#5 Duke Nukem 3D - [ PC ]

Duke Nukem 3D, when it was released in 1996 took the gaming community by storm and even now, in its 11th year of existence, the episode “L.A. Meltdown” is regarded by the purists as one of the best first person shooters ever created. So after all the hype when the full version was released, the fans were in for a major disappointment, for the second episode was a dull and mind numbing Space romp (remember Lunar Apocalypse?) The third episode “ShrapnelCity” was admittedly better, but the scenario was so awfully similar to “L.A. Meltdown” that it just could not generate the excitement that 3D Realms hoped it would. Duke Nukem, for all its hype, just couldn’t live up to the promise the first episode generated.

#4 Halo: Combat Evolved - [ Xbox ]

And why did we not choose Halo 2? Simple - Halo 2, when compared to its predecessor is a much, much better game. If you aren’t logged on to the net playing its multiplayer mode, you will find Halo almost painful to sit through. The single player missions are long, boring and tedious and the endlessly repetitive environments don’t seem to help much. The game designers obviously padded out the gaming environment by shamelessly copy pasting the architecture. They did it not only in the Library Level but also in Covenant Ship and Pillars of Autumn levels. Ultimately Halo could have been good, but its poor design proved to be undoing.

#3 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - [PS2 ]

Metal Gear Solid 2 almost sucked. Almost! After an awesome debut made by the heroic badass of the series “Snake”, it suddenly switched its focus to Raiden – the whiny, pasty faced bottle blond crybaby, for no apparent reasons. No real fan of Metal Gear could have forgiven the creator Konami for this nasty meaningless switch. Metal Gear 2 had other flaws as well. The boss battles, you would have to agree, were rather goofy (remember the antics of the bomb laying, roller-skating Fatman?). The scenarios were dull, the worst of all being the oil rig setting, and the plot after a while just deteriorated into a bizarre Matrix inspired drivel. Konami, since then, has worked really hard to prove that they have learnt their lesson. Metal Gear Solid 3, is a superb game by any standards. But unless you are a diehard MGS fan, you can safely skip “Sons of Liberty”.

#2 Doom 3 - [ Xbox ]

Let me say this at the outset to pacify all the die hard fans of this game: Doom 3 is indeed a great game and its audio and visual effects are no doubt one of the best I have ever come across. But as a First Person Shooter, Doom 3 won’t go down the history as a masterpiece. Even the most diehard fan of Doom 3 won’t quite agree with PC Gamer’s review which called it a “Masterpiece of the Art form”. The problem with the game is not with those annoying monster closets, but the huge number of things that you aren’t allowed to do in the game: You aren’t allowed to upgrade to higher weapons, you aren’t allowed to use any secondary firing modes, and not allowed to deviate from game level design. Moreover, the minimal interaction you are allowed to have with the environment also seems irksome. In the end, there is really not much to do, except kill ugly monsters.

#1 Super Mario 64 - [ N64 ]

As mediocre as it gets, Mario 64 was able to sell by the truckloads and save the rapidly sinking fortunes of Nintendo 64. Though its presentation was impressive for its time, the core game was not compelling by any stretch of the imagination. Mario 64 is probably most notable for being the first game to bring tried-and-true platform game play to a 3D console. Sure, the game's a great kid-friendly diversion, but few adults have the patience to sit through more than an hour or two of Mario 64. Sloppy controls are part of the problem--Mario is apparently incapable of walking in a straight line (no, really--try it). In the end, it's time for Nintendo to face reality: platform games, as we know them, are dead. Next!