That’s it. Time to hurt some feelings. There’s a bunch of popular games out there that have been getting away with their mediocrity for too long now, flying under the radar. And gosh darn it it’s time I ought to call them out. So at the risk of being savagely beaten in the streets, here is my list of the most popular games that I don’t like. Or are, dare I say… overrated?
Spider-Man PS4
Yup. We’re starting here. By all means, Spider-Man isn’t a bad game; it was just past it used by date well before it even came out. The days of climbing the tower to access the beacon that unlocks new side missions to appear on you mini map was getting irritating in Assassin’s Creed II. Y’know, in 2009. And here we were in 2018 and nobody seemed to mind the monotonous repetition because ascending these buildings is fun.
And who could forget the missions where you play as Mary Jane and Miles, where you must sneak past goons and try to avoid knocking over stacked boxes. That’s the ingenious obstacles in these stealth sections. Cardboard boxes. Like, who signed off on this? “Y’know what would be fun guys? How about in the superhero game, you don’t get to play as the superhero!?”
I guess the photo mode is nice though.
Snake Pass
This one pains me to put on this list, because I really want to like this game. It’s a puzzle platformer where you control a cute lil snakey snake. So with level design that would be a breeze for lads like Mario and Sonic, suddenly become mountainous tasks for our belly dwelling hero who must find ways to slither, wrap and extend over gaps and obstacles. So as opposed to having run and jump buttons, you control the head of the snake and use the trigger buttons to grip onto surfaces, allowing you to latch onto bamboo poles and wriggle your way up to ascend walls and what not. By all accounts, it’s super intuitive game design.
So where’s the issue? Well, I just didn’t care. The puzzles weren’t fun; I just kind of fiddled around until I got through. Nothing about this game made me want to return to it; I wasn’t thinking about it when I wasn’t playing, this is just a game that kind of happened. I wish I had some kind of deeper emotional connection to it but eh, it’s a game about a wobbly snake. Sorry buddy.
Journey
I remember people losing their minds when Journey came out way back in 2012. It was heralded as a champion amongst indie titles. The game is a wordless story told through gameplay only and in each level, the player may find themselves interacting with other players who will temporarily connect with their game. Together, the players may interact throughout the desert game world by emitting a singly glowing symbol. Sounds like pretty melancholic, emotional storytelling right?
Well, after finally playing it last year… meh? Maybe I had built it up too much in my mind, but I just wasn’t particularly impressed by anything this game had to offer. And I’m not trying to dunk on anyone here; I feel like the crazy one, as if I played it the wrong way or missed something obvious. But nope, I think it just wasn’t for me. Sorry Journey fans.
Ratchet & Clank (2016)
Okay, so on the surface, this PS4 remake of a PS2 classic looks to tick all the boxes. Beautiful graphics, smooth as butter gameplay, but I don’t know guys, something felt off. Knowing full well this will make me sound insane; I think I bounced off this game because it feels like it wasn’t created by humans. Rather, it feels bred from a test tube. Perfectly deliberated to the pixel by a board room full of people who have never played a video game before. It was all just a bit soulless.
You have absolutely played this video game before. It all just felt very samey, the jokes and quips were both unfunny, and had this bizarre predictable rhythm to when and where they would appear. Other than to admire the obvious graphical improvement, I’m not actually sure why someone would opt to play this over the original. I also thought it may have been me just growing out of Ratchet & Clank but nope, I played 2007’s Tools of Destruction as recently as last year and I had a great time. So I can in fact confirm, it is not I who is out of touch, it is indeed the children who are wrong.
Well, sorry to cause a fuss, but that was my list of popular games that I don’t like!
What did you think? Is it time to get out the pitchforks? Let me know down in the comment section below! Also, feel free to check out some of our other gaming blog posts here, or check out some of our other content over on our YouTube Channel.
