I was curious to hear from people about games within their favorite genre that are supposedly some of the cream of the crop that you actually thought were only good or OK.  Here's my example.

My favorite genre is FPS.  I never understood all the fuss about Bioshock (just beat it last night).  Didn't blow me away like a lot of people/reviews said it would.  Above average?  Definitely.  Unique?  For sure.  One of my favorite FPS?  Nah.  I have no desire to play it again.  I'll watch the other endings on Youtube.

Another game/series I never understood all of the fuss about is the Halo series.  Good/fun?  Yes.  Great?  Not IMO.

If you want, you could flip this thread the other way in your post.  Take a game from your favorite genre that's considered subpar or a stinker, but you really liked.

Hmmm can't name a praised FPS which I didn't like so I'm going through all of my favourite genres.

The Witcher - lame graphics, boring battle system etc.

Little Big Planet - good game and very fun online with a friend, but as a platformer it can't touch Mario or Crash Bandicoot. Singleplayer is too short and more like a big tutorial.

Burnout Paradise - Once again good game, but doesn't have the Burnout feeling. The open world scenario ruins the action, crash mode is a huge step down.

FIFA 09 - Sure it's a nice game, but it's worse than FIFA 08. I can't stand the ball physics. NEVER make a shot from the distance - the ball may never come back on the ground.

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Now "mediocre" games I really liked:

Def Jam: Icon - Great experience for every hip-hop fan. Definitely not the most complex Beat'em Up, but cool graphics, awesome effects and godlike music.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Let's start with the bad things: too short. The good things: great story, fun gameplay, cool characters

Too Human - I really liked the story and the main character. The battle system is awesome, tons of weapons and armor, great replayability due to online coop. BUT: The main story is too short, the enemies need more variety, you "die" too often [I died 12 times (which is almost nothing in this game) but it's still too often for me]

Brawl - Good as a party game, average as a fighter.
Dragon Quest 8 - Boring, too slow and stuck in the past.
Zelda series - I just don't understand what makes these games so highly rated.