Your guilty pleasure game

I think I'm about to start playing Infinite Undiscovery, which is a game I enjoy about 10 times more than I should and in another thread in the off-top forum I remember someone recently saying that James Cameron enjoys him some Resident Evil movies. I'm curious to know which games you guys play and love that you know aren't very good. Don't mention games you enjoy with some sense of irony, just games that you play because you legitimately find them fun.

No such thing as "enjoying things more than I should" for me. There's no should or shouldn't, if something entertains or speaks to me I enjoy my time with it proudly. That, is the only 'should' in the equation. You should enjoy what entertains you and not let public standards stop you.

See how I flipped it up all philosophically just now? Boom.

I really enjoy Gangland, just a shame the multiplayer died like the year it came out

There's some other games not a lot of people liked (or even know exist) but I think I put the most time into Gangland

*Makes fart noise with his tongue and gives a thumbs down*

What a cop out. You're telling me you've never played a game you're embarrassed to admit/talk about with your friends?

I feel like I enjoy Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War more than I should. It received good scores when it came out and I'm sure that many people who played it also enjoyed it. However, the fact that I've played it start to finish nearly two dozen times and will set up my PS2 multiple times a year for the sole reason of playing Ace Combat 5 is probably abnormal behavior. I really enjoy the story of that game and just generally being a flying badass.

The only game I think I feel embarrassed about playing is probably Agarest: Generations of War. Its completely pandering to a group I don't belong to and the game is pretty slow, but I adore it. Its cute.

For the longest time it was the Dynasty Warriors franchise.

Now it's something far more insidious, a mobile card game. Specifically I am now playing X-Men: Battle of the Atom and I know it's just a money pit. I don't p2p, but damn if the developers aren't trying every way to pry open my wallet with each passing day. It's a guilty pleasure because I'm sure it's like what a lab rat does when they're stuck in a box and they press a button for a food pellet. I'm just pushing the button for the food pellet, and it's bad for me and it doesn't even barely qualify as a game, but I keep pushing the button and I keep gnawing on those pellets. It makes me feel a kind of dirty, fleeting euphoria.

If you enjoy a game, any game, why feel guilty about liking it? Isn't that more the player being insecure in their enjoyment of the game in question?

Definitely. That's why I can't seem to think of anything. I'm completely confident in my love of this hobby and I don't think anyone should feel shame for liking it either.

Why would I feel guilt about liking a game?

I don't care what other people think about the game, I care what I think about it. I'm the one paying for it and playing it.

If they don't like it, that's their problem.

I remember enjoying Shadow the Hedgehog. I completed it twice on two different platforms. Went back to it recently, still had fun with it.

The "guilt" doesn't exactly run deep, but it's still there.

Occasionally I dip back into Runescape.

I'm way too old to be playing that game.

I feel like this answer alone should give weight to the original question. It's a pretty shameful answer.

Dynasty Warriors/Kamen Rider Battride War.

Guilty Gear is my favorite guilty game, that gives me pleasure?

For me its diablo 3. I spend a night playing the game and then wonder what did I accomplish. Wow I got some new magic pants for my witch doctor! That will make it slightly easier (1.2%) to kill diablo for like the 30th time.

Madden 12. I don't like the changes they've made to the newer ones so this is one i've played through so many times. I think I've played through or most of 3-4 full 25 year franchises. I actually owned it on PS3, and when it broke bought it on 360 for like $10.

I've debated throwing it away because I've wasted so much time playing it.

no such thing as guilty pleasure for me, if I like it, I like it.

I DON'T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT!

3D Sonic games. I'm secretly kind of excited for Sonic Boom, deformed Knuckles and all.

Civilizations IV

The Sims! I mean, I'm not really ashamed of myself, but I don't really openly talk about my love for the series very often.

Warframe.

Yes I've mentioned this game way too much on GB, but I can't help it.

Atelier rorona: the games mediocre in many ways but i did have some fun with it (crafting items and gathering items was surprising addictive) but yeah compared to the underrated as hell sequel atelier totori rorona will always be nothing more than a guilty pleasure.

Minority Report, it wasn't a good game really, but man, every once and a while the game would bless you with a nice open area, some guy way at the top of the map, a jetpack and some of the best glass shattering effects on the PS2 and you would get up there and chuck they guy out of the window and have him rag doll like crazy and release once of the most horrifying screams ever.
I love that dumb game.

7th Legion, Tunnel B1 and Daikatana, though I guess "love" is a bit too strong a word for the two latter games. 7th Legion is a broken mess of an RTS, including a totally unbalanced card game mechanic, but I can't help but adore the atmosphere and music in it, making me return to it year after year and even enjoying playing it despite having to struggle with it's poor UI, mouse recognition and pathfinding.

Damn it, just listen to this song from it's amazing soundtrack:

As for Tunnel B1, it's a kinda weird first person vehicular combat game from the early PS1/Saturn era. The only similar game I know of is Zone Raiders, it's something of a hybrid between a racing game and a mildly Descent-like first person shooter. The controls are kinda awkward and the shooting doesn't feel great, but there's something about the visuals and general atmosphere that keeps grabbing me, even though I can never stand playing the game for too long at a time.

And, well, Daikatana is pretty infamous. The first few levels are downright terrible, and your AI companions are totally useless, best told to stay put at the start of each level, and not let them move until you've killed all the memories. The multiplayer is really fun though, with interesting and varied weapons, and beyond those totally green early levels with robot frogs, there is quite a lot of environmental variety later in the game.

Pokemon... I have almost purchased a 3DS just for it, no reason for me to buy that handheld except I wanna play that game.

For reasons even I'm not entirely clear on, I've always loved me some Cooking Mama. I also had a bizarre affinity for the CSI games.

@maciste:

Man I loved that stupid game. So many problems, but I really enjoyed it. The DLCs were both pretty awesome too.

I guess The Sims would be my guilty pleasure game. I have The Sims 3 on Steam and I will occasionally go back and play it for a bit; and by a bit I mean "lose myself in the game for hours".

Grand Theft Auto: Online is the closest thing I have to a guilty pleasure. It is repetitive, relatively shallow, and more than a bit clunky. The community is one of the worst (I usually play with friends only or solo) I've ever seen.

I play it because it's the perfect spacing-off-time-waster-game after a long shitty day at work. A glass of bourbon and GTA:O, I highly recommend it.

Probably Battlefield 4. I only play on 24/7 Operation Locker servers and I never get bored. As bizarre as it sounds, it's almost relaxing to play.

This is my base. There are many like it, but this is mine.

While I'm not exactly embarrassed that I play it, I feel like it's one of those Free to Play games that get looked down on by the gaming community at large. Though, I play it with a lot of my friends who actually aren't into "gaming". Also, it's pretty fun and has some interesting mechanics that other games should really consider "borrowing". The latest addition of Clan Wars is really stupid fun.

2048.

I am 15 and I happen to really like the LEGO video games. In fact, I am currently playing LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7. I also have LEGO Batman 2 in my backlog.

What can I say? I find them pleasant and innocent, and a nice occasional change of pace from the kinds of games that I usually play.

I don't really think that I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to games. I don't feel guilty when I play them and love to play really.

That old Sonic Battle card/battle arena game for the GBA. Despite frustrating controls and a pretty bland story, I just loved collecting ability cards and building loadouts to go fight NPCs with. I've probably put just as much time into that game as I have some JRPGs, and I'm still not sure why, other than the fact that I enjoy it.

In a more topical vein, I'm a major Mass Effect 3 apologist, so there's that too.

I got this at some point between 2004/2005 and I played it way more times than I'm willing to admit. I have a bad feeling that I would play it again if I got my hands on a copy today, too. Utter trash.

I don't think I have any. It seems a little unhealthy for me to refrain from playing a game they like because of what other people think.

Same for me but with Ace Combat 6 although I have played through 5. There is something very satisfying playing Ace Combat games over and over again. I wouldn't really call it much of a guilty pleasure though, although I can see why people would think the games are boring. I would love a HD trilogy of the PS2 games on something more current, I too bring out the PS2 from time to time for those games.

DoA Paradise

What was that game where you killed zombies as block people? Red Box or something? I also played Backyard Monsters and Mario Kart Wii where I heavily abused the NPC's and the CPU's! hehehehehehehehehehehehe!!!!!!!

@jadegl: get out of there! While you still can!

Not sure i would call it guilty but i play a fair amount of Railworks/Trainsim 2014. It's actually a super well made game and is the perfect low impact game to play whilst listening to podcasts.

Not quite a guilty pleasure, but I played an inexplicable amount of the demo of some XBLA Dominoes game I don't know the name of.

Postal 2 is a bit of a guilty pleasure. I always boot it up every couple of years, enjoy it when I play it, and then I take a shower with my clothes on and cry because I enjoyed it. I could list a number of games on top of that but hey, I don't need to damage my street cred any more. I mean, I don't even really have any to begin with.

@spraynardtatum: But I just got the Mind Controlled Jean Grey card to drop! And I pulled an HR Wolverine from the Vibranium Box! I could sell it for 10 vials at least!

Holy shiat, just kill me now, this actually goes through my head sometimes. Mobile card games are bad, they're bad for you and I'm a bad person for playing it. :)

Every time I try to explain this game to someone, I realize how bad it looks on paper...

But the execution is so incredible, I wouldn't mind including it among my favorite games of the generation.

I'm with you on that game, I don't play it a lot, but when I do play it I like it, part of that is the Nostalgia factor, but it's such a fun, dumb, open game that not even 1% of it can be taken seriously I can't help but enjoy myself, just spread a line of gas through the town, light a match, sit back and watch everything burn. Good psychotic times.

Most people seem to not enjoy Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! nor think it's a great game. Granted it isn't a masterpiece. I played more of that game than any other on the Genesis, as a kid, to waste time. I loved every minute of it. Fantastic music too.