The phrase "style over substance" tends to be used as a detriment, and while this negative criticism applies to some video games, it can also be other games' defining feature. In brief, some games thrive from being stylish and little else.
That being said, a game's "style" isn't just limited to its artistic choices and visual design, since it can also refer to its gameplay and story. But where these flourishes can elevate some games, they can also hinder others.
10 Dead Or Alive Xtream Beach Volleyball Put The Fanservice Front & Center
In the realm of fighting games, the Dead Or Alive series is more of a modest hit than a blockbuster like Street Fighter. That being said, the games still command a loyal fanbase mostly thanks to its attractive female fighters. Team Ninja knew this full well and capitalized on said fighters' popularity for the spin-off Xtream Beach Volleyball.
There was no pretense to Xtream Beach Volleyball and its sequels: these beach sports games were all about the fanservice and nothing more. The Xtream subseries did little to push the fighting and sports games forward or develop its core fighters as characters, but it sold incredibly well and was reviewed positively by its obvious target audience.
9 Wet Was More Grindhouse Tribute Than Video Game
Wet is often cited as one of the worst games of the late 2000s, but the one thing that it can't be faulted for is its grindhouse aesthetic. Artificial Mind & Movement fully committed to recreating the dingy atmosphere and feel of an exploitation movie from the 70s, but they seem to have forgotten the fact that they were making a game.
Rubi Malone's quest for revenge was basically a schlocky action movie that was interrupted by repetitive gameplay loops and quick time events (QTE). The most egregious display of this was the boss fights, which were peppered with button prompts instead of actual combat. If Wet were made as a movie from the beginning, it would've been received better.
8 Cyberpunk 2077 Prioritized Its Cyberpunk World & Little Else
The controversial Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most overhyped games of recent memory. When the ambitious title was first announced, gamers were excited to lose themselves in what CD Projekt Red promised to be the definitive cyberpunk experience. To the game's credit, Night City looked great, but that's about it.
On the most surface of levels, Cyberpunk 2077 delivered as promised. When the graphics weren't glitching out, Night City and its populace boasted some of the best-realized cyberpunk imagery seen in games. Unfortunately, CD Projekt Red rushed the game out (even with numerous delays), leaving the gameplay broken at best and unplayable at worst.
7 Final Fantasy XIII Had Little To Offer Beyond Its Visuals
Every conversation about stylish video games will inevitably bring up Square Enix's flagship franchise, Final Fantasy. Unsurprisingly, the fantastical JRPGs are often accused of having more style than substance, and the thirteenth entry is arguably this trope's biggest offender. While not the worst Final Fantasy game, it was one of the most hollow.
Lightning's journey in the floating world of Cocoon was praised for its stunning graphics, but it was criticized for its repetitive and linear gameplay, the strangely empty cities and hubs, and a lackluster narrative. Final Fantasy XIII's predictability and unnatural dialogue only gave its comparisons to a formulaic fantasy anime more credence and credibility.
6 Sunset Overdrive Wore Its Punk-Rock Influence On Its Sleeves
No game from the 2010s embodied the mantra "style over substance" more than Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive did. Hoping to get away from the darkness of the Resistance trilogy, the developers created a colorful post-apocalypse where players' goal was to have as much anarchic fun as possible, not just survive.
The game was praised for its wild style, self-awareness, and punk-rock influences, though the gameplay left a lot to be desired. Beyond its goofy weapons, Sunset Overdrive was indistinguishable from other open-world games, especially those with repetitive mission structures that boiled down to fetch quests and tower defenses.
5 Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Reveled In 80s Nostalgia
In terms of gameplay, the musically-charged Far Cry 3 expansion pack Blood Dragon didn't really offer anything new. Sgt. Rex "Power" Colt's mission to save the world didn't feel different from what players already went through in Rook Islands. However, few people saw this as a problem since the real star of the game was the 80s nostalgia.
Seeing the successes of the B-movie throwbacks Hobo With A Shotgun and Manborg, director Dean Evans and his team at Ubisoft Montreal sought to turn the worst VHS movie they could make into a game. Blood Dragon may have come short in terms of innovations, but it was praised for perfectly recapturing the spirit of bad no-budget movies from the 80s.
4 DOOM (2016) Went Back To The Series' Simple Gory Roots
The DOOM franchise's best asset is its simplicity. The Doomguy's first two games were bare-bones shooters with little in the way of story beyond slaying demons, and gamers loved them. Meanwhile, DOOM 3 tried to reboot the series into a survival-horror title with complex lore, but it was rejected. Recognizing this misstep, id Software went back to basics.
DOOM (2016) may introduce new characters and worldbuilding, but these were afterthoughts to letting players slaughter hordes of demons in the most badass ways possible. The reboot emphasized its revamped old-school gameplay above all else, and this creative decision helped the new DOOM become one of the biggest games of its year.
3 Half-Life Was Made To Prove Video Game's Artistic Potential
Despite its age, the PC classic Half-Life is still regarded as one of the most groundbreaking video games ever made. Conceptually, it was yet another FPS game about an alien invasion, which was common in the 90s. However, Valve knew this and went out of their way to make Gordon Freeman's survival in Black Mesa as artistically innovative as possible.
Believing the games industry was squandering the medium's storytelling potential, the developers used the simplistic foundations of titles like DOOM and Quake to create a unique first-person experience. This risk paid off incredibly well, as Half-Life launched Valve into triple-A status, and the game redefined the industry almost overnight.
2 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Took The Series To The Extreme
Metal Gear Solid as a series has always been wild, but Platinum Games' Raiden-centric spin-off dialed everything up to eleven. Though Revengeance still tackled serious themes like child soldiers and war profiteering, it was a hack-and-slash game with the manic energy of a Saturday morning cartoon, not a typically methodical and serious MGS entry.
Unlike its predecessors, this game encouraged players to cut everything in sight and refused to take anything seriously. The developers' priority was to make Raiden as badass as possible, and they surpassed this goal. Today, Revengeance isn't just cited as MGS' most stylish entry, but also as a glowing example of how fun games can and should be.
1 Devil May Cry Turned Style Into An Iconic Game Mechanic
When it comes to style, no series does it as well as Capcom's Devil May Cry. Dante's war against Hell doesn't just have a memorably edgy visual style, but it gamified the idea of being stylish. Simply put, "Stylish" combat required players to use as many combos as possible not just to earn Style Points and deal damage, but to look badass.
To score the highest letter grades, players were encouraged to take as little damage as possible, string as many combos as they could, and taunt their enemies. This was all in service of cementing Dante's characterization as a wisecracking action hero, and it worked so well that he's since been immortalized as one of gaming's most iconic anti-heroes.