Going against the grain...

[Cacophanus]

Halo: The campaign mode went severely down hill in terms of level design for the latter half of the game (the multiplayer aspect of the game is still top notch though).

Virtual On: Greatest game ever, yet everyone thinks I am insane for claiming this.

Biohazard: Awful forced camera angles and crappy voice acting. I would rather contract terminal herpes than play this.

Rez: Innovative aesthetics but with derivative game design (it's an on rails shooter for godsakes!).

[Ady]

i think all of the FF series are massivly over rated.

I second that.

[fatbatch]

Going against this particular grain, I think the Final Fantasy series is widely underrated. Three quick reasons:

The worlds are distinct in tone and character, whilst points of continuity (chocobos, black mages etc) link them in a way that makes the games coherent but far less homogenous than any other series.

The battle system is different enough from game to game to make it an enjoyable challenge to learn and master. I wonder if those who scoff at the turn based system have played the active battle system on the fastest setting ...

There are characters and stories that involve the player like a good book or film. Cheer Vivi, boo Sephiroth ... The ending of Final Fantasy Tactics evokes a frisson just in remembrance.

[Squirtle]

Halo: The campaign mode went severely down hill in terms of level design for the latter half of the game (the multiplayer aspect of the game is still top notch though).

That's hardly going against the grain, is it. Most people think the first half of Halo is the better half, so you're merely stating the obvious.

Anyway, against the grain...

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is really rather good.

I'm enjoying the single player campaign on Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Burnout 2 is better than Ridge Racer - any of them.

Devil May Cry was unplayable, frustrating rubbish.

Vagrant Story was too hard for its own good. I tried and tried but just got stuck against two ghost creatures midway through.

Syphon Filter is better than MGS2 (and as good as MGS).

[Cacophanus]

That's hardly going against the grain, is it. Most people think the first half of Halo is the better half, so you're merely stating the obvious.

I have almost lost my testicles for my opinion on Halo, so I aint just bleeting with the "crowd'. I am stating the obvious though.

[Squirtle]

That's hardly going against the grain, is it. Most people think the first half of Halo is the better half, so you're merely stating the obvious.

I have almost lost my testicles for my opinion on Halo, so I aint just bleeting with the "crowd'. I am stating the obvious though.

Do you actually not like Halo then?

That would be going against the grain.

[badgerpie]

Mario shunshine is a fantastic game.

Yes, it's not as good as mario 64, but it IS better than every other platformer..

I also thouht the camera wasn't hard to use at all.

[Faded]

Devil May Cry 2 > Devil May Cry 1

Im really interested to see what made you come to that opinion. I cant think of one way whatsoever that the sequel betters the original, so am intrigued as to what makes you feel that way about it. If you could expland on that it would be great.

Hmm my original message is kind of stupidly worded. I don't feel comfortable saying any game is better than another.

That being said, yeah in my opinion 2 > 1*. I'm really not sure why, hmm let me think.

It's mostly small things. The original I found boring after one play and had to force myself to play through to get everything unlocked. Two didn't feel as repetitive, I immediatly went straight back through it multiple times and only stopped when a friend wanted to borrow it.

I like two's controls better.

The cutscenes in one are cool at first, but on repeated viewing they make me cringe. Two's slightly more reserved dante bothers me much less.

If I sit and think about it, I'd probably say one had the better level design. However for the msot part I felt like I had more space to run around in two. That very slight false sense of freedom is probably one of the reasons I found two far less boring.

I liked two's bosses more, with the exception of nightmare and phantom. One of which is in two. I'f I have to play through a game about three times to get everything, than I'd rather fight more bosses than the same ones over again with the course of one single game. Adding in extra attacks for the bosses is something that can be done in the harder difficulties.

I really hated how one threw everything out the window near the end.

Two feels more arcady to me, one is more action adventure. It's most likely just a preference thing.

Plus the bloody palace mode is good when you jsut want to kill things.

Things one did better. Regular monster design. More satisfying challenge wise.


Actually now that I think about it. If I stopped after one play through I'd probably say DMC1 was better. Playing through and unlocking everything, I found DMC2 much more rewarding.


But then again, I've always had weird taste in games.

* > In this case meaning I find two more enjoyable than one and would never be so arrogant as to matter of factly state that so and so game is better than so and so game.

[Ady]

Oh yes.

I don't have a problem with the GBA screen at all.

I actually prefer the GBA to the SP, too.

Colour me iconoclastic!

[Sketcz]

My goodness, another absolute gem of a topic, started by the reliable Ady, that I have unearthed again.

I was going to start something similar in retro, to talk about classic games you didnt like, but I think Ill vent some catharsis here. Read some interesting posts, controversy always makes for good reading.

Games I hated, that others loved:

Halo: arguably the worst game I have ever played on xbox. Poor level design, and simply cheap gameplay mechanics using the flood, I mean endlessly spawning waves of mindless enemies is an old cliche I thought had died with the 80's. Terrible game for so many reasons.
IMO I would rate Otogi, JSRF, Tekki and "The Thing" higher than Halo.
I nearly considered selling my xbox, since this was my first purchase.

Mario Kart: Pricey and rare at times, it is argued as the best karting game of all time, and the best snes racer. When in fact it was vacuous, and excessively difficult. Sure, I hated it because I was rubbish at it. But I could never complete any cups on 100cc or above. Ludicrously steep difficulty, and a dull 1 player mode meant I hated it. Who cares if 2 player was any good, a game for me, has to be good in 1 player, and if its good in 2 player, thats just a nice bonus. Anyway, I prefered bomberman for snes multiplayer gaming.

Sapphire: ?300+ for a shooter completable within half an hour. The graphics are not nearly as impressive as people make out either, seriously, why does it need the arcade card? Little replay needs, 3 choosable characters with little differences, and a simple shooting engine. Dull, short, and grossly overpriced.

Shining force SEGA CD: My full bile filled review for this can be found on gamefaqs, but to highlight:
Without a sega ram cart, you cant play it. How such an idiotic design flaw could be overlooked is beyond me. Also,
no villages
no NPC's
no dungeons
no secrets
Just endless, mindless strategy battles. This isnt an rpg, this is a dull as ditch water strategy game with the shining force license stapled to its face.


PHEW!
Glad I revived this topic, it shows promise. That and the above were a few cases I really wanted to get off my chest.

cheerio!

[Valiant]

Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania and everything else that comes under that banner are nothing more than novelty games of co-ordination with little variation on a central theme that are ridiculously overexposed in a certain magazine to the detriment of other more worthy software and features.

Bluestorm is easily one of the best titles on the Gamecube and miles better than the N64 version.

[karlidog]

erm... lemme think.

oh! i can't stand any of rare's N64 output (and subsequent GC/Xbox bits) apart from banjo-kazooie. goldeneye's framerate gave me a headache and the environments and plot (okay, that's partly the fault of the film) bored the life out of me. the only part of conker's bad fur day i found even vaguely funny was the poo monster... the rest was just sixth-form 'oh look! blood and misogyny!' public-school rubbish, as far as i'm concerned (i can't claim the poo monster *wasn't* sixth-form tat, but the fact that it was done in song redeemed the thing for me). and the actual platforming mechanics were a sodding travesty. but maybe it was more aimed at guys... every bloke i've ever mentioned it to thought it was hilarious.

over-realism in games tends to put me right off. i've no interest whatsoever in recreating the real world - i play games to be immersed in someone else's imagination, even if it's shallow and dumb (loved mario and luigi...) - i didn't enjoy the GTA games all that much because i felt constrained by the realism, for example. i guess the most realistic games i've really, really enjoyed have been the silent hill and project zero/fatal frame series - any more real-worldy than that and i totally lose interest.

oh yeah, and i hate stealth games. i cannot bloody stand hiding behind a crate, waiting until a guard's programming tells him to turn the other way. i've tried to enjoy them, i really have, but i just can't seem to see where the fun's supposed to come from.

[Moodmon]

Mario 64 can go to hell and die. I don't want to collect stars. I want to somehow make my way to the end of the level. Wouldn't be so bad, but every single platform game since has copied the template.

Robotech: Battlecry and the ZOE games are utterly wonderful.

[?pint]

I greatly prefer Crash Nitro Kart over Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, much like I preferred Crash Team Racing over Mario Kart 64.

Meh, I don't know why, I just do. I see the games to be very similar, but with nicer controls and a much better boosting system.

[Razz]

Ikaruga. So over-rated it hurts.