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Ahh, hype. Even the best of us fall for it at least once. Some of us fall for it twice, and many of us continue to jump on that wicked Hypewagon no matter how many times it lets us down. Unfortunately, I fall into that last category of continually disappointed individuals. So what are the ten games that tricked me into thinking they would be the next big thing? The next must-have game? The life-changing title that would question my morals and alter the way I look at video games forever? Alright, that last goal might've been a bit lofty, but you get the point. If you've been let down by a game (or several) you know how I feel, so read on for the ten overhyped games that burned me, and burned me bad.
10. Heavenly Sword
It's God of War, but instead of controlling a hell-born death machine of bulky man power, you get to control a member of the fairer sex. It was supposed to have the same jaw-dropping moments, brutal gameplay, and epic story as its Greek sibling but with the addition of a gorgeous lead character and, of course, the PS3's Skynet technology. This is a formula that had win written all over it. Unfortunately the game was plagued with a very short campaign (and no multiplayer), frustrating bosses, mundane button-mashing combat, and an overall lack of truly awesome moments.
9. Too Human
I can hear the pitch now: "We've thought of a game that takes the loot hunting of Diablo, with a pinch of Norse mythology thrown in, and an epic story that spans over three games." How do you mess up such a stunning recipe for success? Well, you let it come to a boil over ten years of development hell, convolute the story, turn the lead character into a generic space marine, throw in some awful controls (particularly involving the combat), and make one of the game's biggest selling points, the loot gathering, and turn it into a chore to manage with a dreadful inventory system.
8. Haze
I love my PS3, but for a good chunk of the console's life it was without a killer app. Heavenly Sword and Resistance tried their best (and gave it a good go I might say), but failed to capture the hearts of really anyone other than crap resistant fanboys. Haze promised gamers a truly awesome FPS, it was supposed to have jaw-dropping visuals, an excellent story, and pledged to be Sony's Halo. After playing it for a few hours before tossing the disc back to the greedy clerks at GameStop, I can say that the game failed on all accounts. Haze isn't even a good game, I dare to say it's not even average. It's frustrating, ugly, and boring. The vehicles are slightly entertaining and the coop is a nice touch, but even those features couldn't save the game from becoming an epic fail.
7. Red Steel
When I first saw the Wii's controllers I remember hoping and praying that someone would make a game with lightsaber combat, because the Wii-motes are perfect for that type of gameplay. When Red Steel was first announced I was giddy with excitement at the idea of almost-real sword play. I pictured fighting a friend in an epic duel as we crossed virtual swords where, upon my friend's defeat, I would utter some witty one-liner like "Ha Ha! You, a mere mortal, thought you could defeat me?" before bringing the fight to an end with a final slash of my wii-mote. This situation, or anything even resembling said situation, did not take place when I played this game. Instead I was met with terribly awkward controls, repetitive combat, and a poorly written story. Needless to say, I was sad.
6. Bionic Commando
I've never played any of the original 2D Bionic Commandos, but that doesn't mean I don't know how full of win and awesome they are. Even having never played any games in the series before, this game looked really awesome. I didn't there was a chance this game could be bad, because Capcom had already revamped the series with the thoroughly awesome Bionic Commando Rearmed a few months prior to this game's release (which might've incidentally helped lead to the game's demise). Unfortunately this game was full of frustrating gameplay, an awful story, and the game just didn't look good. Sure the menu was cool and the music was pretty good, but even the game's stylish menu and acceptable tunes weren't able to save this game from getting lost in its 2D brother's shadow.
5. Daikatana
Remember that snazzy advert claiming that "John Romero's about to make you his bitch."? Of course you do. We all do. But did Mr. Romero succeed in making us his bitches? I'd say no. Aggressive advertising aside, this rather ambitious game made some lofty promises, none of which it managed to keep. Advertised as the brainchild of John Romero (Doom, Quake) it was going to guide the industry into a new era of creative freedom. I loved Quake and Doom, the originals are two of my favorite games, so I thought this too had to be good. Ahh, to be young and naive again, this game sucked, and sucked hard. But since the gaming public is of the creed 'Forgive and Forget', this fiasco has long been forgotten. Ha! I can't even say that and keep a straight face (though for you it's probably difficult to see my expression as I write this). Nah, this PR catastrophe won't be forgotten for a long time, and Daikatana will always hold a special place in the heart of this miraculous industry for tons of ridicule, and a special place in mine for being a complete letdown.
4. Doom 3
One of the grandaddies of the modern FPS, the Doom series is one of the most highly revered franchises in the history of gaming, and the games are what put id Software on the map as a respected developer. Obviously, Doom 3 had some seriously high expectations to live up to, and while it is in now way a bad game, it definitely didn't reach it's potential. Praised for its gorgeous visuals and atmospheric sound design, Doom 3 was a great game that was unfortunately weighed down by repetitive combat, labyrinthine environments, and an abundance of annoying monster closets.
3. Fable (series)
Ahh, I'm going to get some hate for this choice. I say bring it on fanboys! As a sort of disclaimer, Fable is a great series and I've had tons of fun playing both. Now that that's said, Peter Moleneux has mastered the art of overhyping his games, or at least not necessarily delivering on all of his promises when it comes to his games. While the ultra creepy toy for pedophiles (Milo) has some mostly unnecessary hype surrounding it, the Fable series has been surrounded in a delirium of hype and high aspirations. I remember hearing that every decision I made would affect the world, and that I could plant a tree and come back to see it fully grown. While the absence of the latter didn't necessarily bother me, I loved the idea of changing the world around me as I pleased so when I I learned that my affect on the world was limited to say the least, it was more than a little disappointing. Maybe the already announced Fable III will deliver on some of the promises Fable II failed to keep, but if they don't change anything please improve the character customization. I hated the way my character looked in Fable II, and the clothing and lack of armor was unfortunate.
2. Alone in the Dark
I like my survival horror games. I like them a lot. I'm also a big fan of the original Alone in the Dark because it's one of the first "horror" games I ever played. The series' entrance into this generation of consoles promised a ton of innovation, and supposedly the fire was going to change the way fire looked and functioned in games from then on. While the latter was only a little impressive, there's an argument to say the game might've aspired to be too much. It had some pretty original ideas, some worked, others didn't. The DVD style menu was a cool idea, and came in handy when I needed to skip over some of the more frustrating sections in the game, the dual joystick combat was a nice attempt at innovation but became too frustrating and was occasionally unresponsive, the inventory, while flawed, was one of the game's strongest features, and the visuals that were praised almost every time you heard about the game, failed to impress in the final product. But by far one of the game's weakest elements was its pacing. You start off trying to escape from the inside of a crumbling building; it's fun, intense, and serves as a good introduction to the game's world, then you get to the game's first car chase, and Oh My God this game went from a solid action game to one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. Throw in a Good vs. Evil story written by an over caffeinated five year-old, and one of the worst final acts possible (you hunt down one hundred devil trees. Seriously. I wish I was kidding.) and you have yourself a flop.
1. Resident Evil 5
Let me start off by saying that in now way is RE5 a bad game, or anywhere close to being a bad game. However, if one were to compare it to its predecessor, the masterpiece known as Resident Evil 4, RE5 isn't even in the same ballpark. The inventory was changed to something much more frustrating, the 'horror' element was removed entirely, the story was a train wreck, they turned one of the series' beloved characters (Jill) and turned her into some Dead or Alive reject, and the partner AI is surprisingly bad for such a polished game. Sounds harsh? Tough love I say! Capcom has recognized the less positive critical reception RE5 received, saying Resident Evil 6 will be yet another reboot of the premier survival horror franchise. I'm going to desperately hope the series goes back to its roots and brings back the scares and shambling zombies. Oh, and please Capcom, add strafing. I know you said the inability to move while firing a weapon was done on purpose to 'make the game more suspenseful', but Dead Space had strafing and that game was scary as hell.
So those are the games that supremely pissed me off. Just because a game made the list doesn't mean I think it's a bad game. In no way do I consider Resident Evil 5, Fable, Doom 3, and Heavenly Sword bad games. I just don't think they were as good as they could've been, or that they were anywhere as good as I was led to believe they would be. If anything, this is a testament to the fact that you shouldn't believe in the hype games get, because most of the time the game won't live up to the hype. But these are just the games that let me down, so what are some games I missed that made you want to kick a baby? Let me know in the comments section below.
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As for Fable, they're great games, but Moleneux definitely overhypes them.