I have to admit - I've played some really crappy games over the years. Games that make me wonder "why did the developers even bother?" Games that make me wonder who the target market even is and contemplate why they would ever throw their money away for such a terrible investment. However, I'm 100% positive that I'm not alone in saying that there are a few games I've loved playing that everyone else in the world seems to hate, or games that have been criticized to death and resurrected so they could be criticized again. They've all been slammed for various reasons, and I usually tend to agree with some of the harsh words said about a variety of games. But there's just something special about them, regardless of how bad everything else is... it's like finding a diamond in a pile of manure. There are specifically three (3) titles I've played over the years that stuck with me the most, which were quickly and quietly forgotten about by a majority of the video gaming community. If you asked me if they're worth playing, I might be one of the few within a thousand-mile radius to say "yes". I realize that if I wrote it all in one blog post, this could get quite lengthy, so I'm splitting it into one post per game. Without further rambling... the first of three...
Two Worlds
There was a lot of hype over the open-world RPG Two Worlds when it came out. Some were even so ambitious to call it the "Oblivion killer" (that didn't fare too well). There has since been a sequel, which was infinitely better but still forgotten about, mainly due to the original's reputation. I wouldn't have even touched Two Worlds II (that name is terrible) if I hadn't remotely liked the first one. Two Worlds wasn't nearly as big or epic as Oblivion, and never even came close. The only good bit of graphics was in the environment, the characters were forgettable and absolutely atrocious. The dialogue was so bad, that in Two Worlds II they ended up intentionally poking fun at the original. The story sucked and overall, the game just didn't impress on the level needed to sell copies. It got absolutely reamed by critics. But I loved Two Worlds. I spent about 100 hours on it; exploring, dungeon clearing, leveling, killing dragons, etc. While I was fully aware it wasn't a good game, I kept playing it. I got hooked by the little things that it actually did *right*. The equipment and spell crafting was one of the best in an RPG title I had seen, and the world, albeit fairly stereotypical, was fun to roam. I found myself actually enjoying the gameplay while laughing about how comically bad everything else was. I'm a sucker for cheesy 3rd person role play games. I'd tell people to play it for the crafting and the laughs, if nothing else.
Mayhap I have too much free time... verily?
