Lacklustre games you have personally enjoyed

Reading the Amiga thread, Who was the worst developer of Amiga games, I suddenly started to think of games released over the years that have been panned by the press and poorly received by the general public, but which I personally enjoyed.

So have there been any games on any platform that were received badly on release, but that you personally enjoyed?

For me one that stands out is the game The Fifth Element on the Playstation, based on the film of the same name. I actually thought of this one because in the same thread we were also discussing games based on movie franchise being generally bad.

The Fifth Element got bad reviews and low scores by the press on release and I don't think it did well. But a friend loved the film and had to buy the game anyway, so I borrowed it from him and ended up really enjoying it and even completing it (which I must add he never did!).

While it was definitely not the most polished game in the world I personally found it very playable with a third person gameplay style similar to tomb raider, but obviously set in the futuristic world of the film. It also followed the film scene by scene in the correct order, using quite well modelled versions of each set and sticking to the same structure and requirements of the film to proceed. Having also liked the film a lot I think this added to the game as the memories of the film were maintained as you played.

The graphics were very average with the biggest issue being a quite short draw distance, so everything was in fog beyond your field of view. This meant that enemies could sometimes surprise you by running at you suddenly from out of nowhere.

The gameplay was a mix of platform negotiations and fights. Some of the platforms required precise positioning and accurate jumping so could get frustrating if you couldn't pull them off, but unlike many games you never found yourself lost in this game and always knew the requirements or directions you needed to go to continue further.

It wasn't too short either, taking quite a few hours to complete and all the levels were easy to work out and negotiate without been too easy.

If they had just managed to polish the game a bit more, removing the short draw distance and making the graphics look a bit higher quality I think this might have done much better as the actual gameplay was fine.

I have plenty of 'guilty pleasures', so to speak. I'm quite easily entertained, so as long as a game has some semblance of playability, I'll be entertained by it.

Let's take the Tenchu games on the PS2. While they didn't get downright bad scores, they weren't particularly well-received either, since the series hadn't advanced much over the years and was plagued by tiny little annoying things. I enjoyed them all the same, though.

Then there's The Bouncer. It was hyped as the ultimate beat 'em up experience, but in practise, the action was slow and there didn't seem to be any flow to the battles. Again, I loved the game anyway.

What about Thundercats? I loved that game :thumbs:

I remember how hyped The Bouncer was, and the disappointment that followed its release. I never got to play that other than a coverdisc demo which put me off.

I like the Tenchu series and have actually been playing the PSP version recently. It is true that the series hasn't really progressed much since the first PSX game, but it's still fun and interesting to play.

And I mentioned Thundercats somewhere else. I also enjoyed that, but that is definitely a below average game enjoyed more because of the series it is based on that the game alone.

Bionic Commando on the NES. It was lambasted for being too difficult but I thought it was fantastic - my mates all bought a copy after playing it too.
I loved Catlevania Symphony of the Night on the PSX also. It was slagged off for being in 2D when 3D was really taking off in a big way. Ha! Its probably the best 2D platform game ever made - I read an Edge years ago that had an article on the most underrated games ever and it basically had a massive apology for giving it such a low mark. In that same article Bioharvest on the N64 was mentioned - i never owned a N64 so I never played it but two of my friends regularly go on about how much better than any free roaming game, such as GTA, it is (usuallly at about 3.00am and very drunk).:) They are convinced its the spiritual sequel to Hunter on the Amiga.

Damn Bionic Commando....that was a sweet game! But I agree, it was hard :yesyes:

BioHarvest? or Body Harvest?

I have the original cartridge of Body Harvest on the N64. I got it with load of other carts in an ebay sale. It definitely is very open and non linear and very interesting to play. I've however never played it that far so don't know too much about what happens later in the game. It does seem fun though.

Bionic Commando is indeed very hard, but that's perhaps because it's also an arcade conversion.

Wow it was? Learn something new everyday! :thumbs:

I think one of my favourite games, albeit one of the lower scoring games I have ever seen, was The Apprentice on (oddly enough... cue x-files music) the Amstrad CPC... The lovely machine bought to us by that oh-so-cute Fozzy Bear lookalike, Alan Sugar!!!

Quote:

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In this very, very dull Sorcery-style adventure, you play the role of a wizard who must collect items and give them to other wizards in order to get a certain amount of silver rings. You fly so slowly across the screens that you could think you are crawling. The places you visit are inhabited by sundry creatures stupidly pacing up and down, and which come back when you have killed them anyway. If you happen to enter a room at the place where a monster is generated, you will lose all your lives at once. The graphics are not too bad, but that does not mean they are good either. The sole positive point is that you never really get annoyed by all the flaws in the game, because its slowness and its lulling tune soon make you sleep, and when you wake up, your time has run out and the game is over!

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Oh, what the hell, I LOVED the game... sad, old bloke that I am!

Uh..... Lemonade Tycoon on MSN messenger games, I really got hooked by it and had had to hunt down a cracked full copy. A friend also managed to get it for Java mobile, but by then I'd rinsed it out fully.

Also - thundercats was DREADFUL.

And Body Harvest very very slooooooooooow and difficult too. I never got very far in it - it had a great premise and neat ideas but was just a bit flawed in execution.

My mistake - Body harvest not Bioharvest. Doh!:whistle:
I never played it but whenever my friends go on about one one of them says "I got right to the end but i couldnt complete it" to sounds of ooohs and aaahhhs from the others. I did see it being played and it looked pretty difficult.