Ben-DutkaThis year has given us some of the finest games ever seen.
Grand Theft Auto V , The Last Of Us , Bioshock Infinite , Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag , Tomb Raider ; the list is chock full of fantastic games that were just oodles of fun to play.
But amid all the great titles, what is the one game that really disappointed? What's the one that you were convinced you'd love to pieces, but it came up well short? For me, I'd have to say it's probably the PS4 launch game, Killzone: Shadow Fall . Despite being a perfectly competent and entertaining shooter, my expectations were a lot higher. It shouldn't have suffered from some of the technical bugs I found, and the overall game design left something to be desired. The story was pretty lame, too.
And believe it or not, I will also mention Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch , which was undoubtedly a beautiful game, and I know a great many adored it. And being a confirmed old-school JRPG aficionado, by all rights, I should've adored it, too. But I didn't; in fact, I found I couldn't really play it very long, as the characters and enemies were just too cutesy for me (yeah, sorry), the combat was too hectic for me (I will always prefer turn-based), and the story wasn't anywhere near as good as some people claimed. Amateur-ish is the only way to describe it.
Lastly, I will toss in Beyond: Two Souls because after the wonder that was Heavy Rain , my expectations were through the freakin' roof. It was still a great game and I loved parts of it, but I think Quantic Dream overstepped and overshot. Oh, and Killer is Dead was a huge disappointment as well, especially after the sheer over-the-top fun Grasshopper delivered with Lollipop Chainsaw and Shadows of the Damned .
Watch Dogs' delay is the biggest disappointment for me. I was really dying to play this game; the first trailer from E3 2012 was the most exciting one I'd seen in awhile. I understand the reasons for the delay but it still stings. Hope it will be released in April. Other than that, perhaps missing out on Beyond: Two Souls due to finances.
However, we can all be happy the PS4 isn't a disappointment. It is a wonderful console and have enjoyed playing games and watching streams from many other video gamers online. I can't wait to see what 2014 will bring PS4 owners.
Mine was "Remember Me"
Yeah, that had lots of promise. 🙁
I have yet to play it, waiting for it to go dirt cheap, but from what I hear you wont be alone in that. The thing is the concept and the world are fabulous but the game seems overrun with bad combat sections and a limited sense of exploration in the environment. I will still play Remember Me but I do mean I dirt cheap…
The combat is like a pathetic imitation of Batman, the world is awesome but you are on a very strict linear course in it. However the full story is quite good.
My biggest disappointment this year would be Remember Me. The concept of the game was awesome, but the execution could have been better. The memory manipulation (Memory Remixing)was very well done, but the rest of the game felt very generic and uninspiring. The best part of the game wasn't utilized enough, in my opinion.
Despite it shortcomings, I hope Capcom with give Dontnod Entertainment another shot at a sequel, I really feel that if the developer listens the the media and their fans, they will be able address the originals shortcomings, and create a really excellent game.
I really don't have a big disappointment this year, but if I had to mention something that didn't live up to my expectations, it would be Bioshock Infinite.
The story was good, but the combat hasn't evolved at all since the first one. And the difficulty of defeating enemies, especially at the end game battle is ridiculously unbalanced in the AI's favor on hard difficulty. Too unforgiving, in my opinion.
The KZ SF reviews were probably most dissapointing. I expected better.
I can't say I'm disapointed in DmC because I already expected it to be what it was with the clunky UE3 and a stylization that is a major turn off.
GoW: A preformed worse than I imagined with critical reception at least. I feel too many critics slammed it too heavily for having multiplayer. That genre doesn't get a lot of multiplayer representation, and as a fan of the genre, it was and is a compelling new component to an action game that can implement it fittingly to my liking.
But I enjoyed the Story mode a lot. It's combat improved (thank you multiplayer) and that's something I value the most with them types.
Other than that the download game rain came up soft. I know it's the cool thing now to be artsy and expressive with visual design and moodiness, but don't wear it on the cuff of your shirt with incomplete game design concepts at the core.
Quality design comes first, then flesh out the atmosphere.
The combat was different, I wouldn't say improved, it was like a generational leap backward to PS2 days.
are you talking about GoW, because if you are you're wrong.
anyway, the other disappointment would be how often the EU PS+ is better than the american one. Lately the US one has gotten better but it always seems the EU one has a leg up. Like that Bioschock Infinite and Persona story we just read, yah, that's for Euro.
EDIT: And also world, you've made it known your feeble oldness and hands can't keep up with them types of action games so your opinion on the matter is practically a mute one to me.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 12/20/2013 10:41:22 AM
i mean really world, how the heck can you ignore the improved Rage system that allows you to extend combos and plan combo finishers that allow for special combat benefits, compounded by switching element affinities to alter finisher outcomes. The Blades can now grapple opponents MK Scorpian style for added combo creation mixups and tactics. World Weapons are an added enhancement for planning who to dup first with the powerful attack. QTE segments present more of a struggle and aren't as mindless as past games. There's nothing about any of this that is a step back from GoW3, let alone a generational fall back as you've implied. did you even play this game?
ridiculous.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 12/20/2013 11:20:10 AM
Heads up. For those who waited on ascension, it will be selling for $10 for ps+ members, for those who don't mind a digital release.
KZ:SF is the most underrated game of the year for me. A 9+, and better than even Crysis 3 (a wonderful game that's a solid 9 in my book). AI is always harder to get right in larger more open-world like arenas, but KZ:SF has the best in this style. And while something has always been missing from the voice-overs and story (KZ always sounded like a poorly dubbed, foreign flick), it is still better than the series has ever been. The visuals are mesmerizing, and at times, mind-blowing. Most importantly, the gameplay is FUN. The varied gameplay and ziplining offered through OWL, and the open world battle fields give it that Crysis 3 feel, while retaining the movement of KZ2, and the speed of KZ3. In short if you enjoyed previous KZ games, you'll be wow'd KZ:SF (It's the best one yet), unless you were expecting next-gen to literally take you to the moon, or you have some bone to pick. But to tell you the truth, in a way, I didn't mind the lukewarm reception. SF surprised me by defying them and my expectations. Good on Guerrilla Games.
Last edited by Shams on 12/20/2013 12:51:00 PM
thanks master shams. I'll be sure to give it a shot. I do agree about the lesser dubbing quality of prior games.
and yes, I nabbed the 35GB monstrosity and subsequent 9 meaty patches (come on santa monica, multiplex your patches every now and again) for GoW A from PS+. My HDD upgrade happened right in time =)
Last edited by Temjin001 on 12/20/2013 1:38:53 PM
I didn't like the grappling, it was penis.
what's wrong with penis?
=p
That penis mechanic took the place of some of my favorite moves.
beyond two souls, DEFINITELY has to be beyond two souls!
not only because of the characters, the story, the gameplay, practically EVERYTHING was worse than heavy rain.
but not only that, mainly because of the stupid bullsh*t clichéd plot.
one thing i absolutely LOATH about this industry, we have so many people flapping their gums, but then go and DO the complete opposite!
david cage never a better example has their been.
hes constantly whining that we can come up with much better deeper meanings than we do, he comes out and reveals his new game about death, and here i am thinking will have some deep philosophical explanation of what he thinks happens after death.
but nope, instead what we get is the big bad military is turning it into a weapon.
seriously?
thats what the philosophical david came up with?
come on, id expect that out of a summer blockbuster film but not out of you!
one thing this industry REALLY needs to change!
in fact so many games this year, so many developers who are known for amazing stories, were let down by their predictability and silliness.
even bioshock infinite, im sorry but if you could not see that ending coming than you need your head looked at!
this is the way they top the infamous line that cemented itself into last gen?
seriously?
we deserved SO much better!
and thats one thing that made the last of us so amazing, it handled its decisions and surprises so well that they actually were surprises!
when you think somethings going to happen because thats what always does the opposite does, than when you expect something will happen because thats what happened last time it again flips you on your head.
it sets such a dark tone, that you start to think ok maybe the rosie cliche that every game/ movie sticks to, ie a characters in a deadly situation, and the camera pans away, ie leading you to believe their dead till the thing ends and you see said character casually waltzing across the desert.
cough a certain ps4 game.
TLoU hits you so hard because when that comes, when you see the sh*t hit the fan, instead of rolling your eyes and saying here we go again, your actually genuinely worried and scared and invested into the moment, instead of it being some insulting joke.
writers, please, can we PLEASE stop with the predictable pathetic cliche bullsh*t!?
PLEASE!?
no more putting characters into deadly situations than panning the camera away, no more the big bad military found something new so of course they want to use it to rule the world, and they are so hypercritical they say its too powerful for any other country to have and you destroy their plant.
typical americans, its too dangerous, but then they go use it themselves.
how can we be invested in the moment when the moment is a cliched been there done that stereotypical predictable joke?
Sadly for me it is Ni No Kuni… I really wanted to enjoy the game but it just wasn't for me. The story just wasn't not progressing & I played it for 15 hours. You would visit a town and there would be a little scenario within that town to deal with, but it had no connection to the main games story so it began get tedious.
There was also one really irritation implementation of backtracking where I entered a new town and wanted a boat. To get a ticket for the boat I had to go back to the last town which I just completed… The pacing was beginning to remind me of Final Fantasy XII, something I don't want to ever experience again…
Then there is the combat. My experience of the Ni No Kuni combat system was the same every boss encounter. Running around the battle arena with minimal health… why, because they didn't add as shortcut to defend your whole part until about 15 hours into the game… this was a vital feature which should have been present as soon as you were dealing with multiple characters.
I will go back to it one day, but I haven't played it since February yet.
It was a really cool game in many ways but yeah there were problems that made it harder on adults looking for something a little deeper.
You do get better ways of fast traveling soon and the end wraps up the whole thing up into a heart warming fable that is worth the effort of finishing. When I got tired of things being samey I just put the game on easy and plowed through the battles while enjoying the scenery, dungeons, and characters.
I agree that the story is a little too cutesy but it really improves towards the end.
2 Games that i liked but expected more:beyond two souls,good but not good enough like heavy rain
Tomb raider, very beautiful and stil some good gameplay, but to easy ,could have been better
The Last of Us for sure, thankfully I never used the MP code so I was able to get some decent money for the game after I beat it.
What did you dislike about the TLOU? Personally I thought that the AI wasn't as good as was made out during the game's early previews. It also ruined the immersion for me somewhat when my partners would run around in full view of the enemies without being spotted. I understand why ND did this. The game would have been pretty frustrating if you were constantly outed by spotty AI, but still…
I was also a bit disappointed by the survival elements in the game. Despite the lack of regenerating health and limited supplies, I still found the game relatively easy. Maybe I've just had too much practice with hording items from all the survival horror games I've played over the years.
-As you say the AI was pretty bad, but not just the partners, while I'm sure it worked great for the verrrrry slow and sneaky when I was forced to engage the enemy head on they became idiots. One fell off an upper level and landed on top of me, ALL of them somehow knew my location with 100% certainty because one guy way off in a corner somewhere had seen me and then when they ran up to fight me they would stop and look around for me even though I was standing right in front of them. It was pitiful.
-Also the spawning was really bad. If there were 4 guys walking down the street and one saw me 10 -15 more would just appear on the map in different places, often times right behind me when I had my back to a wall.
-The story was a stock of cliches lined up one after another.
-The gameplay had very little variability, first the upgrades made almost no discernible difference in the experience. For a survival title it was sad that getting around added up to either pushing Ellie on a palette or laying planks. There was just so much more that could have been done in traversing the world, which was a lot of flat land for a post end of the world city.
It's like we played completely different games.
Are you sure you weren't playing RE6?
Yeah, sorry World, I have no idea what you were looking at. None of that analysis even makes the smallest bit of sense to me.
Yeah that's non sense…
That's not an analysis, it's just what happened while I played it. If you were really good at the stealth I wouldn't expect you to run into any of what I did, but it WAS there.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/20/2013 12:42:53 PM
I'm beginning to wonder just how many different recreational substances you used while playing this game.
I didn't go full stealth during my play-through, and NONE of what you described happened.
EVER.
Last edited by JROD0823 on 12/20/2013 1:26:27 PM
This is what the recording feature on PS4 will be good for in the future, it would be pretty easy to prove in this case.
Looks like some of you finally experienced how it's to get into a convo about a game you enjoy that World doesn't (Souls games,Metal Gear Rising), I just can't understand him, like if he talks about another different game.
It almost sounds like you were trying to play it the way you'd play Uncharted. The game isn't built for that, you know.
Nah, Oxvial, I'm typically on the same page as him on a lot of games. I agree about the limited substance in the Souls games if it weren't so difficult. But I enjoyed them anyways. I haven't played Rising, so no idea.
If we agreed all the time, that'd be really boring.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 12/20/2013 1:39:43 PM
I was actually surprised by how solid Rising was, I had trouble with the slicing and parry system but it was much better than I thought it'd be. If we argued over the story/dialogue (kinda remember a conversation) I was just saying it was a little more over the top silly than other Metal Gear games, but it was sort of understandable since Japanese games are like that and they made Vanquish which was super goofy.
I'll always be mad at the Souls games because I bought the first one thinking it would be hard in a good way instead of el cheapo.
I'm glad we get to argue stuff though, I would rather argue with you guys than anybody else on any board in the world.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/20/2013 1:50:03 PM
The Last of Us wasn't my biggest disappointment, but I think it is over rated.
I agree with several points that world made.
I guess overall what happened to me when I played the game was I got bored with the gameplay.
It didn't evolve much over the game and that isn't always a problem, but I dont know something was just lacking in the gameplay.
I played the game mostly stealth but the AI never proved challenging enough and I played in the hardest mode. I did have some weird AI issues but nothing to crazy.
I loved the atmosphere the story and the characters even though there were cliches.
Also the multiplayer, if that was on the PC I would still be playing it. I just don't like shooters with a controller.
But man was the MP fun.
Last edited by xenris on 12/20/2013 4:10:52 PM
I'm usually on the same page with you but this time I'm not sure you even played this. I've for the platinum for this and not once did 14 enemies spawn out of anywhere. The game is by far the best of this generation and IMO the best naughty dog has ever done.
On topic: Remember me was definitely the biggest disappointment for me, GTAO would be my second.
When you're facing the hordes who follow the guy who is interested in Ellie, instead of sneaking past his goons go ahead and get yourself spotted. They literally appear of nowhere all over the maps and every one of them knows exactly where you are.
Nothing about the last of us was disappointing, maybe this is just gamers getting too spoiled with all these great games out there, so they can dissect every little flaw they find.
I have to say GTA V was a disappointment. If you follow my posts here, you surely noticed how excited i was when the game first came out. I was! But I lost interest quickly. It was too much of the same. I didn't care for the protagonists as I got to know them more (which was probably the point, but it made playing the game a lot less fun.) the graphics looked shockingly dated (genuinely curious what a PS4 version might look like) Even the radio stations, for all their good songs, you can tell they're digging pretty deep into the vintage crates at this point to make sure they don't keep including the same songs across different games.
Again, a good game, no question, but ultimately not the mega-awesome package i had hoped it would be.
I haven't played Beyond or GOW Ascension yet, so can't comment on that.
For me it was Sly 4. The story has been fun so far, and the levels are well made (the main worlds), but the gameplay has been very dull and repetitive, something the original three games were not.
2 is my favorite platformer of all time with it's great story and masterful diversity in terms of its design.
Sly 4 has failed to meet my lofty expectations not because of story or the art direction, or anything like that, but because for the most part, the design of the game is far too repetitive and dull and lacks the unpredictability of previous games.
While Infinite was a great game, and one of the best games this year, it was disappointing to me from a gameplay standpoint in some respects. There was too much of the "wave" fatigue going on in this game in terms of waves and waves of enemies. I loved how the first two Bioshock games were so focused on tense one on two, or one on three or four encounters.
Too much of Infinite relied on just sending waves of drones at you. The way you could approach those situations were fantastic, but there was that fatigue. Still, an overall incredible game, just that aspect of it disappointed me.
Killzone Shadow Fall. The game was just kind of "meh" all the way around for me, and I felt the story was just weak and I never really cared about anyone in the game. I would start to, and then they just wouldn't develop the characters enough for me to get invested. The story never really went anywhere for me, and the end…the *%&$ing end…
I won't spoil anything for anyone, but the end was the worst piece of crap I have ever experienced in a game ever. Seriously, it made the entire playthrough like a big slap in the face finished up with someone crapping in my breakfast bowl. I really truly hated the ending of it.
Cannot say much of the PS4 launch but most people get out of a game based on the high or low expectations.
The GTA series I find disappointing overall as its the same old same. BUT majority of the gamers out there want that and they get it and then some. Does not mean the majority is always right, just thats its… popular.. like reality TV.
Assassins Creed 3 and up disappointed me as Ubisoft took what was an interesting series up and through to the end of the AC2 series and pretty much.. forgot what the series was really about. Personally I think they catered to a particular market at the sacrifice of actually doing some unique and different with each game. Thankfully, AC and AC@ series is worth replaying.
And finally gamers in general. Includes me. So much whining and complaining and blaming devs and studios for not making "their" game.
Keep playing!
Beyond two souls was very upsetting from top to bottom. Dmc was fun but I couldn't help but recall that enslaved was equally fun and more far more emotionally engaging. They should've taken the whole project as their own and turn it on its head… It still felt as if they were trying to satisfy fans of the series who weren't and still aren't going to give it the time for anything in the world.
If they were going to
Beyond was a let down in many respects but I guess it's hard to follow Heavy Rain, just like Uncharted 3 couldn't follow U2 imo.
Dunno if you played DmC all the way through but despite a flat beginning it gets more emotionally intense on the "brother versus brother" and "means to an end" themes
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/20/2013 5:32:26 PM
There was a lot of implied rape this year, I'm surprised Tomb Raider was the only one to deal with the media about it. Beyond and TLoU had their share.
Hate to say it but mine was Bioshock Infinite. To me it was just another shooter. Nowhere near as good as the 1st (or even 2nd).
idk what my disappoint of the year but my ps3 disapooint ments are nfs shift 2 and cod BOII bu t as for this year i'm not sure i haven't brought any bad games really cos i wasn't bothered to be dissapointed but COD this year so yeah idk thats about it for me
happy gaming =)
Probably Killer is Dead. I really liked No More Heroes 1 and 2 and have had high expectations for Suda 51's games that have followed those two but none have matched up to them. Killer is Dead is the latest disappointment. Not a bad game but no more than slightly above average at best. Hopefully Lily Bergamo will be better.
FF14 ARR is my biggest dissapointment the black mage class is more of a support class that makes no sense the difficulty has been so far watered down from FF11
theirs no longer any real need for exploration you can just go to town and que for a dungeon and get transported there
the leveling speed is way to fast the world is way to small
Fates are boring the crafting system is way to easy to level
certain dungeons you can only get loot from once a week
the end game community only care for speed running stuff and don't treat people nicely that watch cut scenes actually they'll kick you out of the party for watching cutscenes in dungeons
Far as I'm concerned (& say/think what you want) for it's NO backwards compatibility whatsoever in EITHER PS4 and XBOX ONE!