2014 was set to be a year of fantastic, next gen games to celebrate the release of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 and whilst there are plenty of new additions that are worth wasting your weekends on, there are plenty that failed to live up to expectations. In this countdown of the 5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 so far I spell out the drawbacks, point out the restrictions and remind us all that with big budgets and fantastic advertising there's still plenty of opportunity for hyped up games to fall short of their target. Consider these 5 short reviews, released individually, of some of the biggest games to hit in 2014 that simply weren't as good as everyone was expecting them to be, starting with one of the most advertised and hyped up games we've seen for a long time; 'Destiny'.
#5. Destiny
Developer: Bungie
Genre: First Person Shooter, Action, RPG
Release date: September 9th 2014
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360
ESRB: T - Teen
Whilst Destiny is by no means a terrible game it still did not manage to live up to the expectations that players expected of a game with a $500M budget and the most prolific video game advertising of the year. As the release date snuck closer and closer everybody descended into a full scale, frenzied hype that this was the game that would define a next gen console and, when it was released, you could almost hear the sighs of disillusionment sweep across the country. I was expecting a game that was something a lot deeper and more fulfilling than Destiny turned out to be and, even with its non-existent storyline, you would expect its actual gameplay features to be well thought out. As it turns out, Destiny’s primary redeeming factors is it looks pretty and has a nicely implemented co-op experience in that there are plenty of dungeons, patrols and raids that you can experience with your friends. On the other hand, the deathmatch multiplayer mode feels suspiciously similar to ‘Halo 4’s version of PVP with very little chance to employ strategies and, due to everybody having their own guns and power ups, it’s unbalanced and unfair from the very start of the match. What with this and the reliance on good old twitch shooting but with controls that are significantly more sluggish than better games such as ‘Titanfall’ you’re unlikely to stick it out long enough to get good at it. Quite simply, there are better games with better PVP features and there’s nothing about this mode to make you rely on Destiny for your shooter fix. You really begin to notice Destiny’s drawbacks the more time you spend in the game and whilst the initial experience is overwhelming you quickly realize that everything feels very constricted, repetitive and shallow in its underlying features. You will never want to actively seek out missions after the first few as they are all very much a rehash of the same basic structure where, ‘go to planet, kill things down linear pathways, deploy robot at station, kill more things, kill boss, go home’ is all you have to look forward to. Except these incredibly dull missions there is very little filler in the game and whilst I was expecting a thriving world full of things to do, the game world itself feels very empty and underdeveloped. Having become used to the thriving worlds of Borderlands there is simply not enough going on around you as you travel from one side of the map to the other and with very little loot to grab there’s not much reason to explore anyway. Worse still, the game world is not as open world as I expected it to be and instead feels like a compilation of seperate areas rather than new and interesting planets to explore. This is also combined with agonizingly long loading screens between areas where you are forced to tackle this feeling of disappointment on a frequent basis, having nothing else to do during these periods of inactivity.
Though characters and storyline may not be a genre of some fans of the FPS genre it’s a concern for me and the utterly non-existent storyline is something that continues to grate on me as the game wears on. Worse, the aliens have absolutely no personality and are essentially just there to be killed whereas I prefer to have enemies that aren’t little more than cannon-fodder. Strangely, the AI of your opponents is significantly lacking and it's most notable when you're fighting a boss whose sole 'tactic' is to just, well, shoot you. They have no special moves and you require very little strategy to take them down and, without any unique battle features, you may as well be fighting the same boss over and over again. The lack of customization options is also rather irritating where many similar games have a treasure trove worth of guns and vehicles but Destiny is very limited in what it can give to you so there’s very little chance to play about with different configurations. The levelling system is very grindy which would be alright if all the other problems in the game didn’t exist and the missions were worth pursuing to gains some experience but, since they’re not, it feels a great deal like an all work, no reward kind of set up. If you’re looking for another Halo style game from Bungie you’ll be disappointed; the aliens you encounter have no personality and are essentially just there to die, there’s little variety in vehicles and weapons, the storyline is basically non-existent and the missions are repetitive. Whilst there are many positives it’s simply not enough to elevate the game to its pre-supposed status as the next 10/10, 5 star, it’s so amazing, game so I’ll end it by saying this; people compare this game to 'Halo' constantly and whilst there’s a lot of back and forth about how they’re similar or dissimilar all you need to know is this; 'Halo' is better.
Up Next: #4: The Elder Scrolls Online
The Good:
- Decent co-op experience
- Beautiful graphics
- Amazing music
- Can be fun, if you're easily amused
- Fun if you enjoy multiplayer shooting stuff with no other content to enjoy
- Potential to be updated later down the line.
- Poor AI, enemies have zero personality, lack of enemy diversity
- Bosses are predictable with no special moves
- Not really an open world experience - lots of loading screens
- Repetitive missions are extremely boring
- Game world feels empty, bleak and desolate
- Non-existent storyline
- So much grinding
- Lack of single player offline experience
- Multiplayer PVP unbalanced and offers little opportunity for strategy
- No personality
Final thoughts: "Very undeveloped, feels empty, not sure what the point is in playing this game over every other FPS ever as there's very little originality, if any at all."
