Not feeling the love . . . .

[TrekMD]

The Strike series (Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, Urban Strike, Soviet Strike and Nuclear Strike)

Intially best known on the Mega Drive but also appearing on a variety of different platforms, the series never gelled with me at all. I remember the gaming magazines and friends raving about the likes of Desert Strike and Jungle Strike but the games just seemed so incredibly dull to me.

Hmm, so 5 strikes you're out?   

[DreamcastRIP]

The Strike series (Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, Urban Strike, Soviet Strike and Nuclear Strike)

Intially best known on the Mega Drive but also appearing on a variety of different platforms, the series never gelled with me at all. I remember the gaming magazines and friends raving about the likes of Desert Strike and Jungle Strike but the games just seemed so incredibly dull to me.

Hmm, so 5 strikes you're out?   

Oh, and I've never played a decent baseball videogame either for that matter! Possibly because baseball is as dull as ditchwater anyway, to be fair!

[davyk]

Think is OP is a bit hard saying SMB is generic as it set the template for scrolling platformers - not follow any existing genre traditions. It's physics are great and are unmatched by any non Nintendo attempt that followed - and there's a fair bit to be found within it's levels too - their simplicity is misleading as they have a duality built into to the design to  deal with 2 sizes of Mario.....anyhow - fanboyism back in the box - each to their own.  I guess if you don't like platformers SMB won't light your candle.

Re Zelda - I really linked Link to the Past on SNES - but - I haven't finished one since as they just feel like a 3D remake and I'm not a fan of 3D in games.

Pitfall! on 2600 - found it incredibly tedious

God of War - complete button mashing bore-athon. Lovely looking and the Hydra boss bit was great - but there was too much running along, mashing buttons with no sense of control , then running along again.

GTA3 Vice City - driving around to 80s music was nice for 10 mins. Yawn.

Team sports games (FIFA, PES etc.) No sense of being in control.  Unlike the poster above, I find that baseball games don't suffer as much as it's more about one-on-one and the fielding can be controlled - you have to like baseball of course which I can take or leave. OK for a change once in a while - Namco did a nice Mario themed one on the Gamecube.

Tomb Raider - problem with this game was I played M64 first and TR just felt so clunky by comparison. I have the Anniversary remake for PS2 which is a lot nicer though.

Metroid Prime - again - 3D-itis. I loved Super Metroid but just can't along with the primes as much as I admire the craftsmanship.

Overall - I find 3D roaming tedious - don't like anything that is free-roaming - like my games to be linear and not try to tell me a story which I can get elsewhere. So that really does rule out an awful lot. I really liked Doom and a bit of multi-player Quake but I just find any FPS since just more of the same and if anything  they have lost their sense of fun and have got too big for their boots.

[Rogue Trooper]

Button down the hatches....

Disclaimer:Paid good money and invested hours into 99% of the following:

Gran Turismo PS2 onwards:PS1 games at least were technical marvels, but even today's PS3 instalment see's the same, bovine A.I from the PS1 series in use.Developer seems oblivous to just how far in terms of advances other developers have taken the genre.

Alien Trilogy PS1-Not a patch on Jaguar AVP.Poor Alien A.I (they mill about like sheep) and basically just Doom mod with Aliens.

Cannon Fodder (Amiga/Jaguar) bought twice, hated twice, gets to a wall of frustration and zero fun to play at that point.rember kids, don't let The Rev near graph paper for level design.

Ico PS2/PS3, yes, lovely to look at, feeling of isolation etc, but it's a frustrating escort mission at best.

Limbo-Love the look, but bog std fare beneath it.

LBP-Sure the creation tools are great, but if your making a platformer, at least make sure the platforming works.Slow response time kills it stone dead.

Ridge Racer:revolution onwards:1st was 1st PS1 game i ever bought, blew me away visually, but after that series went down hill, stayed there.

Fable II-yet to find a game that promised as much, delivered so little.

Turok 2 N64-yes the N64 with Ram pack can do great visuals.Now, can i have a game in there please?

I Am Alive-yes, but your also bloody frustrating!.

Dead Space II-Room clearing and gore doth not a better game make.

Dead Rising-PS2 State Of Emergency, running on 360, with Zombies and worse save system, ever.

GoldenEye:reloaded PS3:COD shite!

Metriod Prime G.C looked superb, but ppor boss check point system and fatal flaws in game mechanics in later stages just killed me.

Silent Hill 3 PS2.Guns, bigger monsters, worse game.

S.Hill:Homecoming 360.Developer clearly lacking any idea what made 1st 2 games great.

Bulletstorm-not big, clever or worth replaying.

Shadow Of The Col.-Ico, but made worse.


Perfect Dark 0-I wait years, it changes platforms and this is it?.

L.A Noire, GTA:S.A and Red Dead Redemp.Rockstar, possibly THE most over-hyped developers out there.seriousily....

[TrekMD]

Boy, that's a lot of money and time spent to end up not liking the stuff!

[Rogue Trooper]

Boy, that's a lot of money and time spent to end up not liking the stuff!

A fool and his money.....


Trouble with likes of Red Dead, Dead Space 2 and few others, i bought into review hype, had games on pre-order for day 1 purchase, soon found i was'nt finding the 10/10 game reviewers had, but having spent so much cash, had to play on to justify my purchase.

I Am Alive? i loved the demo, bought with MS Points then soon after started to hate the game.

P.D 0, Fable 2,Alien trilogy, Bulletstorm, SH3, DSII, etc i played to the end credits, so yeah, lot of hours put in, hoping they'd suddenly 'click' for me.

[Shadowrunner]

Good list RT and I agree with a lot of them.
I never could understand what all the hype was around Limbo, agreed it looks good but where's the game? The control in LBP is terrible, and Fable 2, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus are all just boring!

[Rogue Trooper]

Good list RT and I agree with a lot of them.
I never could understand what all the hype was around Limbo, agreed it looks good but where's the game? The control in LBP is terrible, and Fable 2, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus are all just boring!

In hindsight, it's taught me a number of key life lessons.I know no longer pre-order games (in no hurry, huge backlog to get through as is, work shifts so more often than not be week of so before i'd get to try them, so wtf was i paying for day 1 delivery?, by time i do fire them up, they are usual on 2nd or 3rd patch etc etc).

I buy far less magazines than i used to.

I'll always try a demo where possible (know that backfired badly on I Am Alive but...).

And i'm very wary when a game pulls in high scores galore.

I know it's all down to personal tastes etc, but, just going on few examples i listed:

Dead Space II-Huge fan of 1st game, so 2nd should have taken what worked and expanded on it for a 10/10.Instead i find it's been dumbed down as gore sells, plus here's the tick box multi-player, another 2 points on review for having that.Luckily i bought PS3 ver.as it had D.S Extraction as bonus (only reason i've kept game), but it was a lesser exp.than 1st game so desrved i felt, a lower score.

Fable II-I bought 1st game on Xbox, it was good, but nowhere near the RPG Peter promised (and then he rubbed salt in wound by charging us Xbox owners for extra content that PC owners had for free!).Not to worry, with power of 360, Fable II would make possible all he promised in 1st game, plus so much more....


Yet again it failed to deliver on so many levels, was'nt the game i expected (decent enough on it's own, but the gulf between expectation and delivery was vast), so did'nt deserve the praise i felt.By time of fable 3, reviewers got wise and scored game lower.

LBP:i'm sorry media types, but i was messing around with creation kits on the 8 Bit era (Racing Destruction, K.start 2, SEUCK, 3D Construction Kit etc etc) so just because Sony put a focus on it this gen and ohhh bless they've a new mascot, does not a 10 warrant.The platforming (ie entire reason i'd assume you'd pour hours into creating your own levels, is to play them/have others try them) is broken!.Sackboy reacts far too slowly to button presses, user gets frustrated, so praise just should'nt be given when developers ignore the basics.

[davyk]

Yeah - Gran Turismo - forgot about that. Can't stand "real" racers (well - real into you bump into something!)

I prefer my racing arcade style - don't fancy having to get a licence by driving in a straight line and breaking before a line thank you very much.

Daytona, Outrun C2C, Sega Rally(1or2), F-Zero - and even Mario Kart - well above all that GT nonsense.

[Rogue Trooper]

Good list RT and I agree with a lot of them.
I never could understand what all the hype was around Limbo, agreed it looks good but where's the game? The control in LBP is terrible, and Fable 2, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus are all just boring!

With Ico, i bought it on PS2, then picked it up again on PS3 in HD collection as wanted to give it a 2nd chance, plus never tried shadow prev. and yes, i very much 'get' the epic sense of scale, of isolation, of being alone in a vast enviroment and the art direction on both is superb, but they are just flawed games.

Ico...the lass is pretty much helpless, fine with that, but for fecks sake! she could help her sodding self out a little bit.Refuses to jump down unless your in exact right position, goes wandering off whilst your risking life and limb (just wtf does she expect to find? a bloody puppy?) and since she's so bloody useless, who on earth thought it'd be great to have you having to go so far from her just to find a way out?.


With Shadow..man i was in awe at the sense of scale, you felt so pathetic, so worthless next to the creatures, you really were a bitting insect (until you worked out how to kill each one) but feck me, getting to the bastards, ohhh man alive, wonky camera, so shit platforming.....Ohh you silly sod, you've failed to make that epic jump, fallen hundreds of feet into some water, now spend good 5 mins getting out, running back to point where you fucked up and oops! done it again.


I don't shy away from challenging games (Demons+Dark souls...), but with Ico and SOTC, i just found myself hating the exp, no incentive to push on, just eject disc and feck off and play something else.

With the 3 (Ico, Limbo+SOTC) i sometimes swear people just feel they have to say they are classics as they are arty and it's all the rage to gush about how abstract they are etc.


All too radio 4 at times for my liking.....


:-)

[Rogue Trooper]

Yeah - Gran Turismo - forgot about that. Can't stand "real" racers (well - real into you bump into something!)

I prefer my racing arcade style - don't fancy having to get a licence by driving in a straight line and breaking before a line thank you very much.

Daytona, Outrun C2C, Sega Rally(1or2), F-Zero - and even Mario Kart - well above all that GT nonsense.

I drive in real life, hate it, but it's essential for where i live.For Sony to proclaim G.T as a simulator, well that's a piss take, sorry, but it really is.The PS2 era games? maxed out visuals which marketing creamed over, but to use A.I routines from a PS1 game, your joking, to continue using them in PS3 game, your off your head.

I too take escapism:Give me Outrun, Burnout, Blur, wipeout, Quantum Redshift, Powerdrift etc-give me carnage, give me sega skies and lo, i shalt be joyus.

[Alberto 2K]

Mates, it would be more appropiate a thread named, feeling the love, you would finish much earlier!!

[Rogue Trooper]

Few more:

E.D.F PS2, bouht after hearing all and sundury rave about.Just left me cold.

Earth Worm Jim-Bought on MD and whilst technically outstanding, never held much love for myself, tried the demo.of the Hd version on PSN ages ago, see if my views had changed, nope.

Duke Nukem 3D:tried on Saturn, then XBLA version, just does nothing for me.

Exhumed, i bought first on Saturn, then mate bought me the PS version.Great setting, love the music, technically better on Saturn, but again, just leaves me cold.

Painkiller+Serious Sam (Xbox+PC) see Duke Nukem+Exhumed comments.

Ground Control PC

Hitman+Commando series PC/console...all that planning for 1 mistake to bring whole down around your ears? err no, not me.

[Rogue Trooper]

And more (disclaimer:you have to be aware i've been gaming for 30 years+, that's a lot of games on a hellva lot of systems, so bound to be plenty i did'nt like):

Action Biker C64/A8
Thing On A Spring C64-wanted to throttle the little bastard.
1 Man And His Droid C64/A8-I had no idea what i was doing :-(
Metal Head 32X-Even for a mech.game, far too slow.
Rocket Ranger ST-Just case of all style, little substance.
Indy Jones+Temple Of Doom Xbox.
Koronis Rift C64-Technically great but just felt dull
Nebulus-Technically great, played like a brik
Rainbow Islands+New zealand Story-decent enough games, but way over loved.
Bombjack-just awful
Rick dangerous ST games are meant to be fun
Manic Miner-never for the life of me seen the appeal.Miner 2049'er far better game, yet hardly gets mentioned these days it seems

[DreamcastRIP]

Bombjack-just awful

I was about to facepalm with incredulity at that...

... but then I realised you would have been playing the Commodore 64 version!

Ridge Racer:revolution onwards:1st was 1st PS1 game i ever bought, blew me away visually, but after that series went down hill, stayed there.

What?!?!?! Rage Racer was, for me at least, one of the finest arcade-style racing games ever created. Each to their own I suppose.

God of War - complete button mashing bore-athon. Lovely looking and the Hydra boss bit was great - but there was too much running along, mashing buttons with no sense of control , then running along again.

Agreed. The first game from the franchise that I played was GoW: Chains of Olympus on PSP which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the limitations of the QTE game mechanic. Next I played GoW: Ghost of Sparta which, while fine its own right, was ultimately more of the same so my interest already began to wane. Finally I bought GoW 3 on PS3 which, despite some graphically impressive moments, ended up boring me so much I never bothered finishing it. I hear the latest iteration on PS3 isn't as good as GoW 3 so, erm, it's a series that never evolved and should be put out to pasture, imo.