There are a number of games that had us excited in the lead-up to their launch, but which sadly failed to deliver. I’m going to divide this into two categories, just for clarity’s sake.

Low expectations

Firstly, games that nobody really expected to be very good, but which somehow I feel are worth a mention, if only to warn you off buying them in the bargain bin. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is probably one of the worst games I have ever played. Ever. I don’t even want to talk about it more than this, it pains me too much.

It’s followed by the ultra-disappointing Aliens: Colonial Marines. The only positive thing I can mention about this game is that I was given a pretty cool t-shirt at the launch. SimCity sadly is a game I was really looking forward to playing, but in which my interest flagged after a couple of hours. A game that just doesn’t live up to its predecessors no matter how much shinier it may look.

Underwhelmed

Secondly, there are the games that I was really, really hoping would be amazing. Imagine then the disappointment when I was significantly underwhelmed when playing.

The first of these is The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. This is not a bad game, but the demo I played focused on specific battle situations that were really engaging and exciting. The final product ended up being not quite as interesting as the demo suggested, and when up against some of the other recent XCOM games, really just lost a lot of the glamour.

Remember Me is another game where the pre-release demo showcased the best parts of the game. It the impression that there are regular moments where you can remix memories, when in fact this occurs only a handful of times throughout the game. While this is an awesome gameplay concept, the game as a whole is ultimately let down by the fact that the rest of the gameplay becomes uninteresting and uninspired.

I loved Heavy Rain and after seeing Beyond: Two Souls at E3, I was preparing myself for another epic narrative experience from Quantic Dream. Sadly what I got instead was a slow, at times boring, and at other times pointless experience that is decidedly ‘meh’.

I was already apprehensive about Batman: Arkham Origins when it was announced that Rocksteady, creators of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, were no longer the developers. Unfortunately the result is as expected. Not a bad game, but forgettable.

Forgettable – sadly the word that I think describes most of these titles.

Picture courtesy of Adriaan Louw from we-are-awesome.com.