11) Lair
Why I love it: Freakin' dragons! Fly around, fight other dragons, eat stuff for health recovery, participate in big scale war that goes from air to ground, etc. Ok I'll admit I don't actually "love" it, its just good fun. I enjoy it, and its a fun game with a theme I love. Typically I'm not a big fan of flying games, so yeah the genre isn't my thing and this isn't completely blowing my mind in a way that introduces everything. However it is a lot of fun for what it is, and has more control and depth to it that can appeal to me despite its flaws.
Why no one else did: Imagine an entire reception basing their opinions off of the poor controls. Hard to believe, especially considering this is the same brand name that got tomb raider to thrive. Look I get it, the SIXAXIS isn't the best use of motion controls nor is it a great control scheme. But it functions, and there was a freakin' patch to completely fix the issue and people still hate the game because... well I guess it released joy chemicals in their brain to think such. No seriously I cannot find much of a real reason this game was hated on beyond its now fixed control scheme. I manned up and dealt with the default controls and had a good time. I don't see the big deal with this game.
Spot: It gets this place on the list because I didn't care about it so much, and honestly like the majority of gaming audiences I've sort of let it go forgotten. I have no real reason to talk about it often, and there isn't a lot of drive for me to continue with it because I'm simply not that into flight combat games. Its a fun game, and I'll remember it as an obscure fun game that was hammered into the ground by everyone except me and maybe some other lucky soul getting some fun out of it.... but apart from that it just isn't special enough to go higher.
10) Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Why I love it: Multiplayer. All I can really say. I love it for the multiplayer and gunplay. It was the first game to make red dot look realistically blurred, had a great sense of recoil and feeling to weapons, fun modes, a lot of fun with its lean system, and the class balance and buddy system was just awesome. It has the typical multiplayer gimmicks, but what I appreciate is that they are all so heavily underplayed or poorly done that they don't matter to the game and I find myself only worried about going around with a decent gun and killing people through a barebones game with good substance into its gunplay. Oh yeah and there's a server list, so there's that nice bit to.
Why no one else did: Because the game is garbage, and I'm going to admit that and say it loud for everyone to hear. I didn't agree with every critic on just how bad it was, but it was pretty bad and the only redeeming quality of it was some bits of the multiplayer. Players hated it because it didn't offer them as much as other games, or felt like a satire of the modern military shooter sub-genre. Critics hated it for its lengthy amount of buglists even after the giant (and it was quite incredible) day 1 patch. Fans hated it because it simply isn't a good series anymore. One of my favorite gaming critics on youtube even did a video dedicated to making an example of it as why FPS campaigns are just so awful today... and I agreed with him on every single moment and found it tragically accurate. I gave up on it with its pathetic playcount draining life out of the only thing worth keeping it around for, and it will go down as an abomination to the genre and a milestone of how bad this sub-genre can get. Heck this is the only military shooter I just cannot get myself to complete no matter how much I prepare for its lack of quality.... its just that bad, and as you'll see in this list I'm not one to be scared off by "poor" games so often.
Spot: I still love it for a lot of the multiplayer quality I mentioned before. Its like the only game I can say seriously redeemed itself on gunplay alone, and that was fine with me to say I really had a lot of fun with it and found it to be a stroke of genius. For being a very big guilty pleasure to enjoy its feel in lacking gimmicks and its good gunplay, I can't say I loved it much more than that and the gaming community rightfully wants to burn it to the ground. So it can't go far on this list. Without bots, I can't really even say I'd try to return to enjoy it some more because its probably all dead making it a horrible game I'll only play the campaign of one day if I have some nerve to torture myself. So it earns a pretty light spot on the list.
9) Two Worlds 2
Why I love it: I spotted the trailers, and had hope this would basically turn into what Dragon's Dogma was. I found out the bad news.... it wasn't, but still refused to let hope die down. You know what, I was right. Spent $60 on it around launch and I'm perfectly fine with that, because to this day it is one of the most interesting, creative, and entertaining ADD filled quest based RPG games I've played. I freakin' loved the world, combat was good enough to entertain me with an awesome upgrade system, graphics impressed me for the time, and the lack of polish actually felt more charming than bad. Oh yeah and the music is just brilliant. I really enjoyed this game, and will probably go back to it before I call myself really done with the PS3 (if that sort of time comes).
Why no one else did: Yeah remember that bit where I mentioned bad polish? Bad polish and presentation, horrible voice acting, clunky situations, and part of that polish was a framerate that was just constantly bad. Mix that all in with the fact that it was just very campy in a few ways and the market is flooded with much better typical RPGs and its not that big of a deal to skip out or find this game lacking. However I can forgive polish, I am far more appreciative of creativity, and this was one of my first RPGs... so none of the common issues really bothered me. I embraced the campy buggy mess and found gold in the rest of the game's traits. However I wasn't honestly the only one and to the public's credit there is a very tiny pathetic sized cult of people who enjoyed it, or praise it for things like its magic system, online mode, and middle tier developer feeling.
Spot: Not that bad on the list because of what I just mentioned... its not that horrible considering there were still some people able to tolerate it or even love it with me. Its just that for the most part it was still panned, angered some, and left without a footprint.
8) Brink
Why I love it: Heck yeah! A multiplayer FPS that is stylish, interesting, customizable, and made for the hardcore with some innovation in mind. I really loved this game for its core mechanics, and considering the time it came out it was practically a savior. Mixed with the style, voice acting, setting and plot, and I was really sold on the idea of this being a fantastic game. I loved the large bullet spongy health, the class balance, interesting RPG upgrades, the parkour, the strong thunderous gunplay, and some of the objectives and level designs were genius. What could go wrong?
Why no one else did: Son of a bitch. Of course that last statement above was foreshadowing for something going wrong. I actually understand and sympathize with the hate in a lot of ways, because when it comes down to it this game's disappointment hits like a punch to the gut. Much like how I said with Metro in my GOTY article, some games that release just shake up everything you knew and give you the unexpected. Brink did that in a bad way. While the gameplay is beyond solid, and is in fact golden to my standards, the game falls severely short with its 8 map limit, no modes, its "blurred" solo/multiplayer feature that was used as hype is nothing more than MP with bots with some tiny cut-scenes in between missions leaving you deceived because there is no such actual campaign. On top of that at launch, bot coding was worse, the matchmaking was the worst I've ever seen, and graphical glitches were almost at rage's level of bad. HOWEVER... the hate gets a little out of hand. Its more than "trash" or a waste of money. When it comes to playing video games, I love games for their mechanics and their freedom. Brink delivers on gameplay in a fantastic manner, however a lot of the typical vocal gamers can't see that. They just trash it. I think its because a lot of people got cozy with the super casual manner of most multiplayer shooters, like the low reflex based fast regenerating health and gunplay and design that has nothing but point and shoot. Brink is not that kind of game, it is there to serve the more hardcore shooter fans. At the end of the day I can sit back and play brink for a good few hours, getting sucked into how much fun it is to play with its amazing gameplay with some bots... and I really do enjoy this game and feel happy that I got it... even if its not worth but half its actual launch price. By now, there is no reason to stay clear of this game unless you simply weren't cut out for it to begin with. As it stands now the price is low with patches installed, while the gameplay remains fun, and unique.
Spot: Brink hits this mark for truly being a bit of a bad release that deserves some of the hate it got... and I was angry with it to, and still feel awful about all that missed potential. I was so ready and so hyped for it, following it and anticipating it to even overcome my love for killzone.... and then it bombed that dream with the fact that as you only had a season pass worth of content to play it all in. Its an overbloated demonstration of a shooter I've been waiting for... with all that said I love what is there and will defend its mechanics and general design to the grave if I have to. Its a brilliant hardcore shooter that should have been more, and no matter what people think of it I will enjoy it. So it gets an ok spot on the list, but there are bigger fish to fry.
7) Alpha Prime
Why I love it: It resonates with me in a special way. I don't know how I can really say that any better. It blows my mind and sends me in for a nostalgic joyride through a gun blazing space adventure that I really enjoy. I loaded it up years ago in demo form when I was just grabbing all the free demos I could find on steam, and it was laggy and challenging but fun... though a bit familiar to. I picked it up for good recently on the last big winter sale steam had, and man am I glad it was a bit "familiar" to me years ago because its the sort of direction I wish shooters stayed in. Tight corridor shooter action with resource management, fun weapons and gunplay, at least some form of enemy types, and an entertaining (though still bad) attempt at a plot. It also had a look that felt very doom 3-like, and was clearly the type of game made when everyone was chasing after Half life 2 or halo. And I loved every bit of that. The world was interesting and atmospheric enough for me to sink my time into looking around, gameplay was fun and offered a good challenge and made me think before doing stuff, and the gimmicky physics were fun gimmicky physics. This game feels like a lost love letter to the sort of shooters I grew up playing. Oh yeah and there's other fun quirks like bullet time, and hackable objects that can completely screw with your enemies in optional ways. Overall it was a game I could really get into, and a giant relief from modern military style games.... though to be honest its in its own time period, its just a big relief because I bought it late.
Why no one else did: For a start, its on here because its very obscure and practically has no one talking, buying, or discussing it. However what few have stumbled upon it, it still has quite some fierce reception for a $5 game. Others that are happy with it even use $5 as an excuse as if it weren't worth anymore. The problems people have with it apart from the obvious nature of its terrible voice acting, is that it just doesn't do anything special, it forces quick saving, and the AI relies on aimbot-like fighting to challenge the player.
Spot: I'm a nostalgic person, yet despite this most of my love for games and things is backed up with reasoning. However in this case I can't grab enough defense, it really does come down to a lot of nostalgia goggle wearing perspective. I love this game, but its a lot of nostalgia that is giving me the fun. In general its a "meh" old title that some hate and some find for a fun little bargain bin distraction, and outside of that it has practically no attention or value to the world. I feel like this spot is appropriate for such a game.
6) Lost Planet 2
Why I love this game: Because its crazy as can be, and straight forward in getting to the next wild and open ended crazy gun blazing segment. The game has some pretty weak and generic 3rd person shooting to it, but the amount of crazy freedom in such a linear stage by stage design and enemy types make up for it. Oh and the bosses.... wow. Massive alien after massive alien, and they all have cool and lengthy designs to them that make the whole situation really sink in as a playable and great struggle. The story is a bit meh at times, but comes in strong in the final act with an epic vibe that suits the crazy scope of it all making me feel just so good for playing the game. Oh and there is a limited but fun little bot multiplayer bit as well, the real multiplayer was nice to despite some clunky bits to it. Overall I had a ton of fun with the game. Everything from its artstyle, to its silly gamey nature just made it a blast to play through. It also is a shining example of a co-op game done right, no forceful gimmicks or difficulty spikes that require you to play with broken AI partners or feel left out for going in alone, I played the whole lengthy crazy fun filled adventure alone and loved every moment of it without struggling through partner gimmicks like my experience with most co-op driven games.
Why no one else did: It had its fans and playerbase, but for the most part it was usually disregarded as a lesser game in the series by many fans and critics were more than happy to slam it while others often just didn't have anything good to say. The fanbase that was there just wasn't very loud about it either, and overall you had a pretty crazy and interesting game that left kind of quietly. I also keep note of a hilarious common complaint I hear with people I actually know where people try to suggest its the dark souls of shooters (in a bad way). My friends made me think the bosses were impossible one hit kill death machines, and another friend said the demo boss took him 45 minutes to beat... which would be unbelievable if not for the giant counter making it a real thing you can say and the fact that I also witnessed my dad playing and beating that length by overstaying the fight for more than an hour. I also remember even before owning the game thinking the IGN review was only blaming the game for their sucky playing. I just don't know what it is about the game being too hard on some people and hurting its reputation, but I went solo and blasted through it guns blazing with ease and happiness.... and I'm not really all that great at any game usually. I guess this game was just my thing that clicked with the way I worked. Meanwhile many just really could not get a grip on this game, and I guess that has hurt its value while also just being the sequel to a "meh" cult hit.
Spot: We're getting into the real meat of the list, and I feel like this is good grounds to put a game like this in for the passion I had for it and the lowly and mixed reception it got. Love this game, and its probably one of my top favorite third person games alongside Furfighters, Starhawk, and Space marines. However it faded out as an obscure title within an obscure and "mediocre" series that just can't seem to catch on big with everyone. It was received harshly, but I could care less personally as I got more than my money's worth and will hold onto this. Now Lost planet 3... that is just miserable and boring to even watch let alone think of playing. Sad way for the series to go.
5) Hoard
Why I love it: I really can't explain it so well apart from the obvious love in theme. Its an arcadey top down twinstick shooter about dragons. With the theme aside, because I really do love that, I'm not quite sure why this was more enjoyable to me than the usual twin stick shooter. Each twinstick shooter I've tried seems to do its own thing while playing it safe in most actions and mechanics, like a dark story driven alien shooter that has its own way of doing progression or throws some tiny twist to shooting, or a general short run twin stick shooter that has its own way of doing goals and quick missions. Hoard falls into the previously mentioned one about short matches, made for quick multiplayer runs and competetive record beating... which makes it sound even less likely that I would enjoy it. However I just love it. The ecosystem, the upgrades, the feeling of being a dragon, the random events like trolls, the progressing towns and world that can get harder if you let them go unchecked, the tribute system and rivalry with other dragons, and tiny little elements that effect your lair like princess ransoms and thieves who get a little too brave. I love this game, and found it to be one of the most replayable and enjoyable PSN games out there... even beating out Journey.
Why no one else did: Talk about obscure nothingness. The whole experience just reeks of it. The developer got sucked into a mobile company with no word of it after they failed to properly support the game on any platform, and the audience behind it.... well not a peep. The media and public was just so darn quiet about this game, and for something I had some good fun in and something that holds a record for its tiny genre... it just isn't recognized. I wouldn't be surprised if it falls out of existence completely on digital markets and internet. I can't believe two games staring dragons made this list, you'd expect more respect and love from the many dragon fans when the media sorely lacks dragons.
Spot: I really enjoyed this game, but still because of its genre and the fact that its some tiny digital game I can't praise it or get but so much fun out of it. I really like it, but then there's just nothing really to it.... no hate, no outcry, no following of any kind, bad support, the whole game just went meh and extinguished itself from interest. So I suppose it makes a good middle tier spot being a lot of fun and decent value to myself, and leaving on such an obscure note that it might as well not exist without my personal enjoyment of it.
4) Killzone 1 (and kind of 3)
Why I love it: Killzone 1 was a great ordinary shooter to me that slowly pulled me more and more into it as a game sort of crossing the lines between medal of honor and more creative shooters I played. The campaign itself wasn't so fantastic, but it was still a lot of fun to play and had some cool values. Now it really opened up my eyes and revolutionized things for me when I found out about its bot mode... it was the first time ever seeing something like that in a shooter. The possibilities of playing a randomized skirmish with a player set count of my choice, and map pick ups was just.... wow! It was like creating my own mini-wars as a younger kid, about in 5th grade. I had seen some idea of its mechanics in split-screen gaming, but now at any time with or without friends I could throw myself into a mode like that with a whole freakin' battlefield and plenty of enemies and allies to play with on my own terms and pace. It was magnificent. But fine, want to know more about what I loved? Helghasts! They were amazing in design, tech, and voice. Then there was the crazy secondary weapon fire in a military style shooter, fun levels, grenade cooking and sprinting for the first time to me, and replayability through different characters, and the gunplay was a good attempt at what killzone 2 would later master with a serious depth in shooting and weight that really gave the guns a punch to them and a certain aesthetic that couldn't be found anywhere else at that time. Then there were all sorts of little amazing nitpicks that I loved, like one shot kill sniping, climbing ladders piece by piece and looking at your arms, double tapped magazines, corpses that didn't fade so fast and even pre-set ones to add atmosphere of a deadly war filled world, and other small little things of that sort of nature. I just really loved this game for its time and enjoyed the revolution to me to get my first run at bot mode. Even with nostalgia and "my first time experiencing x or y" aside this game was still a blast and I've had fun replaying it and I think it holds up as a solid and good corridor shooter with a simple but fun bot mode. Don't get me wrong it had its problems. Most notable problems could probably be directed to the fact that The voices had a tendency to get really repetitive, and the multiplayer/bot mode had a tendancy to favor explosives... to the point where whoever got to the hill with rockets, or stumbled upon a grenade launcher first likely rained death upon whoever they wanted to for the length of their ammo supply. Still any problem I found with the game was something I could brush aside for the amount of fun and joy it brought me.
Now as for Killzone 3, I could sort of drag that into the list because it was a lot of the same fun killzone 2 had. In a couple ways it improved, with new guns (including the best SMG ever), better campaign inventory system, and the multiplayer was a lot of fun similar to killzone 2 and was one of the best shooters on the market in its time.
Why no one else did: Killzone 1 was just trashed. I don't find myself often saying this since I can often handle bad reviews and criticism, but the reviews felt like outright strings of burning lies and nitpicks gone unchecked. I guess people got so obsessed over the stupid magazine pushed hype of it being a "halo killer", but that's just unacceptable... it needs to be judged on its own merits rather than trying to be rated purely on whether or not it tops the mainstream crown because a biased magazine told you so. The glitches, and wacky audio were taken out of proportion, and the core values of the game were undermined, and quite a few critics pretended it was unplayable for a framerate problem I couldn't even bother to notice unless I tracked it with a speed gun. Oh yeah and one critic even called it a rip-off of halo because an enemy was called an "elite".... yeah this is who you've entrusted your professional Journalism to internet: people that think the role of an elite soldier is owned by Halo. -_- I cannot do a facepalm hard enough. There were also a few remarks about how the gunplay was generic or mediocre, despite how far from the truth that was with the weighty feel and serious punch guns had to them... and I have still yet to find another shooter around or before that time period that did something like that. In modern times critics still can't get over their old ways of finding some way to hate it. More modern reviews on the HD release cry about controls despite full button mapping, repeat their complaints for bad audio, feel the need to hate on the overuse of bad language, and just try to convince you the gameplay has nothing about it worth enjoying. As for user reception, it was mostly just forgotten and not mentioned... however many people that are vocal were just there to tell you about how awful it was that it couldn't be halo. The people that did love it were a lot like me, and they followed the franchise into its golden age with killzone 2 while keeping old memories of the opening story line, helghast iconography, and nostalgic memories of fun in the military semi-arena style fragfest of the multiplayer.
As for Killzone 3, that is a bit of a tough one to talk about. Critics loved it in big reviews and even somewhat mainstream coverage for the first month it was out and then turned around calling it generic and forgettable in second opinions and through small sneers, and the entire time they were downplaying the story (with over 90 minutes of cut-scenese) as nothing. The fanbase was divided and many rejected it for its changes compared to the amazing killzone 2, and you know they were right to call it a lesser sequel. It ripped out important features like server lists while forcing point pop-ups in your face as well as some dumbed down bot fuctions and a campaign with a few too many rail and scripted pieces.
Spot: This is a tough call since I have so much passion for the series, and yet the first one bombed so hard for such unfair reasons. The first one really elevated me to a better quality in an FPS, finally giving me replay beyond a campaign which would have been enough to qualify as a great game even if it had stopped there. Whether I'm looking through nostalgic goggles, or if I take them off and look at it as an analytical gamer with fun in mind... I found killzone 1 to be great. I'll repeat myself again, I truly believe the criticism for the first game was full of some of the most dishonoest and poorly written reviews I've stumbled upon from the PS2 era; with outrageous expectations, some outright lies (what kind of framerate were they seeing?), and people who felt too big and full of themselves to be grateful for the things that were just fine. The casual public didn't stop to give it proper credit either, as most stayed quiet or fell for the "it failed as a halo killer" crap. So if this were about killzone 1 it would get a very high spot on the list meeting both extremes of my enthusiasm and public hate as well as going pretty undernoticed. However I'm also taking into account Killzone 3, which is honestly more fair and mixed. The series was established well by then and had fans who despised the changes while critics were a bit more forgiving of it. However the purist fans are off for the same reason I mock the 2nd opinions and legacy of this game from critics. They call it COD-ified and bash on it, to even the point of spreading their own lies like saying it had horrible noob friendly aim assists (it actually has less than killzone 2). It was not a forgettable or generic game and was instead a lesser killzone game but never the less a good solid killzone game. Killzone 3 was still fun, and actually has a couple of good qualities over shadow fall which is in general a better game. Killzone 3 got less burned though, while killzone 1 was a revolution to my nostalgic sense and a grand game in general that was scared and bullied at reception so I find this place around middle-high tier on the list to be a good spot for these games to share. So its kind of the big with the small, and I'm going to settle it down around this spot.
3) Cortex Command
Why I love this game: Well for starters it holds some value for being the first indie game I seriously got into (I played a bit of serious sam before that, but just a tiny bit). Outside of that though, I invested some time into it around its late build 18 days when it was a free game up for grabs that was mostly ran by mods. I downloaded and got a real kick out of what you could do in this game, it was basically an engine full of potential and ran by a community of imagination. I loaded up maps and went to war, ordering in troops with a unique loadout system and could send ships down full of supplies, bombs, interesting robots or creatures, or a squad of armed and ready soldiers. Then I defended against endless waves of enemies. The core mechanics were just genius, with a gibable system of nearly everything. Guns could be shot out of your hands, every limb could be shot off requiring you to adapt to a new situation, actual bleeding or robotic circuiting failures were a part of your health, and ships could lose vital engines and fall down taking out cargo, buildings, and terrain with it before it results in a final big explosion. Oh yeah and terrain had its own materials and destruction as well. As you could imagine this was a big sandbox of fun and again filled with player imagination. I would personally stack a ton of mods, hide my brain (goal to defend) in a ridiculous location, and had money placed ridiculously high from editing my files, and just went to survive crazy and insane battles until I got sick of the map or simply destroyed too much of it to continue on. It is to this day the best and most thrilling combat I've had in a sidescroller game. Oh yeah and it got even better in some ways as time moved on. When further builds were released, heavy scripting could be coded in to create deeper guns, characters and gibs were overhauled to be bigger and deeper with a new armor system including helmets and higher or lower tier soliders and factions, and dropships now had way more pieces to them than engines and their core. Over time new modes were developed, modders invented their own factions, and war was a lot more fun. Sadly though there were also more bugs added, some mods were outdated and never to be seen from again, more mods resulted in huge loading times, and the community is currently bordering on dead along with the game itself. Most of the good times for this has passed, but I still love what this game did for me and its still one of the most important and memorable indie games to me.
Why no one else did: Even the developer hated this game, and that's where most of the problems come from. This game was poorly made under the assumption that it never needed to be finished or updated in truly interesting ways. After build 18 upgraded the shiney new stuff, it became premium and eventually worked its way out to the major public with a $20 release at one of its most broken and uninteresting forms on steam after indies became a big deal and had fierce competition with themselves for far better prices. The developer has been lazy, lacks communication, has done dishonest and hurtful things to its own fans (like spending all the extra support edition cash on buying a real AK47 rather than using it for game work like he implied), and because he got treated like he deserved once it went public he used that reception as an excuse to continue his old habits of not following up the support he promised and doing work just as efficiently as valve is on the continuation of half-life. Cortex command was a broken buggy release with some of the worst support I've seen in an indie development, and because of that and its steep learning curve as well as its general need for a community at a time when the PC market is oversaturated with good indie titles... the game was bashed and hated on only to be left forgotten by now as even steam sales don't bring the game back up to its real form. A cult following mostly from whoever was left from build 18 or previous days still remembers the good times and occasionally checks up on the game, but apart from that this game fell into a state of decay and is considered an abomination by the masses.
Spot: I can see every reason people are upset with this game, and I think the developer is a total jerk for running such great potential into the ground the way he did. Still I am sooooo grateful I joined in at a better time and took the time to understand this game in its younger, better working, and free state so I didn't just blindly throw $20 in and rage quite the buggy mess at first glance. I love what the engine is built around, I adore the core mechanics, I have it packed with mods to give that content substance, and I still continue to really enjoy this game and have such incredible memories of time spent with it. It was a brilliant game with a well deserved horrible reputation and a closed up legacy of pity, yet it deserves a high spot on the list because if you can forgive it you get a game of monstrous potential and one of the most incredible 2D engines ever constructed.... and I love it despite the hate it gets and deserves.
2) Naughty Bear
Why I love it: Love might be a bit overboard, but honestly its a great game that gave me a break from what I'm used to and was relaxing and good fun in a setting that actually felt nice to my sort of niche. I love tropical themes when they're done right and fun (no not farcry3's drug obsessed world). I love saturday morning cartoons that had that very simplistic nature to their world. I love how Naughty bear captured both of these things, kidified it, and then puts an ironic spin on it all turning it into a murder score game. As for the gameplay, it wasn't so complex but the pacing and open feel to it fits right in to what I love and I had a good time running around playing with traps, AI, and trigger events. The level set up was pretty fun as well making you go in with different goals, and different problems giving you a new way to look at each level. Sadly apart from those challenges and events, the level was mostly recycled and I guess that was the main drawback. However I still had a lot of fun in it, and the setting and feel to it make it one of those brilliant summer comfort games to sit back and play for some mindless well paced arcadey fun.
Why no one else did: To be fair if I bought this for full price, maybe I'd be made to. The game was recieved poorly and hammered around 2/10-like scores from most critics and recieved poorly for basically the complaint I had with the level repeating.... except they applied it to everything. It was a pretty cheap game in the end, and sent you through a lot of repetition, a lot of reused things not fleshed out enough, and all in a pretty unpolished title. Other bits could get to and bug the hell out of some people, like the "annoying" narrator or the camera. The game was just trashed for its repetitive nature and it was just seen as a very bad game. It was really hated, and critics and gamers still use it against the developer (which I'm honestly impressed is still around and making the next big W40K game.... awesome). Its just one of those "really horrible" releases that everyone only remembers to bring up as a joke and laugh at, almost like colonial marines without the controversy. Speaking of which, I think that game has its fun moments to but its still bad.
Spot: I suppose it gets one of the highest spots for just how shocked I was with the industry and public reception. At the time I was really begining to trust and get a grip on how to check into whether or not games were good based on their reception. Of course, as you can tell by this list's existence, that's not ever going to completely work out... but this one just really shocked me. I mean a 2 out of 10... come on guys, its not even close. You gave Duke nukem forever, and such forgettable buggy games as rage and alien marines better scores than that. I ran straight to the VGportal forum blog at the time of this and made a post on how off the critics were while giving a mini-review myself. It just shocked me that much. Look I'll admit its not critically amazing game, and it deserves some mixed scores and general disappointment... especially if they tried to sell it off as $60 However I found it to be a refreshing and enjoyable bargain bin game with a good theme and some good design choices resulting in an overall fun experience. At the end of the day, Naughty bear is a strong "guilty pleasure" of mine that deserves a strong spot on the list.
1) Turok Evolution
Why I love it: Lets see.... Crazy guns, inventive amazing world that is so memorable and inspiring just on how weird or cheesy it is, lengthy fun campaign with plenty of fun chapters, great replay-ability through cheat codes, those lizard people enemies are just plain awesome, great music (that theme!), craptastically cheesy voice work that I adore, the gore and gunplay just feels right, and a ton of nostalgic just for being one of the first major FPS games that I really got a kick out of. I cannot find out any reason to call this game anything short of awesome. It sucked that the only non-campaign thing was split-screen arena (this was the standard thing until I came across killzone 1). The only thing I can say I'm disappointed in apart from that last statement, is disappointment in myself that I don't go back and replay this game as much as I should. I just love this game, and its one of those big impact childhood games of mine.
Why no one else did: Yet the world just looked on it and said "meh". The turok series as a whole got kind of thrown under the bus. It was a big hit and a classic on the N64 platform, but it disappointed in its 3rd entry and got overshadowed by goldeneye, and as time went on people just didn't care about the series as it attempted a PS2 entry that went no where and as the company died it got sent to a reboot status with disney that also went no where. As people look back... well that's the thing, they don't really. Even the classic N64 versions are hardly mentioned and not really cared about anymore. This game specifically is my favorite for better controls, better gun selection, better enemies, and just nostalgia yet this is the game a lot of fans made fun of, critics looked back on as "milking" the series, and people just continued throwing under the bus. The reviews themselves were just calling the game out as being mediocre or nothing special, and in general the game just kind of suffered a quite and mediocre reception. Some people even say the cheap death filled arcadey sidescroller GBA port that was nothing like the game I'm actually talking about was better because... I dunno, NES or sidescroller lovers is my best guess. Overall the game was just kind of trashed, or frowned at, and universally kind of forgotten.
Spot: This is the very top place for how huge of an impact it had on me, and how I still just love it and have so much respect for it as a shooter. Yet the masses don't even know what it probably is anymore, and those that will remember... probably don't care or will question if I am talking about the same game since they walked away with disappointment or regret.
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