A reader lists the current gen games he thinks receive too much praise, including The Witcher 3 and Assassins Creed Origins.
Im sure weve all got certain games that we can never understand the praise for but following the reviews for Days Gone I realised a strange thing: most of the ones I dont like are open world games. Even though I wouldve said that I was actually a fan of that type of thing. So, I thought Id dig deep and try and explore what my problem was with them and name my five most overrated (but not necessarily bad) games of the current gen.
5. The Witcher 3
I did enjoy The Witcher 3 for the first dozen hours or so but in the end I just couldnt bear any more of the awful combat. The dialogue and storytelling is good, some of the best Ive seen in games – even if it is a bit desperate to seem grimdark and serious. But the act of actually playing the game? Completely boring. I can see how some people would put up with the bad because of the good parts, and thats fine, but to see it lauded as one of the best games of the generation? I will never understand that. It makes me very wary of Cyberpunk 2077 as well.
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4. Assassins Creed Origins
Since theyre successful I assume the Assassins Creed games must be popular, although Ive never met anyone in real-life that would admit to being a fan. To me theyre the epitome of the Ubisoft formula, trying to prove that quantity of content can win out over quality if you just throw in enough side quests and meaningless collectables. The stories are always completely boring, the combat far too shallow to last such a long game, and theres just no life to any of it. Like a computer made it instead of people. I gave Origins a chance because it was a soft reboot but within minutes I was dealing with obvious bugs and giant quest markers floating all over the screen and I knew nothing had changed. I never even bothered with Odyssey.
3. Grand Theft Auto V
To be honest I would have preferred to put GTA IV, because thats a game that I think is outright terrible, but Ill stick to my theme of this being only about the current gen. GTA V is definitely an improvement on the previous game but its still a horribly shallow experience, with barely mediocre action. The gunplay is the sort of wishy-washy, imprecise fudge youd expect from a low budget movie tie-in, not the most expensive video game ever made. Sure, the open world is impressive, but the story is almost non-existent. It just trundles on with Trevor doing increasingly repulsive things and then ends all of sudden with no build-up or any semblance of a point. I get teenagers think its edgy and everything, what with all the violence and constant swearing, but I found it an utter bore.
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2. Halo
Since The Master Chief Collection came out this gen Im going to count the whole Halo series here, which I have to admit Ive never liked. I have some admiration for the first few, which managed to make the whole sandbox shooter idea seem interesting and fresh. And I also appreciate the emphasis on improved artificial intelligence. But I still found the thing impossibly dull, with the horribly repetitive level design and bland, generic storyline and characters. The new games have solved the level design issue but theyve lost whatever made the series distinctive in the first place, to the point where I dont think even fans like it anymore. Halo Infinite is going to have to be the best reboot ever.
1. Red Dead Redemption II
This is the game that inspired this feature, in part because of the references to it in GCs Days Gone review. The mere mention of Rockstars latest was enough to put me off that game instantly, especially hearing that it copies the whole radio play while youre driving to a mission thing. I dont know what it is about Rockstars writers but they just love the sound of their own dialogue even though almost none ofRead More – Source
