Most overrated games...?

Hey Gamer-Guys and Gals,

I consider myself to be kind of a “backwards gamer”: Instead of always playing the hottest, freshest, newest games around, I usually wait two or three years (sometimes even longer) until the hype has died (and the games become considerably cheaper ;)) before I play them. In doing so, I often think to myself how absolutely overrated some games are even decades after their initial release. So just to satisfy my own curiosity in regards to this topic, I would like to tell you about my Top-10 most overrated Games I ever played and know your opinions on this. (Please note: I am almost pure PC and a little bit of a Retro-Gamer, mostly SNES and Gameboy that is. So, since I have barely any interest in modern console gaming, the following list is about PC and SNES Games only).

In my opinion the Top 10 most overrated Games ever are:

10. GTA IV

May be a lot prettier than the preceding GTA titles, but apart from the good graphics, there is really not much to it. Compared to GTA San Andreas especially, there was a lot less of gameplay content, the world was a lot smaller and a lot less diverse. The story and characters were much weaker than in San Andreas and Vice City, too.

9. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Good game but never understood the hype. Contrary to the popular opinion, I don’t think that the story is so special (apart from the plot twist at the end). Also, I think the gameplay is not that diverse and the environments feel pretty stale and lifeless sometimes. Award for best Star Wars Game goes to the Jedi Knight-Series.

8. Bioshock

Okay, the setting in a ravaged underwater city is absolutely fresh and kind of exciting to explore and the story is not that bad either. Apart from that: Just a simplified, more mainstream rehash of System Shock 2 and Deus Ex. If those two titles would have gotten the mainstream attention and hype that Bioshock got, I could actually believe that life is fair sometimes.

7. Tomb Raider

Has some cultural significance when it comes to gender equality and emancipation in video games (because of Lara Croft). If you leave that out, it is just a by the numbers Action-Adventure-Platformer with a very clumsy combat mechanic.

6. The Sims

This gets boring after literally 5 minutes. Why would you play a game that tries to simulate all the boring stuff from real life, like going to work and socializing with annoying people?

5. StarCraft

Okay, the three race are kind of different to play, I admit that, but the story is confusing, the characters are boring and in some ways it plays a lot clunkier than C&C or AoE. Besides, some of the later missions in Brood War are way too f***** hard.

4. The Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past

There are no people on this earth, who hate Zelda and neither do I. But what is it about this game that it is called the best game on the SNES so often? I can see that it was a pretty good game for its time, but as far as classic games go: Why would you pick this over Secret of Mana?

3. Turok 2 – Seeds of Evil

As a guy who mostly plays FPS on the PC, I am kind of spoiled in that regard. But nevertheless: I gave this game multiple chances. I really wanted to like it. I finished it 3 times now, and even if it’s not the worst game I ever played, it certainly is one of the worst FPS I ever played. Stupid, practically nonexistent story, horribly labyrinthine level design, clumsy, imprecise controls and hours over hours of boring backtracking just to find a stupid key or feather. F***** bullsh*t.

2. Fallout 3

Not a bad game. I repeat: Not a bad game. But certainly not the shining diamond of modern RPG that everybody makes it out to be. I thought the gameplay to be pretty repetitive after a short period of time, the environment is pretty monotonous and lifeless even for nuclear apocalypse and the story is boring and absolutely anticlimactic. Fallout New Vegas was better, yes. But not that much.

1. Super Metroid

Seriously. I don’t get it. Cryptic, tedious, outright boring level design and gameplay, very, very, very slow pacing, a plot that is thin as paper, an absolutely sparse and mostly unimpressive soundtrack and the wall jumps are horribly difficult to pull off. Despite this, I see it on EVERY best-SNES-games-of-all-time-list among the Top 5. What is it about this damn game?

Looking forward to your comments!

@vanilli:

Super Metroid #1!????? **** you!! That was one of the BEST games EVER MADE!!

A pox on you!! A pox on your dog!! A pox on your THREAD!!!!!!!!

@vanilli: Super Metroid is well. . . basically the first/ most polished game under the now named genre Metroidvania, technically games like Spelunker (while still a fun game) was doing it first, but never reached that level of standard SM did.

I understand why someone would think less of Super Metroid if you played it after more modern takes (Owlboy, Guacamelee) and of course CastleVania: Symphony of the Night plus its GBA/ DS kin. I still like Super Metroid, but understand how 'some' can view it as overrated.

The only other game on that list I can really discuss is Bioshock, which I think is leagues better than System Shock 2, but in honesty, actually has little in common with. SS2 is more of an RPG in FP, and very old fashioned in what it offers, it's an old school Dungeon RPG in a Cyberpunk setting.

Bioshock, while being named a successor of System Shock, feels more like a run and gun/wrench shooter that just so happens to have lite elements of an RPG but doesn't change what it is. Feels like D00M with plot in my opinion just with magic. . Which D00M had I guess if you consider the powerups. . .

What I'm getting at is if you looked at it as a System Shock/ Deus Ex game? Yeah! you're going to be disappointed because it's not that at all.

Opinions are overrated. I just enjoy what I enjoy and don’t let how much other people enjoy other things bother me

Oh god I hate crap like this, "it's popular so it's overrated/not good". Ughhh.

Best way to go.

But this is the Internet; so your taste in games and platforms suck, because it's not the same as mine.

/joke

@vfighter said: Oh god I hate crap like this, "it's popular so it's overrated/not good". Ughhh.

Pretty sure most who do that for very successful/ well regarded games are triggering the fanbase. I'm always up for critical debate, but don't think it's really present here from OP, he/she seems to base thoughts solely on expectations and not the product itself.

I do think some of those games you have on that list is overrated (*cough* Bioshock *cough*) but others are classics! Link to the Past? Super Metroid? Those games set the tone for what was to come! And to this day, are still revered as some of the greatest games ever made.

You heard the man, Super Metroid is way overrated!

I hear you on that one dude, for the reasons you stated.

i don't like any of the GTA games so i feel u there. but bioshock is amazing.

@vanilli: I agree with you on GTA IV. I was so disappointed and bored when I played that trash. I love Bioshock, though, so we'll just agree to disagree on that one lol

A couple of thoughts spring to mind...

Some of these games had a lot of charm for their time. But if you're going to play them now, it's easy to say they're lacking in this or that.

I've also gone back and played a few oldies in recent times and wound up disappointed.

No Specific Order:

Half Life

Half Life 2

Super Metroid

Zelda(All of them)

3D Mario Games

Most NES games to be honest.

Yeah... hate threads like this.

wow guys, just to clarify and avoid misunderstanding. i did NOT say that i do not like the games. in fact, i think that most of them are pretty damn good games (except for turok 2 and super metroid, i really don‘t like those two, but obviously that‘s just me, i guess).

some people do not seem to know the difference between „bad“ and „overrated“. bioshock or knights of the old republic for example are without a doubt very good games, but for what they are, i simply do not understand all the praise they got, that‘s all. just wanted to discuss, because in those 10 cases above, i am really interested in the opinions of fellow gamers.

so, if you don’t care, don‘t comment.

Destiny 2. I definitely should not have wasted money on that game. It actually got decent reviews so I figured I would give it the chance I never gave Destiny. It was okay for the first couple of hours (apart from the terrible, corny cutscene dialogue) but then I realized just how repetitive everything was... how I was doing the same thing over and over and over and over... and not having fun.

Turned the game off and haven't looked back.

first of all, welcome to the forums. it's nice to see a new member make a well written post instead of immediately trying to promote a youtube channel.

i disagree with your comments on gta iv. i thought san andreas had too much content. so much that it was a bit of a jack of all trades master of none. i welcomed the more serious tone of gta iv and feel it was a necessary step in the evolution of the series. it didn't get the balance of fun and realism quite right but it paved the way for the ballad of gay tony (which did) and then gta v. as far as characters go, there were some in gta iv that i didn't take to but nico and roman were infinitely more interesting than the dullard cj from san andreas, even if there were a lot of contradictions between what they said and did

The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time

@vanilli: Well I Agree With You on Kotor 1. It's Story wasn't that much good IMO Due to that Twist that ruined the game for me. But on The Other Hand Kotor 2 was So Much Better.

But I Disagree With you On StarCraft. It is one of the best games of the late 90s.

Im the same with single player focused games, usually pick them up as goty releases with all DLC included which is mostly taken out during development of the game to be sold separately to milk more cash haha. Of course there are some good DLC that get made after the main game is finished, easy to tell if they are. So some of the games i thought were overrated in no particular order. These games are still good but nowhere near the hype levels they got

GTA V

Fallout 4

Far Cry series after first game

Assassins Creed series after first game

Bioshock

Crysis - it showcased graphics, nothing else

Forza Horizon 3 - after series launched on PC more people got to judge it, before it was only judged by Xbox owners and they mostly hyped it of course haha

All i can think off right now. I try to check my games carefully before buying them.

Anything Blizzard has made after the original Starcraft.

thanks for the opinions guys! im going to put my top 10 best games of all times list on here and see how that turns out! ?

Bioshock was excellent. I'd probably say Halo and Gears of War are overrated, even though I play on xbox.

The most overrated game for me is none other than Skyrim.

Final Fantasy 7 and Resident Evil 4 is overrated for me though they're both good games.

It's a new account, so I just assume TC is trolling.

So many games are overrated, too lazy to make a list.

I'll just go with Zelda: OoT. Bad game, bad bad game.

To me the most overated game of all time is Resident Evil 4. Too many flaws in there for it to be one of the best games ever as many saying. The synonym of overated.

Agreed. I can get behind the reasoning for every other game on his list, but not this one. Cryptic exploration games are not for everyone, but the level design is top notch, soundtrack is amazing, and wall jumping works so well you only need one wall.

But then again, I'm about to turn around and say Uncharted 2 is overrated, so what do I know? Boring level design, simplistic platforming, bland whac-a-mole cover based shooting, too many QTEs, and a story with plenty of talking but nothing interesting to say.

Mario Kart. It's fine, but nothing special. Playing it makes me wish I was playing F-Zero.

Yes, there is a big difference between bad and overrated, for me Final Fantasy 7 is the embodiment of over rated. I like the game a lot, played through it a few times on release, but the fact that so many consider it to be the best rpg ever made just blows my mind. Sometimes gamers hype a game so much that there is no way the game in question could possibly live up the hype that surrounds it, if it is played from an objective standpoint without rose colored glasses on.

MY list of overrated games which I DID NOT ENJOY:

- Fallout 3/4

- Destiny (I put in a good 20-30 hours but I couldn't mask the fact that it was void of any content - loot sucks)

- Legend of Zelda Twighlight Princess (Had so much potential, but felt like a lazy expansion pack, after playing OoT, MM, then WindWaker, this was a grand disappointment)

- Grand Theft Auto 4 (They literally took out all the small details of interaction, i.e using a baseball bat to smash cars up. And Niko was unlikeable)

- Portal/ Portal 2 (It was just a puzzle game, hyped to oblivion because it was made by Half Life devs. I played it for about 5 minutes and it grew boring)

- Bioshock (Great concept with an intriguing story which quickly became boring. The clunky mechanics felt hindering and were out of date, even for its time)

- Max Payne 3 (Came out way, wayyyy too late and because of this, it felt outdated in every single way possible)

- Grand Theft Auto 5 (Brilliant game, but couldn't capture the Vice City or San Andreas feel. Trevor was annoying and I didn't like playing him, which you had to early on.

- Batman: Arkham Knight (Brilliant fighting mechanics, nice story. Pacing was off and horrible tank missions alongside the constant pestering by The Riddler could well and truly put you off, heck even The Joker was in your face too often)

- Metroid (I tried, but could not like it, the combat is so-so but the whole story and everything is just plain boring/non-existent almost)

- Half Life 2 (Extremely short, for its time it had some memorable cinematic moments and nothing else. The whole War of The Worlds robots were lame, story is tacked on, combat outdated and ofcourse the game felt and is incomplete)

@saiducc: Must be sad to be you.?

I can agree with you on Turok 2 (no one holds this game in high regard, not sure why it's on your list), GTA 4 (personally my least favorite GTA), and Fallout 3 (shame on Bethesda).

Hating one of the best RPGs ever in KotOR, well GTFO. haha jk. I just can't understand how you don't like the story. The combat hasn't aged well and had issues back then, but I love this game. KotOR 2 on the other hand isn't nearly as good and maybe you played that by mistake instead of KotOR?

Amen

I know the ending answer will likely just scream "hipster" in my head, seeing as many on your list is pretty preposterous. but I have to ask in regards to Resident Evil_

Why?

Can you give us context for why a series that made Horror games relevant in the gaming industry is 'overrated'. Let alone how you throw them all in the same boat despite all the changes throughout the series (Remake, 4, Outbreak, Rev, 7)

I know Alone in the Dark was technically first in the 'Survival Horror' genre, but without Resi who knows what Horror games would have become due to its tone and focus. Horror games very well could have gone a different path entirely, or even remained weird Friday the 13th brawlers like Splatterhouse.

As stated, pretty sure your whole post was bait as the term goes, but if you can explain why you think every Resident Evil is overrated maybe could see your point-of-view. Does this claim have reason?

I'm a fan of many Resi games but don't exactly think the series is flawless in any way, and some of the games do leave much to be desired. Even 7 I have little reason to replay outside the upcoming DLC as I drastically prefer TEW2.

Red Dead Redemption

The main reason I hated this game is because of its shitty story. The gameplay and horseback riding was ok - but damned if it didn't have some of the worst, most yawn inducing plots and characters I've ever seen in video game history. The writing was just terrible, terrible. How this game got 9s and 10s across the board will forever be way beyond my ability to understand.

I have similar feelings towards another Rockstar screw up: Max Payne 3. And GTA 5. Rockstar's ability to tell good stories just keeps getting worse and worse.

Most AAA games these days. Even if I could get most of them for free, it would still not be worth my time. Like for example Watchdogs, Bioshock Infinite, Wolfenstein ect. It all gets 8+ reviews, but its so garbage I would not even get it if it was thrown at me for free.

Good games like Elex on the other hand get 5.1 reviews, because they are hard...

@Enragedhydra:

I didn't say the games were bad

And I never stated you said the games are bad, it's the idea how you can call every game in a series that is so drastically different, and for the majority essential to a genre, overrated.

I thought Silent Hill was always the superior in terms of atmosphere but a game draws you in with its atmosphere as well as the gameplay. RE had better gameplay while SH had better atmosphere

Hmm some of the Resi games break par with the original Silent Hill four, but I would state Hill hits more on the psychological. Remake comes to mind for setting an eerie mood and unpleasant setting very well. As at the most horrifying, both series are focusing on 'fear of the unknown'.

Still found your reason for the series 'overrated' lacking. I like the Hill games. . Well, the first four and the P.T. demo (360/ PS3 games are trash) but without Resident Evil the birth of 3D Survival Horror and Silent Hill as you know and praise wouldn't have happened.

It's like someone enjoying Super Meatboy but calling Super Mario overrated. Comes across as obtuse.

Regardless you gave your reasons, and better than not. It's appreciated.

I got your back on this one, Mr. RSM-HQ.

I remember back in 1998 when Resident Evil 2 came out, a classmate showed the first two Resident Evil-Games to me on his Playstation and they creeped the hell outta me even though i wasn't playing them myself. Years later, the first Resident Evil game i got to play myself was Resident Evil 4 on PC. And I absolutely loved it, even though i am neither a big fan of Zombies nor of those games with this distinct japanese style. Since then I got almost every RE-Game that is available on the PC. I can understand how fans of the original games kind of hate the later ones because they pretty much became horror-less 3rd-person-shooters without any aspect of survival horror, but i like even those for whatever weird reason. I got the RE-Origins Bundle with the Remake of the very first RE and RE Zero recently and i can't wait until i have the time to play those! Resi FTW.

Also I can not understand how someone could call the whole CoD series as overrated. I can understand how you could call the later ones overrated because everybody knows that the series basically got stuck in a constant downward spiral since the end of the Modern Warfare Trilogy (even though i am really looking forward to play WWII). Heck, i could even understand how someone could think that the first CoD is overrated because to me it was always just Medal of Honor Allied Assault on steroids.

BUT: If it were not for Modern Warfare (the first one that is!), the gaming landscape would not be what it is today. Like it or not, but this game almost singlehandedly shaped the modern FPS Genre and influenced nearly every single FPS-Game (if not ALL games) of the last decade in one way or another.

Maybe I'll get a lot of hatred for the following statement, but I have to admit that along with System Shock 2, Thief 2, the first F. E.A.R. and the Half-Life Games, CoD MW is one of my Top 5 best games of all time and therefore I am absolutely unable to understand, how you can call the CoD-Series overrated.

Now, my fellow gamers, get out the pitchforks and torches and get it over with: Burn me, the evil heretic, who said that CoD is NOT overrated.

PS: At least i can see how @Enragedhydra thinks that AC is overrated. I am currently working my way through the series (excluding mobile games, spin-offs and all that sh*t) and reached AC Liberation HD by now. That means i am only about half way through the main series and i am already sick, tired and fed up with this series because it is literally the same game every time. Not saying that those games are bad, but they seem to drag on forever with only very slight changes up to AC Liberation.

@vanilli:

I got your back on this one, Mr. RSM-HQ

Appreciated :)

I think you'll enjoy Remake in the origin collection, but Zero. . I dunno, it's one of the weakest entries in my opinion. The atmosphere is still great, but as a game makes a lot of mistakes and the end result has a lot to be desired. Personally think it's the worst game in the whole (main) series.

@Enragedhydra: $80?? Where do you live? It nowhere near that price for me...

Call of Duty 4 I never liked the gameplay.

2012 to present

@vanilli: GTA IV was a gem and as to the story it was the best in any GTA Game and it´s a shame they went away from that and made the shit they put into GTA V.

But most overrated games are COD, Overwatch, MOBa´s , CS , Undertale, Stardew Valley , Battlefront.

Overwatch is the biggest piece of shit ever!

Was MGSV the most overrated game in this generation?

@vanilli: I agree with your assessment of GTA IV and Tomb Raider because, even when you look at it objectively, both those games do not live up to the best the genre has to offer.

Even at its release, TR was a really bad game when it came to simple action. Wana run and shoot, where forget accuracy!

GTA IVs problem was that, as entertaining as it was, it lacked the vast world and opportunities/characters/environments/play styles of SA and, as you mentioned, even Vice City. For a GTA game being released on brand new hardware, it was a genuine step backwards.

Now, an overrated/underrated argument only works if we look at objective failings and not just "well everyone gave it high review scores but I personally dislike it". For that reason you can't put down FO3 for instance, which presented one of the best rpg open worlds tech could offer at the time and FO4 cant even compete with it. Bioshock took what had happened over at Valve with single player, story focused fps games, again, objectively it just is not bad, so how can it be overrated?

I think the perfect example of a modern overrated game is MGS V. I'm one of the biggest fans of the series and bought a PS4 just for this game and honestly, it is bad. Technically, the game looks and feels awesome, so slow down, consistent frames, just marvelous but dig beneath the looks and there is nothing there. The stealth is repetitive, each army base is literally the same layout, motherbase is meaningless and the story actually ends halfway through the set number of missions...but we have to keep playing through the rubbish. Oh and dont even get me started on the "AFrica" map which is essentially Afg with a re-skin.

I also believe the open world aspect of Zelda BOTW is vastly overrated. Don't get me wrong, its a terrific game and one of the best I played this year but all this talk of the open world being "unique" or "revolutionary" is far fetched at best. Survival elements with regards to equipment and weather? Seen it, done it, better executed and more integral elsewhere. The world itself? Open and pretty but largely empty ( the dungeons and puzzles are still great but they arent open world) and the enemies are too widely spread out (similar map style to mgs actually) and it makes it too easy to get to them.