*Disclaimer* Everyone's entitled to their own opinion so here's mine and I don't expect anyone to like or dislike what i have to say. If you don't think you can handle reading this or replying without typing in all caps then please...don't go any further.*Disclaimer*
Halo 3, CoD4, Bioshock, GTAIV and Assassins Creed. Five games released between 2007 and 2008 and man do I ever wish they weren't talked about by everyone and their Uncle's dog.
First up...Assasin's Creed. This really goes more for the reviewers than the gaming consumers as a whole. Why has this game gotten such good reviews for being an overall very repetitive and utterly boring game. The only thing that seems to keep me occasionally popping this in is because of the graphics and jumping from roof tops. They should have just made a free running game where you collect flags and probably would have seen better success. There's no excuse for the amount of reused content in that game especially since there were games before it that had waaay more to offer and didn't feature "Next gen" graphics.
Second, CoD4. I beat this game the first day I bought it. Call me crazy but I like single player and while it had perhaps a more action packed and cinematic feel to the last CoD games, I was still terribly disappointed that it was over so quickly. The other thing that truely bothered me was the AI and spawning system. It was using a terribly outdated "lets throw lots of guys at you" style spawning. If i kill 30 guys out of one small shack...I don't expect 30 more to come rushing out. If I kill a sniper in a lone tower I don't expect yet another identical sniper to pop back in there magically. Plus...why no ragdoll? Also to top it all off...weapons feel, for lack of a better term, Counter-Strike esque. Doesn't give a huge impression of realism there.
Of course the other thing people do instead of just single player is multiplayer where I found it was very....mediocre. Plethora of little kids yelling at eachother and spewing enough expletives to make even George Carlin cringe. Sure, that's what many multiplayer games have for their player base but instead of rewarding gameplay I get a recycled version of the old CoD multiplayer with a shiny "level up" system. No thanks....
Now this brings me to Halo 3. The one where we "Finish the fight" and while the fight was more fun than CoD4's Campain, it still left me wanting more. I bet this won't be the last big release of a Halo game. However, about the game itself, this did have very fun multiplayer that I occasionally still play with my friends at times but still wonder.....is this really all that big of a step forward? Sure the bells and whistles they added with recording is neat...if you're just that ego-tastic that you need to show people your latest headshot. Mostly though it just feels like halo 2.5, the .5 consisting of a slight update in graphics (but definitively not anything we haven't seen before) and some new maps. Oh and don't forget the equally sickening player base of young adolecent teenagers who love to swear and call people gay for sniping them. Oh the fun...(it's not really a fault of CoD4 or Halo 3 though but unfortunately it doesn't really make multiplayer that fun at times).
The fourth game I have not understood the praise it has gotten is Bioshock. What about this game is really all that revolutionary? Lots of powers mixed with some enhancements and very boring combat. That atmosphere may be fairly creepy but I just wasn't impressed by the dated gun-play...the fact you hit crap with a wrench (if i wanted to play Half Life or Opposing Force I would have done so) and already been done powers...except for bees. I was too bored to really even get past the first few moments of the game much less the whole thing.
The last game is a very interesting one...GTAIV. It's both a masterpiece and completely overrated. Lets face it...It's a bigger version of GTA3 with a number of features added from Vice City and San Andreas but less stuff to do than San Andreas and a physics engine with multiplayer. The replay value I would suppose is in the multiplayer but the single player game itself is really more of what we've come to expect from a GTA game with updated graphics. The controls are still fidgety though and you may find yourself sometimes going...wait....why is Niko doing that?? (mostly with the cover system) The driving has improved greatly though and that's one of the games high points as it should be. I mean...it's Grand Theft Auto...I'd hope the driving is at least manageable since you do a lot of it. The reason I say this is overrated though is because of the fact it's really just a prettier GTA 3. I enjoy this one and still play it however but I just find it's not as AMAZING as some have claimed.
Mostly though I don't mean to sit and critisize the most popular games released in a long time but it bears mentioning. I do play at least a little of each game I listed from time to time (Except CoD4 and Bioshock)...they're by no means bad games (that goes for CoD4 and Bioshock) but I just wonder what's up with all the hype surrounding them. It sorta takes the fun out of it when all anyone ever talks about is Halo3, GTAIV, CoD4 or Bioshock. Anyone notice they are all violent games by the way? It makes me wonder what a non-gamer thinks of most gamers when the highest profile games are all rated Mature for "Blood and Gore, partial nudity, suggestive themes" etc.
Oh and what other games do people find overrated? One that comes to mind might be World of Warcraft.
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