From Fallout 76 to Perfect Dark Zero, these are the games that broke our hearts.
A disappointing game isnt always a bad game.
In many ways, a disappointing game is worse.
Thats because fans not only hoped these games would be great, but expected them to be so.
Weve all played these games.
No, the biggest problem withFallout 76is thatthis is a Bethesda game.
MaybeFallout 76will improve over time, but its launch will always be remembered as a tremendous failure.
The success ofResident Evil 4and5made just about every series fan excited forResident Evil 6.
Unfortunately, that game made it clear that Capcom didnt really care what the fans were excited for.
Still, this game proved to be a stunning disaster.
Its rare that a game of this size and with this pedigree arrives in a nearly unplayable state.
Its like playing a game developed byTaken 3s editor.
Its like the games story is going through puberty.
The realColonial Marineswas an almost amusing mess.
Thats no small feat.
WhereSporeultimately failed was in the simplification of its own ambitions.
When you arrive, the owner tells you that the store is open just for you.
Thats roughly what it was like to experienceMass Effect 3s endingfor the first time.
Until that point, BioWare had promised and delivered a grand sci-fi epic where your choices actually mattered.
Yes,Andromedawas a strictly worse game, butMass Effect 3is the series most disappointing hour.
The most disappointing thing aboutEnter the Matrixis the way it constantly re-built and shattered your hopes.
Honestly, that oldMax PayneMatrixmod is a betterMatrixgame thanEnter the Matrix.
Maybe it will remind some other studio why that approach doesnt work.
Oh, to return to those days of youthful bliss.
To this day, nobody is really sure ifAC: Unitywas ever really playtested.
Star Wars Galaxies
2003 | Sony Online Entertainment
This one hurts.
That time came crashing down when the games developers decided to introduce an update known as New Game Enhancements.
This update simplified and watered down nearly everything that made the game good.
Never before has an in-game update so drastically impacted the quality of a game in such a negative way.
Mighty No.
9
2016 | Comcept & Inti Creates
Theres no shortage of Kickstarter disappointments out there, butMighty No.
9may still stand as the most disappointing Kickstarter game ever made.Mighty No.
Taken on its own,Battlefront IIis an underwhelmingStar Warsmultiplayer game with a disappointing single-player campaign.
However,the games original microtransaction systemmakes it one of the most disappointing titles of all-time.
Theres a reason they are so beloved to this day.
Gone are the silky smooth controls of the originals.
Gone is the creative level design of the original games.
In its place is a lot of concrete and randomly placed rails that make no sense.
Were convincedTony Hawks Pro Skater 5is a prototype that was accidentally released.
Still, nobody will forget the first 48 hours afterNo Mans Skylaunched.
No Mans Skywas so disappointing that were shocked it didnt trigger a second video game industry crash.
After all, who can trust what a developer says after living through this games hype period and release?
SimCity
2013 | Maxis
Lets be clear about something.
However,SimCitymight just boast the worst launch in video game history.
Sadly, the game wasnt even a better-looking version of those games.
It was a casserole of undercooked concepts topped with a super cheesy storyline.
The games enemies were somehow even dumber than they were on the N64.
Its multiplayer was a hollow shell of what came before.
Perfect Dark Zerowas more than a disappointing game.
It was the moment that everyone realized that Rare wasnt Rare anymore.
Yet, despite multiple delays,Daikatanaproved to be little more than a collection of bugs and bad ideas.
The technology just wasnt there to support what little ambition this game exhibited.
Matthew Byrd is a staff writer forDen of Geek.
You canread more of his work hereor find him on Twitter at@SilverTuna014.
