Ever since the original Team Fortress set the standard, class-based shooters have followed a pretty simple formula. Your choice of specialized roles usually corresponds to where you want to be in a shootout: on the frontlines as an assault trooper, right behind them as a supporting medic, bringing up the rear as an engineer or anti-vehicle expert, taking potshots from afar as a sniper, or infiltrating enemy territory as a stealthy spy. It's nice that you can find the niche that best suits you - but wouldn't it be even cooler to play as a soldier that really stands apart from the usual archetypes?

As with the most , I'm fascinated by the stranger, more unique concepts that some multiplayer shooters have to offer. It's not rewarding enough to just point and shoot at anything that moves - you've got to score kills and capture objectives with your own distinct style. So, for your enjoyment, I present a list of the misfit classes that merrily defy the traditional class structure. You might die in the line of duty, but you'll be ten times more memorable than yet another humdrum Assault soldier.

requires you to bring a Medic along in your hunting party, but at least prospective healers get three options to choose from. While Val has the standard healing-beam and Caira wields an unconventional health-restoring grenade launcher, Lazarus is by far the strangest of the bunch. Why? He's a healing class who will watch unflinchingly while you die at his feet.

This Rasputin-looking physician does have the ability to heal his allies, but only in very limited bursts. His real power comes from his ability to instantly revive downed or dead teammates, paired with his personal Cloaking Device. A good Lazarus knows to wait patiently and invisibly from the shadows, keeping an eye out for timely revives instead of providing direct, continuous support. He'll gladly watch you get mauled to death, but only with the team's best interests at heart.

Frankly, every TF2 class has a ludicrously wide range of utility and possibilities within its prescribed playstyles. But if I have to pick one standout, it's got to be that ever-dapper Frenchman, the Spy. Plenty of shooters have a class that's meant to sneak behind enemy lines with temporary cloaking or disguises - but it's the Spy's methods that make him so distinct.

At launch, most players had a tough time spotting fake teammates intent on stabbing their tender back-meat. And just when people started to adapt to the Spy's subtle behavior patterns, new items gave him the tools to outsmart enemies once more - particularly the Dead Ringer, which lets you feign death to slip by defenders unnoticed. Succeeding as the Spy means thinking like your enemy, and blending in without being blatantly inconspicuous. Yes, that's an oxymoron, but TF2 vets know exactly what I mean.

Lead and Gold's playerbase has gone the way of the dodo - which is a shame, because it has some pretty distinct characters. I almost gave the nod to the Trapper, a lady with a coonskin cap, bear traps, and a sniper rifle - but the Deputy class (pictured front and center here) and his vigilant team leadership is too nuanced not to pick.

The Deputy can tag up to two enemies as targets, making them fully visible to his teammates (even through walls). Here's the catch: he can also remove those same tags from allies if they've been marked by an opposing Deputy. The juggling act of providing your team with built-in wallhacks while denying them from your enemy is key, giving the Deputy the power to control the flow of kills in a match without actually scoring them himself.

finally lets you play as everyone's favorite / most hated robot pal Claptrap. So how does one capture the essence of this delightfully / annoyingly chipper companion as a playable mercenary? Simple: by screwing with your teammates at every available opportunity. But in a productive way!

Claptr - sorry, Fragtrap's signature ability is VaultHunter.EXE, which lets you morph into different forms every 40 seconds (i.e. incredibly often). Thing is, the effects of this seemingly random transformation can also apply to your allies - and some are more disruptive than others. Your teammates might start cursing you out when they're suddenly bouncing around or uncontrollably firing off their entire clip in the middle of a heated firefight. That's when you shrug, wink, and sheepishly say "I was just trying to help!"

Despite all their freaky, incredibly invasive body modifications, the Strogg aren't so different from us. That's if Quake Wars is to be believed, since all the human classes have analogous counterparts on the Strogg side. Whereas the Global Defense Force has the Fields Ops role, a support class that can deploy turrets, call in airstrikes, and drop ammo for teammates, the Strogg can deploy the functionally identical Oppressor. Or rather, it would be identical if not for one crucial difference.

The Oppressor - great name for a cyborg alien soldier, by the way - isn't able to resupply his allies with extra ammo. Instead, he gets the ability to plant tactical shields around the map, creating temporary cover for his teammates where there was none before. In the hands of a tactical mastermind, the Oppressor's power to transform the battlefield by creating new chokepoints or offensive bulwarks makes him one of the most influential shooter classes ever created.

Imagine staring down an entire legion of Oddjobs. Now give them luscious beards. That's Shadowrun's Dwarfs in a nutshell - short in stature, but no less lethal for it. Instead of a class system, this cyberpunk shooter lets you pick a soldier from one of four races and equip them with whatever magic or tech you like. Succeeding as a Dwarf is a matter of tricky resource management: your spell-casting energy regenerates at a snail's pace, so you need to drain essence from your enemies - or leech off your teammates, oddly - to stay useful.

But here's the weirdest part: scoring a headshot on a Dwarf is meaningless, because unlike the other races, it won't inflict increased damage. As with the Necromorphs in Dead Space, defending yourself against these fighters goes against the cardinal rule you learned in every other shooter.

Halo 4 doesn't have classes in the traditional sense, but it does have specialized loadouts. Once you've hit level 50 in the Spartan Rank progression system, you're given a choice from eight distinct classes, which have to be leveled up individually if you want their respective rewards. The most tasty carrots on this stick are the perk-like buffs you get for maxing out each class, but they also come with a spiffy suit of unique Spartan armor.

All of the Support Upgrade and Tactical Package rewards are functionally useful; Operators make vehicles more resilient, Rogues have steadier aim, and Wetwork operatives get quieter footsteps. But there's one oddball: Pioneer, the Neon Genesis Evangelion-looking commando you see above. His signature ability? Gain more XP after a match. That's it. In a group of specializations that provide tangible benefits during gameplay, the Pioneer offers you exactly nothing in the heat of a firefight. In essence, the Pioneer only exists to grant a perk that unlocks other, more useful classes slightly quicker.

Typically, if your teammates are screaming that you're the one to blame for a loss, they're just a bunch of whiny babies who can't understand the concept of collaborative effort. But in the case of Red Orchestra 2, that blame-throwing might actually be appropriate. Like any real fighting force, teams in this WW2 shooter have a handful of Squad Leaders, but only one Commander. Playing as the Commander is a critical responsibility, since you and you alone have access to the Radio, a tool that facilitates airstrikes, aerial recon, and ally-respawning reinforcements.

Because RO2 servers support up to 64 players, that means you might have 31 other people relying on you to make the right calls. Your tactical insight - or idiocy - can lead your team to organized victory or disgraceful, discombobulated defeat. If you're not prepared to do some extensive voice-chatting, or take serious heat when you make a blunder, the Commander is certainly not the class for you.

Unless you're a Call of Duty vet, you might be unfamiliar with the concept of TTK. Short for Time To Kill, it's the measure of any given weapon's lethality, reducing all that twitch shooting to cold, hard math. Being pro at CoD means obsessing over your TTK, since you want to be racking up headshots and calling in killstreaks as quickly as possible. That's what makes the Riot Shield such a strange, typically undesirable choice for your primary slot: it's a slow, clunky means of self-defense in a series that's all about frenzied killing.

And yet, the Riot Control loadout, which revolves around the use of the Riot Shield, is one of the preset builds provided in both Modern Warfare 2 and Ghosts. Seeing as Riot Control is presented to new players as one of a few default class options, it seems bizarre to promote a playstyle that runs counter to everything CoD stands for. Then again, the general public's unfamiliarity with how to fight against these shield-wielders could be the perfect edge.

Meet the mysterious tenth class in the Team Fortress universe. Shooters often include modes where you escort an objective - typically an NPC hostage, or some kind of explosive payload - from point A to point B. But when playing as the Civilian, you are the objective. Caught between a team of Assassins that want to snipe your head off and the Bodyguards attempting to protect you, the outcome of each round in VIP mode hinges directly on whether you live or die.

It's the ultimate fantasy fulfillment for players that love being the center of attention - though you won't be doing much shooting yourself, since the Civilian's only weapon is a plain old umbrella. Will you dazzle everyone on the server by ? Or will you singlehandedly unbalance the entire game mode by utterly failing at self-preservation? That's really for you to decide.

Though this class title reads like a kindergartener proudly writing his name for the first time, it's actually an acronym for Mechanized Assault Exo-suit. And to call the MAX a class almost feels like a misnomer, since it's essentially a walking tank on two legs amidst a crowd of regularly proportioned soldiers. But hey, that's how PlanetSide 2 labels it, so who am I to argue? Even though you can't deploy as a MAX right from the get-go, it has its own set of customizations to unlock and intricacies to learn just like any other class.

For starters, there's no aiming down your sights - the MAX has two giant guns for arms, so pinpoint targeting isn't really an option. You also have to decide if you want to be built to counter infantry, aircraft, or ground vehicles, which presents an interesting quandary. Do you spec yourself to be a godsend in one type of scenario but useless in others? Or do you go with a more adaptable loadout that can deal with anything but excels at nothing? Whatever you go with better be good, since you're spending precious resources every time you don this robo-suit.

If you've ever wanted to play as a perpetually farting mercenary in a class-based shooter, this is the best chance you're ever going to get. Everything about the Astrek Recluse brings flatulence to mind, given that this advanced Biotech battleframe (read: subclass) is defined by its use of noxious gas. Biological warfare isn't funny, but watching your souped-up soldier vault away from enemies with a blast of greenish-brown gas really, really is. That move is called Evacuate, by the way; it's unclear whether or not bowels are involved.

Maybe I'm just immature as all hell, but I would relish every opportunity to brag about killing my enemies when they caught a whiff of my Creeping Death. Not every shooter lets you combat the opposition by creating a around yourself. Firefall does.

In a game like Tribes, where everyone's soaring around the map like majestic eagles, the Juggernaut feels about as mobile as an overfed pig. But when you pack this kind of heavy firepower, you don't need to be fast. The Juggernaut's Fusion Mortar launches devastating explosive rounds, letting you bombard the enemy base until the flag runners come home. Once you're able to accurately judge the giant arc of your shot, you'll be a one-man airstrike on any stationary fortification.

But the true beauty of the Juggernaut class is that moment when an enemy zooms by, and you reflexively launch a fiery emerald mortar bomb over the crest of a nearby hill - not where your prey is now, but where they will be in a few seconds. You'll probably be too far away to even see the resulting kill, but it's as joyous as shooting a swish from half court, or that long-bomb snowball throw from Elf.

Ah, Wascot - the evil doppelganger of MNC's smiley mascot Bullseye, and my absolute favorite class from this criminally underplayed shooter. His backstory is perfect: Wascot's an obsessed fan who both adores and wants to murder the foam-headed hypeman for this futuristic bloodsport. But besides the hilarious lore, Wascot's playstyle is an absurdly unique take on close-quarters hit-and-run tactics in shooters.

Getting in someone's face is easy thanks to Wascot's Crook Hook, which yanks him directly to his stunned target - and if anyone tries to throw you, activating Shifty Shuffle will automatically counter them (and give you some lifesteal to boot). Instead of killing players directly, Wascot's primary Coin Launcher weapon shoots damaging doubloons that enemies will foolishly try to collect - it's an ingenious take on Mario Kart's decoy item boxes. And unlike the deadly melee weapons used by other Commando types, like the Assassin's dagger or Captain Sparks' electrified sword, Wascot simply uses a paddle. All the better to spank the opposition with, my dear.

You probably recognize these pillbug-like automatons from The Phantom Menace, where their firepower was enough to make even trained Jedi run away with their lightsabers between their legs (pretty dangerous, if you ask me). They're called Droidekas, and they're an exclusive asset to the Confederacy of Independent Systems in Battlefront's massive multiplayer shootouts. It's what you would get if you took a durable, stationary turret, then gave it the power to zip around in spherical form like AiAi from Super Monkey Ball.

Anyone foolish enough to stand in your way will be gunned down instantly by your dual laser blasters, and your personal shield emitter gives you the ability to act as a slow-moving blockade. But the trick is knowing where you're needed most, because once you've switched forms, you're pretty much committed until your targets are eradicated or you're a scrap heap on the ground.

Do you play Destiny and love the distinct abilities and exclusive armor types worn by your Guardian? Then you absolutely have to try Warframe, because its rich, exotic flavors of player classes make Destiny's trio look like lukewarm vanilla ice cream. Each of the collectible, craftable Warframes acts as both your armor type and your spell selection, and they're all gloriously unique in both form and function.

No matter which Warframe suits your fancy, they're all quite capable of excelling in the missions, though by very different means. Maybe you want to teleport around as the backstabbing Ash, zap targets with weaponized lightning as Volt, become a killer sci-fi airbender as Zephyr, or misdirect enemies with clone decoys as Loki. To me, the 22-and-counting classes feel like rare jewels in a sea of shooter stereotypes. It might cost you a small fortune or years of dedication to unlock them all, but you don't have to play every last Warframe to appreciate their invigorating originality.

Pretty awesome, right? The next class-based shooter I'm stoked for is , which is sure to introduce tons of unique character concepts. For instance, take Tracer (pictured above), who can rewind time mid-firefight. Which oddball shooter class is your favorite? Tell me all about it in the comments below!

And if you're looking for more, check out .

We all have that one game. That detestable, despicable game that sits lost and forgotten apart from our collection. The same one that, when mentioned to friends (or otherwise normal coworkers) gets nothing but praise and cries of "How could you possible not love it?" We don't just not love it, dammit, we hate it! And we're not afraid to admit it. It's not our fault the rest of you are too blind to see its teeth-gnashing, aneurysm-inducing flaws.

Nonetheless, we'll give it a shot. Each editor has selected a game that has won widespread praise, yet that he or she feels - quite frankly - is crap. Dive into this list with an open mind, and you might just... no, you know what, we don't care. Close your mind. Keep playing these infuriating games. WHO CARES IF WE NEVER GET ANOTHER SKIES OF ARCADIA. GO PLAY MORE CALL OF DUTY. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONGWITHYOUPEOPLE!!

Though the Final Fantasy 13 saga may not be the most well loved of FF titles, of them Final Fantasy 13-2 is certainly the favorite. And oh, what a black hole of hatred I have in my soul for that game. While the battle system was an improvement on 13's linearity, I would have gladly taken 100 Final Hallway games over the shallow plot and shoddy characters 13-2 dropped in my lap.

Where 13 actually had a decent if flawed cast, 13-2 removed all the folks worth a damn, replaced everyone else with flattened and awful versions of themselves (I think I've developed a persistent eye twitch from Serah fawning over how cute it is that Snow's being a jerk to her), and added in some of the most infuriating characters I've seen in a long time. Like Noel. Fuckin' Noel. Refusing to do the one thing that would save the universe full stop because it involves killing a guy with whom he has zero friendly interactions but they're somehow totally great friends! Combine that with inconsistent and illogical time travel, a final 'twist' that might as well have written in the clouds, and the fact that Noel is so goddamn stupid that he's singlehandedly responsible for the death of mortal universe and I...

Ugh, Borderlands. I want to love you! I love shooters. I love action RPGs. I love distinct art styles with lots of bold colors. I love corny jokes. All the elements are there, but I still hate Borderlands. You have to understand, I'm pretty good about giving games the benefit of the doubt even if they don't grab me straight off - particularly if tons of other people seem to really enjoy them. But rarely have I felt more actively disinterested in a game than when I tried to play Borderlands.

Maybe it's how the first region is full of skags and axe-wielding psychos, which makes for rote backpedaling as you unload ammunition into their faces. Maybe it's how the first few hours of the campaign are spent performing asinine tasks for unpleasant characters, like trying to grind through an MMO that calls you names whenever you turn in a quest. Even good co-op company (yes, I was playing in co-op) couldn't keep me from dozing off at best or actively resenting the experience at worst. Maybe Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel fixed all these problems, but I don't really care enough to find out.

I just don't understand the appeal of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Many members of the GR+ staff swear by the game, citing a wealth of special attacks, imaginatively designed arenas, and lashings of Nintendo fan-service as the reason for its greatness. All I see is a mess of color, as if an excitable toddler has vomited Skittles onto an LED screen. I mean, what the hell is happening? It's wanton chaos. It's like the , with all the clawing, naked sinners swapped for Nintendo mascots.

During the games I played in the UK office, literally no-one could work out who was winning or why, which really takes the sting out of victory. "Oh, I came first did I? Fuck me, I thought I just kept falling off a ledge and getting my nose broken by Yoshi." And, honestly, why does no-one see the futile absurdity in someone like Samus Aran smacking the Duck Hunt dog in the jowls, while the Wii Fit trainer tries to brutalise Kirby in the whatever-it-has-instead-of-bollocks? I'm out.

I know I'm going to get hate for this, but I did not like Final Fantasy 7. I've played most of the FF games as they were a big part of my childhood. I even dumped an ungodly number of hours into FF11 - how's THAT for dedication and love for the series? I tried playing FF7 when it came out, but the whole jump to 3D and polygon graphics just did not appeal to me. I was not blown away. I was blown away by the intro to Final Fantasy 8, and when I booted up Final Fantasy X my life changed. But Final Fantasy 7? Meh.

I eventually went back to play through the entire game on PC, and just couldn't bring myself to be invested in any of the characters. That OMG HOW COULD YOU scene? Felt nothing. Meanwhile, the ending to Crisis Core? Cried. I loved that game, but maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind when Final Fantasy 7 came out to really enjoy it. The music was good though. Gold Saucer FTW!

Destiny is mind-cripplingly dull. The 'characters', the 'plot', the 'void damage', the colour coded rarity system of weapons that everyone seems so het up about - I couldn't care less. All anyone ever seems to do is grind. And everyone keeps saying 'oh the game doesn't begin until level 8, 15, 20, 30... WHEN DOES IT GET FUN?

The enemies only seem to have two attacks each. There aren't enough planets. I can't feasibly play with everyone else now because I haven't bought the DLC. There is no spark of life in its cold, dead eyes. I hate the Ghost thing and its stupid disinterested voice. Destiny is a husk of a game and I don't know what anyone sees in it. There, I've said it.

I'll never understand why people praise Gunman Clive. Maybe they've been blinded by the low, low price tag of $2, which sounds like a steal - but I've easily played a thousand free Flash games on the 'net that were 10 times more enjoyable than this trite 2D shooter. The graphics are either bland or butt-ugly depending on your tastes, the controls are floaty and unresponsive, the soundtrack seems to be a sampling from 'My First Chiptune Album', and the stark level designs are straight garbage.

If you're going to rip off Mega Man stage gimmicks, your controls need to be on point, instead of making me feel like a jellyfish in low gravity. Also, it's best to avoid a difficulty curve that goes from toddler easy to 'Why am I still playing this vile horseshiz' hard. The fact that so many people compare this repugnantly unfun grind of trial-and-error platforming to the greatness that is Sunset Riders makes me sick to my stomach. Kill me for this radical opinion if you must - just promise that you'll .

I wouldn't say I hate Skyrim, exactly. Hate is a word I'd reserve for real dreck like Ride to Hell Retribution (or those hoverbike segments in Battletoads). But by God, I will never understand the undying love and devotion this open-world fantasy RPG gets - especially when compared to the vastly superior Fallout series.

There certainly is something impressive about how Skyrim generates seemingly never-ending quests to get lost in, but the world and its characters do absolutely nothing for me. Why should I spend the time talking to everyone and solving all their asinine little problems if I don't even care whether they live or die? Maybe I just prefer dinking around the futuristic wasteland of North America more, but every time I've tried to get into Skyrim, I last about six hours and then I bail.

I don't like Super Mario Bros. 3. There I said it! I was the hugest fan of Super Mario Bros. 2. I loved the weirdness of it and have many, many, many fond memories of playing it with my brother. In fact, it was one of the few games the we beat together.

I was pretty excited for 3. I even faked friendship with a girl who I knew had a copy of the game, just so I could go to her house to play it. And then karma struck for my trickery; a few levels in I was confused and I didn't like it. I know it has Tanooki Mario and a ton of things people other people love but I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for it. I expect I'll be eating lunch alone from now on.

I've probably put more than a thousand hours into the Call of Duty series, BioShock is one of my favorite games of all time, and I simply can't stop playing Destiny. Outside of a Zelda adventure, blasting away enemies, throwing grenades, and scoring long-distance head shots are my favorite gaming pastimes. But the one FPS game I just can't manage to enjoy at all is Half-Life 2. Matter of fact, I pretty much hate all Valve shooters because they all share the same flaw.

Sometimes it can be the tiniest detail that turns you off to a game, and that one little thing in HL2's case is simply the way the Valve shooters handle. Moving around feels you're just controlling a floating head (and not just because you can't see your legs). Running feels more like flying (not in a good way) and there's no weight to your steps. It sounds like a lame excuse, but for some reason that floatiness kills my immersion immediately. It's really the only hurdle I can't get past, and much like with , I just can't overcome it.

MMO's are video game hell. They strip otherwise interesting genres of all fun and enjoyment. In their place, they stuff their victims full of monotonous tasks (collect 5 beaver pelts), point-and-click combat, and ravenous paywalls. The only tradeoff for all this BS: multiplayer. You can play with an entire world of other people who are running around yelling and cursing and killing one another - often for no reason. Does this remind you of someplace?

At the very bottom of this hell sits World of Warcraft, laughing and weeping into a lake of fire. WoW's corruption is slow and insidious. In the beginning it's all fun and games, but after a year or two the 'fun' becomes 'work' and the 'games' become 'obligation.' It isn't here to entertain you. It's here to enthrall you with its unending quest for loot which will let you get better loot which will let you get better loot which will...

Also the selfie feature sounds dumb.

We've shared some of our darkest gaming secrets with you, dear reader. Now it's time to balance the scales. Let us know in the comments below your least-favorite, but still wildly-popular, game. Just be prepared for plenty of backlash from everybody else.

For the flip side of this feature be sure to check out .

We all have that one game. That detestable, despicable game that sits lost and forgotten apart from our collection. The same one that, when mentioned to friends (or otherwise normal coworkers) gets nothing but praise and cries of "How could you possible not love it?" We don't just not love it, dammit, we hate it! And we're not afraid to admit it. It's not our fault the rest of you are too blind to see its teeth-gnashing, aneurysm-inducing flaws.

Nonetheless, we'll give it a shot. Each editor has selected a game that has won widespread praise, yet that he or she feels - quite frankly - is crap. Dive into this list with an open mind, and you might just... no, you know what, we don't care. Close your mind. Keep playing these infuriating games. WHO CARES IF WE NEVER GET ANOTHER SKIES OF ARCADIA. GO PLAY MORE CALL OF DUTY. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONGWITHYOUPEOPLE!!

Though the Final Fantasy 13 saga may not be the most well loved of FF titles, of them Final Fantasy 13-2 is certainly the favorite. And oh, what a black hole of hatred I have in my soul for that game. While the battle system was an improvement on 13's linearity, I would have gladly taken 100 Final Hallway games over the shallow plot and shoddy characters 13-2 dropped in my lap.

Where 13 actually had a decent if flawed cast, 13-2 removed all the folks worth a damn, replaced everyone else with flattened and awful versions of themselves (I think I've developed a persistent eye twitch from Serah fawning over how cute it is that Snow's being a jerk to her), and added in some of the most infuriating characters I've seen in a long time. Like Noel. Fuckin' Noel. Refusing to do the one thing that would save the universe full stop because it involves killing a guy with whom he has zero friendly interactions but they're somehow totally great friends! Combine that with inconsistent and illogical time travel, a final 'twist' that might as well have written in the clouds, and the fact that Noel is so goddamn stupid that he's singlehandedly responsible for the death of mortal universe and I...

Ugh, Borderlands. I want to love you! I love shooters. I love action RPGs. I love distinct art styles with lots of bold colors. I love corny jokes. All the elements are there, but I still hate Borderlands. You have to understand, I'm pretty good about giving games the benefit of the doubt even if they don't grab me straight off - particularly if tons of other people seem to really enjoy them. But rarely have I felt more actively disinterested in a game than when I tried to play Borderlands.

Maybe it's how the first region is full of skags and axe-wielding psychos, which makes for rote backpedaling as you unload ammunition into their faces. Maybe it's how the first few hours of the campaign are spent performing asinine tasks for unpleasant characters, like trying to grind through an MMO that calls you names whenever you turn in a quest. Even good co-op company (yes, I was playing in co-op) couldn't keep me from dozing off at best or actively resenting the experience at worst. Maybe Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel fixed all these problems, but I don't really care enough to find out.

I just don't understand the appeal of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Many members of the GR+ staff swear by the game, citing a wealth of special attacks, imaginatively designed arenas, and lashings of Nintendo fan-service as the reason for its greatness. All I see is a mess of color, as if an excitable toddler has vomited Skittles onto an LED screen. I mean, what the hell is happening? It's wanton chaos. It's like the , with all the clawing, naked sinners swapped for Nintendo mascots.

During the games I played in the UK office, literally no-one could work out who was winning or why, which really takes the sting out of victory. "Oh, I came first did I? Fuck me, I thought I just kept falling off a ledge and getting my nose broken by Yoshi." And, honestly, why does no-one see the futile absurdity in someone like Samus Aran smacking the Duck Hunt dog in the jowls, while the Wii Fit trainer tries to brutalise Kirby in the whatever-it-has-instead-of-bollocks? I'm out.

I know I'm going to get hate for this, but I did not like Final Fantasy 7. I've played most of the FF games as they were a big part of my childhood. I even dumped an ungodly number of hours into FF11 - how's THAT for dedication and love for the series? I tried playing FF7 when it came out, but the whole jump to 3D and polygon graphics just did not appeal to me. I was not blown away. I was blown away by the intro to Final Fantasy 8, and when I booted up Final Fantasy X my life changed. But Final Fantasy 7? Meh.

I eventually went back to play through the entire game on PC, and just couldn't bring myself to be invested in any of the characters. That OMG HOW COULD YOU scene? Felt nothing. Meanwhile, the ending to Crisis Core? Cried. I loved that game, but maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind when Final Fantasy 7 came out to really enjoy it. The music was good though. Gold Saucer FTW!

Destiny is mind-cripplingly dull. The 'characters', the 'plot', the 'void damage', the colour coded rarity system of weapons that everyone seems so het up about - I couldn't care less. All anyone ever seems to do is grind. And everyone keeps saying 'oh the game doesn't begin until level 8, 15, 20, 30... WHEN DOES IT GET FUN?

The enemies only seem to have two attacks each. There aren't enough planets. I can't feasibly play with everyone else now because I haven't bought the DLC. There is no spark of life in its cold, dead eyes. I hate the Ghost thing and its stupid disinterested voice. Destiny is a husk of a game and I don't know what anyone sees in it. There, I've said it.

I'll never understand why people praise Gunman Clive. Maybe they've been blinded by the low, low price tag of $2, which sounds like a steal - but I've easily played a thousand free Flash games on the 'net that were 10 times more enjoyable than this trite 2D shooter. The graphics are either bland or butt-ugly depending on your tastes, the controls are floaty and unresponsive, the soundtrack seems to be a sampling from 'My First Chiptune Album', and the stark level designs are straight garbage.

If you're going to rip off Mega Man stage gimmicks, your controls need to be on point, instead of making me feel like a jellyfish in low gravity. Also, it's best to avoid a difficulty curve that goes from toddler easy to 'Why am I still playing this vile horseshiz' hard. The fact that so many people compare this repugnantly unfun grind of trial-and-error platforming to the greatness that is Sunset Riders makes me sick to my stomach. Kill me for this radical opinion if you must - just promise that you'll .

I wouldn't say I hate Skyrim, exactly. Hate is a word I'd reserve for real dreck like Ride to Hell Retribution (or those hoverbike segments in Battletoads). But by God, I will never understand the undying love and devotion this open-world fantasy RPG gets - especially when compared to the vastly superior Fallout series.

There certainly is something impressive about how Skyrim generates seemingly never-ending quests to get lost in, but the world and its characters do absolutely nothing for me. Why should I spend the time talking to everyone and solving all their asinine little problems if I don't even care whether they live or die? Maybe I just prefer dinking around the futuristic wasteland of North America more, but every time I've tried to get into Skyrim, I last about six hours and then I bail.

I don't like Super Mario Bros. 3. There I said it! I was the hugest fan of Super Mario Bros. 2. I loved the weirdness of it and have many, many, many fond memories of playing it with my brother. In fact, it was one of the few games the we beat together.

I was pretty excited for 3. I even faked friendship with a girl who I knew had a copy of the game, just so I could go to her house to play it. And then karma struck for my trickery; a few levels in I was confused and I didn't like it. I know it has Tanooki Mario and a ton of things people other people love but I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for it. I expect I'll be eating lunch alone from now on.

I've probably put more than a thousand hours into the Call of Duty series, BioShock is one of my favorite games of all time, and I simply can't stop playing Destiny. Outside of a Zelda adventure, blasting away enemies, throwing grenades, and scoring long-distance head shots are my favorite gaming pastimes. But the one FPS game I just can't manage to enjoy at all is Half-Life 2. Matter of fact, I pretty much hate all Valve shooters because they all share the same flaw.

Sometimes it can be the tiniest detail that turns you off to a game, and that one little thing in HL2's case is simply the way the Valve shooters handle. Moving around feels you're just controlling a floating head (and not just because you can't see your legs). Running feels more like flying (not in a good way) and there's no weight to your steps. It sounds like a lame excuse, but for some reason that floatiness kills my immersion immediately. It's really the only hurdle I can't get past, and much like with , I just can't overcome it.

MMO's are video game hell. They strip otherwise interesting genres of all fun and enjoyment. In their place, they stuff their victims full of monotonous tasks (collect 5 beaver pelts), point-and-click combat, and ravenous paywalls. The only tradeoff for all this BS: multiplayer. You can play with an entire world of other people who are running around yelling and cursing and killing one another - often for no reason. Does this remind you of someplace?

At the very bottom of this hell sits World of Warcraft, laughing and weeping into a lake of fire. WoW's corruption is slow and insidious. In the beginning it's all fun and games, but after a year or two the 'fun' becomes 'work' and the 'games' become 'obligation.' It isn't here to entertain you. It's here to enthrall you with its unending quest for loot which will let you get better loot which will let you get better loot which will...

Also the selfie feature sounds dumb.

We've shared some of our darkest gaming secrets with you, dear reader. Now it's time to balance the scales. Let us know in the comments below your least-favorite, but still wildly-popular, game. Just be prepared for plenty of backlash from everybody else.

For the flip side of this feature be sure to check out .