Most underrated game AND overrated video games?

In your honest opinion, what two games do you think are the most underrated and the overrated?

I've played a whole lot of games that should've been in the limelight (mostly old NES games), but IMO, I think it's Psychonauts. Awesome gameplay, tight controls, great replayability, imaginative story, and some of the funniest jokes I've ever heard in a game. It was so original, like, dare I say it, the games of yesteryear, when game companies were small businesses with a lot of talented and creative designers who were willing to push the limited hardware at the time to its limit, just to make an overall good game. Ristar on the Sega Genesis is underrated, too. I just think it had a great presentation.

My overrated game is Halo 3. I mean, come on! It's almost exactly the same as the other two Halos, just prettier. Sure, the orchestral music, amazing graphics and realistic physics were great, but take all that away and what have you got? A substandard shooter that's not any different from the others. All flash and no dash. All show and no flow. And so forth with lame 80s lines. It just proves further that game designers today are just using their millions to polish an old design that's been here since Half-life came around, just for hype, money and publicity, and without any creativity. Also, I can't stand the fanbase. Not only are they Bungie sheep, but also pretty hostile. They're extremely offensive on multiplayer (case in point, "teabagging"), and have terrible sportsmanship. Whatever happened to "good game," fellas?

So, what do you think?

Underrated: Super Mario Kart (SNES)
The original and best. All the sequels are unnecessary shit.

Overrated: 3D Zelda
Every new TLoZ is just the previous one stuck in a blender.

Also, prepare for deluge of Halo.

Underrated: Halo.

Overrated: Nerf Arena Blast. I mean, what the fuck?

MasterOFDeath said:

Underrated: Halo.

Halo, underrated? I thought it got a lot of hype. I thought the first one was average, but the sequels were unnecessary.

Underrated: SimCopter

Overrated: Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Underrated: Tron 2.0

Overrated: Counterstrike

Psychonauts is pretty awesome, too.

Over-rated: Half Life (1)

Under-rated: Super Princess Peach

Underrated - Tower of Babel. Best 3D puzzle game ever!
Overrated - Jet Set Willy.

Dgon92 said:

Halo, underrated? I thought it got a lot of hype. I thought the first one was average, but the sequels were unnecessary.

Your sarcasm detector is broken.

Underrated: Tetris
Overrated: Doom. Seriously.

Underrated: Beyond Good and Evil
Overrated: Final Fantasy VII (the FF series is overrated period, but I picked VII, since we're only allowed to pick one, and it was the most popular)

Underrated: Doom
Overrated: Doom II

leileilol said:

Underrated: Doom
Overrated: Doom II

More like the other way around.

Underrated: Planescape: Torment

Overrated: Guitar Hero


Runner-up for underrated would be Fallout: Tactics which gets some unnecessary hate from FO fans. I mean, it was never Fallout 3, and it was a different game, but it was fun.

PS:T though just faded into the mists of obscurity. Even a lot of people who played it thought it was "too wordy". I think it actually won RPG of the year from somewhere at the time it was released, but you hardly ever hear anyone talk about it.

Overrated: DooM 3. Sorry, but I didn't bother with it after solving it only once.

Best: DooM. Played that over and over many times, for years. Even DL'd the Ultimate DooM patch back in the day, and actually gone through Thy Flesh Consumed in it's entirety, Ultra-Violence, without dying. Not a big deal now, was called a liar back when I did it, though. :)

Nuxius said:

Overrated: Final Fantasy VII (the FF series is overrated period, but I picked VII, since we're only allowed to pick one, and it was the most popular)

Nuxius, are you talking about entire series, or just the games after 7? I don't know, I thought Final Fantasy VI was very good, even the best in the series. I just thought it didn't get the glory it deserved, because it was taken away by an even bigger game like the one above. I just don't see what's the big deal about Final Fantasy VII. The gameplay's almost the same as FFVI, and even FFV and FFIV. The cast had only 8 characters (FFVI had almost double that many characters), and its villain failed to destroy the world (The villain in FFVI actually did destroy the world, or at least reshape it into his twisted vision). Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's terrible, but it's far from "the best game ever".

If you are talking about the games after 7, then I agree with you. I couldn't stand the games after 7, especially 8, 10, and X-2. I just don't think Square Enix is as creative as it used to be, especially with the whole "emo, convoluted love story" vibe that Final Fantasy has going on right now.

leileilol said:
Underrated: Doom
Overrated: Doom II

Good answer

Underrated: Deus Ex II.
I don't care what you jerks say, I had fun. sure It's not as good as Deus Ex but there's still a fun game in there.

Overrated: Diablo II.
Got so bored I couldn't even finish the game once. Also, not a fan of co-op in general (unless it's Left 4 Dead).

Georgef551 said:

Overrated: DooM 3. Sorry, but I didn't bother with it after solving it only once.

Doom 3 was never overrated by anymeans. It was over hyped as o'l hell but never overrated.

Ascendancy might be one of the most underrated games I've ever played. In a time when Master of Orion 2 was earning accolades, Ascendancy was a much better space RTS. It was similar to Civilization, but incredibly unique. Best of all, the alien races lacked the "human" race... the aliens were all brilliantly original and creative.

Having just payed through Half Life 2, it is easily one of the most overhyped, overrated games I've played. The game is devoid of a real story and the gameplay is broken into boring driving sequences and ridiculous physics puzzles. Half Life, the original, was fantastic and genre changing... Half Life 2 is just a decent FPS.

Underrated: Far Cry
Overrated: Far Cry 2

Underrated: Postal 2 or Blood
Overrated: Ocarina of Time.

Underrated: Wii Sports - This is very fun at parties.

Overrated: Bioshock - Yes has some cool features as a fps, but reall could not see whats so OMFG about it. Big Daddies, yay, thats it.

And I nod to the Halo notion, way too slow paced imo.

The Warioware game for the Wii might just be an even better party game that Wii Sports. It's pretty amazing, in a hilarious manner.

Scuba Steve said:

Ascendancy might be one of the most underrated games I've ever played. In a time when Master of Orion 2 was earning accolades, Ascendancy was a much better space RTS. It was similar to Civilization, but incredibly unique. Best of all, the alien races lacked the "human" race... the aliens were all brilliantly original and creative.

Oooh, sounds like something I'll have to try some day.

Overrated: The whole mmorpg genre. Half Life 1 is a good candidate too.

Overrated:Most of games with good graphics.
Underrated:Games with bad graphics.

*sigh*

Jello said:

Underrated: Postal 2 or Blood
Overrated: Ocarina of Time.

On the subject of Blood, I would agree that was a terribly underrated game. But Postal 2? I dunno... I feel it got the attention it deserved, since it was just a shock piece.

Overrated: Guitar Hero Whatever.
Underrated: Secret of Evermore

Dgon92 said:

The cast had only 8 characters (FFVI had almost double that many characters)

I'm playing 7 now (almost finished) and I generally agree that it felt exactly like FF6 in many aspects and calling it the best game of the series is an overstatement, but I think the reduced number of characters is actually one of the few things making it better than FF6. I never even bothered playing some of the weaker chars in FF6 unless the game forced me to (Cyan, I'm looking at you), while the FF7 cast is both more interesting, balanced and given a lot more background in the course of the game.

Scuba Steve said:

Ascendancy

Oshi i'm not the only person who played it.

Too bad the AI was absolutely horrible. BTW I always thought of it as a turn-based game, with the flow of time based on days and the way the combat system worked.

Underrated: FFXII, FFX.
Overrated: FFVII.

I don't see why FFXII could be less popular than FFVII. FFXII was so challenging; the combat system takes place in the actual fiend (not in an area where the field is the background). FFX was just as good, it had a great storyline combining magic and technology and both feature actual talking voices.

Most overrated: any sports game with a year in its title, especially socccer/football games.

Most underrated (or better: underestimated): Doom (a couple of years after its time).

Let me elaborate on the last one: believe it or not, there was a time where Doom's importance to gaming was not universally accepted and recognized, mostly in the years between 1994-1997.

On the grounds that Doom 2 was little more than Doom repackaged, and that Final Doom turned out to be more of Doom 2, a lot of bilious reviewers took every chance possible to describe Doom as "outdated", "old", "an aging athlete that has to hang his boxing gloves", "fake 3D", "not as hot as it once was", "The King (Doom) is dead, long live the King (some crappy game xxx you'll have never heard of) etc.

Plus, they were all eager and hasty to praise every new shovelware FPS as the next "Doom killer", not realizing that Doom was not just an FPS like all the others, but a whole gaming philosophy on its own, based on a solid and unique engine. The aftermath? Most of these "Doom killers" you'll probably have never heard of, while Doom pretty much outlived all of its contemporary games in terms of support and replay value by light-years.

Maes said:

Most overrated: any sports game with a year in its title, especially socccer/football games.

I agree that sports games are usually overrated. However, even though FFVII is a good game, I still think it is extremely overrated.