I’ve noticed over the years that I have a certain taste in games that may not be representative of the gaming media or community as a whole. Sure, I like a lot of the same things you do; Half-Life 2 was great, I was a CS player forever, and I enjoy a bash at Guitar Hero as much as the next wannabe rock star.So why are there so many games I find to be great that everyone else raises their nose at? Let’s have a look at my top five games that I love and which you loathe (or at least have been completely indifferent to; that didn’t make for as catchy a title) and figure out just what went wrong.
•1. Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Now here’s one that initially met with pretty good reviews and commercial success. Yet over the years, everyone you talk to about the game seems to wish they’d never played it at all. These days everyone decries the so-called ugly voxel-based graphics and unbalanced teams; my reply is that every game was ugly back in those days, and at least this tried to do a bunch of new things in RTS that the various C&C clones on the market hadn’t even thought about.
Also, tunneling flame tanks are the greatest unit in a strategy game ever (yes, even more so than the Shredders from Dark Reign).
Why I love it: Interesting expansion on the awesome original; even cheesier FMV; did more than just rehash the original C&C.
Why you loathe it: Ugly poo-brown voxels; even cheesier FMV; did more than just rehash the original C&C, which apparently was a BAD THING.
•2. Anachronox
Another game that met with good reviews; however the gaming public greeted this with a colossal “Anachra-who?” and refused to buy it. Yes that’s right, the gaming public refused to buy a well-made, original and interesting game!
It’s a shame too, because what you would have found is an RPG with interesting game mechanics (borrowing heavily from Japanese RPGS, but I don’t hold that against it), great characterisation, a brilliant story, and an insane sense of humour.
Why I love it: Funny, funny game; used JRPG mechanics in a way that was actually fun; terrific storyline; made by Ion Storm (who brought us Deus Ex, the best game ever).
Why you loathe it: It wasn’t Quake or a Warcraft game; It wasn’t advertised very well, and received little in the way of shelf space; made by Ion Storm (who brought us Daikatana, may John Romero burn in hell for it).
•3. Battlefield: Vietnam
The red-headed step-child of the Battlefield family, Vietnam is a game that just never really took off with a lot of gamers. Now in this case I can understand it; it player almost exactly like BF1942, just with the added bonus of glitchy graphics and unbalanced player classes.
However a few quick patches later, and BFV became a game that carved out a decent little niche, and was set in a war and time period that most games (at least at that stage) hadn’t touched. It may be the weakest game in the series, but I think the scorn it received was due to being too similar to its predecessor, rather than being a poor game.
Why I love it: Vietnam; helis and jets were easier to fly; 1960s music; the mods.
Why you loathe it: Buggy as hell on release; too similar to 1942; felt a bit rushed, and doesn’t really fit in with the BF family.
•4. X-Wing: Alliance
Another game which met with decent reviews and a good reception by the community; and yet the one thing that was said over and over again was “not as good as X-Wing VS Tie Fighter.”
I’m going to go to rhetorical land for a second here. If the game has pretty much the same gameplay as XvT, but with the added bonus of better graphics, sound, more ships, a more robust multiplayer, and an actual singleplayer storyline campaign…how can it possibly be inferior? This was, and to my mind still is, the single best space combat sim out there. Hell, with the graphics mods out there it still looks half decent too.
Why I love it: Best Star Wars space combat game ever; singleplayer involved more than just skirmish mode; easily modable; robust multiplayer.
Why you loathe it: The story wasn’t great, and strayed pretty far from the canon; some problems with multiplayer stability; was better than XvT, which is apparently slightly worse than punching babies.
•5. Daikatan…just kidding, Dark Reign 2
Never have I seen a gaming community turn on a game as vehemently as this one. Despite receiving overwhelmingly positive critical reviews, Dark Reign 2 was universally crapped on by both the hardcore DR fans and the gaming community as a whole. What’s funny is that the negative reaction was due to more to the fact that Auran weren’t making the prequel (yes 2 was a prequel to 1), and it introduced those dastardly 3D graphics.
Despite a good campaign, fun multiplayer, great graphics for the time, and an aggressive advertising campaign, this game was ignored to the point that community members began funding multiplayer servers for the original game just so they wouldn’t have to play it. The original Dark Reign community still thrives; Dark Reign 2 is just a sad memory.
Why I love it: Expanded the DR universe; looked good and ran well; fun multi.
Why you loathe it: Made by a different studio; dared to mess with the Dark Reign Universe; 3D was sent by the devil to enslave the universe.
So how do you like my list? If this one is controversial at all, wait until you see my follow up article: Five games I loathe that you love. I might have to expand the list; I hate a lot of games.
-Tim Sweeney
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