When assembling our recent Top Ten most overrated games (which some of you found rather controversial) we set a minimum level of entry: to qualify as being overrated it had to have a Metacritic score in the 90% range that we felt it simply didn’t deserve. As we spent several hours deciding which games probably should have been 80 percenters we slowly realised quite what an epic field that was-there are no fewer than 16 and a bit pages to wade through before you get to a game that has a Metacritic score of less than 80, no mean feat when you consider that there are around 100 results per page.
So, give or take the games that fall bob on the 80% mark and the odd variation in the number of entries per page, you’re looking at a list of 1500 games that are in the top twenty percent. Surely, you’d think, just about every good game you’ve played must be in a list that huge? That’s what we thought too, until we started looking through the games that scored 80% or less and started finding good and even great games that hadn’t even made it into that not-very-select group of 1500. We found games that, while far from being epoch-making in terms of their brilliance, were surely deserving of a higher ranking than they’d managed. Worse still, we found games that we’d happily have scored in the 90s that had a Metacritic ranking on a par with Carol Vorderman’s Sudoku for DS! It was time to right a few wrongs. It was time to give a shout out for the games scoring 80% or less. It was time for another list...
Bully: Scholarship Edition (Metacritic 80%)
While the rest of the gaming world has embraced, even revelled in sandbox gaming, the Wii has stood on the sidelines. Whether it’s the comparative lack of system power and memory, or just the platform’s reputation as a casual gamers toybox, there have hardly been any sandbox games for the Wii. So you’d think that when one finally came along, reviewers would be grateful, but no, Bully: Scholarship Edition manages just an 80% score. Think about that for a second-with so few sandbox titles available on the Wii you’d think even a bad one could score reasonably well, so how come Bully doesn’t do better? The game has delightful mixture of hard edges and whimsy that complement rather than clash with each other, the huge number of minigames are excellent and there’s tons of variety in both the environments and the missions to stop Bully from getting stale. It deserves much better than this.
Tomb Raider: Underworld (76%)
Ok, it’s short, occasionally preposterous, unforgivably sleazy and frequently absurd, but none of those things necessarily make it a bad game. It does have all the usual complaints that go with a Tomb Raider game: Lara’s dialogue mixes ham and plums in equal measure, the camera has a mind of its own and the collision detection can cost you valuable braincells with every frustrated facepalm it elicits. But Tomb Raider: Underworld also has all the things that made Tomb Raider successful in the first place- a satisfying sense of progress with every puzzle solved, a variety of interesting environments to explore and, you know, unforgiveable sleaziness.
The first three-quarters of the game are familiar fun enhanced by some well realised and exhilarating motorbike sequences. The final quarter adds a delicious super-power subplot in which you battle zombie yetis in a sunken city using Thor’s electric hammer. I’ll just repeat that: you battle zombie yetis in sunken city using Thor’s electric hammer. Give it some love.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (73%)
Well now, didn’t this get some mediocre reviews? Granted, the Wii version is so pared down as to be almost a completely different game, but even the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions could only muster Metacritic scores in the low seventies, which really doesn’t seem fair. SWFU isn’t a game without a few problems-you can spend an awful lot of time mastering button combos to let rip powers that aren’t noticeably more effective than the simple one-button moves. The set piece battles tend to fall flat as well, with the Star Destroyer sequence in particular standing out as a scene that promised thrills but delivered only tediousness frustration. But while we’d never try to convince anyone that Force Unleashed is the best thing since Bioshock, we do think that its strengths have been too often understated.
The pace is relentless without ever becoming grinding, the combination of Jedi powers, a lightsaber and big squads of baddies results in some very satisfying combat, and the game drops interesting new environments and modestly valued achievements on you with pleasing regularity. The simple enjoyment to be had from levitating a stormtrooper, pinging him off all four walls and then hurling him into space will delight children of the 70s.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (80%)
You’d think that in the current economic circumstances people would appreciate a bargain, but to look at Assault on Dark Athena’s scores that’s clearly not the case. Ok, Assault on Dark Athena is little more than a perfectly workable stealth murder game. It’s a bit short and does nothing particularly jaw-dropping. But while the game may be titled Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, everyone in the know realises that the Dark Athena section is little more than a bolt-on to the game's true selling point:a slightly expanded version of 2004’s Escape From Butcher Bay that’s been given a lovely graphical polish before offering its near seamless mix of stealth, action and exploration to current gen consoles.
Stalker: Call of Pripyat (80%)
Perhaps the disappointing bugginess of Clear Sky had left a bad taste in some people’s mouths. When its sequel, Call of Pripyat, came along and offered the same unsettling atmosphere and compelling faction-based shooting but without all the glitches, you’d have thought it would have garnered enough praise to get it more than a feeble 80% when the reviews were munched by Metacritic’s aggregator.
Low on ammo in an irradiated wasteland, hunted by monsters, feted by a huge number of competing groups offering missions while you desperately try to manage the potentially life-saving items in your inventory, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat combines the best bits of half dozen genres into a single neat and spooky package.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (68%)
Take the utterly addictive acrobatics and orb-hunting of Crackdown, then strip out the bland, generic villains and locations and replace them with a selection of pop-culture icons and a recognisable, if cartoonishly stylised, New York. Sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s pretty much the Web of Shadow’s experience. It’s fair to say that the game’s pacing comes from the hurry up and wait school of design, and the repeated nods to comic book continuity will leave non-fans feeling underwhelmed, but the delirious joy of swinging and swooping through the city, bounding from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of Spider Tokens is enough to make us feel that this game deserved a better score.
RISK: Factions (77%)
The original RISK boardgame has its rules tweaked every few years to greater and lesser effect. For the record, Megabits has a particular preference for the pre-2003 Secret Mission rules, a strong dislike for the post-2003 4-Secret Missions rules, and if you like World Domination rules, we think you’re a little bit girly. As you can see, tweaks and rule changes have a significant effect on how enjoyable a particular version of RISK is.
RISK: Factions, the XBLA version of the game is a particularly strong version, maintaining the fundamentals that make the boardgame such an addictive and mindbending exercise in strategic planning whilst incorporating faction-specific powers and an overkill mode that add that touch of dynamism that makes console games that much more exciting than their board based counterparts. Factions offers the best of both worlds-the classic, no frills game of RISK that can eat several brow furrowing hours of your time, or a comedy overdrive version with wacky rules and dodgy territories that can be played in no time at all.
Stranglehold (77%)
Describing Stranglehold as a cinematic police shooter with slow-mo effects isn’t inaccurate, but it doesn’t really do anything to separate John Woo’s first foray into videogames from a thousand other titles that could be described in the same way, which is probably why Stranglehold is often treated as a middling shooter rather than the hugely enjoyable romp that it is.
For starters, the slo-mo has an extra dimension thanks to its activation via acrobatic leaps, trolley rolls and banister runs. Slo-mo usually reduces the amount of movement on the screen rather than increasing it. On top of that, slo-mo is only the first layer of gunplay mechanics-successful slo-mo shooting racks up the power needed to unleash spinning attacks, momentary spells of unlimited ammo rapid fire, or a slo-mo zoom attack. As if recasting you as the god of gunslingers weren’t enough, Stranglehold’s levels include a harbour full of exploding boats, a penthouse full of laser boobytraps and a natural history museum in which you can sprint up the spine of a fossilised dinosaur whilst taking out squads of machine-gun toting gangsters. It’s nice to have a bit of variety.
Gun (75%)
Gun is one of our most loved games here at Megabits, a delightful generation straddler that can be played on Gamecube, PS2 or Xbox, yet is just as good in its Xbox 360 version.It’s one of those games where the quality is all in the software and comes out regardless of the hardware.
It’s an open-world western that features a central storyline surrounded by numerous law enforcement, horse racing, and hunting missions, all taking place on a map that reflects several iconic Western environments and which are accomplished by way of careful loot collection and the purchase of ever improving weaponry. In essence, it’s Red Dead Redemption writ small. Smaller map, less variety to the side missions, fewer characters...but for all that it looks like last gen’s little brother to the game of 2010, Gun actually manages to be just as good as Red Dead Redemption. The game may be small, but it’s big on character: The story and plot is actually slightly more complex and engaging, the set pieces more extravagant, the environments more varied, while the gold mining forms a simple yet completely addictive treasure hunting backbone to the game. Best of all, Gun seamlessly mixes elements of the most square jawed Saturday matinee oat operas with those of the stubble chinned, cynical revisionist western genre. It’s like a gorgeous collaboration between John Sturges and Sergio Leone, and it deserves far more than a paltry 75%.
Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil (76%)
It’s easy to understand why the cumbersomely titled Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil hasn’t scored more highly. In essence it's an old Gamecube title on a bigger disc. Given the Wii’s backwards compatibility, it would be fair to suggest that anyone wanting to play this Gamecube remake of the original Playstation Resident Evil could do so just by buying a second hand copy of the GC disc for pennies. On the other hand, the ability to play from your existing hardware without investing in Gamecube controllers and memory cards is a big point in Archives’ favour, as is this: Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil is among the very best games you’ll ever play.
Often referred to as REmake, the game has the same story elements and some of the familiar scares that you remember from the original, but features a significantly expanded plot, new bosses, new locations and new abilities. Same old tank-style controls mind you. Still, the awkward controls can’t detract from the powerful atmosphere offered by REmake, or the genuine scares, or the huge sense of satisfaction that comes from painstakingly solving puzzles and gradually unlocking new sections of the mansion and grounds . You also get genuine gut-wringing tension, some tragic new monsters and surprisingly good looks for a Wii game, let alone a Gamecube title. It’s a must-play, and there aren’t many of those on the Wii.