Games you liked that (almost) everyone hated

M76

M76

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In the other thread I started some people started mentioning games that can't be categorically declared as bad, but were badly received, so here is an actual thread for games, that were hated by general audiences but you liked them anyway.

Here are a few of mine:

Deus Ex Invisible War: The sequel to the greatest game ever is generally considered a failure, and most people dismissed it. While it is certainly not nearly as good as the original it is still an above average game, that deserved much more love than it got.
I really enjoyed some aspects of it, it expanded on the concept of being able to play multiple sides. And it was one of the first big games that I know of that allowed the player to choose the gender of the protagonist, long before Mass Effect was praised as being novel with the idea.

Mass Effect Andromeda: This game really got the short end of the stick when it released, a bunch of 'influencers' convinced everyone that it is terrible and that was it for the game. While it certainly has some issues it is still a very enjoyable game.
I consider it far better, than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: This was a typical case of wrong time at the wrong place. The game is simply loathed because it was not what COD fans expected.They rejected the futuristic sci-fi concept. For me this was one of the most profound single player experiences, it might have been short but very impactful.

Dragon Age 2: Maybe not everyone hated this, but still there was a lot of outcry about EA ruining dragon age when this game dropped. I couldn't disagree more, I absolutely loved this game, despite the recycled maps. The combat was much more fluid and fast paced and more based on skill than luck, and the story is much more interesting than the first game's. This is my favorite Dragon Age by far.

Ghost Recon Wildlands: Narco Road: OK, this is not exactly a full game, only a DLC, but one containing a full campaign that is longer than many stand alone games. But everyone told me I shouldn't buy this because it is terrible. Well, I did it anyway, and this is why I never listen to the hype or hate anymore as this ended up being my favorite bit of the game. Much more visceral, hard, and engaging, than the base game or the other expansion: Fallen Ghosts. I loved those too, but this is the real deal, getting to go undercover in the drug cartel, and being completely alone, not able to rely on anyone but yourself. It was a great experience, and the ending is the icing on the cake.

Terminator Resistance: This game opened to middling to outright hostile reviews, from all major publications, but all I've seen in it is a well intentioned oldschool shooter, that doesn't want to be more than that. And the result is a really enjoyable experience, that reignited memories of the old Terminator Future Shock / Skynet games.

Honorable mentions: The Last of Us II and Cyberpunk 2077
I don't know if these count as hated, or more like divisive, but I enjoyed both very much, they really made 2020 a worthy year of gaming for me, unlike the disaster that was 2021.
 
I couldn't stand Dues Ex Invisible War. As a fan kf the first one, I thought it failed in all the important ways. Plus it suffered from consolitis, with tiny level design since it was designed for consoles as well. Thief Desdly Shadows had the same issue.
 
Singularity. Hands down. I played it Before playing Bioshock, even being 'just' a bioshock style ripoff. It is a good story driven FPS. I have re played it multiple times

Going way back. I'll say Wacky Wheels ( Mario Kart style game ) and Operation Body Count. Both were low rated games that I loved
 
Far Cry 2: Got good reviews but most people seemed to hate it. I enjoyed the immersion, combat, fire, mortars, and small details.

Rage 2: Solid combat and shooting gameplay. Nice movement, fun abilities. Ran great, not many bugs at all. Open world that was kind of empty, story was very generic. There were some flaws like weapons being hard to find (a quick google searched would reveal the locations). But wasn't bogged down with unnecessary side quests. Nothing great but not a bad game.

Wolfenstein Youngblood: Similar to Rage 2, it was a solid shooter. It had an open map design which was nice sometimes, a pain others. Some of the missions would require going back to certain areas but that is common in practically all games now days. Some enemies would have too much HP but again, it was overblown. Not great, but not horrible.


There are others but those are more recent ones that I can remember.
 
doom 3. i know it was a departure in terms of being less action focused, but the environments and atmosphere were so well done (they still even hold up today.) it was very good at world building too with all the computer terminals, pdas, etc that you could interact with.
 
I mentioned Captain Comic for the NES in the other thread, but another game that's generally considered to be bad that I really enjoyed, was Dynowarz for the NES. Another game that I likely enjoyed due to my young age - but, unlike Captain Comic, I actually beat Dynowarz.
 
Gore: Ultimate Soldier (4D Rulers / DreamCatcher Interactive, released 2002). I had fun with it on its release. Kind of a neat oldschool shooter. Not so great that I'd try playing it today though.
 
Milton's Secret Castle on the nes. Brutally hard for its day and very long. No invincibility frames for you if you get hit...
 
matt167 said:
Singularity. Hands down. I played it Before playing Bioshock, even being 'just' a bioshock style ripoff. It is a good story driven FPS. I have re played it multiple times

Going way back. I'll say Wacky Wheels ( Mario Kart style game ) and Operation Body Count. Both were low rated games that I loved
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People hated Singularity? That's news to me, more like it flew under the radar.
 
Biomutant. I think it was actually a pretty solid game. It wasn't particularly innovative, but it combined elements I liked from Horizon, Fallout, Zelda, and Assassin's Creed. People love BOTW, but I'd rather play Biomutant vs. it any day.
 
Battlefield Hardline. I really enjoyed the cops and robbers aspect of the game, but I guess most people didn't care for it.
It came out 6 months or so before BF4 and as soon as BF4 launched, Hardline player count just tanked and never recovered.
 
Zepher said:
Battlefield Hardline. I really enjoyed the cops and robbers aspect of the game, but I guess most people didn't care for it.
It came out 6 months or so before BF4 and as soon as BF4 launched, Hardline player count just tanked and never recovered.
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It actually came out 1 1/2 years after BF4. BF1 would come out another 1 1/2 years later.
 
Stunt Driver, it seemed everyone prefered Stunts at the time.
 
Flogger23m said:
It actually came out 1 1/2 years after BF4. BF1 would come out another 1 1/2 years later.
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Is that what it was? I didn't realize it was 1.5 years before BF1, felt shorter from launch till the next one arrived..
I bought the standard version first, then was getting killed by people that had the weapon from the Deluxe version, so I bought the Deluxe version to try out the weapon and it was good.
I then requested a refund for the Deluxe version since there was no sense in spending $130 for 2 copies of one game.
I was expecting the gun to be removed from my account, but it was still there.
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For me it would probably be LA Noire, the locked framerate is awful but I think most of the complaints came from people that wanted more action packed gameplay and less story. The dialogue system could use some work to make it more obvious what you're going to say for each choice but other than that the story telling aspect is one of the best I've seen in a game, they also did a good job with the period setting and giving it the the feel of an old Film Noire movie.

M76 said:
Dragon Age 2: Maybe not everyone hated this, but still there was a lot of outcry about EA ruining dragon age when this game dropped. I couldn't disagree more, I absolutely loved this game, despite the recycled maps. The combat was much more fluid and fast paced and more based on skill than luck, and the story is much more interesting than the first game's. This is my favorite Dragon Age by far.
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Hard disagree on this, especially the comment about combat. The combat in the first game was much more strategic. In the first one it was much more important to have the right combo of skills available for an area while the second is was all about high DPS to get through the mobs quickly before more spawned which was the other major issue, in the first game how you placed your team to set up a fight was important and could make or break your success* while in the second game enemies came in waves from all directions so setting up the field was pointless and often even counterproductive. There was little luck and mostly strategy that determined the outcome in the first while in the second most of the strategy went out the window and luck became a much larger factor(like having a mob spawn on top of your mages), the combat is much more fast paced though which I could see appealing more to some.

*For instance getting your mages surrounded almost guaranteed defeat against tougher opponents.

waderunner said:
Mad Max. At least, I remember it being panned by a lot of reviewers at release (for being repetitive, somewhat generic). But I thought it was a lot of fun.
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I think those complaints are valid but it nails the gameplay and like you said it's just fun. It's certainly not an artistic masterpiece but too many game developers seem to forget at times that games should be fun to play while that seemed to be the primary focus for this one.
 
waderunner said:
Mad Max. At least, I remember it being panned by a lot of reviewers at release (for being repetitive, somewhat generic). But I thought it was a lot of fun.
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I was going to put that, but a number of people here and other places seem to be praising it as of late. Story was kind of weak, but fit the theme well. Fighting was excellent. Driving and upgrading the car was a bit odd at times. Map design was nice, as was the world. Graphics looked good and it ran great.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
doom 3. i know it was a departure in terms of being less action focused, but the environments and atmosphere were so well done (they still even hold up today.) it was very good at world building too with all the computer terminals, pdas, etc that you could interact with.
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It really wasn't a good doom game imo. I recently replayed it and you are slow, tons of monster closets, flashlight required in lots of areas. It really felt like they wanted to make a horror game rather than an action game. Doom 2016 got it right.
 
Zepher said:
Battlefield Hardline. I really enjoyed the cops and robbers aspect of the game, but I guess most people didn't care for it.
It came out 6 months or so before BF4 and as soon as BF4 launched, Hardline player count just tanked and never recovered.
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Duffbuster243 said:
Max Payne 3, maybe it was because I never played MP1 and MP2. I felt is has solid gameplay, great voice acting and was a blast to play.
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I agree with these two. Loved both games but they seemed to be hated by the majority.
 
The problem with Max Payne 3 is that it was called Max Payne 3, had it been called anything else it could've been an OK game. But as a Max Payne sequel it was an insult.
 
I wouldn't say *everyone* hates these, but the ArmA series of games are definitely a niche love for me. I would say most people who try them find them too clunky and awkward, but I've put hundreds of hours into Operation Flashpoint (now called ArmA CWC), ArmA 2 and ArmA 3.
 
MavericK said:
Did people hate Wacky Wheels? I loved that game.
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I still play it from time to time as I have it on Steam, along with it's 3D remake.. Mario Kart for SNES was a way better game, and then SuperKarts for PC came about 1yr after WW which was just miles better. But blasting ducks with hedge hogs never gets old

People didn't like it because of the noticeable low frame rate, but it was a well recieved game. It operates at something like 15 fps. Apogee games of that time frame seem to have that problem. I know Keen games do, but you don't notice it with the side scroller
 
Dead Space 3. Everybody hates on that game because it's not as horror or survival as the first game but I don't care. I liked the better motion and control and I enjoyed crafting all the different types of weapons that you could create.

I loved Max Payne 3 as well. It was definitely a departure from the cold New York landscapes but it still worked for me. The story was great and the acting was top notch. When I first started playing it I didn't think I was going to like it but the mission at the soccer field was where it got me and I still replay it every once in a while. As good as the first 2? No, but still an excellent game.

I also MUCH prefer the Playstation 1 version of Doom and Final Doom. The PC version is what everybody talks about with it's faster paced action and heavy metal music. The PS1 version was a little slower paced, had much better sound effects and an absolutely SUPERB and creepy soundtrack which was unlike anything that had come out at that time. I still play the PS1 versions all the time on the PC.
 
I don't love these games, and not sure if they are really "hated" so much, but...

Lagoon (SNES)
People hated the sprawling mazes and difficult controls (your sword is like the size of an ant dick) but for me those things added to the challenge and I liked the music too.

FF III (DS) not be confused with FF VI
Maybe too "old school" for many, but I liked the simplicity and job building aspects to it.

Zelda 2: Adventure of Link (NES)
I've always liked it since childhood, and recently revisited it and beat it. Wasn't insanely hard or anything. I do like both platforming and RPG...

FFXII (PS2)
I actually hated this game at first, only playing a demo disc of it. After giving the full game a chance I ended up liking it, got hooked until the end.

Rage (PC)
It was a good shooter, some really beautiful memorable environments. Only the ending was a bit of a let down, but it was still kinda memorable thinking back.

Doom 3 (PC)
I played it more recently, really thought it was great. Only needed the flashlight like a few times, so funny people complain about that... cry babies :p
 
Oh how could I forget:

Evergrace (PS2)
This one I think people legit universally hated or disliked. I got it as a joke as a present, but after giving it an honest playthrough found it just kinda relaxing and funny even.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
doom 3. i know it was a departure in terms of being less action focused, but the environments and atmosphere were so well done (they still even hold up today.) it was very good at world building too with all the computer terminals, pdas, etc that you could interact with.
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Doom 3 was a great game! Never understood why so many people didn't like it. Sure it was different than the previous games but that's what made it so good.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I loved Doom 3, though I didn't finish it ever :(.
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you should revisit it if you get the chance, it really really does hold up. i got hooked and played through it in a couple days which is a rare thing for me. and the bfg edition's got built in support for 120hz and stuff
 
Doom Eternal...got way too much flack for adding parkour/jumping elements...the difficulty and tweak to the gamestyle also turned some people off...I loved all the changes and it's one of my favorite FPS games
 
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Colonel Sanders said:
you should revisit it if you get the chance, it really really does hold up. i got hooked and played through it in a couple days which is a rare thing for me. and the bfg edition's got built in support for 120hz and stuff
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But the BFG got flack because the lighting is messed up and some sounds are replaced. Original is best. It's also still on Steam
 
polonyc2 said:
Doom Eternal...got way too much flack for adding parkour/jumping elements...the difficulty and tweak to the gamestyle also turned some people off...I loved all the changes and it's one of my favorite FPS games
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I dunno about that, I feel like I'm more in the minority with not loving it. Seems fairly universally praised.
 
I'm with M76 on Andromeda and Dragon Age 2. Both those games, while having deficiencies, had shining parts that made it well worth playing...

For Andromeda, although the story was somewhat weak, there were tech issues, and people were somewhat ridiculously decrying the game for SJW aspects, it was still super fun and a very good game.

For DA:2, the levels were super repetitious, the UI and mechanics were dumbed down, but it had exceptional dialogue and a very good story (the last written by a mainly original Bioware crew, before they were hollowed out by EA).

I'll add AC: Unity to the mix. It had major bugs on release (although some of it was mid-range PC-ers whining that their system wasn't up to snuff) and the story was vanilla, but the graphics, city design and commitment to historical detail were (and still are) fantastic. Also, it's really the last AC game that was truly tactical stealth based with parry-strike fight mechanics, unlike the open-world fantasy "hit-A-to-win" RPGs that ACs have become.
 
polonyc2 said:
Doom Eternal...got way too much flack for adding parkour/jumping elements...the difficulty and tweak to the gamestyle also turned some people off...I loved all the changes and it's one of my favorite FPS games
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This was a very popular game that most people seemed to like. It's rarer to see people hate it even if they didn't totally love the parkour and jumping crap. I'm one of those who basically hated the game because of that as well as the poor ammunition economy. I felt like I was in a survival game when it came to ammunition. I felt like I had to rely on melee too much and that my guns almost never had a decent amount of ammunition. To make matters worse, many of the enemies are super bullet spongy. The game is also limited to older game mechanics like the original Doom games but this is only done to make an attempt to have the game's feel familiar and bring about a sense of nostalgia.

Examples of this are things like being able to carry all of your weapons at once, the armor shard systems, health pickups, etc. that make the game feel like its from the 1990's. Where as things they incorporated from modern games such as weapon and armor upgrades really didn't give the game any depth and they weren't really fun to use. They rarely ever felt as though they made a difference. In my opinion, they evolved the wrong things and kept the worst aspects from shooters of Doom's era. Outside of the games visuals and audio tracks, I like nothing about it. Whatever the fuck that game is, it most certainly isn't Doom. It remains the only game in the series that I've never finished or replayed multiple times.

I liked the 2016 game well enough but Eternal was bad. At least I can say its bad because I didn't like the way the game was designed or its gameplay mechanics. I have no technical complaints about it and you can't really say it wasn't an unfinished and bug ridden mess because it wasn't.
 
Dan_D said:
This was a very popular game that most people seemed to like. It's rarer to see people hate it even if they didn't totally love the parkour and jumping crap. I'm one of those who basically hated the game because of that as well as the poor ammunition economy. I felt like I was in a survival game when it came to ammunition. I felt like I had to rely on melee too much and that my guns almost never had a decent amount of ammunition. To make matters worse, many of the enemies are super bullet spongy. The game is also limited to older game mechanics like the original Doom games but this is only done to make an attempt to have the game's feel familiar and bring about a sense of nostalgia.

Examples of this are things like being able to carry all of your weapons at once, the armor shard systems, health pickups, etc. that make the game feel like its from the 1990's. Where as things they incorporated from modern games such as weapon and armor upgrades really didn't give the game any depth and they weren't really fun to use. They rarely ever felt as though they made a difference. In my opinion, they evolved the wrong things and kept the worst aspects from shooters of Doom's era. Outside of the games visuals and audio tracks, I like nothing about it. Whatever the fuck that game is, it most certainly isn't Doom. It remains the only game in the series that I've never finished or replayed multiple times.

I liked the 2016 game well enough but Eternal was bad. At least I can say its bad because I didn't like the way the game was designed or its gameplay mechanics. I have no technical complaints about it and you can't really say it wasn't an unfinished and bug ridden mess because it wasn't.
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100% I was A-ok with Doom 2016. Eternal just felt like a continuous grind with the ammo.
 
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