Topic: Gaming Guilty Pleasues

[NWR_insanolord]

In gaming, as with other entertainment media, there are many different tastes. People are very particular about certain aspects of design, resulting in unique preferences. That doesn't always mesh well with our collective culture. Sites like Metacritic boil games down to a number, an attempt at an objective rating as told by gamers.


Things don't always fit into that, though. We all have highly rated games that we don't care for, but on the flip side of that I'd wager most of us have games that we were much bigger fans of than the review scores would expect us to be.


What games do you really like that the critics didn't? What made you glad that you didn't let poor reviews talk you out of buying a game?

[Oblivion]

Final Fantasy X. Sure, a lot of people like it, but what they don't like is the voice acting. I will defend the voice acting until the day I die.

[pokepal148]

balloon fight has been fun to tinker around with now and then on the 3DS.

[Silenced]

Custom Robo: Gamecube (or whatever it's called). I don't know why I liked this game. It was just a decently enjoyable game to play, with a fairly interesting story. Lots of customization allowed too, which made you figure out a comfortable play style, item set, etc.
 
It's also a good substitute 4-player fighting game should you not possess a Super Smash game.

[toddra]

Mine are all over the place. NES would be A nightmare on elm street, the general consensus is completely wrong on that game it is a perfect movie based game that did everything right I don't understand the hate one bit.

On Sega it is Toe Jam and Earl 2, one of my all time favorite games ever and I really hate the first one so most fans/review sites have that backasswards.

32X, just the console itself I love it everyone else seems to think it sucks but I have always been a huge fan of it. BTW I don't consider it a complete console to me it is just an accessory for Genesis so in that respect it's a hell of a lot more deserving of praise than it gets.


Gamecube it is Star Fox Adventures, people act like that is the worst game ever made but it was one of the best experiences GameCube had to offer.


Those are the most obvious ones, everything else is kinda subjective but all of those I tend to really like far more than I should according to the general consensus. Also ET for Atari I loved that game I still don't get the hate.

[Oblivion]

Custom Robo: Gamecube (or whatever it's called). I don't know why I liked this game. It was just a decently enjoyable game to play, with a fairly interesting story. Lots of customization allowed too, which made you figure out a comfortable play style, item set, etc.
 
It's also a good substitute 4-player fighting game should you not possess a Super Smash game.

Ahhh, Custom Robo was very fun. Custom Robo Arena was also very good, and I loved the online multiplayer aspect of it.

[Soren]

Backbreaker.


Sure it wasn't the Madden killer than everyone hoped it would have been, but even with all its issues I still liked the game and its "British take on American football" vibe. The "Greathouse" patch managed to fix a bunch of things, but by that point almost everyone had checked out.

[Silenced]

Custom Robo: Gamecube (or whatever it's called). I don't know why I liked this game. It was just a decently enjoyable game to play, with a fairly interesting story. Lots of customization allowed too, which made you figure out a comfortable play style, item set, etc.
 
It's also a good substitute 4-player fighting game should you not possess a Super Smash game.

Ahhh, Custom Robo was very fun. Custom Robo Arena was also very good, and I loved the online multiplayer aspect of it.

I really like the way the took the abandoned Earth idea and put a new spin on it in the story.  For a game about little fighting robots, the developers sure made it an excellent gaming product.
 
I would include the Star Wars Battlefronts (I and II, not the other games) as a guilty pleasure, but I've recently found people that agree with me that it's an awesome game to play anytime.

[Ian Sane]

Fire Pro Wrestling 2 for the GBA got justifiably criticized for removing a whole major gameplay mode because the publisher didn't feel like translating it.  As a result the game is arguably less featured than its predecessor.  I found it in clearence for like 5 bucks and it is easily in my top five for time spent playing a game.  Yeah, I got it cheap but I also own FPW1 which is the better title.  I didn't care because the second game has some different characters the other one doesn't have and that was good enough for me.  Both dominated my free time for years.

And here's the thing: Fire Pro Wrestling as a game to play actually sucks.  The controls are completely unintuitive and the amount of work to even become competent playing it is huge.  But the series has three things going for it: an incredibly robust Create-a-Wrestler feature, the ability to watch the computer play against itself and the best AI in any wrestling game.  So for me it's like some dream match maker game where I can take two wrestlers and see who would win if they faced each other or if they would have an exciting match.  And if the game doesn't have a certain wrestler I can make him myself.  It works great as a wrestling booking simulator and I've spent hours on every FPW game released in North America with virtually no time spent actually playing the game itself, just setting up CP vs. CP matches.

But if you weren't interested in those elements and just wanted to play a wrestling game I would never in a million years recommend Fire Pro Wrestling because you would try to play it like every other wrestling game, frustratingly get your ass kicked, and give up.

[lolmonade]

On Sega it is Toe Jam and Earl 2, one of my all time favorite games ever and I really hate the first one so most fans/review sites have that backasswards.

Ok...so I own both Toejam & Earl games, and while I don't hate the 2nd one, you don't think it would maybe cause some disappointment in reviewers that the sequel was a completely different genre of game instead of taking what was a good game foundation from the original and making it more robust?


I personally found ToeJam & Earl 2 underwhelming for several reasons, including the fact that it lost a lot of humor from the first game.


Which one did you play first? 

[toddra]

I guess it is no different than Super Mario Bros. 2 or Zelda 2, different is not always bad.


I got TJ&E 2 and Sonic 2 for my birthday and those were the first two games I got. But my sisters and all my friends also agreed with me it was a lot of fun. I had one friend who had the first game and I would go to his house and play it because I liked the one I had so I expected it to be as good and it was this awkward and weird game that just was the slowest thing ever on a system that prided itself on lightning fast game play.

Mario Sunshine is not even a Mario game and yet people love that game so no I don't think that matters, gameplay evolves. Why I liked the second one was because it was so colorful and the humor was just right up my alley. I liked the story, the characters, for a platformer it had a really unique combat system instead of popping enemies on the head you trapped them in jars, the aliens were super funny, the funk powers were all useful and there are parts where you really have to plan your fun moves just right to get through. The music is top notch and the mini games are better than the ones on the first game too.


I can understand why those who played the first enjoy it, it was a unique experience but I think they let that blind them to how great the sequel is because they just can't accept change.

[lolmonade]

There was a game on Sega Genesis called "Gain Ground" that my brother and I played for hours when I was young.  It is an arcade game with a top down perspective a-la gauntlet where you go through levels with a set of characters to play as with different attributes/weapons.  In these levels, there are new characters you can obtain by "rescuing" them, which is essentially walking to them and getting to the goal line without getting hit (one hit kills in this game).  You win each level by killing all the enemies in the level or walking all your characters to the finish line.


The game looks like complete garbage, the sound effects are simplistic/annoying as hell, and the later levels get so hard that we were never able to beat it, but I had a blast playing it with my older brother until we ran out of characters.  Not only that, but the soundtrack gets stuck in my head each time I think of it.

[toddra]

Yeah I guess it can be like that, which I do concede most people disagree with my view which is why I posted it as a guilty pleasure.

For what it's worth I openly admit to being a Sega fan so I tend to be biased when it comes to them.

[lolmonade]

I guess it is no different than Super Mario Bros. 2 or Zelda 2, different is not always bad.


I got TJ&E 2 and Sonic 2 for my birthday and those were the first two games I got. But my sisters and all my friends also agreed with me it was a lot of fun. I had one friend who had the first game and I would go to his house and play it because I liked the one I had so I expected it to be as good and it was this awkward and weird game that just was the slowest thing ever on a system that prided itself on lightning fast game play.

Mario Sunshine is not even a Mario game and yet people love that game so no I don't think that matters, gameplay evolves. Why I liked the second one was because it was so colorful and the humor was just right up my alley. I liked the story, the characters, for a platformer it had a really unique combat system instead of popping enemies on the head you trapped them in jars, the aliens were super funny, the funk powers were all useful and there are parts where you really have to plan your fun moves just right to get through. The music is top notch and the mini games are better than the ones on the first game too.


I can understand why those who played the first enjoy it, it was a unique experience but I think they let that blind them to how great the sequel is because they just can't accept change.

It's been a while since I've popped-in the cartridge, so I pulled up a youtube video of the 2nd game.  I forgot how quirky the game was, and I remember enjoying playing it when I was younger.  I'll also agree that the throwing jars as a weapon was novel to me at the time, as well as the segments where you had to use the floor sponges to spring yourself to progress through a level. 


Watching a video also reminded me how all over the place the game is.  It has such an eclectic pace that I don't think I'd enjoy myself if I revisited it. 


I know the first game was rough around the edges, but I loved exploring the game and assembling the ship while desperately trying to avoid all the humans.  My only gripe about the first game is how godawful slow your walk speed is.


No worries, toddra.  You're in good company.  I was raised on a Sega Genesis, so I have a soft spot for games on that console as well.

[lolmonade]

Ok, I have to profess my love for Mutant League Football every chance I get as well.

I wasn't old enough to follow reviews at the time, but this was and still is my favorite football game.  How can you not love land mines, chasms, crass commentary, cheat plays, killing the ref if he pisses you off, sixty-whiners, and being able to get disqualified in a game from having too many of your players killed

[Wah]

Mine are all over the place. NES would be A nightmare on elm street, the general consensus is completely wrong on that game it is a perfect movie based game that did everything right I don't understand the hate one bit.

On Sega it is Toe Jam and Earl 2, one of my all time favorite games ever and I really hate the first one so most fans/review sites have that backasswards.

32X, just the console itself I love it everyone else seems to think it sucks but I have always been a huge fan of it. BTW I don't consider it a complete console to me it is just an accessory for Genesis so in that respect it's a hell of a lot more deserving of praise than it gets.


Gamecube it is Star Fox Adventures, people act like that is the worst game ever made but it was one of the best experiences GameCube had to offer.


Those are the most obvious ones, everything else is kinda subjective but all of those I tend to really like far more than I should according to the general consensus. Also ET for Atari I loved that game I still don't get the hate.

If people think star fox was bad watch this review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J5mkoCiuzs

[toddra]

Mutant League Football was just one of the many things that made Sega so great, they were not afraid to take chances and they challenged third parties to keep up. If you want to say one thing about Sega as a company at least they had the balls to try new things.

[nickmitch]

Candy Crush Saga.

[Wah]

Wait isn't that in the movie "wreck it ralph"?

[Dasmos]

Candy Crush Saga.

This.

I hate hate hate mobile gaming, with 2 exceptions. The only 2 games I've enjoyed on my iPhone and that's Candy Crush Saga and Temple Run. Temple Run especially is a fantastic game with damn near infinite replayability. I've sunk countless hours into it, the only reason I'd deem it a guilty pleasure is because it's a mobile game. Candy Crush I guess would be more of the guilty pleasure just because I almost shy away from the fact that I play it whenever it comes up in conversation.

[shingi_70]

Fable. Seems hardcore Gamers hate the series for some reason.

[lolmonade]

Fable. Seems hardcore Gamers hate the series for some reason.

I never bought into the Molyneux hype machine at the time, so when I finally picked up the first game, I had a lot of fun with it.  Wasn't anything groundbreaking or incredibly deep, but I thought it was a fun, simple action RPG

[Khushrenada]

I guess Sonic Adventure 2: Battle would be one for me. I know it isn't the greatest game released and definitely has some flaws but I've always like this game for some reason. Even the Knuckles/Rouge parts of finding shards was fine.

As a kid, I remember renting and playing Dino City a lot on the SNES. I often see it cheap in a used games store but I've never bought it or tried it again. Not sure when the last time I played it was. At least 15 years maybe even 18. Just not sure it would still hold the same appeal.

I really wanted to get into Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters for GC but everytime I pop it in, I just can't seem to get a handle on the controls or gameplay. Something is off about it but I always had hoped it could be a fun dumb monster brawler.

Rogue Squadron 3 was a disappointment but I did enjoy a few levels like the landspeeder level or the Geonosis one where you fly in the asteroids and can send out those blue energy bombs.

Feel the Magic was another game I really got mileage out of. I liked the music, the style and the different minigame challenges.

That's about all I can think of really.

[Wah]

Sonic battle (GBA) quite frankly it sucked, but i enjoyed it!

[toddra]

You are not allowed to make false claims about any Sonic game doing any kind of sucking, it is a criminal offense punishable by being forced to play though LJN's entire NES catalog in one sitting.