Call of Duty and 9 More of the Most Polarising Video Games Ever Made

No matter what Roger Ebert might have tried to tell you, video games are an art form. Just like any good piece of art, video games are meant to be debated and critiqued until we all turn blue in the face with our Dualshock 2 controller wires wrapped around our throats. Obviously.

Art is subjective, which is why its consumers agree and disagree so vehemently from one to the next. For every positive review of your favourite game, you can be sure that there will be another five that deride it; exactly the way it should be. That’s not to say you should openly attack anyone who has a differing opinion to yours; nothing is ever accomplished apart from coming across like a righteous arse on a forum or in a comments section.

With that being said, open discussion is one of the aspects of the gaming community which makes it such an interesting hive of different topics of conversation. Here are ten of the most polarising games (in no particular order) that have split gamers down the middle in recent years.

 

10. Destiny

Hyped to the moon and back before its release, Bungie’s Destiny had a lot of attention despite a relatively few amount of people actually knowing what the game was going to be like once the disc was in their consoles. After everyone had their time to properly digest what they were experiencing from the $500m monolith, you could hardly move online without bumping into a discussion about it.

Many criticised the game for being a hollow, disappointing first person shooter whereas other were obsessed with exploring the universe and shooting everything in sight. Personally, I didn’t care much for it and gave up the ghost after a couple of hours, but my partner at the time sunk days upon days into Destiny and even bought a version on both next-gen consoles.

 

9. Any Call of Duty after Modern Warfare 2

Call it a bit of a cheat to be so broad about an entry if you will, but you can easily point at Modern Warfare 2 as being the pinnacle of the Call of Duty series with later releases progressively (and not dramatically, despite what some people think) decreasing in quality and originality. Although still enjoyable to an extent, not many gamers would ever choose Ghosts or Advance Warfare over the most memorable scenes from MW2.

The “Call of Duty Culture” also hasn’t helped the franchise: a seemingly increasingly youthful fanbase making it less and less appealing for “core” gamers in recent years who ridicule each new release as watered down. The games are still fun for many, but seen as a terrible blight on the industry by others. A decrease in sales, however, shows which way the tide is turning.

 

8. Deadly Premonition

Crazier than a thousand Gary Buseys riding Psyducks into battle against an army of Tommy Wiseaus, Deadly Premonition is the kind of game which shouldn’t really exist. Not because it’s an outright terrible game or that it’s unplayable, but because it never really had a place in the modern industry yet somehow still managed to find popularity.

As loved as it is hated by those who just don’t “get” it, Deadly Premonition is the brainchild of Hidetaka Suehiro who basically watched Twin Peaks on repeat for half of his life and decided to make a video game of it. Its so polarising to the extent that the famously generous IGN gave it a 2 out of 10 whereas the equally famously bitchy Edge gave it a 7: the same publication that gave the next game only one point more.

 

7. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Full disclosure: this is my favourite game of all-time, but I will try not to be biased in its favour. Its easy to see the points its detractors have, however.

When I originally played MGS2 as a spritely ten year old, I was stunned and almost enchanted by its cinematic nature and revolutionary graphics. In later years and subsequent playthroughs, it definitely comes across as more self-indulgent than I had initially realised, yet this still oddly works in its favour.

The shift in protagonist was also met with polarised opinions with the majority of people not taking kindly to playing as Raiden instead of Solid Snake. The Shell levels also paled in comparison to the almost perfect Tanker opener. Sons of Liberty is still a masterpiece in my eyes and a disaster in others and will probably be a hot topic among fans for years to come.

 

6. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Arguably one of the only games to use cel-shading to help tell a story rather than just as a cool aesthetic back in the day, Wind Waker is quite possibly the Zelda game which series fans have trouble agreeing on most. However, as time goes on, the support for it seems to be getting more vocal with people even citing it as their favourite.

Criticised on release as being a little on the short side with awkward boat mechanics and a disappointing final boss, Wind Waker was still a marquee release on the criminally under-supported Nintendo Gamecube. It’s good to see that its had some more love in later years as nostalgia paints it as the artistically-minded game that it was, but its haters remain staunch nevertheless.

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