Be Excellent To Each Other

So, what games do you like that got roundly panned by the press? I took inspiration from Nigel's film thread, but can't think of any examples right now.

Perhaps Baja: Edge of Control, but I wouldn't say that 62% for a hardcore off-road sim is that bad a score. Has this got legs?

I got baja off lovefilm and I thought it was tedious and soulless. I think I did two races and just coudnt be bothered.

having a look at the lower scores on metacritic.

sonic the hedgehog 46?! then i released it wasnt the xbla game.
interpol-46 seems harsh
mad tracks-62 worth an 8 for multiplayer
EDF-69

Two Worlds. Awesomeness, and conclusive proof that the games-reviewing media is a idiot.

Space Gir--_urrrk!

....Really? Why is it good?

It's cheep - so I could be tempted to pick it up now at some point.

It's really good on PC, certainly, but I heard it translated awfully to the 360. Haven't played that version though, so I may be wrong.

The trick is not to expect the oblivion-challenger it was marketed as, it's really not at all. More like a close-angle, more hands-on version of Diablo. The upgrade system was genius, just bolt crappy old weapons/armour of the same type together to forge more powerful ones. Something Fallout 3 co-opted in a slightly more fiddly way later on, obv. The horseback stuff isn't too hot, they aimed for realistic and just ended up being awkward, although I did have the occasional laugh tearing up enemy camps once I got the hang of it. Still, it's no Mount & Blade in that department.

Pretty much except I'm talking about the 360 version.

It's a fantastic 3rd person RPG (don't even bother switching to the 1st person view). The graphics are average and the voice acting is all "Forsooth! Howest are thou this fineth dayeth?" nonsense, but it makes up for it with lots of lovely free-roaming gameplay with none of this auto-levelling Oblivion nonsense. I bought it knowing full well it had been panned by reviewers, and it really irritated me that its flaws (loading pauses, the horse-riding and some pop-up mainly) were blown up out of all proportion.
Oh, and I had absolutely no problems at all with the horse-riding. Maybe the patch they issued fixed it or something, but it's dead easy once you work out what you have to do. Mind you, I spent 99% of the game running around on foot anyway.

Two Worlds is indeed ace.

It's not as good as Oblivion blah blah blah BUT...


Better combat. The fights are more action packed.

Better levelling up. Oblivion's system was just too fussy. I mastered it and power levelled my second character but 2W does it all a lot more sensibly.

Better item management. Combining items is great. Even if it does mean searching around for that set of 532 boots or whatever (which in itself is great also).

Ultimate doss mode AKA multiplayer larks. You and seven chums given a big chunk of the game world and a bunch of small quests with a view to dossing about and levelling up a bit.

Excellent game world. Some really nice locations. Sure, it moves badly but stand still and enjoy the views. Yum!


I love Two Worlds.

probably Painkiller. I don't know how is the Metacritic rating, but i'm sure it's not enough.

Oh, and STALKER, of course.