With the WiiU already on store shelves and the PS4 and Xbox One ready to launch in just a few short months, the sun is quickly setting on the current generation of consoles. Yes, there are still a few heavy hitters yet to come (The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto V, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, etc…) for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but with both E3 and the next generation right around the corner, it feels like a great time to look back at what the past 8~ years of gaming has brought us. Today I’m going to list my top 10 biggest disappointments of the current generation. Keep in mind that just because a game is on the list does not necessarily mean I think it’s a “bad game”; there are actually a few games on the list that I would label as “great”, but that just makes the disappointing aspects of said games that much more crushing. In order for a game to disappoint us, it first must excite us. Games on this list either come from a great lineage, a fantastic development team, or phenomenal source material. Some of these games are flawed in the most fundamental aspects of game design, while others may simply lack a defining feature or turn their story in a very sour tasting twist. Either way, each and every one of the following 10 games has disappointed gamers around the world in one way or another.
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#10. Mass Effect 3
Developer: Bioware
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, WiiU, Xbox 360
The entire Mass Effect trilogy is fantastic, but I can’t help putting the series finale on this list for its notorious ending alone. Bioware set out to do something amazing with the Mass Effect series, promising gamers that our choices would not only carry on throughout all three games, but would also have significant and rippling effects throughout the game’s universe. While they delivered on some promises and failed on others, and while they started off with an RPG with shooter elements and slowly morphed it into a shooter with RPG elements by the third game, it’s still hard to harshly criticize any of the three Mass Effect titles. However, the fact remains that Mass Effect 3’s ending is awful. It was so bad, and fan outcry was so strong, that Bioware actually released a patch to alter the ending in an attempt to appease fans. Unfortunately the revamped ending still fell quite short of expectations. As a standalone title Mass Effect 3 is a great game, but as the conclusion of an epic trilogy, it has left a sour taste in many a mouth.
#9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: August 5, 2009
Platform(s): PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade
Re-Shelled is a remake of the classic arcade / Super Nintendo game. I have fond childhood memories of sitting in front of my TV and jump kicking Foot Soldiers for hours on end. The sprites were great, combat was fast and hilarious, and the audio (both music and dialog) was so damn good. My parents didn’t buy me the game as a child (despite allowing me to rent it from the local video store dozens of times), so I paid a decent chunk of change and bought it off eBay a couple of years ago, and it’s still awesome. So naturally, when Ubisoft’s remake was announced, I was quite excited… and then promptly disappointed when I actually got to play it.
The SNES version of Turtles in Time was the better game for a few reasons, most notably for the fact that it has more levels and boss fights than the arcade version. So why did Ubisoft decide to model their remake after the arcade version? I don’t know, and I’m still waiting for a good explanation. The graphical update was expected, but seeing the turtles modeled after the more modern cartoons is a bit of a turn off. The audio is a complete abomination. From the score to the annoying voices and all the way down to the extremely unimpressive sounds we get when smacking enemies around; the audio in Re-Shelled is an insult to my childhood. I wanted to see the Technodrome, I wanted to fight Bebop and Rocksteady on the pirate ship, and I wanted to do it all while listening to a great sound track. Damn you Ubisoft.
#8. Diablo 3
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Platform(s): PC, Mac (Coming to consoles soon)
Blizzard is known for two things: making quality titles and taking their sweet ass time to do so. Diablo 2 came out in the year 2000, and it was a smash hit with fans, many of whom still play it over 13 years later. Fans had over a decade to imagine what Diablo 3 would bring to the table, and some would argue that their expectations were too high, but it was some of Blizzard’s odd design choices which seemed to bring on the most disappointment in the game. The near complete removal of character customization ruined the entire experience for many diehard fans, and the addition of a real money auction house has put a “pay to win” taint on the game that cannot be removed in the eyes of many. Critical acclaim was high, and sales were record breaking, but at the end of the day Blizzard ended up alienating much of their fan base who spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours crawling through the dungeons of Diablo 2.
#7. Resident Evil 5
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: March 13, 2009
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Resident Evil 4 was a massive success, not only injecting life into a somewhat ailing franchise, but also literally changing gaming as a whole by making over-the-shoulder 3rd person aiming a norm in the industry. It’s somewhat hard to believe now, but it’s true, that over-the-shoulder camera angle that we are so used to now came from RE4. Resident Evil 4 not only changed the industry, but changed the Resident Evil series as a whole; gone were the endless narrow hallways as players were introduced to a much more open world. While RE4 did lean more on action than previous titles in the series, it still felt very grounded within the survival horror genre. Given the success of its predecessor, Resident Evil 5 seemed destined to be a step down, but no one really foresaw just how big a step it would be. Where RE4 feels like a horror game with action elements, RE5 feels like nothing but an action game, disconnecting itself from its roots almost entirely. Much to the chagrin of the mass majority of their fan base, Capcom developed a game as a co-op experience. If playing alone, the second character, named Sheva, would be controlled by the extremely clunky artificial intelligence. Resident Evil 5 is not a bad game; it can be fun to run through with a friend over Xbox Live while having a couple of laughs. The problem is, that’s not how Resident Evil games are meant to be played. RE5 is a huge disappointment for the diehard fans of the series who expected survival horror game.
#6. Prince of Persia
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Release Date: December 2, 2008
Platform(s): PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was a huge success during the previous generation of consoles, winning a good number of Game of The Year awards back in 2003. The game featured fantastic platforming, great puzzles, and fun (albeit somewhat repetitive) combat. The success of Sands of Time lead to two more Prince of Persia titles being made during that generation, completing a trilogy of memorable games. After their success on the Xbox and PS2, Ubisoft was fully expected to bring the Prince to life on the 360 and PS3, and they did, but not in the fashion that many gamers expected. They dropped the subtitles and simply named the game “Prince of Persia” (the same name as the original 1989 game), and while that irked some fans, it was the other stuff they dropped which caused most of the disappointment. Prince of Persia’s platforming is not challenging and almost plays itself, the game’s puzzles are sparse and lack any complexity, and combat is scarce and far too easy. You cannot die at any point in the game, as the Prince’s companion Elika will always save you before you meet your demise. There is no limit to the amount of times Elika can pull you from the jaws of death, therefore not only removing any challenge from the game, but also removing any sort of suspense. While Ubisoft created an undeniably beautiful game, they also ripped the heart and soul out of the franchise.
– Matt Azevedo