Twenty Nineteen has been a mixed bag in terms of videogames. And while there has been no shortage of releases, the quality of the games in question has not always been the best. For Every Resident Evil 2, we had a Jump Force or an Anthem. Below is a list of five such games that disappointed us in the first half of this year. These games may not necessarily be bad as such, but they definitely did disappoint us either by not living up to the hype or by being super messed up at launch. Now that we are officially into August and the downpour of major titles are less than a couple of months away, let’s hope that the games yet to release do not end up like the ones below.
No. 1 Anthem
By the time Anthem was released the writings were already on the wall for many people. Bioware was on the receiving end of having released a game that was gorgeous to look at, and fun to play for a while but not a lot more than that. The developer had to follow up on the PR disaster that was Mass Effect Andromeda which was a decent game but got way too much negativity for relatively apparent bugs which were blown out of proportion by streamers and social media (In all fairness these bugs should have been fixed before its release anyway. But weren’t). And yet Bioware found themselves in almost every major pitfall that could affect the development of the game in a negative way with Anthem. From the studios, top executives leaving the company during development, to multiple delays, to having to make a game in an unexplored genre for the studio, they went through it all.
And the end result was a mess of a game which did not do the players or the developers any justice. Despite having seen this coming, many people (me included) still had hopes for the game since it came from Bioware. The once-revered masters of compelling stories. And perhaps, it was that hope that made Anthem even more disappointing. Anthem just ended being another victim of EA’s questionable practices, falling in line with games like Star Wars Battlefront 2. And that is a very sad thing.
No.2 Rage 2
Rage 2 was not a bad game. But it was not great in any way either. And that was the problem with it. The original Rage which was released back in 2011 had its issues but it still measured up to be a competent shooter with some tight gameplay for its time. Rage 2 feels like an improvement on all fronts, but something that should have been released as an immediate follow up a couple of years later.
Almost all of its gameplay elements and mechanics feel dated and not like something that one would expect in a major release in 2019. For some reason, Rage 2’s world and gunplay felt like the same bland experience like in Avalanche Studios’ other recent games, Just Cause 3 and 4, despite having collaborated with ID. I for one had high hopes for Rage 2 and the trailers were super fun to watch. Unfortunately, all of it did not translate well into the final product.
No. 3 Crackdown 3
Oh, Crackdown 3! Talk about a tumultuous journey. Crackdown 3 was originally announced way back in 2014 and was set out to be an Xbox One exclusive. The game was meant to entice gamers by demonstrating its use of the cloud to process the amount of memory needed for its elaborate world destructions. And it was quite intriguing at the time.
Fast forward to 2019 and what was supposed to be a 2016 release had now been through multiple delays and reworks, and the result was the hot mess that could not deliver to the hype at launch. The much-touted about destruction was missing from the single-player campaign at launch and the multiplayer component which was released a little later which did deliver on the destruction part of the bargain was not much fun to play. Despite Terry Crews’ appeal and Microsoft’s aggressive marketing, the game was a massive disappointment.
No. 4 Days Gone
For some reason, Days Gone could not resonate with the PlayStation fans right from the get-go when it was revealed back in E3 2016. Sony’s E3 2016 in itself was a spectacular event and Days Gone was supposed cap the showoff. This shows how important the game was in Sony’s eyes. But Day’s Gone ended up being one of the more forgettable games largely due to the rest of the show is so great and through no fault of its own. Three years, and a few delays later this Open World Zombie game released to a market which was already saturated with Zombies and Open World games.
Days Gone was in no ways a bad game. The game, in fact, was reviewed quite well by a few outlets. But it did not quite meet the standards of a first-party Sony exclusive, at least at launch. And that was disappointing to many. In a way Days Gone ended up being a momentum killer to Sony’s hot streak of high-quality exclusives.
No. 5 Left Alive
Left Alive did not generate as much buzz as the other games in the list. But this Metal Gear inspired game did turn some heads when it was revealed.
And what was expected to be a love letter to the Metal Gear franchise turned out to a be a complete mess of a game with terrible voice acting, inconsistent AI and outdated graphics regardless of platform. The 3 playable characters in the game were forgettable at best, thanks to poor writing and an unremarkable story.
The game also failed in the gameplay front with messy stealth mechanics and subpar combat. This is never good news for a stealth-based action game. Throw in wonky controls and framerate issues and you are left alive and disappointed with, well, Left Alive.
