Top 10 Overrated Game Franchises of All Time

From the PlanetXbox360.com feature list:

"Ever since the dawn of man people have figured out that if you make something successful, and then make some similar to that first thing that it will also make millions of dollars. This is the basic premise behind all movie and video game franchises, and it has been happening since the beginning of both forms of entertainment. Sometimes it works great (Star Wars IV-VI) and sometimes it's a complete disaster (Star Wars I-III); because of this fact we decided to go back and pick what we believed to be the top 10 overrated game franchises of all time. Now this doesn't mean all the games in the chosen franchise were junk (maybe just half of the 8 games reminded us of feces), but for one reason (level design) or another (review scores) the franchise made our dreaded list. No fan-boy platform is safe and literally every virtual rock will be overturned in the search for the top ten video game overrated franchises of all time."

[UltimaEnder]

I gotta agree with number 1 - the DLC was great but franchise is getting so OLD!

[Killjoy3000]

I definitely don't appreciate an Xbox site's unfair jab at the greatest hack and slash game of all time. Epic story, amazing level design, unparalleled technical prowess, and the power to make the player feel more badass than any other game can, God of War more than merits its praise.

Pretty lame how they tried to level their criticism by throwing Halo in there. Bringing down the name of the most commonly associated name the Xbox brand definitely doesn't help their cause. I would guess that it would only anger the majority of members of this site.

Poorly composed article. Hating on huge IP's makes you indifferent, but not in the way you want, PlanetXbox. You're just perceived in a bad light more than anything.

[Darkstorn]

For the most part it's a good list, but I'd rearrange some things on there...

[ico92]

i definatley agree with pokemon i can't stand the franchise, the gameplay hasnt changed at all in 14 years,and only has slight graphical improvements, i mean i loved yellow and ruby but everything else...meh

[Wrathman]

i gotta agree with the best part of this list. some of them games i havent touched tho.GOW is one and pokemon is the other.if i havent heard of them does that mean they are bad?a butt load of people here rave about GOW and especially GOW3.due to the graphics.i have seldom bought or played a game because it just looked good.maybe thats my age.since playing games in my youth using either a massive floppy disc or tape deck to load games.the youth today are insane about the graphics.

substance over visuals anyday.

[FamilyGuy]

First of all it's annoying to see an xbox centric website put down franchises that don't appear on their console but then the fact that they're putting down many great franchises by scraping up reasons make it even worse.

Seriously, Halo 3 is bad cuz not everyone you play online has beatin the single player? Complains about a science fictional games story?
GOW is only good because of the huge boss battles? What about its art style, theme, graphics, story, the way the story is told?

I didn't read all the complaints, the article was a waste of time.

[Tony P]

I really agree with GoW and have for years.

I've played the games and I honestly don't see what it does differently or so much better than other action games. It confuses me when people think GoW set some kind of bar. I dunno, maybe for popularity? Maybe for gore? Maybe for QTEs? That's all that I can see that stands out about the game. Everything else is strictly standard fare.

This game to me is the Halo of the action franchises. And I don't hate either. They just seem typical of that game that's really popular, but not necessarily the greatest. Is it the same reason poeple thought Mortal Kombat was "better" than Street Fighter? Lotsa blood and guts?

What exactly does this have over its progenitors like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden?

[ryhanon]

I have to agree. I laugh when people make fun of a game like Heavy Rain because they believe it to be nothing more than QTEs and then they go on to praise a game like God of War, which is itself almost nothing but button-mashing and QTEs. God of War is a game that interested me because of the story and rave reviews. I finally picked up the collection and played about 4 or 5 hours of both GoW1 and GoW2 before trading for something else.

I do not understand what people see in these games. Sure, the graphics are pretty good, Kratos is just about the definition of badass, and I'll give it the benefit of the doubt as far as the story is concerned, it was definitely intriguing - but the gameplay felt *severely* dated and uninteresting... everything from the fixed position camera (why a game is even allowed to exist with a fixed camera is beyond me) to the ridiculous button-mashing brawling. There were brawlers nearly 20 years ago that had better gameplay. And I'm sorry, but positioning secret rooms and puzzle solutions in places that are hard to see only because the camera is unmovable does not equate to good level design.

[Reibooi]

@Tony P

Tottaly agree. I have to say that to me the God of War series(while certainly a good series) doesn't deserve the massive hype. I mean it did some cool things when the first one came out like QTE and it had some really over the top gore but now stuff like that means nothing.

The story isn't anything special nor is Kratos himself as a character. You can pretty much find the same thing in any of those movies they have on Sci fi about greek mythology.

In terms of pure game play and skill required games like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry 3 have GoW beat hands down and even more recently Bayonetta has showed that it can be just as good if not better then GoW.

[WildArmed]

I'd punch in Fable into that...
But I think Final fantasy got overrated in the last few years.
(Beyond FFX imo)

I dunno about GoW franchise as a whole, I've only played GoW1 and loved it.

So I can't say if it's over rated or not. But there are equally great action franchises like Devil May Cry out there.

I'm extremely surprised that Mario/Zelda doesn't make an appearance.

[Saaking]

lol, this is one of the worst Xbox sites around (and a lot of them are horrible). God of War deserves all the praise it has gotten and will get. It's a genre defining game and the first two are some of the best PS2 games ever. Xbox site bashing GOW. Big surprise. Stick to XBOX 360 GAMES (Since that IS the name of the site).

It's from the same guys who made "how Natal will destroyed everything!!" and "how the Xbox 720 will dominate!!!" what a joke.

[ryhanon]

Good call on Fable. I enjoyed the first one, despite all of the unfulfilled hype, but the second one felt like a chore to play and I've already decided to ignore the third.

I'd disagree about Zelda, I've very much enjoyed every Zelda game I've ever played. They're the only real reason to own a Nintendo system as far as I'm concerned.

[WildArmed]

Imo Zelda games lost their touch after Twilight Princess (i loved the game, but it didn't leave the same feeling as the other classics)

And as for Fable, I loved the first one to death.. put well over 200 hours into it.
I was extremely disappointed with the 2nd.. esp. the story.
I am eagerly waiting for the next one, and certainly do hope the devs can redeem themselves.

[Marceles]

Crappy article, I don't even need to elaborate lol. Alot of those games are genre defining...yes if you play them now then they'll feel old but at the time you had to get alot of them props.

[Ravage27]

but to me, GOW is the pinnacle of action games. NG series,Darksiders,DMC series,Bayonetta,Onimusha,i've played them all and none of them leaves as deep an impression in me.

I think it is the combination of the epicness of atmosphere,story,music,graphic s,combat moves(very cool and really fun),Kratos and of course, the boss fights. The battle against the 2 sisters in GOW2 remains one of my top 3 all-time favourite gaming moments. The other 2 are bossfights from Demon's Souls.

It can only be overrated if most of hack&slash fanbase didn't find it that good, but i don't think that's the case.

*edit* NGS is good no doubt but i didn't feel anything while playing it. Combat is challenging in a way, but i prefer Demon's Souls if it is solely about gameplay. As a complete package though, i will take GOW any day

[Darkstorn]

Ninja Gaiden was the first of the hardcore hack n' slashers on console, and it is still the best. They made it even better with NG: Sigma.

[ryhanon]

That's actually a pretty interesting point you make: "It can only be overrated if most of hack&slash fanbase didn't find it that good" - It's easy for me to say that God of War is overrated because I'm not a really huge fan of hack & slash brawlers to begin with (though I am enjoying Darksiders quite a bit), so a lot of the aspects that many say make God of War a "great game" could very well be lost on people like me. I'd be willing to accept that as an explanation for why people feel it's a good game despite me thinking it's mostly crap.

The same could be said about any genre I suppose. I guess that's why people like Madden.

[Ravage27]

i enjoyed Darksiders a lot too,just got a platinum for it a few days back. It reminds me alot of GOW though - i wouldn't call it a rip-off but it definitely borrowed quite a bit from the gameplay. Maybe you prefer the level design and RPG elements in Darksiders?

[ryhanon]

Yeah, the RPG elements, level design, *controllable* camera (that's a big one for me), and how you can interact with scenery - these are all things that I think make it better than GoW. At least on a gameplay level, anyhow... I may not have made it very far in GoW1/2 before I grew tired of them and gave up, but even the little bit I did play had a much better story line going for it, and Kratos was a better character. Typically my favorite games are those with a strong story component and my biggest regret about GoW is that I was enjoying the story but not the gameplay and just couldn't bring myself to play through it.

[NotoriousWarrior]

seriously, the guy actually put God of War as overrated.

I agree with GTA, Halo and all the other games but not God of War.

just my opinion.

[THE MAX SPEED 21]

I Agree with every game Except RESIDENT evil & Gow

[AngelorD]

God of War redefined epicness, brutality, boss fights, and set pieces and is one of the greatest A/A game of last gen.
Ahh no it's not overrated.

Wait I forgot the name of that other game that has living breathing titans which are whole levels... uhh no I can't seem to remember... help me out here?

[NecrumSlavery]

At first I thought they put Halo in there to be "fair" in their lame ass attempt at bashing the greatest hack-n-slash adventure series, but then the guys point was to b1tch at some of Halo 3's online quirks and call the single story great. This is a definitely BS article.

[ndibu]

I think you'll find you are indeed mistaken. Said multiplayer was great, story. . .not so much

[heroicjanitor]

But angelor if you weren't being sarcastic I'd almost count shadow of the colossus, those were very big and you were climbing them a lot...

[Perjoss]

The Halo 'story' is actually very good, its just very badly told.

[johnnywit]

@perjoss

Uh what?? How can something have a great story but it be badly told. Let me ask you this, if someone were to tell you a story, or you were to read a book,or watch a movie, and the story didn't make any sense or was just plain bad then it was a bad story. It doesn't matter about the bigger picture if it was never conveyed in a way that the audience could grasp it. I love halo but I think myself and majority of people agree it's not a good story. Now if you mean the dialogue was bad and the story is good that still doesn't matter because they were using dialogue to explain their story and it didn't work to well. That is why you always have people who say the book was better, or the comic was better, because the story worked out well for that form of media. In this discussion we are not talking about the halo books, or graphic novels, we are talking about the game and as the game stands it has a bad story. Take Care.

[silvacrest]

by definition if the story is told bad then the story is bad, if bungie, the makers of the game/story tell it bad, what hope does anyone else have?

[heroicjanitor]

If you had an adult read a book to you or a 5 year old child read a book to you, the child would stop and start and not know how to read certain words etc, but it isn't the book's fault because the adult could read it quite well

[johnnywit]

@hero

Then you would be debating spoken word versus what was written. In this case we are debating the way the story was conveyed in the game. Would you say the story in the game was good? I don't think so. The books may be great or any other media for that matter but we are talking about the game. BTW I'm not trying to be an a$$ either I just don't understand the comment perjoss wrote.

[heroicjanitor]

He means that the story is good, just not the way it was told in the game. The game didn't tell the story well(like the child in my analogy). I'm not vouching for halo's story I'm just saying that what perjoss said could be true, maybe the base story is good, it was just told poorly.

[ryhanon]

What's not to understand?

Think of books turned to movies that have been complete crap. If you'd rather remain in a consistent media, think of movies that have been remade one or more times, movies like King Kong, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, etc... Something can have a good story and a bad storyteller. Happens pretty frequently.

That said, I think the Halo story is mediocre at best. There is a lot of subtlety and nuance to it that is sadly unexplored, but the underlying story is pretty generic.

It's a shame because Bungie used to craft games with some pretty fantastic stories too, perhaps some of the absolute best in gaming, I miss the days of Marathon ( http://marathon.bungie.org/... ) and Myth ( http://myth.bungie.org/lege... ).

[johnnywit]

@ryhanon

The story in the game is different than that of the book. In this discussion we were talking about the story in the game not being well. Like I said in my earlier comment stories don't always work well using different forms of media. We were not talking about the halo game versus the halo books we were talking about the story in the game and the game alone. Then Someone post "the "halo story is good it's just not told well" doesn't make any sense. What he should have said was the story in the halo books was great but they didn't do a good job in the game. That's what I didn't understand was he was talking about the story from something other than the game but hero cleared that up. Now back on topic was the story good in the game??????

[reintype]

Show me a DBZ game that rated 90 and above, you fricking can't. Hell, it would be lucky just to get a rating of 70-80.

I don't think this guy even knows what overrated really means.

[silvacrest]

i think budokia 3 (or whatever its called) atleast got to the 70-80 mark
it was and still is the only almost complete DBZ game, all the others have something missing, if its not a saga its characters

[ClownBelt]

What the flying hell? Final Fantasy? NO WAI! lol

[kaveti6616]

Way.

[Myze]

Well, a massive amount of FF's popularity can be attributed to time after FFX (FFX-2/FFXI and forward), in which case I would consider it overrated (FFXII not bad, but nowhere near some of it's scores, and apparently FFXIII is good, but not amazing). If, however, they are referring to the series as a whole, FFIV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, Tactics are still 7 of the best games ever made. So, no matter how bad the FF series gets, those games will make up for it, and hopefully we can add FFvsXIII.

[PepperJack]

halo is the most overrated by far

[kaveti6616]

Halo is fun. If I could give a game a 10 based only on fun, I would give it to Halo.

It is overrated in every other aspect.

Look at Halo 3 and how IGN rated it.

They gave graphics a 9 and this is what they said.

"Despite a few moments of slowdown, this is a gorgeous game, especially considering the demands of the replay function. And it's to die for in 1080p"

I've seen Halo 3 in 1080p. It's not "to die for." It's very bad. And the game is good-looking in many segments but it is NOT gorgeous.

In comparison, IGN gave Killzone 2 a 9.5, where one would think it deserved a 10 if Halo 3 managed to get a 9.

I would have given Halo 3's graphics an 8.

Then there's the sound.

IGN gave Halo 3's sound a 10.

"This is the reason God created Surround Sound. Halo's theme is a futuristic anthem that inspires the troops. The chatter during combat is fantastic."

Wow. Now that's hyping the sound to kingdom come, for sure. Halo 3 doesn't have bad sound, but what in it is deserving of a 10?

In comparison, IGN gave Killzone 2 a 9 in the Sound department. Interesting.

"7.1 channel sound captures every nuance of the battlefield from gunshots to screams along with a great soundtrack. Weakly delivered, curse-filled dialogue (sans Brian Cox) could've been done better."

With higher quality sound, it still got a lower score because the reviewer felt there was too much cursing. I agree with the too much cursing part, but I still would have given Killzone 2 a 10 in sound.

[Saaking]

Don't trust reviews. They're mostly biased. PS3 exclusives get much harsher treatment than 360 exclusives and multiplats.

[ryhanon]

I think part of the reason why PS3 exclusives often receive harsh reviews is because PS3 exclusives take risks more often. One of the things that makes the PS3 so great is that Sony is not afraid to back projects that try new and interesting things, sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. Look at Demon's Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Heavy Rain, The Last Guardian, etc... These are all games that take risks (we'll see how successful the latter two are at it) and the 360 has nothing that compares to any of them.

I like my 360, but there just aren't many 360 exclusives that take significant risks and as a result they're generally rated higher because they stick to safe bets, things they know will have a market and be commercially successful. Unfortunately it means 360 exclusives, even if they're very good and well executed, are typically less interesting.

[Ravage27]

but IGN does that all the time. I was rolling my eyeballs every second when reading their GTA4 review.

Honestly, those guys sucks at rating stuff and they give in to hype WAY too easily. What's the point in using numbers if they are not going to set a standard?

[SuicidalTendencies]

People use the word overrated like their drawing a gun these days. Most overused word in the gaming community.

[Myze]

Completely agree. Many times they use the word "overrated" when their comments clearly show they meant "overhyped." Really, though, "over-*anything*" is "overused" nowadays.

[Cajun Chicken]

1. Gears of War
2. Gears of War 2
3. Gears of War
4. Gears of War 2
5. Gears of War
6. Gears of War 2
7. Gears of War
8. Gears of War 2
9. Gears of War
10.Gears of War 2

I don't understand how this franchise can be so critically acclaimed.

1. First of all, the game mechanics Gears made popular have been done better by everyone else since.
2. The writing quality and plot is terrible and no characters are 'likable'.
3. It was a graphics showcase and nothing else, the showcase usually being the namesake of the engine; Unreal and after that, Bioshock looked even better, even though not by Epic, so others can use thier engine better.
4. The design and approach of Gears of War ruined UTIII due to trying to popularise it as a game by the makers of Gears of War.
5. The selling point for most people was a chainsaw on a gun, well, what can I say?

[-MD-]

How are none of the characters likable? Marcus, Dom, Cole and Carmine are all likable.

[Cajun Chicken]

Do you identify with the characters? Have they got a past that you can sympathise them with? because to me, they just sound like a couple of throwaway, stereotypical marine AI from the Halo series.

I also hate Marcus grunting all the time.

[Perjoss]

Horses for courses, I hated Killzone2 (I really wanted to like it too, but the truth is it was boring and had broken controls) and I loved Gears 1 and 2.

[reaferfore20]

This pretty much sums it all up :)

[kaveti6616]

How can anyone relate to any character in video games?

People keep saying, "I relate to Nathan Drake so much." And I think, "Really? Are you a jewel thief who frequently brushes up with rival looters or genocidal maniacs in Tibet?"

Sure, he has a nice personality, I suppose. If not a little too nice for someone in his line of work.

Gears of War 2 has very under-developed characters, I agree. Epic decided to give Dom a heartbreaking back story, but it came across as very cheesy.

"MARIA!!!" Yeah, cheesy.

[Cajun Chicken]

Yes. Killzone 2 is also guilty of this in my book. The characters were really uninteresting and somewhat Gears inspired.

[silvacrest]

lol @ more athletic then you average joe

hes more like a geneticly modified monkey who has been trained to climb...anything and interact with humans really well, this is a compliment to drake btw, not a bash

[LaurenKB123]

Gears of War def. could have been on the list; although it hasn't been around for that long - gotta agree with the reviews of God of War series, and Call of Duty - good list!

[unrealgamer58]

lol no gears of war? Or is it not important enough?

[pixelsword]

Those are two games that were industry standards in each respective genre.

If you think Halo is overrated, something's wrong with you, not the game. Every FPS afterward tries to be like Halo but always fall short, period. HAZE (if done properly) COULD have been a contender, but it was full of fail and upchuck. Halo has is all:

- good characters
- memorable story
- great voice acting
- great multiplayer
- vehicles in multiplayer

And as far as GoW, it's so good that Games coming out now are either copying it or being compared to it and still failing almost five years after GoW II came out. GoW has three things going for it unmatched in any game of it's type:

1. AAA butt-kickery that makes the Iraq War look like a hippie love-in.

2. The only character that gives Ming the Merciless a run for his money for the most Merciless man in the galaxy; I still think Kratos is a young Ming.

3. Brilliant from start to finish in every way. It's the only game that's so punishing that sometimes you want to quit, but the story and graphics are so well done that you can't wait to see what's next. It entertains is eye-pleasing, and challenges at the same time: like a stripper playing chess.

I mean, c'mon: the game is so ultra-violent that the censors don't even talk about the naked ladies in the game because they're still shell-shocked about watching some guy get his own severed foot shoved-up his butt by Kratos.

[mrv321]

- good characters
- memorable story
- great voice acting
- great multiplayer
- vehicles in multiplayer

It has bad characters, I HATED cortana and isn't see the one I'm saving?
Memorable story? What, story it's point A to B with a stupid girl popping up. The voice acting is good I'll admit that, the multiplayer is fun, the vehicles feels a bit tacked on at times but it's fun none the less.

[Cajun Chicken]

That odd platonic relationship between a super soldier and a AI, I also like the little family that UNSC form around Master Chief.

[kaveti6616]

It's naive to think that other developers copy from Halo because they want to replicate a GREAT GAME. They just want to replicate the sales, man.

Halo has a typical sci-fi story that draws from many famous works, as already stated in the article. I have no problem with that, except Halo also copies a little too much from previous FPS games, where the main protagonist is silent.

You could also argue against the enemies. In Halo 2, I thought the Flood were really well executed as a horror element, but in Halo 3, they were nothing more than a nuisance.

Halo 3's characters are also inconsistently carried through each iteration of the series. In Halo 2, Miranda Keyes plays a small part, then she plays a much larger part in Halo 3 while Captain Johnson takes a backseat.

Also in Halo 2, the Grunts side with Elites in the schism, whereas the Jackals side with the Brutes. In Halo 3, the Grunts are back to being with the Covenant, and a proper explanation is never given.

Halo's greatest feat lies in its multiplayer. The single player campaign is a throwaway, and the most enjoyment from it can be obtained by playing a 4 player-Coop campaign between friends.

[ryhanon]

I disagree with almost every point you make, but I'm not responding to argue it because the whole "Halo is great" "No, Halo is crap" thing has been done to death.

I'm responding because the whole bit with the Grunts (and Hunters too, can't forget the Hunters) siding with the Elites in Halo 2 and then their shift in allegiance not being explained in Halo 3 bugged the *hell* out of me. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

That is all.

[MajestieBeast]

Bayonetta. Media is riding on her shecock like crazy.

[ndibu]

Google the word

[MajestieBeast]

If you think bayonetta isnt gonna be a franchise you are mistaken.

[umair_s51]

OWNED

[-MD-]

10 - Final Fantasy is fine
9 - Agreed
8 - Agreed
7 - Agreed
6 - Resident Evil just needs to figure out what it wants to be
5 - God of War is fine
4 - Dragonball Z also needs to figure out what it wants to be
3 - Halo is fine
2 - Agreed
1 - Agreed

[PotNoodle]

Why is all i see on this site negative articles? Why are games all so negative now?

Just enjoy the games, if you don't, ignore em. This isn't specifically aimed at this article, because i know you can believe a game is overrated and still enjoy it, but the same applies, why not write MORE positive articles?

[Walrus]

-
10 - Agreed... to an extent. I don't read "Final Fantasy" when I read the title, so much as "Sqaure Enix's new JRPG"
9 - Agreed
8 - I love the pokemon games too much to agree with this, despite everything he said having been true. Best RPG japan put out, IMHO (and I can understand completely if you disagree)
7 - Agreed. I like the concept of historical fiction in video games, but everyone can agree that WWII games got out of hand. though that's what it should have been , and not CoD/MoH
6 - Everything but 4
5 - For me God of War was about the Environment, then combat, then boss battles, then graphics. All amazing, might I add.
4 - I never liked DBZ anything
3 - Halo is DEFINITELY overated. I realize that 1 and 2 did a lot for the industry, but for everyone who says that it had a "good story" and "Memorable Characters", then perhaps you should read more. A lot more.
2 - Definitely
1 -Most definitely. Great party games, not great fom much anything else. Go learn to play an actual instrument. I still think they should have used a real musical staff though.

[BrianC6234]

Not another lame overrated list. Please stop posting this crap. These list aren't worth the trouble. All they are really are lists of popular games.

[Pumbli]

This list is pretty good stuff, Medal of Honor were great though imo, Allied Assault ftw.
Oh yeah, I don't really think GoW's supposed to be on there.