Topic: The worst reviewed games you enjoyed playing?

I imagine most casual gamers will purchases games that are well reviewed or games that have substantial coverage from gaming news outlets, Youtubers, or Twitch streamers. But I'd like to believe most enthusiasts don't let Metacritic or Opencritic scores determine if they'll play a particular game or not. So this thread is for those games that some people would turn their nose up at. Which games would you say are the best of the worst?

My top five worst?

Arc of Alchemist - Metacritic score: 36
Contra: Rogue Corps - Metacritic score: 42
Aeternoblade II - Metacritic score: 44
Nippon Marathon - Metacritic score: 44
Into the Dead 2 - Metacritic score: 46

In regards to Arc of Alchemist; this could've been received more favorably if the Switch port ran better, there are some interesting gameplay systems here. In regards to Contra: Rogue Corps; it's a better twin stick shooter than people give it credit for, but since it's a new entry for a legendary franchise the expectations weren't met. In regards to Aeternoblade II; just imagine Castlevania: SotN's cringey dialogue only cranked up to the max. In regards to Nippon Marathon; sure this isn't as great as Fall Guys, but there's some goofy charm in this game. And lastly, in regards to Into the Dead 2; this was more enjoyable than some other auto runners I've played on Switch.

I think Chibi-Robo Zip Lash is a pretty decent platformer. It's certainly flawed and I can imagine it being disappointing for fans of the previous games, which I haven't played, but I had a good time with it. It helps that I paid about £2 for it rather than full price, of course.

I played these mediocre games :
Cooking Mama games on NDS and 3DS
Animal Boxing NDS
Jake Power series NDS
Imagine series on NDS
Power Punch Wii
Lost in Blue Wii
Wii Play
Wii Sports
Let's Tap Wii
DDR 2010 Wii
Gold Gym Cardio Workout Wii
Fast Food Panic Wii

@Dogorilla i liked it too. Bums me out a little that it gets ragged on so much. I'll add Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. I think it fits in quite nicely with Suda's games and was a joy to play through.

Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest.

This game made me fall in love with gaming.

I was expecting the answer to be Sonic and the Secret Rings or Contact (both of which I adore), but apparently, those got 69 and 73 respectively on Metacritic. Both are definitely must play title IMO, if only for there not being anything else quite like them before or since. (Well, Secret Rings had a sequel but...)

Sonic Riders might be...? That's down to a 59.

I unironically enjoy ET... but only once I figured out how the heck it's supposed to work, the game is hilariously obtuse. But it's also not on metacritic.

Woah, Has-Been Heroes only has a 53? That game is amazing. I'm going to say that's probably the worst I can find.

Sonic unleashed I Loved this game Its was actullay my first 3D sonic game I really don't know why people hated the wolf parts and I will say it, it is a cheesy Concept But It was one I loved, I will say there where waay to many wolf parts but still the music was great the sonic parts itself was worh buying the game for All in All its a sonic game I will never forget.

Flower, Sun, and Rain for the DS has a metacritic of 54 and I love that game. That's probably the actual lowest score for a game I adore (that I can think of).

I rarely play any actual bad games, that said...Senran Kagura: Peach Ball got a 4 on here. I think it got a low score because of anime bewbs and it's not a "real pinball" game. Or something, I dunno, I enjoyed it even with its actual flaws. (only 5 girls...2 tables...the tables themselves are way too basic)

I was gonna go towards Enter the Matrix, the bad game I sincerely enjoy, but Enter the Matrix on Gamecube has a better Metacritic score than Kirby Air Ride.

...let me repeat that, Enter the Matrix (admittedly only the GCN version), is a better reviewed game than Kirby Air Ride.

What the **** did that game do to game reviewers?

Oh actually Megaman 64 might have it beat. It's dated but tbh so is every shooter on that generation, so this feels arbitrary.

ReCore was my first XBO game, and I absolutely adored it - yet it sits at 63 on Metacritic (58 for the PC version!)

Admittedly, I did play the definitive edition - so perhaps it had a few technical issues early on that negatively impacted the score. Really an underappreciated game though IMO.

I remember Heavy Rain got slammed at the time, and I just felt like people were missing the point! I love games like that. The main feeling was just, "Oh well I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea." Glad I played it before I read the reviews though, it's hard not to have your opinion clouded sometimes.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon never reviews well critically, and my favourite is Gates To Infinity, the worst received by both critics and fan base. Granted, I was 10 at the time.

What badly reviewed game did I play? Hm, where to start? So many to choose from...

I think I'm probably gonna have to go with fan service games such as Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and it's multi-game sequel Dead or Alive Xtreme 3. And the Rumble Roses wrestling game, and other, similar stuff.

Oh, and back in the GameCube and OG Xbox days, I liked the "Outlaw" series sports games, such as Outlaw Golf and Tennis. Kinda cheesy and screw ball kind of humor-filled gameplay, but entertaining nonetheless. Well, at least: I thought so...

Blue Reflection for me. I just love that game. Push Square gave it a very low review score.

For Switch, it’s Waifu Uncovered. It’s a really fun shooter, but not all reviews have been positive.

@Magician I'll only play a game if it's got decent reviews. The only games I can think of that scored poorly, and I really enjoyed were Fragile Dreams on Wii and flower sun and rain on DS.

Those two have significant issues and are barely games, so I can understand the poor reviews. Nowadays there are so many games that are average to a high quality, you've really gotta go out of your way to play bad ones.

This was the first game that came to mind for me. It's an excellent roguelite if you can get into it but for whatever reason it didn't seem to click with the masses unfortunately.

The fact that this is called "games you enjoyed PLAYING" is the entire reason I won't be mentioning Fragile Dreams. If it was video game stories I enjoyed that didn't get great reviews, it would be my first choice in a heartbeat (though I think reviews generally agreed with me on this).

It didn't technically review that badly, but the audience reaction to Final Fantasy XIII was pretty dire (and it seems most of the critics retrospectively downgraded their own assessments). I actually avoided playing it at launch because of that negative reaction, and didn't get round to playing it until nearly a decade later.

It turns out I should've just ignored everyone, because I ended up loving the game. Even though I agreed with most of the criticisms of it, they just got massively outweighed by the good parts of it (characters, battle system, art direction)

Yeah most people said they improved that massively in post-launch patches. That's why they re-released it as a definitive edition.

I bought a copy of Lego: The Hobbit for the Wii U from a bargain bin, which holds a 4/10 rating on Nintendo Life.

It's not the greatest Lego game out there but it's still kinda fun. I finished it and easily got my money's worth, at any rate.