There are just some games so divisive, so polarizing, that they can consume a person's whole afternoon posting in a forum about how terrible they think it is. It could be because of broken gameplay, complicated systems, or just because. These are the games that I feel should be defended. More to come as I think of new ones. Suggestions are welcome!
Ah, Harvest Moon. Say "farming sim" to anyone and you probably won't get a strong positive reaction from them. Lots of people write of the Harvest Moon franchise as boring, repetitive, and childish. I'm here to tell you that... they're right. However, nothing is more calming than a few hours spent tending to some virtual tomato crops. Hey, Farmville has more users than Twitter, so there must be SOMETHING about hard labor without the hard labor part that entices people.
Sure, Halo is one of the all-time biggest selling franchises in gaming history. Go on most forums, however, and you'll find a significant amount of hatred for the games. Credited with dumbing down video games for the masses and spawning hordes of corpse-humping douche-bags, Halo gets a lot of mud on its face these days. But, back in 2000, you and your friends were playing the original on your Xbox just like everyone else. Fact of the matter is Halo was the first truly playable FPS on home consoles, and it brought people to the couch more often than any other game of it's time. Funny how it's not remembered for it's Goldeneye-esque qualities these days.
Tim Schafer's failed experiment didn't really win over many fans with it's wonky marriage of RTS and Action-Adventure elements. Hell, Schafer even had to send a memo out to the fans telling them that they weren't playing the game right, and that's why they weren't having any fun. Personally, I would play a piece of shit with a screen on it if Tim Schafer told me it was his new game.
Everybody cums all over VII like it was the greatest RPG to ever be released (Not counting western RPGs which I personally prefer, VII was a pretty tight and enjoyable RPG). When VIII came out, lots of people complained that Squall was just a whiny little bitch compared to Cloud. If you'll recall however, all Cloud ever did was complain. Waahhh, I'm not as good as Sephiroth. Waaahhh, I'm not a real person. Waahhh, I have a small penis. VIII ruled because of Triple Triad, and that's all I really have to say about that.
If you've played Far Cry 2, no doubt you have some pretty bad rage fits just THINKING about all those militia checkpoints. I feel that the Nihilistic Jackal makes for an incredibly compelling antagonist, however and the open-ended morality of the the whole game make the experience truly unique. Not before or since has a game captured the true anarchy of modern Africa the way this game has.
