What's so great about that? Ars editors pick the most overrated games

ARS - There are no sacred cows on this list of popular games we just don't get.

[wishingW3L]

it's a miracle he didn't pick on any PS3 exclusive like everybody does. Especially with Uncharted and God of War.

[Irishguy95]

Yeah he's missing those two. And Skyrim

[BanBrother]

I think the Uncharted games are worthy of their reputation, to me UC2 is as perfect a game can get.

I myself have never really got that into God Of War however. The first was great on the PS2, 2 and 3 were good, but not amazing. I liked Chains Of Olympus on the PSP more than 2 and 3. Despite my opinion, I am still getting ascension.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

how is uncharted overrated? 3+ million sale is overrated? hmmmm. I would say it's underrated.

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

Also if you only have xbox you have no new games to compare anyway. We will see how the last of us & beyond turns out. Even if ps3 games are overarted new ones are on the way yay! Now you wiat for the new xbox like you have been since 2007.

http://www.cinemablend.com/...
enjoy..

[StreetsofRage]

Where are all these ps3 new games? Your talking about the lowly rated games like lbp karting or all stars? Yeah nobody is buying those games. I haven't turned on my ps3 in over a year. Once again, u guys are all talk and no action.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

"how is uncharted overrated? 3+ million sale is overrated? hmmmm. I would say it's underrated."

- I was just about to say the same thing...except I was going to say:

"how is Halo 4 overrated? 5+ million in 1 month overrated? hmmmm. I would say it's underrated."

You wanna start comparing sales of exclusive games? Just because a game is exclusive doesn't mean it's an automatically good game. Sony may have more exclusives releasing lately but I am not into Playstation allstars or LBP karting. I prefer games like Halo and Gears. These IP's sell extremely well because people love them and want them. MS is not about to throw away development money on unproven IP's that nobody will buy.

MS is not in financial jeopardy for a reason while other companies are like Sony. They don't just throw away their money.

[prototypeknuckles]

WOW look at all those disagrees, smdh fanboys

while i disagree on uncharted i completly agree with you on god of war being overated, kratos isnt really a good character hes kind of a douche that killed his family in blind rage and completly blames sres for it then tries to commit suicide, the games dont really add anything new except for ascention which is adding a multiplayer, but making singleplayer shorter, and they arent as hard as people say they are i can think of 3 hack n slash games that are way harder than any god of war, DMC3, Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta

[KenKaz]

Uncharted should have been at the top of the list.

[Shanks]

I... completely agree with that list.

[TheTwelve]

Me too. We say that the economy is doing poorly. This might be true, however it's relative: all kinds of overrated things still sell very well today, in all kinds of media. As long as this is the case, our world economy is pretty good, I'd say.

12

[Anon1974]

I don't agree with this list at all. There's no way that Gears and Halo should be on here. Sure Halo paled to some of the PC games running on high end hardware, but even this article points out that for the console, Halo was fantastic. It didn't reinvent the wheel but it didn't have to because it did everything right, with interesting characters and story.

Gears of War was fantastic. It was the first game that made me sit back and say "Wow. Next gen gaming is finally here." There was nothing like it when it came out, and the story and characters sucked me right in. Yeah it was the stuff of b-movie sci-fi adventures, but few games even got that right at the time. Gears will go down as one of my favourite games this gen and while I respect their rights to express they're opinions, I disagree whole heartily with the inclusion of these two.

Wii sports and Zelda:TP are spot on and like this guy, Twilight Princess just left me cold and is the first Zelda adventure since the beginning I just couldn't be bothered to get into, let alone finish. Everything about that game was just run of the mill to me, and the "Waggle to attack" just turned me right off. That's not innovative, that's irritating. Wii sports was a simple tech demo. We had fun at first, we showed people when they came over, then the game was permanently shelved. I certainly don't agree that it deserved any "Sports game" awards.

[dazreah]

Clearly the list is a joke to claim the graphics in the first Halo where rubbish is just daft! At the time of release they where amazing!!

[DasTier]

This list is ridiculous. No Call of Duty Post 4? No GTA IV? Wii Sports, Halo and Paper Mario should not be on there.

[ronin4life]

Protip: if you are going to make a controversial list of great games you dislike, make sure well known Industry-divided games like dragons lair ARE NOT on the list.

ALSO, make sure you don't leave out an ENTIRE platform, or else you will appear incredibly one-sided.

Overall a terrible list.

@ujean
Halo is well loved, so if one of these guys dislikes it I guess it fits the article criteria... the division of opinion on Super Paper mario and Wiisports is well known however.

[BanBrother]

Yes, he just had Nintendo games, plus Gears of War and Halo.

I agree with Gears of War. I loved the first, but the other weren't as great as people make them out to be (I have the Seriously achievement, definitely not trolling).

TBH, I'd make it more fair and pick a game from each company.

XBOX: Gears Of War
PS: God Of War
Nintendo: Metroid

That is just my opinion. I still actually love the 3 above mentioned games series, it's just that I think they are made out to be much better than they are. Still a huge fan.

[prototypeknuckles]

while i disagree with metroid being overated its your opinion so more power to you, personally feel that

Nintendo: mario & zelda
PS: definatly agree with god of war, and im a huge playstation fan
XBOX: havnt played anything exclusive besides halo so i cant say

[BanBrother]

I actually think Super Metroid is one of the best games of all time. Just never really got that into the 'Prime' series. They were good, just not amazing IMO.

I think too many people confuse overrated with bad. They are 2 completely different things. That's why there are always so many disagrees being chucked around like monkey doo.

[torchic]

I disagree. it's his opinion, he didn't think of any Playstation games which were overrated. he would therefore be lying to himself if he included one.

I mean you probably have a few, but it's clearly his opinion. I remember an article that listed "5 Best Graphics on Console" (pre-Halo 4) and there were probably two 360 games and that's a lie right there. there's a very fine, noticeable line between being subjective and telling a lie.

people in the gaming community really need to understand the definition of opinion.

[RickHiggity]

Only agree with skylanders and wii sports. Call me crazy, but I enjoy playing sports for real, even though I suck at them.

[shivvy24]

Wheres Angry Birds ? Most Overrated BS ive seen after COD

[Riderz1337]

Call of Duty isn't overrated. Is this your first time on the internet? Everyone bashes CoD all the time and they rarely win any awards. Using the excuse that the sales of the game mean it's overrated isn't a very good route to take.

[shivvy24]

na , i grew up with cod and was a huge fan but after waw the games were pretty much the same , i borrowed my neighbours mw3 to give it another go but i got bored like after that NY mission :/

[TheFirstClassic]

MW3 won shooter of the year last year. That game had the worst multiplayer maps I've ever seen.

[Fatty]

I strongly disagree with the inclusion of Super Meat Boy on the list. It's hard as hell, there's no doubt about it, but the satisfaction after beating a level that killed you repeatedly for the past 20 minutes was great.

[Nerdmaster]

Agree with almost everything. I would change The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess was the only Zelda that I cared to finish.

[Zodiac]

25 years of Zelda games on 9 different consoles, but you only care to finish one of them?

[Nerdmaster]

I tried A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time (this one I tried on N64, Virtual Console AND the 3DS version - I guess 3D can't make a boring game become better...), Majora's Mask, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. And yes, Twilight was the only one that I cared to finish. I'll try to finish Skyward someday, but the beginning is kind of boring...

[DragonKnight]

This list. LMFAO this list is going to provide some entertainment.

[spicelicka]

What you dumbf****s don't realize is that having high sales or even being popular doesn't mean "overrated". A game can have high sales and popularity because it appeals to a lot of people and just happens to be lucky with the marketing and niche.

Games like halo and zelda should not be on that list. Just shows that the author is frustrated that he can't justify certain games with a huge fan base and himself not being a fan, so he has to find a way to release the frustration by making a list. And of course when people similar to him start agreeing he feels better about himself.

[SJPFTW]

LOL Halo CE was was way better than AVP2, Ghost Recon or Wolfenstein. Halo PC even plays better than those games.

People bought Halo because it was one of the best shooters available at the time and a staple for LAN Parties. People bought an XBOX FOR Halo, not the other way around, not because it was the only good shooter available. Heck ghost recon came out on xbox and still did not make a dent in Halo's popularity. Further those 3 series are practically dead nowadays.

[DonMingos]

AVP 2 was way better than Halo. No saying Halo was bad, but AVP2 was on another league. Personaly one of my favourite games ever. The marine campaign was true horror and the alien campaign and gameplay was something unique and perfectly done. Even now, 10 years later I play and really enjoy that game

[Shadonic]

wheres COD?

[EmperorDalek]

Uncharted 2. I used to think it was good, but overrated. I played it again, and... it's boring. Some of the worst platforming i've ever seen, play the ice cave chapter for proof. Generic combat. Meh story, it's well told, but the story itself was forgettable. How did it get a 96?

[MeatAbstract]

I would of put Skyrim on there. Bugs aside, I think it gets pretty dull. Dungeons have the same layout, combat grows tiresome, it has an illusion of consequence and NPC's are just boring and forgetful.

[Allsystemgamer]

This guy is a fool.

Halo CE was and is still known as one of the best shooters ever. Even PC only players acknowledge it. The graphics mediocre? It looks great even today......what a fool

. Seems like a list for hits and that's it.

[bumnut]

I agree, not sure why he says Gears of War was over rated either, I thought it was great.

The sequels were over rated though.

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

Ok. This person is clearly a Sony fanboy and a nostalgia blinded Ocarina of Time fan. The Dragon's Lair thing seems legit. That game always looked stupid to me. Skylanders is okay from what I've heard. Super Paper Mario was good, but it sorta appealed more to old school mario fans rather than Paper Mario fans. Wii Sports and Super Meat Boy shouldn't be on this either.

[ghostrider32]

Terrible list.

[rapidturtle]

I loved the original Halo. I thought it was amazing. It was crisp and clear, and I hadn't seen AI like that in a game.

[Sp1d3ynut]

For those that don't know, Ars(e) Technica is a straight-up Elitist PC fanboy site. They look down on anything not PC centric/exclusive.

[Jdoki]

Gears of War 1 was a great game, but #2 was over rated. Not played #3.

I think Halo as an IP is over rated, but Halo CE was an utter classic. The best playing FPS on console since GoldenEye on N64

Totally agree with Twilight Princess being over rated. It's my least favorite Zelda by a huge margin, and even put me off playing Skyward Sword for a long time

Mario is over saturated rather than over rated. Paper Mario is a really nice game

Wii Sports. Can't really say it's over rated, as at the time there was nothing like it. Maybe in hindsight everyone got a bit too worked up over it, but it's eaten up a lot of hours of my life!

No comment on the others. Why would Dragon's Lair even be on there. At the time it was a revolutionary game because of the technology employed - but it was never well rated, and these days it's a pretty much dead IP

[Captain Tuttle]

Any list like about overrated games without GTA IV on it is a failed list.

[JamieL]

LOL, at the "Clever" comment right above.