Gaming Big name games that really aren't that great

[Empoleom]

After playing Spirit Tracks, I realized that the game just isn't that good. I mean, it's not BAD, but it's not great. But people are talking about it like it's the best game of the year, which is ridiculous. IGN will probably give it an 8.5 or a 9.5, and the game is a 7 at best.

It makes me kind of mad, not REALLY mad mind you, that we get these mediocre games and treat them like gaming gold just because they're made by a certain developer or carry a certain name on them.

Now, I know it's all opinion, but I'm going to express mine right now. Spirit Tracks isn't that good. The controls are a little weird, it's short, it gets irritating in a lot of places, it feels gimmicky. A Link to the Past was a good Zelda game. It was amazingly good. And it came out over a decade ago. Why are we okay with them giving us spirit tracks when they could have given us something of ALttP quality?

Some other games pop into mind that suffer from this phenomenon too. Kingdom Hearts comes to mind. I see a lot of people claiming it's one of the best games of the year. I played that shit, and it wasn't very much fun at all. Incredibly tedious and dull. What if it didn't carry the Kingdom Hearts moniker? It would be a 7 at best. People would have completely forgotten about it now.

Alright, rant over. Thanks for reading.
Can you guys think of any other games that suffer from big name syndrome?

but legend of zelda spirit tracks is the best ds game of year say another game of this year that has a good history like that

 

[Exbaddude]

Ok,no... Spirit Tracks is the best game to ever touch a DS,ever! Its long,adventurous,action packed! And yes,im talking about Spirit Tracks,not my dong. (Had to be done,even if it wasn't funny at all)

The BEST? You might wanna change you mind

 

[Guild McCommunist]

but legend of zelda spirit tracks is the best ds game of year say another game of this year that has a good history like that

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

EDIT: To elaborate on that. Chinatown Wars has higher scores overall and ranks as one of the best DS games so far. Not to mention it's a lot lengthier and more gritty than Zelda (obviously). I personally think Chinatown Wars beats Zelda on the DS any day.

I thought the DS iterations of Zelda were quite frankly mediocre for a Zelda title. Yet again, "mediocre" on the Zelda scale is "decent" at worst. The controls were just lousy and the dungeons weren't anything mind bending. The console dungeons were great. Remember the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time? It may have been hard as sin, but at least it was challenging and REALLY showed just how genius they can make the game.

There's plenty of titles that sell purely on their namesake nowadays. Hell, most titles do.

 

[Sterling]

I thought Spirit Tracks is good. Not the best, but still a good play. I hold my copy of PH with disdain, I thought that was horrible. Now that you guys mention it, the train thing makes the game feel sort of linear.

OoT was very good for its time, but on the DS you have to dumb things down quite a bit.

When the ne Wii Zelda comes out I will play it to death.

 

[Empoleom]

but legend of zelda spirit tracks is the best ds game of year say another game of this year that has a good history like that

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

I thought the DS iterations of Zelda were quite frankly mediocre for a Zelda title. Yet again, "mediocre" on the Zelda scale is "decent" at worst. The controls were just lousy and the dungeons weren't anything mind bending. The console dungeons were great. Remember the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time? It may have been hard as sin, but at least it was challenging and REALLY showed just how genius they can make the game.

There's plenty of titles that sell purely on their namesake nowadays. Hell, most titles do.

i dont like gta series because of violence and its histoy this cant be a good game, and water temple of Oot is easier for me than last part of spirit tower os spirit tracks

 

[Guild McCommunist]

but legend of zelda spirit tracks is the best ds game of year say another game of this year that has a good history like that

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

I thought the DS iterations of Zelda were quite frankly mediocre for a Zelda title. Yet again, "mediocre" on the Zelda scale is "decent" at worst. The controls were just lousy and the dungeons weren't anything mind bending. The console dungeons were great. Remember the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time? It may have been hard as sin, but at least it was challenging and REALLY showed just how genius they can make the game.

There's plenty of titles that sell purely on their namesake nowadays. Hell, most titles do.

i dont like gta series because of violence and its histoy this cant be a good game, and water temple of Oot is easier for me than last part of spirit tower os spirit tracks

So your point is "Well, it doesn't have Zelda's history so it has to be bad!" Just because you think it's "violent" doesn't mean it's not a good game. Hell, I can name more good violent games than good non-violent ones.

Time after time Grand Theft Auto ranks as one of the best series ever made. Sure, it's violent and mature, but it's more than just raping hookers and carjacking. There's an amount of depth to it that is hard to explain. Not to mention that if you've seen some of the scores, they frequently rank as some of the highest rated games ever. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas got raving reviews. Grand Theft Auto IV, same deal. The rest of the GTA line has gotten also other high reviews. Everything from GTA III on has been a big snowball, gaining more and more momentum.

 

[Empoleom]

but legend of zelda spirit tracks is the best ds game of year say another game of this year that has a good history like that

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

I thought the DS iterations of Zelda were quite frankly mediocre for a Zelda title. Yet again, "mediocre" on the Zelda scale is "decent" at worst. The controls were just lousy and the dungeons weren't anything mind bending. The console dungeons were great. Remember the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time? It may have been hard as sin, but at least it was challenging and REALLY showed just how genius they can make the game.

There's plenty of titles that sell purely on their namesake nowadays. Hell, most titles do.

i dont like gta series because of violence and its histoy this cant be a good game, and water temple of Oot is easier for me than last part of spirit tower os spirit tracks

So your point is "Well, it doesn't have Zelda's history so it has to be bad!" Just because you think it's "violent" doesn't mean it's not a good game. Hell, I can name more good violent games than good non-violent ones.

Time after time Grand Theft Auto ranks as one of the best series ever made. Sure, it's violent and mature, but it's more than just raping hookers and carjacking. There's an amount of depth to it that is hard to explain. Not to mention that if you've seen some of the scores, they frequently rank as some of the highest rated games ever. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas got raving reviews. Grand Theft Auto IV, same deal. The rest of the GTA line has gotten also other high reviews. Everything from GTA III on has been a big snowball, gaining more and more momentum.

but gta is game that you sell drugs and some games series that only are good because of history like phoenix wright and gta doesnt have single good and epic history

 

[FlashX007]

i didnt think it was all that hype either i mean its great but japan makes better games that us just takes and changes into a complete failure

 

[nickbaker50]

Personally I liked ST and Ph, sometimes for the reasons you dislike it but whatever, to each his own. However I think you were unfair to KH. I admit sadly that the gameplay wasn't the best. The reason I played it was the storyline. This dos not excuse bad gameplay, but there IS a reason people get it besides the hype. People want to know what happens next. It's why everybody goes to see terrible movie sequels.

 

[FlashX007]

i didnt hate kh but cmon the japanese version was better im just criticizing how when a game reaches the U.S. it somehow loses pieces if you get what i mean so thats not worth 30 bucks

 

[Empoleom]

the media really doesnt show some good games like mother 3, nostalgia, and other good game

 

[BedtimeGuy]

ok, i can understand what you say about KH being... tedious, and lacking in gameplay. but that is essentially what almost any FF-esque RPG is. the reason people like it so much is the amazing storyline. and spirit track's only faults are an OK story line (something which you don't seem to care about), and easy battles. the controls aren't necessarily a bad thing, just because it is different, it is "gimmicky"? the part of spirit tracks that makes i so fun is the puzzles, which you probably couldn't figure out.

by the way, i do agree that games are often over rated because of the branding, but spirit tracks is (so far) not one of those games. as well, the over rated games are likely still better than most games anywyas, so quit complaining. (note: this wasn't a flame...)

 

[Law]

i didnt think it was all that hype either i mean its great but japan makes better games that us just takes and changes into a complete failure

Western video games are complete failures?

A video game doesn't need an overly effeminate male lead character in order to be a success, you know.

 

[BedtimeGuy]

I get to ride on a ship, shoot the smallest enemies in the entire world that gives one rupee, pay ridiculous amounts of money for ship parts I never needed, fight bosses that did absolutely nothing. The story was worse than Pokemon to boot.

try not failing at shooting small targets. i found that fun, and it's not like you HAD to buy the ship parts, they are just for collecting, that's not even really a valid point. unless you hate every game with optional items.

Well, maybe the competitive mini game of collecting force gems over wifi made the game a bit better! Nope. It was the most boring game anyone could think of. You pick up gems and put them on your square. wooooo.

I just have to say that i actually really liked the wi-fi game in PH, there was quite a lot of strategy to it, and skill too. you likely just lost because you couldn't figure out where to put the phantoms, and couldn't handle the creative controls. that's right, i LIKE the controls.

my replies are in bold.

 

[ericling]

IGN gave Spirit Track 9.3
http://ds.ign.com/articles/105/1052939p2.html

 

[VashTS]

Zelda ended with majora's mask for me, i tried twilight princess felt like i was playing a movie, i will play it and im sure it'll be good, but the ds versions don't impress me, i haven't been let down by mario yet.

but big names that aren't great games? final fantasy...just not my style, sonic the hedgehog games, wwe games

but again those just aren't my style aren't bad games by any means, some people may enjoy the crap out of them. its hard to declare a game bad, unless its something like press the button, or something stupid like that but again someone may enjoy pressing a button over and over and over, like farmville

 

[Ruri]

The DS Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles games.

They're not terrible -- they're fun with some friends, and they're all right generic action-RPGs. But they're overrated.

 

[Bleedingelite]

So I went back and started a new game of A Link to the Past after making my first post today, and I still can't get over how great it is. From the very beginning, you can see how much better it is than Spirit Tracks or, well, a lot of games.

In Link to the Past, the game opens with young Link waking up in the middle of the night to find his uncle strapping on a sword and shield. The uncle leaves and tells Link to stay put no matter what happens. This is where you get control of Link, a good jump right into the story. You wander outside into the dark, gloomy world. Rain's coming down in torrents, lightning's flashing over head, dramatic music is playing. You get a telepathic cry for help. You have to rescue me, Link! You stumble around the surrounding wilderness, making your way to the castle. The cries of distress tell you to find your way in through the garden. You lift a bush and there is your entrance. You take a look around and jump in. Ahhh, it's dry in here. In the castle's cellar. Wait, what's this? It's your uncle! Oh no, he's dying! He tells you to take his weapons and with his final words says that he was happy to have spent a part of his life with you, hinting at a destiny that you yourself have not yet realized. But there's no time for being sad. We've got to rescue our princess and figure out how to save our realm! From there, the game only gets better and better. Drama, puzzles, magic, music, enchanted sunlit forests, subplots telling heart-wrenching tales of betrayals and love.

Spirit Tracks opens with Link waking up on the day of his graduation from train school. Wait, what? TRAIN school? Really? Wow. Nuff said.

 

[DeMoN]

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor annoyed me so much and I didn't have the interest to get another ending.

I absolutely hate the Metroid Prime games. The series just wasn't meant for 3D in my opinion, for the same reasons that 3D Castlevania games suck.

Don't like Phantasy Star 0 either, because a game like that just isn't meant for the DS.

I played Dragon Quest IV on the DS and didn't like it. Too lazy to try out V, but hopefully IX will come out soon and I'll see if it redeems the series for me.

 

[ragingchaosgod]

Normally, I'm the first one to be hating on mainstream games but I'm also the first to try em out. Justifies my hating. XD;
Anyway, IMHO, Spirit Tracks was alright. It's not a groundbreaking blockbuster, but I have to say that it's an improvement over PH. The one thing that turned me off with PH was the damned Temple of the Ocean King. You gotta go back, redo the levels you did, blah blah blah... at least this time around, you can skip forward to the level you need to get to. :/
I'm not a big fan of the Zelda series (Le gasp! Blasphemy!) but I think they're ok in a pinch. I still prefer my JRPGs... with the weird hair and the wtf plottery and... you get my point.
To each his own, really but that won't stop me (or you, or other people) from raging at the hype some games get just because they're by a certain company or carry the title of a certain franchise.

KH... DEFINITELY not my favourite series. And I've HATED what they've done to the FF7 franchise because I think Squeenix is becoming cheap and milking it all for money. The plots are thin (I'm looking at you Dissidia) and most of the fanservice is apparent (Glaring in your direction, KH and FFVII: CC.) but I have to admit, they're also alright in a pinch.
Sometimes, I wonder what sorts of reviews these games would have gotten had they no branding whatsoever. What if Spirit Tracks wasn't a Zelda title but instead a kooky little game where the main character was a nameless train engineer forced to become a fighter to save the world? What if Dissidia had an all original cast? What if KH wasn't... KH.
You get the idea.