Ten guilty pleasures sitting on my PlayStation 3

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13 mins read
Everyone has a pile of these games – games that they know are not that great, or even downright bad, and yet the games somehow click with that person, and they end up really enjoying them.
Let’s call these games “guilty pleasures;” games that are fun on some kind of personal level, but as you’re playing them, the thinking part of the body (the brain, folks) is telling you “no, no, NO!”
And with that lovely preamble, here’s my personal 10 PlayStation guilty pleasure games. Are they yours as well? Do you think any of these games are actually superb works of art? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

Modern Combat: Domination

Frankly, every Gameloft game could be on this list – they’re almost universally competent, completely uninspired games that just happen to be cheap and basic enough to gain a following.

But Modern Combat: Domination and Dungeon Hunter Alliance (see below) are the best two examples of this game development philosophy in practice. Talking just about Modern Combat for a moment, it’s a competent FPS death match game which, aside from some strange hit detection, plays as much like a clone of Call of Duty as you’d expect. It’s also completely uninspired with no personality and generic maps, and it’s completely soulless, which is why we class it as a guilty pleasure – not a game we can personally recommend (as our review shows), but also a game we end up playing far more than we probably mean to.
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
Hack stuff up, loot the corpses, get experience levels, rinse and repeat. Like Modern Combat, there is nothing original whatsoever about this game, but it does offer technically proficient online play, and plenty of hours of mindless grinding.

It’s also a game that is bettered by both Sacred 2 and Dungeon Keeper, and Sacred 2 can probably be found cheaper these days on top of that, but this is far more convenient, sitting there on the virtual shelf ready to play whenever you have a moment or two to waste.
Two Worlds II

Possibly the most incredible example of a B-grade RPG, Two Worlds 2 is, compared to others in the western RPG genre (like, say, The Witcher, Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls games), bad. It has plenty of clunky moments, especially in the combat, and while it was better than the original, it was clearly developed on a tight budget.

More crucially, though, is the plot, which is just not interesting. And yet, if that’s the case, why is it so easy to sink over 40 hours into this game, when it’s hard to be remotely engaged with the plot?
The secret is in the brainless exploration. Two Worlds 2 is a big environment, with plenty of little secrets to find, and plenty of treasures to loot. So when you’re in the mood to just tune out and lose yourself in clichéd fantasy-themed environments, here’s the game for you.
Splatterhouse
What happens when you take God of War and mash it up with Friday the 13th, and then remove some quality from both? You get Splatterhouse. It doesn’t play nearly as well as God of War, and though it’s gruesome and horror-themed, it never quite hits the same heights of B-grade fun that Friday the 13th movies manage.

And yet, for some bloody fun, this is genuinely good value. It’s utterly mindless and lacks difficulty, but does a good job of funnelling players from one slaughterfest to the next. Some of the bosses show flashes of inspiration, and the occasional 2D platforming section keeps the action varied enough to stave off boredom.

Then there’s the three original Splatterhouse games that can be unlocked. So, while this game will never be remembered as a classic, the Splatterhouse reboot is a big of good… wholesome… B-grade action/ combat game.
Tron: Evolution
Tron is awesome. The recent movie was awesome. The music was awesome, and the setting is just perfect for a videogame.

Pity, then, that the game itself is at best a bit of guilty pleasure for Tron fans. It tries to be a free-running parkour experience like modern Prince of Persia games, with some lights and pyrotechnics when the combat starts up, but in execution the cool blues and reds that were used to such classy effect in the movie make for bland environments, the bikes and tank sections are uninteresting, and combat is nowhere near as fluid as it likes to think it is.

And yet… this is still Tron. For fans of the franchise, there’s still some value to be had in immersing yourself within the Tron world and running around the virtual cityscapes. And the multiplayer (not that you’ll get many games going now, unless you have friends who like Tron too), is surprisingly good.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace
Kind of like how Tron is good and the Tron game is good only for Tron fans, James Bond is good and Quantum of Solace is good only for Bond faithful. How Activision manages to mess up this license over and over again astounds me, and whoever thought that putting Call of Duty mechanics into a Bond game should be shot, but it’s still Bond.

There’s no sneaking around in this game. You move down corridor after corridor shooting stuff through to the conclusion, and that’s not very Bond-like, but as a big fan of the movie, there were still some kicks to be had going back to the sets and playing through them myself.

If only someone could take Bond away from Activision and make a proper spy game, we could go from guilty pleasure, to great game.
Dante’s Inferno

The very definition of guilty pleasure is a game that copies another game wholesale, minus the creativity, and yet you still enjoy it. Dante’s Inferno is that game. Squint and it could almost be a God of War game, complete with random, unnecessary nudity, ultra-violence and stupid puzzles.

It’s fun because there is the occasional moment when exploring a reasonable vision of hell is a really cool experience. Anyone who has read Dante will not appreciate the way the literature is portrayed, perhaps, but the visual side of things is quite strong, and some of the bosses are very impressive.
And it’s a well made game, just highly derivative. Playing it makes you feel like you should be playing God of War, but you’ll enjoy this anyway.
Cricket 2010
Cricket games don’t get a big budget, for obvious reasons. Only appealing to a few smaller game playing markets, what inevitably happens is that these games cut corners and play nowhere near as well as a FIFA or NHL game does.

But Cricket 2010 does a good job with limited finance. Most of the names are fake, so the game feels cheap, and there’s only a handful of teams to play with. There’s no real season mode, no player trades, no management options whatsoever.

And despite that it’s a reasonable game of cricket at its core. Batting, especially, is a better approximation of the real sport than many games with ten times the development budget.
It’s clearly a labour of love for the developers, which is why it’s such a pity that every moment you’ll wish this game had an extra six months of development time with a team twice the size, but this works and is good fun. A guilty pleasure simply because it’s a 6/10 that cricket fans will lap up.
Final Fantasy XIII

This is a guilty pleasure because I like this game, and every time I say so on the Internets the statement is met with a chorus of derision. But I’ll say it again: I like Final Fantasy XIII. For the most part, I liked the characters. I liked the story, I liked the world, and most of all, I liked the combat.

I liked that it took time to get going, and then I liked how linear it was, because it meant there was no pretentiousness about this game – it wore what it was on the sleeve, and unfortunately that put a lot of people off.
So, like a guilty soul I keep sneaking back to this game and playing it a bit longer, knowing that the world would go all Sheldon Cooper on me if they found out.
Hyperdimension Neptunia

This is the most critically-panned game on the list, with an average Gamerankings score of just 48.79 pre cent. That’s a little low, but the game is not the best on the PS3, and for a console loaded with such high quality RPGs, playing something like this game is a guilty pleasure indeed; there are far better games to immerse yourself within.

But then there’s also no other game that takes such solid pokes at the entire games industry. Huperdimension is one great long pisstake at an industry that at times takes itself far too seriously, and though the gameplay doesn’t match up with that premise in terms of innovation and intelligence, it holds things together well enough to get through to the end.
The (deliberately exaggerated) anime clichés are fun, and the game is entertaining. Though I’d recommend Artelier Rorona or Ar Tonelico Qoga over this game in a heartbeat, the comic value of Hyperdimension Neptunia means I might well have played this even more than those others.
So, are there any games that you enjoy or play a lot, but know in your heart and soul are bad games? Let us know in the comments below.

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  • I concur with Dante's Inferno and FF 13 – I enjoyed both of them despite the number of people who disliked them. There's a few on this list that I'm curious about as well – like Splatterhouse, Two Worlds 2 and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

    Probably one of my biggest is Record of Agarest War. These get critically panned, and there are some technical things that hold it and Zero back, but I really enjoy them all the same.

    Reply

  • I concur with Dante's Inferno and FF 13 – I enjoyed both of them despite the number of people who disliked them. There's a few on this list that I'm curious about as well – like Splatterhouse, Two Worlds 2 and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

    Probably one of my biggest is Record of Agarest War. These get critically panned, and there are some technical things that hold it and Zero back, but I really enjoy them all the same.

    Reply

  • ROFL@Anonymous – good answer.

    @Games – Hyperdimension Neptunia is a tough game to come by it seems. I was looking it up on Amazon and ebay earlier for the heck of it, and wow has it seen a nice price spike. Probably puts it in in that bucket of games I never get around to playing, heh

    Reply

  • ROFL@Anonymous – good answer.

    @Games – Hyperdimension Neptunia is a tough game to come by it seems. I was looking it up on Amazon and ebay earlier for the heck of it, and wow has it seen a nice price spike. Probably puts it in in that bucket of games I never get around to playing, heh

    Reply

  • Excellent article. It's always nice seeing good but not great games get some much deserved attention. Seems if it isn't a AAA game with a $50 Million marketing budget and at at least 85 on Metacritic nobody wants anything to do with it.

    Quantum of Solace, Two Worlds 2, Modern Combat: Domination, all good games. And Dante's Inferno was great, better than God of War 3 in my opinion. As for my personal guilty pleasures? Singularity, Section 8: Prejudice, Blacklight: Tango Down and Alpha Protocol.

    Reply

  • Excellent article. It's always nice seeing good but not great games get some much deserved attention. Seems if it isn't a AAA game with a $50 Million marketing budget and at at least 85 on Metacritic nobody wants anything to do with it.

    Quantum of Solace, Two Worlds 2, Modern Combat: Domination, all good games. And Dante's Inferno was great, better than God of War 3 in my opinion. As for my personal guilty pleasures? Singularity, Section 8: Prejudice, Blacklight: Tango Down and Alpha Protocol.

    Reply

  • Hi Matt,

    Thanks for dropping by, good to hear from you!

    I very nearly included a few of the games you listed there in my list as well. I've spent more than a few hours playing Blacklight: Tango Down and Alpha Protocol. Both games rated poorly, but were a lot of fun.

    Reply

  • Hi Matt,

    Thanks for dropping by, good to hear from you!

    I very nearly included a few of the games you listed there in my list as well. I've spent more than a few hours playing Blacklight: Tango Down and Alpha Protocol. Both games rated poorly, but were a lot of fun.

    Reply

  • First, coffee is not a GUILTY PLEASURE. It will soon be listed on the food pyramid…at the TOP!

    I digress.

    As for, "So, are there any games that you enjoy or play a lot, but know in your heart and soul are bad games? Let us know in the comments below."
    I would say I did this with The Conduit, I tried to stick with it, but one night after MULTIPLE glitches online, I got fed up and traded it off…only to "purchase" it again many moons later.

    As for bad games though, I don't know, I seem to be enjoying all the games I'm playing, though I approach each one thinking, "It's a budget title, not a $20 million budget game."
    So perhaps my perspective helps me when I'm playing/trying new games out now(or clearing my backlog as I am!).

    Reply

  • First, coffee is not a GUILTY PLEASURE. It will soon be listed on the food pyramid…at the TOP!

    I digress.

    As for, "So, are there any games that you enjoy or play a lot, but know in your heart and soul are bad games? Let us know in the comments below."
    I would say I did this with The Conduit, I tried to stick with it, but one night after MULTIPLE glitches online, I got fed up and traded it off…only to "purchase" it again many moons later.

    As for bad games though, I don't know, I seem to be enjoying all the games I'm playing, though I approach each one thinking, "It's a budget title, not a $20 million budget game."
    So perhaps my perspective helps me when I'm playing/trying new games out now(or clearing my backlog as I am!).

    Reply

  • Hi coffee,

    If coffee was on the food pyramid I consume enough it probably would be at the top of mine. Perhaps that's why I feel so guilty about it… haha.

    I have a couple of Wii games that are like that. Baroque is probably the very best example. It's a terrible game, but I like it anyway.

    Chocobo Mystery Dungeon only got middling reviews, but I utterly love that. I also don't see how it could be called a "bad" game so that doesn't really belong on this list. 🙂

    Reply

  • Hi coffee,

    If coffee was on the food pyramid I consume enough it probably would be at the top of mine. Perhaps that's why I feel so guilty about it… haha.

    I have a couple of Wii games that are like that. Baroque is probably the very best example. It's a terrible game, but I like it anyway.

    Chocobo Mystery Dungeon only got middling reviews, but I utterly love that. I also don't see how it could be called a "bad" game so that doesn't really belong on this list. 🙂

    Reply

  • Oh Splatterhouse….. Really wish I could play the reboot as it looks like some great mindless fun. Back in the day I loved me some house on the TG16 and must have beaten it dozens upon dozens of times.

    Crazy Taxi on Steam has been a fun, mindless distraction lately as well. Was a big fan of it on the Dreamcast and have enjoyed the PC port.

    (ps: nice site redesign, it surprised me during a post)

    Reply

  • Oh Splatterhouse….. Really wish I could play the reboot as it looks like some great mindless fun. Back in the day I loved me some house on the TG16 and must have beaten it dozens upon dozens of times.

    Crazy Taxi on Steam has been a fun, mindless distraction lately as well. Was a big fan of it on the Dreamcast and have enjoyed the PC port.

    (ps: nice site redesign, it surprised me during a post)

    Reply

  • Hi Robert,

    Thanks for the kind words – we're big fans of the new look too 🙂

    If you ever get a chance to play Splatterhouse, I really recommend you give it a go – it's one of the few God of War style games I've managed to be inspired enough to finish, even if it's a very vanilla action game once you get through the gore.

    I really need to give Crazy Taxi a go again. Thanks for the reminder!

    Reply

  • Hi Robert,

    Thanks for the kind words – we're big fans of the new look too 🙂

    If you ever get a chance to play Splatterhouse, I really recommend you give it a go – it's one of the few God of War style games I've managed to be inspired enough to finish, even if it's a very vanilla action game once you get through the gore.

    I really need to give Crazy Taxi a go again. Thanks for the reminder!

    Reply

  • I Have
    Ar Tonelico 1, 2, 3, need to finish 2nd game , to play 3rd on ps3…
    Record of Agarest War, hard tactics rpg with no move option after actions!
    Hyperdimension Neptunia <Plat, 100% not too bad but not great either still want sequel.
    Final Fantasy XIII< Now playing Post-Game On PS3 not to bad once you get the
    hang of combat, but on xbox and use wireless controller its little bit heavier! I just couldn't keep playing on the xbox version had to buy for ps3!

    Might try sooner or later
    Duke Nukem Forever
    Splatterhouse

    Reply

  • Hi gtastthehunter,

    Thanks for dropping by and saying hello! Seems like you've got similar taste in games to myself :d

    I really recommend you check out the Atelier games, given what you've posted above. They're excellent examples of the same genre 🙂

    Reply

  • For the most part, the Atelier games are like the Final Fantasy games – they're wholy separate stories, and you don't need to play them "in order," as such.

    On the PlayStation 3, Atelier Totori is a direct sequel to Atelier Rorona, but you don't "have" to play Rorona first; you'll miss out on one or two in-jokes, but the game itself will still make perfect sense.

    I do recommend tracking down a copy of Rorona and Totori though, they're both really great games, if a little otaku at times (which is no different from Ar Tonelico, really). I did a review of Totori: http://www.otakugaming.com/2011/10/review-atelier-totori-adventurer-of.html

    Good luck! 🙂

    Reply
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