Top Five Most Disappointing Games of All Time
This writing is therapy for me. Feel free to skip this post. These are just personal opinions, obviously.
#5: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 should have been a layup.
Ninja Gaiden 2 on XBox 360 was bloody brilliant. Add in some sexy lady ninjas and some cool new weapons and bosses and you have a near guaranteed 10/10. But for whatever crazy reason Tecmo decided they were too clever to take the easy W. Instead of a layup they went for an alley oop and missed the dunk. They missed by nerfing the difficulty, cutting content such as weapons for Ryu and puzzles, and replacing the blood with purple mist(!!!???).
As I wrote in my review it was two steps forward two steps back. For every good change there was a bad one. I respect the Thanos-level obsession with balance. However as a Ninja Gaiden fan this game broke my heart. This should have been the triumphant return of Ryu Hayabusa as a marquee videogame protagonist like Dante or Mega Man, worthy of bigger budgets and bigger games. Instead it led to the disastrous Ninja Gaiden 3 which killed the franchise dead.
#4: Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope
That’s the phrase that comes to mind when I think of Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope. I adored this franchise. Star Ocean 2 and 3 are both probably in my top ten games of all time. Amazing as it was, Star Ocean 3 had a rather divisive ending, and Star Ocean 4 was a great opportunity to course correct and bring in a lot of new fans.
They got a lot right too! The combat, crafting, music, and world design are mostly solid. The game plays great. Where it struggles is in its story and character designs. Aesthetically I like most of the playable characters. Reimi is a fun leading lady, Myuria is a classic sorceress babe, and Sarah and Arumat are both very fun to use in battle. However their personalities can be grating and their English localizations are not great, especially Lymle. The game leans heavily on Japanese anime tropes for its humor and dialogue which isn’t for everyone. The story had intriguing potential to build on the ‘simulation’ reveal ending of SO3 with the mysterious ‘Missing Procedure’ antagonist (“missing procedure” is a computer error term) but it fumbled hard due to a slow middle section and goofy ending.
SO4 had the marketing, budget, and development talent behind it to propel the series to the vanguard of JRPG’s. It just didn’t quite land with western audiences and due to being released on XBox 360, didn’t sell enough in Japan to raise developer Tri-Ace’s profile. The franchise has since become a shadow of its former self with mediocre low budget fifth and sixth installments. Square Enix has kept the series on life support with remakes and smartphone games when really it ought to be as prolific as the Tales Of franchise, its OG rivals from the SNES era. SO4 at least had a decent re-release on PS3 and eventually PC, but I’m still mad they never made the super cool Crowe character playable.
#3: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
This one probably hurts the most so I’m going to try to keep it brief.
Oh man, those trailers. Those trailers were amazing. And 99% of the game was amazing too. The gameplay holds up great. Metal Gear Online was hype and crazy fun on PS4. The mission-based structure added a ton of replay value and on PC with mods and customization the game was endless fun. MGSV is graphically still top notch with an Oscar-worthy soundtrack, writing, and performances.
And then you get that twist ending, and it’s all. for. NOTHING. A twist that adds nothing of value, and serves only to destroy all of the great narrative and character development of a brilliant 40 hour story. What’s worse is that it doesn’t even make sense using that universe’s own rules. I’m not even going to bother describing it or picking it part. Suffice to say it just puts a bad taste in my mouth and undermines any desire I might have to play through the amazing story a second time. Never before has a game dropped the ball so hard. The epic dark story of Big Boss sells itself. You have to go out of your way to ruin it, and they did.
Tragic. Just absolutely tragic this one. I can only assume this was Kojima’s last laugh for being fired from Konami.
#2: Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII marked the end of classic Square/Square Enix and Final Fantasy as a genre-defining culturally relevant franchise. The game itself set a new mold for all big budget Square Enix releases that came after it, summarized simply as ‘style over substance.’ Final Fantasy XIII had a long complex development confused by the Versus-XIII/FFXV mess and two lackluster and frankly unnecessary sequels. The root problem is that FFXIII is less a JRPG than a series of interactive cut scenes.
The plot progression feels like an on-rails shooter. You bounce around different characters with very little opportunity to explore, customize, or experiment. The soundtrack and graphics are excellent. I also liked the character designs, particularly Lightning and Sazh. However the good here is undone by the subpar story, lack of challenge, and lack of replay value.
Square Enix hasn’t been the same since its release. They now always make better trailers than games. Their best published titles now are either done by other studios (Nier) or are remakes (Trials of Mana) and even the latter they can screw up royally (Final Fantasy VII: Remake). The Forspoken disaster shows that even when they try to do something different they are completely out of touch with what players actually want. The company is a shadow of its creative glory from the SNES, PSX, and PS2 eras. Star Ocean, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and even Final Fantasy XVI are all testaments to the fact that Square Enix is now where franchises go to die.
#1: Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk takes the top spot because it managed to disappoint not once but twice.
The game was a massive letdown when it released years ago in part thanks to its incredibly long development time, excellent trailers, and high expectations due to developer CD Projekt’s successful Witcher series. It crashed and burned on launch thanks to a release version that was at best a long way off from what was promised and at worst totally unplayable. The story was a mixed bag, the gameplay buggy as hell, and the genuine role-playing experience non-existent. Yet in spite of that I still ended my original review on a positive note hoping that a few years of patches and DLC could salvage the game into something respectable.
Phantom Liberty was meant to be that second chance but alas from where I sit, it only served to emphasize what a missed opportunity the original game was given its budget and development time. The expansion is very cinematic, very well-produced, and does incorporate meaningful choices in its story-telling. However it’s also siloed off, only becoming playable after you beat the game. It’s a mini version of what Cyberpunk 2077 should have been only accessible after you slog through the disappointing mess Cyberpunk 2077 actually is. It makes the same mistake as the original game too by focusing too much on celebrity cameos and setpieces instead of genuine player freedom. Worse still, the combat rebalancing nerfed my beloved netrunner class.
I loved being a digital warlock who could wipe entire bases undetected three blocks away. The version 2.0 combat rebalancing forces more melee and gunplay action due to higher hacking costs and longer cooldowns. Was it a bit broken? Sure, but it’s a single player game, and Cyberpunk 2077 was the only game ever to give me that experience. Honestly to really capture the feel of a true superhacker they should have let you take out enemy bases from the comfort of your apartment.
I still watch the old trailers from time to time. Man, this game could have been Homelander meme perfect. The development talent, budget, aesthetic, and combat were all there. Somewhere during what must have been a grueling arduous development journey, CD Projekt Red lost their way. As one of the .001% of gamers who actually played the original Cyberpunk tabletop game I had perhaps unrealistic lofty hopes. Yet I cannot help but lament the fact that CD Projekt Red clearly did not even try to capture the complex rich world of the original game.
Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 is no longer the hot mess it was at launch. It still has some truly inspired moments of storytelling and offers a big playground of sci-fi-flavored action to enjoy. Under a different name with different expectations it would have been called a great success. For me though, the pervasive odor of ‘what could have been’ is just too strong for me to enjoy the game anymore. All of the other games on this list were franchise killers to one degree or another. Cyberpunk 2077 was more like a miscarriage, killing a potential epic franchise before it ever got a chance to soar. More than any other game I can think of, I wanted to really love this one.
