The most overrated games of 2008

We name and shame last year's most overrated games.

By Chris Jager

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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

The Metal Gear Solid series has always had a contentious relationship with gamers: you either love its silly chat-laden formula or you loathe its very existence. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was no exception. It seems that for every diehard MGS4 groupie in the world there’s an equally passionate dissenter, with fiery, protracted flamewars raging in every corner of the Web (leading to some very interesting threads over at knittingforums.com).

As one particularly disgruntled gaming veteran put it: “There are things worse than death, and that includes wading through nine hours of wannabe-Z-movie cutscenes of dribbling nonsense written by an overindulged Japanese scifi nerd for the occasional brief snippet of video game.”

Clearly, a game that divides its audience so fiercely should have received some equally mixed reviews, but such was not the case. The lowest score the game received was a wholly commendable 8.7/10, with most publications plumbing for a score of 100 per cent. We thought a critic’s job was to speak to every member of its audience? Like so many other ‘Triple A’ titles, MGS4 seems to have enjoyed a free pass due to its prestige status.

No doubt said critics would defend their stance by arguing 'it’s exactly what the fans want’, but this doesn’t hold water in our opinion — you don’t see film critics giving rubbish like Epic Movie two thumbs up based on the whims of its idiot fanbase, do you? Now, we’re not saying that Metal Gear Solid 4 is as bad as Epic Movie [Yes you are — Ed.], but it certainly didn’t deserve the praise it so slavishly received. Games journalist, it’s time to face facts: you are Kojima’s biatch.

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