Questions for fun! =)

Tell a game that…

1) Has bad/simple graphics, but awesome gameplay.
2) Has bad gameplay, but awesome graphics OR music.
3) Is considered an underrated gem.
4) Is considered an overrated game.

Facts are welcome, but I mostly want to hear opinions and experiences. =D
There’s no reason to answer all 4 questions either.
Oh! If it's possible, tell why too! =)

AnonymousMe said:

Tell a game that…

1) Has bad/simple graphics, but awesome gameplay.
2) Has bad gameplay, but awesome graphics OR music.
3) Is considered an underrated gem.
4) Is considered an overrated game.

Facts are welcome, but I mostly want to hear opinions and experiences. =D
There’s no reason to answer all 4 questions either.
Oh! If it's possible, tell why too! =)

Click to expand...

4) Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit. I purchased this when it first came out and felt like my dough was wasted. The first 2 hours are great, but the game crumbles quickly after that... ambitious, but the execution was mostly poor.

Also, Gone Home comes to mind. The $20 price point can't justify the very short duration. But I thought it was a pretty novel experience.

AnonymousMe said:

Tell a game that…

1) Has bad/simple graphics, but awesome gameplay.
2) Has bad gameplay, but awesome graphics OR music.
3) Is considered an underrated gem.
4) Is considered an overrated game.

Click to expand...

1) Nanobreaker for the PS2. This game was bombarded for the too dark visuals, overall blandness, and a-typical Japanese nonsensical storytelling, but honestly the game is just so friggin' fun!
It's a lot like Devil May Cry, but with a greatly exagerated sci-fi twist and all sorts of exciting, silly fun. I really loved it back in the day!

2) Personally, I thought Tearaway, for the Playstation Vita, had really shallow and meaningless gameplay, but it had an excellent art-direction that was very cute and inspiring.
It's really not a bad game though, and my disagreement with the game is more of a critical disagreement rather than an obvious (and "felt") one. I'd recommend the game still.

3) Underrated gems are pretty hard to come by anymore: just about all of them get solid coverage anymore.
For me though, I still feel that the PSP is the most grossly overlooked system to date, and so the game Knights in the Nightmare is my recommendation. It's from STING, who make very eclectic and interesting gameplay mechanics that are unfortunately perceived as "too complex," but really aren't. They have a long tutorial, but the reason why is because each of STING's games offer totally new gameplay that is just great, amazing fun once you get going.
But Knights in the Nightmare is definitely my favorite, and it's hardly ever talked about in any "Underrated" lists. It deserves more attention, because the game was deserving strictly of 9's and up from media, but because of the then-trendy "Objective" reviews failed to reach the scores.

4) Overrated is pretty opinionated. Personally I think Grand Theft Auto, Uncharted, all contemporary Nintendo titles that aren't unique IPs, and plenty of other widely beloved series are grossly overrated, but my view might be a bit extreme.
My issue with these games differ with each of course, but largely it comes down to evolution of gameplay VS standardization. With all of these major series we've seen the gameplay become re-standardized with each entry, but hardly does it evolve on any meaningful level.
Or, worse, is when it does, but then the series is restored to the uninspired designs. Great evolutions in Nintendo titles were Mario Sunshine and The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker, both of them on Gamecube, These two games greatly altered the shape of their long-rutted series', and were excellent avenues for the developers to further differentiate each successive entry from that of the past.
But then the games were restored to the norm, with the dull Galaxy series and OoT-copy-cat Twilight Princess. And since, both series still haven't come even close to the originality of the two above-mentioned Gamecube greats, and it's a real shame.

3) Is considered an underrated gem.

Secret of Evermore. When Secret of Mana and other 90's JRPGs were popular, this one had a much smaller following for more complex (complicated?) gameplay, a science fiction theme, lovably corny dialogue, and being of North American make.



Don't tell any 90's fans, but Secret of Mana actually has pretty terrible dialogue for an RPG.

Hmm… interesting answers.

Really Batman? Fahrenheit is a bad game? I’m going to have to see it myself now someday, I’ve always wanted to play that game. I’ll get the more complete, PAL version though, I detest it when things are censored, not just in games, but everywhere.

AmeNoko, I do agree with most of your opinions, Nanobreaker is a game that I’ve always wanted to play and I hope I do. The only reason I don’t want to play Tearaway is because of the art, the visuals are just unappealing to me. No kidding underrated gems are hard to come by and you pretty much nailed it with your answer. I guess I should have thought the question a bit better; it’s pretty much obsolete. I agree/disagree with your fourth response, returning back to the roots is not always necessarily a bad thing. Although it does put a hold on creativity, sometimes companies must do a bit of fan-service to keep themselves in business. Take Resident Evil for example, if Capcom would have kept going with the Michael Bay formula, they would probably be dead by now, fortunately they’re trying to correct their past mistakes, unfortunately fans can’t be all forgiving XD

TeaLeaf, I had never heard that game before. I looked into it and it looks pretty cool, I hope I get to try it someday.