Hype; It's a word I hear quite a bit when I talk about videogames. It's a word that we began hearing (And repeating.) in the last console generation, and I've never really understood what it meant. From context, it would seem to mean that a company gives a game some publicity, and it turns out negatively. But for clarification, let's check the definition of the word as a noun:

Hype - An ingenious or questionable claim, method, etc., used in advertising, promotion, or publicity to intensify the effect.

Well, there we go. Hype can be positive OR negative (Despite the majority of ways it's seen in text.) and it's traditionally used in advertising.

Now 'hyping' a game usually results in game being either underrated or overrated. But once again, I see these words alot; So what do they mean? Umm... Hang on, I'll be back.

Alright, I'm back. And I got the definition! Okay, here we go:

Undderrated - To rate or evaluate too low; underestimate.
Overrated - To rate or appraise too highly. To overestimate or overvalue.

Hmm... So I guess being underrated means a game gets little-to-no hype, but is still good, and a game being overrated means it gets too much hype and falls flat on it's face. Well I can think of a great many games that suffered from both conditions, but there definitely a few that top the list.

You get the idea? Good. I'll try to not repeat myself.

THE UNDERRATED:

5. Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories

Kingdom Hearts is a great game series; So great, in fact, that it was rated #40 on 'Greatest Games Of The Decade.' But Chain of Memories is regarded by most of the people I know as the dark horse of the series. Why? The reason I heard from people I know was that it didn't 'match the quality' of the other games. And I can understand that. Maybe it didn't match the quality of the other games, but it's still really good.


I couldn't find very many in-game screenshots. Hey, at least it's not the PS2 cover!

4. Ty The Tasmanian Tiger

This game I haven't played in years, mostly because someone I know (Who shall not be named.) cleaned the disc improperly, and now it's useless! But still, I can remember my time playing this game. It was sort of like Banjo-Kazooie, with these huge, sprawling levels and tons to explore in a lighthearted platforming style with some enemies here and there to spice things up. Not a super-serious game, just something fun to play. It did get two sequels (Which I never did get to play.) but the lack of a 7th-gen title disappoints me.


The Gamecube cover art and PS2 cover art are flip-flopped. Google it. Oh, and while you're at it, try to find me a better picture.

3. Red Steel

YOU FUCKING KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS GAME. People wrote it off as glitchy, buggy, and as shovelware. Well, I stand against those people and say to them: "Have you even played it? The visual effects in shootouts and well-placed sword fights just make for an awe-inspiring experience! Unlike most things Ubisoft makes. (*Cough* Imagine games *Cough*."


Did you know that there is a form of martial arts that can be performed entirely while sitting down?

2. Donkey Kong 64


Gorillas beating the crap out of alligators: Awesome. Microsoft owning Rare and not working with Nintendo anymore: A dick move on Micro$oft's part. The N64 Expansion Pak: Out of stock.

I know, Rare developed this one; But I'm sure that Nintendo could get the rights to the scenario in a legal case, and if I could see a current-gen remake (Or even a Virtual Console release.) it would easily place in the Wii's Top 20 Games. And I KNOW I'm not the only one who feels this way!


FUCK YOU MICROSOFT. AND JUST RELEASE THE FUGEN 360 FAILURE RATES ALREADY. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE XBOX 360 OVEREATS, NOW IT'S JUST A MATTER OF EXTENT.

1. Tetris

Everyone likes Tetris! Or at least everyone I know. And I know that Tetris is one of the most widely-known games, but I just don't think it ever gets the credit it deserves. It's blocks. Just blocks. Not talking blocks that wear nanosuit armor or some other crap, they are just BLOCKS. And when you line 'em up, they go away! On paper, it doesn't sound interesting at all, but when you play it, you realize it's probably the simplest game that people still play on a regular basis.


Pictured: Best use for rope.

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THE OVERRATED

5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

I know people regard this as one the best N64 games ever, and I did have a copy, but I only played it because it was the only thing we had until we got Mario 64, and then DK64. I pretty much only played it because I had to. Not because I wanted to.


Manufactured for a select few. I was not one of them. Well, I mean I own a copy, but I wasn't the person who wanted it. I've still got it though.

4. Resident Evil

I liked Resident Evil 4 for the following reasons: The controls worked well and so did the camera. The maps show room layouts in an uncluttered way. The knife didn't feel like a last-ditch-effort weapon; You used it to save ammo. On the subject of ammo, the game always gave me enough the make some nice splatters with. Never once in any of the many playthroughs of RE4 was I ever stranded with nothing but my knife. Health was rather abundant, but did have to ration it.

I did not like the classic Resident Evil games for the following reasons: The camera angle is archaic and so are the controls. The game has no map; Really, if you're gonna make a game with a fixed camera angle, at least give me a map, or confess that this is a god-forsaken game. The knife didn't kill the zombies; you can stab 'em and slice 'em all day, but for some odd reason, they don't die. Which in the case of the classic Resident Evil games, isn't a good thing. Once you get the handgun and run out of ammo within the first few seconds of getting it, you realize that the classic Resident Evil games aren't very forgiving with ammo OR health.


'Of course you're out of ammo! Guess how many handgun clips are in this building! Go ahead, guess. If you guessed NONE, you're right!'

3. Gears Of War

If you like this game, fine, don't let me change your opinion. But I really do have to say something about this game; I played about 35 minutes of the normal combat at a friend's. Not online, not the end, not the tutorial, just normal combat. And most of the stuff in the environment I couldn't make out because of the use of color in the game. Or the lack of it. 'Where are the guys I'm supposed to shoot?' 'They're right behind that wall.' 'Umm... Where's the wall?'


The Xbox 360 can display 30 million+ colors. This pic displays about ten.

2. 007: GoldenEye

I know, not many people are gonna agree with this one, (Did I ever really expect anyone to agree at all with the top half of this post?) but some things must be said about GoldenEye. First, I had the same problem with this one that I had with Gears of War; The colors were all muddled, and I couldn't tell where anything was. I'm not saying that GoldenEye was a bad game, I'm just gonna say this: I had more fun with Perfect Dark. I'll leave it at that.


And if someone said that Perfect Dark had better boxart than GoldenEye, I would have to agree.

1. You People Are Gonna Kill Me If I Name A Game You Own.

I can already tell. I'll be quartered digitally if I name a game that one person on this site has actually purchased with real money. So I'm not gonna do it. I'm not playing a game of Russian Roulette with you people; And I know this is sort of a cheap way out, but you've gotta understand my dilemma here. But if you really want to know what #1 might have been, here are the nominated games: GTA 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and Street Fighter IV.
































You read all that? Good.

DA REEL NUMBA WUN. Super Smash Bros. (N64)

Now whenever I talk about SSB, people think I'm automatically gonna talk about Brawl, but as you can plainly see, that is not the case here. Now one fine day, (For playing videogames, that is. It was pouring outside.) I decided to haul out my N64 from my closet, and replay some classics. I started off with Banjo-Tooie, then moved on to Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. And I slowly made my way from Mario Kart 64 to Toy Story 2 (Say what you will, but I like it.) And then I arrived at Super Smash Bros. I inserted the cartridge into the control deck with anticipation, and then I realized just how hideously awful the original Super Smash Bros. was. The graphics were little more than jagged polygons with simple-color textures laid over them. And levels felt very narrow compared to the newer versions. All in all, it just wasn't fun to play. Even when I got two other people into the mix, very little fun was there to be had. So I decided to test something; So I got out Melee and we started playing that, and it was a blast, but it just reminded me of how little fun the first one was.