Are there ideal games – those that can not only perfectly embody any element of game design, but also satisfy the desires of each user? Perhaps one day they will appear, but they are definitely not there now.
In the past two times we at the editorial office of Cybersport.ru talked about games that, no doubt, are worthy of the “ten out of ten” rating. Today, on the contrary, we will try to find titles that are undeservedly on top of the Metacritic top.
The Last of Us – 95 points out of 100
Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but when it comes to 10/10 games with emotions at my fingertips, I expect them to achieve certain achievements in all areas of game design right away. Therefore, the success of Naughty Dog games is an anomaly that hardly fits into my picture of the video game world. The Last of Us today is almost a “Mona Lisa” industry. A little more, and Japanese tourists with cameras will start to drive streams along it. But … Did someone really like the gameplay in it?
At first glance, I fell in love with Ellie (of course, the most platonic love) and sincerely worried about her until the end of the plot. But this is the merit of directing, which manifests itself only in cut scenes and rare moments when the player is entangled in a web of scripts. Outside of these scenes, The Last of Us turns into a second-rate action game with an obscene weak shooting system and an unintelligible stealth.
The game suffers from the pathological inability of Naughty Dog to make an interesting “battle”, but at the same time, with tenacity worthy of a better application, every five minutes he confronts Joel with infected or bandits. “Go to YouTube” is an ironic phrase that console players sometimes troll players on a PC. But in the case of The Last of Us, this method probably wins.
Text: Vladislav “Machinae” Animal
Divinity: Original Sin II – 95 points out of 100
I really like turn-based, RPG and cooperative games – Civilization V and Heroes of Might and Magic III, Neverwinter and Dragon Age, XCOM and Darkest Dungeon – they are all different, but they capture attention from the loading screen to the final credits. On the release of Divinity: Original Sin II got a score of 95 out of 100. This is quite a lot even for mainstream games, and when considering the genre it is almost divine – and I rubbed my hands joyfully, hoping to update my outdated list of favorites.
My disappointment knew no bounds. Divinity I want to turn off after the first battle, especially if you meet with an unsuccessful opponent. There are two types of them in the game: either your cat will be able to win, or after a sweaty battle you will have to run into the shower. There are very few medium battles in which you can implement an interesting strategy. Many opponents are “cans” with deliberately increased characteristics, which looks quite artificial.
Nine screenwriters worked on the game. This fact will not surprise users who carefully read the plot. It has an incredible amount of nuances, but little structure, since nine (!) People can not see the game world in the same way.
For all its diversity, it is boring: endless dialogs and the same surprises like “Oh, and I, too, are undead.” This is my personal opinion, do not throw stones in vain. User ratings are only slightly lower than the ratings from specialized publications – 8.8 out of 10 points, which means that most liked Divinity: Original Sin II. Play with pleasure, and I pass.
Text: Anastasia allestron Bismuth
Fallout 3 – 93 points out of 100
Fallout is one of the most legendary game series in history. She went through amazing metamorphoses, starting as a classic isometric RPG, turning into a kind of shooter and stopping in the MMO section. Do you know what part of the franchise has become the most highly regarded critics on Metacritic? Do not guess, this is Fallout 3.
As a child, I did not have a PC, so in the first place I got acquainted with the three-dimensional generation of the series and did not experience shock due to the refusal of the developers from isometry. Neither to the haters of the third part, nor to the admirers of the first two can be ranked me. I even like Fallout 3, it’s a pretty good game, but I don’t understand how the gamers collectively recognized it as the best in the family.
The inappropriateness of finding Fallout 3 in the Must Play category is caused not only by its much more attractive brothers: some consider its shooter mechanics to be the most controversial part of the game. Personally, it does not seem to me that the transition to it was a real evil, although the implementation was clearly not ideal – shooting in the game was unpleasant. The main thing that pushes me away from Fallout 3 is the Broken Steel add-on, which fundamentally affects the finale of the original plot. For all my dislike of paid DLCs, this is one of their worst manifestations.
Text: Bair Vydar Modonov
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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – 90 points out of 100
It hurts me to scold Sekiro, because FromSoftware leads by a wide margin in my ranking of game developers. But that’s why the samurai action deserves a bit of criticism: it’s a good variation on the souls-like theme, but only in the original games everything was done better.
The full pumping from Dark Souls gave way to the study of individual skills; a wide arsenal – with one faithful sword; variety of locations – a meager set of sketches from medieval Japan; and a complex and multifaceted ENT – a straightforward story that everyone forgot right after the closing credits. The only innovation is the stamina system, which really changed the mechanics of the battle. But this did not save the game from comparisons with its predecessor, and in this battle Sekiro lost without a chance.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is difficult to perceive as an ambitious new IP – it looks more like the contract that the proven FromSoftware artist received from Activision’s customer. And the developers managed – quickly and efficiently, but completely without a “soul”. The world of Sekiro is not interesting to explore, the ENT is boring to study, and the gameplay in this case is addictive for only one passage. Why the game still ended up on the same podium with the Souls series is a big mystery to me. Apparently, this is the magic of FromSoftware.
Text: Vladislav “Machinae” Animal
NFS Hot Pursuit – 88 points out of 100
Evaluations of the Need for Speed series of games on Metacritic are a very strange and illogical thing. We saw both parts of Underground, Most Wanted and a few worse titles, but also quite peppy. But for some reason, Hot Pursuit (2010) ranked the highest among PC games.
I myself sometimes go into it to kill time, I especially like the regime where it is necessary to stop illegal racers for cops and send them to the fence. A selection of cars (except Ferrari is missing), their description, detail, graphics, landscapes from the classic Hot Pursuit – all this is at a gorgeous level and even now does not look outdated. But there is one point because of which this game by no means can be called the best in the NFS series – machine control.
The development of NFS Hot Pursuit 2010 was entrusted to the authors of Burnout – Criterion Games. Apparently, the studio did not bother with physics – it took it from its legendary series, slightly corrected it, and now you have a new Need for Speed! But because of this, cars of the same class lost 99% their individuality and at least some distinctive signs when driving, and the brake is needed only to let the car drift and go along any ideal 200+ km / h trajectory along an ideal path.
Yes, this is an arcade, but we play on consoles and PCs, and we know how NFS developers can make the machine easy and fun to control at the same time. In Hot Pursuit, it’s more and more like a “mobile phone” like Asphalt – you drown the trigger, drift into turns as if not on a four-wheel drive Subaru, but on a cramp for drifting competitions, restore nitro. And those who played in Hot Pursuit and Hot Pursuit 2 (the 2010 game can be called a remake, right?) Will not get the old sensations from illegal racing on a paradise island. After a dozen races, the process becomes so monotonous that there is no special desire to play Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (2010). A set-off for developers, except for the regime with the destruction of riders for the police – this never bothers!
Text: Cyril gr1nder Rusakov
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These were five certainly good games, but do they deserve the praises that the journalists sang to them? We don’t think so. And what do you think, which titles got ratings higher than those that you could count on? Is there anything revolutionary about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to make history? Did Half-Life 2 stand the test of time? Did Dota 2 justify its 90 points out of 100? Write in the comments.
