The word "overrated" is overrated. Now that I got that joke out of the way, it's time to get down to "serious business".
Now I don't hate the term "overrated" being used, it's good to not to blindly follow the corporate influx of the media. There are plenty of games I believe that are over-hyped by the media (Modern Warfare 2, GTA IV, MGS4, any game from Bethesda, any Halo title after Combat Evolved, any Final Fantasy after III and probably BioShock), however I think the term is so overused that I think most people don't even know or have any good reason to why they think it's overrated. When I ask why they consider the game overrated, usually they either dead silent or make regurgitating comments, such as; "Its sux", "its stupid", "its gay", "I hate it". I rarely get any legitimate reasons from others who provide in depth criticism.
Most of the time, they blame it on the fanbase but that's not a legitimate reason either. Many video games, even ones with a cult following, are bound to have rabid fanatics. They are plenty games that I really like that have a rabid following (Half-Life series, StarCraft, Fallout series), but I'm not going claim them overrated just because of the rabid following. People often confuse themselves of the understanding the positive appeal of the game and what they find overrated. I don't like the Kingdom Hearts series or any pre-RE4 Resident Evil title but I'm not going to call them overrated just because I don't like them, because I understand the positive appeal of the series.
As you can tell, I firmly believe the word "overrated" is overused and misused in the gaming community, but what are your thoughts?
