Games you have an irrational dislike of

[djchapsticks]

I was watching a video earlier on forgotten gems on the N64 and one of the games spoken about was Shadowman, a game based on a comic series about a voodoo shaman fighting Jack the Ripper. I remember 15 year old me thinking this sounded like a cool concept and the reviews at the time were all mid 70s to low 90s back when 50 was average on the scale rather than today when 7 appears to be the base.... so pretty roundly lauded. I decided on renting the game to try it before deciding to buy and I rember thinking it played well enough but was the most ugly, nauseating looking game I'd ever played to the point where I couldn't even look at it anymore. It was just a mish mash of browny yellow swampy set pieces that brought no actual enjoyment of playing, despite the game being decent enough mechanically.

I think I struggled through about 2 hours and handed it back to Blockbuster a day early then mostly forgot about it until I saw it mentioned today. I mean fucking hell...look at it! You can't even blame primitive graphics, this was 3 full years after Mario 64 and a year after Ocarina of Time. 

Shadowman-Screenshot-05.webp

Seeing the box art again made me  remember my intense dislike for it, especially since it was quite fondly remembered by the person making the video and he didn't remark on how f**k ugly it was. 

 I also HATED playing Gods on the Amiga and SNES. A game so loved at the time and fondly remembered still that it received a remaster last year. The movement of the characters, the setting, the look. Everything about it just rankled with me and even to this day, the remastered version does the same. 

 

So what well received or pretty good games do other folk have an intense but pretty irrational dislike for and why? 

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by djchapsticks

[Miguel Sanchez]

The Last of Us

 

Ed - also your thread title and closing line ask two very different questions.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Miguel Sanchez

[Gaz]

GoldenEye on the N64.

Fully expecting to be panned for this, but it was a good-to-very-good-at-times FPS that was lauded as the greatest game ever because at that time it was the best FPS for consoles.

Less than a year later we got Half-Life on the PC which shits all over GoldenEye from a great height.

It has also aged absolutely horribly.

[Homer Thompson]

The Last of Us

 

Ed - also your thread title and closing line ask two very different questions.

This.

The Witcher 3

GTA V

ETA - 

Mass Effect

Bioshock

Far Cry

GoldenEye on the N64.

Fully expecting to be panned for this, but it was a good-to-very-good-at-times FPS that was lauded as the greatest game ever because at that time it was the best FPS for consoles.

Less than a year later we got Half-Life on the PC which shits all over GoldenEye from a great height.

It has also aged absolutely horribly.

You're being panned. 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Mr X

[Lofarl]

Goldeneye was fucking shite as Gaz has mentioned with Half life being out.  Coming from that still fucking amazing game to shitey controls was something I just never got into.  I bought Black Mesa a few months back which is just Half Life with tarted up graphics and it still shits all over most fps games still.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

GoldenEye on the N64.

Fully expecting to be panned for this, but it was a good-to-very-good-at-times FPS that was lauded as the greatest game ever because at that time it was the best FPS for consoles.

Less than a year later we got Half-Life on the PC which shits all over GoldenEye from a great height.

It has also aged absolutely horribly.

ooo, that is controversial.

I would say that I preferred Perfect Dark to Goldeneye and thought it was a far, far better game (makes sense as it was effectively a touched up spiritual sequel). Fondly remember stuff like the laptop guns, the gun you could use that would turn enemies into allies so you could have your own little squad of up to 4 or 5 mooks following you around, and some little charming moments (when a guard runs over to his dying mate and there's a wee voice line like "Ah, I never really liked him anyway." a particular highlight) I think the multiplayer was better, think from memory there were more options and better levels to play on than Goldeneye had. The co-op mode was great fun too.

The plot taking you up against aliens seemed a little weird playing through it, but overall a superb game for its day.

My pick would be the first Mass Effect. The main campaign was decent but holy shit every single side area looked like a CTRL + C, CTRL + V job with extremely minor changes, I'm sure the room layouts were carbon copies just with slightly different items lying around. The vehicle sections were shite too, iirc. Never bought any of the sequels but have seen the odd funny video of glitchfests from them.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Homer Thompson]

8 minutes ago, Lofarl said:

Goldeneye was fucking shite as Gaz has mentioned with Half life being out.  Coming from that still fucking amazing game to shitey controls was something I just never got into.  I bought Black Mesa a few months back which is just Half Life with tarted up graphics and it still shits all over most fps games still.

6 minutes ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

ooo, that is controversial.

I would say that I preferred Perfect Dark to Goldeneye and thought it was a far, far better game (makes sense as it was effectively a touched up spiritual sequel). Fondly remember stuff like the laptop guns, little charming moments (when a guard runs over to his dying mate and there's a wee voice line like "Ah, I never really liked him anyway." a particular highlight) I think the multiplayer was better, think from memory there were more options and better levels to play on than Goldeneye had.

The plot taking you up against aliens seemed a little weird playing through it, but overall a superb game for its day.

My pick would be the first Mass Effect. The main campaign was decent but holy shit every single side area looked like a CTRL + C, CTRL + V job with extremely minor changes, I'm sure the room layouts were carbon copies just with slightly different items lying around. The vehicle sections were shite too, iirc. Never bought any of the sequels but have seen the odd funny video of glitchfests from them.

I knew I would forget at least one game. I'm just going to keep editing my list as people post other shit games .... just thought of another one

[Gaz]

The Witcher 3 is a good shout as well. I've never been able to get into it. Which is odd, as I adore high fantasy.

[Cptn Hooch]

Skyrim, any CoD game, Bioshock...pretty much any first person game

[Lofarl]

GTA 4 was a bit shit. 

Also again as I am a PC player and thats what I am used to, so anytime I have a go on consoles I find most fps games on them shit due to using a controller.  Now quake 3 arena on the  Dreamcast was amazing because I had a keyboard and mouse for it.  But anyway Halo.  Halo was shit.  I even had it on Windows Vista.  It was shit.  Mind at this time we had games like Unreal tournament, Max Payne etc.  I have had no interest in playing any more of them.

Skyrim, while far from a shit game can't hold a candle to Morrowind or Oblivion.

Doom Eternal.  Not as good as Doom 2016.  Not shit but I do have issues with the constant stopping to explain some new mechanic.

[NotThePars]

There's a few games that in retrospect I don't like or found to be much, much poorer once time and hype had died down. Two recent examples would be Red Dead Redemption and Bioshock Infinite which had problems at the time but have aged terribly (Infinite in particular does not come out well of the BLM moment).

 

Would have to have a think for games which were critically acclaimed and I just never took to. Probably the best example that I can think of is Skyrim which is laughably  written and fully justifies the criticism that everyone has of it being as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle. I also want to say that it's the best example of the general problem with Bethesda games where they lovingly build a huge world to run around in and then fill it with just the dullest shit that's buggy as hell and just rely on dedicated modders to do the (unpaid) work to make it remotely interesting although that criticism can also be launched at Oblivion and Fallout 4. 

 

[Gaz]

Fallout 4 was really disappointing.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Red Dead Redemption 2.
A few missions were good but it was generally very dull and uninteresting. The mini-quests are plain shite. 

I got bored and didn't even finish the game. The first RDR was much better.

[djchapsticks]

2 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

The Last of Us

 

Ed - also your thread title and closing line ask two very different questions.

Agreed and edited .

I don't want to know what brilliant games folk hate, I want to know what well received games folk hate for irrational or petty reasons. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Anyone listing a BioShock game should have their console/PC taken off them btw. 

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Red Dead Redemption 2 - I loved the first one. This one seems to move at a snail's pace, coupled with rubbish controls and tedious mechanics (horse cores). I just want GTA in the Wild West.

The Last of Us/Uncharted games - Naughty Dog sure make a nice looking game, but the gameplay in these is just boring.

FIFA games - I know they aren't critically loved, but I can't understand how they ever became more popular than PES. They are gambling sims with a mediocre football game bolted on.

Halo series - I'm not a huge FPS fan, but these just seem like an ok FPS with the most generic sci fi story imaginable

Fall Guys - fun for about 2 rounds

Any JRPG

GTA V online - the single player game is great, but I just don't the appeal of the online stuff at all. I think I'm just late to the party with the multiplayer, as I occasionally boot up the online and and am then totally bewildered by what I'm supposed to do next.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Sherrif John Bunnell

[Homer Thompson]

3 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Anyone listing a BioShock game should have their console/PC taken off them btw. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

11 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Why do you not like them?

[Boostin' Kev]

Actually thinking of playing the remastered Bioshocks next.  Only played the final one on the 360.

[Empty It]

Most Fallout games, I always fall into the trap of trying them as my friends always rave about them when released but can never seem to get into them.

Also Borderlands.