Games that you thought was amazing as a child, but now....

[FakeSympathy]

We all have those games. Those games that felt and looked amazing when we were kids. But after many years and becoming wiser, we now see truth; Those games were actually not as good as or even in some cases complete shits. Here are games from my memories:

Enter The Matrix
When I was in second grade, I watched the censored version of the first two Matrix movies on TV. (Hey, they were both rated higher than my age and it was the only way to see them). So when I saw the Enter The Matrix at the store, I practically begged my parents to buy a copy for me. I thought the game looked really great and loved the way I could beat up security guards, SWATs, Merovingian henchmen, and Agents. I recently went back to the game with my old gamecube, and realized how the controls are bad and the writing is poor

LEGO Star Wars....on GBA
The LEGO Star was series on the console are some of the best experience a family gamers could have. I made a brilliant decision of getting the game on GBA, which was an entirely different game. Back then, I thought the deaths were hilarious and sound effects were amazing. Now owning the copy for the gamecube, I realized how the graphics were terrible, the areas are confusing, and your attacks have bad range.

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
I loved the idea of playing as one of the bad guys, I thought the game was amazing and the eye power you had were fun to use. Now, all I see are gimmicky powers, terrible dual wield accuracies, and overall unfairly difficult levels.

Every other Movie based games besides Enter the Matrix
Unfortunately, I did not stop at ETM, I really liked I had the feeling of interacting within the movie. I ignorantly believe all of them were amazing.... Now, asides from LOTR: Return of the King nad Peter Jackson's King Kong, I know every movie based games I've picked up were terrible.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Star Wars Battlefront 1&2, more specifically the Instant Action mode, ie. playing the maps with bots. When I bought SWBF2 on Steam a couple of years ago, I was struck by just how mercilessly repetitive the singleplayer was. I didn't even need to go back to SWBF1 to realize that all it ever was was playing the same maps, with often battles playing out in the exact same way: go to chokepoint, push against it until enemy dies or you capture the enemy base. I guess for 11 year old me the mere feeling of being in Cloud City or Geonosis or Yavin IV, combined with authentic music and sound effects, was enough to enchant.

 

[Saelune]

Nope

Never liked a game then that I dont still like now.

Music, TV, movies, sure, but not any games.

 

[wings012]

With the classic Starcraft being free - man I didn't know how I got used to the 12 unit limit and the absolutely garbage pathfinding.

I also checked out OpenRA after seeing a TotalBiscuit video on it. While various changes has been made to it, it's still somewhat a classic RA experience. And man it's such a clunker, even with the various improvements added.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Many early 3D games come to mind, including ones with vaunted reputations like Metal Gear Solid, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye 64/Perfect Dark. Mostly because of outdated control and camera schemes, not so much their core gameplay.

Others that come to mind:

Sonic Adventure (2), again because of control/camera issues.

Metroid Prime (2). In their case, I'm talking about the Gamecube versions, specifically, their controls. The Prime Trilogy versions are IMO superior because of one simple inclusion: free-look/aim. Yes, it's motion controlled and nowhere near as good as mouse or even 2nd analog stick, but the mere addition makes both these games much more enjoyable to play.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

A lot - and I mean a lot - of old SNES and SEGA Master System games. I used to have one of those ancient 'Action 52' cartridges that I quite enjoyed playing when I was a kid, but nowadays I wouldn't even give it 5 seconds of my time.

Also games like the original Final Fantasy 1 & 2, Sonic 1, the first Age of Empires... generally a lot of games that either had re-releases that fixed the problems the original had, or had far, far, far superior sequels that fixed all the problems the first one had, and any nostalgia I have is quickly overwhelmed by the glaring faults the game has.

Weirdly enough Pokemon Red and Blue doesn't fall into this category. Probably because they were literally the first games I ever played... that's a lot of nostalgia to go up against.

With the classic Starcraft being free - man I didn't know how I got used to the 12 unit limit and the absolutely garbage pathfinding.

I also checked out OpenRA after seeing a TotalBiscuit video on it. While various changes has been made to it, it's still somewhat a classic RA experience. And man it's such a clunker, even with the various improvements added.

I know how I did - Power Overwhelming and a pack of marines. Or flying units. Vehicles, on the other hand... *shudder*. I swear Goliath pilots would down 57 Vodka shots before suiting up, since it was damn-near impossible to navigate a single unit through an open field, let alone a mildly populated base.

 

[DoPo]

Somewhat recently, I tried replaying Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and I just had to stop. Looking back at it now, I realised how terrible the port handles a lot of stuff - I did remember the camera being a pain in a lot of cases, but when you literally have to fight it from the start, it gets ridiculous. The camera angle changes as you climb stuff or run, which is REALLY UNFORTUNATE, as it also changes your controls on you. "Oh, let me run to the left here. OOps, now I have to run straight". It's doubly unfun when that happens and you die because of it - falling into a chasm or walking into a trap. And it seems a really deliberate decision - sometimes the camera changes literally three steps before some spinning blades.

I'm not entirely sure how I played through the game before, but I just had to quit my recent playthrough and decided to never try it again.