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anomaly: It seems to me that there is a fashion for disliking games, and attacking those who like games that others "hate". Jim Sterling on The Escapist has a good video on just this topic. I have not noticed that here, I am happy to say!
There may be good reasons for scoring a game poorly, but I have often found that some of the "worst" ames often have hidden sides that are really fun.

I'd like to know what games you liked that were widely panned, and what were the parts you liked. This is intended to be a positive thread, so respect for whoever likes something that was disliked.

And I'll start.

I love the latest Thief. I have loved all of the Thief games so far, with the possible exception of Thief Gold which I only liked (I played TMA first and then went back to TG the first time I played through the games). I score Gold the lowest because I think the living have more place in the story than the undead. In the latest version, I like the atmosphere, the city, the pacing, the secrets and hidden rooms, the overheard conversations, and the humour. I even like the Thief Taker General, for all that he is a comic villain. I particularly like the customisation - the game can be as forgiving or difficult as you like. The unique quick save feature of creating a save point when jumping into a closet is very clever, I think, and fits the game well.

There are issues, but these are patchable - random NPC models popping up ocasionally, continually looping conversations, and periods of major stuttering and long load times after moving from one section of the city to another after playing for a certain length of time that take a some time to resolve. Those are what I think of as mechanical problems though, and have nothing to do with the game story or game play, and I would love to see those things patched soon.

Overall, I am loving this game and will happily play through it again, now I know what the hell I'm doing!
LOL tell me about it. Last year, I wrote a short very positive Aliens Colonial Marines review here and lost like 100 rep... If my short very positive Aliens Colonial Marines review was a speech on stage in front of gamers, someone in the audience would of probably gunned me down. If not gunned down, then severely beaten. I'd be dead or crippled, right now.
Post edited March 27, 2014 by monkeydelarge
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PaterAlf: For me the problem with Biing! 2 wasn't the quality, but the fact that it was unplayable. I bought a cheap retail version about a year (or maybe two) after release that only came with the handbook on CD. Unfortunately it didn't include the answers to the copy protection. The result of answering the question wrong was bankruptcy after a certain time span.
Hmm I am near 100% sure that only Biing 1 had copy protection that required answers. In Biing 2 the copy protection was a CD Check, which ruined all the equipment very fast. But it was buggy on release so it hit many with the legit version.
But there have been many patches, a fan even fixed the WinXP display bugs.
http://biing-fansite.de/
I loved postal 2 and thought of it as being a very unique FPS despite the fact that it was critically panned. I also enjoyed playing Soldier of Fortune which was akin to that of a fun B movie. It was also a very visceral shooter.

I remember playing halo on an athlon and thinking to myself that this game is a lot of fun. I don't quite understand why it gets so much flak from pc gaming purists.

Deadpool for the ps3 is also awesome even though I only gave it a go for like 30 minutes.
Post edited March 27, 2014 by Lionel212008
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Lionel212008: I loved postal 2 and thought of it as being a very unique FPS despite the fact that it was critically panned. I also enjoyed playing Soldier of Fortune which was akin to that of a fun B movie. It was also a very visceral shooter.

I remember playing halo on an athlon and thinking to myself that this game is a lot of fun. I don't quite understand why it gets so much flak from pc gaming purists.
It gets a lot o flak from PC gamers because they feel Halo doesn't deserve the love it gets considering there are so many better 3D shooters for the PC that came out before Halo. Their flak is a response to all the console gamer Halo fan boys worshiping Halo like a god. It needed to be knocked off the pedestal.
Post edited March 27, 2014 by monkeydelarge
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jamotide: Hmm I am near 100% sure that only Biing 1 had copy protection that required answers. In Biing 2 the copy protection was a CD Check, which ruined all the equipment very fast. But it was buggy on release so it hit many with the legit version.
But there have been many patches, a fan even fixed the WinXP display bugs.
http://biing-fansite.de/
I think you are right about the CD check and the equipment (which resulted in bankruptcy). But patches never worked for me and support wasn't very helpful either (if I remember correctly they told me to use the patch that didn't work before).

Maybe I should search for my CD again and try if I could get it to run today.
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RayRay13000: Another game that comes to mind: Enter the Matrix. Don't really know anybody that liked this game, but it was years ago when I first played it. I thought it was a decent brawler with passable gunplay, but it had a bunch of unlockables (2 player mode, extra characters, and a lot of other stuff).
I actually liked Enter the Matrix, but it was buggy beyond belief, certain cutscenes had a fifty/fifty chance of completely freezing/crashing the game. With a bit more polish it would have been a great game, and it was already enjoyable at times, in my opinion.




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anomaly: Another one that I did quite enjoy was Hydrophobia Prophecy
The story was bizzare, the controls somewhat unwieldy, especially in the final boss fight, but it was a very ambitious game, and I would like to see a re-release or a sequel with the kinks knocked out.
Hydrophobia: Prophecy is a game I really wanted to like, but as I stated in a previous thread, it's one of the worst games I've played yet. I thought the story was passable, the setting was great, I liked the characters, heck I even liked the terrible voice acting, but the gameplay itself was (at best) a chore, in my opinion. Still, I would have liked a sequel as well.
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PaterAlf: Maybe I should search for my CD again and try if I could get it to run today.
If you register at the fansite and show them your CD, you can download an iso with the newest patches already installed. The guy is a bit paranoid about Abmahnungen, as german you sure know what it's like, that's why the site is so restrictive.
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tinyE: I don't know if this counts because it was only panned by corporate sites/mags, AOE 1. I've never met an ordinary Joe player who didn't love it but man was it ripped (by the press) when it came out. While the graphics and pathfinding suck beyond suck it remains one of my favorite games ever.
I don't recall if we had discussion about this already, but I recall some old magazine reviews panning AOE because they were expecting it to be Civilization, not a "generic" RTS game.

As a common resource-management, base-building and combat-heavy RTS game, it kicked and kicks ass, though. I love it too, even with its serious flaws (like the tendency to corrupt your subsequent save games in case you happen to save the game while there is a missile weapon (arrow, slingshot etc.) flying on the screen).
Post edited March 27, 2014 by timppu
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Lionel212008: I loved postal 2 and thought of it as being a very unique FPS despite the fact that it was critically panned. I also enjoyed playing Soldier of Fortune which was akin to that of a fun B movie. It was also a very visceral shooter.

I remember playing halo on an athlon and thinking to myself that this game is a lot of fun. I don't quite understand why it gets so much flak from pc gaming purists.
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monkeydelarge: It gets a lot o flak from PC gamers because they feel Halo doesn't deserve the love it gets considering there are so many better 3D shooters for the PC that came out before Halo. Their flak is a response to all the console gamer Halo fan boys worshiping Halo like a god. It needed to be knocked off the pedestal.
Back then, if players went in expecting it to be the pinnacle of the shooter genre then they most certainly would find themselves disappointed. However squarely as a light hearted fun shooter it delivers with vehicles thrown in for good measure. The enemies until the covenant were rather comical.
Post edited March 27, 2014 by Lionel212008
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monkeydelarge: It gets a lot o flak from PC gamers because they feel Halo doesn't deserve the love it gets considering there are so many better 3D shooters for the PC that came out before Halo. Their flak is a response to all the console gamer Halo fan boys worshiping Halo like a god. It needed to be knocked off the pedestal.
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Lionel212008: Back then, if players went in expecting it to be the pinnacle of the shooter genre then they most certainly would find themselves disappointed. However squarely as a light hearted fun shooter it delivers with vehicles thrown in for good measure. The enemies until the covenant were rather comical.
Yeah, it's not a bad game. But it's not the greatest FPS ever made. :)
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tinyE: I don't know if this counts because it was only panned by corporate sites/mags, AOE 1. I've never met an ordinary Joe player who didn't love it but man was it ripped (by the press) when it came out. While the graphics and pathfinding suck beyond suck it remains one of my favorite games ever.
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timppu: I don't recall if we had discussion about this already, but I recall some old magazine reviews panning AOE because they were expecting it to be Civilization, not a "generic" RTS game.

As a common resource-management, base-building and combat-heavy RTS game, it kicked and kicks ass, though. I love it too, even with its serious flaws (like the tendency to corrupt your subsequent save games in case you happen to save the game while there is a missile weapon (arrow, slingshot etc.) flying on the screen).
I have AOE Gold and I've never had those problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.
I still play that thing constantly. We could start a whole thread on AOE 1.
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timppu: I don't recall if we had discussion about this already, but I recall some old magazine reviews panning AOE because they were expecting it to be Civilization, not a "generic" RTS game.

As a common resource-management, base-building and combat-heavy RTS game, it kicked and kicks ass, though. I love it too, even with its serious flaws (like the tendency to corrupt your subsequent save games in case you happen to save the game while there is a missile weapon (arrow, slingshot etc.) flying on the screen).
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tinyE: I have AOE Gold and I've never had those problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.
I still play that thing constantly. We could start a whole thread on AOE 1.
I had the problem on two different PCs, with my retail AOE Gold (updated to the latest version).

I googled for it, and many others have reported about a similar problem, and one hinted the trigger for the problem to be those darn missile weapons. That kinda made sense because I had noticed the corruption would be more probable if the screen was busy while I was saving the game.

No idea why it wouldn't affect all people. My workaround was not to save the game ever, if there was any kind of combat ongoing on the screen. Only during build-up and such peaceful phases of the game. The bug is especially nasty as you don't realize it until you try to reload a save game, and the bug corrupts all subsequent save games after it hits you the first time (ie. you have to backtrack to some old save game before the problem hit you the first time during that level, and continue from there).
Post edited March 27, 2014 by timppu
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anomaly: ...
If you had asked me for this ten years ago, I would proudly say: Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter and Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader.

But I am really happy to see that while the press hasn't really made true apologies for these games, many news websites have praised P:T since. And even now, it has been somehow a "hipster game". So strange feeling when you have followed the game almost since the official release. ;-)

Alpha Protocol and KotOR2: The Sith Lords are in my favorite games list, and people have described reasons better than I could say. Happy to see that there are fans here.

Emperor: Battle for Dune had mixed reviews on release, mostly because some people thought that FMV cut-scenes were old-fashioned, the game needed powerful PC to run, and while it was different to its true predecessor (Dune 2000 more than the original Dune II), people thought the game hadn't enough micromanagement opposing to Starcraft for instance, and not enough units opposing to Total Annihilation. But it was fun, the original campaigns were better than those from Starcraft and TA, the game had really interesting infantry, it was the first big commercial RTS to have units gaining XP and levels, the sub-faction system gave a lot of gameplay styles... And finally, you can ride a sandworm!!! I think that Emperor should have deserved more than Warcraft 3 had.

Command & Conquer: Renegade, one of the first true fun mass MP FPS. Before Battlefield 1942. Yes, Renegade hadn't fancy graphics, the solo campaign isn't a great one. But the MP was one of those I enjoyed the most. Pure C&C Fan-service. And some Tactics in it. It's a pity that was the Battlefield licence what had a huge success because of the WW2 hype with Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. And Battlefied 1942 hadn't more tactics than Renegade and wasn't prettier. There was no love for C&C :(

Edit: Typo. :/
Post edited March 27, 2014 by Huinehtar
Raking through my memories, I just came up with this one:
Warhammer 40K: Rites of War.

Rubbish execution with unsynched animation and audio (now you hear me walking, now you see me walking, now you see me shooting, and now you hear me shooting, now you see the effect of the shooting, ASO. Mix and match randomly!), but something held me in the game.

Then again, I have a thing for turn based games, being as I am too much of a coward to play in real time, and even with the drawbacks in the release I still actually had fun in the game. Garish colours, entertaining units, me not actually having a clue about the WH40K universe in the first place, good music. The fact that I ignored the story entirely apart from mission goals probably helped, but I played it through several times, beginning to end and had a great time!

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Huinehtar: Emperor: Battle for Dune
I had forgotten about this one. Despite what I said about RTS games, Dune 2 was the one RTS I loved. I did consider finding a copy of E:B4D to see if I could get into it too.

o.0 and having just done a quick search I have found a copy on Amazonfor $399. This game had better also clean my house and make me coffee!
Post edited March 27, 2014 by anomaly
Lol, yeah! I knew that the Emperor's oldschool box was rare to find, but at this price, just lol!
The DVD boxed version is easier to find and much cheaper!
The good thing at that time was the fact that EA kept what they used to with C&C and C&C Red Alert (except for Dune 2000): a faction a disc, so even with one single copy you could play on LAN with two friends who hadn't purchased the game. And obviously, a campaign a disc too. They could just have jumped into the DVD distribution like they did for the latter games, but they hadn't for this one.

I played Dune 2 the first time only few months after original release, I cried when I knew that Emperor (or Renegade I am unsure now) was the last Westwood game. Ah memories... ;)