Topic: Games You Feel are Overrated

From memory DKCR lacked the underwater stages and Tropical Freeze pushed them pretty hard. So you're both wrong. Tropical Freeze was by far the best of the newer DKC style games. Give me this and the mine-kart stages over the rocket-barrel stages any day.

@skywake I agree that underwater stages are better than rocket barrel ones, but I still prefer Country Returns as a whole. We are talking about an entire game so what you say is true and I think it's a pity that DKCR lacked underwater stages but this is just one small part of the whole picture for me

For a platformer - Shovel Knight was god aweful.

For an open-world game Shovel Knight was pretty good though. It just shows how different perspectives can lead to different opinions.

@Snaplocket Oh, please don't think so was actually accusing anyone here of hating on cherished games for amusement. I was just referencing it as an example of the sort of things that had been implied might happen in this sort of thread, but haven't, and... well, it's complicated. But everything seems fine.

With regards to Donkey Kong, I never played Returns, so can't much comment, but between Jungle Beat and Tropical Freeze I think I actually preferred the visual direction of JB. It was less classically 'Donkey Kong' (or at least DKC), but it has a pretty memorable aesthetic of its own. I'll never forget storming the Ninja Stronghold in the rain, and jelly levels were probably the jelliest thing I've seen in a video game ever. They reminded me a bit of Zool.

The DKC reboots get praise for being pretty unforgiving traditional platformers, but in terms of all out fun, I think Jungle Beat is one of my favourite platformers ever.

With respect to XCX, I was slightly put off buying it for some of the reasons listed by people listed. However, I do wonder whether the main 'Venn Diagram' region it ended up attracting was 'people who wanted a Wii U game they could call "epic"'. Up until that point, the console had mainly been served with first party titles with an distinctly linear focus.

I can't remember if XCX is technically first or second party, but the aesthetic is definitely a departure from the colourful, rubbery, cartoonish look of most of Nintendo's output (even if it's just replaced by anime tropes with mechs). The game was certainly a lot less linear than Super Mario 3D World (which I think is great, but... definitely linear) or any of the many 2D platformers (which lose an entire definition with which to be non-linear), which make up a lot of the Wii U's single player library.

In a sense, it was quite a groundbreaking title in the Wii U's library, and I wonder if that splash covered up some of it's flaws - especially as lowish sales made it much easier to sell it as an 'underrated gem' than the opposite. But again, haven't played it; don't know. But... I do wonder...

No, no, I agree. Shovel Knight was a terrible dating sim.

Dark moon and Punch-out weren't that fun though... Federation force is a step in the right direction.

Of all the Formula One VR management Sims I've played, Shovel Knight is definitely the most overrated.

Overrated? who knows, just not for me.

Majora’s Mask - I am a Zelda Fanboi and I just cant get on with a timer in the game.

@Maxz XCX is a flawed game, but it's also a game unlike any other. FFXV copies a lot of what it did, but does so in a worse way with higher production value. Questing was broken, plain and simple. But combat was greatly improved from the beloved XC1. XC2 looks to try to merge the good parts about XC1 (the story/characters) with the good parts of XCX (the open world exploration and side questing), into a greater whole and looks to have improved further on the combat system. XCX is hard to rate. If you look at it's flaws, it's overrated, but if you look at the fact that nothing else like it outside its own series exists, it's hard to look down on. And if you look at it as a stepping stone within its own series, it's an amazingly critical milestone for Xenoblade as a whole (the engine, the combat, the exploration design all emerged in X.) So at minimum, it's an "important" game if a little too old school for its own good in some places. (It's 1st party, Monolith is owned by Nintendo.)

@gcunit I actually agree with much of what you said about XC1. The developers kind of do too. They commented on the balance of story and gameplay and admitted they leaned too much toward story and not enough toward gameplay in XC1, and in XCX they leaned the opposite way so it was all about gameplay and not about story. And XC2 they're trying to put the two elements together in a cohesive whole.

I get the feeling XC2 is actually a higher budget game with higher production values than either of the first two as well. The first was a Japan-only game by intent with an appropriate budget (thus the gems and such...Japan needs their crafting...) the second was exceeding it's budget for a failing console and ultimately shoved out the door after the engine took too long. XC2 has been in development since when X was still in deelopment, gets a global release, and is part of a console launch. I have high hopes for it.

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Ah! I agree! I LOVE Zelda games, but I HATE games with time limits. Major's Mask brings that unholy element to a majority of the gameplay.

Mario Kart 8. I got the deluxe version day 1 since I never got a Wii U and after doing all the 50cc 100cc and 150cc courses I'm extremely bored. I also tried playing online and other than getting frustrated when losing first in the last lap, didn't really feel anything towards it. The battle modes were fun the first time but I basically haven't played it at all after the second week or so. I thought it was because it's a racing game but I'm having a lot more fun with Fast RMX.

@NEStalgia An interesting post, thanks, made even better by agreeing with me

I haven't tried XCX yet, but it's sitting on the shelf, so I won't give up on the series yet.

I'd personally say breath of the wild simply because it takes the most fun part of the Zelda franchise, dungeons, and cuts them up into generic bite sized pieces with lackluster beast dungeons that are all extremely simple to complete, but I've made that post so many times it's hardly a unique post anymore.

I definitely did not enjoy 3D world as much as everyone else. Where everyone else saw a fun filled romp with friends I saw big empty, bland levels with lackluster music compared to the better designed galaxy games

XC is not a good fit for a lot of people, but if you're coming into the game thinking it's "open-world", I believe you're set up for failure. It's more of an "RPG with a lot of Secret Mini-Bosses". Because really, most of the secret areas in the game just lead you to fight more enemies. There's a secret late into the game that was exceptionally satisfying to find, but all that's there is a boss enemy. So if you don't like the combat in the game...you won't be very hard-pressed to explore.

(slight spoilers) I thoroughly enjoyed XC, but the Bionis Leg portion of the game, along with Colony 6, felt bland and haphazard after the initial "neat" with the skybox. I almost quit the game there; then I got to the Marsh and that got me right back into the game (goodbye Sharla and Juju).

As for me, I was never on the hype train for Ocarina of Time. Maybe my opinion would be different if I actually played the game when it first came out, but I've liked almost every other Zelda game, that I've played, more than OoT (barring Minish Cap). The only dungeon I remember particularly liking was the Forest Temple, and as much as I liked Bongo-Bongo, the rest of the Shadow Temple was very uncomfortable. What left a nice sour taste in my mouth though, was the final boss. It was so underwhelming to me. I know other Zeldas don't have the best final bosses, but because my opinion was already low, the lack of challenge hit a lot harder. All-in-all I enjoyed the game, but it definitely did not come close to meeting my expectations.

Weird to be posting this in the Nintendo Switch section, but for me, I've always felt Halo was overrated. Admittedly, FPS is not my favourite genre - though I have bought and played a fair few - but I care little for the Bungie series. Don't like the faceless protagonist, don't like the lurid world and enemies, find the sci-fi setting naff and unimaginative... I enjoyed the multiplayer a bit, but it lacks the immediacy of, for example, Goldeneye, and the weapons aren't as weird or as much fun as, for example, Turok. Certainly, I never played Halo on a mate's console and thought: 'I wish I had an Xbox for this..."

Aye, I have to agree on that one - MM's timer killed the game for me as well...I just wish that they'd have found a more subtle way to convey that sense of urgency - the timer just didn't sit right with me at all!

...and this as well!

Halo games do provide a more-than-decent multiplayer experience - but the first-person shooters of my youth (GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, TimeSplitters etc.) seemed to be far more well-rounded games; better weapons, more memorable characters, more memorable campaigns, more replayability...seems to be true of a lot of FPS's these days - but Halo is certainly one of the main offenders!

Pokemon

It seems everyone who says Super Mario 64, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Animal Crossing, Zelda etc. are overrated is overrated.