The Hot Topic Returns

[shinymcshine]

4 hours ago, OCH said:

 and one set in a Labyrinth that I can't remember it's name at all. 

 

 

Fatal Labyrinth (probably).

 

With the MD I also enjoyed Sword of Vermilion, Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday, D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun, The Faery Tale Adventure and Rings of Power - all great RPGs at the time.

[Nag]

 

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Readers discuss their favourite mediocre but enjoyable video games, from Rage 2 to Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness.

 

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Gannet, who asks what game do you enjoy even though you know not many other people think highly of it? Why is it you like it and is it just down to the game itself or some external factor?

 

Money was a factor in most of the suggestions, with people more than happy to play a flawed game if it was cheap enough not to feel like a rip-off or had no pretensions to be a classic in the first place.

 

[mmmark]

Maneater most recently. I could list a lot of Ubisoft games too. 

[DANGERMAN]

oh yeah, Maneater is a great shout, same for Rage 2 in the op. Both are basically just the same 5 minutes of gameplay repeated for tens of hours, but there's enough of a ramp up to keep them compulsive, there's better made games like Ghost of Tsushima that haven't managed to keep me playing in the same way

[OCH]

The Suffering (PS2) came to mind. Not a great game, mechanically. But it ticked a lot of boxes for me and I played it through til the end.

[bellow]

Funnily enough I recently played rage 2 from start to finish while never really thinking it was mediocre. I thought it was great 🙂

 

That's my only contribution to this new question. I don't think I've ever had to play a mediocre game because of lack of funds, tho. That's probably something that happens when your a kid. And I never played videogames as a nipper.

[shinymcshine]

I enjoyed Dead Island (and Riptide) a lot more than some reviewers did....

 

 

[OCH]

1 hour ago, bellow said:

I don't think I've ever had to play a mediocre game because of lack of funds, tho. That's probably something that happens when your a kid.

Yep. We played some right stinkers as a kid. They were cheap and we enjoyed them anyway.

[Maf]

I really liked Dragon Age 2 despite it being a massive step down from the first. Reusing dungeons and levels. The whole game takes place in one city. And as far as I can tell none of it ends up mattering anyway. It’s a very Ok kind of game. I wouldn’t say it came off as a budget title, but relative to big EA games it was very small. A lot of cut corners and recycled content as part of the main game really dragged it down, but I was still so in to Dragon Age at the time I really liked it. 

 

In fact I played through it twice because on my first playthrough the game glitched on me where my main character wouldn’t get any stronger despite levelling up. Made the game very hard and the second playthrough was easy as hell.

 

Sonic 4 Part 1 is another game that got kind of shit on at the time because the legs looked funny. It also wasn’t great by any means, but I played a lot of that. I really liked it. 
 

Someone on the old forum said that Borderlands is the best worst game they ever played and I always remember that because it’s bang on the money. That game is super mediocre and boring but really playable. Even with Borderlands 3 I played a couple years ago I described as a 6/10 game I was having 8/10 fun with. It’s reheated junk food gaming, but it’s still fun.

 

I don’t know if these games are mediocre or just trash but I really like the Hyrule Warriors games. I never played any Musou game before, but the Zelda paint made me try it. At first I was like wow what a bad video game. Then I just kept playing it.

[OCH]

25 minutes ago, Maf said:

Someone on the old forum said that

Speaking of which, reminds me of GTM's infamous 4/10 for the first Assassin's Creed. So anyone here who enjoyed that, technically could add it their list.

[one-armed dwarf]

Question is a bit tricky, mediocre game you enjoy but defines mediocrity mostly as what other people think

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"what game do you enjoy even though you know not many other people think highly of it?"

 

In terms of game that I might think is actually kinda bad but still get something out of, Drakengard 3. A soundtrack as good as Nier with combat and gameplay most definitely nothing close to it (and Nier's combat isn't even good). I like it though and would like to see that part of the 'universe' get some attention at some point

 

If we're just talking about mediocrity as like what metacritic thinks, I still think Pathologic 2 is one of the best games of the previous generation, up there with BOTW imo. Completely stand by this still. But talk about needing a very particular kinda palette to get into something like that.

[Nag]

Dead Island was a great game... Edge completely lost their head up their own arse with that score.

[Sly Reflex]

Yeah, I really enjoyed Dead Island. It wasn't amazing by any standards, but it was fun. Games are meant to be fun, even if they're wonky. A lot of developers should take note, they get so entranced in providing the best graphics and sound and completely forget to put something that resembles fun in there.

 

Borderlands I don't think is a bad game, not for the time. It kicked off the looter shooter thing as we know it.

 

Just Cause 2 is pretty bad, but that game is so much fun to play.

[Nag]

1 hour ago, Sly Reflex said:

Just Cause 2 is pretty bad, but that game is so much fun to play.

 

The first Mercenaries game sits in that bracket for me, having free rein to call in loads of ridiculous hardware and weapons was amazing at the time.

[Sly Reflex]

The Mercs games were incredible fun. Just saying fuck it and calling a bunker buster in because you had so much money and couldn't be bothered running around shooting shit to level an apartment complex full of enemies would never get old.

[DisturbedSwan]

Too many to mention really for me, but off the top of my head:

• Area 51
• Biomutant
• Metal Gear Survive
• Maneater
• Dying Light
• Dying Light 2

[DANGERMAN]

I've thought of a couple of others. After a slow start I really enjoyed The Saboteur. It's a bit clunky and a bit janky, but its blowing up Nazis with some decent stealth

 

from around the same time, and I will say I didn't love it, I thought Dark Void was fun. Not amazing obviously, let's not go crazy, but I enjoyed playing through it

[Maryokutai]

There were quite a few in the PSWii60 era. Not sure if that's a fact or rather because it was the first generation during which I had enough money to buy more than one game every other month.

 

But off the top of my head I'd say I enjoyed Bullet Witch, Too Human, Fable Heroes, Castlevania Judgment, Haze and Dungeon Siege III, the latter of which I particularly loved and played through four times. On the handheld front there were quite a few high-profile IPs with lackluster "renaissance" titles that I still quite enjoyed, for instance Phantasy Star Portable, Children of Mana or Final Fantasy Explorers.

 

From more recent years I'd say Agents of Mayhem and DC Super Hero Girls.

[Nag]

^^ Plus one just for the Bullet Witch mention.

[mfnick]

Struggled with this one. I’m sure there’s loads, I’m usually against the popular consensus on a lot of games but just can’t think of many. 
 

There’s my obligatory Ninja Blade mention. Love that game.

 

Otherwise the one that comes to mind is more revisionary. Even though they reviewed well and were highly regarded, opinions have changed, now everyone slags them off - the God of War trilogy and 2 PSP games. I still much prefer them to the new one and I seem alone in this. With the new one, during the lead up to release and since, all I ever see is people shitting on the original releases. So I’m counting it. 
 

Crackdown 3 gets a severe slagging off too. I think it’s good.