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Overhyped games that ended up being terrible.
Nothing's worse than spending $60 of your hard-earned cash on a new game, only to be
disappointed with the product. We've all been burnt by bad games at one point or another.
Publishers and developers overhype their games, making bold promises, and placing false hope
into the minds and hearts of consumers. Here are a few of the worst offenders.
Final Fantasy 14 Online
Despite amazing graphics and music, the first version of Final Fantasy 14 Online turned
out to be a massive failure. Much like a cake that ends up raw in the middle, the game looked
good on the outside, but was mostly unfinished. Reviews and complaints got so bad that Square
Enix pulled the plug on subscriptions and started over from scratch, crafting a whole
new game. The resulting reboot, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, took place five years
after the original. Reborn was well-received by both gamers and critics alike. Now let
us never speak of the failure that was Final Fantasy 14 Online again.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
The 15th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog came in 2006, and to mark this event, Sega
released a game called…well, it was just called Sonic the Hedgehog. In it, the rapid
rodent was tasked with saving a princess named Elise from Doctor Eggman. Unfortunately, the
developers took a page out of Sonic's book and rushed it. The end product was a clunky
game with poor controls, long load times, and a host of glitches. Sonic's all about
speed, but there are some times when you'll want to take it slow.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
The adventures of the anti-hero known as Starkiller continued in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
2. Now, you'd think that getting to control Darth Vader's secret apprentice, a dude who
wields the Force with unimaginable strength, would be a joy. But you would be wrong. Even
though it captured the same size and scope of the original, The Force Unleashed 2 failed
to deliver a good story and was bogged down by repetitive combat. It's cool to hack at
enemies and Mind Trick them to their own doom. But when that's pretty much all you're doing
amid a weak story, it kills the fun. This was not the sequel you were looking for.
Knack
One of the PlayStation 4's launch titles, Knack had the duty of setting up the console's
future and success. Let's take a moment to thank Sony that it wasn't the only launch
title for the PS4, because that would have been a disaster. Knack looked like it could've
been fun. But nope. The gameplay was terrible: players would die from the smallest encounters
and have to backtrack a ton. Not only was the gameplay frustrating, but the story was
so weak that your rage at the crappy gameplay was canceled out by your utter boredom.
Tony Hawk: Ride
Prior to its release, Tony Hawk: Ride was touted as the next major advancement in video
game interaction, giving players a physical board accessory that would transfer your movement
into the game. But...it didn't work. And we don't mean it didn't work well. It didn't
work at all. There was such a delay between what players did on the board and what happened
in the game that it was basically unplayable.
Ryse: Son of Rome
Developed by Crytek, the makers of the incredible Crysis series, Ryse: Son of Rome was set to
be one of the Xbox One's coolest Kinect titles. Players took on the role of a Roman centurion
as he embarks on a blood-soaked quest for revenge. But during development, Ryse underwent
a bunch of changes that saw it go from a Kinect-heavy first-person title to a third-person hack-and-slash
game. When it was finally released, Ryse was beautiful, but repetitive. Considering it
was a launch title for the Xbox One, it should've been much more than just a button-mashing
bore.
Haze
Prior to its release, Haze was heralded as a "Halo-killer." But all it ended up killing
were our hopes for a good game. This first-person shooter cast players as Shane Carpenter, a
soldier employed by a corporation called Mantel. Mantel produces a drug called "Nectar" that
allows soldiers to perform better in battle, but also warps their sense of reality with
hallucinations. Between its unimpressive level design, lame story, and its underwhelming
gameplay, Haze's developers must have been the ones hallucinating, thinking they could
topple Halo.
Duke Nukem Forever
Stuck stewing in development hell for about 15 years, Duke Nukem Forever was finally released
in 2011. Unfortunately, the long-awaited sequel to Duke Nukem 3D had gamers wanting to send
it back where it came from. Simply put, it felt dated. It was so bad that all versions
of the game scored in the 50s on sites like Metacritic and GameRankings. In the end, this
sequel's dismal reviews nearly tainted the memory of the original. Not groovy.
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Probably the biggest offender on this list, Aliens: Colonial Marines was so awful that
fans were unanimously outraged by its badness. Some say it's one of the worst games to ever
be released by Sega. The graphics were lousy, it had shoddy multiplayer, incredibly stupid
A.I., unbalanced gameplay, and terrible sound. The developer, Gearbox Software, also claimed
that the story was going to be in continuity with the films, but its lousy script revealed
that to be total nonsense. It was so poorly received, in fact, that angry gamers actually
filed a lawsuit against Sega and Gearbox.
If you find yourself unfortunate to come in contact with a copy of Aliens: Colonial Marines,
there's only one appropriate reaction:
Game over man, game over!
Goodnight, everybody.
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