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Beloved Games you Hate [roundtable]
 
Much like every other entertainment medium in the planet, every video game save for a few exceptions I could probably count with my two hands, has a consensus attached to it - everyone either loves it, hates it, or something in between. That's because gamers usually expect something specific out of video games, and products either deliver or they don't. However, at the end of the day, we're all different, and sooner or later we're all bound to not follow the general consensus at some point, and video games are no exception.

I made this a roundtable so we can hopefully get some good discussions going, and be baffled at some of our fellow board members' choices. I'm sure some of you will be dumbfounded even at this OP.

So, post games everyone loves and you hate. Of course you can do any amount of games you want, and include descriptions only if you see fit. You can also add games you acknowledge to be well made games, but just aren't for you. Also, feel free to include games everyone hates and you love, I just didn't make that part of the main topic because it's not that common for that to happen. When games are generally considered horrible, it's usually because they're just not well made from a technical standpoint - no one can stand horrible cameras, textures, frame-rates or glitches abound. But if you can find an example of this, go ahead.

This should be good. Also, sorry if it's been done before. I don't remember if it has. Anyway, I'll start.

I Hate:

Kid Icarus

I hate this game. Granted I didn't play it in its entirety, I was fed up with it far before the final stretch of the game, but I completely disliked what I played of it. It stole the Metroid engine and made me go around in very generic looking stages attacking enemies with lame attacks. And constantly scrolling upwards (I know not the entire game is like this, but still) is so annoying in 2D a platforming game like this.

Animal Crossing

I had never played Animal Crossing until a few months ago. It didn't look like my type of game at all, so I steered clear. In what seemed like a call from destiny, a friend of mine recently let me borrow City Folk and said - here, you have to play it. You can't go on with your life until you play Animal Crossing. So I did. And, wow. What the hell do you do in this game? Seriously, though, I can see how people could get into this game. It's a good simulation game, and I can definitely see the Nintendo touch. I can feel it, almost. But the game bored me to no end. I put a couple hours into it and I never wanna see it again. Everyone says all Animal Crossing games are the same, so I feel I am entitled to say I hate the entire series.

Zelda II

I'm not completely alone on this one, I know, but it's still generally regarded as a good game. It's not a fun game at all. It's comprised of all these different "pieces" that ultimately don't add up at all. Towns, overworld with RPG-esque battles, experience points, AND side-scrolling gameplay? It never comes together, it's terrible. It doesn't help that it's extremely hard. But you know what's even harder? Finding a reason that justifies actually beating this game. Fuck it.

I hate the following more than the rest...

Gears of War

I should clarify before I begin, I haven't played the second one. And I don't want to. As for the first one, I played a substantial amount of the campaign and a bit of multiplayer, too. The multiplayer's alright, it's well designed, the problem is it has to work within the confines of the design of the game (of course), so... it sucks. First of all, the game is gray. I don't care what you have to say - it's gray. Yeah, it has some beautiful textures, but it's so unappealing to look at. I know people often complain about this in realistic HD games, but Gears is easily the worst offender in this aspect. So you already have a raised eyebrow from the minute you fire up the game, and then you start to play it. Your character moves like a tank (the "worse than Leon S. Kennedy" variety of tanks), the environments all look the same (of course) and are like 2x2. You have to take cover constantly and fire generic weapons at generic aliens. Yeah, it's a third person shooter which is kind of original, but it might as well have been an FPS, it's hard to tell the difference honestly. "Stop 'n' pop" doesn't make a shooting game more strategic - it makes it more boring.

And there's soon to be THREE of these games! Damn! Gears represents everything that's wrong with this generation of gaming (it only needs a 99 cent iOS game and we're golden), and people love it.

I'll post more games if they come to mind. Looking forward to your responses!

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05/21/11, 20:02    Edited: 05/21/11, 20:07
 
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I also dislike Kid Icarus, but I don't have the impression that it's all that beloved a game And when it comes to entire genres, I dislike 99% of fighting games out there (aside from the Super Smash Bros. series).
05/22/11, 00:57   
@X-pert74
Kid Icarus is split, probably mostly between people who played it when it was new and loved it, and people who are too young and don't get it (or who just never make it past the first level), you very rarely hear Nintendo fans over the age of 30 hating on Kid Icarus. It's the same way the original Metroid is, a lot of people started with Super Metroid so don't realize how awesome the original one was, even though it was a lot more difficult and harder to navigate.
05/22/11, 01:02   
Edited: 05/22/11, 01:04
@Jargon

That's me too. I want to like it, but I just can't. It's...so...archaic.
05/22/11, 01:07   
@deathly_hallows

I played it when I was young but never got very far. I played through it a couple years ago with a completely open mind, since I love the original Metroid, but was disappointed. The maze levels, the RPG elements, the fact that the game starts pretty tough and gets very easy are all big turn offs to me. It's not very much like the original Metroid at all, since there's not really any exploration and the power ups come more from grinding.
05/22/11, 01:08   
Hmmm... Kid Icarus has some problems, I'll admit that. The first levels are too hard and all the boss fights are too easy. But, you know, that game came out so early in the life of the NES. It released in 1986 in Japan. I mean, that's the same year Nintendo released Urban Champion. Surely Kid Icarus is less hateable than that! I suppose I find it a little odd that such a well-meaning, experimental little game could end up on someone's list of hates.

It makes me wonder how many younger gamers formed their opinion of Kid Icarus based on the hype around Pit in Brawl. Just throwing that out there.
05/22/11, 01:18   
@Jargon
Well it's a divisive game, and it's not as good as Metroid when you dissect it using modern sensibilities, but my point was when you're a kid you're a lot more forgiving and a lot more open to enjoying a game for what it is instead of what you want it to be. Games don't need to be perfect to be compelling and fun to play. Maybe it's mostly just nostalgia but for better or for worse it just seems to me it's usually older fans who love the Pit.
05/22/11, 01:24   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:12
@deathly_hallows The NES Metroid was my first Metroid game and I've always hated it, so I don't think what order you play the games in, or age, has much to do with it.
05/22/11, 01:48   
Every turn based and real time strategy game.

This includes Advanced Wars, Age of Empires, Fire Emblem... the list goes on.

I could never get into these games. They suck IMO and are extremely boring.
05/22/11, 02:06   
@X-pert74
Eh, I don't know, I'd have to see more people from my generation saying they hate Metroid and Kid Icarus before I believe that age doesn't factor heavily into the equation, but maybe some older gamers in this thread will chime in validating your point of view...

Anyway, it's not important, you hate the game and that's completely valid no matter what the reason! The whole point of this thread is to talk about games you dislike even though they have huge followings, so we're not going to convince each other to like the stuff we hate! (if that makes any sense)
05/22/11, 02:08   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:10
I'm not that young, but I'm young! My first system was the Genesis - and I wasn't even born yet when Icarus came out. Kid Icarus is one of those games I played it only like 3 years ago, and it didn't impress me at all (and not because it's a retro game, I have appreciation for those in spare - I just didn't like it). Maybe I'm unintentionally biased, but whatever the case, I gave the game an honest chance and I didn't like it. And yes, I made it past the first level (not far though).
05/22/11, 02:11   
Grand Theft Auto: The series' world is just a stinky quagmire of crime and misery, with generic, unattractive art, awful controls, and gameplay scenarios that make me feel like I need a long shower. It's simply charmless, and I feel like I was the only one not impressed with the fact you could drive around killing people and causing a stir.

Halo and nearly every major FPS release post-2001: I could go on and on about this, but I'll make it brief: Perfect Dark is an outstanding accomplishment, taking the revolutionary gameplay that Goldeneye laid down and expanding on it in every conceivable and inconceivable way. FPSes these days seem to have taken one step forward, nine steps back with their 1) regenerating shields, 2) large battlefield setpieces that lack the precision and timelessness of good level design, 3) massively scaling down or eliminating offscreen multi altogether, 4) eliminating bots for some bizarre reason, 5) refusing to put in 1/10th the customization allowed in PD's multiplayer matches, 6) ignoring objective-based gameplay, opting for "epic" firefights and linear corridor runs instead, 7) including a stupid, stupid weapon-switching system that just makes playing the game a headache, 8) a personal thing but switching the turn/strafe controls for some reason, 9) overly-long levels and way too many checkpoints, leading to gameplay that's too forgiving and essentially guarantees you're going to get hit...

Ugh, I'll stop there. But in short, pretty much everything that GE and PD did for FPSes in the N64 generation has been undone, replaced by Halo, CoD, Halo clones, and CoD clones...and it just doesn't work for me.
05/22/11, 02:13   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:43
@GelatinousEncore
I see it like this, if you play a ton of games that have benefitted from years of evolution in terms of technology and game design, and then go back to play games that are way less developed it's hard to appreciate them for just how kick-ass they were at the time. Some games can bridge that gap, but very few, and games that were great at the time, like Kid Icarus, but weren't as amazing as Super Mario Bros., can't make the leap.

However, older gamers still remember KI as being kick ass and always talk about how great it is, then the younger gamers go back and try it with super high expectations and are let down, backlash ensues.
05/22/11, 02:19   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:20
@deathly_hallows That may be true, but then there's nothing I can do to make me enjoy the game more, yet my opinion isn't less valid. Was just born too late ... :P
05/22/11, 02:22   
@GelatinousEncore

See, I can understand that. It's hard for me to put myself in the shoes of someone who maybe played Kid Icarus for the first time in 2009 or something.

But deathly_hallows is right, you've got a perfectly valid point of view. I didn't really mean it when I said I didn't forgive people who hated Kid Icarus.

(Ok, maybe just a little bit.)
05/22/11, 02:26   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:27
I totally see where you guys are coming from, but I also played Duck Tales on NES for the first time in 2007 and I enjoyed the hell out of it. So, what gives?
05/22/11, 02:29   
@GelatinousEncore
Agreed, that's just my theory on why Kid Icarus is so divisive, and even though I love the game I'll admit it's got tons of problems, I really don't blame people for judging it harshly. A lot of NES games are that way for me, like Castlevania, the controls to that game suck and it's totally cheap, I still love it though. It's mainly for the music and the visuals that I love those old games, when you think about it a lot of them had pretty crappy gameplay. Not all, but a lot.

@GelatinousEncore
Is Duck Tales really that good? I've never played it. Maybe I should get it on VC? Is it on VC?
05/22/11, 02:31   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:33
You have a point there. Castlevania is the definition of stiff controls, cheapness and limited attack, but it has its appeal due to its Halloween atmosphere, the enemies are all sorts of cool monsters, not generic ghosts or bats. Castles, creepy forests, good stuff. Super Castlevania IV obliterates the NES games so much it's embarrassing, though. And not just because of better graphics.

I dont think DuckTales is on VC. Pretty sure all those Disney Afternoon games can't make it in there due to licensing/copyright issues (speaking of, I keep hearing DarkWing Duck on NES is a damn decent game).
05/22/11, 02:36   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:38
Duck Tales is a good game. It's probably one of the best on the NES, though it doesn't get so much credit with gamers because we have a natural aversion to licensed games nowadays.

But DuckTales also came out 3 years after Kid Icarus. And this was a time when those 3 years could make a world of difference.

I mean, for comparison, Nintendo released the original Super Mario Bros in 1985. Now, that game is a perfect 10 because it has it where it counts: fluid gameplay and a whole new language for how to do video games. But, if we're honest here, SMB ain't pretty by your average NES standards.

But just 3 years later, Super Mario Bros 3 was out in Japan. That's 3 years from NES SMB to NES SMB3. They almost look and feel like they're being played on different hardware the leap is so great.

EDIT: So, I don't know. It's not a requirement that a modern gamer goes easy on Kid Icarus because it's a first generation NES title. All you gotta be is honest with yourself about whether you like a game or not, obviously. But I certainly forgive Kid Icarus its flaws. They were doing new things and not everything they tried worked. That's okay with me. But your mileage may vary.
05/22/11, 02:40   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:43
@kriswright That's an interesting thought - back when most games were side-scrollers (either platformers or beat-em-ups) and it was hard to fuck up, there were a lot of decent to awesome licensed games. (it also took much less time to develop games, and products didn't have to be rushed to launch at the same time as the license. Maybe a game based on a movie could come out a couple years after the movie). DuckTales, Lion King on Sega, Power Rangers on SNES, freakin Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, X-Men 1 & 2 on Sega, list goes on.

I think there was even a Felix the Cat game on NES that was decent (your icon reminded me, lol). Maybe they weren't the most exciting titles gameplay wise, but they worked totally well; if you were a fan of the license, chances were you enjoyed the hell out of the game.
05/22/11, 02:46   
Edited: 05/22/11, 02:47
I sense an immense amount of bannings being handed out the minute Zero pokes his nose into this thread.

My choice is a cheap target, but I don't care.

Halo.

Fuck Halo.

It's generic, it repetitive, and it's boring. It all but RUINED the FPS genre. There's people who claim that FFVII signalled the point where JRPG's jumped the shark and lost their way. I feel Halo did the same thing for the FPS.

Checkpoints, rechargeable health, weapons management...all these "innovations" that now permeate FPS games everywhere and make them SUCK. I liked the path blazed by Goldeneye, and followed up by Perfect Dark and Timesplitters. Stealth, objectives, superior level design. Games that kept things interesting. Not the mindless blast-fest the majority of the FPS games have become.

The first thing I'm going to do when I perfect my time machine, is to go back and eliminate Halo's existence from the space-time continuum. The world can only be a better place if I do.
05/22/11, 02:48   
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