I'm just going to list a bunch a games and game franchises that I firmly believe get a lot of unneeded hatred by gamers, mainly from the hardcore audience.
- Call of Duty franchise (Probably with the exception of Modern Warfare 2)
I will say that Modern Warfare 2's MP, was a buggy and unbalance mess. The single-player and co-op missions were good at least.
This is actually the first GTA that I immensely enjoyed. The game is a bit overrated by critics, but it's far from a terrible game. The two biggest problems I've had with prior GTAs, were the missions and the farcical storytelling. The main missions were often poorly designed, based too much on time limits, and frustrating. The protagonist of the previous GTAs were two-dimensional and unlikable macho tough guys. The missions in GTA IV are well designed, never too easy or frustrating, and no time based missions (Well, there are a few, but they give a reasonable time limit this time). The protaganist is actually sympathetic this time around, and the story was rather compelling. It may not be as "sandboxy" as previous GTA installments, but the core gameplay and storyline radically improved in IV.
I'm going to be flamed by every Morrowind fan around here. No doubt. I'm still going to say that Oblivion, gameplay wise, is better than Morrowind. Okay, I have to admit that Morrowind had a far more unique setting and art design than Oblivion's generic D&D theme. The story was a little more interesting too. Other than that, I still prefer Oblivion. I think it's a much much easier to get into and better focused game than Morrowind. Angry Morrowind fan in 1... 2... 3...
I'm just going to say it here. Halo is overrated by the gaming media. BUT! it's underrated by the hardcore gaming audience. Do I consider the Halo franchise to be the greatest shooter franchise ever? No (No such thing). Would I place any Halo game in my top 10 favorite games of all time list? I highly doubt it. Do any of the games in the series in deserve a perfect 10? No (Maybe with the exception of CE, since that was a very innovative game for it's time). Despite all of that, they're extremely well made, polished, and designed games. None of them deserve any score below an 8. They provide robust and well balanced multi-player, with a solid single-player component. It has an interesting universe, while not as fascinating as Mass Effect's, but has a very rich backstory to it. Yet, I'm still going to be flamed by nearly everyone on this forum for defending this series. Geez, I can't wait...
I will say Halo Wars was crap.
- Casual gaming in general:
It has it's cons, but it was still an engrossing and terrifying experience. I have to give Team Silent props for experimenting and taking risks by changing the core formula. It has one of the best stories in the series too. Hell, I would rank the story up with Silent Hill 2's.
Is it overrated? I say it kind of is. Is it bad? No, in fact it's far from bad. It's a damn good game. It help open JRPGs to the western market. Without it, great JRPG games such as Xenogears and the Persona series would probably wouldn't attract a large fanbase in the west.
So before any flames me, I like to ask: What games do you think get a lot of undeserved hate?
EDIT: I forgotten to mention Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5. Killzone 2 is a generic game, but it does everything very well. It's a rock solid shooter, that may not be unique, but it's fun to play. Resident Evil 5 was decent, but disappointing compared to RE4. Does that make it a bad game like everyone makes it out to be? No.
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