The 5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far)

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. Below you can access all of them on their separate pages by clicking their link, these parts here are only a small extract and you'll find the main rant on their individual pages.

#5: Destiny  

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... Read more

#4: Elder Scrolls Online 

This game was a knife to my heart though admittedly I would probably still go on to buy it on console when it comes out since there are supposedly going to be several changes to improve it. As a lover of Elder Scrolls and a ‘frequent flyer’ when it comes to MMOs I eagerly anticipated the return to Tamriel and, although I enjoyed myself to some degree, the game was disappointing. It was perhaps naively optimistic to hope that the joining of a famously single player game with some multiplayer aspects would result in something beautiful but instead the two parts clash constantly... Read more.

#3: The Sims 4 

To begin with, 'The Sims 4' has an extremely tiny world map that is ugly, unrealistic and uncharacteristically limited for a modern-gen Sims game. For instance, you can only visit one small section at a time that consists of roughly 5 lots and where the rest of what you see are all decorative areas, often with rather flat graphics when you go too far out, and none of which you can visit from this location. To visit other buildings such as next door you must go through a loading screen which is unusual, considering the size and scale of the 'Sims 3' neighbourhoods that were utterly seamless and without a single loading screen. Even stranger, in the Sims 4 the Sims no longer progress but simply age; a strange mixture of the previous two games resulting in a map of dead Sims that never did anything with their lives, I could reflect on the realism of that but it’s probably best I don’t... Read more.

#2: Thief 

In the end, 'Thief' turned out to be a watered down clone of 'Dishonoured' that insulted fans of the original series and bored those new to the game. I’m of the latter group; I never played the original Thief but knew of it and knew how much beloved it was but, without playing it, I can only talk about this 2014 revamp from my direct experience. To begin with, it doesn’t feel particularly up to date as everything is extremely linear and limited whilst I was expecting a more fluid, open world environment with some minor limitations. Worse still, the environments you’re limited to are extremely bland with hardly anything to interact with and without much room for experimentation leaving you very little point in trying to be creative about the way in which you go about things... Read more.

 
#1: Watch Dogs

So, did it live up to the hype? Unsurprisingly, no. In typical modern AAA game fashion it was little more than a huge wave of anticipation followed by the sound of lots of games clicking into consoles, boot screens, updates, some silence as players had a little whirl in their new playground followed by a gradual feeling of, 'well this is a mediocre experience' coupled with an intense desire to find something positive to defend their pre-ordering decision. Why is this? So many reasons, none of which make this a bad game (I cannot stress that enough for these posts) but plenty of which make it a disappointing game... Read more. 

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5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far) - #1: Watch Dogs

Watching the release trailer for ‘Watch Dogs’ was exciting, I had remembered its reveal at E3 2012 and that futuristic characterization of Chicago looked and sounded stunning, imaginative, game changing. As the release date crept closer the hype didn't die down; it intensified and I too was excited, I was expecting something along the lines of 'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' I guess but with a bit more 'Grand Theft Auto' thrown in for good measure. There was to be an open world; that part was important. Open world settings all the rage right now and if your game lacks one then prepare for criticism as its such a commonplace practice now in this genre of games that there's simply no reason not to. The hacking spin was, of course, extremely important as well as there's simply not enough good quality, intelligent futuristic games out there on the market right now so 'Watch Dogs' proved to be a valuable addition to the genre. So, did it live up to the hype? Unsurprisingly, no. In typical modern AAA game fashion it was little more than a huge wave of anticipation followed by the sound of lots of games clicking into consoles, boot screens, updates, some silence as players had a little whirl in their new playground followed by a gradual feeling of, 'well this is a mediocre experience' coupled with an intense desire to find something positive to defend their pre-ordering decision. Why is this? So many reasons, none of which make this a bad game (I cannot stress that enough for these posts) but plenty of which make it a disappointing game.

#1 Watch Dogs

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Genre: Action/Adventure 
Release date: 27th May 2014
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
ESRB: M - Mature

So after all that disk tray clicking and riding the hype train for two solid years what I ended up getting was something that looked pretty, though unworthy of a 'next gen' console, but which was weighed down by a predictable storyline, bland characters and a half-assed attempt at integrating hacking into a traditional action game. You play as Aiden Pearce, who turns out to be the most boring character ever to be conceived, who is doing all of this illegal stuff as a revenge mission because his niece was killed and sister kidnapped. In terms of storyline, that’s about it. It’s all extremely generic and clichéd and despite the rather disasterous situation poor Aiden's been put in somehow remains  completely unemotional. Perhaps it's the diabolical awful voice acting that's most noticeable in Aiden as his droning, stereotypically hoarse 'tough-guy' voice is simply a chore to listen to and does very little to offer him any character or emotional development. 

Voice acting aside, Aiden himself is a relatively poor protagonist and whilst I'm not getting into the debate of 'he's like Batman because he's on a revenge mission and is a criminal to stop criminals, and has a hoarse voice' I will point out that he has no redeeming qualities. He's an incredibly inconsistent character and never owns up to or accepts the terrible things he's actually doing to people resulting in a you having to play as someone who is formally known as a 'dickhead'. Whilst I accept that sandbox games tend to leave moral choices to the player this is no 'Skyrim' or 'Dragon Age' type game; Aiden Pearce is a character already conceived with scripted sequences and set choices, he has a backstory, sort of, a motive for his actions, in a sense, and a personality, if you can call it that. Games like Uncharted dealt with the moral inconsistency in a pretty simple way; they ignored the rising kill count and just gunned on with the storyline as though you'd never mowed down those hundreds of innocents. I don't like that, but you know, fair enough, you can't control a player's actions. Some games like 'GTA' and 'Saints Row' just let you loose on the world and don't apologize for how much of a sociopath you are; that's also fair enough, they leash those psychotic actions in and make them their own and that's kind of what I wanted 'Watch Dogs' to do, but it didn't; it copped out of it. So whilst you're running around as a vigilante, becoming more of a mass murdering monster hacker rather than a force for good, the game spends the rest of its time playing catch up and trying to account for why you're doing all these things. If I was supposed to pity Aiden for bad things happening around him, I didn't. He's pretty much impossible to love and even though his actions often turn out justified you only tend to find that out after you've already killed someone making it conveniently ok now. Well, that's not good enough really, nobody goes around just murdering people based on hearsay and scant details, nobody except Aiden and, for a vigilante, that makes him a pretty unprofessional one. Worse still, the guy doesn't even enjoy himself when he was doing all of these bad things so you can't pass him off as a regular video game sociopath and, whilst he doesn't enjoy it, he doesn't hate it either. When I said Aiden Pearce was the most boring video character I meant it; he has no personality, not even a negative one, there's just nothing going on in that little head of his except a serious revenge plot that never comes up for a breather.

That's another thing; this is a serious, serious game. So serious it's boring and whilst I understand it's a serious topic with serious consequences and serious things going on... there's a reason why, in the 'Assassins Creed' series, nobody liked Altair and everybody loved Ezio; he had a goddamned personality and a sense of humour to boot. I'm going to leave Aiden alone for a bit because he's had enough stick from me and instead I'll focus on the 'glued together with string and cheap sellotape' storyline. 'Watch Dogs' is a game that takes itself too seriously and the very least I was expecting from it was some substance that justified the setting and premise the developers had been cawing about this whole time, but no. Maybe I was being naive or expecting too much but I was genuinely looking forward to a game that grabbed an extremely important political issue by the horns and tackled it in a way that was well written, well thought out and well researched. Mass surveillance and living inside a society that is terrified of being observed, especially with the frequency of hacking scares and institutes like Anonymous should have been enough fodder for a fantastic and insightful game. If you want it to be an action/adventure game with a shit tonne of shooting and driving then fine, that's ok, you can have you fun with it but remember what makes a game memorable and stand apart from the competition. If you're having trouble remembering I'll give you a hint; it's not six shirts all layered on top of one another,  and constantly being on your mobile phone, even in the presence of friends and family. 

Watch Dogs never quite gets to where its going, it has a good idea but the writing is terribly weak and unfounded in reality, its one of those games where it's really fun as long as you're not looking for anything with meaning or personality. There are plenty of minor irritants in the game such as a lack of jumping, no, really and the inability to shoot whilst in a vehicle, although considering how difficult it is to effectively drive what feels like a metal skip on roads covered in black ice it probably would be impossible to shoot and drive at the same time anyway. Strangely, you also cannot attack pedestrians with melee attacks except a scripted animation of a takedown where you tackle someone, this would be reasonable if you couldn’t due this due to a ‘don’t beat up innocents’ rule but you can shoot them to death and with almost no consequence as police presence is extremely limited. Strangely, the police AI is also something to be wary of as they'll always turn up with a shoot to kill mentality and will never attempt to arrest you and, if you happen to see a civilian commit a crime, they'll never bother attempting to do anything about it. Frustratingly, whilst the police have absolutely no way of entering the water they do have the ability to locate you even when you're neatly tucked away behind several walls in what was, presumably, an impenetrable hiding fortress. 

Now, whilst the game is by no means short it may as well be because after a few hours you’ll have seen everything there is to be seen in terms of gameplay and missions. As if that's not bad enough there are no more skills to utilize and you're left to trek diligently onwards through a deplorable storyline as you're left with very little reason to continue playing unless you're a completionist. What this necessarily results in is a game which is extremely easy as, having unlocked all of your potential abilities, you’re now incredibly overpowered and fighting against easy enemies for the rest of the game. In order to upgrade your equipment you must procure yourself some money but that too is extremely simplistic as you can hack approximately 25% of all NPCs and quickly acquire masses of wealth with nothing to spend it on. Similarly, whilst I was expecting a glorious, sprawling open world of future day Chicago where I could go anywhere, do anything, hack everyone, what I was left with were very few and limited opportunities to actually be the magnificent hacker I supposedly was and whilst the city is certainly an open world experience, it’s not a very interesting one due to the lack of interaction. 

Watch Dogs is essentially only successful because it's a laugh. There's not much depth to it, the side missions are extremely irritating and repetitive though are essential for leveling up so you just kind of have to put up with it. There are some pretty annoying mini-games that are surprisingly frequent but tolerable but overall the game is lacking in personality, originality and intelligence. It feels as though 'Watch Dogs' has picked up loads of gameplay elements from a lot of other games, mashed them all together in a new setting, put in some awful driving mechanics and thrown in a lazy explanation for why you're on a hell sent vengeance mission where you can do whatever the hell you want. On a positive note, the game is sort of fun if you can get beyond all of its negative points and if you enjoy messing about and don't care about the substance behind it all then it's a good game for that purpose. But for a game that’s supposedly digging at the political issue of living in a surveillance state it comes across from the point of view of a child who only understands it as a way of reading bits of information about people and stealing their money. All in all, the writers appeared to have either played safe to the point of boring or they cobbled together something at the last minute and given this game was announced two years ago and was pushed back a further 6/7 months that seems fairly unlikely. What this game boils down to is your usual sub-standard action game that's all bark and no bite; nothing really grabbed me, nothing made it stand out and whilst I would play it if I was really tired and just wanted to dick about for a bit I would never sit down, engage with it, and love it to the end. It's just not that good of a game. 

The Good:

• Some fun gameplay elements
• Nice setting; futuristic Chicago is very cool
• The open world setting is good, though didn't take advantage of its setting
• Graphics are decent, could have been better for PS4/Xbox One though
• Nice mission variety
• Good stealth elements
• Understated but effective skill tree
• Very good animations
• Fantastic soundtrack
• Enemy randomization offers up new experiences

The Bad:

• Aiden Pearce
• Money is far too easy to obtain and becomes meaningless
• The driving is awful, unable to shoot from a vehicle
• No storyline, diaboloical writing, flimsy
• Terrible voice acting
• Side missions are irritating
• The game is both far too serious yet unintelligent
• Morality is ignored then scraped back to no avail
• The hacking is quite tedious and not very dynamic
• Police AI is irrational
• Gunplay overshadows the hacking aspects
• Dodgy checkpoints, a lot of mission restarts, lots of insta-fail missions.

The Score: 7/10

Final thoughts: "It's surprisingly average for an action game but seems to think it's better than it is, that's probably the advertising budget right there. Aiden is a chore to work with, I have never hated a character as much as this guy, apart from that guy from Soul Suspect... Simply, this feels like a game that any developer could make, change a few elements and re-release it as the next big thing. Sadly, this game just doesn't impact on me in the slightest."

5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far)

• #5: Destiny 
• #4: Elder Scrolls Online 
• #3: The Sims 4 
• #2: Thief 
• #1: Watch Dogs

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Among the Sleep - Review (PlayStation 4, Windows/Linux/OS X game)

There are always things we’re going to be afraid of, that much is certain, but it’s the things we are most uncertain of that tend to terrify or aggravate us the most. As children we lacked the understanding that we have now and trying to cope in a world where we’re unable to reason away the existence of monsters or understand the steps to take when you find yourself alone. This helplessness and vulnerability is the very core of what makes survival horror games so terrifying and usually this vulnerability is due to a lack of weapons, an abundance of darkness and a big splash of threat that is often unseen. In ‘Among The Sleep’, you’re dropped right back into the footy pyjamas of a toddler soon after his 2nd birthday party where he received a bite of cake and a slightly odd looking, talking teddy bear. You awake in the middle of the night to a strange commotion in your bedroom and, after you’ve been flung from your crib, you venture out into the dark corridors to find your mother for some much needed comfort. Unfortunately, she’s nowhere to be found. 

Developer: Krillbite Studio
Release date: May 29th 2014
Genre: Survival horror
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4,
ESRB: Rating pending (likely to be a 16+/Teen rating)

Playing as a toddler is in itself a novel experience but what is particularly appreciable is the way in which tasks we would find simple as an adult become an instant challenge for a toddler such as the opening of doors. Although the mechanics can be a little clunky there’s a sort of realism to this as by dragging around say, a chair, you’re not only struggling to walk on two feet but you have to move a heavy object whilst you’re at it. In 'Among the Sleep' you have the ability to switch between walking, running and crawling and quite appropriately the crawling is a much faster way of getting around though, down there, you cannot interact with anything. This presents a problem in that you are significantly more vulnerable when you’re unable to see where you’re headed, interact with things or use your ‘flashlight’ which is actually a light emitted from hugging your teddy bear, awwh. ‘Among the Sleep’ has a fair few puzzles that are more about getting to your destination than solving anything too complex and the game itself is running off a ‘find three items’ objective that are obtained by going through very different areas. You start out in your house, naturally, and then move through increasingly more surreal areas that are wonderfully varied and consistently offer you new and interesting places to explore.

The places you tend to explore are, unsurprisingly, dark. By dark I mean, 'can barely see your hand in front of your face', kind of dark, so that teddy bear hugging I mentioned earlier is an extremely useful feature. As you can only hug your bear when you’re standing upright what tends to occur is a trade-off between being able to see where it is you’re going and getting there quickly enough. This is a surprisingly stressful situation to be placed in constantly as once you’re left alone in the darkness your over-active child’s imagination comes to life and things appear far much terrifying than they usually would do. Whilst the game isn’t necessarily full on horror there’s enough of an atmosphere that will drive you onwards and ensure you never want to linger too long for fear of what’s lurking in the shadows. The game tends to put you through phases of thinking there’s something there, to believing it’s just your imagination, to making you definitely think there’s something there and this rollercoaster of fear and paranoia will make you constantly question everything around you. 

What I’ve yet to mention is how fantastic the game actually looks and almost everything is interactive whether that’s a piece of fruit in the kitchen or a soft toy in your bedroom; everything can be picked up, carried and put wherever the hell you want it to go. All chairs can be dragged around whether you need to move them or not, drawers and cupboards can be opened and generally there’s a huge amount of detail. Even in places you’re not really supposed to explore you’ll still find a very respectable level of furnishings whilst the textures and detail have not been skimped on adding to a rather realistic, if slightly cartoony, feel. The game’s appearance also significantly contributes to the atmosphere of the game and little things like well-timed thunderclaps, partially lit corridors and the ability to hide under furniture at any given time with no prompting results in you questioning yourself about whether you need to be hiding or not. You’ll often second guess yourself in this game and there are some stupidly terrifying moments such as turning a corner and seeing a dark figure looming over you, just around the corner and out of sight, you turn to stumble away and then realise it’s, well, just a coat on a coat rack. You rarely get those experiences playing as an adult as you would almost immediately see its lack of a face but, as a toddler, all you get is the bottom of a coat and a pair of shoes and this whole new perspective puts you at a disadvantage even for seasoned survival horror gamers.

Don’t let me convince you that this game is all about running from your own shadow however as, trust me, there’s something out there to get you and though I won’t spoil it for you it’s definitely something that makes its presence known. Try as you might you cannot deny the tell-tale rattling of a door handle as you watch something unseen opening a previously looked door from the other side. Neither can you ignore turning around to see that, somehow, something you thought was inanimate has moved and now it’s standing right behind you, staring at you, still unmoving and leaving you very little choice but to slide around it, desperately hoping it doesn’t decide to wake up and do anything else whilst your back is turned. 

Overall

‘Among the Sleep’ is certainly a memorable game and a very unique experience that is well worth a look at, even if you don’t usually play horror games. Whilst the storyline tends to take a backseat during the main chunk of the game it is generally explained through the opening and closing cutscenes with some general illusions to what’s going on as you play. The game is by no means dull however and though it is in no way comparable to gore fests such as 'Amnesia' and 'Outlast' it’s deserving of its place as a horror game due to the undeniably spooky ambiance and the constant fear that something’s about to jump out at you. There are mechanical issues with the game, particularly when climbing on objects, but these can be generally excused as the rest of the game is very attractive with a strong, vibrant pallet and lashings of attention to detail. Occasionally I encountered some frustrating moments of not knowing where to go but generally the game is just about the right level of difficulty and it was probably just me struggling to put 2+2 together though, at times, the puzzles were somewhat lame. The game is unfavourably short at around 3 hours long and I would have definitely preferred a longer game with more build up and some more scares but, overall, the upcoming DLC should settle down the need to spend longer in this oversized world.

The Good: 

• Brilliant storyline, thought provoking ending
• Very atmospheric with a constant eerieness
• Interactive world and puzzle elements are a nice addition
• Looks very clean cut with bold, vibrant graphics
• Sounds fantastic with brilliant voice acting and high quality ambient sounds
• Original concept that was risky for developers but worked out great
• Few scare tactics used, instead more of an investigation into fear
• Playing as a toddler offered up some very interesting and new situations

The Bad: 

• Could have had 'more going on' in it
• Climbing mechanics need to be worked on
• Should have been longer with more build up
• The teddy bear is more creepy than comforting

The Score: 8/10

Final thoughts: "The ending is extremely poignant and made me glad I continued all the way through. I loved the concept of playing as a toddler and am extremely glad somebody took the initiative to put this into a game, now I want to watch everybody I know play it."

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5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far) #2: Thief

The game that has so far proven to be the second most disappointing game of the year was 'Thief', a much anticipated revamp of the cult classic series that was kicking about in the late 90s and early 2000s. Whilst some praised its stealth gameplay and graphics, not all were as easily impressed and fans of the original series were unsurprisingly unsatisfied with initial details such as the replacement of the protagonists voice actor and an unimaginative storyline. Here I'll look into what made this game so disappointing and what has rendered this game worthy of this placement in this list. 
 

#2: Thief

Developer: Eidos Montreal
Genre: Stealth
Release date: February 25h 2014
Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.
ESRB: M - Mature

In the end, 'Thief' turned out to be a watered down clone of 'Dishonoured' that insulted fans of the original series and bored those new to the game. I’m of the latter group; I never played the original Thief but knew of it and knew how much beloved it was but, without playing it, I can only talk about this 2014 revamp from my direct experience. To begin with, it doesn’t feel particularly up to date as everything is extremely linear and limited whilst I was expecting a more fluid, open world environment with some minor limitations. Worse still, the environments you’re limited to are extremely bland with hardly anything to interact with and without much room for experimentation leaving you very little point in trying to be creative about the way in which you go about things. Garrett, a character with very little personality and shoddy voice acting, is supposed to have a huge variety of gadgets and tools that you may select from and let loose upon the world but there’s very little opportunity to use them to their full potential. Almost every single gadget may only be used in one particular way so, again, your creativity is squashed and your game experience forced through a narrow tunnel of ‘the way it’s supposed to be done’. This claustrophobic feeling of restriction extends into the main missions where everything is rigid, linear and scripted which is strangely at odds with the more flexible and ‘thank god I can breathe for a moment’ style of the side missions. The side missions, though better than the main ones, still are by no means perfect as everything is split into segments due to the huge amount of loading screens you’ll encounter that totally destroys any illusion of an open world game. 
 

I haven’t actually mentioned the entire point of the game yet and that’s being a Thief, shock horror surprise, so you’d expect a pretty robust thieving and looting system that would justify its position as a strong, substantial stealth game. Well prepare to be disappointed, some more, as Thief is less about being a professional thief and more about picking up any old shit you find lying around that may be of worth. It’s rather like Garrett has found a way to curb his uncontrollable kleptomania by taking it on as a profession as rather than saving up all his skills and energy for one big heist he tends to just grab anything within reach, particularly low valued items that nobody else would bother themselves with. Once again, the influence of ‘Dishonoured’ reared its head as whenever you pick something up its converted into money leaving you with grabbing bits worth 3 gold, 5 gold, 7 gold and so on. At this point, Thief’s lack of individual identity is becoming self-evident and you’re probably wondering what sets it apart from the crowd. Well, not much actually. The storyline is very longwinded and seems to just go on and on endlessly with no sign of stopping and, when it finally gets there, the ending is weak and unsatisfying. 

As a next gen console game it’s also graphically inferior with nothing particularly attractive or noteworthy and the overall appearance is simply bland, the controls are clunky and slow leaving you hobbling rather than sleuthing and the FPS is diabolical with long loading times and plenty of stuttering during cinematics and periods of lots of activity such as combat. Oh and by the way, the combat too is just like the rest of the game; slow, irritating, restrictive and clunky. It’s as though the developers attempted to put in some action game features and just ended up with something that was a mix of awkward button smashing, poorly animated takedowns and, due to the loading screens, almost no way to flee effectively from a situation. In fact, the only redeeming feature about the combat system in ‘Thief’ is that you can bypass it entirely and opt for sneaking around enemies instead of confronting them head on. Overall, Thief is unable to live up to the expectation of becoming the next big stealth game and just feels far too restrictive and uninspired. It’s boring, bland, slow and with very little to lift it up from a pit of poor storytelling, poor gameplay and a poor engine. If you are a diehard lover of this genre of game then I’m sure you’ll find some way of getting some fun out of it solely because it’s a new game but I’d recommend waiting until the price drops first as, in this form, it’s simply not worth your money. 

The Good:

• Some fairly entertaining moments
• Can be quite cinematic, when it wants to be. 
• It's a stealth game and the industry need more stealth games
• The graphics are ok, but not for a next-gen game.

The Bad:

• Substandard AI
• Set paths leaving you very room to move
• Awful voice acting and lip syncing
• Agonizingly boring storyline
• Clunky controls
• Very poor FPS especially during busy periods and cutscenes
• Weapons and gadgets offer little room for creativity
• Garrett is a pretty bad thief; more of a klepto than a professional
• Very little interaction in the environment
• Not actually an open world experience
• Spits on the name of the original series.

The Score: 3/10

Final thoughts: "Thief is a decidedly unworthy addition to the cult classic series of games and will disappoint not only long standing fans but those new to the series as well. Whilst it's a reasonably alright stealth game it's not a patch on 'Dishonoured' and lacks some core fundamentals of a good stealth game such as intelligent AI and flexibility in what you can do and where you can go."  

5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far)

• #5: Destiny 
• #4: Elder Scrolls Online 
• #3: The Sims 4 
• #2: Thief 
• #1: Watch Dogs

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5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far) - #3: The Sims 4

Up next in my list of the disappointing games of 2014 (so far) is 'The Sims 4'; a game that was quite simply a step back in the much beloved series of life simulation games. Players have been dissatisfied with the conduct of EA for quite a while and the release of SimCity 2013 did nothing to quench that, Sims 4 was due to be EAs next big thing but, sadly, cracks were already starting to appear as more and more details about the game were leaked. 

Fans were furious at the lack of toddlers, dishwashers and swimming pools, a fair enough complaint, though they’d probably have been released as an expansion pack that's still beside the point as they're all revenue chasing scoundrels etc. etc. But, ultimately, I would have gotten over it if the rest of the game was fantastic. However, it's not, and there are problems that destroy what made 'The Sims' such a fantastic series of games and which consequentially renders the game unplayable for someone like myself.

#3: The Sims 4

Developer: EA Maxis and The Sims Studio
Genre: Simulation
Release date: September 4/5th 2014
Platforms: Microsoft Windows
ESRB: T - Teen

To begin with, 'The Sims 4' has an extremely tiny world map that is ugly, unrealistic and uncharacteristically limited for a modern-gen Sims game. For instance, you can only visit one small section at a time that consists of roughly 5 lots and where the rest of what you see are all decorative areas, often with rather flat graphics when you go too far out, and none of which you can visit from this location. To visit other buildings such as next door you must go through a loading screen which is unusual, considering the size and scale of the 'Sims 3' neighbourhoods that were utterly seamless and without a single loading screen. Even stranger, in the Sims 4 the Sims no longer progress but simply age; a strange mixture of the previous two games resulting in a map of dead Sims that never did anything with their lives, I could reflect on the realism of that but it’s probably best I don’t.

Whilst I disliked the constant evolving world of the Sims 3 as it allowed me little to no control over my entire neighbourhood, this is not what I wanted. What is the point in allowing time to progress for aging only? For some reason the dynamic story progression has been stripped and yet the micro-management style Sims 2 neighbourhoods are a no-go here either since everybody would be dead by the time you go to play them. For those attempting to play a thriving neighbourhood of individual personalities and complex relationships; that’s not going to happen, for those who enjoy an almost obsessive system of creating perfect Sims and perfect houses… you too will be disappointed. 

Whilst the designing of houses is ever so slightly superior to the Sims 3 and a few new additions have been slapped in like picking a whole room up and plopping it somewhere else, everything else is basically the same, but with a lot less objects and a limit of just 3 floors. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the build mode and it looks like it’s been refreshed for the new game but that’s kind of it really, things which I used to enjoy have been removed like terrain tools and the infamous ‘create-a-style’ feature which I fell in love with after I finally got used to it. The major problem lies with a lack of choice in objects and everything tends to feel extremely bare and a bit boxy due to the new furniture styles that make me feel as though I'm playing in a plastic dollhouse.Your options when creating a sim are limited as well with significantly less clothing and hair options to previous base games and whilst the intuitive click and drag style of designing the shape of your Sims features is a fantastic edition there exists gaping hole where so many features have been removed. Features such as body hair, favourite food/music/colour, multi-toned hair, skin sliders, zodiac signs and a few others have been taken out of the game for which is a blow for those who enjoyed that added level of personalization.

The Sims 4 is not a 'bad game' by a long shot and for those who are first coming into the series it will seem fantastic as the Sims series has always been at the front of life simulation games. However, for long standing fans of the series it will feel as though the game has been severely crippled with the game not taking advantage of more than 4GB of RAM and with dozens and dozens of removed features. I truly wanted to love this game as there are some fantastic additions such as multi-tasking, moods and an overall re-vamped apperance of the Sims themselves. Whilst there are plenty of good aspects it’s overall lesser quality results in a game that's been needlessly stripped back, emptied of content and severely simplified. As usual, I guess we'll have to wait for a dozen or so expansion packs to render this game playable yet with unavoidable problems like an excessive number of loading screens and extremely tiny maps I know that for many this is simply not good enough.

The Good:

• New UI is less invasive and nicely toned down
• The Sims themselves look brilliant, flawlessly animated, very emotional.
• If you enjoy the style, the graphics look amazing
• Sims are more intelligent with a lot more personality
• Build Mode is somewhat improved
• Less juggling of motives
• Charming in places
• Some interesting and quirky bits of content

The Bad:

• No Create-a-style
• An excessive number of loading screens for every little detail
• Sims just disappear whenever they leave the house to go to work.
• A lack of content in buy mode.
• Unrealistic, small world map.
• Create-A-Sim has a lot less options such as clothing/hair/extras
• A very limited and restricted world that feels empty constantly
• Anti-climatic life events that have very little effect on your Sim
• These 89 removed features

The Score: 6/10

Final Thoughts: "As many have said, this feels a lot like Sims 2.5 and whilst I prefer a lack of story progression I don't see the point in restricting playable areas to just 5 or 6 lots. I used to enjoy Sims for the creativity and perfectionism it allowed me but now there's very little opportunity to create my perfect world."  

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5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far) - #4: The Elder Scrolls Online

Continuing on from #5: Destiny the next most disappointing game that I experienced is 'Elder Scrolls Online'; Bethesda's first attempt at making its historically single player game into an MMORPG experience. Admittedly it was always kind of expected that this game wouldn't be very good but, nevertheless, it was one of those games where I jumped straight onto the hype train. Whilst I hoped and prayed that it may not be as bad as what everybody was expecting it to be and gleefully anticipated the opportunity to play Elder Scrolls with friends, I was disappointed, though not surprised.

#4. Elder Scrolls Online

Developer: ZeniMax Online Studios

Genre: MMORPG

Release date: April 4th 2014

Platforms: PC, (Early 2015/Late 2014: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One)

ESRB: M - Mature

This game was a knife to my heart though admittedly I would probably still go on to buy it on console when it comes out since there are supposedly going to be several changes to improve it. As a lover of Elder Scrolls and a ‘frequent flyer’ when it comes to MMOs I eagerly anticipated the return to Tamriel and, although I enjoyed myself to some degree, the game was disappointing. It was perhaps naively optimistic to hope that the joining of a famously single player game with some multiplayer aspects would result in something beautiful but instead the two parts clash constantly. Whilst quests can be completed together the narrative focuses on you as an individual and any immersion acquired within the quest is quickly demolished by the sight of several other people performing the same ‘individualized’ quest. In quests leading to you making a decision that affects the world around you you can quickly find an incompatibility between your decisions and the decisions of your friends leading you to see two separate worlds and the inability to interact with your friend’s world. You may see enemies that you friends don’t, meaning they cannot jump in to help you as is standard in multiplayer gaming and sometimes you friend may turn invisible such as during the main questline, guild quests and when you’ve made different decisions in certain areas. 

But it’s not just these two halves of a game that won’t fit together; the combat’s targeting system is irritating and the combat itself is clunky with the lag and bugs making it unpredictable. For fans of the Elder Scrolls series you’ll be disappointed at the lack of personality in NPCs, your inability to commit crimes and the complete lack of immersion in that you cannot interact with bodies or objects, fast travel is unrestricted and everything tends to appear out of thin air from fishing rods to horses. This game is infamously buggy and with shed loads of lag but those are likely to be fixed for the console release, if they’re not then there’s a serious problem going on with Bethesda, so I’ll try to ignore those downsides. If you enjoy the Elder Scrolls so much you’ll take anything that returns you to the world of Tamriel then you may get some fun out of it, I enjoy the idea of being able to play co-op and can generally overlook a LOT of negative points as long as I get mine but, still, it’s a very disappointing turnout for what could have been a fantastic edition to the series. 

The Good:

• Decent crafting system
• Environments quite nice
• Nice variation of creatures and enemies
• 'Skyrim' with friends a nice experience
• Very good voice acting
• PVP is acceptable
• Skills trees are very good though not restricting on your play style
• Character customization is good for an MMO
• Lovely music and audio
  

The Bad:

• Dodgy co-op questing experience
• Very little teamwork
• Quite an empty game world for an MMO
• Limited interaction with the game world 
• Repetitive, clichéd quests
• Not many voice actors, bad writing in places
• PVE is poor, unbalanced at times, boring the rest of the time
• Very laggy and bugged in its current form
  

The Score: 6/10 

Final thoughts: "Despite my reservations I'd probably continue playing this, provided more content is included. As a diehard fan of the series I'll probably take anything that's thrown to me purely so I can play it with my partner, but that doesn't mean it's a good game." 

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5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far) - #5: Destiny

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.

The Bad:

• 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

The Score: 5/10 

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."

5 Most Disappointing Games of 2014 (So far)

• #5: Destiny 
• #4: Elder Scrolls Online 
• #3: The Sims 4 
• #2: Thief 
• #1: Watch Dogs

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5 Unusual But Memorable Escape Games (Free browser games)

There are quite literally hundreds of room escape games out there on the internetz but many of them are nothing but bland, unoriginal pixel hunts through plain, 3D rendered rooms with no semblance of story or purpose. Now, after a while of trekking through the same sort of scenario; you’re in a room for some unknown reason, find a way out of it, I had completely fallen out of love with the genre so decided to look for something a bit different. As it turns out you can still find that addictive escape centered gameplay but without the constraints limiting it to just one or two rooms. Here I’ve compiled 5 escape games, rooms or otherwise, that set themselves apart from that ocean of key hunting, door handle wrestling and keycode hunting so you can experience something that’s a bit different, creepy, funny or just downright weird. 
 

Loom Dawn

You begin this game in a completely dark room and your main objective is to illuminate this space, piece by piece, uncovering more and more of your surroundings as you advance. For much of the game you’re unable to see where exactly you’re trapped and this element of the unknown adds a slightly spooky atmosphere to the game as you find another little light source here, uncover a small area there, and the absolute silence generated by a lack of music is all the more unnerving. As you light up pieces of the room you’ll uncover puzzles and these are most definitely not easy ones to the point where you may find that you spend a good hour or so fumbling about in the dark though, thankfully, you can save your game should you want to come back to it later. Loom Dawn’s challenging nature borders on the frustrating but it really is an exceptionally well crafted game that offers up a very satisfying feeling as you solve each little puzzle and get a little closer to finding out its intriguing secrets. If you fancy a challenge and something that’s more like your traditional ‘room escape’ game then Loom Dawn, part of a large series of ‘Loom’ escape games, is something you certainly cannot go wrong with. Just remember to settle down with some kind of caffeinated drink and sustenance as you’ll be stuck here in the dark for quite a while. Try playing the game on its original website here.
 

Samsara Room

Samsara Room is Eastern in its philosophy as Samsara tends to refer to the endless cycle of reincarnation and, with this in mind, Samsara Room is about breaking this cycle, escaping the room and achieving enlightenment. What this translates into is a very surreal and disorientating game where you must travel through the same room but in different perspectives, solving a puzzle here and there in the form of collecting things and using them in the appropriate ways. The game is not particularly challenging once you understand the logic of the game but it may start out being rather confusing as everything is just so unusual. There are some very unexpected moments and you’ll find the whole experience rather dreamlike but with a definite, logical pattern to the way in which you do things so it’s not unapproachable. Overall I loved the stylish simplicity of this unusual game and as room escapes go this is definitely a memorable one. Try it out by following this link here.
 

You Find Yourself In A Room

The title may sound simple but this is anything but, to begin with you interact with the game by typing in the commands you want to perform similar to the old text parser games from the 80s. Unlike most other room escape games this one has no graphics and instead everything is done through text on an otherwise blank black screen. This may sound boring but the draw of this game is that the game itself is self-aware and doesn’t really like you. What starts out as the passive-aggressive chiding of a game descends into a full scale aggressive onslaught on your feeble puzzle solving abilities and generally inferior existence as a human being. It’s absolutely hilarious and most definitely not for minors but this is a rather unforgettable, utterly unique game that will change your outlook on the genres of not just text games but room escape games too. The game takes not much longer than 5 minutes but it’s a 5 minutes well spent and can happily be played by following this link here. 

Mystery of Time and Space

Fondly known as MOTAS this is the room escape that will truly challenge your puzzle solving abilities and is, for those unfamiliar with room escape games, supposedly the original in this genre. What sets this game apart from the others is not only its function as a blueprint for future generations but for its intelligent, logical puzzle system that doesn’t degenerate into a pixel hunt where you click in every conceivable portion of the screen. There are over 20 levels with a variety of different puzzles that pleasantly follow an intriguing story about parallel universes and unlocking the mysteries of time and space. Whilst the ‘storyline’ of a room escape game tends to focus around some sort of hazy back story MOTAS’ story evolves as you play and keeps you wanting more. The puzzles all vary in their style and difficulty level so whilst in some cases you’ll be using lateral thinking to advance you’ll find that, in later levels, you must travel back in time to earlier levels to acquire the items needed to continue in the present. The game boasts quite a few features you don’t normally see in flash games; you can save your game, which is a brilliant feature as the game is so long and difficult, switch to full screen mode and chat to others in the online forum it supports. MOTAS is possibly my favourite of all the room escape games and is a definite recommendation for those new to point and click escape games and hardcore puzzling veterans alike. You can play it here via the developer’s website. 

Daymare Town

Daymare Town actually consists of a series of four ‘room escape’ type games with three spin-off titles and rather than escaping a room you’re trying to escape from Daymare Town, a place that’s both haunting and fascinating. Daymare Town appears to be deserted and you’ll go through the usual motions of finding items, piecing together puzzles and clicking around the place in an effort to escape this eerie, black and white sketched town. The atmosphere is perhaps its most notable feature and there were a few times where I was genuinely creeped out and jumped a few times which I found to be unusual, in a good way, for this genre. Whilst room escapes tend to have a subtle ‘how did you get here’ vibe there’s usually nothing creepier than a pool of blood or a bit of knocking on a door but Daymare Town ranks it up a notch and there were several times I was genuinely convinced I could die if I lingered too long. The puzzles are, in my opinion, pretty damn difficult especially when compared to the creator’s, also excellent, Submachine series and I struggled to get through it without a walkthrough. Everything tends to be very well hidden with very specific locations you must click on that can be easily missed especially considering the art style of the game. Whilst the Daymare Town series is no pixel hunt there’s still a definite need to scour every area thoroughly before moving on. As an added bonus, you can pay a small fee and get any of the Daymare Town games in fullscreen mode with HD graphics, enhanced sound effects and a sneaky hidden extra. Of course you can always play any of the free versions online by following this link. 
 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post of my 5 top escape games, be sure to +1 and comment if you did, feedback is always appreciated! Happy gaming and watch this space for more of my Top 5 lists :)

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