Mediocre games you enjoyed?

Over the years there have been some truly dire games released on all platforms. We can instantly think of some really bad examples, such as ET on the Atari 2600.

However have you ever played a game that didn't receive very good reviews, but you personally really enjoyed playing?

One game that I really enjoyed was The Fifth Element on the PSX. This received some very bad reviews and scores on release. However a friend of mine was a big fan of the film so bought the game on release. He bought the game round and we played it one afternoon, and I really enjoyed it. So I borrowed it from him that week and completed it. :)

The game is a third person action shooter, similar in idea to Tomb Raider, but a bit more limited. The game roughly follows the events of the film, with each level being a section from the film, such as the airport or city. The graphics were not as bad as the reviews made out, although the draw distance was very short, which made the platform jumping sections quite hard to negotiate. Sometimes you couldn't even see the platform you were meant to be jumping too. And the camera wasn't that great in some levels as being at the right angle to see where you were going.

However, even with the flaws I really enjoyed it. I must have, because I wouldn't have completed it otherwise.

So any games you liked that were not giving a good review?

Can't remember one right now, but you also should make an opposite thread, like "Top games YOU didn't enjoy". I would put Fallout 3 in that category (so far).

I remember that "Litle Big Adventure (LBA)" didn't had a great review as i remember :unsure:
I think was a "medium/average" game, but i loved it. By that time the game was in my opinion very nice, with excellent graphics, and i nice story.
I dont remeber the year but it was more then 8 years ago... maybe more.

Many years ago I purchased Burntime through mail order. Must have been in 1994 or 1995 or something like that. As many of you probably know, this a post-apocalyptic game and a blend of role-playing and strategy.

I had a lot of fun playing it. It was interesting to discover new locations, like towns, and of course to talk to characters in the game (which you could sometimes recruit). To stay alive you had to kill dogs or find maggots to eat. You also had to get water as well. This could be a bit stressful at times, because your character could suddenly die of thirst (if I remember correctly, many years since I played it). You could also do trading with merchants and even build stuff like a radioactive protection suit!

Burntime got some bad reviews in the various magazines of the day. This was partly due to a horrible combat system. Despite this, I enjoyed it a lot. ;) Maybe I will play it again sometime in the future.

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Originally Posted by Tiago

"Litle Big Adventure (LBA)" didn't had a great review... but i loved it. By that time the game was in my opinion very nice, with excellent graphics, and i nice story... I dont remeber the year

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I also loved Little Big Adventure. When it came out on the PC in 1994 I didn't have a PC as I was an Amiga devotee, so couldn't play it. However it was later released on the original Playstation in 1997 so I bought it straight away and really enjoyed the game.

I'm sure I remember it getting quite good reviews when it was originally released on the PC. I'm not sure what the reviews were like for the Playstation version as I just bought it on release as I wanted the game anyway.

Great puzzles and a really nicely designed game world.

Did you ever try LBA2? Also called "Twinsen's Odyssey" in some countries. I've not tried the sequel, but might still try to find it.

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Did you ever try LBA2? Also called "Twinsen's Odyssey" in some countries. I've not tried the sequel, but might still try to find it.

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No didn't try. I didn't know there was a sequel... i must search for it

I also enjoyed Little Big Adventure and played it on the PC. As for Burntime, I only played it to do some screenshots, but without having a manual, I was a bit lost.

This is one i am enjoying now; Team 17's F-17.

I didn't like it at first because of the steering and difficulty in passing adversaries, but i kept playing it just because i loved the sprite of the main car, the good graphics and smooth enough scrolling.
It looked good enough to keep me going.
Then i got into the game and was very cautious in overtaking my opponents.
The damage counter and pitstops add to the suspense.

Once you get used to the steering and are not afraid to use the brake (Which is suicide in other racing games) this budget game is pretty enjoyable!

Nia.

Bad Blood, another Post Nuclear game, sort of Fallout light.

Its quite basic really and despite being advertised as a RPG I would call it an action adventure game.

Although the game was naff, I enjoyed Fist Fighter on the Amiga for about five minutes.

Even if it has been given a bad or mediocre result by most of the tests, i really enjoyed Untold Legends on PSP. I had always dreamed to have a diablo-like on portable and this was for me the first. I simply had my fun with it... I have downloaded (woot, pirate?) the sequel but i haven't tried it yet...

There have been quite a few pretty good RPGs on the PSP, that I've enjoyed, but which haven't had great reviews. Not quite sure why as I've liked them. Maybe it's one of those things where they get a non-RPG fan to review them, or these people play so many games that they over analyse games and keep directly comparing them to the greats they are closest to.

Also, the rating system:

Story: x/10
Graphism: x/10
Sound: x/10
Other criteria: x/10
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Total: x/10

isn't a great way to measure how good a game is.

I have seen many games with fantastic ideas, a great story, outstanding graphisms and sound but that were simply not appealing.
On the flip side, i've seen many games with a depthless scenario and far-from-being-stunning graphisms but that were plain fun from the first minute to the last.

I find sometimes (often actually) the reviews over-intellectualized, taking too many aspects in consideration, and therefor missing the most important point: the fun, simply, no matter if the game has a potential of 60 hours gaming, an infinite replayablility and the latest, most stunning effects.

But i guess that, in an industry where the standards are being redefined every day, a tester must find some common basis in order to sort what's good and what's less, even if sometimes it isn't efficient...

That is true, and you have to compare a new game to existing classics in the same genre so that the reviewer can relate to existing games for the reader to better understand the game being reviewed.

However I completely agree that a game doesn't have to have great graphics to be great. A well written story and control/combat system are much more important to me that cutting edge graphics and audio. If gameplay and narrative are right then a game will still be great.

As an example look at Fallout 1/2, Baldur's Gate 1/2, etc. These are now getting quite old, but are all still as playable and enjoyable RPGs as you could hope for. As long as the graphics and audio work well to convey they game's environment and story that is all that is needed to enjoy it.

However I do think that as we have all been gamers since the beginning, and we are all retro gamers, we are more open minded to games that are not at the cutting edge of technology, and we know gameplay is the most important thing in making a game good. Sadly the youth of today just don't have this understanding, or the attention span to cope.

This is a little embarrassing: Test Drive (C64 and Amiga). This 'Robin Reliant simulator' really sucked, but I felt compelled to complete it in all five cars. It wasn't exactly difficult, either. I must have been really bored!

Is there a topic for games that got rave reviews but you hated anyway? I can think of a few...

Good idea. I will start one! ;)