I think hate is too strong, but many popular titles just not to my tastes. Well, let's go by what is top selling these days.
1. Grand Theft Auto - Sadly, as I loved this series in the top down and even through the PS2 3D transition phase. I thought IV was utter joyless junk and V was the first entry I just could not be bothered with anymore. Saints Row with its flaws is more fun to me.
2. Call of Duty - I do not care for FPS with rare exceptions (Valve). Combining that with militarism and laughable B movie plots and a focus on online multi player makes this series a check list of all the things that do not appeal to me in console gaming. Can throw Battlefield in here as well.
3. Halo - Again, an FPS so uphill battle. I really tried with this series as I love science fiction, but I was never engaged by the story or the characters. It just felt like a mediocre Aliens game with more focus on militarism.
4. Angry Birds - I just do not get how this became a cultural phenomenon on par with Mario in the late 80s. It is okay for five minutes, then I got bored with it and never have had any desire to return to it. Feels more like a mini game within a game to me.
5. Gears of War - On the plus side it is third person, on the negative it almost comes across as parody with its hyper masculine characters and grim story. Not a bad game, but the visual aesthetic and character design along with the story really put me off.
Maybe some old beloved games
1. Mario 64 - This will likely always be my least favorite main line Mario game. I played it in 1996 and remember saying "This is the future?" The game was flat and ugly. In its defense it did set the ground work for excellent and superior later entries like the Galaxy games.
2. Final Fantasy X - When anyone bashes XIII you can pretty much substitute X and that is how I feel about this entry. Linear world, majority of characters annoying or forgettable and nothing to pull me along in the story. This is when Final Fantasy feel from grace for me.
3. Gran Turismo 2 - I use to think I love car racing games. GT taught me I actually love video game arcade car racing games. I guess for car people this is the holy grail, but for me I just remember being bored racing for licenses in a fashion less exciting than driving my actual car.
Broader classification
1. MMOs - This genre should be made for me, but instead I find it mind numbing and makes me really feel "nothing you do here actually matters".
2. Mobile gaming - I have tried about a dozen or so games on my phone and none of them last past a few days and then I get bored and uninstall them.
I should point out I fully understand my own personal bias and get why anyone could love these games or series. In fact almost all popular games I do not care for have come about in past 15 years. I honestly cannot think of a single 8 or 16 bit game that was popular that I did not enjoy. May be the industry changing to new markets and tastes or may be me just getting old.
