What games were scored poorly that you absolutely adore?

the Amy "controversy" as it were has brought up a lot of fervor so far on the interwebs, with IGN and other critics receiving it rather poorly. I know a lot of people are playing Amy saying "it's not that bad," some people ( a few) even going so far as saying they love it.

Looking back, I can think of a few games that were received rather poorly, which I actually absolutely adore. Shenmue, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, even Advent Rising.

What games do you secretly love that were critically blasted (and I mean ripped to friggen shreds) and why?

None that I Secretly love, I like Kane and Lynch. First one at least, didn't really play the second one. So that's just one of them. 
 
Why games like that would be a secret I don't know. 

Fatal Inertia, it's middling at best but I like it

I really liked Timeshift and Goldeneye Rogue Agent. Neither were actually critically panned, but they weren't held in high esteem either.\

I also enjoyed Mega Man X8, but that was less "critically panned" and more "not quite shit anymore".

1st Kane & Lynch.

Perfect dark zero.

Black Sigil for the DS. I don't secretly love it, but I openly do. Sure it had glitches and took awhile to get going, but damn if it wasn't an enjoyable chrono trigger styled rpg nonetheless.

Anything in the Dynasty Warriors stable. I recognise that they are not good games but damnit I enjoy them.

Adore? Really?

I enjoyed The Saboteur and Dark Sector. DS definitely had flaws but I enjoyed it enough to play it twice. I liked the main weapon idea. I liked the atmosphere in The Saboteur with the black and white changing to color as you liberated the people.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate. Also love the movie.

none. All games get the score they deserve from the person that gave them that score. 
Also, I don't see whats happening with Amy as a controversy although It is getting more attention then it would have because of all the talk about it.

Wanted.

Completed it about 5 times, and it is rare for me to replay any game.

No idea why I loved it, or why nobody else did!

@Maajin Its comforting to know that I'm not the only one!

There are some games I could say that most people would agree with, like Nier, but one that I think many won't agree with is Force Unleashed 2. I bought it on the steam sale and played it fully through twice in a row. Of course this was only possible because it was super short but I still enjoyed every minute.

@Zidd: Yep, loved that game. But was it scored poorly?

I really enjoyed White Knight Chronicles and I'm not at all a fan of JRPGs.

 
I had a lot of fun playing this not-all-that-great game. Sure it was pandering but it had some clothing customization which was nice, mindless Dynasty Warrior like gameplay and some nice replay value. If I recall correctly I ended up getting all of the achievements in this one.

Anything in the Dynasty Warriors stable. I recognise that they are not good games but damnit I enjoy them.

@SilverTorch1: I had the exact same experience with the first Force Unleashed game, bought it cheap on Steam a year or so after it came out and thought it was great.

There should be a thread for games that scored highly that you hated, I could write a book about that.

Nier and Resonance of Fate come to mind immediately. I guess you could throw in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin in there as well.

far cry 2

awesome if you have the patience for it

@Flappy said:

Nier and Resonance of Fate come to mind immediately. I guess you could throw in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin in there as well.

Resonance of Fate was scored poorly?

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

@CornBREDX said:

none. All games get the score they deserve from the person that gave them that score. Also, I don't see whats happening with Amy as a controversy although It is getting more attention then it would have because of all the talk about it.

So are you saying you've never had an opinion about a game that strayed from general consensus, ever?

@Cloudenvy: I guess you got me on that one. Looking back on it now, it got pretty good scores, but it was overshadowed by Final Fantasy XIII. People's frustrations with the battle system didn't help it, either. That game deserved more love!

Suikoden. Got mediocre scores and might be my favorite game of all time.

Alpha Protocol. Loved that game.

@SuperWristBands: Did you read a guide though as all the achievement descriptions are like "beat backwards zombie, walk left is a fire!" That game is probably one of my top five most hated games ever.

Brink - For this one it's mostly the developers' fault for ridiculously overpromising on singleplayer features but this caused the reviews to be really biased and grade the game low for what wasn't included rather than the execution and fun of what was. I've also seen several reviews where it was obvious the reviewer didn't take the time to learn how to play, one video reviewer didn't even make use of the game's SMART system at all in his review footage. It's definitely not a game for everyone but what's there is incredibly well done.

Clive Barker's Jericho - This game was behind the curve in a lot of ways, it felt like a squad-based Doom 3 without the scares, had one of the worst cliffhanger endings ever, and no multiplayer which is like suicide for an FPS these days. Many reviews also faulted the fact that you had to constantly revive teammates but that's just the way the game was intended to be played, it wasn't a broken system and I didn't find it annoying; it kept things tense. I love the game because it features some of my favorite characters of all time and I find it extremely fun to play, I've played through it several times and it's just a blast using the abilities and taking down waves of enemies. And although it lacks scares, the disgusting environments and creatures are fun to look at and patently Clive Barker.

Turok (2008) - This game didn't actually score too badly but I feel like every single review completely overlooked it's great multiplayer and co-op modes. Those are what kept me coming back and what caused me to buy it for 360 once the PS3 servers went offline. It's one of my favorite multiplayer games of this gen because it has a unique predator/prey feel to it and I think it's a shame more people weren't informed about those modes.

@Flappy: Oh, sorry! I wasn't trying to call you out or anything, I just couldn't believe that Resonance of Fate was rated poorly! heh.

Bulletstorm is one of the most fun and dare I say original shooters I've ever played. 
 
Seriously, it gets everything that's wrong with shooters nowadays fun: it greatly rewards the player for experimentation and using all these weapons you would normally save only for extreme occasions. 
 
Plus it's genuinly fun to blow shit up with those crazy weapons. 

First ones that come to my mind are Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard and both Kane & Lynch titles. Everything else I've liked was either adored by most or seen as average titles.

Shadowrun and Perfect Dark Zero.

I don't really think their is a game awful enough for their to be such a dispersion between adoration and how bad it actually is as judged by reviewers. Amy is obviously a bad game but, from how it sounds, it certainly is a playable game.

Amazingly enough Silent Hill 2 received a 77% from Gamespot and a 70% from Game Informer at the time of release. And I love the game!

Appart from that:

• Nier
• Deadly Premonition
• Silent Hill 4

@imsh_pl said:

Bulletstorm is one of the most fun and dare I say original shooters I've ever played. Seriously, it gets everything that's wrong with shooters nowadays fun: it greatly rewards the player for experimentation and using all these weapons you would normally save only for extreme occasions. Plus it's genuinly fun to blow shit up with those crazy weapons.

That game got rave reviews.

Bionic Commando is pretty good. Silent Hill: Homecoming is pretty good. Lords of Shadow is amazing.

Also

Mega Man X8 is great (except for some awful vehicle stages)

Also

@imsh_pl said:

Bulletstorm is one of the most fun and dare I say original shooters I've ever played. Seriously, it gets everything that's wrong with shooters nowadays fun: it greatly rewards the player for experimentation and using all these weapons you would normally save only for extreme occasions. Plus it's genuinly fun to blow shit up with those crazy weapons.

I had a lot of fun playing splitscreen in the last-gen Turok game. Mainly because I liked being a dick with that one-hit kill grenade that sucked you into hell or something.

I also liked Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, which I seem to recall getting scored poorly. Of course, it was my first turn based strategy game, so I probably didn't know better.

Alpha Protocol. Great game once you get pass the jank.

Perfect Dark Zero for me. I can recognize why it's shit, but I played the hell out of that multiplayer. Also Rise of Nightmares for the Kinect, although I loved that one because it was awful, so there's a bit of self awareness involved in that one.

While it reviewed OK at the time, a lot of reviewers and users have soured on The Thing, so that would be my choice.

Duke Nukem Forever. (I have said this MANY times)

Nier. Most of the negative reviews of that game have factually bullshit complaints in them.

Makes me wonder what the fuck.

JRPGs in general that aren't named Final Fantasy are not typically scored well in the Western press. However, I typically enjoy them more than a lot of the 90+ rated games out there. Some examples include:

• Infinite Undiscovery (68 Metacritic)
• Magna Carta 2 (69 Metacritic)
• Enchanted Arms (69 Metacritic)
• Cross Edge (52 Metacritic)
• Trinity Universe (62 Metacritic)

I don't tend to remember review scores and I don't feel like researching.

I do remember really enjoying Obi Wan for the original XBox despite being panned by critics.

@WilliamHenry said:

Alpha Protocol. Loved that game.

Genuinely one of my favourite games of the last few years.

I also love Darksiders far, far more than the critics, apparently. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the better games this generation. Cannot wait for the sequel.

Drakengard remains still one of my all time favorite PS2 games. It's a damn shame that Cavia had to die after Nier was released.

@Ventilaator said:

Nier. Most of the negative reviews of that game have factually bullshit complaints in them.

Makes me wonder what the fuck.

This person knows what they're talking about. If nothing else, the music in that game just sticks with you.

Beautiful Katamari got slammed for just being more of the same in Hi-Def, but I love me some Katamari.

Since their weren't really game critics when I was a kid this probably doesn't count, but I loved the NES game Dudes With Attitude. It was the first game I ever played with a level creator/editing tool, and my one friend and I used to love trying to stump each other with that thing.

I'm not sure if being incredibly unpopular is the same thing as "scored poorly", but back then it used to kind of be the same thing.

Too Human. I played a ton of that game. I does have one of the worst control schemes ever devised this gen, though. Be ready to invest time in just learning how to play well. Once you break yourself in though, it's pretty awesome.

@SuperWristBands: Did you read a guide though as all the achievement descriptions are like "beat backwards zombie, walk left is a fire!" That game is probably one of my top five most hated games ever.