The Top 10 Most Disappointing Video Games of 2013
05. Sonic: Lost World
It is often the case when a well established game series, founded around a character that is not just well-liked but well-loved, tries to go too far in terms of commercial activities, the negative karma from that comes back to bite.
In the case of Sonic: Lost World this is true in the extreme, and that is truly sad -- one is tempted to say it is even heartbreaking...
I had actually read some of the reviews prior to buying the game, reviews that were very negative but which I dismissed with little consideration, assuring myself that these were game reviewers who did not like the game, its characters, its premise, its mechanics, or the series it is part of, so of course they would torpedo it...
In my defense I want to point out that I was not making that judgment call entirely on wishful thinking... You see I had seen preview footage on YouTube, and what I saw there convinced me of several 'facts' upon which I was basing my faith...
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First, the footage showed levels that were slick, well made, and entertaining.
Second, the videos appeared to suggest that the game was very much like Mario Galaxy, which I could only see as a good thing, thinking that it would introduce a level of player-Sonic interaction that was long missing from the game series.
Once I had the game though, and started to play it, the disappointment really set in.
First, as I played the levels I had seen the videos of on YouTube I came to the realization that the videos -- official promo stuff from the studio -- had been heavily edited, with the smooth and engaging content pasted together and the difficult bumpy bits removed.
What they did not show in the promo footage was the fail-after-fail-after-fail and all the restarts, and the frustration that game play provoked because why? Because the game really IS like Mario Galaxy, and therein lies the problem.
Second, you see, is that the reality of WHAT Sonic IS does not mix well with what Mario Galaxy is.
If Mario Galaxy is a surgeon with fine hand-eye coordination and a God-given talent to make the right choices, then Sonic is a bull in a china shop.
The editor who put that footage together on YouTube was not doing anyone a favor because what they did was make the game appear to be something it clearly is not.
For what it is this game is playable, and parts of it are even fun, but the slight-of-hand that was used to promote it made it out to be a lot of somethings that it isn't.
On the other hand if you approach this game expecting lots of frustration and expecting lots of disappointment, well then you won't be disappointed!
That is the version of the story that was written up by Andy Chalk for Escapist - and by the way, paragraphs are our friends.
The situation that lead to the formation of the ESRB wasn't over a single game and it did not happen overnight - and as far as I know it was not a conspiracy.
It started with bloody gore and violence in Mortal Kombat and Doom, and the sexploitation games Night Trap and Rape. When the issue was brought to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee it was a combination of games from Capcom and Midway that were said to have excessive violence.
Remember this was just after Australia created an official government run approval system - that really hurt the games industry in Oceania.
As for the conspiracy - considering that Acclaim, Sega, Nintendo, EA and Id created and funded the initial committee that ended up creating the ESRB.
Good read,but I am confused. To the best of my memory it was in fact mortal Kombat on Sega genesis and night trap on Sega cd that caused all the big issue over video game violence not street fighter. Also it was Sega that worked with video game developers and instituted the first video game rating system not Capcom. You see after huge sale of mortal kombat over genesis over the sanitized super nes version Nintendo went to Joseph Lieberman to try and harm Sega and caused the big out cry over video game violence. I am pretty sure this is the situation that took place and Capcom and street fighter did not have much to do with it. Still enjoyed the article and I still need to check out Remember me. To bad about the original staff being let go.
Er,the Aliens from the Alien series do not live on human flesh and can't morph at will.Maybe you should watch them again.
Actually you are missing the point - if RockSteady had been hired to do the third game it WOULD have had improvements. What happened was the IP owner decided that the level of advancement in the game was sufficient to simply retread the engine with a different story on top and none of you would notice or care. Apparently they are right for some of you - but we do expect more.
He's got a point
You can't be dissapointed, if you don't have expectations in the first place. if you were expecting anthing from these tittles, then its your fault to get dissapointed.
first place whaaat?
You simply cannot expect the quality go up any higher than Arkham city lol, i mean it has to stop somewhere, jesus. insatiable gamers.
I actually enjoyed Batman Arkham Origins pretty much. It was what I expected to be after playing the previous two games from Rocksteady. Articles like this are the beiggest proof that gaming media has gone down the toilet. We get incredibly amaizing games every year, but now for some reason, to the gaming media they always turn out to be crappy disapointments. I seriously wonder what exactly are you guys expecting? Are you not entertained?