Most Bland game ever.

[Faux Furry]

the Killzone franchise. Absolutely nothing makes it stand out from the rest.

Guess again, it has a cover system, and 3 has context sensitive melee (if you melee an enemy while they lean against a wall the PC will smash their head into the wall).

Homefront on the other hand makes Killzone look like psychonauts, NOTHING isn't a cliche in it. The protagonists are American, the enemies are communists (specifically North Koreans), you have a "geeky" token enemy minority, and a sissy liberal, and THAT is the full extent of their personalities, there's also two black guys who die, and Connor Morgan, a character who makes Rico look like my fucking hero in comparison, the only good thing about him would be that he dies, but even then the game treats him like a hero.

Imagine the most bland parts of Call of Duty mixed with the most bland parts of Red Dawn, and you would get something half as bad as Homefront.

The fact that Homefront is Call of Duty mixed with Red Dawn (written by John Milius,the man who wrote and directed Red Dawn, no less) keeps it from being generic. Once the market floods with alternate history FPS set in a North America under siege, then maybe a game like Homefront would qualify as being the most generic game ever.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

Um... WTF, people? TC asked for generic, bland, uninspired games, not "games you didn't like." Therefore games like Mass Effect, Timesplitters, Street Fighter, Portal (troll!), these are not the kinds of games that fit such a description.

ANY modern-day shooter. This includes all C.O.D. games, Medal of Honour, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, etc, etc.

Same weapons/gadgets,
same, generic military dialogue,
same story(Government Conspiracies+Stop the Terrorists/Russians),
same brown, boring, unimaginative environments.

In my opinion, the entire modern-day shooter genre needs to die.

So, any attempt at realism in the shooter genre is anathema? I mean, I can understand not wanting to play these kinds of games (I understand perfectly), but criticizing the effort to employ realistic weapons, realistic dialogue, realistic environments, realistic conflicts, etc... is kinda missing the point.

You might as well condemn the entire racing genre too for the same reason. "Same car, same aftermarket parts, same gear ratios, same physics... and on fucking Nürburgring AGAIN? What an uninspired and shitty game!"

Again, you're entirely welcome to your opinion of the genre (shooters, racers, etc.), but that particular kind of criticism (sameness of weapons, terminology, conflicts, etc.) isn't all that fair.

On topic: Is the latest Dynasty Warriors too obvious of a nominee?

 

[PeacanPie]

Pokemon? I love the games but every plot ever is exactly the same. After fifteen years you'd really hope the plot would have changed somewhat.

 

[Vrex360]

I really think the term 'generic' for video games is stupid. 'Generic' is a term used to give to consumer items that don't have a brand, like for example 'generic peanut butter' instead of say, Kraft Peanut butter.
Simply put, if a game has a brand, signiture style and is part of a major recognized franchise... it can't be generic. Plus, given the many varieties of game out there (shooters, rpgs, puzzles, platformers, RTS, sandbox, stealth, third person shooter, hack and slash, sports, arcade and fighting games) the idea that there could ever actually be the 'most generic game' is just absurd on the face of it. Because there simply CAN'T be such a thing.

In fact, until they make a video game that's just called 'Video Game' that was developed by 'Anonymous third party' with boxart being a blank white page with no pictures and gameplay that is almost non existent, yet at the same time... somehow, incorporates the basic features of every game ever made... there's just no such as a generic game.
As it stands, with almost all of gaming now having recognized icons and franchises and varying from genre to genre, the argument that there could be a MOST GENERIC GAME EVER, is idiotic. Even if such generic games did exist there's no way to rate 'genericness' on a scale of one to ten.
Generic unbranded cheese is generic unbranded cheese. There's no cheese that's more generic and unbranded.

I just get really sick of seeing posts that call games 'generic' because sometimes it seems like people have forgotten entirely what that word really means and have used it to just mean 'game I don't like'.
For instance, generic is not the same thing as 'bland'. It's also not the same thing as 'mediocre'. It's also not the same thing as 'brainless' or 'uninspired'.

Generic just means something isn't a brand or anything with it's own style. Hence when I hear people say:
"Halo is sooooo generic!"
I want to ask the following questions:

1. Can you recognize Halo's protagonist in a lineup?
2. Would you recognize the Halo theme if it was played on a radio?
3. Is Halo not one of the most well known shooter franchises out there?
4. Is Halo a huge franchise that has spawned lots of merchendise?

If you can answer 'yes' to any of these, by definition Halo is not generic. That doesn't mean you have to like it, but it does mean that Halo is an established franchise that is recognized as both a series and a brand. Hence, it cannot be generic.
(also for the record I really don't understand what it's done to deserve being labelled the anti christ who is dragging gaming down into the bowels of hell)

Seriously, just quit using the term 'generic'. It just makes no sense. Use words like 'formula' or 'paint by numbers design' or something like that. Those make sense.

But still since I'm here I will call out Duke Nukem Forever, not for being generic but for being a poorly designed and uninspired shooter with weak, uninteresting design attempting to ape other games that are superior to it in every way. It's not fun to watch or even very exciting to play in terms of action gameplay.
About the only thing that makes it stand out as a signiture thing is the sexist jokes and imagery and that's the stuff that makes me want to set it on fire. 'Capture the babe' and that whole hive business as well, really awful stuff.

Duke, mock the Masterchief as much as you want. He's still better at releasing games then you are, and his attitude regarding women is MUCH less appalling.

 

[ediblemitten]

^ Guy above me nailed it on the head... you fellas are completely misusing the term. Maybe 'uninspired' (as he mentioned) is the term your looking for.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

Saints Row. Its a shameless rip off of GTA.
However, what makes it special is that its a SELF AWARE shameless ripoff of GTA with one hell of a sense of humor.

It may be a GTA "ripoff", but you'd have to be pretty jaded and hard-to-please to ever refer to Saint's Row as "bland" or "generic"...

 

[Irriduccibilli]

Unreal Tournament III. The only thing that made it cool was the guns. I don't understand why they tried to make a story for it, and it felt too repetitive after Level 1.

Agreed. They completely forgot what made Unreal Tournament 1999 so great. Where the hell where the tournament, where were that little bastard Xan? So dissappointing.

I guess i'll say Guitar Hero: World Tour (or any other Guitar Hero game after the second)

 

[Leoofmoon]

Id say duke, but its a age from 1998 but really COD fills it well...no more genaric then that shit

 

[repeating integers]

the lord snip will see you now

Damn, you're good at this. You could write articles for the Escapist.

Yeah, I dislike it when people just use terms that don't fit to describe games they don't like in an attempt to make them look more sophisticated. Of course, enough people using the term wrongly will lead to newbies misunderstanding what the term means...

 

[Juk3n]

CoD isn't generic, it's the benchmark. As made evident by the fact that BF3 it's closest living rival (albeit yet to be released) looked and felt JUST like a CoD campaign in that 12 minute video - with destruction as its selling point to CoDs 'fast paced action' as its own.

CoD4 is the benchmark everything after is generic.

 

[Juk3n]

edit

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Saints Row. Its a shameless rip off of GTA.
However, what makes it special is that its a SELF AWARE shameless ripoff of GTA with one hell of a sense of humor.
From what I've heard: DNF.
Homefront doesn't seem like it does anything new.
MW2, for sure.

Gears of War.

*Ducks*

Come on. Space Marines versus Aliens? Chest High Walls? Improbably muscled heros wearing space armour? Regenerating health? Brown filtered graphics?

Actually works really well as a spoof.

Um, unless I'm mistaken, GoW is what, you know... MADE CHEST HIGH WALLS POPULAR?

yeah i was wondering this same thing, sure the story isn't anything super special but the gameplay style/chest high walls were made popular by it..

(and for consoles at least) its horde mode in GoW2 made that spearhead into halo/etc...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Um... WTF, people? TC asked for generic, bland, uninspired games, not "games you didn't like." Therefore games like Mass Effect, Timesplitters, Street Fighter, Portal (troll!), these are not the kinds of games that fit such a description.

ANY modern-day shooter. This includes all C.O.D. games, Medal of Honour, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, etc, etc.

Same weapons/gadgets,
same, generic military dialogue,
same story(Government Conspiracies+Stop the Terrorists/Russians),
same brown, boring, unimaginative environments.

In my opinion, the entire modern-day shooter genre needs to die.

So, any attempt at realism in the shooter genre is anathema? I mean, I can understand not wanting to play these kinds of games (I understand perfectly), but criticizing the effort to employ realistic weapons, realistic dialogue, realistic environments, realistic conflicts, etc... is kinda missing the point.

You might as well condemn the entire racing genre too for the same reason. "Same car, same aftermarket parts, same gear ratios, same physics... and on fucking Nürburgring AGAIN? What an uninspired and shitty game!"

Again, you're entirely welcome to your opinion of the genre (shooters, racers, etc.), but that particular kind of criticism (sameness of weapons, terminology, conflicts, etc.) isn't all that fair.

On topic: Is the latest Dynasty Warriors too obvious of a nominee?

within its own series i would agree to dynasty warriors, although i have a deep crush on the gundam version of the games =\

 

[SammiYin]

Dragon age;
I love fantasy
And it's dark!
What's this? An evil dark army of black orc / skeleton things, cool!
I get to be what? A jed- I mean whatever super special organisation Bioware thought up this time? Cool!
There's elves? and they live in the forest? and they like using bows?
Werewolves?!!

That's about as far as I got. That generic piece of shit bored me silly.
Seriously, Bioware have been making KOTOR [never played anything earlier by them, I can guess the formula though] blander with each game, just in slightly different settings.

Hit me.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I've seen alot of threads about the best/worst games ever, but I have never seen one about the about the most boilerplate, by-the-numbers, souless, bland game you've ever played.

So let me know what game is in your opinion the most grey, boring, 5/10, uninspired game you know of, my vote goes for 007: Blood Stone.

Whaaat? D: What's wrong with Blood Stone? Best 007 game I've played atlest...

Well anyway, I'd say one of those WW2 MoH games, there's so many of them and I can't tell them apart for anything :/ I wouldn't exactly say CoD though... it still have like a slice of soul left? Although that slice is very evil.

Aside from every lever being almost the same. Sneak for a bit, then cover based shooting, if your lucky we may let you drive one of the 3 different car that all feel the same, btw something is completly wrong with the driving if a tow truck and an Aston Martin handle the same and are very similar in terms of speed.

The game looks pretty bland, the voice acting is pretty bland (which is sad that they used actual actors), the story was BLAND, I actually beat the game and didn't know what it was about, and I watched all the cutscenes, I guess they bored my subconscience.

Also what other 007 games have you played?

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Blacksite Area 51
Aliens
Hench American One Man Army's
Randomly killing Iraqis
The whole 9 (overused) Yards

(But Admittedly I kinda enjoyed it xD)

I forgot Area 51, don't forget the inspiring collection of weapons, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Pistol, and Rocket Launcher.

Oh yeah and the and the benchmark level design! of
Desert Environment
Urban Environment
Desert Terrain with Urban Surroundings

And the cast was amazing, who can forget Muscley Guy, Commander Guy, Scientist Guy, or was it Scientist Lady? He/She was such a deep and thought provoking charecter I forgot his/her gender. And there was probably another guy, but I honestly can't recall.

Oh god yes!
Also The vast and expansive Enemy horde consisting of Little Scurrying bastards who attack in pack.
The medium sized ones that require 5 or 6 Rounds and a biff on the nose.
The Big Bastards that can only be killed with a Special weapon (which apparently any old random solider can authorise the use of)
And the Cybernetic clone soldiers that go insane and murder everything.
SUCH POETRY!

What else can we rag on? Um... did the game have any music? If it did it probably wasn't very good.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Holy snipping hedge trimmers, Batman!

A round of applaus to mr. Vrex 360.

OT. No mention of Captain Bland's Monotonous Adventure?