dragon Age. I'll admit it doesn't excuse many of it's issues though. The biggest for me being the reused assets.

Alpha Protocol is the absolute top of the list... unfortunately it is kind of rightfully bashed. It got all the hardest parts of a game right, and all the things we take for granted were just absolutely amateurish. Jesus, I'd still jump back into that big clown footed bastard's shoes again for another couple runs at the story...I just wish it was a lot longer.

Also I really enjoyed Deathrow (Though I can't recall, but I don't think this was really bashed) back in the day and I played the shit out of Tales of the World: Radient Mythology on the PSP.