Top 10 Most Overrated Video Game Franchises

Top 10 Most Overrated Video Game Franchises

Written by Zeromage 403 Comments
Last Updated:: February 8, 2009

If there are two ways to get people riled up on the internet, one is to question their religious or political beliefs, and the other way is to make fun of their favorite video games. You see that your favorite game franchise of all time is listed on Old-Wizard’s most overrated video game franchises? Surely it can’t be! You know us though, we have a knack for knocking down the typical things people enjoy. In this list, we tried to think of video game franchises that just plain piss us off because everyone else loves them and we think that they’re total ass. Going into our thinking process when considering these overrated video game franchises were their lack of creativity and a lack of entertainment that they possessed, as well as the fading quality of each subsequent game in the series. We don’t think that these next ten video game franchises are necessarily bad, but we also don’t think that they deserve the critical acclaim that they’ve received either. <

10. God of War

God of War 2 on the Playstation 2 had to be one of the most over-hyped video games to ever be released. The reason could be that IGN gave the first game in the series a 9.8, even though it was pretty much nothing more than a repetitive hack and slash game. While there are puzzle portions to these games, they are really slow and they only serve to slow the games down. There’s also no real innovation in either game. But if you’re a big fan of mindless button mashing with good graphics, you’ll probably like this series, but I doubt that many fans of the golden age of video gaming who have played classic games like A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger would give this game a 9.8.

9. Guitar Hero

I’ve never been able to figure out why anyone likes the Guitar Hero series. Why has this franchise sold so many games? Is it because of the shitty background graphics? Or maybe it’s the bad music in the series, especially in the third installment, the so-called “Legends of Rock,” which features songs from overrated bands like Kiss, and the Sex Pistols. It’s because of these reasons that unlike many of the other franchises on this list, the Guitar Hero games aren’t just overrated, they aren’t even good. When you think about how bad these games are, it’s hard not to laugh at the fools who pretend to “riff” with their most rock star inspired poses in their dorm room, surrounded by a bunch of drunk or stoned friends. It’s also hard not to include Guitar Hero on this list.

8. Tekken

Every time I hear someone say that Tekken is the best fighting series ever made I think that he or she is a rookie. Anyone who has ever played the Street Fighter series would laugh when hearing this claim. The graphics in the Tekken games are good, but the fighting is utter crap. It mostly consists of button mashing. You’re either executing a 9-step combo that takes away half of your opponent’s life, or you’re getting in one hit that puts them in the air and then you juggle them until they die. Or my personal favorite, you knock them on the ground and do three sweeps before they can get up. Compare this style of game play to a much more fun fighting game like Super Smash Brothers Brawl where it’s much harder to button mash effectively, and you’ll see one of the many reasons why Nintendo is currently dominating the video game market.

7. Halo

When someone tells me that Halo is the greatest video game franchise ever made (and believe me, this happens a lot. O-W must have received a hundred emails asking us why we left all three Halo games off of our Top 100 Video Games List) the first thought that pops into my head is that the person telling me that is twelve years old. I don’t think that you’ll find too many old school gamers who have played truly epic games like A Link to the Past or Super Mario 3 saying that Halo is the best video game franchise of all time. Does Halo really compare to old SNES classics like Super Metroid or Mega Man 2? The first game is short, has repetitive level designs, and a pretty small array of guns. The second game is often heralded for how “revolutionary” because players can wield two weapons at once, steal vehicles and have online multiplayer. Have these people ever played GoldenEye or pretty much any other first person shooter made since Doom 2? Yes, the Halo games can be entertaining for an hour or two at most, but don’t ever say that either one is better than Super Metroid.

6. Sonic

Sonic 1 was a pretty good game, and Sonic 2 could even be considered a great game. Even we wouldn’t deny that. But after Sonic 2, the Sonic series was worn out. While Sonic 2 was an improvement over Sonic 1, in the third installment of the series everything stayed the same. There’s Sonic, and Tails, and new levels with shitty music (compared to the often overlooked soundtrack of Sonic 2.) Sonic 3 though is championed amongst Sega gamers as continuing the Sonic “tradition” of always improving games. Oh yeah, you could play as Tails. Whew, what an improvement that was. And then when Sonic went to 3D, we saw a new low point of the series. The 3D games veered further and further away from Sonic’s simple, yet elegantly satisfying roots, and entered into a territory of uninspired game play, pointless mechanics, and annoying supporting characters.

5. Half Life
I’ve owned Half Life for about six years now and I can honestly say I’ve maybe played it for a total of two hours. The Half Life games suffer from several shortcomings, not the least of which is a complete lack of enemy variety. People often ask us why we’re such big fans of older games, as opposed to newer games. Compare how many different types of bad guys there are in Half Life 2 to a game like Super Mario 3 and you’ll see why we like games from the 16 bit era so much more than the games released today. The game play is repetitive, and neither game in the series has a huge selection of weapons. I’m not saying that Half Life 1 and 2 are bad games, but neither game is deserving of the massive hype that surrounds this series. With Half Life 2 receiving an average rating of 96%, and Maximum PC calling it “The greatest game ever made” we think that the Half Life series deserves its spot on this list.

4. Ghosts N’ Goblins

Talk about overrated. For some reason the Ghosts N’ Goblins series is one of the most loved video game franchises among retro gamers, and yet I have to wonder when the last time any of the people who constantly defend these games had actually played them last. 1/8th through the first level of the first Ghosts N’ Goblins you’re surrounded by mounds and mounds of enemies. As you’re walking as your character, you’re basically surrounded by a force field of enemies coming at you from every possible angle. Okay, maybe if you had a lot of energy or someone decent armor, you could take the level one onslaught of nefarious enemies. As you walk, you see that you do have armor, looks like pretty strong armor, until a weak ass looking bird swoops down, barely hits you, and your armor comes flying off. Not even faux-Halloween armor is this poor. I’m pretty sure that if a bird touched a plastic suit that you wore for Halloween, it wouldn’t come flying off. As your worthless armor comes flying off, you’re left with an almost-naked character who is left with nothing on except underwear. Q: Who wears nothing under armor? Am I inept to mid-evil tradition or is there something completely untenable about someone wearing nothing under armor? You’re basically left naked running around in the wild with a force field of petulant enemies surrounding you at every second. This stultifying game play leads you to give up after 1 to 2 minutes making you feel like shit and making you retire to much more germane games with more sane difficulty levels. If you still wanted to play Super Ghouls N’ Ghosts after playing this game, then you’re probably insane.

3. Resident Evil
If there was ever a video game franchise that didn’t deserve the endless praise from the mainstream video game press it’s the Resident Evil series. Before you even read the reviews of a new RE game from IGN and Gamespot you just know that it is going to get a nine point something. Resident Evil 4 received a 9.8 from IGN and a 9.6 from Gamespot. Really, is RE4 a close to perfect video game? Sure it looks cool for a while, but then it becomes dull as hell. You walk around and random things attack you. Its not scary, it just bad horror flick shit when someone comes from behind you trying to attack you. You get the usual weapons to fight off the usual suspects. You can get devoured by parasitic monsters everywhere you turn. Where have I seen this before? How about every fucking Ghosts N’ Goblins remake there ever was. The over-the-shoulder approach to this game couldn’t save it from being just plain dull. I’m not saying that the Resident Evil games are bad games, they just don’t deserve the exorbitantly high scores they constantly receive from the mainstream video game press.

2. Grand Theft Auto

Old-Wizard’s dislike of the GTA series is well known. Like many modern day video game franchises, the GTA games focus too much on being realistic and too little on the actual game play. IGN gave GTA 4 a 10 out of 10, while giving a really fun game like Super Mario Galaxy a 9.7. The only rational explanation for this is that press version of GTA 4 must have come with some drugs. Was GTA 4 really perfect? Did these guys even play the game before Rockstar gave them a boatload of cash? Why is this game perfect? Is it because it looks good? Is it because you have a cell phone in the game (which is fucking annoying by the way)? Anyone who can’t find some little fault with a video game shouldn’t be a video game critic. While the sleek graphics of the Grand Theft Auto games may look good enough to fool the sheepish mainstream media, anyone who reviews the game for themselves will notice how they mimic our worst instincts of modern pop culture, like our love for unadulterated violence and hedonistic images. The Grand Theft Auto series is unquestionably one of the most overrated video game franchises of all time.

1. Pokemon
Ask almost any twelve year gamer what the best RPG of all time is, and they’ll probably tell you that it was Pokemon. But ask any old school gamer who has ever played Final Fantasy 3 or Chrono Trigger what they think of the Pokemon games, and they’ll tell you that they were an annoying fad at best. It was because Pokemon Red and Blue that civilization had to endure the endless amounts of Pokemon-mania that came after it. The characters were irritatingly soft, and the game play tried too hard to be simple, and lacked the kind of depth needed to make a RPG great. The games in Pokemon series certainly tried to act like an RPG, with turn based battles and areas in which you could speak to another friend, but c’mon, look at some of the enemies you had to face; happy bats and mice that looked like the kind of mice your cat brings back to you to show you affection. RPGs are great in that they transcend the small ambitions of the real world and escape into epic fantasies. Pokemon lowered the standards for the great game style of the RPG

403 Comments

#1 Doin'YourMom says:
March 18th, 2010 at 7:24 pm

Seriously grow up and start playing Modern games, Old NES and N64 games wont be better than modern games, wii is a gimmick and GTA is over-rated LOL Gta games are loved mostly because of their refferences to pop-culture and the way it takes the piss out of stupid modern society, it has a great story and is gritty and shows the real world, with great action

#2 Wolf says:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:01 am

…So somehow you know how many enemies are in HL2 when youve only played it for 2 hours did you even get the gravity gun and experiment with the physics which is what makes it so unique?
I do wish newer games had as many enemies as classics like Mario though

#3 bryan says:
March 18th, 2010 at 8:14 am

uhhh… yeah guitar hero sucks. yes halo is overrated. but half life? did you pay attention to the story? noooo? why am i not surprised.

#4 TrueGamer619 says:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:51 pm

Doin’YourMom is a inexperienced casual gamer who just sucks at older games. 12 year old with ADHD.

#5 Delta says:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:53 pm

lmao How is Doin’YourMom an inexperienced casual gamer because he liked GTA? That’s not a casual game.

#6 TrueGamer619 says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:47 pm

GTA is a casual game, but it is fun. I am actually playin GTA4 as I type, but if GTA is a hardcore game, then that means Jimmy, the 10 year old who plays only popular overrated games like COD, Halo, Gears and GTA YET, he does not lay games that actually require skill, is a hardcore gamer. I call bullshit. GTA is casual. End of story.

#7 Delta says:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Casual games are Puzzle games, most Music games, and really simple Simulation games. GTA has more depth than that. You actually think CALL OF DUTY, HALO and GEARS OF WAR are casual games? Wow, you’re hopeless.

#8 avi says:
March 18th, 2010 at 6:18 pm

some people like to call any game they don’t like ”casual games.”

#9 Delta says:
March 18th, 2010 at 6:21 pm

I would have to agree with that Avi. I’m not one of those, since I do like Puzzle games, and have liked casual Simulation games. Only one Music game I’ve out-right liked, but I’ve played few and don’t out-right dislike the genre, just haven’t found any that particularly catch my interest.

#10 Kantofan1221 says:
March 18th, 2010 at 8:46 pm

You have no clue who u just pissed off. Pokemon is one of the single most entertaining game series of all time. you shouldn’t make fun of something because its popular and i am an “old school gamer” and believe that pokemon is fantastic. Pokemon is also good because u can play it over and over and try out different combos of pokemon teams unlike other rpg games where u r stuck with the same characters every time u play.
-Thank you for your
time

#11 avi says:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:45 am

kantofan1221:pokemon is fun, but it’s the best-selling RPG of all time. this is why it’s deservedly seen as overrated.

George:I actually like poison. also why do you think Ratchet and clank is overrated?

#12 avi says:
March 18th, 2010 at 11:10 am

why do they have to beat half-life to decide if they like it? i haven’t beaten e.t. or superman 64, can i call them godawful ”games?” yes? why? because you agree? oh i get it now. we should just agree with you, or else we’re biased fanboys.

#13 The AI says:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:42 am

Before I start my critique of your list, I don’t understand why you sucked up to the SNES so much. We KNOW the SNES was great. In fact, it’s my favorite console of all time. However, it’s not the end all be all.
And your list? Pathetic. Besides the Pokemon choice, your picks just scream “I’m a Nintendo fanboy and I’m biased because I CAN BE!”
Let me run down each of your picks:
10. God of War did the same to action-adventure gaming on the PS2 as Ocarina of Time did on the N64: It reinvigorated it. Ocarina didn’t reinvent the 3D game. Super Mario 64 did that. However, it added subtle changes and innovations that made it great. So did God of War. Have you played the game? If you have, you would know how insanely satisfying the game is.
9. I adore Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Yes, “IRL guitar” is a lot better, but nothing beats rocking out on plastic instruments at a party. I assume that you just sat and played single player. Lame. And unless you’re watching videos, why do you care about the background graphics?
8. Tekken’s fighting is utter crap? And Brawl’s fighting is more sophisticated? lol
7. Wow, what a cop-out answer. In defense of Halo, it’s a great shooter and is fun at parties and over X-Box Live. Don’t bash until you’ve played multiplayer. Shallow? Kind of. Brilliant? Definitely.
6. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. You really DON’T know what you’re talking about, do you? If you had said “All Sonic Games after Adventure 2” I would have agreed with you. But bashing the 2D classics? And I saw no mention of Sonic CD in there, so your point is irrelevant.
5. You know, on the surface, I would agree with you. The sum of Half-Life’s parts are decidedly average. But the way the experience as a whole is pulled together… man. It just has an atmosphere that most games lack. That’s why this series is among my favorites.
4. Hmmm. Finally a game I’ve never played. I can’t pass judgment. You’ve been spared THIS time, Zeromage. *shakes fist*
3. The first three games? They tell a good story, but the gameplay, while atmospheric, is quite bad. RE4 and RE5, though? Those are great games if I’ve ever seen a great game. The combat is deep, the game is scary, and the story is great.
2. Even though GTA is a representation of everything wrong with the world today, it is STILL ridiculously fun. Why? It feeds off one of humanity’s most basic instincts: the need to destroy stuff. And GTA allows you to destroy as many things as you want without breaking the law. Is it for all ages? No. But for the mature gamer, it’s definitely a fun experience. Besides, they did a good job of creating a living breathing world. And yeah, the GTAIII trilogy might belong on here because of spotty shooting and driving, but GTAIV was nigh on flawless.
1. Look, I love FFIII and Chrono Trigger. I’m a HUGE fan of RPGs. And Pokemon was what got me into RPGs in the first place. Is it simple and kiddish? Yes. But it’s one of the deepest RPGs out there, bar none. Like many other games on your list, it sounds like you didn’t play it at all and just put it on here. And it lacked depth? Do your homework before you make a list next time.

#14 ThisWebsiteWantsTraffic says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:01 am

Stop it, you retard. This list is a joke and you know it. You want traffic for your gay ass site, and this is how your pretend to get it. There is a thread on gametrailers on how retarded this whole website is. So please let it die.

#15 serpx says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:27 am

Gamed since the NES. Played Zelda, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Mario, all of it. You’re ignorant for having Halo off of any top 100 list for gaming — it’s not that innovative, but it has brought us great FPS games on the consoles, and without it, Microsoft may not be with the Xbox right now.

#16 Red-Crock says:
March 18th, 2010 at 6:34 am

Street fighter is the most overrated game ever. it’s a game of hadoken and shoryuken and that’s it.The same shit in all games…

#17 avi says:
March 18th, 2010 at 9:54 pm

Red-crock, i hope you’re joking.

#18 Journeythroughhell says:
March 18th, 2010 at 8:34 am

Again, I would like to countradict the posts of this strangely uninformative top ten.
10. God of War
God Of War perfected hack-and-slash, not just did it right, perfected it. You can’t call a game overrated if you simply don’t like the genre.
9. Guitar Hero
Same thing here. By the way, Kiss is better than Oasis and GH3 tracklist is fucking awesome.
8. Tekken
Oh, it is so better than your favourite SSBB.
7. Halo
Same thing here, Halo reinvented FPS. But you, guys, hate FPS. That’s why Halo is overrated. Hell, makes sense to me?
6. Sonic
Yeah, I don’t like it very much either. But Mario is much more overrated.
5. Half-Life
Again, Half-Life 2 is one of the best games ever. And so is Half-Life 1. By the way, this statement is hilarious: “Compare how many different types of bad guys there are in Half Life 2 to a game like Super Mario 3 and you’ll see why we like games from the 16 bit era so much more than the games released today.” Let me clarify this. More bad guys do not make the game better.
4. Ghost’n'Goblins
I’ve never seen anyone praise that series…
3. Resident Evil
Another killer statement: “ou walk around and random things attack you. Its not scary, it just bad horror flick shit when someone comes from behind you trying to attack you. You get the usual weapons to fight off the usual suspects. You can get devoured by parasitic monsters everywhere you turn.” That is the action horror genre, you dumbasses.
2. Grand Theft Auto
I love GTA. It is one of the most immersive game series ever. “GN gave GTA 4 a 10 out of 10, while giving a really fun game like Super Mario Galaxy a 9.7.” Ooh, cry me a river. Which of them sold more?
1. Pokemon
Although I do agree, this spot should be reserved for The Legend Of Zelda games.

#19 metalisticpain says:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:05 pm

I agree with most of this list.

Except pokemon. Not that i dont agree, its a simple rpg at best, just that i dont see anyone really hyping this up as an awesome franchise… how can it be overrated when if you mention you love the pokemon games, your like instantly ignored within the gaming population.

I liked pokemon red. after that i was done with the franchise.

So yeah. Unless u live in japan, i dont think Pokemon is rated very high at all

#20 Fucko says:
March 18th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

omg… complaining over the armor in Ghost n ghouls is just lame, you can complain of anything in that era… how can Mario kill a gomba while jumping at it? how can he jump on the end boses in every level that is equal his hight? and how is he being abel to go in to some of the pipe? you se, the logic those days was not to question just to game on.

also, by playing a game in 2 hours is not equal to complete it. and to be honest name a game that have enough variate enemies? and using got bored on the game as an excuse to put it there? jees.

this so called list should be more be called nitpicking list then top most overrated games.

#21 tl;dr says:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:11 am

Everything popular is going to somewhat suck, because to appeal to a large amount of people it must have enough redeeming qualities to make the majority able to tolerate it.

The best way to describe it that I can think of is that a popular franchise will be a ‘jack of all trades’, having a wide variety of features, but barely skimming the surface of each one. That is why they will always lack in certain areas, and depending on one’s point of view and likes/dislikes, these faults can range from tolerable to unbearable.

Another case is that it will try to appeal to a certain group, while dialing down the difficulty to reel people outside the target audience into trying a game out. This simplicity will be perceived as a lack of depth and unoriginality to some, while others will enjoy the experience because they are familiar with the franchise or are looking for a source of entertainment that isn’t overly challenging.

Or, the game may attempt to outperform others in its genre by upping the difficulty and originality just enough so that the satisfaction of completing it is worthwhile to the effort spent playing. Excruciating to almost everyone, but addicting in some way or another.

By appealing to the many, popular games are always going to repel a few. And because nothing is perfect, games basked in spotlights created by society are going to have their flaws illuminated, and because people are more inclined to criticize, then they are going to focus on the negatives. So nothing is ever good enough for anyone. But that’s life.

#22 jake holland says:
March 18th, 2010 at 6:40 am

Hey i am 12 years old and while i sometimes play halo i am not like OMG BGE i am yes it is fun to play sometimes so fuck you assholes I mean seriously JUST because some people think that halo is the best you automatically mash on 12 years old?Well fuck you i think that you are no better then the countless retards that say “my game is better then yours” so 1:Your a opinionated asshole and 2:8 years olds can be childish 10 year olds can be childish but i know that while most history books overlook them 12 year olds are important and smart you know there was a 12 year old that sailed across the pacif past the gulf of mexico and got to america with jack shit and a 5 year old girl.And you wanna know something that kid grew up and became a god man that did good things for good people so i repeat fuck you.

#23 protoman says:
March 18th, 2010 at 6:33 am

i was hoping final fantasy would be number 1, but given the history of final fantasy/nintendo dick riding on this site i knew it wouldnt happen. pokemon? really? it’s a game for little kids, stop making a big deal about it

#24 someone with some sense says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:54 am

why don’t you like any games made this decade?
people love old games out of a sense of nostalgia, but they do not tend to hold up today.
most of these series are overrated because they are called the best ever, while they certainly are not, they are still good.
sonic cannot be overrated because the series has been pretty dead for years.
final fantasy would have to be the most overrated series in history because it is considered the best, you do not have to think a game is bad to think it is overrated.
your opinions are so biased and not thought out at all i am amazed that someone pays for this stuff to be published on the internet, it feels like a blog post. terrible.

#25 someone with some sense says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:01 am

oh and what is all this arguing about casual vs hardcore gamers?
1. who cares?-we are all consumers of video games, just because you like harder games does not make your opinion so much more valuable
2. Puzzle games do not require skill?-okay go play tetris online and tell me how much skill is involved to consistently win
3. i may not like cod but saying that there is no skill involved is rediculous, sure anyone can beat the campaign of most fps games but if you play against someone with skill online you will not be able to compete
4. we need to try games and form our opinions but not fight amongst ourselves, it does not accomplish anything, insult the nostalgia fag who wrote this post not eachother

#26 wth? says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:36 am

wath is your problem, u live in past thinking only nintendo mario games are good i play gta since vice city and the epic san andreas, and is something make me love the gta series, u got freedom is not a perfect game if u are older enough u foud the fun, and wath the hell,!! resident evil overrated? are u on crack?capcomp resident evil create the “survival horror” dont u play resident evil 4 introduce the new aiming system desrve a 10 and god of war? greek,epic orchestral u sir dont deserve review games go home and play super mario over and over and over and over and over agian-

#27 John Parenteau says:
March 18th, 2010 at 6:09 am

AS far as I am concerned, this author must be some fuckin’ lonely if he had the time to analyse to this extent. Only one “rating” really matters, your own, hence why some people like Halo and Guitar Hero. I do agree that Halo is filth, as after an hour or so, you literally feel the brain matter pour out from your ears.

^o^ Cheers!

#28 well... says:
March 18th, 2010 at 2:23 pm

Erm you forgot about mario, zelda and final fantasy.
EXTREMLY over-rated franchises oh and mario in 3D is even worse than sonic in 3D, but you are a nintendo fanboy so i do not even need to say anything.
Sonic in 2D was simply put the best 2d platform franchise till today, in 3d it sucks, but calling it over-rated?!?! everyone says sonic in 3d sucks, on the other hand everyone is like mario galaxy 9.8 when it is an AWFUL game, even sonic heroes is better and it came out several years ago…
Zelda in 3d is basically a tomb raider done wrong…again this is a great franchise, but only in 2d.
Do i even need to say anything about final fantasy…seriously play fallout 1, planescape, shin megami tensei lucifer’s call,etc and learn what a true rpg is…
I do agree with alot of games you have here, but from your talk you seem to be a nintendo fanboy.

#29 well... says:
March 18th, 2010 at 7:15 pm

Oh and street fighter,tekken, virtua fighter and soul caliber are very overrated can you believe some people thing they are better than guilty gear and mortal kombat…

#30 :D says:
March 18th, 2010 at 7:31 pm

Great list, although i would switch sonic with mario, pokemon with final fantasy, tekken with street fighter, metroid with half-life and zelda with gta, it would then be an OK list.

#31 CaptainAustralia says:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:19 am

Wow… I find it absolutely hilarious that you guys think you can actually disagree with a massive legion of fans. You might as well say Zelda or Mario suck.

Almost EVERY SINGLE franchise (Especially Pokemon, Sonic and Half-Life) on this list are timeless classics, and have earned their status as phenomenal series’ due to that.

…And you morons at Old-Wiz.com actually think you can argue with billions of people like that? Egomania at it’s best.

#32 Lowell says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:14 am

I’m surprised this list didn’t include the Final Fantasy series. FF7 is far more overrated than any Pokemon game.

#33 Nathan says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:19 pm

again i say to all these people that gamed a long time ago, its all opinionated you could say this is so terrible when a lot of old-school people like yourself like pokemon. Id have to say this goes against the crowd and this list means nothing.

#34 MSG says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:11 am

I just finished the GOW collection on the PS3. I have to say the first one was fun and a good game, but the second one SUCKED! I agree, definitely overrated, and frustratingly bad too. The controls were shit too. The Amulet of Fates almost never triggered when you wanted it to, and I hate those button sequence puzzle parts. Those were SO annoying. And GOW 2 had a bunch of stupid puzzles that only exist in stupid James Bond type movies.

Diablo was a much better hack and slash than GOW, without all the annoying elements of the game.

#35 HelpPleaseSendLink says:
March 18th, 2010 at 7:43 am

Zeromage is such a freaking tool. God of war is a great game with revolutionary gameplay controls and such an epic feel. I haven’t played any Resident evils after 2 but the first two were really creepy and the exploration was really exciting and innovative. And the thing that really pisses me off is how you call Sonic 3 more of the same. It had some really exciting level design, new power ups, the ability to fly with Sonic and tails, knucles, great music and contraptions for Sonic’s speed. Sonic CD was also great, IGN which licks the behinds of a lot of franchies for Nintendo Gave Sonic Adventure 1 And 2 high marks.

LEts analyze your Beloved nintendo franchies. Metroid, ever since they went 3D, they copying HALO of all series. Zelda, good for windwaker but OOT and Twilight princess are original at all, both are a FPS with a sword instead of a gun. And both games play to similarly (just like Sonic 3 according to you). And what about Mario??? The SMB3 was awesome but Super mario world was a cheap imitation. Super Mario 64 was awesome for about 2 hours and then the game repeats. You have to do stupid things like 8 red rings and beat characters in races. Mario sunshine brought nothing new whatsoever. Mario Galaxy is just another rehash of SM64 with better graphics. New SMB is the best they have done but not nearly as good as SMB3.

Why has Nintendo succeeded? B/C most of the billions of dollars they made have come from the freaking pokemon series. They made soo much money on the games, the cartoons, music and memorabillia. Thats why they could recover so quickly from 3 repeated failures in GBA, N64 and Gamecube to make new systems that sold well. If only Sega or Turbographics had pokemon to fall back on.

Ultimately, I think you are too myopic, haven’t really played these games all the way through and just made quick, ignorant judgements. They way most stupid people do.

#36 lolrabbit says:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:13 am

10. Agreed.
9. Guitar hero is really over-rated. Every time I go to a party at my friend’s house, Guitar Hero is on. Guitar Hero is everywhere D: Anyway, why play the game when you can play the REAL guitar and gain some real talent.
8. Tekken is… OK but yes, Street Fighter is much better.
7. Agreed, again.
6. Yes, I kinda agree. Sonic was great back then, but Sega decided to rape the shit out of the hedgehog and now he’s being tortured in shitty 3-D games…
5. Agreed… Again XD
4. Ghosts and Goblins is overrated? Holy shit, who knew how many people liked such a shitty game!
3. I have yet to play Resident evil, so no comment.
2. Same as #3
1. Pokemon, while not overrated, is shitty compared to some RPGs like Super Mario RPG, M&L series,Paper Mario,Secret of Mana, ect.

#37 Kevin says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:19 pm

Hey buddy, where is Mario on that list?
you want overrated games/franchises?
you don’t need to look further.
okay, yes, the first like… what, 9 games were fun, right up until the ones on nintendo 64.
you put Pokemon as number 1? are you serious?
Mario is the same bullshit each generation.
every gen, there’s a new mario party, there’s a new super mario 64, there’s a new smash bros, all using the same, bullshit, overused, recycled formula.
mario lost it’s flair when the gamecube came in
since then, there has been nothing, NOTHING different. I don’t get why this franchise is so popular, it’s the same thing over and over and over, and has been for about 20 years or so.

#38 Kittfox says:
March 18th, 2010 at 9:32 pm

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. I looked at this list and smiled. I, despite being of the tender young age of 21, am a die hard retro gamer; new stuff is good but the old stuff tends to be much, much better. I’ve had hour long arguments with friends who vehemently claim that Halo is the greatest series ever, and God of War is great. I remember struggling through to the last level of Contra at age 7, spending months of time after school to get there, playing through the epic-ness of Link to the Past and helping my mom with The Lost Vikings. Well, I”m done ranting, and thank you again for exposing these games for what they are.

#39 Cancer says:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:23 am

First Person Shooters and any kind of War Games are overrated garbage.

#40 Cancer says:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:25 am

“Your comment is being moderated. We are currently destroying the illusion of free speech to which you hold so dear…we are in control.” Reading that after posting a comment is comical. Just goes to show that the people running this site often loathe honesty and the truth. Don’t forget to delete this comment too, monkeys. =D

#41 Biosaber says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:42 pm

Half-Life series is 4 nerdy-ass computer geeks who have no social life and 40 year old virgins who live in their mom’s basement. Halo is epic…not as epic as final fantasy series, metal gear series, resident evil 4, modern warfare series, kingdom hearts series, and uncharted 2.

#42 gawasvga says:
March 18th, 2010 at 8:08 pm

gta is the best game ever gta has the best graphics gta pwns all games enough gta is one of the most overrated crap in the whole universe i played one hour and its just the same damn thing you shoot you pay hookers to have sex with you you kill you shoot you drive you shoot nothing new gta is by far the worst video game ever invented

#43 Sol (Frederick) Badguy says:
March 18th, 2010 at 7:40 am

10. God of War: I played nothing from this series but I sure would like to, mainly to know if I would enjoy it like my pals would or enjoy it less, or even hate it

9. Guitar Hero: This game, just the idea of it reeks

8. Tekken: Awesome fighting series, 1 is miserable, 2 is decent, 3 and after are awesome. I play the side games more than the fighting game, and the fighting game still does pretty well rocks
I played many fighting games, I love MK, KoF, SF & GG series, it doesn’t surpass any of these in fun, it is mainly equal

7. Halo: First person shooter = CRAAAP

6. Sonic: Sonic 1 is great, Sonic 2 improved plenty of things like being able to spin down and choose a different character in the option menu. “Sonic 3 & Knuckles” is a work of genius, it made better score than two, greater variation of bubbles, tricks with bubbles, 3 characters to choose from, double jump tricks, mid stage bosses. I really love Sonic, I prefer him to Marion a lot, but I have to agree that this series worn out after 3 & Knuckles, and Mario series are really inovative and fun

5. Half Life: Again; First Person Shooter = SHIT, especially DOOM

4. Ghosts N’ Goblins: WTF?

3. Resident Evil: AWESOME, great characters, great variety of weapons, great moves. 2 is the beginning of greatness for this series and four reinvented awesomeness, 5 is quite weak though, I have to admit is as a huge RE geek myself

2. Grand Theft Auto: I wonder how this series keep repeating itself too much and it get praised too much, while every time a free roaming Spider-Man game gets better than its predecessor is insulted by many critics because they are too repetitive. Major WTF on this one

1. Pokemon: I enjoy the first 4; Blue, Red, Green & Yellow, but after those this series just sucked

#44 ShadowHunter says:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:57 pm

The best RPG game that was every made was Golden Sun 1 and 2.

#45 ShadowHunter says:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:02 pm

ever*

#46 JoePotato28 says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:32 pm

@doinyourmom
“Seriously grow up and start playing Modern games, Old NES and N64 games wont be better than modern games”
are you serious? so any game thats is released nowadays is always better than Super Mario bros 3?
Or any legend of Zelda pre-2009 ? so the snowboarding game “stoked” that was released last year is better than anything pre-2009?
That statement pretty much invalidated your whole “argument”
Plus, its pretty obvious that you’re some stupid twelve year old kid who doesnt know anything about gaming. Go back to your guitar hero. nice username btw, im guessing youre a fan of raywilliamjohnson on youtube,especially since only twelve year olds find that guy funny.

#47 lolcat says:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:03 am

Why isn’t the Civilization series up there? It’s been producing essentially the same game for over a decade, sure they have little add-ons here and there and generally speaking they have new shit that should have been on the previous games anyway, but overall they constantly pump out the same game only with better graphics and a different Roman numeral at the end, I like the civilization series, but I can’t honestly say I’ve ever been excited about a new Civilization game coming out because I always know what it’s going to be….yet that series is immensely popular despite an almost complete lack of innovation…THAT, to me, seems overrated.

#48 RapidKid says:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:02 pm

i agree with most the list – ESPECIALLY GOW…its just a glorified button basher…compared to ninja gaiden – its ridiculously easy
the only one is possibly tekken – i love street fighter too – but tekken is still a good fighting game in its own right – the way it implements REAL fighting styles and moves into a game is second to none – tho yes street fighter is miles beter

#49 DoucheStomper says:
March 18th, 2010 at 9:53 pm

after reading this I was given the impression that YOU were 12 years old, making a desperate attempt to seem older by giving praise to old classics. Everyone knows they are classics. But if you think that A link to the past was given more thought, care, and energy to make than God of war, GTA 4, or Half life 2, then only are you 12, your mentally disabled.

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