Forget the low review scores, I love this game!

[Fivespot]

How many times have you disagreed drastically with media written video game review scores? IGN often rates too high, Gamespot is sometimes too hard on games, Gamepro stinks, EGM has three different scores by three different people with varying tastes with some scores sometimes too different (3, 8.5, 9).

List here all the games you love yet reviewers rated them poorly. Here are mine:

Tao Feng (XBOX) - fun with friends even though the controls are a little sluggish. It doesn't get much better than breaking your friend's bones and then exploiting that weakness to win the match.

Voodoo Vince (XBOX) - a great platformer well under-appreciated

Beach Spikers Volleyball (Gamecube) - good game with so,so graphics. Since the title focused on women in bathing suits yet couldn't hold a candle to DOAX as far as graphics are concerned - it got a little overlooked.

Chu Chu Rocket (Dreamcast) - Man, this game rocks. I love cranking it up as it bumps pretty well (seriously). Plus its one of the better puzzle games beating out the Tetris style genre. I wish they'd make a new version.

On that note, anyone pick-up Star Wars Episode III and play it? It has received some pretty dull scores but it sure seems like it might be a fun light saber title. I'm afraid to go against the scores at this juncture however and potentially waste my $50.

[Pandarbock]

Actually I have never personally used a review score in deciding weither I would buy a game or not. I would have to say P.N.03 is quite good despite the thrashing so many reviewers gave it. Believe it or not the damned game has nothing to do with dancing even though she does prance around when doing her moves. Mystic heroes is another damned fun game despite lackluster scores (oh my god it is a kiddy Dynasty Warriors it must suck). Oh and I wonder if ign even played the game as they say "No progressive scan support for HDTV users" which is complete crap, it runs just fine in 480p

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

On that note, anyone pick-up Star Wars Episode III and play it? It has received some pretty dull scores but it sure seems like it might be a fun light saber title. I'm afraid to go against the scores at this juncture however and potentially waste my $50.

I saw a playable version in EBgames last week, but was unable to try it out. I wouldn't be surprised if the game drops in price after the Episode III buzz wears of in a few months.



Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (Xbox) is the first game that comes to mind for me. IGN (61%) and Gamespot (66%) didn't like the game, but it was one of my favorites in 2003.

Cy Girls (PS2) is a game that I didn't think was so bad, though it was trashed in reviews. Funny thing, I picked up Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow the same month as CG, and CG was in my collection 6 months longer than Pandora, which got high (and overrated, imo) review scores.

I thought the last two Tenchu games were good (Fatal Shadows and Return from Darkness), but they didn't receive good scores overall.

[Superjoint Ritual]

Star Wars: RS 3 is still one of the best games this gen IMO. The co-op play is awesome if you can find someone who knows how to play it. The speeder lever is by far the greatest single leve in a Star Wars game. Sure, the on-foot levels suck, but there's not that many of them, so it's not that bad.

[Darwin]

I've pimped this game before, so I'll spare you guys the details. But, one of the most underated games in the history of gaming is the Mercedes-Benz World Racing game.

I also think that Dave Mirra 2 is underated. I think that game beats out any Tony Hawk game.

[shogun]

Forsaken 64 got some pretty middling reviews, but my friends and I played it more than Goldeneye. Amazing Decent clone and one of the best 4-player N'64 games out there. Perhaps the reviewers just played the molasses PSX version? It got identical reviews, but was nearly unplayable.

I also loved both Grandia II and Sonic Adventure. Both got good reviews but their ports were panned later on.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

PSO 1 I know it was popular among players but intially it wasn't reviewed that good.

Sonic Adventure. This games has gotten smashed but I loved it in fact I like all the adventure sonics better than the old school Sega Genesis ones.

Dues Ex 2 this one suffered because most gamers wanted a retread of the first game. Now I'm not going to get into weather it's better than the orginal but part 2 was underated.

Kung Fu Chaos. Personally I like it better than Super Smash brothers.

Oddworld Abes's Oddyesse possibily the best platformer ever but only recieved average reviews.

007 Tommorrow never dies the 3rd person one by EA. I loved this game it felt like a movie but it didn't do really good in reviews either.

[slade]

Omega Boost from Polyphony Digital. This game got six's and seven's mostly but I loved it.

[Cuddly Knife]

I agree about Darwin, Mirra 2 romps all over any Hawk game.

Stranger's Wrath- This game should've scored higher than Riddick, Deus Ex, Doom 3 and every other single player FPS out there, with maybe the exception of Half Life 2. It's definitely the nicest looking FPS this generation so far. It romps all over Doom 3 and all its pixelated glory.

Classic style 2-D games are always rated too low. Gradius V should be up there with Viewtiful Joe. Contra SS should've got higher scores. It is the 4th best Contra out there. Klonoa 2: Lunetia's Viel is one of the best 2-D platformers since the last generation was started.

Rayman Revolution- I think this one was a PS2 launch title, but I could be wrong. Anyways, this is one of the more solid platformers out there, minus the long loading screens.

Tekken Tag- Still the best Tekken out there. IMO, the best fighting game I've ever played.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

Omega Boost from Polyphony Digital. This game got six's and seven's mostly but I loved it.

That was a mech game on the PS1 right? Yeah that game was tight. PD also had a cart racer that was pretty good too. You could even modify you carts/cars in the game. It came out before GT.

[slade]

Yeah, it was a mech game on PS1. Had the nicest missile effects and the level where you take on a space fleet was a great touch.

[Gadfly2317]

Actually I have never personally used a review score in deciding weither I would buy a game or not. I would have to say P.N.03 is quite good despite the thrashing so many reviewers gave it. Believe it or not the damned game has nothing to do with dancing even though she does prance around when doing her moves. Mystic heroes is another damned fun game despite lackluster scores (oh my god it is a kiddy Dynasty Warriors it must suck). Oh and I wonder if ign even played the game as they say "No progressive scan support for HDTV users" which is complete crap, it runs just fine in 480p

I agree PN03 is pretty cool. PLAY magazine pointed out the reason they thought it got such poor scores is that everyone approached it as a 3rd person Action/Adventure, and so for that genre it is linear, repetitive and short. When they pointed out that it is rightly viewed as a rail shooter, just not with spaceships like Ikaruga or R-Type, if you approach the game from that perspective its pretty cool and fun, though still flawed (standing still to shoot being the biggest flaw IMO.)

Other low-score games I loved:

Cubivore: Find it if you can, just for the music alone. Ugly but highly stylized graphics, terrible camera angles, but still an extremely original and compelling game. And truly worthy of this thread since it scored as low as 60 at some sites.

Demolish Racer on Ps1--seems like it was a low 70's scoring game that came out around the time Gran Turismo 2 was taking up the car-driving spotlight. This one is still one of my favorite racing/driving/crashing games, period.

Saw that Cuddly Knife Mentioned Strangers Wrath. . . I thought that one got good review scores. . .just no one bothered to play it.

I personally thought Mario Sunshine scored a little low, and was underappreciated by gamers. It was definitely not a low-80's quality game.

Neo Contra on Ps2, short as it was and also mediocre scores, I had a total blast with what was there.

[trebor]

Star Wars: RS 3 is still one of the best games this gen IMO. The co-op play is awesome if you can find someone who knows how to play it. The speeder lever is by far the greatest single leve in a Star Wars game. Sure, the on-foot levels suck, but there's not that many of them, so it's not that bad.

I was going to mention this very game. It pretty much has gotten a bum rap from the admitedly flawed "on foot" levels, but the majority of the game is pretty damn excellent. Hell...even the flawed "on foot" levels contain FPS elements that are pretty entertaining.

The co-op is defintitely awesome too, I agree. I think the 2 player head to head is even MORE fun, though. The Walker Rampage is about the most fun "deathmatch" style of games I've ever played and the Speeder race is really fun and challenging.

It's a shame how the early EGM review pretty much killed this game.