Failure to Connect

I played the first two Fable games without mercy. I loved the story, the characters, the combat, the writing. They were great games, and they will always remain that way. Then, Fable III was announced, and they had this grand promise of “be the King”, and that was what drew me in. But what should have been an experience that rooted me to my seat, left me questioning my decisions, while forcing me to play through it again really only left me with a feeling of ‘oh’.

With Failure to Connect, we asked our writers what games they were unable to connect with, regardless of their fiscal and critical success. For the month of May we will attempt to explore this issue in detail on a case by case basis. Bioshock and its spiritual-sequel Bioshock Infinite (and to a lesser extent its …

This is probably the most low-hanging fruit I could have selected to cover, but let’s face it, this game has a Metacritic average of 83 on PlayStation 3 and 82 on Xbox 360 and has sold over 6 million copies, but is still one of the worst games many gamers have played. All the more baffling because it’s not just a bad game, but a complete and total embarrassment to the Final Fantasy name that, until this point, carried a serious pedigree.

When I first saw the new Lara Croft way back in 2011, I could scarcely contain my excitement. As someone who had never really gotten into the series during it’s soaring PSX days, this reboot looked primed to be a key entry point. On top of that, the hyper-sexualized Lara Croft of the past had seemingly disappeared completely, replaced by a realistic depiction of a woman who, while undeniably athletic and symmetrically designed, did not represent an immature ideal of female body image. The latter specifically excited me as someone who had spent many years defending the validity of my hobby to naysayers; at last, the absurd examples of G-cup women with tiny waists showcased in Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur, Ninja Gaiden, and the like would fade away blissfully into the past where they belonged.