Ever since the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii, the gaming industry has seen a crazy amount of overrated activity from media sources, gamers, and retail employees. I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that this generation has “sold out” to the whores of the industry more-so than any other and it’s getting to be a little much. Gone are the days of when great titles stood alone due to the sheer quality that they offered and gone are the days when Collector’s Editions were reserved for franchises that had long-time followers and devoted fans.
Nowadays, we see titles like Dead Rising 2 which carries 2-4 different Collector’s Editions that you can buy from a myriad of retailers. We see media websites like IGN as well as others beefing up the release of a high profile title to high review scores and overall consumer disappointment (Grand Theft Auto IV comes to mind). This isn’t to say it’s always the case or that it’s happening every single day, not at all. However, the ridiculousness of it all is getting a little out of hand and it’s starting to ruin the wallets of gamers everywhere.
To be honest, do you think the used game market would be as large as it is today if it wasn’t for media outlets hyping up every $10+ million dollar budgeted game this generation? Would we see hundreds of used copies of games like Haze if all of that hype wasn’t put into the product prior to release? Where has the honesty of it all gone? The only reason the used game market is now as large as it is is because of the media, gamers, and retail employees adding the peacock effect onto every product that comes through the industry. The media is trying to push a product to gain favor with a publisher (this does happen, don’t kid yourself), the gamer is pushing a title to justify his/her own purchase (console war anyone?), and the retail employee is trying to push pre-order after pre-order to meet a quota so he can keep his underpaid trashy job.
With all of that being said, I’ve narrowed down the first five years of this generation to what I believe to be the most overrated franchises that are most guilty of duping gamers entirely.
The Call of Duty Franchise
Now, I know I’m probably going to catch a lot of flack for this one, but think about it. The Call of Duty franchise has sold well over 30 million copies this generation alone. These sales have come on the heels of highly scored reviews, great word of mouth, and high exposure in retail stores. The only question remains, is it justified? My answer? Hell no.
The original high selling Call of Duty franchise this generation was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare released to critical acclaim and it was deserving of that praise. It brought forth innovation to a genre that had become stale and started to wear on gamers in general. I’m not going to give the franchise disrespect when it isn’t entirely due — obviously Modern Warfare helped turn a leaf and I respect that. However, Modern Warfare also helped Activision fall into the mold of what it has become known for and that is delivering the dairy goods — milking.
Due to the highly deserved success of Modern Warfare, Treyarch released Call of Duty: World At War. Due to namesake alone, World At War managed to sell roughly 10 million units across all platforms. However, the quality and decision to remain in the 1940s left a lot of gamers wishing for more. How could a title with this much disappoint reach so many homes? The hype, the anticipation, and the attention that so many individuals gave to it as though it would hold a candle to Modern Warfare. Unfortunately for all of us, we were duped and wasted $60.
FFXIII looked like colorful “meh” ever since they introduced afroman and the queer kid. But Versus is another story, that game is directed by Nomura who also directed Kingdom Hearts (fun and compelling series), designed characters for the most of the better Final Fantasies, and directed Advent Children which had some sick combat, so I’m expecting a really fun and good looking action RPG with a deep story. I never even bought FFXIII because the reviews were “meh” and the cheesy appearance looked like “meh” so I’ll be putting my bets on Versus with no regrets.
how about Blizzard’s Starcraft 2?
Why does everybody hate on FFXIII? It is a really good game with a long and engaging story. Who cares if it doesn’t have a hub world? I have beaten the story in that game and it is not overrated. IMO it is underrated.
You know, when I first found this article on the ECA newsletter, I was interested to check it out and see what someone had to say about recent franchises. I can agree to some extent on the first 2 points. Call of Duty has been a bit overblown by Activision, but the Infinity Ward titles are excellent and very well made titles. After finishing the article, however, I began to feel as if someone were trying to preach at me. It felt like the author was disappointed, not necessarily in the games, but with something else and was taking it out on the games. Then, I realized what website this was on, and it all made sense. Both Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto signed exclusive deals with Microsoft for early content release. Square Enix, on the other hand has been producing more games for XBox 360, some of them exclusive to the 360, than it has for the PS3. Realizing this was on Playstation University, I come to realize that this is mostly the ranting of a disappointed gamer (fanboy might be going too far, but then again, maybe not) who has backed one console and started looking across the fence. I am not trying to say that one console is better than the other. I own all 3 consoles this generation, as well as all 3 from last generation, and each one has pros and cons. PS3 does have some excellent games, and many more on the way, so let’s stop pointing fingers at the other guys just because they have a few exclusives that you want, and play the great games you already have.
@Some Guy
Lol I own an Xbox 360 as well. If you care to look on N4G for this article, a commenter made the comment “What about Gears of War?” I replied thoroughly and explained why Gears of War wouldn’t qualify for this list… Two of the main reasons being that it is an engaging title that I enjoyed from start to finish and that it is an excellent new IP despite the trilogy being wrapped up this coming April.
If I cared even an ounce about Call of Duty’s “map packs,” (which I purchased none of) or about Grand Theft Auto IV’s (which I completed on the 360) it wouldn’t be because of a “timed exclusive” deal that had no effect on me whatsoever as a dual-console owner.
Thanks though.
I so agree about SE in it’s current state being overrated.
GTA4 was a downgrade from its past games. I thought that after 3 years they would finally release a GTA that was just as good as sanandreas (best sandbox game in history) but instead……
it had no planes, fun weapons like flamethrowers, miniguns, duel weapons etc, you couldnt get fat by eating or go to the gym, everything looked the same in the city, there where no fun cheat codes like the chaos cheat in sadandreas, the character custonisation was bad, you couldnt customise your car, the controls where annoying( you had to walk in a circle just to turn round and the cover system was horrible) there where no tanks, the army was removed and you couldnt have gang wars!
There are even more things wrong with the game but i think you get the idea.
I thought after the terrible ‘vice city and liberty city stories’ games (which where just cheap clones of vice city and liberty city) they would finally make a game like sanandreas but instead they spent $10 million removing things from the game!
back in 08 i was looking at great ps3 games that i wanted to play
but the upcoming release of gta4 was the game that made me buy a next gen console
i realy enjoyed the first 20 houres, up until i finished the game, where i was left with a small city, an underwelming story, less than half the weapons, weicles and outside mision activities to do, the multiplayer was there to fill some gaps, but it dident made the game worth 70 euros(that i spend for it), luckily i had uncharted & hewenly sword, and the same year resistance2, motorstorm2, metal gear4 and lbp were released to make up for what i wasted on gta, the ps3 exclusives that year were so good that(because of gta4) i dident buy a single multiplat(for the ps3) after about a year or so
also, to the list id like to add a franchise caled guitar/dj/milkage hero where you buy a game with 70 songs and can get the other 90% buy paying 2 bucks for it on the PSstore or xbox live, yay
I would have to go with another overrated company: Bethesda. Daggerfall was a great RPG, but since then every Elder Scrolls game has been worse than the one before. Morrowind couldn’t hold a candle to Daggerfall, and Oblivion was a bad joke (as an RPG.) As for Fallout 3, it was just Oblivion with a Fallout skin, it felt nothing like the classic first two Fallout games.
Where is Madden on this list? What a POS that franchise has become remove every feature worth having on PS2 and Xbox only to not incorporate this generation. Go into any Gamestop and see 10-20 after a month release
This article appears to be written by someone who doesn’t know what a franchise is. The article should be titled, “most overrated entries in a franchise,” since that is at least what the first two are. BTW, GTA IV was the best of the GTA games.
@Charles
Or maybe a reader doesn’t know how to read… “Overrated franchises THIS GENERATION…” If there is only ONE Grand Theft Auto released thus far this generation…that qualifies as the entire franchise for THIS GENERATION.
Get it?
Much <3
Give me a break. Call of Duty World at War was a fine game. Grand Theft Auto IV was great. Stop acting like we keep getting “duped” and grow up.