I’m going to explain to you a few games that I feel were over-hyped. Games that I’ve played because they were recommended to me and then I was disappointed. These aren’t bad games, but they are games that I should like for all the right reasons but I don’t because somebody made the game out to be better than I think it is.
Dishonored
First up is the game made by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda. Dishonored was boasted as an excellent stealth game by both the media and my friends. When I picked up the controller I was ecstatic. It looked great, the beginning of the story was great. It even ended well.
The problem I had wasn’t with the story or the graphics or even the entirety of the gameplay. It was the stealth. The powers helped and there were a few places where the stealth mechanics worked the way I had heard, but most of the time they fell short. It was supposed to be a challenge to sneak around. I found it either entirely too easy or too tough. It took time to stop and find my way around. I found it easier to fight my way through some of the more “secure” locations than to actually sneak through them. For me it was a good game but the inconsistent stealth aspect made it fall short of greatness.
Hitman: Absolution
I was told that this game was also a great stealth game. That it was fun and tough. Again, I picked up the controller and was excited. I enjoyed Blood Money and this was supposed to be even better. The story started off strong and I thought it would continue. I found myself bored after the third chapter.
I wanted nothing more than to play the best assassin the world had ever known but I found it very difficult to be a great hitman. Agent 47’s skills, aside from the “instinct” ability, there was little help in making you feel like you had what you wanted. To me this lessened the experience. I love a challenge but not when you’re trying to be the best Hitman in the business.
Far Cry 3
The trailers were appealing but it didn’t warrant a day one pick up. In the days and weeks after release a buddy of mine kept telling me it was like Skyrim but with guns. I thought to myself that this was exactly what I was looking for. So I picked the game up and started playing. It took a while for the opening cutscene to finish but I found it intriguing. What I found difficult was the lack of true side missions. What I love about Skyrim is being able to go anywhere right from the get-go and getting a mission from a random local.
In Far Cry 3 all I found were people hunting me down any time I ventured too far off the beaten path. This was fun the first time but it got annoying the longer I played. I even tried taking out the towers, but those were so easy to get online that it made it too boring to spend the time traveling from one to the other. All in all it wasn’t a bad game. It just didn’t live up to “Skyrim with guns” in my mind.
There you have it. A few games that I think are good games but they just did not live up to the hype that I heard about them.
