Tom Chick's 10 most overrated games of 2009

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Yeah come to think of it, I haven't played it since either.

[pilonv1]

I bought Flower when it came out, finished it and all that.  Go back to see posts where I say it's probably the most beautiful game ever, and I stick with that.  Game looks incredible.  But like Braid, it ends in an hour two and you never want to play it again cuz it's really boring.  Flower in Braid of 2009, except without some illiterate hobo begging for money.

spittin truth

[Beezy]

Braid

Worst hyped XBLA game ever.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

I think that title is bestowned upon GeoWars 2

[Stoney Mason]

I think that title is bestowned upon GeoWars 2

sigh.

Like I said, I don't know everybody here on this forum yet but like is this your gimmick and character over here. Are you doing satire of a PS3 fanboy idiot or are you just a PS3 fanboy idiot?

Serious question.

[demi]

I think that title is bestowned upon GeoWars 2

sigh.

Like I said, I don't know everybody here on this forum yet but like is this your gimmick and character over here. Are you doing satire of a PS3 fanboy idiot or are you just a PS3 fanboy idiot?

Serious question.

Nah, thats his schtick. I banned him like 4 times already. Doesnt seem to get the hint, haha. Might just make it permanent and he can trollop to some shitty forum.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Tom posted on GAF

Hey guys,

First of all, I'm bummed to see this thread closed down. It was a perfectly cromulent topic! I appreciate being able to read people's reactions, positive and negative. You guys are always a passionate bunch, even if some of you aren't, uh, terribly constructive or even articulate. Here's where I'd put a smiley face if I didn't find emoticons so insufferable.

Second, I hope it's clear that I'm not writing the list – or anything else – just to be controversial. I will grant that I write things to get hits. That's pretty much my job. But my goal is to make things interesting instead of sensational. And nothing with my name attached to it is disingenuous.

(That said, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't just cut and paste my articles into the thread. If you don't want to read what I've written, that's your prerogative, and I can admire anyone who takes a principled stand like that. But please don't steal what I've written. I don't personally care about hits, but they make my overlords at the Sci Fi Channel (err, Syfy) happy. Happy enough that they don't come to me and say, "Tom, you're not getting enough traffic, so can you be more like Kotaku?" I count every day that doesn't happen a blessing.)

Third, I had hoped it was clear in the actual text, but the term "overrated" has very little to do with review scores, as that's a topic I have no interest in discussing. It's my opinion that every time you talk about a review score, you're missing out on a much more instructive conversation. Review scores are doing irreparable damage to how we talk about and receive videogames.

So "overrated" is just a shorthand way for me to say I'm surprised at how well received a game was, whether by other writers, my friends, or online communities like GAF. There's a character limit on the headlines at most blogs, and Fidgit is no exception. Hence trying to sum it up in one word. I'd love to be able to spell it out more precisely, but on the internet, RSS feeds trump clarity.

Finally, as is the case with many of these lists, it's entirely personal. Not only do I expect you'll disagree, but I welcome it. This list is not an end in and of itself. It is a starting point for conversations, and exceptions, and forum threads. If it makes you think about why you like Uncharted 2 or Plants vs. Zombies or Demon's Souls so much, then as far as I'm concerned, the list has done its job.

Which comes back to why I'm disheartened the thread was closed down. Plus, I'd written this in Word and wanted to paste it into the thread, but discovered it was closed. Sheesh. Am I allowed to make disparaging comments about GAF's moderators?

-Tom

My name is Tom and I think another members name here is Tom also. Tom tom tom tom tom tom tom.

[Rman]

Just ignore Methodis.  He seems to crave attention.

[Positive Touch]

Might just make it permanent and he can trollop to some shitty forum.

yes please

[MyNameIsMethodis]

plz plz plz dont ban me dmei I promise I will cahnge just give me one more chance please man please

[ManaByte]

About to take a history final but this thread is relieving a lot of the stress.

[Purple Filth]

Tom chick showing his shitty taste once again.

its like he just does it to fuck with fanboys  

[MCD]

someone invite tom chick plz.

[pilonv1]

just use his board

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/forumdisplay.php?f=6

[Great Rumbler]

plz plz plz dont ban me dmei I promise I will cahnge just give me one more chance please man please

Better edit that before it's too late, dude.

[Great Rumbler]

plz plz plz dont ban me dmei I promise I will cahnge just give me one more chance please man please

Better edit that before it's too late, dude.

(Image removed from quote.)

Great Rumbler
Sometimes you get the scorpion.
Senior Member

Posts: 5645

[Stoney Mason]

Now it's really no different than the third rate blog posts you read on gaming news aggregates: post controversial article for hits -> follow it up with an explanation for even more hits.

It wasn't anything beyond that when he wrote it and posted it in the first place. He's a dude with some opinions on a planet full of people with them. Because he wrote something interesting a long time ago doesn't mean that he is currently writing anything interesting now. (Similar to Chris Crawford and his antiquated ideas on game design). If you had switched out the name Tom Chick and wrote in the name of whoever posts news stories on Kotaku no one would have noticed any difference in the quality of the writing nor would they have cared. Because it's just another opinion among many.

[Oblivion]

Who the heck overrated NSMB, aside from Jeremy Parish?

[TakingBackSunday]

It's not overrated it it deserves its praise.

But it ain't the best game of the year.  Batman for sure.

[hyp]

i agree with infamous and scribblenauts. those 2 games didn't hold my attention for very long. i've yet to play UC2, i'm gonna wait till it hits the value bin.

[Arbys Roast Beef Sandwich]

Scribblenauts I think is the perfect example of journos buying into their own hype. It was cool at E3 because they were only allowed to play it 10 minutes at a time, but when it actually hit retail most people figured out that it was nothing but a glorified tech demo.

Man, 5th Cell can't make a good game to save their lives, how are they still around?

[cool breeze]

Scribblenauts was so bad that people needed to write faqs on ways to make controls a bit more tolerable.

[Purple Filth]

Scribblenauts got boring really fast

one of the few times that massive hype just backfired (Resistance 2 was another)

[Beezy]

Yup.  Scribblenauts has already outsold Mirror's Edge.  Probably will easily clear a million worldwide when all is said and done.  I think they're making a major mis-step moving off the DS platform, though. 

!

Mirror's Edge already cleared a million. Don't mention that POS overrated novelty DS games with the GOTG, please.

[Chussy Pacer]

Was the list in reverse ?

[cool breeze]

thread bump reminded me to check and see if there were more top 10 lists, and there were

http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/12/10_most_disappointing_games_of_1.php
http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/12/the_top_10_games_of_2009.php

 

[Beezy]

I was of course speaking of a single platform, though you can choose whatever platform you'd like.  And yes, Scribblenauts is going to outsell it, even combined, when all is said and done.  Sorry. 

If it helps, most people's GOTGs from last gen were outsold by Enter the Matrix.  Also, you will never realize most, if not all, of the dreams of your youth.

:'(

[Stoney Mason]

thread bump reminded me to check and see if there were more top 10 lists, and there were

http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/12/10_most_disappointing_games_of_1.php
http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/12/the_top_10_games_of_2009.php

5) Section 8
The most exciting thing to happen to shooters in a long time. Modern Warfare 2, an excellent multiplayer game, pales in comparison. Section 8 may be too subversive for its own good, but it's the first game to live up to the promise of Tribes, lo, those many years ago. Also perfectly playable single player or with small groups, thanks to excellent bot support.

4) Flower
A powerful and moving story about redemption, told in the vocabulary of videogaming. Without using a single word, either written or spoken, Flower is a lucid articulate example of what videogames can accomplish at their best and most concise.

3) Need for Speed: Shift
It's a damn fine racing game that beats out Forza 3, Dirt 2, and Wipeout HD Fury. Need for Speed: Shift manages two things most other driving games have yet to master: 1) the dangerous "feel" of driving fast and 2) gameplay progression designed to keep you playing and replaying races without feeling like you're just spinning your wheels. This is the finest driving model and campaign mode ever to grace a racing game.

2) House of the Dead: Overkill
One of the best written games of the year and the best game soundtrack of all time - of all time! - is also a light gun game for the Nintendo Wii? What the heck is going on here?

1) Brutal Legend
Something strange happened this year, and I'm not just talking about a light gun game being the second best game of the year. What's strange is that you're not now reading about Red Faction: Guerrilla or Assassin's Creed 2. They both belong here. This is their space. They are both fantastic games with some of the most amazing technology to grace a videogame. What's more, they both understand how to make that technology serve the gameplay.

Fuck off.

(Aimed at Chick not swaggaz)

Dude is an idiot and his top 5 shows exactly why.

[The Fake Shemp]

STONEY MASON PWNED

[Brehvolution]

 

[iconoclast]

3) Need for Speed: Shift
It's a damn fine racing game that beats out Forza 3, Dirt 2, and Wipeout HD Fury.

[Stoney Mason]

3) Need for Speed: Shift
It's a damn fine racing game that beats out Forza 3, Dirt 2, and Wipeout HD Fury.

Yeah it really is stupid stuff he is spouting. I picked the Top 5 specifically because each one of those games has major issues and flaws which makes his 10 top over-rated laughable by comparison. Even the ones I like such as Brutal Legend which certainly isn't the best game this year by a longshot and has a shitload of flaws. And I played Section 8. Everybody's entitled to their opinion mindset aside, he's just trolling people.

[Stoney Mason]

I make no claim that these are the best games of 2009. I wouldn't begin to know how to go about deducing which games are the best. It would take a team of scientists, and the few scientists I know are very busy with other things. So instead, I can only offer you a list of my favorite games of the year. In other words, tops as far as I'm concerned.


u guys r dum

His claims are bullshit. The things he says about Shift compared to Forza are bullshit. The things he says about Section 8 are bullshit or at best ignore the heaping pile of shit that is contained in that game (console version at least). He's certainly entitled to his poorly thrown out there Letterman-esque top ten lists that are bullshit. I'm just going to say they are bullshit. It's not about being a fanboy in this situation. I'm as big a fanboy of Tim Schaefer as possible. He's simply throwing out bad opinions which is subjective but then his reasoning behind the bad opinions which could salvage the whole thing is even worse. Shitty writter.

[pilonv1]

That Top 10 list is certainly different than I expected, even accounting for his undying love for Solium Infernum

[archie4208]

meltdowns over lists lol

[pilonv1]

opinion police out in force i see

[tiesto]

Scribblenauts I think is the perfect example of journos buying into their own hype. It was cool at E3 because they were only allowed to play it 10 minutes at a time, but when it actually hit retail most people figured out that it was nothing but a glorified tech demo.

Man, 5th Cell can't make a good game to save their lives, how are they still around?

I never really hear people talk about Scribblenauts outside of GAF and a random status update on deadmau5's Facebook. Really surprised it's taken off so far, it just screams "niche". The concept sounds cool and worth trying, but I doubt I'd spend $$ on it, based on what I've heard so far.