This week, I look at my Top 5 Games from this generation that I loved….that everyone else hated. Games that either reviewed poorly, weren’t popular with gamers, or both.
5. ZombiU
This early WiiU title was one of the few third party titles to really make decent use of the GamePad. This was first person Resident Evil before Resident Evil 7 was a twinkle in Capcom’s eye. The WiiU version reviewed measurably better than the Xbox One and PS4 ports, mostly due to the aforementioned GamePad use, which was removed for those versions.
But for me, this really was a gem of a game.
4. The Order 1886
An early PS4 title that created a bit of controversy at the time for it’s “black bars” which caused some kerfuffle on forums arguing over whether the game was actually 1080p or not. Either way, the game was stunning and to this day is still one of the best looking games of this generation.
Got a hard time for it’s now infamous Lycan fights, which honestly only represent a tiny slice of the total game. All the talk over the visuals and Lycan fights detract from what was actually a pretty sold third person shooter. Gunplay felt rock solid and enemy hit feedback was great.
The game’s biggest downfall in my mind was that Ready At Dawn was too focused on making an interactive movie rather than a game. When the game actually let you play it, it was cool.
3. Killzone Shadow Fall
This PS4 launch title was very hyped – particularly for it’s visual splendour, reviewed decently but fell off a cliff in popularity very quickly and time has not been kind to how this game has been viewed.
But not to me!
To this day, I still love this game and have put around 100 hours into the multiplayer. I’m only 1 trophy away from the Platinum too. A single player campaign that gave me Goldeneye vibes for it’s objective structure and ability to tackle the enemies at your own pace and a multiplayer suite chock full of modes, customisation and more importantly…BOTS!
2. Ryse: Son of Rome
One of the launch titles that I felt fell victim to the launch disaster that was the Xbox One. Ryse was a “Sony game” before Sony was putting out any Sony games this generation. For me, this was the predecessor to God of War. A third person, over the shoulder, narrative driven, visually stunning, melee focused action game. Like The Order above, Ryse to this day is still one of the best looking games of this generation and would have benefited even further from an Xbox One X enhancement.
Even the multiplayer was pretty fun, if a bit of a grind, particularly if you wanted all the achievements.
A really neat rhythm based combat system that at the time was written off as a “QTE fest” which really didn’t give the combat enough credit for what it was trying to do.
Man, I need to play this again
1. Crackdown 3
Anyone who knows me knows one thing…I’m a huge Crackdown fan. Ever since the day we all bought the Halo 3 Beta and got that free game with it back in 2007. For me, Crackdown was always fun printed directly onto a disc. Despite it’s very public and troubled development, I know I was going to love Crackdown 3 no matter what and it didn’t disappoint.
So much so I believe I may be one of only a small group of people on the planet to have all the achievements for the game (campaign).
Good list. I enjoyed Ryse: Son of Rome and The Order: 1886 and thought they were good 7.0/10 games. No interest in the other three games.
Definitely agreed on the latest Crackdown game. Even though i don’t really have a history with the past two games, i just really like the way how CD3 plays out and it’s probably one of the only open world games that i replayed multiple times.