Eh, IGN skews RTS (vs. say GS which skews towards dumb, loud shooter games). Normally they're pretty good. It's not a bad list, being that it's only 5 games. It's a puff piece. Kind of tough to do much with a top 5. Take it fwiw. Have you ever written a list like this? I wrote a couple for GameFaqs. There's only so many spaces. You have to leave something out. Inevitably someone gets their panties in a bunch over it
The only thing that stands out on the list for me is Fable. Great game, but I think it's more of an adventure game than an RPG, though I suppose one might say most RPGs now are "hybrid games". Still, it's only about 8 hours long. Otherwise, despite the fact I don't agree with most of the choices or think it shows any knowledge of RPGs beyond the last 3-4 years, it's within reason.
I've seen worse lists. I'm glad to see Freedom Force is finally getting appreciated by critics (though it's odd to see the second one, which wasn't as good as the first). I suppose it helps most of the games on the list are coming out with sequels, DLC, or similar releases soon. It's a business. I don't blame them for that (ditto on previews - I know how that works, also puff pieces). Unlike GS, their reviews are good.
The bad side of the list is mostly true, if woefully incomplete (critics rarely play truly awful games in their entirety, so this doesn't shock me). Dungeon Lords was really atrocious. I've never heard of Pompolic. It could be quite bad.
Still, Mistmare is bar none the worst CRPG I've ever played, but it's very obscure, so I doubt they've played it. There are some really obscure German and Eastern European games that are much worse than Gothic 3, too e.g. Metal Heart. Also, I think the credited truly awful free-roaming RPG is probably Two Worlds, not G3. G3 was a disappointment but I don't think it qualifies for "teh worst game evar!!!!"
Post edited August 30, 2009 by cioran