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C|NET: The most disappointing games of 2014

McNum

Member
Yeah, The Sims 4 earned its spot on the list.

It's not as bad as many Sims fans feared, it's just... bland. It does not feel like a followup to The Sims 3. If a hypothetical game with The Sims 4's features had been released instead of The Sims 3, it would have been hailed as the next great evolution of the series, no doubt there.

But Sims 4 came after Sims 3, and some of the major features of that game are just missing. While EA has gone above expectations and made a lot of the minor missing features available as free updates, it's still disheartening to see the rest of the town just die out, or having your family's children be the only children in town. the so-called Story Progression is sorely missed in The Sims 4. The open world was nice, too, but it's really having the nonplayed families go through life offscreen that's missing so badly.

So yeah, okay game, but disappointing.
 
I think Watch Dogs cemented this idea in my head that if Ubisoft is marketing a AAA game with some kind of unique and amazing sounding idea, then prepare to be disappointed. Not because that idea is bad, but because it has to be mashed up and stomped to fit into Ubisoft's assembly line method of making AAA games (access/climb tower to unlock side quest busy work, get collectibles, etc).

I haven't played it so I could be wrong, but what I saw of what turned out to be the end result of the "players invading your world, everyone is connected" feature seemed really disappointing. Like I said, I haven't played it, so there could totally be some kind of foundation that breaks the mold of Ubisoft big budget game design, but I really doubt it.

I am amazed by the insane hype the game got. There was this overabundance of hyped enthusiasm about the game everywhere I looked.

Maybe people were being more level-headed than I give them credit for, and it was all 'I hope this game delivers'. perhaps I just didn't dig enough into the threads to see that, but everything about that game screamed 'they're not going to deliver what you think they're going to deliver'.
 
List like this is why I have to scratch my head when every so often someone will post a thread complaining about all the negativity about gaming. The reality is that those who have been more critical about games this year have also been the ones who most accurate.
 

Dennis

Banned
Of those games the real heartbreaker is Thief.

I fucking knew they couldn't pull it off.

They didn't go old school hardcore enough but I am sure they concluded it was too "inaccessible"
 

sflufan

Banned
How Thief is on that list is beyond me.

No one should have thought for a moment that it was going to be a decent title.
 
Of those games the real heartbreaker is Thief.

I fucking knew they couldn't pull it off.

They didn't go old school hardcore enough but I am sure they concluded it was too "inaccessible"

I am honestly interested in the game. Would it be a decent game if it had nothing to do with the Thief franchise, or is it legit a bad game?
 

Jobbs

Banned
Destiny should have been #1. Everyone knew what AC would be. It's AC. + a bit buggier than usual. Destiny was promised and pitched as something so different from what it turned out to be -- a joke.
 
Watch Dogs is easily the worst game I've played this year, but it's funny because its biggest crime is just being mundane and vanilla. But it did enough to completely turn me off to Ubisoft's brand of open world design. Didn't buy Unity or FC 4 and I don't feel like I'm missing out.

The fact that the game was going to be released months prior to when it did is pretty scary because the final result is still lacking in any depth. The open world just feels like no effort went into it. The player character is hilariously hollow, his motivations and conflicts are weird yet cliched, and when they introduced the only character of any interest (Jordi) I stopped caring about the story. Stuff like infiltrating guarded areas by remote surveillance was actually fun but the rest of the package was not worth it at all.

Watch Dogs would have been Game of the Year in 2006-07 though.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
I just do not understand all the hate Watch Dogs gets. I had an absolute blast with that game despite having too much padding in some places.
 
Most Disappointing is Destiny it should be #1

you put that same gameplay with the potential story in the world Destiny has we would have been looking at an IP that would have been remembered for years as a classic

instead we have a hugely PR hyped piece of shit that cheats fans out of content and story to cash in

Hope the publisher and developer are proud to be remembered for this effort
 

ShinMaruku

Member
Most Disappointing is Destiny it should be #1

you put that same gameplay with the potential story in the world Destiny has we would have been looking at an IP that would have been remembered for years as a classic

instead we have a hugely PR hyped piece of shit that cheats fans out of content and story to cash in

Hope the publisher and developer are proud to be remembered for this effort

Rich people by and large are not known for their empathy.
 
The only one I was disappointed in was Sims 4. I never caught the hype-bug for the others on the list to begin with, so it's been indifference through and through with the other games. Guess they were basically non-factors.

Goes to show, waiting for GOY editions is the safest bet.
 
I would put Destiny much up the list...was expecting something epic from Bungie because of dev hype and media but instead we got a repetitive turd especially on the campaign side. So disappointed.
 
Good list. Wank games. Fuck Ubisoft. Fuck Assassin's Creed.

Why is Unity taking such a bashing, though? It's only as shit as the rest of the series.
 

Tangerinediesel

Neo Member
My list

1. Halo MCC
2. NHL 15
3. Destiny

I didn't bother with the others except AC Unity. I took a chance and got it and Black Flag for $30 this week. I'm actually really enjoying it. I've ran into about 3 bugs 5 hours in. Maybe they patched it since launch? My biggest complaint is how bad it sounds, but other then that I feel like I'm the only one who likes it.
 
Take out NHL and replace it with MCC and you've got a list we can all agree on.

No fucking way, NHL 15 on current gen is far more of a disgrace than MCC. If MCC stripped out its multiplayer completely, then you would have a case.

For those who don't play the NHL series or have not followed what happened with NHL 15:

EA skipped NHL 14 on current gen completely in order to give it "extra time" that it deserves.

What we got was a game that is missing many core features present in NHL 14, and even NHL 14 on PS3/X360.

Here are some of things removed from the PS4/XB1 versions:

Modes/Features

No GM Connected
No Online Team Play (when this is patched into the game later this year, it will use real NHL players and teams)
No EA Sports Hockey League (The online league that lets you form your own team with your friends and play together against others. This is essentially the main online mode that everyone played)
No EA Sports Arena
No Online Shootouts
No Live the Life
No Be A Legend
No Winter Classic
No tournaments or Battle for the Cup
No season mode (you can only play seasons in Be A GM, which is limited to NHL teams)
No NHL 94 Anniversary mode
No custom music support
No create-a-play designer
Cannot customize each team's AI
No create-a-team
No way to edit individual players
Practice mode is now limited to one skater vs. an AI goalie


Gameplay

No custom camera option
No Action Tracker replay highlights
No Top 3 Stars at the end of games.
Be A GM

Yearly draft is fully automated by the CPU
Cannot play the AHL games for your chosen franchise
Players sent down to the minors do not accumulate any season stats
No fantasy draft option
No preseason games
Be A Pro

No option to sim ahead to the next shift
You only play in the NHL; you cannot play for minor league teams
The Memorial Cup tryout period is gone. You now begin by picking an NHL team, or by letting a random CPU team draft you.
No All-Star game
Ultimate Team

Cannot play against your friends
No tournaments
No mobile app

On top of all that they still charged full MSRP for it.
 

mreddie

Member
NHL and WWE were two big fuck yous.

Especially since they cut a chunk of their content from last years versions.

Destiny, it was decent.
Watch Dogs, yeah I can see it being here.
Unity, sigh...
 

Corine

Member
Starbound was so disappointing that it fell off the face of the Earth and everyone forgot to add it to their lists.

Starbounds not even out and it gets updated every single day. Plus the fact that it's amazing game that shouldn't be anywhere near this list.
 

Ashtar

Member
I just do not understand all the hate Watch Dogs gets. I had an absolute blast with that game despite having too much padding in some places.
Neither do I it was actually one of my favorite games of 2014 *dodges tomatoes* I feel bad that I sold it off when I did because I have had hankerings to play it.

That being said I see how it could end up on the list.
Destiny was a pretty huge disappointment coming from someone who loved Halo series and I really loved the ideas behind destiny like having a mode for every mood but boy that lack of content and lack of really anything interesting to do really killed it that being said still spent about 30 hours on it and had a bit of fun.... but mostly because of the people I played it with.

ACU: I've gone back and forth on whether it's the worst AC game ever, I flawed game or a pretty fun game. Right now I'm in the the fun but flawed camp. The game had a lot of good ideas implemented with varying degrees of success and also some maddening poor ideas.
Focus on stealth was a great idea but the stealth is totally borked plus it's an open world game with no save points..... so you end up having to do entire sections over because your character decided to do something stupid. But despite it's flaws I still enjoy it and I really love Elise's character the DLC should have let you play as her.
 
Destiny is both my GOTY and my disappointing game due to an avalanche of missed opportunities.

But what it does, it does really fucking well.

My friends and I bitch about it constantly but play it nearly every day. I haven't been this committed to a game in years since I tend to buy and play just about everything on every system.
 

Granadier

Is currently on Stage 1: Denial regarding the service game future
Really?

NHL out-fucked Destiny?

I mean...Destiny is popular, but holy shit that game is shallow.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
Good list. I'd personally go with:

-Dragon Age Inquisition
-Lords of Shadow 2
-Watch Dogs
-Toukiden: The Age of Demons
-Tomodachi Life

DbYOwnu.jpg


DA:I is going to be on a lot of GOTY lists, one of the best releases in 2014.
 

sensui-tomo

Member
I got a disappointing game that i was lied to by how good it was initially by good reviews over in japan, DRAKENGARD 3... Such a drop in quality compared to Nier. The only good thing about this game was the soundtrack.
 

scitek

Member
What exactly hyped people up about Watch Dogs? I didn't get particularly excited by anything I saw pre-release, and ended up surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
 

SURGEdude

Member
NHL 15 is basically the sports version of Destiny. It plays extremely well for the most part, but it's the 'everything else' that's not there.

Yeah. How EA took an extra year and don't flesh it out more is a real shame. Luckily for me I only buy an NHL game ever 3 years or so, and I can wait another year or 2. I wish 2K was still in the game.
 
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