10 Video Games It's Cool To Hate

Popularity is a real minefield to traverse, isn’t it? If you’re not popular, well, nobody likes you. If you are popular, certain people will pop up who dislike you simply because you’re popular. These are your ‘haters’ and you’re quite proud of them, in an odd, twisted way.

The issue is, popularity makes things quite intrusive. For instance, when a show, video game or movie becomes super big, it’s suddenly absolutely everywhere. It’s easy to become tired of all the memes, references and constant talk about them. If said media then doesn’t live up to the hype, we consider it overrated through no fault of its own. After all, it's simply impossible to please everybody, and negative opinions can be infectious.

On top of all of this, it can simply be cool to hate something. You don't always need to have watched or played something to get caught up in the negativity.

Here are some video games that clearly fall into that category. Each of them have their legitimate problems, as all games do, but many don’t tend to focus on these while they’re bashing away at their reputations.

Now, here’s a controversial title to finish off our list with. As Resident Evil fans will know, with the fourth instalment of the main series marked a real paradigm shift for the game. Slow, traditional survival horror was out, and visceral TPS-style if you can stop waving that butcher knife two inches from my eyeballs, that’d be neat survival horror was in (see also: Dead Space).

In 2009, Resident Evil 5 arrived, and it isn’t remembered as the masterpiece that Resident Evil 4 was. On the contrary, it’s often seen as a silly affair that took those new shooter sensibilities a little too far (the next game would move that yardstick even further still). Much of this is with hindsight firmly in mind, though. At the time, Chris and Sheva’s adventure was regarded quite favourably by critics, as a high octane, tense and visually impressive action title. A good Resident Evil game? That’s highly debatable. A solid, enjoyable shooter that deserves better? Perhaps so.