Recently, I finally got a chance to play Assassin’s Creed II. It sold millions of copies, gained widespread critical acclaim, and… I found myself wondering why.
Not that it’s a bad game, necessarily, but if there’s one thing that defines this game, it’s the fact that the game is constantly inflicting arbitrary limits on you from the first frame. You can’t start the actual game proper until you talk to everybody in the room before entering the Animus. You can’t just climb up the towers to get to certain viewpoints, you have to follow a specific path laid out by the development team (or worse, unlock a mechanic to use). You have an open world but it’s deliberately limited until you finish certain memories, because God forbid we could unlock chunks of the map.
For me, the breaking point was an Assassin’s Tomb where you had to chase after a Templar who, of course, beat you to the goal. So you climb up to get into the room and fight the group. At this point I had throwing knives and a pistol.
And they were disabled. I couldn’t use two weapons to fight because the game had decided I wasn’t allowed to for no reason whatsoever except the game felt like it. This was immediately followed by a platforming section where you not only had to deal with the game’s imprecise controls but had to use an entirely new mechanic the game hadn’t introduced before this point.
The worst part is that this was hardly the only open-world action game that hit that year. inFamous and Prototype both were far less restrictive and frankly more fluid in getting around the world, and had better controls.
Again, it’s not a bad game, but it’s so unnecessarily restricted that I found myself wondering where the praise came from.
What about you? What game have you played and found maybe not bad, but baffled at the praise?
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I can’t think of just one, I have a list.
F.E.A.R. 3
The Ghostbusters game that everyone had been so excited about. Sucked.
Dragon Age 2
Crysis 2 – I’m a PC gamer for life. When they decided to cater to consoles, they really pooped the coffin.
Homeland
Bulletstorm
I actually liked that Ghostbusters game, although I played it on the Wii, and I think that added to the thrill a bit.
Ghostbusters was a disappontment. Bulletstorm I enjoyed but I get why people don’t like it.
Red Dead Redemption- spend 5 hrs playing repetitive missions and 25 hours riding a horse across a map.
Max Payne 3- Terrible shooter, unfortunately that is the only thing you do in the game. The story is pretty much lifted from Man on Fire too.
You make me sad.
GTA4, BioShock. Neat games, but just kinda not fun, for me. The gameplay of each wore out its welcome pretty long before I finished either one. Although, in fairness, I might’ve enjoyed BioShock more if I’d played it on the PC instead of the PS3 (I just plain don’t like console FPS controls). And GTA4 was always fun to just drive around in and listen to the radio, but the actual missions with the gunplay and such got boring very quickly.
And, not that it’s widely rated very highly, but E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy was talked-up a lot by Jim Sterling, and I was very disappointed when I played it. Boring, cheap, poorly-translated.
Arkham City. It was fun, but not as much fun as Arkham Asylum. And the controls sucked compared to AA.
Must respectfully disagree with you on Batman AC. I thought it was a perfect step forward from the first one and I really enjoyed how they tightened and tuned the combat from the first one. Especially how they take the training wheels off in new game +.
Arkham City presented a sick and twisted Riddler that I personally enjoyed. A Riddler more about SAW-esque puzzles than word games is one I’d like to see in the movies.
Final Fantasy 13, although i guess mostly everybody hates it. I just couldn’t understand why they felt the need to have such restrictive and linear progress for the first 15 hours (not 15 minutes like every other videogame out there). The biggest problem for me was that you were only allowed to level up so much in a certain area. that’s not Final fantasy. it basically was a game that forced you to play it their way. that and all the characters were split up in the beginning that it just made things harder for me because i knew that if i only had one more character i would freaking die so much! also why were two characters australian for no reason? just bad voice acting, bad level design, truly awful character design and poor story telling. I understand they were trying something new but jeez. i don’t care how pretty it looks it’s clearly inferior to almost every other final fantasy installment.
My big gripe (along with the linear design) was all the grinding needed to get everything you need to get all the upgraded weapons. I could reach the level cap several times over for all the character in the times it takes to do it.
Dragon Age(s)
Bio Shock (s)
Skyrum
Grand Theft Auto 4 put me off Grand Theft Auto games for the rest of forever. Used to be that they were midnight purchases, now, they’ll be “I’ll gamefly that when I’m done playing this other fun thing, maybe”
It was mostly the controls that did it, but having to chase the AI in my shitty Taurus knockoff was a bitch when they turned into F1 drivers regardless of what car they got in. Hated that game so much
Not sure if this counts, but I’ve been going back and playing some old games on an emulator, and after finishing it, I wondered why I liked Dragon Warrior so much, and why there was so much love for it online. Final Fantasy 1 was WAY better.
i’m probably going to get cruxified for this but i didn’t like mass effect 2. it felt too much like a gears of war rip-off. it lost a lot of scifi elements and became a bland 3 person shooter. oh wow! so they made a giant human robot? why? oh…..just cause? okay. also i never liked Uncharted or Infamous.
InFamous I’m actually a fan of, but I hate Uncharted with the fire of a thousand angry suns.
I am a fan of Uncharted I enjoyed the way where the first one would mix up genres in a new and interesting way. 2 corrected some flaws in the game play and a nice continuation. Uncharted 3 was overrated it dragged on a bit… That said and I truly am a big fan of the Uncharted games. I hope there is not a 4th one in the series.
Is it possible that you just don’t like games?
ME2 is one of my favorite games, mostly because of the different classes and combat, which is much better on harder difficulties. All the talking does get boring and I never played it like a straight shooter. I played it more like a squad combat game with powers that bend it like beckham.
The transition from ME1 to ME2 was jarring to say the least. There’s a huge difference in the games that studio made before that EA logo started popping up. Just sayin.
Pong. Character development sucked!
GTA 4. It was supposed to be this revolution in gaming, but the game that I played had a very good impressionist version of New York City (“hey look, we have a beer garden in roughly the same place in our fake astoria!”) and absolutely nothing else that rose above average–it tried to be a million different things; a driving sim, a 3rd person action game, a flight sim, an RPG; and it did none of them better than “okay.”
Saints Row 3, on the other hand, proved that if you do nothing better than ‘okay,’ only you take the stick out of your ass and have fun with the story, setting, premise, characters and dialogue, you can make a really awesome game.
SR3 basically proves that any game that’s only middling can be made great with enough Japanese nutcases and guns that fire sharks.
I still think SR2 was the peak of those games. SR3 crossed the line into too damn stupid for me.
SR3 had me at beating down gimps with a giant purple dong-bat.
@Surly You’re not supposed to masturbate while playing.
Really? No wonder I hated the Wii so much…
I know, maybe if they made a Wii port of this: [i.imgur.com]
GTA4 I found tiresome, like a lot of people here. Couldn’t finish either of the Dragon Age games and I won’t be going back. I always find the AC games somewhat meh, and I’m not convinced the new one with wilderness and native Americans is going to go do anything to change my mind.
For me the big selling point of ACIII is the tomahawk. Finally, you can chain attacks instead of just jab, jab, jab, jab INSTAKILL!
To me, I didn’t mind the limitations in Assassin’s Creed as it wasn’t supposed to be as open world as, say, Red Dead Redemption or GTA4. It’s SUPPOSED to be very linear. It’s a story that happened centuries ago being relived to uncover a mystery. That’s why you can’t just go around killing people (except for guards) without being desynchronised. Plus, I found that it doesn’t take too long to unlock everything, anyway. You just become more and more powerful.
Perhaps my opinion is skewed, though, as I adore Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood like none other. That was the series perfected (until AC:3, anyway). If you didn’t like AC:2, I would say gave AC:Brotherhood a chance.
Either way, the stories and characters are what sucked me in.
Having said all that I couldn’t handle the first Assassin’s Creed game. I did a controller toss, swore at the Xbox and rage quit so hard I never played another game in the series again…
I totally agree with the first Assassin’s Creed. I just couldn’t do it. BUUTTT…. I loved AC II. One of my favorites ever. I couldn’t finish Brotherhood. It was too hard, which is probably just me being stupid but I had a lot of frustrations. After a whole day trying to follow someone over and over and over but never being able to stay in ‘the sweet spot’ for more than thirty seconds, it was the last straw. Revelations was way more playable for me.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a Gamma Squad author refer to a game as open-world when it really wasn’t ever sold, marketed, or played that way. AC2 was a really, really good game. It was one of my favorites til AC:B brought the multiplayer rain.
AC:Bro is definitely one of my favorite games of the last 5 years. I was really surprised too, while I liked AC2 alot more than Senor Seitz I was impressed at how many minor improvements were in ACB.
Also yeah its not an open world game at all, its a fairly linear game for the reasons you already stated in your comment.
Dub, I’d be interested in why you feel it’s not an open-world game. Elaborate?
LOVED ACII and its sequels. Went back after and played the original, hated it hard.
As to “linear versus open-world” question- ACII and its sequels were basically sandbox (do whatever missions in whatever order) but SO complex and plot-dependent that they had to artificially limit it in some ways. Look at Deus Ex: Human Revolution- you were explicitly TOLD you could go full-stealth the whole way, and then they set you a boss that you HAD to fight a quarter of the way through.
Skyrim
Homefront (never been more glad to have rented first)
Bulletstorm
Brink
mass effect 2&3
Brink and Homefront I think were both aggressively marketed and turned out to be giant balls of suck. Even the manager at my local Gamstop apologized repeatedly for pushing Brink.
SKYRIM!! I just couldn’t get into it…
I kinda hated the combat.
Take your favorite elbow and put it in the center of your chest, hold it there, now wave your arm back and forth like a spazz. That’s the combat.
Rainbow Six Vegas
Gears of War
Fable
I thought SkyRim was fucking incredible. Up there with Fallout 3 for a multi-textured multi-tiered open world adventure. Can’t wait for Dawnbreakers either.
Skyrim for me was ruined by the fact that it was so self-serious and the map was so damn awful.
::nods in agreement, goes back to playing new game+ on Dragon’s Dogma::
Red Dead Redemption – 2/3 of the way through I got bored
L.A. Noire – after finishing the Homicide Black Dahlia case it sucked didn’t finish
Star Wars Forced Unleashed 1 and 2
Bioshock
Halo 1/2/3 – as a game is stupid
I didn’t finish LA Noir either. Once I got to the Arson desk and did the first two cases, I got bored with where the story was and just haven’t gone back to it.
Diablo III
I am with ya Grimmbles… Diablo 3 all the way!
I finally started playing Shadow of the Colossus on PS3. I dont know if the PS3 version is buggy or something, but its unplayable and the controls are god awful.
Oh, that is a good one. I played it back in they when it first came out and I was incredibly excited. That excitement immediately left as it just became an incredibly repetitive experience with zero enjoyment after the first couple collosiiii (or whatever the plural is)
Halo – Gameplay is way too repetitive
Gears Of War – I feel like the controls and movements are way to clunky to be enjoyable
Infamous – While I love how well you can move around the city, I feel the gameplay is repetitive and the combat is boring
Dead Space 2 (I expected it to be a horror game)
and Mass Effect 2 (this is probably the most overrated of two).
Heavy Rain. Turning a key to start up your car doesn’t make for a fun game.
This article goes to show that some people shouldn’t be allowed the right to write. This Dan Seitz goes to the extent of comparing a memorable masterpiece of new-gen gaming to mediocre if not terrible games like InFamous or Prototype. The fact that the man who wrote this article even mentions something like Prototype or InFamous shows that his interest seems to be blowing things up and beating people senseless without the need for a good story or script. I’ve seen comments here complaining about Fable, Shadow of the Colossus, Red Dead Redemption, so I bet this article will be really popular.
ACII’s marvelous soundtrack and its magnificent representation of Firenze, Venezzia, San Gimigniano, Forli and Montereggioni in the late 15th century make up for all of its minor flaws. If this Dan Seitz had the brains to even be able to enjoy the unique atmosphere that this game has, perhaps there would be no need for this regrettable article.
You don’t right no good, neeither.
What do noses smell like?
did you really just say infamous was ahorrible game? you opinions are not what everyone else thinks. you talking trash on a writer who put up a decent article because he doesnt like your favorite game just makes you look like an immature child.
He didnt like the gameplay because it puts arbitrary constraints on the player, and it is boring, repetitive, and not challenging (except for dealing with crappy running and jumping controls). Sure the cities look great and the sound is good, but most dont judge games solely on background settings and sound. I judge them primarily on game play and AssCreed II’s is not fun imo. Maybe you like easy mode games but most gamers like a challenge.
I think this Michael Polenz is just a little snooty.
Since you bring it up, Polenz, somebody might as well tell you you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Yes, their research into Renaissance Italy is great. Unfortunately, they took that research and wrote a story that belongs in an airport paperback. The main problem is that neither Ezio or Desmond Miles are particularly compelling characters, and the overarching story is absolutely ridiculous. It’s Dan Brown-level crap and frankly I’m hoping the franchise ditches it. It’s especially a disgrace because Renaissance Italy was anything but boring and they had plenty of real conspiracies to use instead of this Templars and Assassins garbage.
InFamous’ story has huge flaws as well, notably Trish, but at least with that game, Cole McGrath gets credibly raked over the coals emotionally and the game made an effort to introduce some moral ambiguity. Prototype I agree is cheesy, but at least it knows what it is. Give me a game that understands it’s not Shakespeare before a game convinced Renaissance Italy needs some spicing up.
All perfectly valid criticisms of AC, there, but I still love the atmosphere and the gameplay, and some of the NPCs. It’s true, the story and main protag are pretty weak, but the stuff surrounding it and the overall production values are good enough that I just accept it. The arbitrary constraint thing is a non-issue for me, although that one with the chase and the ranged weapons is kinda stupid (is it possible you needed that guy alive? I don’t remember).
apparently, typing all of that on my phone means my grammar drops to sub middle school level, lol.
Red Dead Redemption, the third act is just a bore. Mexico is the best part of that game.
Dead Space II, loved the first, couldn’t finish the second.
Metal Gear 4, fun when actually playing, but so many cutscenes really drag down the action. I totally agree with AssCreed II also, the combat was so easy it was like playing a tutorial for 20 hours, the multiplayer was more fun, but very random. Never finished it either.
Skyrim actually it is one of the worst game I ever played not just an overrated game for me .
A lot of you will probably disagree, but in my opinion Metal Gear Solid 4 was a pretty big disappointment.
Don’t get me wrong the game was still a lot of fun to play and the story was amazing. But comparing it to previously MGS titles the game just lost a lot of its magic.
Traveling from place to place kind of destroys the atmosphere that you had in previous games. Previous MGS games always give me the feeling that I’m in a huge open facility, jungle etc. (when actually I’m not), probably the smart level design. But this game felt pretty linear somehow. I mean linear in a sense that you’re really noticing it.
In my opinion MGS for psx and MGS3 are the best MGS titles to date, with MGS2 on third place and MGS4 in last place despite of the epic story.
I happen to be playing Assassin’s Creed II right now – after finishing Assassin’s Creed I last week no less – and I’m very much enjoying it, especially considering that this was a franchise that I was really on the fence with. I’ll admit that I’m not as far as you as I’ve only reached DNA sequence 6 so far.
The most overrated game for me was Beyond Good And Evil. The game is broken for anyone who needs inverted Y camera, so it was totally unplayable for me and like many others, I only found out after buying it.
Maybe also Darksiders and Metal Gear Solid 4, but that may be just because they’re not my type of game, and I would definitely have to play them more to really know if I could enjoy them.
MGS4 – really not a good game. Clunky controls, linear, horrible story (looks great though)
Dragon Age – poor visuals, so incredibly repetative = boring
GTAIV – cool at first, then just got far too repetative
Weird, I thought MGS4 had great controls. So good that the previous games’ controls went from good to clunky when I replayed them.
Skyrim. Things looked fine, average until I reached the first “fight” — Oh god.. was that a combat system at all? Total crap for me. Bethesda games are not for me, the gameplay is too rough and clumsy.
I went back to Dark Souls (+120 hours playing) from where I never should have left.
Mass Effect. It was all there; the art, the setting, the mood, the music but.. suddenly, when I was there playing like a happy man, the game was.. boring? And that was it for me.
Dude, give Dragon’s Dogma a shot, its not perfect but it is the most enjoyable monster hunting combat I’ve experienced in an rpg in recent memory.
Skyrim didn’t have sh*t on Morrowind.
I totally agree, man. I was not a fan of Assassin’s Creed 2 at all. AC 1 had so much potential, though it was terribly flawed, but AC2 pooped over all that potential. GTA IV was good but overrated. The first Borderlands is mediocre, though the second game looks to remedy that. It looks amazing.
Lollipop Chainsaw. Hands down.
There were a few games over the years that everyone I knew played the hell out of, and I just didn’t get it.
GTA3 – Novelty of being an asshole ( beating whores, stealing cars, etc. ) wore off fast for me. I didn’t see the fun in it at all, and the missions were lame.
007 Goldeneye – I was just another game to me. Didn’t see what everyone else seen in it.
Red Dead Redemption – Like GTA3, but even more boring.
Any CoD – Like the FPS hasn’t been done to death. I bought CoD4 and was completely underwhelmed. ( Keep in mind I don’t enjoy playing online multi-player )
We desperately need more games like:
Dark Souls
Witcher 2
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Morrowind – Cuz like Beema wrote: “Skyrim didn’t have sh*t on Morrowind”
A remake of Morrowind would be fantastic.
What the fuck is wrong with you people,
“Red Dead Redemption – Like GTA3, but even more boring.”
“MGS4 – really not a good game. Clunky controls, linear, horrible story (looks great though)”
“Heavy Rain. Turning a key to start up your car doesn’t make for a fun game.”
“Max Payne 3- Terrible shooter, unfortunately that is the only thing you do in the game. The story is pretty much lifted from Man on Fire too.”
Seriously, you people are the cancer of the earth. Get fucked, your talking about GREAT milestones in gaming. Get some taste in gaming before you blabber your dumb fucking comments here.
GRRRRR OTHER’S OPINIONS MAKE ME MAD WHEN THEY’RE DIFFERENT!!!!
RAWWWWWRRRRR DERP DERP HURRR…
Metal Gear , to be fair i tried it a couple of times didn’t like it at all i found it boring n slow for me.
Assassin’s creed , same thing ( played for 1.5 hours )
WoW , old graphics – didn’t enjoy playing it ( i reached lvl 21 )
skyrim , nothing special about it .
Metal Gear Solid 2- I loved it until it turned into a mashup of Dan Brown, the Matrix and Sophie’s Choice. Also, to hell with Raiden.
The problem with this article and many of the comments posted is not necessarily a question of any particular games quality, but of the nature of the people posting the comments. I did not buy or play Bioshock, Bulletstorm, Max Payne 3, Dead Space and many other games mentioned in this list, and I don’t intend to get them second hand either. This is not because they are bad games(!!!), but because they don’t match up with my personal tastes when it comes to gaming. These kind of issues often come up when my friends and I talk about games, films, TV etc because there is a subtle distinction which 90% of you are overlooking. You need to stop, take a breath, and try to understand the difference between a game BEING shit, and you THINKING that a game is shit because it doesn’t match up with what you like about, or expected from, a game. I am self aware enough to realise the difference between personal opinion and general consensus, and therefore not quick to present my opinion as valid facts. Just had to get that off my chest.
P.S. Shadow Of The Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time because IN MY OPINION it elevated itself above a mere game and was actually a (cerebral) experience. If you didn’t feel sympathy as you brutally murdered these gentle giants then you’ve missed the point of what Team Ico created, and I can’t wait for The Last Guardian.
P.P.S. I thought all the Saints Row games were a bag of wank. The whole gangstas, pimps, and hoes thing was out of date about 10 years ago, but they just keep laying it on thick. How about a little more emotional depth and a little less racist stereotyping?
@PhoenixFire:
Two of the most overrated games that I have played were GTA4 (couldn’t finish it) and Red Dead Redemption (I just finished it, which is what led me to this forum). But I (and I assume others) am comparing them to similar genres (or similar aspects to games in different genres.)
The games that I have loved are:
GTA: Vice City and San Andreas
Bioshock
Fallout 3
GTA4 just didn’t feel “fun” like the earlier games. The color palette was drab (like NYC in the winter), those stupid pigeons, no hunting for packages, etc. The game just took itself too seriously. So, I switched to Saints Row (1 and 2) and I had a blast.
Red Dead Redemption – First off, depressing as hell. The story is very good, but just about every side mission ends badly. The turning point for me was the side mission were the guy was trying to build the flying machine. After that mission, I was so depressed that I stopped playing for a week. The whole game had a very nihilistic attitude (and I do like dark games, like Bioshock). Also, it was an open-world game with nothing to do nor discover. There are not very many side-missions, there ARE NO discoverable locations (you will come across every location simply by doing the story missions). Occasionally you will discover an abandoned cabin that you can explore and possibly find a chest containing…..$9. Wow, that is exciting. You can collect herbs and hunt animals…but you cannot do ANYTHING with them except sell them. The game is gorgeous to look at and I did enjoy riding my horse around…but there is nothing to do. And because there is nothing to do, the game actually feels very linear. Now, I am comparing this to games like the earlier GTA games and Fallout 3. These were open world games with so much to do, it was crazy. I never came close to 100% completion with any of those games. I am at 97.35% (roughly) completion with RDR. Besides the main story (which was good and thought provoking), the game was boring and not a lot of fun.