Video Games That Got WAY More Hate Than They Deserved

[jimboa24]

Title is self-explanatory. What games do you feel were lambasted by critics, but didn't deserve it?

For me, it's Thief, the 2014 version. The biggest gripe about Thief, in my opinion, was that it was judged for what it wasn't (the old Thief games with better graphics) than what it was, a modern game with a far more hardcore emphasis on stealth. Yes, I do think that it could have done with a more minimalist and open-world approach, like the Dark Age, but it was still pretty fucking good. I judged it on its own merits, and for that, I very much enjoyed it. I put over 130 hours into it and it's still a game I know I'll dust off from time to time and replay.

I liked its strict emphasis on stealth, something I feel Dishonored lacked. Dishonored still let you approach the game with a sword-clashing, pistol-brandishing, spell-slinging approach and get away with a high chaos gameplay (and yes, that was how you got the bad ending), and that was too far for me. In Thief, the game pretty much directly punishes you for doing it that way. It's a hell of a lot harder, it's more expensive, and it doesn't award you for it or really encourage it. If you play Thief the way you play Dishonored, you're gonna get your ass kicked pretty hard.

There were a ton of secrets, lots of hidden loot galore, plenty of secret paths and stashes, and it was a pretty damn good time. Even the recreation of the Cradle, while not as tense or scary, was gripping and spooky.

Thief got way more hate and criticism than it deserved, and I wish it had done better because I would have loved to have seen more DLC and even a sequel or two.

[I Push Buttons]

Too Human. Too much hype surrounding it and then when it came out and didn't match the hype, everyone complained and it didn't do well. Entirely undeserved IMO, it was a fun ARPG.

Saint's Row (the original). It didn't really get bad reviews, but I had a much higher opinion of it than reviewers who usually gave it 7-8/10. Most compared it to GTA and said it was worse, but the most recent GTA at the time was on PS2 and GTA4 wouldn't come out for another several years so it was an asonine comparison, especially since the game took itself far less serious than GTA and was pretty good in its own right.

[Blueobelisk]

Watch Dogs. I liked it...but I had it for PS4. I don't know about these PC graphics issues people had but damn yo get over it.

No Man's Sky. I didn't buy it but it looked like a boring game if you had any common sense, what the fuck were you expecting? I mean, the hate for that was like a fucking salem witch hunt.

[ro9ue]

Every Call of Duty.

[Rendark]

Dragon Age 2.

[ovm33]

Aliens vs Predators (2010)

The game got a measly 68 on Metacritic, take that as you will. Generally people said it was "OK." But nothing special. I love the IP; Alien vs Predator just tickles me in the right ways. Yes, even the movies which are pretty much universally reviled.

So I buy the game and it was... everything and more than what I could have hoped for. Fun and varied game-play: Humans, Aliens, and Predators. What's more is that it just... feels right. The multiplayer is a blast when you can find games, which I understand there's a new resurgence going on.

6 Years ago these were the reviews:

Aliens vs. Predator is a game that looks like a triple-A title, but plays like it belongs in the bargin bin.

The dullest and most befuddling AAA Hollywood-endorsed title I've ever played.

Let us be honest. If this game was released WITHOUT the license, absolutely no one would care about it.

Lo and behold, the player reviews on Steam are "very positive." Here's some quotes from Steam users:

Avp Its awesome FPS based on alien and predator movies.

Holds up pretty well for a 6 year old game.

This game is very underrated. Rebellion has done a great job with this one. Everyone should take a note when making a AVP game.

Good games based on movies are rare. This is one of the best.

[Poppincaps]

Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 are the two that come to mind. Oh also Dark Souls 2.

[Super Kami Dende]

Wildstar. Was a fun game, probably would've played it a lot more if they had local servers. Can't play a telegraph game well on 350-400ms.

Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight. First because people were just being idiots doing the "HURR NOT ROCKSTEADY!!!"it was actually a great game. Second because the release was horrible for some, I personally had no issues playing from day 1, but even after the fixes people just stayed on the hate bandwagon.

Swtor, given it had a Clunky engine the game itself has always been fun to me and runs much better now than it did.

[KrazyK923]

FFX-2.

People cannot seem to get past what the game was trying to be. It was meant to be lighter in tone at the beginning, but it becomes nearly as serious as FFX was with machina about to destroy the entire world.

The dressphere system was PHENOMENAL and leveling up and getting new skills in X-2 was one of the best out of any FF games, far surpassing the Junction or Materia systems imo.

But all people saw was the intro where Yuna was dancing (And its not even Yuna) and they just dismissed the entire game. Yes, the transformations are straight out of Sailor Moon or the Magical Girl trope, but who cares? Being tropey doesn't inherently make something good or bad. Yuna is still Yuna in X-2, and if people spent even 30 minutes playing that game they'd see it.

[Witchblade77]

Dragon Age 2.

agreed with that one. its not a game without issues, but its far better game than most people give it credit.

[-aiko-]

Gonna throw my vote in for DA2 as well.

[Bathory]

Mass Effect 3. Pokemon Go.

[Majestic12]

Thief deserves all the hate. Just by the fact that they forced us through the same scripted animations when opening shit and that the AI sucking was enough. It was a horrendous game experience.

[Blueobelisk]

Every Call of Duty.

Oh yeah you're right. That's like the best answer so far. Call of Duty is one of the popular hipster internet things to hate like Justin Beiber or Nickelback or something.

Dragon Age 2.

Dragon Age 2

agreed with that one. its not a game without issues, but its far better game than most people give it credit.

Gonna throw my vote in for DA2 as well.

Wow that's a lot of votes for a game someone as ignorant as me has never heard of. I don't think....it got as much hate as you guys think it does?

Pokemon Go.

>"Video Games That Got WAY More Hate Than They Deserved"

Ya...it's not really a video game. I also don't think anyone but old people hated it. Pretty sure the internet loved it.

[SoulForge]

Oh yeah you're right. That's like the best answer so far. Call of Duty is one of the popular hipster internet things to hate like Justin Beiber or Nickelback or something.

Its not hipster if you know why.

CoD has been terrible for years. New game every 6 months and then they sell you a $50 season pass. Or DLC that has levels from games you already own. Its stupid the amount of money they ask people to sink into it.

[Bathory]

Ya...it's not really a video game. I also don't think anyone but old people hated it. Pretty sure the internet loved it.

It's definitely a video game. And I dunno if you've been keeping up with it, but the hate is ungodly these days.

[PixelFox]

Most MMOGs that came out after WoW and initially were forced to release before they were ready and then over the next year or two fixed all their problems but could never get all the launch players to come back because first impressions are important. Age of Conan, SWTOR, etc., etc., etc.

Spore, got the same treatment as No Man's Sky. And was the reason I never ordered or paid much attention to NMS becasue I had been on that hype train before and it showed all the hallmarks of being a complete disappointment at launch.

[Teebone]

Destiny.

The game's not for everyone, but it's got some of the sharpest, best controlling gunplay out there. I think people's 'expectations' were a bit ascew with this one. See also: No Man's Sky. I don't get why people were saying 'MineCraft in space' when even I could see it was nothing like that to begin with.

[Chinese Bootlickers]

Jak 2 and 3. One of the few games to successfully jump genres IMO. There's still just as much platforming and collecting as there was in the first game.

[Auxora]

Destiny.

I agree with this one. So much as mention Destiny and still people lose their minds bashing it, including people that never touched any expansion since since 2 days after the game originally came out. The expansions were overpriced and too small. But the base game was good and especially TTK was excellent. It's still got some of the best fps gameplay around, and the pvp is also some of the strongest around.