Your under-rated and over-rated game of the year

[Calgar99]

What is your little gem and what suffered from the hyperbole

This post might be a year late but in recent memory I was surprised by Lost Odyssey. I remember feeling like and idiot with money just wanting to spend it on something.Went into HMV and picked it up without knowing anything about it other than it was made by the creator of final fantasy. It was a real surprise whan I popped in the disc to find it wasn't just a poor mans final fantasy. I was impressed with graphics but especially the voice over which werent has hammy they usuallly are in JRPGs.It was also breath of fresh air from all the shooter I had been playing.

Unfortunately the game that didnt light my fire was Uncharted.I had just picked a ps3 with MGS4 and uncharted so I never tested the trial version. At first I was really impressed with the characters, the sound and the graphics. I enjoyed the tomb raiding aspects but then after a while the gameply ceased to be fun and became more of a chore. I got very bored very quickly of reaching an area killing 20 bad guys, reach the next area kill 25 bad guys, reach the next area etc etc. Its a shame because there is so much quality in this game and yet the essential gameplay let it down for me

So anyway those are what are yours?

[Iron Past]

For me personally, GTA IV was definately the over-rated game this year (so far). I played for a while and traded it in; there was plenty of technical stuff that was right with it, but to me it just wasn't fun.

The flip side was Too Human, which got raked over the coals pretty badly in most reviews. It is missed on some technical aspects, but god is it fun to play.

[Kelegacy]

Uncharted was released last year, right? I loved it, but I played it this year. Beat it 3 times in the course of a couple weeks, twice before the trophies were released.

However, if you are talking about games we PLAYED this year, I'd have to say Mass Effect was one of the most overrated--I don't overly enjoy the console Bioware games.

Underrated is an easy choice. Dark Sector was a game I LOVED. I beat it in like 2 days because I flew through it--couldn't put it down. It's in the bargain bin now, so I recommend people at least give it a rental. The glaive is so much fun.

Other titles would be Turok, Viking, Blue Dragon and Jericho. Liked them all, though they aren't AAA.

[Ancalagon]

Was Crysis released this year or last year? Cos that was overrated I think.

Underrated? I dont know, I actually havent bought that many games this year. Megaman ZX Advent for the DS was pretty good though, not sure how old it is. In fact, I dont think I really played an underrated game this year. How sad.

[Virtual Machine]

Underrated - i'd have to give to either Dark Sector or Viking: Battle for Asgard. Both were released the same week, and both were little marvels in their own right. Dark Sector is one of the most beautiful looking games on current platforms, and it's Resident Evil 4 meets Gears of War control scheme felt great (also - best sinking ship level ever!). Viking felt like Fable crossed with Conan. Loved the HUGE scale of the mid and end level battles, and really enjoyed the feel of the worlds they let you explore.

Overrated - Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - No, it hasn't been tearing it up with review scores, but it deserves about 20 percent lower than its current gamerankings score. Horribly executed, ugly, glitchy, unfinished game.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by Virtual Machine

Underrated - i'd have to give to either Dark Sector or Viking: Battle for Asgard. Both were released the same week, and both were little marvels in their own right. Dark Sector is one of the most beautiful looking games on current platforms, and it's Resident Evil 4 meets Gears of War control scheme felt great (also - best sinking ship level ever!). Viking felt like Fable crossed with Conan. Loved the HUGE scale of the mid and end level battles, and really enjoyed the feel of the worlds they let you explore.

I agree with you on both accounts. DS was beautiful and action-packed, with great boss fights, Viking reminded me of a more action-oriented Fable (at first anyway). I think it was the art style of the first island and characters that reminded me of Fable though. Viking became repetitive after a while, but never ceased being fun. That last level irritated me, going up the stairs. But I did it. 850 achievement points!

I still want to go back to Dark Sector and play it on Hard. I think that would be fun.

[iHap]

The most over-rated game of the year in my honest opinion was Spore. The first few stages go by so quickly that you get to the space stage...and that's it. I lost interest real fast when the whole object of the game is a sandbox to colonize every star system in the Spore galaxy. I uninstalled this junk the third day I owned it.

Age of Conan is the most under-rated game. It started out rough, yes, but a lot of MMO's have that bump in the rode when they start off. With the recent server merges it does sound like it might die but I'll still continue to play and enjoy this game very much so.

[Gorvi]

Overrated was probably GTA4. I've still yet to play it, but once the hype died down, everyone seemed to realize it was just more of the same GTA with better graphics.

Underrated would be Wild ARMs XF. The game got some incredibly mediocre reviews, to the point where it turned me away. Now that I've played it? It's the most original SRPG to come out in many years. I love it.

[itchyeyes]

I'd say GTA4 and MGS4 are tied for me as most overrated games this year. They were good games if you were fans of the series but a lot of people billed them as generation defining games that transcended their roots, which they were definitely not. For me both games were more or less just a new coat of paint on the previous version's gameplay, and didn't really address any of the flaws that concerned me about their predecessors.

I'm having a hard time thinking of a game that I think is really underrated. There are a few games, like Spore and Too Human, that received a lot more backlash and animosity than I think they deserved, but I'm not sure if that's the same thing.

[Mdot]

I'm with iHap on Spore. That game lost my interest extremely quickly and I've had no desire to go back to it. Used some great tech and the customization was cool, but after that, nothing I really enjoyed too much.

[iHap]

Originally Posted by Mdot

I'm with iHap on Spore. That game lost my interest extremely quickly and I've had no desire to go back to it. Used some great tech and the customization was cool, but after that, nothing I really enjoyed too much.

I would much enjoy Spore if the first few stages were longer than 15 minutes each. Those were the best about the game where it was FPS mode and you got to explore around.

[Mdot]

Originally Posted by iHap

I would much enjoy Spore if the first few stages were longer than 15 minutes each. Those were the best about the game where it was FPS mode and you got to explore around.

Agreed. Right after I got through those, I wasn't compelled at all to continue. It's just been sitting on my PC. I'm not really involved in anything else at the moment, but I just can't get back into it.

[SilentScreams]

Over-rated for me is Civilization Revolution. Maybe I've just been spoiled by the PC versions, but I really couldn't get into Civ Rev. It was missing too much stuff that the PC versions had and lacked depth.
It was also way too easy. Even the hardest difficulty was no challenge.

Under-rated I can't really come up with one. Most games I've bought this year have been on recommendations or as a result of universally good reviews.

[iHap]

Originally Posted by Mdot

Agreed. Right after I got through those, I wasn't compelled at all to continue. It's just been sitting on my PC. I'm not really involved in anything else at the moment, but I just can't get back into it.

I wonder if there's a config I could edit or a mod to make those stages last longer. I'll have to look into that after I get some sleep.

[muddi900]

Underrated: Bionic Commando. Best Remake Ever. Of course, I never played the original. It is underrated because most people still haven't played it. Also, Mass Effect on the PC. Mass effect on the 360 looks like it retarded cousin. And I'm not talking about Graphics.

Over-rated: Can't think of any at this point.

[j0hnz3r]

Under-rated - Sins of a Solar Empire. I don't think nearly enough people looked at or tried this game as they should have. It was MOO + CIV + Love. So Awesome.

Over-rated - Braid. I just don't think it was as awesome as people. I think he tried way too hard to be arty and I'm damn sick and tired of hearing him speak. That's just my opinion, though.

[Bingley Joe]

Most under-rated: Viking. Not to say that it was perfect by any means, but it was a huge amount of fun, and definitely got the short-shrift from reviewers.

Most over-rated: GTA4. Certain elements of the game world are absolutely extraordinary, and well worth the praise lavished on them, but sweet jesus was the gameplay ever a let-down IMO. The controls felt ripped straight out of a game from 5 years ago, and just never stopped getting in the way for me (talking about Niko's controls here -- I always managed to have fun with the driving).

Add to that the heavy-handed sophomoric humour, outright misogyny, and couched homophobia, and I can scarcely remember being more turned off by a game I really wanted to like.

[KingGorilla]

Under ratef: Penumbra Black Plague. Check my review, great adventure game.

Over rated: Bionic Commando. Remake, still broken on the last level after you go outside. Fuck you blind platforming, in the ear.

[Abyssion]

Underrated The World Ends With You.

Overrated I'm not sure...

[TheFlyingOrc]

Since it was within the last 12 months, Assassin's Creed. Not that it's a bad game, it just had so many design flaws.

edit: And GTA4 failed to impress, as well.