10 Video Games That Only Scored High Because Of Hype
These ten games had clear faults but were still given high scores regardless.
Hype and anticipation are powerful tools in the gaming industry; they can herald a game's dash to super-stardom or summon the imminent disappointment of fans.
On the one hand you have instant classics that remain enjoyable decades after their release and on the other you have wretched pieces of entertainment media that are forgotten quickly after they come out. Scores stamped onto a game linger on for some time, with aggregate websites attempting to offer the official authority on how groundbreaking some games have been, while consigning others to the bargain bin.
Then, there are these games: titles where the hype got a little out of hand to the point reviewers felt compelled to slap a higher score on the box, while ignoring their legitimate issues. Fuelled by over-excitement, the titles on this list are either looked on less favourably nowadays or received a massive split between mainstream critics and audiences on release. It's hard to deny though that the ten games here were a little undeserving of their critical acclaim. They're certainly not awful, but very overrated. Let's dig in.
10. Halo 4
When the Halo trilogy wrapped up in 2007, Microsoft wasn't about to let the profitable franchise slip from their grasp, so they put together a new team. Halo 4 was the most expensive Xbox production up to that point and expectations were appropriately high, given the pedigree of the original trilogy. Bungie moved out and 343 Industries got to work.
The end result was competent, but it fell short of previous mainline entries. The campaign was more linear than ever, despite the more emotional story at play, with several unlikeable characters. The multiplayer however was a heavy point of criticism, with changes brought to loadouts bringing Halo 4 too close to Call of Duty territory. The cooperative Spartan Ops mode would also fizzle out, not offering enough variation to make it replayable.
Three years in the making, Halo 4 may not be the weakest game of the series, but the long-awaited sequel was praised too highly by some critics, most notably IGN with their overzealous 9.8/10. Generally 4 is viewed as one of the weaker entries in the series, the player base dropping once 343's handling of the franchise would continue to be controversial, eventually reaching crisis point with 2015's Halo 5.