The game became that shitshow because Warner Bros execs got pissed that a “no-name” yuropeean company got the rights to make a licensed Superman game (because they were the only company that bothered to bid), so they did a lot of time-wasting requests to the developers.
I really enjoyed 3 more than 2, despite never quite getting the hang of doing hook-gliding combos. Flying a heli with missiles in 2 was the game’s “I win” button, dodging AA missiles was pretty trivial, 3 doesn’t have anything as OP
I personally judge that game as plain bad with decent shooting and ok loot. The main story, and the game universe in general, are memorable for how stupidly thought out they are, even for the low standards of Bethesda post Oblivion. The citizens and assorted non-hostile npcs feel less alive than the people you run over in GTA games. They also managed to take the fun basebuilding of Fallout 4 and make it bad AND pointless - very little customization and freedom of certain objects’ placements, plus you’re better off just buying resources from vendors.
Pretty much every korean MMORPG released from 2006-2014, as they were desperately trying to be “World of Warcraft, but better”. Perfect World, Aion, ArcheAge, 4story, Granado Espada, etc etc etc, even when you have the better experience of playing on a private server with significantly less P2W (as in, nearly everyone gets most of the shop for free)
To me, personally, ArcheAge would be the best fit for “dead medium quality”. It boasts naval combat, which is meh; player run trade caravans, which probably only worked as intended in the first 2 months after launch; limits on gathering and crafting, which just forces free players to buy premium; graphics are the generic korean mmo variety, pretty but almost impossible to distinguish between games; music, enemies, dungeons and most gear exist
Hell, imagine if Apple finally woke up to gaming and made a Mac Deck. Now that would shake things up.
They have the hardware (any current gen iphone or ipad), they only need to release a version with console-like controller buttons, but they lack the willingness to really invest in games. Apple arcade is a joke compared to nearly everything else on offer.
I’ve played some old Silver Box Dungeons and Dragons games (Heroes of the Lance, Dragons of Flame and Shadow Sorcerer) I got from a GOG promotion who knows how long ago. Stuff from 1988-1990. My god, those games suck HARD. Granted, PCs didn’t have much in terms of “good real time action games”, but those just feel awful from start to finish. The fact that increasing cycles or adding frameskips in DOSBox doesn’t speed up the games doesn’t help, either.
Shadow Sorcerer isn’t as bad as the previous 2, no longer being a side scroller and being real time tactics, but it doesn’t quite cut it.
If you want Star Wars with actual saber combat, try the old Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy games. Neither should be too long, but I think JA is easier overall, as levels tend to be pretty straightforward and you start as padawan with a saber. Fighting against multiplayer bots in both games can be fun, too.
Spyro and Crash trilogies on the PSX, as well as the Quake 2 port, would definitely merit being called technical masterpieces
On the original Xbox, Phantom Dust would fit that bill, despite being a commercial failure at the time. The tldr is that you create a collection of spells (attacks, traps, dodges, curses, buffs) and try to grab them and the “mana” during the real time duels, in order to beat your opponents. Terrain is semi destructible and you have to take into consideration the trajectory of your spells - www.xbox.com/games/store/…/9PCDNBHR11MR
Mothergunship is a FPS roguelite, where you get to build awesome-stupid looking guns between runs, getting temporary upgrades while blading everything. It often goes on 80% sales on GOG and Steam
Others mentioned brotato and vampire savior, there are several similar games like them nowadays, you can check their tags to look for more on Steam
Elder Scrolls Morrowind has janky as fuck combat (hidden dice roll to check if you actually hit) and the only way to get better is with higher numbers in your skills and attributes. You can use magic and potions, both of which you can make yourself, to boost yourself to godlike levels
Dynasty Warriors 8 offers several weapons for the characters, plus it lets you equip skills to make some actions better, like higher attack and higher attack while mounted. As soon as you learn how to block for quick camera turns, you’ve mastered the game