The Greatest Mediocre Game of All-Time!?

So a question for everyone: What game would you classify as being the greatest mediocre game of all-time?

For me it has to be Destiny, hands down!

Ocarina of Time. Thoroughly mediocre game in nearly all facets, yet its greatness lies in its undeniable place in video history.

Hmmm.. I dunno. Maybe Donkey Kong Country? Mortal Kombat?

Everybody loved both of those games at the time (myself included) even though both of those games were jokes among their contemporaries.

@Blabadon:

Ocarina of Time is in no way mediocre. If it were just that it would not have shaped the format of adventure games.

@Heirren: sure it is, mediocre open world design, bad combat, lame 3D puzzles, horrible stealth sections, the Water Temple and Iron Boots, etc.

It was cool because 1998, lots of games could become cool then.

Hmm... Maybe Assassin's Creed? Like, fun games and all but the games have their share of problems. Even so, I still play them. I'm finally pretty burnt out with Unity, just going through the motions despite being blah about it. Time to give the series a rest.

I agree with Assassins creed, if we are talking about the greatest mediocre game, I think as to come from a gaming series that has been milked to death.

To me, Mass Effect 2

Enslaved. It's really quite good but it's hard to call the combat anything but mediocre.

Uncharted series

GTA IV and Time Shift

Uncharted 2 is the first game that came to mind.

The Ridge Racer series, what a pile of garbage that series is, and that's coming from a big racing game fan.

First thing that comes to mind is Deadpool. Gameplay eventually grew stale and bleh, but lord did the Charm and writing carry that puppy to the end.

Modern Warfare 2

Hmm.. I played an awful lot of Rush'n'Attack on NES as a kid, which wasn't a very good game.. Might & Magic: Dark Messiah was pretty mediocre, but still fun.. Assassin's Creed series can be enjoyable, but I wouldn't really call them good. There was this game called Power Quest on the GBC, and it was pretty crappy, yet I played it a lot. International Karate 2000, yet another GBC game. Mediocre, but really liked it. Diablo 3 is pretty crap, but can be enjoyable in small bursts, since you still kill lots of monsters.

Hard to pick a favourite, though..

Halo franchise to me.

Naww ridge racer is great. Racing sim fans may not appreciate it, but arcade gamers will find much to enjoy.

Uncharted 2.

I played the remake. It's still awesome.

Halo franchise !!

Crackdown.

Donkey Kong Country definitely, that game is so outclassed by the platformers from that gen. But it's my first video game that I owned, so my heart refuses to show it anything but love.

Grand Theft Auto IV

The movement is shit, the shooting is shit, it's ugly as ****, missions are inconsistent and it is deeply flawed from a pure design standpoint. Yet there's still something about the game which makes it enjoyable when all those aspects click together.

Maybe not the greatest mediocre game, but instead the best worst game of all time, or the worst best game of all time.

The first game that came to mind is Uncharted 2. It's mediocre/bad in pretty much every single way, yet it's praised as one of the greatest games of the past generation. Go figure.

@Pikminmaniac: go figure what?

PSO and Diddy Kong Racing come to mind, they both scored poorly but delivered a ton content and pure VG fun, both SP & MP.

It's puzzling.

@Pikminmaniac: sure, it's puzzling to you, but go figure what?

The open world design is great. It is one of the major factors it holds up so well. There's always something to do. I don't find the combat bad as it isn't an action game and the difficulty has a nice curve. It was introduced to an entire new generation by ways of Ocarina 3D and was received very favorably. That says something about how well it is designed.

***I don't think it measures up to Mario64.

Having replayed it recently, aside from a very wonky camera and some issues with the controls it stands the test of time pretty well. Dungeons in particular are excellent.

To be honest, I don't think I understand how exactly a game qualifies as being the "greatest mediocre game of all time".

What does that even mean?

A juxtaposition of the game's financial/critical success and your own personal feelings for it?

I wouldn't say the game has to be bad. Mediocrity doesn't denote to that.

If I had to pick one game I'd probably say Sonic The Hedgehog. People actually label this as one of the best platformers.

Lost Planet 2

What do you guys think of DKC2? Game was hard as balls.

And get this, it's not even mediocre lol.

Uncharted series.

Shenmue. The games fucking dog shit but somehow praised as a GOAT. **** Shenmue so much it's not even mediocre, it's bad.

Chibi-Robo

Let's face it, the game is pretty wank. The graphics are rubbish, mission design is just a bunch of collect-o-crap, a lot of the game is just cleaning stuff up, the core gameplay is pretty limited. BUT, the game does have loads of charm, the act of exploration is fun, and the game does have a dark undertone. So, mechanically the game is actually pretty mediocre, but BOY is it sort of endearing to play.

Greatest mediocre game of all time? Easily Uncharted 2.

Modern Warfare 3

In my opinion its: Killer is Dead

The game is very mediocre when it comes to gameplay and level design but fvck I love it to bits

EDIT: Oh wait, are we bashing popular games now? Then my answer is Halo. That series defines successful mediocrity

Both Halo and Uncharted come to mind. Pretty enjoyable games, but very generic and completely uninteresting from a gameplay point of view.

Oh it is very mediocre, lol.

Postal 2 comes to mind; as a video game product it is objectively bad, no qeastion. It is however, also entertaining as hell knowing full well what is it, embracing and reveling in it.

Disagree with much of his.

The movement is pretty clunky. Can't disagree with that. I don't think the shooting is shit tho. It's actually quite satisfying and has a lot of punch. The problem with the shooting mechanics is the targeting/cover system. The cover mechanics are inconsistent and Niko sticks to walls far too easily. But the physics engine gives the act of killing dudes a satisfying but plausible amount of kick, which GTA V lacked even with its vast improvements in cover and targeting mechanics.

I don't think the game is ugly at all. The lighting is still impressive and the art design is extremely rich, especially the building architecture. The buildings look old, varied, and lived-in, as if they are not just game assets but actual buildings with their own histories. The main issue with the visuals is that the textures can look muddy at times, but it was actually quite impressive that the game looked as good as it did in 2008. Of course GTA V blows it out of the water visually, but they had had much more experience with the hardware by that point.

I also think the mission design is actually quite well done except for the extremely uneventful first few hours. They have a certain plausibility to them that might limit how exciting and over the top they are but I found them quite satisfying. Sure, the missions are more repetitive than San Andreas and there's far too many chase missions, but it's certainly much more varied than your typical FPS and TPS. Also, with the exceptions of some the very early missions, I never felt like I was doing anything as lame as the yoga mission from GTA V.

Agreed. The game is beautifully designed.

Toss up between RYSE and Vanquish.

Shadow of the Colossus, Prince of Persia Warrior Within, and Mario Kart 64.