Games Which *Weren't* Well Reviewed/Liked...But You Liked Anyway.

[Starbird]

The other thread has been interesting so far so I thought I would see what the converse was.

I've had a few games that didn't get good reviews from a lot of people/publications that I still adored. Probably the one that springs to mind most often is Mechwarrior 3. I loved the gritty feel, the detailed visuals (for the time) and quite enjoyed the story.

A few other options:
Blood 2
Sin
Batman: Arkham Origins

How about you?

 

[shrekfan246]

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, now the story for the most part is unfocused and a lot of the side-quests are dull fetch quests, but the music, locations, combat system were certainly enough to carry me towards the end.

rabblerabblerabble

OT: Buh, what constitutes "not well-received"? Arkham Origins, for instance, still has an over 7/10 review score average, which I consider to be pretty well received all things considered.

Though I guess I could go for the low-hanging fruit and say "most Sonic the Hedgehog games". Sonic Unleashed got a worse wrap than it deserved, in my opinion. At least once you ignore the story.

Also, I feel like anyone who still says Alpha Protocol is a buggy piece of crap probably hasn't played the game in a long time, at least on the PC. While obviously every user is liable to have different experiences on the PC, the worst thing I ever saw when I played it last year were some funny physics and ragdoll bugs. I don't doubt it was really bad on release, I still remember how the only time I ever loaded up Fallout: New Vegas I ended up walking about twenty feet before my character fused with the ground, but it was pretty stable in my experience, and I had a lot of fun with it too.

Hmmm...

Castle of Illusion. It was a remake of the old Sega Mickey Mouse game which I think went over a lot of peoples' heads, but the little reception I did see it get was pretty mediocre. With the exception of how short it was, I thought it was quite good. Played really well, had fantastic remastered music done by Grant Kirkhope, and was overall just a really beautiful 3D remake of something which may or may not be considered a classic.

Would've been nice if they had added some new levels, though.

 

[shrekfan246]

rabblerabblerabble

Does the phrase "Final Fantasy XIII" summon you like a Moogle Flute or something?

Something like that.

I was considerate enough this time to give you something that you didn't even have to snip to make it seem like I was just being a madman, though.

EDIT: I've actually been trying to turn how much I hate Final Fantasy XIII into something of a self-deprecating in-joke.

 

[Elfgore]

Viking: Battle for Asgard- One of Creative Assembly's forays into more of an action game. This game didn't receive the best of reviews. For good reason too. The stealth was broken as hell, broken as in "this really is fucking terrible". They added force stealth segments at nearly every stage, the later stages being nigh impossible. The combat was repetitive and overall kinda boring. But Odin damnit, I love that game. I've bought it three times at this point.

Aliens: Colonial Marines- Now here me out. This game was a victim of over-hype, I remember hearing about this game back in 2004. So expectations were high. Yes, they did lie about the game in trailers and "gameplay" videos. But the game overall is pretty fun now. I've enjoyed the time I've spent playing it.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I'm not sure. You don't hear as much about merely disliked games.

One game I know for sure though is Master of Orion III.
Everyone loves to diss it, often right after/before raising MoO II to the skies..The nostalgia tinted cloudy reaches of the aether. It's good sure but so is MoO III, in different ways.

Perhaps.. no. I've got nothing more, sorry.

 

[Hawki]

Off the top of my head:

Aliens: Colonial Marines: Y'know what? I like this game. I like the health system, how it's a mix of regen, but also limited (i.e. can regen up to a point). I like how you battle PMCs as well as xenomorphs, how different tactics and weapons are required for each situation, not to mention having to fight both at the same time. I liked the motion tracker. It's definately a flawed game, what with graphics, story elements, some of its boss fights (especially the last one and the loader fight...gah), the DLC weapons (sonic electronics and the plasma rifle are USELESS) and the hype that came for it, but at the end of the day, I still had an enjoyable experience. I actually consider it a "good" game in as much as the enjoyment I got from it.

But that's just me.

Diablo III: While I'd call this game well recieved in terms of its average review scores, one can't ignore the fan uproar that came beforehand. But that said, I still enjoyed it. I played through D1 and D2 one after the other after its launch (the reception put me off diving straight in), and moved straight on to D3. And perhaps even more controversially than CM, I like it. Like it even more than the other two, and heck, prefer D1 to D2 also. I understand why people dislike D3, but honestly, I had a blast playing through it. I liked the writing, the characters, the combat, and I could live with dislikes such as the internet connection requirement and loot issues (which I never really cared about anyway). There are certainly areas where the previous 'Diablo' games trump 3 IMO (1 has the best atmosphere for instance), but, sorry, I thoroughly enjoyed D3 when it came out.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Well, if we're going off of the 7-9 scale that most journalists use, I'd say Mount and Blade Warband. It's my favourite game, yet didn't get amazing reviews due to the extremely steep learning curve, lack of a real tutorial, and sub-par graphics. I love the base game, and the mods make it even better. I also think it has one of the best combat systems in any game. The amount of time you can put into this game is huge, and mods only add to this. As far as the poor graphics go, I'm glad they sacrificed those because instead, we get massive battles. There's nothing quite like leading a flanking charge of 40 knights into a bunch of your enemy's infantry who were preoccupied with your small diversion force.

I haven't even played the multiplayer yet, and that's apparently one of the biggest draws to the series.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Risen 3: Titan Lords. It wasn't perfect, but I was very satisfied with it being a big improvement over the disappointing Risen 2 in almost every way and re-secured my faith in Piranha Bytes. It isn't perfect as I said, for one it's way too easy which can make it a breeze. Secondly the plotline and characterisation weren't anything to really praise, though they've never been PB's strong suits. I also fucking hate the Bethesdafication of the potions, being able to just guzzle them down instantly. But beyond those and some more minimal problems I thought it was a massive step up. Much more responsive, smoother combat system. A larger and more detailed world to explore with rewards hidden all over the place. Magic was pretty damn cool, though insanely overpowered. There was a bit more variety between game areas this time around.

But mainly the two big things for any Piranha Bytes game, combat and exploration, was improved immensely and that is what's most important to me.

 

[immortalfrieza]

There's one PS3 launch title called Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire.

It got extremely bad reviews. Only like a 33 on metacritic, but as a kid that was really into Gundam, I didn't care. I loved teh damn thing


There are others, but I think that fits the best.

I really need to get around to playing that. BTW, Is it anything like Federation Vs. Zeon? That's probably one of my favorite Gundam games and I've been looking for something similar for a while.

I can't really think of any games in particular that weren't well reviewed that I liked that haven't been mentioned already, I rarely get games like that. I did like Silent Hill Homecoming more or less, so that might be one.

If we're going by general hatedom I did like Dead Space 3, even if it's attempts to be scary were pretty pathetic or just pulled out of the previous games. I never found any reason to make use of the multiplayer or the microtransactions at all and still probably wouldn't have even if I did, so neither was an issue.

 

[hazabaza1]

I really enjoyed Alpha Protocol. The story and characters were presented well enough, even if some of the topics were a little bit sketchy/needed some more work and the gameplay worked its way from "not very good" to "broken as all hell I can headshot people from behind a wall, fear me mortals for I am the harbinger of your unconciousness and I have no mercy to spare" but it was an enjoyable romp and the way your choices impacted your various relationships worked out really well.

Was Space Marine well recieved? I remember not having the most chatter about it, but even I as someone who thinks Warhammer lore is fucking hilariously stupid and cannot take it seriously can appreciate taking a Storm Hammer to the forces of Chaos and laying waste with a smile on my face.

 

[Starbird]

Buh, what constitutes "not well-received"? Arkham Origins, for instance, still has an over 7/10 review score average, which I consider to be pretty well received all things considered.

For a 'premium' game like Arkham 7/10 is pretty low. Also most of the reviewers I usually trust disliked it. It did drag for a long time initially, to be fair - but I loved where it went.

Diablo III: While I'd call this game well recieved in terms of its average review scores, one can't ignore the fan uproar that came beforehand. But that said, I still enjoyed it. I played through D1 and D2 one after the other after its launch (the reception put me off diving straight in), and moved straight on to D3. And perhaps even more controversially than CM, I like it. Like it even more than the other two, and heck, prefer D1 to D2 also. I understand why people dislike D3, but honestly, I had a blast playing through it. I liked the writing, the characters, the combat, and I could live with dislikes such as the internet connection requirement and loot issues (which I never really cared about anyway). There are certainly areas where the previous 'Diablo' games trump 3 IMO (1 has the best atmosphere for instance), but, sorry, I thoroughly enjoyed D3 when it came out.

I never hated D3. It was more of a matter of 'well, this would be awesome but XYZ features kill it for me'. I am having a blast with it now, 2.1 has finally, in my eyes, allowed it to surpass D2 in most ways.

Two more for the list that came to mind:

KKND2: Krossfire. Loved the graphics, loved the humor, loved the design.

Oh, and probably the weirdest one on my list: Daikatana. Yes, the release had some stupid, stupid issues but with the patch and a bit of tinkering - it has some really brilliant bits and overall is a lot of fun. Part 3 is still genuinely awesome.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, now the story for the most part is unfocused and a lot of the side-quests are dull fetch quests, but the music, locations, combat system were certainly enough to carry me towards the end.

Ill go one further and say Final Fantasy XIII in general, all 3.

I will admit they are a low point in the series but I can't call them bad, hell even compared to other games they in between average and good.

 

[ISearchForTraps]

Epic Mickey 1. The sequel had too many flaws, and the forced Co-Op diluted the experience and the story just didn't feel as solid or thought out.

 

[TheGamerElite33]

Shadow warrior. Excellent shooter and best one in recent years. rated low because its not from big company who pay critics for high scores and awards

 

[Blitsie]

Viking: Battle for Asgard- One of Creative Assembly's forays into more of an action game. This game didn't receive the best of reviews. For good reason too. The stealth was broken as hell, broken as in "this really is fucking terrible". They added force stealth segments at nearly every stage, the later stages being nigh impossible. The combat was repetitive and overall kinda boring. But Odin damnit, I love that game. I've bought it three times at this point.

This game, oh man this game... I remember running into a bug seconds away from killing the final boss which effectively forced me to restart and do everything all over again. Was so furious I ended up taking the disc out and immediately headed to the nearest game store to trade it in for something else. I absolutely loathed it.

Until a few months later I sat thinking "gosh darnit I'm actually regretting selling this damn game". As broken and terrible as it is, there was just something so immensely satisfying about building up a viking army and then having an all out war at the end of every stage. Definitely grabbing this again when it shows up in a Steam sale.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Ehh, it's kinda like it, but not really.

Really if you want to play a game similar to Fed Vs Zeon, you're probably better off just importing one of the more recent games like Gundam Extreme Vs.



I left a video here so you can watch and decide.

"It's kinda like it" is enough for me to at least give it a try.

I don't speak or read Japanese so I don't import games unless a fan translation exists, and even so, I'll wait a bit to see if it gets officially translated and dubbed before I rely on a fan translation.