Video games are a mammoth industry. They have spawned magazine coverage, game demos, game trailers, and even full on gaming conventions, where they show off all of the above. This all leads to an insane amount of hype, which is fair. Games nowadays are also insanely expensive, so developers need the hype in order to make all that money back. But sometimes, once the actual game is out in the world, it's just... disappointing. Which video games didn't live up to their hype?
Game developers put out these amazingly rendered trailers, have test groups play and review the games, and then advertise the hell out of 'em. By the time some of the bigger games are actually released, it's already seared into the brains of gamers everywhere as being the best thing ever.
So what if the game sucks? Or, more realistically, what if it's just... alright? This list has the video games that just couldn't live up to all their hype, with videos. Cast your votes for the most disappointing video games below. Those games that just didn't cut it after all the buzz.
http://www.ranker.com/list/video-games-that-couldnt-live-up-to-their-hype/coy-jandreau,
Doom 3
Hype:
This game had Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 levels of hype (notice neither of those games made this list, since they delivered.) Like a lot of games, the biggest factor in Doom 3's hype was the wait. Not only was it a sequel to a hugely popular franchise, they also started up the buzz many months before its release. Doom 1 and 2 set new standards for not just their genre, but game play in general. Doom 3 was expected to easily meet and surpass those expectations.
Reality:
Sure, it was great - it was a Doom game. But it didn't break the boundaries the previous Doom games did, like it was meant to. In fact, it barely felt like a Doom game in how it was borderline generic. It was pretty to look at but it almost felt like you'd already played it before. Lovee the Doom games or hate them, they are certainly not generic. The story was also a thinly veiled rehashing of Doom 1 but much more linear (which is maybe why it felt so familiar). Doom 3 had a lot of potential, it just never came close to reaching it.
Enter the Matrix
Hype:
Enter the Matrix was meant to be "The next evolution of interactive entertainment." This game was hyped beyond the point of even being a video game! They included cut scenes from the world of The Matrix not available anywhere else, meaning if you wanted the WHOLE, whole story you'd have to play through the game in addition to watching the sequels. It was also painstakingly written and directed by the Wachowski siblings. They touted this as another complete, interactive universe, and what better storyline for hacking into a computer system than the frickin' Matrix?! It was already a commentary on the very concepts they were creating. It. Seemed. Perfect.
Reality:
Much like The Matrix sequels themselves (which this game wove through and tied directly into), this game was the biggest disappointment imaginable. The biggest problem, and to be fair it was probably a false expectation on everyone's part, was that as soon as fans heard "Matrix game," they thought, Neo: infinite power, Trinity: crazy agility and fighting skills, Morpheus: strength and fighting... Right?! Wrong. You don't play as ANYONE from the first Matrix.
It's the dream to play as Neo, to fly and stop bullets and well... to know kung fu! Instead, you play as two characters we don't even know yet, who feel and turn out to be (sorry, Jada Pinkett Smith) fairly useless and disposable. The rest was passable, decent gameplay and physics, cool powers, and solid graphics for the time. But when a game doesn't allow you to do the ONE thing you want to do... not much can save it.
There was no spoon.
Final Fantasy XIII
Hype:
It's a Final Fantasy game, so that's already an insane amount of hype. This franchise is the Ferrari of video games, a reputable name, a gorgeous product, with a lasting legacy. When you buy a FF game you know what you're getting into: epic worlds, amazing (and difficult) gameplay, memorable characters, and hours upon hours of fantastic story lines.
Reality:
It. Just. Kept. Going. You had to play for hours just to get into the game, and hours further until the tutorial finally ended. Then, you had to play even more hours beyond that to get any real power and stop walking down endless hallways. Even the characters were cliche'd RPG stereotypes. We wanted Square to break barriers with this next-gen Final Fantasy installment, not put up new ones.
Killzone
Hype:
Touted as "the Halo killer" this was supposed to be the game that took Microsoft down a peg (or three) and put Sony back on top. It was advertised heavily for over a year. It was meant to push the very limits of the PS2's graphics and gameplay, and generally change the first person shooter genre from the ground up.
Reality:
Nothing can live up to "genre redefining" levels of hype. The graphics were far duller than the screenshots that had been released, and the graphics engine just couldn't possibly keep up, leaving shots laggy and jagged. Aiming was glitchy and the control system was counterintuitive at times. Worst of all... the thing that can't be forgiven in video games... it was boring. At points the game just stopped being exciting and there's no excuse for that. It wasn't even close to a Halo killer.
Red Steel
Hype:
Remember when you were a kid and wanted to be a ninja? Of course you do. Remember when you were a kid and you were that age where any inanimate object became a gun? Of course you do. How would you like to have that, exactly that, right now? The hype was that the Wii's very specific controller system could finally be used for something other than Wii Sports. The Wii had just come out and this should have been their huge, breakout franchise.
Reality:
The swordplay was awful, the guns couldn't quite aim, and the controllers were, at times, completely unresponsive. This couldn't deliver on the very thing, the one thing, that it promised to make you: an awesome ninja. Beyond that, the story was super cheesy and when the controllers did work the control-scheme was still clunky. The sequel was much better, but too little, too late.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Hype:
Super Mario Bros. changed gaming. That's all there is to it. It was impossibly fun, dynamic, bright, and exciting. Levels were similar without feeling boring, the controls were simple but still difficult, and it was original. As such, it sold like hot cakes. It was the beginning of arguably the most famous/iconic video game franchise of all time.
Reality:
Mario Bros. 2 just wasn't... very... good. It looked really strange. Everything felt weirdly stretched out. The story felt a lot dryer than in the first game. The powers seemed forced and boring. A lot of the time you're just digging up plants and throwing them at weird little terrorist looking, gas masked koopahs. It's a decent game but after the near perfection of Super Mario Brothers... It did however lead to arguably the best game of all time, with Super Mario Bros. 3.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords
Hype:
Star Wars games are usually pretty awful. As a rule, most movie games are. The exception to that rule was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It surprised everyone with its inventive gameplay, awesome use of Jedi powers and lightsabers, its graphics, and its storyline. The hype around Knights 2 was just keeping in line with the original: more of the same, or even just a little better, and it would have more than lived up to the expectations.
Reality: They rushed. Boy, did they rush. Everything about this installment felt off. The gameplay, the story, the controls, it all felt haphazardly cobbled together. They didn't even bring back the same game developers. Bring back the team that made something original and awesome? Nah, let's find some other people. The expression if it ain't broke, don't fix it comes to mind, but hey, at least it felt like a Star Wars game.
Lair
Hype:
DRAGONS. Again, dragons. This game promised dragons (why more games don't promise this very marketable thing is a mystery). Not only did it promise they'd be in the game, here you'd be flying them, controlling them, and battling other dragons! The graphics looked great, and the early E3 tease (video above) made it look like everything we never knew we dreamed of.
Reality:
Well... they found a way to make dragons... suck. Everyone on the game got fired (seriously) for somehow messing up dragons. Its story was horrendous, the graphics were spotty, it used only the motion sensor in the sixaxis controller, and it did it poorly, so you couldn't control a thing. This could have, should have, and would have been the genre defining franchise and launched the PS3 leaps and bounds above its competition, but it just wasn't in the cards.
Mass Effect 3
Hype:
Mass Effect 1 and 2 were genre redefining games. 3's trailer showed impossibly gorgeous graphics, featured the original voice cast, and the story seemed incredible. It was also intensely emotional. Mass Effect 3 seemed like it was somehow even better than the first 2 Mass Effect games. Whoa.
Reality:
THAT ending. It was so bad that it ruined the entire game. Like laughably bad. So bad that they're still considering changing it and rereleasing the game. You also had to (pretty much) buy a DLC (downloadable content) with it the day it came out, and play multi-player in order to fully beat the game. There were so many stumbles in the third act it just flat out ruined an otherwise perfect game.
Watch Dogs
Hype:
The most recent entry on this list, it felt like you couldn't take 10 steps out your door without some sort of advertisement for this game. Worse yet, the hype was been going strong for about 2 years, since it rocked E3 in 2012. Meant to be the next Grand Theft Auto, this was gamers' first look at the glory of the new systems, the very first peek at the very future of gaming!
Reality:
Well... for starters the graphics were WAY toned down than those shown at E3. The story was borderline racist... and misogynistic... and sexist. The whole "hack anything" concept it promised was lackluster. The controls were somewhat unresponsive at times. Overall it's a fun, fairly simple, albeit NOT revolutionary game. Which is what we were promised.