Gunstar Heroes has shit level design (in this game, level design is just four screens of flat ground with some enemies followed by three bosses in a row) and no cohesion at all. This game would have benefitted a lot from simply eliminating the level select and linking the stages together in some sort of meaningful way. As it is it feels like a really nice beta. And for the love of god, ditch the eight hour long shmup section.
Gradius V has some of the blandest aesthetics I've ever seen in a shooter. Yes, the lasers sure are nice eye candy, but Treasure just took the palette from Quake 2 and added blue here and there. Considering previous games, the style is a disgrace. And the option control doesn't make up for dull levels which, like everything from Treasure, emphasize finding "the right way" through the levels and punishing everything else.
Contra III isn't terrible (except for the overhead parts... those are terrible), but it's just so dry compared to Hard Corps that I can't be bothered to play through it again.
Super Castlevania IV looks like warmed-over ass and isn't as fun to play as any Castlevania before or since. Not terrible, exactly, just pointless.
Jet Grind Radio is all flash and no substance. Most products from EA have more going on under the hood than this fucking thing, and stylish visuals with a good soundtrack don't change this. It's everything hardcore gamers claim to hate, wrapped in a package that's just so darned Japanese they ate it up anyway.
Dawn of Sorrow is Aria of Sorrow without the ingenuity or charm. The only thing it does better than its GBA predecessor is the graphics, because the music sucks, the level design is the least inspired yet and the soul system is much less important than it was in Aria. The whole thing feels like a fan-hack of a much better game.
There. Just so nobody thinks I was kidding with my list.
