Our Choices for Flawed Masterpieces in Gaming
I’m going to state this right now for the imaginary camera: We are NOT talking about The Last of Us: Part II in this article. I’m sick of hearing about it. I’ve got a very nuanced take on that game, and I’d rather save it for another time than drag it into this list.
That being said—what we’re diving into here are games we at PlayRatedGames absolutely adore, but ones that still manage to stumble somewhere on their way to being a flawless 10. In fact, some of these might even deserve a 10/10 depending on who you ask… but that doesn’t mean there aren’t cracks worth poking at, nitpicks we can’t ignore, or weird design choices that keep them from perfection.
And honestly? Sometimes it’s those very flaws that give these games their soul. That little rough edge, that baffling design choice, it all adds character. So, in no particular order, here are 21 flawed masterpieces of gaming that we wouldn’t change for the world… or maybe we would… moving on…
Note: Affiliate Disclosure: At PlayRatedGames, our content is made possible by our readers. If you purchase a game or product through links on our site, we may receive a small commission. This support helps us continue publishing honest, independent reviews. Our recommendations are based solely on what we believe offers real value to players — never influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Checkout the latest Jabroni Review ^
Table of Contents
1) Bioshock Infinite
Credit: Epic Games
What could easily be the best in the trilogy. Booker DeWitt is on a mission to reclaim a lost girl in the sky city of Columbia to wipe away a debt. Columbia is a vibrant, beautiful, sprawling city with some of the most grandiose designs ever seen in a game. While the gameplay is ironed out and traversing the locations has never been easier, there are some things that hold this back from being a perfect sequel. In Infinite, you can only carry two weapons at a time… WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA!? In the previous entries, you could carry up to six! Why scale it back!? The visuals in this game—perfection. The narrative? A little too ambitious. The whole point of the story is that there are infinite possibilities, so the story is all over the place and can be a little confusing. It’s not terribly written, but one should never have to read a wiki to make sense of it.
2) Silent Hill 4: The Room
The final game to be developed by the beloved Team Silent—yet another end of an era. Silent Hill 4 was my first SH game, and admittedly, I was blindsided. I was just so happy to finally be playing a Silent Hill game after doing all this research about them. This is a very hot take, but this is actually my favorite in the series. (DISCLAIMER: I am not claiming it’s the best—objectively, that would be the SH2 remake.)
For its time, the game looks great, and the world feels like classic Silent Hill for sure. But in hindsight, the gameplay decisions were just jarring: limited inventory, excessive backtracking to your apartment, going to every location twice, and the most dreaded of all—the entire second half of the game is basically a giant escort mission.
Where it falters in gameplay, it more than makes up for in narrative. Henry Townsend is an unassuming man who wakes up in his apartment only to find his door chained and an ominous message that reads, “Don’t go out, Walter.” He then finds a hole in his bathroom wall. Having no other options, he enters it and is dragged into a world of hellish nightmares.
This is a story that unfolds in what I dare call near excellence. A huge highlight is exploring the orphanage of the town’s cult. Here, you read memos and piece the clues together while exploring the belly of the beast. This is an area where the narrative truly shines—it’s anything but predictable. It goes to show there’s so much more to Silent Hill than just doing something bad in your past and having to face it. Looking at you, Homecoming and Downpour.
3) Super Mario Sunshine
Credit: Nintendo
I’m not just talking pachinko machines either. Mario Sunshine is my quintessential summertime video game. It’s also my personal favorite 3D Mario title, but I’m aware it’s not objectively the strongest either… you get me? As snappy as Mario’s movement feels in this game, I dare say he’s never controlled better (even 20+ years on), there’s just so much to nitpick here
From the tacky blue coins and those X-spot timed challenges that feel more like busywork than real platforming, to the giant watermelons on Gelato Beach that pop if you so much as breathe on them –Sunshine has its share of eye-roll moments. And then there’s that sadistic lilly pad level – seriously, what the hell?! It sucks!
The whole first hour of Mario Sunshine has you fighting the same repetitive mini-boss again, and again, and AGAIN. On top of that, there are only eight main stages (yes, I’m even counting Delfino Plaza, the hub world). Then you’ve got the padded-out blue coin shines. Every single time you need to use Yoshi in this game is torture – awful!
And yet—despite all the flaws, this game still shines brightly, and it remains one of my absolute favorites. It’s a strange case of trauma bonding I suppose.
4) Siren
One of the most overlooked and underappreciated horror titles released on the PS2. Made by the “cleverly” named Team Siren, this is a tale of a large cast of characters who find themselves in the haunted village of Hanuda. A cult attempts to bring their god into the world through ritualistic sacrifice, but when a college student named Kyoya stumbles upon this and interrupts the ritual, reality is thrown into a state of constant flux, caught between the here and now and the hereafter, surrounding the entire village in red water.
All the villagers become zombified monstrosities known as Shibito. The game offers a beautiful mix of atmosphere, suspense, stealth, and survival. The village itself is gorgeous, looking like something straight out of an early-2000s J-horror film. Siren’s cast of characters is huge, each with unique backstories and motivations. Watching how their stories intertwine is some of the most engaging storytelling in any title.
What landed this on the list, however, is the game’s high difficulty, awkward voice acting, replaying every level twice, and the ease of missing requirements to unlock further stages. Thankfully, the modern console release adds a rewind feature to help alleviate frustration. Also, like I said, the requirements can be vague and easily overlooked—use a walkthrough if needed, no one’s judging.
5) Jak 2
Credit: Sony
This game can still be saved. I believe in it. And yet… nobody’s doing the obvious. Jak 2 would be five times better if they just cut us some slack and injected more checkpoints between missions. The fact that every single mission plays like a brutal trial-and-error gauntlet is exactly why I’ve never wanted to replay it. This game is unnecessarily cruel. It’s punishing in the worst way possible—screw up once, and boom, back to the very start. THE WHOLE GAME IS LIKE THIS! Sure, some missions are a breeze, but plenty of them? Impossible to beat on your first try. I’d even say most of them.
Jak 2 is a game crying out for a modern upgrade. The bones are good, the foundation is rock solid- the story goes hard – it just needs some quality-of-life love. Naughty Dog must’ve realized they went too hard, because Jak 3 dials the difficulty way back. In fact, Jak 3 feels like a cakewalk compared to this nightmare. And yeah, Naughty Dog has admitted that maybe they went a little too steep with the difficulty here. Ya think?!
I’ve talk about this before – Jak 2’s checkpoint system is evil.
6) Mortal Kombat Deception
Arguably the best of the 3D era of the franchise. The Dragon King has returned and has his sights on reclaiming his throne and rebuilding his empire. Mortal Kombat: Deception boasts an impressive roster, killer soundtrack, epic interactive stages, and gruesome fatalities. This title is a very complete package, brimming with content. Beyond the arcade, you have Puzzle Kombat, a gruesome Tetris match, and Chess Kombat—my personal favorite—where you assemble an entire chessboard of kombatants to conquer each square.
The elephant in the room that really split fans down the middle is Konquest mode. This was an innovative and interesting concept, but the execution was a little faulty, to say the least. First off, Shujinko, the main protagonist, just flat-out sucks. He’s bland and boring, with a personality about as interesting as a wooden fence. His move set is literally just copy-pasted from better characters. His story is predictable, and when you see it play out, you can’t help but think, “Man, this guy is a moron.”
Besides the fumble that is the main character, the gameplay of Konquest mode itself was a good idea on paper. Not wanting it to be just another tutorial like in Deadly Alliance, they fleshed it out into a 3D RPG mode. You can walk around, explore all the realms, collect items, complete side quests, and meet all your favorite characters. I loved the concept, but substandard graphics, horrendous voice acting, and a dull main character held back what could have been a phenomenal mode Konsiderably.
7) Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
The final leg of the COD golden era. Black Ops II has Alex Mason’s son, David, on the hunt for a terrorist named Raul Menendez—a deranged anarchist leader who wants to burn all of Western civilization to the ground. The action is bombastic, the shooting is better than ever, and the fun factor is turned all the way up.
That being said, the campaign is extremely absurd, disconnected, inconsistent, and nonsensical, constantly jumping between historic and futuristic settings. It’s as if they couldn’t decide whether they wanted one or the other. The future setting was risky, and it feels like they weren’t confident enough to let it stand on its own. This is probably why they added the historic component—to offer the player some familiarity.
BO2 was the first to implement real alternate endings for the campaign, which is an awesome idea. What is not awesome, however, are the RTS segments between levels. They are required to get the best ending but feel like padding that distracts from the main narrative and kills the pacing. Also, BO2 set in motion the slew of sci-fi slop that would come later. Sure, fighting in 2025 (it was released in 2012) was an interesting—albeit silly—idea. Fighting on Pluto? That’s just stupid.
8) Shadow of the Colossus
A grand but surprisingly simple title, where you are on a quest to revive the woman you love. The voice of a grand temple tells you that the only way to accomplish this is by slaying all the Colossi in the area. The Colossi are giant monsters resembling a bizarre fusion of creatures and ancient Greek architecture.
The map is fairly large, but taking them down is literally your only goal in the game. The gameplay is even simpler than the narrative: you have a sword, a bow, and that’s it. You find the Colossi, locate their weak points, and take them down with those weapons. I really appreciate a game that doesn’t want to complicate things.
This game is absolutely gorgeous, easily one of the best-looking and best-designed games I’ve ever played. But, as with everything else on this list, it has noticeable shortcomings. The camera is all over the place, and the parkour controls are clunky, making boss fights and traversal pretty irritating at times. For the most part, this game has aged like fine wine—you can just taste some of the barrel.
9) Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Without a doubt, the most underrated game on this list. Ethan Thomas is a disgraced cop and a bitter alcoholic. His inner demons manifest and tell him something big is going on—these devices are found all over the city, turning everyone into bloodthirsty lunatics. The city has become overrun with deranged murderers, causing absolute havoc on the streets.
Condemned 2 is absolute gritty gorgeousness of the 7th generation. This is a city of grime and blood. Exploring all the environments makes it feel like an interactive true crime drama. Combat is solid and a lot of fun, with interactive kills that are over-the-top and gruesome.
The narrative has a really solid first half; the second… not so much. In the first half, the story goes for a realistic, grounded experience. The latter half becomes woefully ridiculous, complete with cults and ambitions for world domination. In short, it just gets a little silly. Not to mention the gunplay is pretty wonky—maybe if Nathan could put down the bottle, he could shoot straight. Don’t count on a sequel; the creator says it’s condemned to limbo.
10) Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Resident Evil 6 almost killed the entire franchise—and that’s saying a lot, considering we had Outbreak and Survivor. Ethan gets a message from his missing wife, which leads him to the supposedly abandoned Baker mansion. The only problem? It’s not abandoned. The deranged, murderous, and cannibalistic Bakers have their eyes set on making you part of the family.
Resident Evil 7 is exactly what the series needed—desperately. All the action slop of RE5 and even more so RE6 was dragging the series down and just wasn’t working. Capcom made the brilliant decision to wipe the slate clean, scale everything down, and return to the series’ horror roots. Exploring a dilapidated mansion with cannibals and molded monsters offers a much more intimate and immersive experience. The first two acts are extraordinary—survival horror at its best.
Sadly, the third act clips considerably, the twist is predictable, Ethan is not very memorable, and the bosses are just okay. Once it loses the haunted-house vibe, it becomes just another Resident Evil game. For future reference, we don’t need Umbrella or evil corporations running things behind the scenes—just give us residents who are evil.
11) Dark Souls
This is more-or-less a meme just mentioning this game at this point—but yes, Dark Souls is absolutely one of the first titles that comes to mind when I think of genre-defining masterpieces littered with issues. Some of the boss fights just flat-out suck— I’m looking at you Mr Capra Demon and your hounds. There are whole segments that are borderline unplayable, like the infamous Bed of Chaos. Nothing kills pacing quite like trudging back after every inevitable death, only to get insta-killed by some janky attack or bottomless pit.
Right before one of the coolest fights in the game—Ornstein and Smough—you’re forced to endlessly skee-ball your way along castle ledges while knights hurl spears at your face, sending you plummeting to your death. IT SUCKS! It’s maddening, it’s unfair, it’s poorly designed… and yet, we push through. Because that’s just the Soulsborne way: suffer, rage, repeat—and somehow we continue to persevere because the game is so ingeniously designed to boost our confidence.
12) Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
One of Nathan Drake’s most bombastic adventures has a few pacing issues and story flaws. Checkout my full critique of the game here. Even though this game contains some of the coolest and most iconic set pieces in the series, sometimes it’s clear the story is just an afterthought. Take the ship graveyard segment – it drags on for four entire chapters and exists purely so Nathan Drake can star in some Poseidon Adventure scenario. And look, I’m all for it… visually, it’s amazing. But ultimately? It doesn’t serve the plot in any meaningful way. Then he takes a quick nap, and suddenly it’s on to the next spectacle like nothing even happened.
A lot of the mystery surrounding the villainous cult never pays off in any satisfying way. Your cockney sidekick has to take a time-out before the midway point—never to be seen again. The game raises some genuinely intriguing questions about Nate’s past that go completely unanswered before the credits roll. There’s a ton of popular adventure-movie tropes thrown into a blender—think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade meets The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, and then hit “blend” with Uncharted.
Like I said, the game is still awesome, and you’re going to have a blast playing it. But I really wish Naughty Dog had spent a bit more time ironing out the story, because it gets jumbled and ultimately doesn’t feel quite as grand as Uncharted 2.
13) Far Cry 3
Michael Mando’s performance as Vaas made this game legendary. I don’t think they realize how good of a performance they were getting. Believe it or not – Vaas only appears/is heard for under an accumlative 20 minutes of this entire game.
I think they tried to make up for their mistakes in Far Cry 4 by keeping the villain as a colorful, consistently threatening force—but it’s too little, too late. SPOILERS—Vaas gets axed about two-thirds of the way through the game, replaced by some boring, forgettable, mustache-twirling other bad guy. It’s SUCH a missed opportunity.
The themes of insanity—and Jason slowly descending into it, eventually becoming the new Vaas—could’ve led to an iconic climactic finale. But no… they squandered it. Basically, they had one of the best villains in gaming history and completely underutilized him. It’s a shame, because as big a leap as this game was, it could’ve been FAR better.
14) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Pretty much every single mainline Zelda game can be hailed as a masterpiece but this game seems to always receive less love than the others. Generally no ones favorite Zelda game is Skyward Sword – but why is this?
Well, firstly, the motion controls are tiring. Even at the height of the Wii’s popularity, I remember feeling fatigued just setting everything up with the wires and equipment. Halfway through, I just wanted to go back to the simplicity of the GameCube. Swinging your sword with the Wii Remote—and having it register so imprecisely and wonkily—made it a lot less attractive.
Pair that with the fact that this game feels way more linear than Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, and especially Breath of the Wild, and you’ve got a recipe for frustration. There’s a ton of backtracking where the spark of exploration fizzles out quickly and instead feels like busywork. The game had huge expectations—and to be fair, it’s a great game—but it really needed more space to open up and breathe.
15) Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is a phenomenal conclusion to the Metro trilogy—the games just keep improving with each entry. The environments, the atmosphere, and the Aurora Train hub world are all top-notch. The characters and story hit emotionally hard, and the team really outdid themselves with this one.
That said, there are a handful of issues. For one, the AI is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes enemies are sharp and terrifying, other times they’re dumber than a bag of hammers. And for a game that encourages deliberate stealth, that inconsistency can be maddening.
The story has some branching moments, but honestly, they have very limited impact and come off kind of tacky. Achieving the “good” ending in the first two games was unnecessarily tedious compared to this time around. Here, it’s simpler and more straightforward—but honestly, there should’ve been just one definitive ending.
Even the sound design can get annoying, with characters constantly talking over each other before they finish their sentences. Small gripe, sure – but when you’re trying to immerse yourself in this gorgeous world, it’s a noticeable distraction.
16) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
A textbook example of a flawed masterpiece. The open-world Africa and Afghanistan sandboxes are massive and packed with creative opportunities for stealth, action, and pure chaos. You can pull off your Solid Snake moves to the exact rhythm of Friday I’m in Love by The Cure. The gameplay here is 10/10 material.
Then there’s the story—what gives, man? Half the plot is chopped up, key moments barely land, and some threads are left dangling forever. And don’t get me started on the resource and base management stuff. It’s grindy, repetitive, and sometimes pulls you right out of the action you came here for. Mother Base micromanagement and FOB missions are clever on paper, but in practice… ugh. They make you feel busy rather than badass.
17) Nier: Automata
This game dives headfirst into some heavy themes about consciousness and what it truly means to be alive. It hits emotional beats that linger long after you put the controller down—seriously, it sticks with you.
Nier: Automata has so much more to offer than you first expect. Its only real drawback is that sprawling, desolate world. I love the desolate, but at times it borders on straight-up backroom vibes. A lot of the combat and story missions start to feel repetitive—and I’m not just talking about playing through the three campaigns. The issue is that you’re constantly cycling through intriguing but hollow areas that lose their spark far too quickly, and the combat isn’t varied enough to make up for it. You can LITERALLY set the game to just fight for you – it’s pretty dumb.
The side quests, like fishing, are extremely tacky, and the game leans hard into anime tropes. And yet… somehow, it’s still an absolute gem.
18) L.A. Noire
These streets ain’t what they used to be, toots. L.A. Noire is one of the most unique entries in the Rockstar lineup. Its groundbreaking facial animation and meticulously crafted 1940s atmosphere don’t just hold up—they make you feel like you’ve stepped straight into a smoky noir film. This game has aged like fine whiskey, and it’s still a standout years later.
But it ain’t all perfect either. The gameplay can get repetitive—driving missions, tailing suspects, and interrogations start feeling like the same puzzle on loop. And don’t let the “open-world” label fool you; the game funnels you into story beats so tightly that exploring the city never really feels free. The mechanics aren’t flawless either—driving can be awkward, and some interrogation cues are so subtle or inconsistent it’s really hard to actually grasp whose feeding you a false bit of goods and whose truthful.
Side content? Forget it. Random street crimes and side missions are mostly dull compared to the main cases. And the story itself? Some plot threads and character motivations feel rushed or underdeveloped, leaving you scratching your head more than once.
19) Singularity
Before Raven Software was doomed to nevermore status with originality and instead swallowed by the big corporates, they were the kings of dark, weird experiments in first-person gaming. On one hand, Singularity had everything going for it: a brilliant alt-history Cold War premise, an atmosphere dripping with paranoia and decay, and one of the coolest FPS gimmicks of its generation in the TMD — the Time Manipulation Device.
Raven Software always managed to capture that sweet spot between creepy horror and blockbuster shooter, with moments — the game was very ambitious. But where Singularity stumbled was in final execution.
For every cool set piece, there were long stretches of generic corridor shooting that could’ve been ripped out of any standard brown FPS of the era. The TMD, as fun as it was, never got pushed as far as it really could’ve.
Most puzzles boiled down to the same simple tricks, and many combat encounters reduced it to a glorified gimmick. Add in visuals that already looked dated in 2010, a short campaign, and a story that started strong but slid into clichés, and you have a game that couldn’t quite live up to its potential. It wasn’t bad by any stretch — in fact, it was very good — but it constantly teased greatness without ever fully reaching it.
20) Spyro: Year of the Dragon
A great way to wrap up the epic Insomniac trilogy. After a festival, when all the dragons are asleep, suspicious rhino creatures pop out of the ground. One by one, they steal the dragon eggs for the evil Queen Sorcerer. Spyro and his best pal Hunter set out on a quest to recover the dragon eggs and defeat the Sorcerer.
Everything that made the second game great is here, with all your powers and abilities available right from the start. Even better, when a level is completed, a path opens up, saving time when revisiting levels. Quick travel (unlocked through the Sparx levels) is another huge improvement—you can simply select a level in the guidebook and instantly travel there instead of backtracking through each world. Like I said, everything great about the second game is here and built upon.
But perhaps a little too much. The main draw of this game is the unlockable characters you can play as throughout the adventure. They’re likable enough, but some of their levels feel tacky and a bit of a slog. Sheila the Kangaroo is always fun, but Bentley is sluggish, Agent 9’s shooting mechanics are awkward, and Sgt. Byrd’s flying is clunky and frustrating. This goes to show that too much of anything—even playable characters—can end up hurting more than helping.
21) Overwatch 2
This game is amazing—objectively the quintessential hero shooter. But “it” – meaning as a sequel – doesn’t need to exist. Why was 2 even necessary? It’s essentially just a giant, glorified update, if even that! They were already adding new free characters every few months, so what gives? This one one of the few rare examples where loot boxes actually worked – but instead they traded the fun for profit.
Even worse, the whole game is a farce. It was supposed to implement story campaigns for the characters and guess what? Nada. The developers eventually issued an apology, saying they weren’t going to feature it anymore. But of course, this is old news… YET THIS STILL HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING WITH IT. It’s not too late.
So in this case, it’s not about what the game is, but what it isn’t. Just drop the “2”, it’s tacky.
Final Thoughts
We like to make these lists regularly because there’s an ocean of content out there just waiting to be explored. Subscribe to our Youtube!
https://opencritic.com/game/9557/bioshock-infinite-the-complete-edition
