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C|NET: The most disappointing games of 2014

iJudged

Banned
6| Destiny-

If we're speaking about gameplay mechanics alone, Destiny was an above-average first-person-shooter. Beyond that, Destiny was redundant, trite and stale in almost every other category.


Destiny seemed like it had become a victim of its own hype, making players believe they were getting something they simply did not. Perhaps that void was a coherent story, level variation and a substantive campaign experience -- all of which were arguably nowhere to be found.

5| Watch Dogs-

The years of hype leading up to the release of Watch Dogs frankly weren't fair. How could one game live up to so much buzz? Watch Dogs isn't a bad game, it just failed to deliver on some of the overblown drama that was created around it.


If anything, Watch Dogs taught us a few valuable lessons. Don't always buy into the hype; let the final version of a game do the talking. No demo or trailer is ever a true indicator of a game's quality, so for that, we thank you, Watch Dogs.

4| Thief-

There seemed to be a lot riding on Thief, or Thief 4 as it was originally pitched. A bumpy development period saw the game exchange hands many times, and the final result felt underwhelming and uninspired.

Blame the lackluster result on whatever you want, but the final product simply didn't move the needle enough for anyone to take notice.

3| The Sims 4-

The Sims franchise has become synonymous with groundbreaking innovation in game design, but The Sims 4 seemed to hold back on everything we've come to love about the series. It's not that The Sims 4 is a poorly designed game, it just feels like it's more of the same game we've been playing for the better part of a decade.


It seems like a deliberate decision was made to change the course of the game philosophically and unfortunately it's incongruent with what players have loved for all these years.

2| NHL 15-

Development controversy, missing features and a few gameplay oddities all lead to a new low point for the otherwise stellar NHL series from EA Sports. NHL 15 on the PS4 and the Xbox One was missing a significant amount of game modes compared with the 2013 last-generation version of the game which drove fans crazy. And the fact that the development team chose to skip a new-gen debut in 2013 in favor of this year makes it sting that much more.


It's a shame though because there was a lot of potential with this year's iteration. Graphically, NHL 15 shined and the new announcers and presentation brought the franchise's production value to a new level. Unfortunately, the other pieces to the puzzle weren't fleshed out at all.

1| Assassin's Creed Unity

Unfortunately, Assassin's Creed Unity never found stable footing -- and that's not only because the game's controls felt clunkier than ever. Reviewers and players slammed the game for its technical shortcomings that included terrible dips in frame rate, odd nonplayable character glitches, tons of graphical pop-ins and other general weirdness.

Perhaps this would have gone over better for an unestablished franchise, but for Assassin's Creed loyalists, this was way below par for the course.

Link:http://www.cnet.com/news/the-most-disappointing-games-of-2014/

Disappoint me if old.
 

Vodh

Junior Member
No clue about NHL (completely out of touch with sports games) but otherwise seems spot-on.
 

Sir TapTap

Member
That's 6. But yes, good list, might wedge WWE 2k15 in there but that depends if you expected it to be good. Then again if you expect it to be bad and it defies all expectations and is even worse...
 

Nokterian

Member
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Finally somebody calling Destiny's gameplay mechanics for what they are: above average. I'm tired of the hyperbolic bs surrounding those.
 
The Evil Within should at least be an honorable mention.

With controls that bad I couldn't play more than 1 hour of it. At least I bought it on discount.
 

UrbanRats

Member
My list is similar.
Unity and Watch Dogs on top, The Sims 4 i haven't played, but it's a disappointment exactly for that reason ( i couldn't even be bothered to try it out).
Destiny also i haven't tried, but it's funny that i almost bought a PS4 bundle with it, lol.
Thankfully i decided to wait and see.
 

impact

Banned
What really? I was just about to bite the bullet on Dragon Age, thought consensus is that it was amazing :(

If you liked other Bioware games you'll like DA:I. The combat, story, dialogue, characters and gameplay are bad in DA:I but no worse than in any other Bioware game.
 

iJudged

Banned
Combat is wonky as hell (and especially atrocious if you're playing as a melee character), it's loaded with bugs, and 90% of the content is bad MMO fetchquests.
Holy shit are we talking about the same game here? Having the time of my life with DAI. I honestly do not have any complaints, it is amazing.
 

Violet_0

Banned
Combat is wonky as hell (and especially atrocious if you're playing as a melee character), it's loaded with bugs, and 90% of the content is bad MMO fetchquests.

I agree with all of these points yet I still think it's a decent game and exceeded my expectations. Running around the Hinterlands was pretty fun
 

Isurus

Member
Good list, I guess. However, I feel like I'm the only one that actually enjoys Unity. It's probably because I started playing post-patches, but I actually think the game is really good. There are certainly some things that are frustrating (multiple currencies, forced to use companion app to unlock content, etc.) but the overall game I'm enjoying.

I'm also probably the only person on GAF that actually finished the main campaign in Watchdogs. I'm not proud of that though, as the game didn't live up to expectations at all.

How MCC isn't on here is beyond me. Probably my largest disappointment of the decade. Damn game still doesn't work right.
 
Destiny really deserved #1 for the sheer fact people are paying Bungie to continue to fuck them over. Stockholm syndrome at its finest.
 
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