The top five most disappointing Xbox 360 games
Some games are just plain bad. Take a title like Bomberman: Act Zero. Sure it sucked, but then again everbody expected it to suck. A disappointing game, on the other hand, might not be awful. But there's a nagging feeling that, for whatever reason, the game just failed to live up to its potential. With that in mind, Xboxer takes a look at some of the most disapointing titles that we've seen for the 360 since launch.
5. Assassin's Creed
It's got some fantastic ideas, an amazing graphics engine, tight controls, and some of the best animation that we've seen so far. So what exactly went wrong? A poorly judged interest curve is a bad start, with a slow beginning and intrusive tutorial. As the game goes on though, the repetitive mission structure begins to drag, and the game's lack of a decent stealth mechanic does little to help. Promising, clever, fun, but not all that it could have been and ultimately disappointing.
4. Prey
The portal and gravity mechanic was a really neat idea, and Prey wasn't bad, with a couple of really decent mind-bending shooting moments. Far too often though, the portals just turn into an excuse to spawn groups of monsters directly into your path. Especially given the rather underpowered arsenal that the game gave you, the game felt pretty unremarkable and gamers had to wait for Portal to get the whole concept right.
3. Clive Barker's Jericho
Especially given the lack of horror titles for the 360, Jericho had a lot going for it. Penned by Clive Barker, who was also involved the excellent Undying for PC, it could have been a tense, scary, plot-driven shooter. Things fall apart with the disapointingly generic characters, repetitive art direction and uninvolving gameplay. Game designers take note- monsters get less scary the more you can see them.
2. Wing Commander Arena
There's nothing wrong with giving a franchise a radical overhaul. You figure out what makes the series great and you try to re-invent. Wing Commander Arena, on the other hand, does none of this and comes across as a rather cynical cash-in. The superlative space combat series deserves much, much better than this generic and rather forgettable arcade shooter.
1. Perfect Dark Zero
Oh, where to begin? The graphics gave the impression that the cast was on loan from Mattel, the weapons were unsatisfying and the level design was decidedly unremarkable. One of the worst thing it had going against it was the fact that it was Rare's first foray into next-gen, and a launch title to boot, but aside from the graphics, it just felt like another Xbox shooter. Especially given the lofty heights attained by its predecessor, it's really rather sad.
Came straight to this page? Visit www.xboxer.tv for all the latest news.
Comments
Can't disagree with any of those but i would have found a place for Ninety Nine Nights though.
Posted by: Ezee-t | November 21, 2007 12:15 AM
I'd also include the really boring and long cutscenes. They tease you by letting you walk around during them but for most of them there is absolutely no point and I end up spending the time walking around in circles!
Posted by: Shell | November 21, 2007 8:58 AM
I know what you mean about Ninety-Nine Nights. Really pretty graphics, could have been a nice bit of arcade fun. It's a shame the AI and combo system turned it into a Dynasty Warriors-esque affair.
Posted by: Chris Cornwell | November 21, 2007 10:02 AM
you dont know nothing about games i really feel sorry about you seriously "assassin´n creed dissapointing" ha ha ha ha ha! poor guy
Posted by: pablo | November 21, 2007 11:58 AM
Your under-appreciation of AC is a simple result of your over-expectations.
5th most disappointing game on the 360...WOW...you MUST have been expecting AC to be the best game ever created.
Posted by: Me | November 21, 2007 12:33 PM
dude, Assasin's Creed? Didn't you read it just made top seller in the UK? Taht alone should take it out of your list. I agree with PDZ tho, got that and was so excited -man what a come down that game. Even got a collector's edition (stupid metal box that is).
Posted by: homicidal | November 21, 2007 12:38 PM
AC was slightly disapointing but no where near enougth to be in this list. I think Halo 3 should be in the list as it was very disappointing.
Posted by: AC rules | November 21, 2007 12:43 PM
Review 9/10 on your website and the game is disappointing? Why for that extra point?
Posted by: lsd | November 21, 2007 1:11 PM
Assassin's Creed the most disappointing game ever for the Xbox 360?
Well, I feel very sorry for you guys thinking that... it shows that you have a striking lack of appreciation for anything that isn’t churned out for the mass market to gobble that has the least bit of differential when it comes to game design.
If your issues are that the game is repetitive than you are clearly missing the point of Assassin’s Creed in the first place. This brilliantly constructed game requires a different approach to fully appreciate it. But of course you would never know that because you have all been so greatly seduced and reduced to the standard fare of contemporary games.
Stick to your COD 4 and Rachet & Clank… these poorly designed games don’t even scratch the surface of what Assassin’s Creed brings to the gamer who is willing to invest in its mechanics and story.
Shadow of the Collosus is considered by many a masterfully crafted game that tried something different. Some find it boring but for those gamers there’s always a quick fix around the corner in the form of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune or Ghost Recon.
Assassin’s Creed is crafted with the utmost of passion and is a fundamental milestone in the games of this genre.
To me it is the first Next-Gen game, period!
SHAME ON YOU! GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND LEARN A DIFFERENT TRADE!
Posted by: Cheboury | November 21, 2007 2:36 PM
Simon, who did the review, liked the game. So did I to be honest, it's just that felt that it didn't live up to its potential.
The missions were repetitive and a little underwhelming. Additionally, for a game based on stealthy assassination, the stealth mechanic felt a little underbaked to me. It's an imaginative game that's got a lot of good things in it- the combat's simple but great and the acrobatics are fantastic. I'm looking forward to a sequel, but I have to admit, I found this one a bit dull at times.
Posted by: Chris Cornwell | November 21, 2007 2:47 PM
Well Chris, your reply to my post (or a post in general) reveals that the game certainly doesn't deserve to be amongst the list of most 5 disappointing games of the Xbox 360.
Come on man, what this industry needs is positive critique and this is not the way to support it!
Voicing your disappointment about a game in the way most of you do carries on with too much defect than can't be reciprocated in any useful way from within the heart of any game developing team.
You guys should know better, you are the portal to all that reaches the gamer. Most of them have a fickle mind and are to prone to follow the voice that doesn't really care about them in the first place. This voice has one goal and that is to draw as many attention to itself as possible. That's how most of these websites stay afloat.
I tell ya man, from the most honest part in my heart, if there was a game that was trully disappointing it was COD 4 (and Rachet and Clank!) That should have made your list.
It befuddles me how fast most of you have played through Assassin's Creed! The problem being that there's simply an easy access created by the industry to get these games. When is the last time you bought a game? The average gamer and reviewer is playing their games like they consume fastfood!
Get some table manners and chew 25 time before you swallow next time.
Posted by: Cheboury | November 21, 2007 4:07 PM
I didn't find Call of Duty IV disapointing because I didn't expect a lot from it. Infinity Ward uses the tried and tested shooter formula to make a decent, well executed, but unoriginal game. But that's what people expected. Assassin's Creed, on the other hand, tries to do some new things. As I said in the post, some of them work really well.
But I can't help but feel disappointed at a game that's got some great ideas behind it, but has a mission and game design that's too often simple and repetitive and overly fond of exposition.
At the end of the day, despite all the good things it tries to do, Assassin's Creed misses the mark. This doesn't make it a bad game. But it's disapointing because it could have been a great one. As it is, I think it's a good game with some remarkable moments and some deep flaws.
Posted by: Chris Cornwell | November 21, 2007 4:30 PM
Man you are pathetic at making the 5 worst games list because assasins creed is one of the best games of the year and one of the best games i have ever played
Posted by: goldenx | November 22, 2007 3:17 AM
I agree with Assassin's Creed at number 5. It was a disappointment - given the amount of hype surrounding it, you'd have thought was Christ's second coming.
As it was, it clearly has its flaws: daft sci-fi storyline, incredibly slow pacing, repetition, etc. But the real let down is that the actually assassination parts boil down to little more than leaping into the fray, stabbing everyone and just legging it away. Somewhere along the lines we lost touch with the fun and finesse of planning a kill and getting away with it unnoticed, instead boiling it down to just another form of hack and slash combat.
AC isn't a bad game - it just didn't press the buttons I thought it was going to. Thus, disappointing.
Posted by: Greg | November 22, 2007 9:18 AM
u must be joking the worst games r nfs carbon, pgr4, fifa07,2 worlds and colin mcrae dirt RIP
Posted by: mongo14 | December 10, 2007 1:28 PM
Assasin's Creed #5? It should be #1. it was a big letdown. maybe the worst ever. Should be #1. I so wanted this game to be good after playing Oblivion. But it was so repetitive and the stupid matrix side-story and cut scenes are so cumbersome. I FORCED myself to complete the game because I invested so much time into it. For such a beautiful looking world the game lacks content. It simply is not fun. What a waste. Kudos for the effort. I hope it wins an award for graphics and setting but the gameplay is very poor and not fun.
Posted by: Todd | December 21, 2007 8:52 PM
Post a comment
Required fields marked by *