poipoipoi9
Member
Deadlocked is pretty underrated, it's basically a full-on sci-fi shooter at that point, but it controls well and is still a fun game, albeit not a proper R&C game.
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Overrated/Underrated games for respective franchises?
- Thread starter Mark1
- Start date
Deadlocked is pretty underrated, it's basically a full-on sci-fi shooter at that point, but it controls well and is still a fun game, albeit not a proper R&C game.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Arkham Asylum is often heralded as a great 3D Metroid-like but that is only cosmetic. The combat and stealth doesn't mix things up at all throughout the game and it's almost completely linear with no need for the player to figure it where to go next. Really bad boss encounters and a story that routinely underwhelms right up to the end. A huge accomplishment for nailing the core mechanics of what controlling Batman in a 3D space should be like, but it's clear it was only a first step in creating a full-fledged Batman experience.
Arkham Origins has some jank, but it's a good game, better than Asylum, and the accusations of it being "soulless" at the time were unfoundedit does feel more like a big expansion pack to City than a brand new game, but there's too much that suggests it was spearheaded by huge fans of Batman to say it was just a cash grab. I appreciate more being done with existing material too.
Arkham Origins has some jank, but it's a good game, better than Asylum, and the accusations of it being "soulless" at the time were unfoundedit does feel more like a big expansion pack to City than a brand new game, but there's too much that suggests it was spearheaded by huge fans of Batman to say it was just a cash grab. I appreciate more being done with existing material too.
TheMoon
Member
Underrated
Sleeping Dogs - I wouldn't say it gets as much flack as some of the other games in this thread, but I still think it's underrated. A really great story and fun combat system. It was interesting being in an open-world city that wasn't somewhere like New York or Los Angeles.
Overrated
Inside - Now I really liked Inside -- but I personally don't see how someone could say it's one of the best games they've played in years etc. I think it's a good game, but not this masterpiece that a lot of people deem it as.
Sleeping Dogs - I wouldn't say it gets as much flack as some of the other games in this thread, but I still think it's underrated. A really great story and fun combat system. It was interesting being in an open-world city that wasn't somewhere like New York or Los Angeles.
Overrated
Inside - Now I really liked Inside -- but I personally don't see how someone could say it's one of the best games they've played in years etc. I think it's a good game, but not this masterpiece that a lot of people deem it as.
Markitron
Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Call of Duty:
Underrated: Ghosts. Don't get me wrong, it's hardly a masterpiece, but it wasn't the absolute shit-show everyone made out.
Overrated: Advance Warfare: It felt like I was playing a different game to everyone else. It was a bog-standard shooter, with no standout features apart from Frank Underwood (who is only half as interesting without Claire).
Code Veronica is overrated now? I'm one of about 3 people on GAF that doesn't hate it with a passion. In fact I consider it the most underrated in the series and one of the most underrated games of all time.
Underrated: Ghosts. Don't get me wrong, it's hardly a masterpiece, but it wasn't the absolute shit-show everyone made out.
Overrated: Advance Warfare: It felt like I was playing a different game to everyone else. It was a bog-standard shooter, with no standout features apart from Frank Underwood (who is only half as interesting without Claire).
Code Veronica is overrated now? I'm one of about 3 people on GAF that doesn't hate it with a passion. In fact I consider it the most underrated in the series and one of the most underrated games of all time.
Underrated:
COD Ghosts - seriously, the campaign is straight up BAD, but extinction >>> zombies, and the multiplayer was pretty good IMHO. I don't understand why people kept asking for a non-futuristic game when they have this one on their shiny new nextgen consoles
Halo 2 - I often hear fans saying "too linear" and such, but without Halo 2 we wouldn't have the true Haloverse. And its multiplayer (post-patches) was just too good.
Overrated:
COD Black Ops 2 - stop loving it, it's bad, let it die already
COD Ghosts - seriously, the campaign is straight up BAD, but extinction >>> zombies, and the multiplayer was pretty good IMHO. I don't understand why people kept asking for a non-futuristic game when they have this one on their shiny new nextgen consoles
Halo 2 - I often hear fans saying "too linear" and such, but without Halo 2 we wouldn't have the true Haloverse. And its multiplayer (post-patches) was just too good.
Overrated:
COD Black Ops 2 - stop loving it, it's bad, let it die already
Overrated- Mario 3d World. I thought it was way too easy and short. Not a bad game by any means, but I feel like Super Mario Bros U was better yet you don't really hear about it.
Underrated- Xenoblade Chronicles X. Everyone already knows it has one of the best open worlds to explore and awesome transformer mechs, but I'm talking about the story. I thought it had some great twists and moments in it where you really felt like the stakes were high, yet it gets completely shit on. I think maybe because it wasn't a continuation, or was very different from the previous title. I can understand people being upset when a brand has the same name but has significant change, but it's still an amazing game and a exciting sequence of events that occur.
Underrated- Xenoblade Chronicles X. Everyone already knows it has one of the best open worlds to explore and awesome transformer mechs, but I'm talking about the story. I thought it had some great twists and moments in it where you really felt like the stakes were high, yet it gets completely shit on. I think maybe because it wasn't a continuation, or was very different from the previous title. I can understand people being upset when a brand has the same name but has significant change, but it's still an amazing game and a exciting sequence of events that occur.
Exploratory
Banned
Andromeda is underrated.
Underrated: Metal Gear 2 for the MSX. It's the origin point for probably 90% of what's in Metal Gear Solid 1. I'm not gonna call MGS1 overrated because it's obvious why it got so much love despite basically being a remake of MG2. MG2 is pretty much the same game, Kojima just made it eight years earlier on an 8-bit computer.
I can completely understand why NSMB1 got the reaction it did: I think a lot of the mainstream audience that bought it actually didn't realize there had been other Mario games since the original one.
If you look at sales charts of the Mario series, there's a gigantic chasm between sales of SMB1, sales of pretty much all succeeding games, and sales of NSMB1. Part of that is obviously because SMB1 was a pack-in, but I feel like NSMB1 got far more exposure than any Mario game since SMB1. Maybe Nintendo knew about this and this is why it simply titled the game "New Super Mario Bros." -- people likely thought it was "the New Mario game after the original one."
Nah, fuck that. I think the campaign is underrated. I'm serious.
Sure Ghosts had a crap story and concept, but in terms of level design and variety it's actually my favorite current-gen COD. I thought the fire fights were really well-crafted and the campaign managed to throw out a lot of surprises like the flood level, the train level, the tank level (which COD hadn't done in a really long time), the space level at the beginning, etc. I still feel like Infinity Ward is better at that than the other COD studios. Treyarch on the other hand seems to make a lot of levels that are just you shooting dudes and rely a lot more on the basic gameplay systems without mixing them up too much.
I can completely understand why NSMB1 got the reaction it did: I think a lot of the mainstream audience that bought it actually didn't realize there had been other Mario games since the original one.
If you look at sales charts of the Mario series, there's a gigantic chasm between sales of SMB1, sales of pretty much all succeeding games, and sales of NSMB1. Part of that is obviously because SMB1 was a pack-in, but I feel like NSMB1 got far more exposure than any Mario game since SMB1. Maybe Nintendo knew about this and this is why it simply titled the game "New Super Mario Bros." -- people likely thought it was "the New Mario game after the original one."
Nah, fuck that. I think the campaign is underrated. I'm serious.
Sure Ghosts had a crap story and concept, but in terms of level design and variety it's actually my favorite current-gen COD. I thought the fire fights were really well-crafted and the campaign managed to throw out a lot of surprises like the flood level, the train level, the tank level (which COD hadn't done in a really long time), the space level at the beginning, etc. I still feel like Infinity Ward is better at that than the other COD studios. Treyarch on the other hand seems to make a lot of levels that are just you shooting dudes and rely a lot more on the basic gameplay systems without mixing them up too much.
Continental 0p
Member
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is pretty underrated. The actual game that's here is really good and a lot of fun, but attaching the Banjo Kazooie IP has hurt it in the long run. Most of the criticism I've heard only pointed out that it wasn't a real Banjo game.
LordRaptor
Member
Sleeping Dogs is probably the best received title in the True Crime franchise, and Inside is the best game in the Limbo franchise
Nocturnowl
Member
Super Mario Bros
Underrated: New Super Mario Bros 2
Talk about your bad timing, 2 NSMB games in one year with the best of the four in NSMBU being among them. As such NSMB2 really does stand out as a slot filler title and yeah that's pretty much true. Add to that a coin gimmick that from the outside looks like a desperate attempt at being different and the whole "made by the new kids" angle, well you got yourself something that's doomed to being underrated from the start.
Funny thing is, it's actually really solid, I can't oversell it as being this amazing title, it's indeed more NSMB after all. But there's something noticeable about how it structures itself in level design, how it chooses to handle star coins (more platforming challenge, less invisible wall nonsense), you actually get the feeling that the new team of younger devs here were playing around a bit more within their series confines. The coin gimmick actually ends up being oddly euphoric in how fun and explosive it can be, the coin hat and gold flower are great twists on established items that fit this gimmick perfectly. It's often the dismissed Mario title but I'm quite comfortable saying that it beats the piddle ot of the original DS title.
Overrated: Super Mario World
I almost feel the need to put a disclaimer here saying "no, I don't think NSMB2 is better", ya know, just in case seeing the terms underrated and overrated used back to back like this has set anyone off in horror.
But while I do love me some SMW, its commonly held GAF status of best 2D Mario with only 3 getting love as close has me raise a quizzical eyebrow. SMW has a lot of missed potential and an incredibly uneven difficulty curve, you could say this is mario as a sandbox before 64 came to town, the levels are wide and open, there's a number of mechanics to play with (yoshi, cape, spin jump properties, even koopa shells have quirks here unseen in other entries) and of course the secret exits angle leads on occasion to more exploration and less focused platforming design.
And while that's not a bad thing it does lead to a number of stages that feel like one and done gimmicks, ghost houses, star road 3. Then you have some real slooooow stages like Valley of Bowser 2 and Donut plains 2 that have the gall to have hidden exits so you get to autoscroll/wait your way through them all over again.
Jumping back to the difficulty point, castles and forts bring the goods as do some special world stages but very little else does, if SMB3 feels like a game escalating in challenge then SMW is just bizarre as you hit world 6 Choco island and the overworld stages still are a complete cakewalk while suddenly the fort and castle put you through these funky gauntlets. Then there's just the odd moment where you play Star Road 2 and realise it's literally a water stage with no actual design outside plopping Rip Van Fish in various configurations in an otherwise featureless stage (that you go through twice, obvious alt exit right at the end yo!).
Visuals and music are pleasing yet too simple, Sonic was running circles around Mazza here. In general its status as the top 16 bit platformer feels more under attack by arguably stronger candidates in a generation that has stuff like Sonic 3 & Knuckles and DKC2. SMW is great but if Nintendo actually made a proper follow up to it or applied their NSMBU skills to a game without samey aesthetics and familiar structure I'd say they'd handily top SMW now.
Also fuck Tubular.
If this thread continues living I'll add more, I was going to right now but I rabbited on about SMW more than I expected.
You all have my sword.
Underrated: New Super Mario Bros 2
Talk about your bad timing, 2 NSMB games in one year with the best of the four in NSMBU being among them. As such NSMB2 really does stand out as a slot filler title and yeah that's pretty much true. Add to that a coin gimmick that from the outside looks like a desperate attempt at being different and the whole "made by the new kids" angle, well you got yourself something that's doomed to being underrated from the start.
Funny thing is, it's actually really solid, I can't oversell it as being this amazing title, it's indeed more NSMB after all. But there's something noticeable about how it structures itself in level design, how it chooses to handle star coins (more platforming challenge, less invisible wall nonsense), you actually get the feeling that the new team of younger devs here were playing around a bit more within their series confines. The coin gimmick actually ends up being oddly euphoric in how fun and explosive it can be, the coin hat and gold flower are great twists on established items that fit this gimmick perfectly. It's often the dismissed Mario title but I'm quite comfortable saying that it beats the piddle ot of the original DS title.
Overrated: Super Mario World
I almost feel the need to put a disclaimer here saying "no, I don't think NSMB2 is better", ya know, just in case seeing the terms underrated and overrated used back to back like this has set anyone off in horror.
But while I do love me some SMW, its commonly held GAF status of best 2D Mario with only 3 getting love as close has me raise a quizzical eyebrow. SMW has a lot of missed potential and an incredibly uneven difficulty curve, you could say this is mario as a sandbox before 64 came to town, the levels are wide and open, there's a number of mechanics to play with (yoshi, cape, spin jump properties, even koopa shells have quirks here unseen in other entries) and of course the secret exits angle leads on occasion to more exploration and less focused platforming design.
And while that's not a bad thing it does lead to a number of stages that feel like one and done gimmicks, ghost houses, star road 3. Then you have some real slooooow stages like Valley of Bowser 2 and Donut plains 2 that have the gall to have hidden exits so you get to autoscroll/wait your way through them all over again.
Jumping back to the difficulty point, castles and forts bring the goods as do some special world stages but very little else does, if SMB3 feels like a game escalating in challenge then SMW is just bizarre as you hit world 6 Choco island and the overworld stages still are a complete cakewalk while suddenly the fort and castle put you through these funky gauntlets. Then there's just the odd moment where you play Star Road 2 and realise it's literally a water stage with no actual design outside plopping Rip Van Fish in various configurations in an otherwise featureless stage (that you go through twice, obvious alt exit right at the end yo!).
Visuals and music are pleasing yet too simple, Sonic was running circles around Mazza here. In general its status as the top 16 bit platformer feels more under attack by arguably stronger candidates in a generation that has stuff like Sonic 3 & Knuckles and DKC2. SMW is great but if Nintendo actually made a proper follow up to it or applied their NSMBU skills to a game without samey aesthetics and familiar structure I'd say they'd handily top SMW now.
Also fuck Tubular.
If this thread continues living I'll add more, I was going to right now but I rabbited on about SMW more than I expected.
Käebi;241510584 said:
You all have my sword.
Fusion is very different to Zero Mission. Zero is more of an evolution of Super Metroid, Fusion feels more like a different kind of game. Much more linear than Super or Zero.
Alex Connolly
Member
Good call. And while you could justifiably take aim at why this game is under the RR banner, it's a great racer in its own right, with a rewarding drift system. Could have done with a liiittle more character in the track design - feels a tad stapled together, as deemed by its construction kit module - but otherwise, thumbs up for this underrated Bugbear outing.
Magic Mushroom
Member
Those aren't franchises.
zenosparadox
Member
Secret of Mana is one of my favorite games of all time, and I tried to get into Legend of Mana multiple times... but I cannot convince myself that I like the game. The combat system is fine, but I feel like the game does not respect my time at all. At one location, I had to do this maze/puzzle thing which required backtracking multiple times as flipping a switch closed one path but opened another... and the backtracking required multiple fights again and again and again! I just could not keep going by that point.
Gorgeous game, though. Very disappointing for me.
Glad to see Arkham Origins get mentions, it's easily the best narrative out of the first three games (haven't played Knight yet) and snowy Gotham is a delight to traverse. Just such a shame it's still pretty buggy, had several crashes on PC during my playthrough.
I started playing this recently and am with you, I've been very pleasantly surprised at how heavily it leans on horror and frequently lets you explore. It's a heck of a jump from the first Revelations, which I enjoyed but felt got too action focused and corridor-y as it went on.
I started playing this recently and am with you, I've been very pleasantly surprised at how heavily it leans on horror and frequently lets you explore. It's a heck of a jump from the first Revelations, which I enjoyed but felt got too action focused and corridor-y as it went on.
CrichtonKicks
Member
I'd say Tools of Destruction. Crack in Time kind of over shadowed it but ToD is just a really damn good meat and potatoes R&C game. It's fairly long, has a lot of memorable levels, brought a few great gadgets to the table (hello Groovitron and Mr. Zirkon), and looks fantastic. Made even more impressive considering that it was released in the first year of the PS3 at a time when a lot of other devs were still struggling with the hardware.
All of this. Was going to write up Bioshock 2 but you covered everything.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Mario
Overrated: Mario Sunshine
Underrated: 3D World
Final Fantasy
Overrated: Final Fantasy X
Underrated: Final Fantasy V
Zelda
Overrated: Majora's Mask
Underrated: Minish Cap
Overrated: Mario Sunshine
Underrated: 3D World
Final Fantasy
Overrated: Final Fantasy X
Underrated: Final Fantasy V
Zelda
Overrated: Majora's Mask
Underrated: Minish Cap
This right here. Mega Man 2 is awesome and vastly improved upon the first game, but I think 3 is better. It deserves more love.
InsaneFandom
Member
Underrated - Uncharted Drakes Fortune
Overrated - Uncharted 2 Among Theives
Maybe I'm a weirdo but the first 3 games are all so similar to me that I really don't get how 1 is often deemed not worth your time whilst 2 is some pinnacle of gaming.
I really like all of them pretty equally
Overrated - Uncharted 2 Among Theives
Maybe I'm a weirdo but the first 3 games are all so similar to me that I really don't get how 1 is often deemed not worth your time whilst 2 is some pinnacle of gaming.
I really like all of them pretty equally
electroaffe
Member
Underrated: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
I love the story and the relationship between Drake and Elena and how it evolves into love.
Overrated: Uncharted 2
Great presentation but I don't like how 'big' the story is. It's more action-oriented with beautiful images but lacks the personal touch.
I love the story and the relationship between Drake and Elena and how it evolves into love.
Overrated: Uncharted 2
Great presentation but I don't like how 'big' the story is. It's more action-oriented with beautiful images but lacks the personal touch.
shark sandwich
tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Overrated: Final Fantasy X. Probably the least likeable cast of characters (tied with VIII). Worst selection of mini games ever. (Dodging lightning bolts and chocobo "racing" were aggravating as fuck, Blitzball is painfully slow and tedious). Battle system was also tedious since the only viable "strategy" is "swap in the character who can kill this type of enemy".
Story was okay, but then X-2 came out and took a giant diarrhea dump all over it and retroactively ruined whatever was good about X.
Underrated: Final Fantasy V. A lot of people discounted it because of the more lighthearted feel. But it has some of the best gameplay in the series. The job system opens up so many strategic possibilities. It also offers some genuine challenge unlike most entries in the series
Story was okay, but then X-2 came out and took a giant diarrhea dump all over it and retroactively ruined whatever was good about X.
Underrated: Final Fantasy V. A lot of people discounted it because of the more lighthearted feel. But it has some of the best gameplay in the series. The job system opens up so many strategic possibilities. It also offers some genuine challenge unlike most entries in the series
cartman414
Member
FFIV, where every other character is put on a bus via sacrifice they recover from?
Final Fantasy:
Overrated:
- Maybe FFX: It's a great game, but I see it topping a lot of best FF games lists, and it's definitely not the best one.
Underrated:
- FFXII: The world turns into a worst place every time someone says it's a bad game. It's an absolutely amazing game and has more content than any other single player entry in the series.
- FFXIV: Often dismissed due to being an MMO. The game is pretty, has an awesome OST, fun gameplay, and with Heavensward + Stormblood it also has some of the best stories in the series.
Overrated:
- Maybe FFX: It's a great game, but I see it topping a lot of best FF games lists, and it's definitely not the best one.
Underrated:
- FFXII: The world turns into a worst place every time someone says it's a bad game. It's an absolutely amazing game and has more content than any other single player entry in the series.
- FFXIV: Often dismissed due to being an MMO. The game is pretty, has an awesome OST, fun gameplay, and with Heavensward + Stormblood it also has some of the best stories in the series.
Wild Arms
Overrated - 5. The world map exploration is pretty cool but the game suffers from repetitive looking dungeons (especially in the second half where you're climbing 5 palette swapped towers) and uninteresting puzzles.
Underrated - 4. The first game to radically overhaul the battle system and added platforming elements into the mix. People didn't like it because of the silly "adults are baaad" plot and lack of world map exploration.
Suikoden
Overrated - 3. A good story told from 3 different perspectives, with some decent characterization. But suffers from lots of backtracking, terrible field/dungeon design, and unmemorable music (except for the boss theme)
Underrated - Tierkreis. Eventhoughtheleadcharactertalksat100milesperhourthestoryisinterestingandgraphicsanddungeondesignisprettygood.
FF
Overrated - 12. Forgettable story and characters, large empty environments, and a battle system that plays itself.
Underrated - 3. A graphic and musical masterpiece considering its platform with a shit ton of secrets and optional areas. Unfortunately turns into a bit of a punishing slog near the end.
Overrated - 5. The world map exploration is pretty cool but the game suffers from repetitive looking dungeons (especially in the second half where you're climbing 5 palette swapped towers) and uninteresting puzzles.
Underrated - 4. The first game to radically overhaul the battle system and added platforming elements into the mix. People didn't like it because of the silly "adults are baaad" plot and lack of world map exploration.
Suikoden
Overrated - 3. A good story told from 3 different perspectives, with some decent characterization. But suffers from lots of backtracking, terrible field/dungeon design, and unmemorable music (except for the boss theme)
Underrated - Tierkreis. Eventhoughtheleadcharactertalksat100milesperhourthestoryisinterestingandgraphicsanddungeondesignisprettygood.
FF
Overrated - 12. Forgettable story and characters, large empty environments, and a battle system that plays itself.
Underrated - 3. A graphic and musical masterpiece considering its platform with a shit ton of secrets and optional areas. Unfortunately turns into a bit of a punishing slog near the end.
KarneeKarnay
Member
Käebi;241510584 said:
Cam to post this.
I love Demon Souls, but that game has a looooooooooooot of problems.
<3. Got it bundled with the PSP 2000 and it was indeed pretty solid.
Triforce141
Member
Zelda:
Overrated: Link's Awakening (It's good, but the dungeons aren't interesting and overall pacing is somewhat plodding)
Underrated: Both Oracle entries (Pacing is much better and dungeons are more complex and puzzle heavy, even if some like Jabu Jabu's Belly are terrible)
Overrated: Link's Awakening (It's good, but the dungeons aren't interesting and overall pacing is somewhat plodding)
Underrated: Both Oracle entries (Pacing is much better and dungeons are more complex and puzzle heavy, even if some like Jabu Jabu's Belly are terrible)
I surprisingly agree with this. Spirit Tracks should get more love
Psychoward
Banned
Bioshock 1 is overrated, Bio 2 is underrated.
Borderlands the PreSequel is underrated (not as good as 2 but had the best gameplay in the series). 1 was great at the time but was eclipsed by 2 in almost every way so I'd say the people who prefer 1 overrate it.
Fallout 3 is still overrated even with the influx of people preferring NV (love you all) and I'd say Fallout 4 is underrated on gaming sites
Borderlands the PreSequel is underrated (not as good as 2 but had the best gameplay in the series). 1 was great at the time but was eclipsed by 2 in almost every way so I'd say the people who prefer 1 overrate it.
Fallout 3 is still overrated even with the influx of people preferring NV (love you all) and I'd say Fallout 4 is underrated on gaming sites
My boys. I love GBA metroid games and GBC zelda ones (and I have fond memories as well), I would even dare to say they are my favourites over other more popular entries.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Overrated: Super Mario Bros 3
Underrated: New Super Mario Bros U
Overrated: Batman Arkham Asylum
Underrated: Batman Arkham Origins
Underrated: New Super Mario Bros U
Overrated: Batman Arkham Asylum
Underrated: Batman Arkham Origins
Underrated - Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge:
I haven't played vanilla Ninja Gaiden 3 but as someone who has played and enjoyed every other other 3D game in the series (including the DS one), I had a fun time with the Wii U version. I enjoyed seeing the changed movesets to the weapons I had grown to love in Ninja Gaiden 2 and the "Steel on Bone" system was satisfying to pull off. Granted the general boss and encounter design was lacking in comparison to previous games and I greatly prefered rolling/dashing to that derpy slide but hey Kasumi was a blast to play and it was nice playing a recent Ninja Gaiden on a Nintendo system.
I haven't played vanilla Ninja Gaiden 3 but as someone who has played and enjoyed every other other 3D game in the series (including the DS one), I had a fun time with the Wii U version. I enjoyed seeing the changed movesets to the weapons I had grown to love in Ninja Gaiden 2 and the "Steel on Bone" system was satisfying to pull off. Granted the general boss and encounter design was lacking in comparison to previous games and I greatly prefered rolling/dashing to that derpy slide but hey Kasumi was a blast to play and it was nice playing a recent Ninja Gaiden on a Nintendo system.
Raven117
Member
Times a million. I will never understand the backlash that game got around its release. I wasn't much of a gamer in those days (in college...was drinking and such)...and was very out of touch with the industry. I borrowed a buddys's ps2 to play it. Loved it.
Much to my surprise, the rest of the folks didn't.
Zelda:
Underrated: Twilight Princess. The epitome of everything the series did up until that point.
Overrated: Link to the Past. A sort of weird transition point for the series where it's not as open-ended and wild west-esque as the original but not as polished as the N64 or GBC games.
Sonic:
Underrated: the Adventure games. Jank but unique and constantly doing new things. Chao Garden deserves every bit of the praise and more.
Overrated: 3+Knuckles. Worst of the Genesis games. Kinda gimmicky level design that slows itself down too much.
Pokemon:
Underrated: Gen 4, though it's been catching more popularity recently. Sinnoh is the most fully-realized Pokemon game and Platinum has the best post-game.
Overrated: I'm gonna say gen 3. Water/trumpets are well-founded complaints despite the meme, and it felt like a step back from 2 in a few ways. I was gonna say gen 5, but that one's grown in popularity more over the years for me as I've realized that it did things that gens 6/7 didn't do.
Underrated: Twilight Princess. The epitome of everything the series did up until that point.
Overrated: Link to the Past. A sort of weird transition point for the series where it's not as open-ended and wild west-esque as the original but not as polished as the N64 or GBC games.
Sonic:
Underrated: the Adventure games. Jank but unique and constantly doing new things. Chao Garden deserves every bit of the praise and more.
Overrated: 3+Knuckles. Worst of the Genesis games. Kinda gimmicky level design that slows itself down too much.
Pokemon:
Underrated: Gen 4, though it's been catching more popularity recently. Sinnoh is the most fully-realized Pokemon game and Platinum has the best post-game.
Overrated: I'm gonna say gen 3. Water/trumpets are well-founded complaints despite the meme, and it felt like a step back from 2 in a few ways. I was gonna say gen 5, but that one's grown in popularity more over the years for me as I've realized that it did things that gens 6/7 didn't do.
Baron Von Beans
Member
GTA: Vice City Stories is criminally underrated, I feel. It's essentiall Vice City, in your pocket, plus more, with a little less traffic on the road. The mission variety is outstanding. The business ownership and upgrading is fantastic, something that hasn't been touched on in a GTA game since. The gang territories from San Andreas were slightly similar, but nowhere close to upgrading the business, selecting one of 7 types of businesses, and then doing the unique missions for said business. It plays pretty well on the Vita, but falls back to the traditional style of GTA controls, which can be hard to go back to if you've been playing a ton of IV and V.
Cheating some, Liberty City Stories also featured a few mission types that have only recently seen a comeback - namely garbage truck missions. They had car dealership missions as well in LCS, where you had to drive a specific type of car in a a certain way to suit the customers tastes, in order for them to buy the car and for you to get paid.
A true tragedy we never saw what magic R* could have done on the Vita
Cheating some, Liberty City Stories also featured a few mission types that have only recently seen a comeback - namely garbage truck missions. They had car dealership missions as well in LCS, where you had to drive a specific type of car in a a certain way to suit the customers tastes, in order for them to buy the car and for you to get paid.
A true tragedy we never saw what magic R* could have done on the Vita
To Far Away Times
Member
Overrated: Banjo Kazooie
Stuck a little to closely to the Mario 64 formula. Never really had its own identity and didn't play as well as its inspiration either.
Underrated: Prince of Persia - Sands of Time.
Don't let the edgy, try-hard sequels fool you, Sands of Time is probably the best 3D platformer ever made that doesn't star an Italian plumber.
Stuck a little to closely to the Mario 64 formula. Never really had its own identity and didn't play as well as its inspiration either.
Underrated: Prince of Persia - Sands of Time.
Don't let the edgy, try-hard sequels fool you, Sands of Time is probably the best 3D platformer ever made that doesn't star an Italian plumber.
cartman414
Member
Say what? I love the Oracle games, but it's Ages that has the pacing problem. LA is damn near perfect, putting LttP to shame.
Anyhoo:
Zelda
Overrated: Ocarina of Time
Yeah, it did a lot of firsts, but was very transitional and took much longer to do things than in 2d games without having properly adjusted for scale or density. Also, the Water Temple, which was boring because you're forced to move slowly through it.
Underrated: The Adventure of Link
Despite being an rather early gen game, some of the most satisfying combat in any game. A bit more time for gestation and bug testing would have made this a widely respected if not loved classic. Nintendo, please let WayForward do a remake or spiritual successor.
Mario
Overrated: Super Mario World
Rivals 3 in popularity, but its added focus on exploration works against it, with less challenging levels, and also an overpowered powerup in the Cape Feather that trivializes a lot of the platforming by slowing Mario's midair descent to a crawl. Also lacks the level and powerup variety of 3.
Underrated: Super Mario Bros. 2 USA
Underrated is pushing it here, but Mario's adventures in Sub-con made for a much better base for exploration style Mario, with each of the 4 characters having unique strengths that made it so that each one could make it through any level in their own way, although some moreso than others depending on the level.
Final Fantasy
Overrated: Final Fantasy VII
What it deserves for popularizing RPGs isn't quite proportional to its rank in the genre's pantheon. The game's materia system deprived much of the nuance of character skill development via skills and spells that could be freely mixed and matched, mostly trivializing the choice of character. Also, the characters on the whole couldn't hold a candle to the best of other games in the series (i. e. VI, IX or XII).
Underrated: Final Fantasy II
Yeah, super janky with the attack teammate to get stronger, but the seeds of SaGa series were planted here. Plus, FFII had the first substantial narrative in the series.
Honorable mention to Final Fantasy V
More later.
WaterAstro
Member
Underrated: Diablo 1
Rated just right: Diablo 2
Overrated: Diablo 3
Rated just right: Diablo 2
Overrated: Diablo 3