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A lot of people are outraged when they see the word overrated, especially when it relates to a product they own. I have come under the most attack on the internet whenever I attempt to make a case in respect to the usage of the word; overrated.
It wouldn’t matter anymore if the same thing happens. One thing however is established; that a vast majority of people are not able to take criticism on something as trivial as video games.
5. MGS4: Guns of the Patriots
Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid has always been a massive title. I have never lost faith on the ideas and vision of Mr. Kojima, but I had to think again once Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots hit the store-shelves.
The embarrassing shift from the conventional overhead view to third person over-the-shoulder dramatically reduced MGS4 from that envied “Stealth Action Game” to a ridiculous and deprioritized game where you have various camouflage cloaking in unending proportion.
MGS4 lacked that feelings that placed you right in the middle of game, I can’t remember how many times I slept off just because one long and boring cut-scene mixed with embarrassing dialogue won’t leave my screen. The emotions aren’t just there, something like the emotional ending of Metal Gear Sold 3: Snake Eater was obviously missing. MGS4 did a lot of things wrong, most importantly the idea of an aging snake and making him suffer back pain was a ridiculous attempt to make an already bad game worse.
4. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
One of the few games that hoped to leave a mark in the RPG genre, it did offer a world that is truly immense in size, and that’s all it had to offer in reality. I shouldn’t have bothered writing about this game after seeing how bad Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was. Unfortunately, I was caught up in the hype train and I had a good measure of faith that things could have changed, obviously I was entirely wrong.
The combat system is exceptionally bad and quest repetitive. How about the boring story, the bugs and glitches? I came close to enjoying this game. Close, wasn’t good enough though. It was a nightmare being unable to access quest and it wasn’t funny either since the main questline was broken.
3. Assassins Creed
Activision has that crown of milking gaming franchise; Ubisoft is just a few steps away from being awarded the same crown. 8 Prince of Persia in 10-years should give you a concrete clue of what I mean. Assassins Creed is doing perfectly what it learnt from the aged Prince of Persia franchise. Under 7-years we have already seen 6-Assasins Creed games.
The first Assassin’s Creed game was incredibly overhyped, so when it turned out to be an ordinary game, with repetitive action, it left a good amount of people understandably disappointed. The sequel was released and amended the ridiculous repetitive action that characterized the entire first version of Assassins Creed.
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Every other Assassins Creed has been nothing but the same characters, timeline, movies, combat system, etc. The only few changes has been a little improvement in visuals and maybe the addition of silly minigames. Despite this, Assassins Creed keeps getting incredible reviews when it’s the same old game with a different art cover.
2. GTA IV
I think the core purpose of gaming is fun and more fun, when a game lacks that factor, it becomes a mere collection of characters and weapons. Grand Theft Auto is a universal acclaimed franchise and know for it’s 100% fun factor. You can’t ever get bored playing Grand Theft Auto. GTA: SanAndreas was the ultimate game that carefully mixed fun and incredible mission perfectly. Despite average graphics, it stands tall above numerous games. Infact, the GTA franchise is one of the biggest gaming franchise in gaming history.
However, last-gen, the whole situation changed. In an attempt to make GTA IV more realistic, the fun factor was greatly tempered, it just doesn’t feel like the GTA we all know. Some of the cutscenes are hilarious and whacky, while others completely contradicted the tone. The entire mission is more than half-the-time centered on delivery stuffs and when you finally have a fun mission, your retarded cousin calls to ask if you are interested in playing darts.
1. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Your guess is as good as mine, the crown for the most overrated game has always been unopposed and it is thanks to Activision and Call of Duty. Making the same game over and over again is unreasonable, and the business ethics of Activision are cruel, like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed.
I won’t say much about the game because I love it and it’s one of the best shooters out there but that won’t stop me from acknowledging the fact that it is highly overrated and has given Activison the automatic authority to keep ripping off innocent gamers. I would rather target the blame on all other shooters which play like crap for not doing enough to give Activion a reason to consider changing the ridiculous desire to sell to gamers the same game every other year.
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9 Comments
ollie danes
totally agree with you on the PoS3 games in youre list, but strongly disagree about the games that are on xbox360 their. dissepointed that you’d think the CoD is overated as its the most sucseffel game of the genertation and i guess bitter PoS3 fanboys just like to hate on it cuz xbox360 smashed all records last gen when PoS3 came in 3rd behind Wii LOL
Dale
Totally disagree with everything said here. I am still playing Skyrim to this day because of all the potential gameplay options available. Also let’s be honest… MW2 was one of the funnest games ever.
Hates bad writers.
Do a top 20, plenty more turds that earned the overrated title.
Nosa Ero Nosa
We have the list of underrated games up for tomorrow..
Talidan
You…uh… you don’t really know what you’re talking about, do you?
I glanced over some other “articles” of yours and I don’t believe you really know much about video games at all.
When you wrote about GTA V potentially flopping (yeah, how’d that work out?), you said, “GTA IV hit the storeshelves in 2008, and was an instant success despite mixed reviews.”
98 out of 100 on Metacritic doesn’t seem very mixed.
Now, lists like this are generally subjective, but they don’t really hold much weight as valid opinions when the one writing them is obviously inexperienced on the subject.
Your Top 5 Underrated list has Demon’s Soul, 89 out of 100 on Metacritic. Does that sound underrated? Alan wake at 83?
Or are you talking about consumer popularity? With Demon’s Soul selling 1.6 million globally, which is quite good for an out-of-no-where exclusive. Same goes for Alan Wake. While 1.3 million isn’t huge, it’s definitely not undersold and has a decent following.
How about going with games that make sense to list, yeah?
I mean, if you want good game thats undersold, how about:
The Darkness
Prey
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Eternal Sonata
Spec Ops: The Line
Vanquish
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
All undersold, but well received by critics.
The ones you listed were “meh” both in sells and reviews for good reason. They were all painfully mediocre, with the exception of Demon’s Soul and Alan Wake. The only one I’d give you is Alan Wake, but there’s so much love for it among critics and players that it’s difficult to give.
This “Overrated” list holds a little more water, but GTA IV and Skyrim deserve most of their praise, and listing franchises as singular games in an overrated list is just lazy.
If you make an “Overrated Series” list, sure, go for it, but Assassin’s Creed and Modern Warfare 2 have no place on this list if you’re going to bash them for franchise fatigue. The first AC was brilliant and something we didn’t have before and Modern Warfare 2, as much as I really dislike what the series has become, was a solid game as well. I prefer CoD4:MW’s multiplayer over MW2, but I wouldn’t call it overrated just because it gathered a HUGE following and really pushed yearly releases (which was happening anyway started with the first Modern Warfare in 2007, World at War in ’08, then MW2 in ’09).
thatnaijablog, please get some better writers who know what they’re talking about.
Nosa Ero Nosa
Hello Talidan,
We appreciate your comments and criticism but that doesn’t mean their validity is without error. However, it’s glad you know that the author has 10-years experience following the gaming industry, while gaming articles looks to be on the low here, it can be attributed to other factors and not necessarily the lack of expertise. However, that would change once the migration from thatnaijablog to TechRez is completed. More gaming and tech articles will dominate. On the issue of getting better writers. Be rest assured that the author has his bragging rights but that doesn’t mean we won’t hire dedicated gaming writers.
Thanks for visiting and do enjoy the rest of the day.
Talidan
It’s not a lack of gaming articles that’s the issue, it’s the clear lack of knowledge on the subject. If the facts aren’t straight, that’s not a technical issue, that’s a lack of expertise and, at the very least, research. A quick internet search is more than enough to make sure you’re providing accurate information.
I understand there is a language issue here, so I can forgive difficulties discussing the matter. I wouldn’t even begin to know how to translate exactly what I’m saying to avoid any misunderstanding (so many languages in your area), but, even so, it does not make up for articles making false statements, and neither does site migration.
Just get your facts straight and do a little research. There’s no reason not to on articles like these, you’re not pressed for serious time when making lists.
I’ve been a gaming journalist, I know there’s a lot to soak in sometimes and there can be some stressful deadlines. I’ve been there, but you have to make sure your articles are of quality.
Nosa Ero Nosa
Hello Talidan,
Do you think if the list you mentioned in your earlier comments were to replace this one, it would be free of subjectivity?
Rebel Scum
I think COD, Gears of War, Halo and Assassins Creed franchises as a whole deserve to be on here.