What's The Big Deal? Five Of My Most Overrated Games

What propels you to play a particular video game? And to that extent, what prompts you to buy said game in the first place?

Have you ever just walked into a store and purchased a game you knew nothing about, basing your entire decision on the box alone? Hardly ever, right? And I suspect you're not alone. I can attest to hardly ever buying a game that I either know nothing about or haven't been told is worth my time and money in the first place. More often than not, glowing previews and - more importantly - reviews are what propels me to purchase a game. That's not to say a nice helping of overly-positive word-of-mouth doesn't go a long way either, because let me tell you my friend, it most certainly does. Case in point, lately around the GI office you can't go more than 15 minutes without someone singing the praise of Mass Effect 2. And from everything I've heard, read, and seen about the game it seems undoubtedly well deserved. I'd be a fool for not allowing myself the chance to experience such a title, right?

But what happens when such trusted, well-meaning sources of gaming criticism lead you astray? What do you do when their proclamation of gaming excellence is, in your mind, anything but? You write about it, of course!

Here you'll find five such games: games that, by and large, I enjoyed (I want to make that perfectly clear!), but found lacking, especially in light of the endless praise and adoration they've received by the gaming press and public.

I'm only being honest. And remember, overrated DOES NOT mean bad. Capice? 

1. Chrono Cross

The immense anticipation Chrono Cross garnered in the months and weeks leading up to its release back in 2000 was palpable. And as such, I was sucked into the frenzy and pre-ordered myself a copy. Mind you, I went into this game having never played Chrono Trigger, Cross's spiritual predecessor (and I still haven't, by the way). So in reality, my expectations weren't all that high to begin with. Good thing too, because Chrono Cross didn't resonate with me at all like it did for so many others.

The story? Convoluted and uninteresting. Serge died in a parallel universe 10 years ago and let's figure out why. Yay. Who cares? 45 playable characters of which only like six have any real depth to them? What's the point? Hey look, I get to play as the main antagonist Lynx for a whopping 1/3 of game. Too bad that's not terribly interesting either. You like hopping around on a map, jumping between two dimensions trying to figure out what the hell you're supposed to do next? Good, because you'll be doing that a lot in this baby. Just make sure you have the right mix of party members (remember, you've got 45 of 'em to choose from!), otherwise you might miss out on something worthwile. Open world my a**. Oh and you'd better hope you get the "good" ending too. But you can always play the game again if you don't. The developers expect you to. Too bad I didn't and never will again.

OK, I know I'm probably being overly harsh here, but Chrono Cross was declared to be amongst the best the RPG genre had to offer. And yet for me it wasn't even close. I liked FFVII, FFVIII, Xenogears, Grandia, and FFIX more than Chrono Cross. Heck, I'm almost tempted to go out on a limb and say I liked The Legend of Dragoon more than Chrono Cross. That's how disappointed I was in CC. Maybe I'm missing something here; I don't know, and perhaps I never will.

But I will give the game credit where credit is due. It had amazing music. That counts for something.

2. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

This might have been the most overly-hyped game prior to its release on my list. And even after the cruel bait-and-switch Konami threw our way, people still lavished MGS2 with an immense amount of praise. Um, hello? Raiden? This is not what I signed up for.

And what is up with the story? Does anybody know to this day what was actually going on? The story deteriorated so much that by the time I had Raiden running down those corridors naked I had no idea what was going on - not that I even wanted to at that point. Pure absurdity. But I did know two things: I was still playing as stupid Raiden and he was, in fact, naked. Not cool. And how could I forget all the priceless political grandstanding? There were times I felt the game was actually giving me a lecture rather than trying to entertain me.

Ooh, but you can melt ice cubes and shoot cans off of ledges. You can also leer at posters of pinup girls, hide in a box (or a locker, take your pick), and then choke a dude out. And the majority of the time you're doing this within the confines of a drab, claustrophobic oil rig - as Raiden. Zzz...zzz...zzz. But hey, at least you get to go up against a fat man on roller skates. You don't see that every day, now do you? One would hope not.

Listen, MGS2 is, or at least was, a great experience from a technical standpoint. It took the immersive experience that was Metal Gear Solid and brought it to a whole new level. And the gameplay was, for the most part, engaging and quite enjoyable. But the complete package? Come on. Beautiful graphics, incomprehensible blabbering, and melting ice cubes does not make a great game. Thankfully Konami made amends with the release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Now that's a great game. And not a single, naked, whiny guy named Raiden to be found.

3. Ico

Beautiful. Haunting. Surreal.

These are just a few of the words I'd use to describe Ico.

And before I forget, let's throw two more adjectives into that pile: tedious and boring. Yet the critics lapped this one up like there was no tomorrow. This is truly a game where beauty is merely skin deep.

Make no mistake, the game, even to this day, looks amazing. The graphics and lighting effects are superb. The sense of wonder you get from gazing at the landscape around you is truly remarkable. The same can be said for the sound effects as well. So minimal yet so impactful at the same time. Ico is a visual and aural feast to be sure, but that's where the dream ends and the, how shall I say, nightmare begins.

The game is, essentially, one giant escort mission. Sounds fun doesn't it? Oh, but wait. Not only do you, a boy with horns named Ico, get to lead a pasty weakling named Yorda around by the hand, but you get to fend off the nasty spirits that are after her with a giant stick. Deadly. But the thing is, you can't kill these spirits; you can only chase them away for a little bit. They will return, usually at the most inopportune time, and you will once again have to fend them off with your stick (don't go there).

The only thing that can make this type of gameplay any worse is the fact that Yorda herself is completely worthless. She cannot and will not do anything of her own accord, other than getting dragged away by the mean spirit gang. You want her to go somewhere with you fast? You gotta take her by the hand and lead her there. She won't move unless you tell her to. Otherwise she'll just stand there looking like an idiot. She can jump over tiny distances, but she's no Carl Lewis by any stretch of the imagination. Yorda can't really do anything other than open special doors you need to get through to get out of this diabolical castle you're trapped in. Castle? What castle? Glad you asked.

You see, you're trapped in this castle because you've got a pair of horns that people don't think too highly of. And upon trying to escape from said castle you run into Ms. Useless herself, Yorda. And that's where the tedious, boring fun begins. The castle is full of clever little mind-benders that require Ico to run, jump, push and pull objects all in an effort to solve puzzles and guide yourself and little Ms. Sunshine to freedom. What starts out as a novel idea quickly becomes one of repetition and tedium.

And don't get me started on the controls. They're sloppy and unresponsive. But I guess that helps make solving all the puzzles and guiding your bag of bones partner all that more challenging. And if you do manage to deal with the unrefined controls and complete the game, you're rewarded with an ending that offers up more questions than answers. Awesome.

I think I'll pass. Oh wait, I didn't.

4. The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess   

Funny how I almost always seem to find a way to sneak a little Zelda into almost every one of my posts. Clever, eh? Well, with regards to this particular blog's topic, not so much. You might be asking how I can list Twilight Princess as one of my favorite games of all-time while simultaneously having it appear on this dubious list. It's quite simple, actually. It is not, and never will be, no matter how much you try to convince me, the greatest installment the Zelda series has ever seen. And yet, if you read the countless reviews of Link's little escapade as a wolf, a majority of them will say just that. Pure blasphemy, if you ask me.

First and foremost, the whole Link transforming into a wolf was a complete downer. Running around digging crap out of the ground? Utilizing my keen sense of wolf smell to follow odor trails? Letting some goofy little imp named Midna ride around on my back like I'm some sort of horse? And did I mention this imp revels in making snide remarks and barking orders all day? Good times. Too bad you couldn't kill Midna.

I also found the story, for the most part, uninteresting. I never once really cared about Midna or what her intentions were. The same goes for the games central antagonist Zant. I found him uninspired and just plain bizarre - a poor man's Agahnim, if you will. Yes, Ganondorf (spoiler alert!) makes his grand appearance at the end of the game, and the battle that ensues is typical epic Zelda fare, but the whole thing left me wanting more. Something. I don't know, the game just felt hollow to some degree. I just never really felt that sense of urgency needed to make me believe in what I was doing. I must have spent a good five or six hours straight lollygagging around at the fishing hole towards the end of the game. I just wasn't all that compelled to finish the quest - and it wasn't because I didn't want the game to end either. I mean, have you ever seen nicer-looking water in a Gamecube title?

But don't get me wrong, TP does a number of things extremely well (dungeons, utilization of items in said dungeons, music, atmosphere, Midna's payoff at the end of the game, battling on horseback, etc) and that's why I have such a high degree of fondness for it. I just remember coming into this game believing it was going to be better than any Zelda adventure that came before it. It was going to be Ocarina of Time the way Ocarina was meant to be. And perhaps that was the problem. It wasn't like Ocarina. It didn't have that feeling of wonderment or charm Ocarina filled me with. It almost felt like one of those bloated summer movie blockbuster sequels: too much style and not enough substance. Or perhaps TP's story was a bit too dark for my liking, especially coming off the heels of the sunny Wind Waker (which I absolutely loved, by the way). Who knows? It's tough for me to accurately pinpoint what it is exactly that made Twilight Princess a disappointment.

I'm probably being way too picky. But when it comes to Zelda, I have every right to be.

5. Metroid Prime

Alright, I've got my flame shield all ready to go for this one.

I did not like this game. I'll put it out there right now. How could this be? Metroid Prime was hailed by many as one of the greatest video games ever. A masterpiece. An epic, fresh 3-D adventure the likes of which we've never seen before. And hey, it had Samus. How could you go wrong?

I came into Metroid Prime having never played a title bearing Samus' likeness before (okay, maybe a little Metroid, but nothing major...ooh, and Super Smash Brothers as well). So I had no preconceived notions when I first set foot on Tallon IV. That should be a good thing, right? Meh.

Never in my life have I played a game where backtracking was such an integral part of the experience. It's mind boggling how much backtracking you have to do in this game. It's to the point of insanity. Did the developers actually think this would be fun for anybody? Find a Chozo Artifact, backtrack all the way back out to the other side of the level. Find an elevator to take you to a new stage, go collect a new power-up, backtrack all the way back to the elevator so you can go back to the last stage and retrieve another Artifact that was previously unattainable. After you get that Artifact, backtrack all the way back to the elevator, make your way through whatever stage it is your in, confront and defeat the boss and guess what? Yep, you get to backtrack back out of that stage, most likely to another awesome elevator. I can see why Samus is in such good shape. Aside from having to fend off a horde of nasty Space Pirates, she's constantly having to walk, run, jump, flip, skip, and roll through the same areas over and over again. Man, you'd better pack a lunch.

Oh, and those cute little Space Pirates that you spend so much time killing while in any one particular part of any one particular stage? They have the unfortunate ability to respawn. So guess who will be waiting for you while you're having the time of your life backtracking through a stage for the nine billionth time? Yep, the *** Space Pirates. And they will emanate and attack you in the same manner they did the last eight billion times you encountered them. It's like the movie Groundhog Day. Seriously. Nothing changes. Unless you beat a boss. Then some stuff changes and you get to do some more backtracking. In outdoor levels, the sun always stays in the exact same spot in the sky. It's like time is frozen and you're stuck battling a never-ending stream of idiots while running around performing what amounts to nothing more than fetch quests. How is this fun?

And how about those controls? They're needlessly awkward. Have fun strafing. Moving Samus around in battle proved to be far more tedious than it should have been. Yet another obvious blemish people seemed to have overlooked regarding this "perfect" title.

But at least we can talk about the great story that unfolds on the surface of Tallon IV. Oh wait, that's right, the story also sucks. The planet is poisoned and you've got to figure out why and stop it. How interesting. And you'd better collect 100% of the items - which isn't easy by the way - or you won't be treated to the "good" ending, meaning the story will suck that much more. And the good ending only serves to set up what's to come in the sequel. Gah.

I played through the entire game. I gave Metroid Prime an inordinate amount of time to wow me and it just never happened. More often than not, I felt bored and frustrated with what I was being forced to do. The game, by Gamecube standards, is a visual treat and the boss battles are as thrilling as they are challenging. But by the time the credits rolled, I was giddy as a schoolgirl to be done with those Space Pirates and Tallon IV once and for all. It wasn't so much a sense of accomplishment, but a sigh of relief knowing my Groundhog Day-inspired backtracking days are behind me for good.

I've never played another Metroid game since.