Top 10 Classic Games That Are Over-rated
Let’s face it; playing Video Games is an expensive hobby, so it is important that we spend our money wisely. By way of the internet and gaming magazines, most of the time we know what games are going to be released up to a year in advance. These games range from brand new ideas, to the annual installment of your favourite game.
Inevitably, this leads to much anticipation. A lot gets written about how good the game is looking in the development stage, but when it comes to the release date, far too often there is a feeling of anti-climax. This list contains a selection of games that left me with that very feeling. They are by no means the worst games ever made (some are actually rather good), but they are games I was expecting far more from when I played them. To put it simply, these games are over-rated.
10.) Football Manager (Previously known as Championship Manager, PC)
On paper this should be my dream series of games. Football Management games have been my bread and butter since video games were still released on cassette and I’ve even failed exams because of Kevin Keegan’s player manager on the SNES. To this day I still dream of winning the title with Liverpool, or getting Cardiff City promoted to the Premiership, but for some reason, I have never been able to get to grips with this game. I think it’s probably the unbelievable level of detail it contains, which makes it impossible to realy get stuck into unless you’ve grown up playing it. It’s undeniably a brilliant game, but it’s equally frustrating. I’ll keep trying every now and again hoping ill finally ‘get it’, but I’ll probably still be playing Ultimate Soccer Manager 98/99 in another ten years.
9.) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004, Playstation 2)
Before I start criticizing this game, let me just say that the Grand Theft Auto series of games are in my top three favourite games ever. I adored Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and waited two long years for the next installment. But when San Andreas was released, I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. It was a very good game, but it just didn’t quite live up to the hype. The main problem for me was the sheer size of the game. While Vice City was perhaps a touch too small, San Andreas was far too big. While cruising around the game in your Banshee is good fun, the size of the map meant that it took far too long to get from one place to another. Another disappointing aspect of the game was the poor character models, which had taken a significant step back from Vice City. What was a good game could have been a great game if the games developers Rockstar had just toned it down a touch. Thankfully, the series is now back on top form with GTA IV.
8.) WWE Smackdown v Raw (Every Year from 2004, All Consoles)
This series of games used to be brilliant, but over the last few years the game has lost its sparkle. There are a number of reasons for this. Every year a new game is released, yet every year nothing much changes. You get the same repetitive stories in career mode, creating your own character hasn’t advanced in at least five years and the grappling has become over complicated; if you are a beginner to the game it is now very difficult to enjoy. The last great Smackdown game came in 2003, when the control system was far simpler, and you actually felt you had total control of your character. The makers of the game, THQ, are more than capable of making a fun, easy to get into wrestling game, as has been proved by the recent Legends of Wrestlemania game they released. That game wasn’t without its flaws, but if they could combine the easy control system of Wrestlemania, with the more advanced game options of Smackdown, they could have a real classic on their hands.
7.) Mortal Kombat (1992, Arcade)
Back in the day, gaming’s great rivalry was between Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario. That was for the kids. For the older crowd, the real rivalry was between Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat, both very solid games, each having a large set of fans. Most people probably owned and cherished them both. Mortal Kombat was an enjoyable enough game, and enjoys cult status, but it just didn’t measure up to the far superior Street Fighter. One thing is for certain, Mortal Kombat certainly hasn’t aged well. Whilst keeping in mind this game was released way back in 1992, I was amazed by how poorly the game handled. Its biggest flaw was the pace of the game, with characters moving much more slowly to how I remembered, and the reactions being far too delayed, which made it impossible to realy enjoy the game. The other thing I noticed was how forgettable the characters were. Whilst names like Ryu, Ken, Guile and M-Bison from Street Fighter have earned legendary status, does anyone realy remember Sub Zero, Raiden and Johnny Cage? I think not. For the era it was made, is this game a classic? Probably. But at the same time can this game be considered over-rated? Definitely.
6.) Earthworm Jim (1994, Sega Megadrive)
Last month I saw a poll where you could vote for the next Sega Megadrive game that will be downloadable for Xbox Live. To my horror, Earthworm Jim won 46% of the votes. For those of you lucky enough to avoid it the first time around, here’s a tip – avoid it again when it’s available to download later this year. The basic idea of the game is a high tech, indestructible suit conveniently lands on an ordinary worm (Jim), transforming him into a superhero. The game play is as ridiculous as it sounds, with flying cows and killer gold fish all popping up throughout the game. While this game has its fans, surely there are better retro games that can be released on Xbox Live?
5.) Virtua Racing (1994, Sega Megadrive)
In 1994, around the time of my birthday, a much hyped game called Virtua Racing was released for the Sega Megadrive. Needless to say I wanted it, and as a result all my birthday money (well over £100) was spent on Street Fighter 2 and Virtua Racing. While Street Fighter 2 was every bit as brilliant as I expected, to say Virtua Racing was disappointing would be an understatement. Only three tracks were included in the game, which considering the high price was a disgrace. The game itself was pretty average, with only two truly impressive features – The graphics, which were well ahead of its time on the Megadrive, and the instant replay feature, which of course most games have now, but at the time were an unknown concept. Sadly though this was not enough to justify the hype the game received, or the vastly inflated price, and as a result I consider this my worst video game purchase ever.
4.) Wii Sports (2006, Nintendo Wii)
This could be a controversial choice, as its still one of the most played games on the Nintendo Wii nearly three years since its release. However, there is one key feature that realy spoils the game, specifically the very basic graphics. I’m afraid a game which contains characters without any legs just doesn’t cut the mustard. Maybe fifteen years ago, but not in 2009. Of course the basic idea is excellent, packing five popular sports into one, and there’s no denying that this game is good fun with friends after a few pints down the pub. But for many of the games, in particular Tennis, you just don’t feel like you are in full control of your character, it’s just a case of swinging the Wii remote and hoping for the best. With a little more effort this game could have been so much better.
3.) Driver 3 (2004, Xbox, Playstation 2)
This best forgotten game certainly can’t be considered a classic, but it makes the list because it could, and should, have been. The original Driver on the Playstation and Xbox, released in 1999, was an outstanding game, while the sequel gave us much of the same. But Driver 3 was promised to be a big leap forward in the series, which ultimately meant we had to wait a few years for its release. There was huge anticipation, but this game was to prove a massive let down. Its biggest problem was the phenomenal success of Grand Theft Auto 3, which totally reinvented the market. The makers of Driver decided that to compete with GTA3, they needed to change their winning formula of purely driving and add a free roaming element to the game. This was to prove its downfall. Basically, they tried making the game feel just like GTA, but it was nowhere near as slick. The Driving element of the game worked just fine, but everything else felt very forced. The biggest problem was the awkward controls, particularly on foot, which totally ruined the game. There have been a few more Driver games released since this one but sadly, like an ageing boxer looking for one more fight; its glory days are long gone.
2.) Ecco the Dolphin (1992, Sega Megadrive)
The most famous dolphin since Flipper. When this game was released way back in 1992, the reviews it received were exceptional. To this day, I am still unable to figure out why. The graphics were good and the original idea was brilliant but the game play, at best, was average. The novelty of controlling a dolphin that doesn’t realy do much soon disappears and the only thing left is sheer frustration, mainly because this was a very hard game to play, and as many of the levels looked alike, it got tedious very quickly. I thought this game was banished from my memory forever, until I bought an Xbox 360 and stumbled across it on the Xbox Arcade. Like a fool I could not resist trying it again, thinking it may be one of those games that gets better with age. It isn’t. Time has not been kind to this game in any way. If you are in desperate need of some dolphin fun go and buy the DVD’s of Flipper, but whatever you do, avoid this game.
1.) Halo 3 (2007, Xbox 360)
While Virtua Racing is considered my worst purchase ever, there can only be one game crowned the most over-rated, and it has to be Halo 3. You either love it or you hate it. True, when the original was released the multiplayer side of the game was comfortably the best in the business, but since the Gears of War and Call of Duty franchises have come out, the entire Halo series feels very stale. For all Gears of War multiplayer faults, it still requires a high level of skill and good tactics if you want to succeed. Halo’s diehard following naturally means that there are some expert players online, but despite this, much of the multiplayer games are down to luck rather than skill, which is not what you want in a video game (unless you are a novice). Add to this the disappointing single player campaign, which is long, dull and repetitive, and it’s easy to see why Halo 3 has so many critics. It was hyped as the biggest game ever on its release, but the word that best describes it is over-rated.
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i have to disagree with the mortal kombat where is tekken or street fighter those games were the most overrated series
I love how some of these games are not classic games at all.
Football Manager, GTA:San Andreas, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw, Wii Sports, Driver 3, and Halo 3 are not classic games, and if you think they are, then you know nothing about gaming.
They make up over half the list.
This list sucks shit.
HALO 3 INVENTED CLASSIC GAMING
“does anyone realy remember Sub Zero, Raiden and Johnny Cage? I think not.”
WHAT!
Also, current gen games can’t be considered classic you moron.
“Whilst names like Ryu, Ken, Guile and M-Bison from Street Fighter have earned legendary status, does anyone realy remember Sub Zero, Raiden and Johnny Cage? I think not.”
Excuse me? What?
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
lol opinions.
I agree with Halo having the #1 spot, it’s shit but why the fuck is it a “classic”? And why on fucking earth does he describe the campaign as “long, dull and repetitive” Specifically “long”!?!?
Now on the subject of Ecco The Dolphin – my favourite game of all time. I can tell from “as many of the levels looked alike” that someone never got past level 5, piss poor journalism on your behalf fuckface. I’ll guess that The Lagoon fucked you over after you eventually crawled out of the Undercaves. Games don’t have to be easy to be good, part of the fun is the challenge (which unfortunately is something long since forgotten in this day and age).
Halo 3: Best. Game. Ever.
spot on. halo sucks it was good back in the day but you only have to fire up the awful ODST against Killzone 2 / MW2 to see that bungie need to go back to the drawing board
this list is over-rated.. but i must say, Halo is too.
I agree with Halo 3, san andreas was very underwhelming
And when another awesome game comes out, UC2 and KZ2 will become crappy, outdated, and overrated.
You have to realize just because a game is over rated dosen’t mean its a bad game. Take Uncharted 2, before it even came out it had the pre-conception that it was going to be the best game ever. Now no matter how good it turned out to be it would be concidered over rated as not everyone would think its the best game ever (obviously). That said I think it is one of the best games ever made, but it can’t be the best as its impossible to compare genres.
Football Manager did not replace Championship Manager, they’re both still releasing every year. Football Manager is published by Sega, Championship Manager is publisher by Eidos Interactive.
When I look at over-rated games, I look at it from a series/franchise view. I agree with Halo as to this day, I don’t see what the fuss is all about. Some others are Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, The Sims, Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, and the biggest of them all, Final Fantasy. I can never understand how people can play them games. I recenty tried Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls and they bored me to near death…
wow…maybe you should just stop playing video games…as it appears as you dislike most of the greats. Just go get your Wii and join the casual crowd, and let the rest of us play the good games
Dude… Elder Scrolls and ur bored of it… dude, try having a bit of fun. Final Fantasy is a good RTS or in the eariler ones a good TBS. Metal gear had and will always have its moments and Left 4 dead has great fun when ur with ur m8s. Josh is right. Put down ur controler take ur games and sell them, then get urself a Wii or better yet, SOME GAMING KNOWLEGDE
Are you INSANE? These games are near perfect models of their respective genres,several of these DEFINE their genres.I could see how you could dislike one,possibly a few, of these games, but all of them? You must be like what,9 years old? Playing Mario Party after your bath and before your parents tuck you into bed? Really,the only game I could see you playing from what you said is Mario Party and Tetris, Tetris being the only good one. Lets see,do you like shooters? Nope! Staetgy? No way! RPGs? No. Any respectable game? I don’t think so. Congratulations! You have not only admitted that you are not a gamer in any way, shape, or form, but are officially disgraced by the gaming commmunity! What are you gonna do with your winnings? Make love to your Gamecube? Good luck with that, and have a nice day!
Disclaimer: No insult was made to the Gamecube, but I found that this is the most probable console that he/she would own
You can add the last GTA game on here too. I sold it back cause I got bored of it.
I’m sure everybody remembers “GET OVER HERE”- scorpion. legendary.
I think only one thing needs to be said about this list.
It’s epic fail.
Let me run this down for you.
1. You put Earthworm Jim on this list. Your right to have any further opinions are hereby revoked. This is the worst thing you could have possibly put on this list and makes you look like a stupid fool.
2. Mortal Kombat? Really? Double fail. Is this list a poor attempt at trolling? It must be. Because every word you wrote about it was wrong. Dead wrong.
3. You actually liked that Legends Of Wrestlemania game? Your cred isn’t just slipping. It’s gone. That game was a hideously shallow mess of broken controls, destroyed potential, bad programming, no innovation, and was a boring, unplayable, mess that was severely overpriced for it’s laughably bad lack of content. You know… everything that the Smackdown vs Raw series does RIGHT, and IMPROVES every year.
4. Driv3r is not a classic. San Andreas is not a classic. Halo 3 is not a classic. Wii Sports is not a classic. When were you born? 2002? You kind of make yourself sound like a child who is about that old. I can’t say much about the status of those games. Wanna know why? Because they are too recent. i.e: Not classics.
Not only is your list horribly skewed, way off base, a poor attempt at trolling and looks like a bad April Fool’s joke, but you can’t even keep the title of your article consistent with your choices. Now THAT’s humiliating.
If I went over every comment that you made about every choice here, and why you are utterly uneqoially wrong about every single simpering, whiny, uninintelligent, ridiculous word you typed and picked apart the fallacy of every single one, I would be writin this comment for the next three days.
So, the only rel way to go about this, is to just say that if you took everything you wrote here, kept your choices, flipped every last word to be the complete opposite of every single statement you just made within them, and changed the title of the list to “Top 10 Games Both Recent And Classic That Are Great” then you would have a decent article.
As it stands, it is the single biggest failure of a list that I have probably ever seen in my entire life. I have honestly seen 9 year olds online, on sites like Youtube that make lists of “the worstest, most stupidest things in the world evar” that show more intelligence, and thought put into them than this grand trainwreck of a list.
You should not only be incredibly ashamed of what you’ve written here, but you should also probably never write anything again. Because you’re not qualified to express your own opinion. You’ve abused the privilege, by banging out a worthless list that a 7 year old could have done better.
Yeah, list fails bro. I mean seriously, not only are you misconstruing what an actual classic is, but your list is a bad attempt at getting hits. You’re just putting games on there that will evoke emotions as well as interest to draw in some hits for your website.
Everything that NightStarX is what I wanted to say, bad list, bad website, you fail. I mean Earthworm Jim and Mortal Kombat? Why are you still breathing?
In fact, your website should be fucking destroyed because of how bad this list is, and I hope your just a retarded 10 year old that is writing this because if you had a fully developed brain and knew what you were talking about this post never would have been born.
I agree as well. Mortal Kombat was a very big deal. It was the first game to have live action actors and actresses fighting and killing each other by your control. The only time Streetfighter did that was Street Fighter: The Movie and that was an epic fail. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to bash Street Fighter. That game is responsible for the button controls in pretty much every fighting game to this day, including Mortal Kombat. Pretty much, Street Fighter II is the father and Mortal Kombat is his younger brother…
HA! Killzone 2 taking skill. What a joke. That game is the epitome of a generic shooter, if you’ve played a shooter you’ve played Killzone 2.
to add.. kz2 is the generic shooter with the best graphics. but it doesnt change the fact that its f***ing hard. Ive tried so many of todays fps. kz2 is by far the hardest
both Halo and LEft 4 Dead are noob friendly and noob oriented, noobs are destroyed on COD
my mates just made me get cod to play with them, i didnt want it coz its not my cup of tea so i was a cod noob and i didnt get owned
i just move around slowly and camp and i get double there kills even tho i did not play cod 4, it mostly comes down twitch aiming that I’m good at and sure thats a skill but theres not much tactics or using ur head.
with halo it puts u against harder and harder players till u cant progress untill you get better, try getting a flag off a group of generals on halo and tell me any one noob can do it, i got some flags off some guys that had gone prestige they were rubbish, my boss is the worst gamer ever but he his 9th prestige on cod 4 by just grinding, cods grinding not skill, any way u think ur good at twitch aiming play counter strike and they will eat cod pros for breakfast
not that I’m saying cods a bad game its great if u like that kina thing its just not my bag, but dont tell me halos just a noob game
@9000
Sorry but just about everything you just said is wrong. You said even a noob can get kills in gears and cod but not halo? That’s some bull shit lol. Halo takes no skill. It’s just run and gun. I don’t even have the game but when I played it kicked all my friends asses outa pure luck when they have the game. That’s why halo is filled with little 10 year olds who never shut the fuck up. COD there is always those run and gunners still but the people who are pro at COD usually kick their asses. I don’t play gears so can’t judge it really. Halo is an alright party game imo but completley noob friendly, COD is a great series and somewhere in the middle when it comes to skill. Now if you want a fps that takes a lot of skill and teamwork than play killzone 2. If you jump on that game and just run and gun you get completley destroyed.
sure its noob friendly, its got match making so u play with people of the same skill, your mate must have been useless not to wipe the floor with u
cod its just get them in your iron sites and there dead thats it, on halo thats only true of the sniper and u have to get head shots to kill in one shot.
sure a pro will beat a run and gunner in cod but not everyone has a fun time camping, plus cod is totaly unbalanced if ur a noob you have rubbish guns and skills thats not fair
I agree for the most part but Halo 3 MP isn’t just luck. If that was true I wouldn’t get the shit kicked out of me 1/2 of the games I play online.
I agree with what Waffles said, you are losing your cred…Driv3r sh0uldve beena classic so you put this on the list is jsut stupid and it is not a classic because people thought it sucked so that is very idiotic and opposite of the tile of the list Classic Games That Are Over-rated. And wii-sports isnt knwon as a great game it is a free game that came is just casual fun wiht friends that you even mention. It does its purpose which you mention and the graphics were not trying to be good they were trying to be cute since it is a somewhat kiddy game.
have loved each and every iteration of the WWE Smackdown franchise. IMO they seem to get better every year. Also, while San Andreas was on the large side it was still an amazing game that deserved all the hype it got.Skill Games With Prizes
easthworm jim was a great game for its and it made Dave Perry famous
ecco the dolphin and driv3r are NOT a classics, everyone knew that the third driver wasn’t a good game as soon as it was released and it never became a classic, ecco is dead, only a sequel on the same system and no indication of any other installment
virtua racing is probably the best arcade racing ever made, the mega drive version was a port of no relevance, do you know what arcade means?
whos dave perry?
you’re dead wrong about people forgetting about the mortal kombat characters
I have a friend who works on a store that sells collectibles action figurines and the mortal kombat ones are much more popular than street fighter
also, it’s unfair to compare mortal kombat 1 to street fighter 2, you can compare it to street fighter 1 but it doesn’t seem like you know enough about gaming for that, so you should compare MK2 to SF2, MK2 is still a very well sold game on PSN and there’s always people playing online because it’s deep and fun
did you know that only 2 guys made the first MK?
SF1 was released in 1987, making SF2 and MK comparable. If you knew enough about games you’d know this. Even in the case of MK2, it was still far slower, bad hit detection and delayed input. SF2 out classed MK and Mk2. MK will always be under SF KoF tekken AoF and Fatal Fury.
I thought San Andreas was the best GTA game by a long shot.
I thought the size of the map was just fine.
But Halo is overrated for sure.
http://epicvideogamers.com/forum/
I’m sorry but I just can’t agree with neither GTA San Andreas and Halo 3. The only thing San Andreas didn’t improve from Vice City was the OST, which wasn’t nearly as good. As for Halo 3, I don’t know how you can say it doesn’t require any skill cause this is one of the toughest online games out there.
hey there good list but halo? :’(
sure you love it or hate it but luck in the multiplayer?? with its matchmaking system, diverse maps, diverse weapons and many many gametypes its full of tactics and skill, sure some games are a bit of a cluster fock but theres alot of skill to be had 2, give it another go, maybe try some rated slayer and put your mic on and work as a team
with gears and cod even a noob can get some kills but a noob vs a pro on halo wood be 100 kills vs 0 kills every time, theres no luck in that
Driver 1 (also known as “Driver: You are the Wheelman”) was never released on the original Xbox. You credibility is slipping. And Earthworm Jim was great
I have loved each and every iteration of the WWE Smackdown franchise. IMO they seem to get better every year. Also, while San Andreas was on the large side it was still an amazing game that deserved all the hype it got.
Earthworm Jim is awesome. It’s a humorous entry to gaming and I loved every second of it.
Earthworm Jim has its fans because its a great game. The list is now void… …No matter how accurate all other entries were.
ChristoperFord what is your 360 gamertag?
This is a terrible review in many ways, but I really only got pissed off by the SA criticism. Now, did he just take a whole paragraph to say that the game was ‘too big’ and the ‘character models were poor’? Yes, I believe he just did.
Anyone having actually played the game knows it was clearly superior to Vice City in every single aspect possible and had its own style to boot, there are many criticisms you can make of the series in general and San Andreas but the graphics and the size of the map are beyond superficial.
Not to mention that you don’t need to drive even 5 minutes ingame for most missions and they are confined to a small area. ‘Good’ game is an understatement, GTA:SA was a masterpiece by any standards of sheer content and freedom. It deviated from the formula in prior GTAs on purpose and that could hardly be called a bad thing.
I doubt anyone could take the rest of this seriously, the only one deserving to be on there was the Halo series and Halo 3 didn’t make any substantial changes to the gameplay model.