What the hell is everyone’s problem with GameSpy’s 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time feature? Personally, I thought the feature was phenomenal, and I readily agree that every game on that list has more than earned its position there. Sure, I think “25 Most Overhyped Games of All Time” would have been a more apt title, but it still gets the point across. These are all games that seem absolutely amazing in concept and/or during the first few hours of play, but each one ultimately proves to be shallow, boring, or such a convoluted mess that the common GameFAQs reader can’t help but become a devoted fan. The sad thing is, websites other than Penny-Arcade (which I feel the need to hyphenate) have been complaining about this feature. Several blogs and personal sites, which I don’t feel obligated to mention and/or link to, have also gone to great lengths to ensure their dozen readers know that FF7 OMG iz liek totally rad, d00d, despite what GameSpy says. However, it will be Penny-Arcade’s related comic which I will be dissecting for you this evening.

Panel One: I believe GameSpy actively mentions this several times during the course of their feature. They often mention that they are to blame for overhyping or overscoring a particular game. And to answer your question: yes, but in a bad way.

Panel Two: Yeah, GameSpy Arcade sure is shit. But at least they consume all of the other useless multiplayer services (MPlayer, I’m looking at you) into a single worthless program. God bless you, GameSpy.

Panel Three: Donkey Kong Country was a bad game. Once you get past cutting-edge 1995 graphics, all you have is a generic mascot-driven platformer that doesn’t even stand up to most Nick Toon licensed GBA games. Rock on. And Final Fantasy VII’s ability to “absolutely [pierce] the mainstream and [deposit] the notion of gaming into a new generation” doesn’t make up for the fact that it was a substandard game with a boring battle system, generic characters, blocky graphics (even in 1997), and a completely schizophrenic plot. But it sure was sad when Aerith died, right? I remember picking up the game along with my Playstation in 2000 after hearing so many good things about it, only to find I was forced into playing some insipid mini-game every two seconds or made to fight in another generic random battle. Needless to say, I quickly ran out and bought Legend of Mana, which wasn’t much better than Final Fantasy VII, but that’s a story for another long-winded update.

Personally, there are a few more games I feel deserve a place on the list, at least as an honorable mention. Xenogears, Max Payne, and Radiant Silvergun come immediately to mind, but I could spend all night spouting off a long list of games which don’t deserve the attention they garner, and an even longer list of games which deserve more than they do.

It’s like I’m a super cool indie webmaster who realizes how cool it is to go against the norm. Either that, or I have thirty minutes to kill before I go to sleep.

I shouldn’t be proud of this.

EDIT: I found another one!