[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

Yeah, Grim Fandango definitely can't be considered underrated.

cant be considered overrated though. i think it gets all the positive attention that it deserves

[Litrick]

Overrated: cant think of any adventures i have'nt enjoyed, maybe still life was a little overrated...

underrated: Monkey island 4 - I dont understand why so many people hate this game so much

[Lee in Limbo]

Just when I start feeling comfortable hanging out here, I read a thread like this where more than half of the posters here, some of whom I really like, are smugly dismissing a good number of games that I rate rather highly. Doesn't shake my opinion of the games. Does make me feel like I really should leave you folks alone.

Underrated:

1) The Black Dahlia - flawed but very stylish and ambitious. Terrible puzzles, though. And poor Terri Garr... egads, that dialogue.
2) Shivers - Inveterate puzzle game that it is, it just had so much atmosphere and some of the most interesting video game music I can remember hearing at the time. Heck, I still love the space exhibit piece. The sparse story was perfect for the game, and wasn't nearly as ridiculously convoluted and hard to empathize with The 7th Guest.
3) Temujin - Another slightly flawed game, but fascinating treatment of the classic Clue formula, with a story that was every bit as convoluted as any AG I've ever played and loved, but the plot never quite plunged into complete implausibility for me.
4) Obsidian - Odd story, incredible design work, and fantastic music. I'm a big Thomas Dolby fan. Strange puzzles, but a fascinating and highly original game. Never seen its like again.
5)Buried In Time: The Journeyman Project II - This one should probably be at the top of the list, actually. I just love time travel. Huge Doctor Who fan. And Arthur was the coolest AI I've ever heard. If Presto ever reunited to make a modern Gabe Black game, I'd be there with bells on.

Guess that pretty much paints me as a first person AG player. Well no, but a good number of my favourite AGs are. These days, I'm grooving on thrid person games, mostly, but it's a mixed bag.

Overrated:

1) So far, I haven't played a single Atlantis game that didn't irritate me and make me put it down indefinitely. I'm hoping the fifth will be better.
2) Comes to that, just about everything released by Dreamcatchers or The Adventure Company, with a few notable exceptions, have been utterly dreadful. I've bought far too many dogs from these people. I now research games they distribute very carefully.
3) Text parser games. Blows my immersion before I can even get started.
4) So far, I haven't played a King's Quest game I've liked. I find them incomprehensible. It's probably just me.
5) I kinda liked Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, but really, the only thing about it I genuinely liked was the three paths feature. Not that I actually played all three paths. I just liked having the option. I think I played the one that allowed you to play both Indy and the redhead. Hated the sound though. Don't think I ever solved the emulator problem satisfactorily.
6) Lo res games in general, actually. I'm a bastard. I can't stand pixellated animations, and there is very little about a clearly pixellated background that I can find immersive either.
7) Haven't played a Star Wars game I've liked yet. Not. One. I'm so over that franchise. I was such a fan when I was a kid, but somehow, everything after the original three movies has just felt like a travesty.

Okay, that's enough.

[Gabe]

Overrated:Longest Journey
underrated:Blade Runner

[jimsta]

Overrated
-The Longest Journey: I could just never bring myself to finish this one
-Farenheit / Indigo Prophecy: What a load of crap! The first half is mildly interesting, but the last half is literally the 'simon & button tap' games.

Underrated
-Spycraft: Nice to see somebody else mention this game. An above average story with decent acting and unique gameplay (I loved some of those puzzles i.e. the 'photo edit')
-Black Dahlia: It took me about two years of off and on playing to finish this (sans walkthrough baby!). Some of the most...frustrating...puzzles and mazes that I've ever completed. LOVED the atmosphere and story - I'm one of the few people that enjoyed the ending, typical noir.

[Zilla]

Hi Everyone

Overrated: Myst and The Longest Journey. Two games that I just could never finish no matter how hard I tried.

Underrated: I dont know how underrated these games are but I really enjoyed them; Freddy Pharkus, Hand of Fate, and Willy Beamish.

[KriD]

Welcome, Zilla

[MakeMonroe]

Most Overrated.
I could say myst but then again i've never been a big fan of first person adventure games so saying that would be stupid.
Hmmh most overrated third person adventure game.
Maybe Full Throttle,i never understood why everyone liked that game so much.

Most Underrated.
Pandora Directive and Blade Runner because they both sold like crap..i dont understand why awesome games like those two sold so few copies.

[Burns11]

Overrated: CMI

Underrated:

Journeyman Project 2 and 3
Ripley's Believe it or Not: The Riddle of Master Lu

[Fien]

Originally Posted by Gordon Bennett

Alice: An Interactive Museum is, I think, overrated. It's good, but I think that most of its repuatation comes from its rarity. L-Zone and Gadget were both better.

Wow, someone mentioned Alice!

But of course I don't agree. Alice is superb. Gadget and L-Zone were totally different games. Incomparable, really.

[Fien]

Most overrated: Curse of Monkey Island. Played it recently for the first time. It was okay. Barely. If you ask me, the entire MI series is terribly overrated.

Syberia 1 + 2 are also overrated. Nice graphics, that's about it.

Most underrated: Stupid Invaders. Doesn't deserve its bad reputation. Some toilet humor, yeah, and some of it was pretty funny too!
And Bad Mojo. Great game.

[Yorolepal]

OK. I read this thread and wanted to add my choices. Though I'm trying to bring up games that haven't been mentioned yet.

Underrated: Goblins Quest 3. I didn't care for the first 2, but for some reason I absolutely loved the third entry of the series. Great graphics for a game made back then. Very unique and creative. Never got to finish it though. Then I switched to Mac.

Overrated: This is hard. Don't think I can get that origional with this one. Probably Kings Quest 5 gets my vote.

OK. Back to work.

[Keregioz]

Originally Posted by jimsta

-Black Dahlia: It took me about two years of off and on playing to finish this (sans walkthrough baby!). Some of the most...frustrating...puzzles and mazes that I've ever completed. LOVED the atmosphere and story - I'm one of the few people that enjoyed the ending, typical noir.

I second that... i too loved the ending.
I managed to solve a good portion of the game by myself... i thought that it wasn't humanly possible to finish it without a walkthrough

[Spiwak]

Overrated: Longest Journey (OAV's statement of it being the Shawshank of adventures is perfect)

Underrated: Blade Runner.

[Sotaria]

Before giving my own votes, I want to comment on others comments.

1. Are Sierra games overrated? Well, I like Sierra games, and they were among the first ever, but the dead ends were sometimes extreme. I remember playing Space Quest 2 (one of my favorites) and after being kissed by an alien I wound up playing almost until the end when a little baby alien broke out of my chest. Imagine my surprise when I found I had to replay HALF THE GAME!!! The type in interface and constant dying when trying to walk down a mountain (King's Quest 3), do tend to hurt Sierra, making them somewhat overrated, but I agree that these were among the first and most influential so they do deserve a place of honor despite their flaws.

2. Was Pandora Directive underrated? This is usually considered the best of the Tex Murphy games, so I don't think it can really be underrated. I agree that it is among the best Adventure games ever made (although I acutally prefer Under A Killing Moon), but that doesn't make it underrated.

3. Is Jack Orlando underrated? I Don't know but you talked me into playing it!

4. Is Quest for Glory 4 underrated? I agree that the terrible bugs in the game made it almost unplayble, but without any bugs it is easily the best of the Quest for Glory series. Really ashamed that it was so buggy, but then Sierra was known for bugs.

5. Is the Dig underrated? No. It was okay, but the unpleasantries and slow pace hardly make it a great game. Most LucasArts games I have played several times, but I have only played the Dig once. I just didn't really care about the characters that much either.

6. Are Tex Murphy games underrated? I consider most of them among the best games ever made, but let's be honest; so do a lot of people. It can't be underrated if they are popular, and they are. Having said that, the last one (Overseer) was a remake of Mean Streets, and that fact alone killed the series. What were they thinking!

7. Is Monkey Island 3 underrated? Hard to call the Monkey Island series underrated, but #3 is the best of the bunch and often gets treated as the weakest of the bunch, so I suppose it is underrated.

8. Is Blade Runner underrated? Sorry, but this is one of the few games I ever sold after buying (the other was the atrocious Orion Conspiracy). I just found it boring and never finished. Maybe I should try again.

Now, my votes:
OVERRATED
Grim Fandango - Boy am I glad to hear that I am not the only one who dislikes this game. I never even made it through the game. Perhaps that prevents me from judging it too harshly, but if I didn't like it enough to finish, how can it be great? I have the same feelings (to a lesser extent) about Syberia.

Myst - Only Tex Murphy has been able to do the 1st person perspective right (well, I also liked Black Dalia). These Myst clones just have you walking around for ever and ever and retracing your steps and getting bored to tears.

UNDERRATED
Runaway - THE best Adventure game they have made in many many years. It hearkens back to the golden age of Adventure games!

Beneath A Steel Sky - It took more than ten years for a sequel to be produced? Sometimes I wonder if the sequel ever will come out at all. Definitely the best "cyberpunk" adventure game ever made. A tad violent, but otherwise great.

3 Skulls of the Toltecs - A great game that is nearly impossible to find. You can find its sequel, but not the original? Something is wrong here.

The Space Quest series - I suppose that it is hard to put Sierra games under the underrated category (see my comments above), but I still love the Space Quest series and lament its demise.


Answers people!

[Boneho Chane]

You need to try Blade Runner again. It's definately not boring. It just keeps getting better and better as you play it.

[Scott Nixon]

Overrated: Sam & Max
Underrated: Beneath a Steel Sky


I've been yelled at plenty for not really getting into Sam and Max... de gustibus non est disputandum, I suppose. Certainly am excited about the new ones though. I enjoyed the characters, just wasn't thrilled with the gameplay.

[Spiwak]

I might change my underrated to Dark Eye, anyway.

[Captain Blondebeard]

Overrated: TLJ, Siberia and all of the same that people hold in high esteem simply because of the trash that has put out recently.

Underrated: Underground freeware adventures such as Tierra's remake of KQ2.

[Kaelistus]

I'm going to just mention the newer titles...

Overrated: Fahrenheit. Dreamfall. Both of which I think would be better off as movies since they don't have any puzzles worthy of anything.

Underrated: Return to Mysterious Island and Secrets of Da Vinci. Kheops has rapidly risen to become the masters of the inventory puzzles.