The Book's Cover: bad game titles

[Potjeslatinist]

And I mean specifically the title of the game.
What were the developers and publishers thinking, naming their game like that?
It's too generic, too stupid, isn't appropriate for the game, or you can't say it fast ten times after a few pints of Duvel.

I'll start off with a certain popular shooter that's generic as hell, is filled with dudebro shit, and has weapons that feel like your girlfriends vibrator instead of boomsticks. It's utterly vapid title? Gears of War. It's like these cheap knock-off games you constantly see advertisements for: War Battle, BattleWar, Age of Swords, Swords of War, etc

I also kinda dislike (though not as strongly, and I love the game) Dishonored. There's far more going on in the story and gameplay than some guy being dishonored. It really says nothing about the game and its rich world. And is Corvo or Emily even going to be dishonored in Dishonored 2?

Anyway, discuss, friends.

(and the first out of a 1000 mentions of Final Fantasy in 3,2,1,...)

 

[NPC009]

Why complain about bullshit like Final Fantasy X-2, when there's amazing crap like:

- Infinite Undiscovery, what is that even supposed to mean? Is undiscovery even a word?

- Touch Dic (it's a dictionary for DS, get your mind out of the gutter!)

- Anything with an X that actually mean 'cross' but just looks like a roman '10'.

- The whole .hack series, pretty much

- I'm not sure what is worse/more amazing: 'Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance' or 'Revengers of Vengeance'

- Any fighting game series that just keeps attaching words to new additions, bonus points if there's an 'X' that means 'cross' in there somewhere

-Of course, it helps if a fighting game has a weird title to begin with, like 'Melty Blood' or better yet 'Under Night In-Birth'

- htoL#NiQ (you're supposed to read it as 'hotaru no nikki', which means 'firefly's diary'

 

[StatusNil]

My personal favorite is Bravely Default.

Really makes you think.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Well, there's Bulletstorm, but it almost seems like the retarded name is intentional, so... is it retarded?

Besides that, I'll take dumbly named games over games that don't realize that a name is just a name. Like MGS5: The Phantom Pain, a game where, if I didn't know better, I would have thought they were trying to sell me the game I already bought and am now playing. It can't go 2 minutes without saying either'Phantom' or 'Pain,' and it couldn't go 3 minutes without using the actual phrase 'Phantom Pain,' no matter how strained or retarded the dialogue had to be to fit that in.

I get it. He's a phantom, and he's in pain. And he's got robot limbs, so he's got limb phantom pain. And his friends got phantom pain, and his emotions have phantom pain. Stop, please.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Medal of Honor: Warfighter still gives me a good chuckle.

 

[DoPo]

I also kinda dislike (though not as strongly, and I love the game) Dishonored. There's far more going on in the story and gameplay than some guy being dishonored.

Yet, Corvo being dishonoured is absolutely pivotal for the entire game. It is the thing that kicks everything into motion.

And is Corvo or Emily even going to be dishonored in Dishonored 2?

Umm, yes? How is this even a question? I thought it was pretty unambiguous ever since the announcement railer.


Let's see, it starts with

It's happened again. Someone's pulled the rug out from under you. An empire at your feet and you lost it all.

Which echoes what happened in the first game and suggests that history repeats itself in a way. This is further reinforced by the presence of some sort of plague or disease that, again, is a throwback to the plague from the first game.

Then the evilbadguy says at the end

If you kill me, you become the assassin we claimed you were.

Which is again what happened to Corvo which, in turn, is how he was "dishonoured" in the first place. But moreover, this line very clearly states that Emily seems to have been framed.

The first announcement seems to rather plainly say that Dishonored 2's story is taking cues from the first one and somewhat mimics them.

'Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'

Revengeance [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Revengeance] is a word that existed before the game. It may be obsolete but it exists.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Snip

I think:
- 358/2 Days is called that because the game documents Roxas' life, and takes place over 358 days. The "Over 2" refers to the fact that 2 people shared the same life - Roxas and Xion.
- Birth by Sleep refers to the fact that the new generation of Keyblade wielders - i.e. Sora, Riku and Kairi - all have their powers awoken when Terra, Ven and Aqua fall "asleep" (though only one of them literally falls asleep, I think it's more to do with the characters becoming dormant).
- Dream Drop Distance is threefold: "Dreams" refers to the fact that dreams, sleeping and dormancy are again major themes in the game (saying any more is spoilers), "Drop" has links to "dropping off to sleep" but also Sora and Riku literally drop into worlds and "Distance" is supposed to express the gulf between Sora and Riku. Also Nomura desperately wanted to call it Kingdom Hearts 3D but he can't let anything be bloody simple.

Anyway, I think that's the reasoning behind those titles? I'm not defending them though, they are rubbish.

OT: I'm not a fan of Dragon Age: Origins because the subtitle makes it sounds like a prequel, rather than the first game in a franchise. I don't like Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor because it feels clunky and trying to set up a new universe as the Middle-Earth universe/franchise just sounds awkward to me. And names like Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance have already been mentioned but they do both sound rubbish.

 

[Fox12]

Anything with rising, Genesis, resurgence, or some other equally generic action title.

Anything by square Enix.

 

[BrawlMan]

Kingdom Hearts, not that name particularly as although a bit silly I do think it suits the Disney theme. But game titles such as:

358/2 Days, with it being read as Three Five Eight over Two.

Dream Drop Distance.

Birth By Sleep.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.

WTF is this bollocks? This 2.8 thingy also has a remake of Birth By Sleep called Birth by Sleep?A Fragmentary Passage.

Whats with these sub titles? Are they supposed to sound stupid? Do they mean anything in the game or is something lost in translation from Japanese to English?

Jim Sterling had a field day with this.

I'll throw in DmC: Devil May Cry. That is one of the dumbest, laziest, wannabe trend setting I have ever seen! The title is literally Devil may (intentional lowercase) Cry: Devil May Cry. With none of Dante's shop in the actual story; and a waste of a colon.

Final Fight: Streetwise - It's sounds like a bad spin-of...oh, wait, that's because it is.

Crude Buster -The international title, Two Crude Dudes, fits better.

Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt - It's worst than Bubsy!

Undercover Cops - This last example is not a bad title, but it doesn't fit the game; which is awesome!

Spoiler: Does this look undercover to you?

 

[BrawlMan]

Overwatch - One of the most "hated and boring" moves from Mordheim/Necromunda. Even though I know it's not, I can't help but think the game is about camping or sniping from cover.

Warframe - The suit itself is called a "warframe", designed for combat against an overwhelming enemy. That being said, it's a space ninja and should be about stealth. Some disconnect there that irks me.

I've never played Devil May Cry or really seen or read anything about the story, so the title just... seems really bad.

Diablo - The Devil in Spanish...? I guess it was to avoid controversy with the christian community back then, but really? I'm not saying "Devil" or "Satan" are a particularly good names either, but at least funnier?
"Hey, wanna play some Satan today?"

Edit;
Oh as a bonus, Dark Souls was originally going to be called "Dark Ring". Their second suggestion was "Dark Race". I can't help but feel cheated, for not having those titles to play.

It's the name of Dante's shop in the original series. There is no Devil May Cry in the reboot. Also, it's a play on Dante's phrase, "Devils never cry". It's means demons who don't have empathy at all; nor for humans either. Hence, they don't shed tears. Demons who shed tears have empathy, and are more "human".

 

[Prairie]

One mention that still baffles me: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Yes, this is the title. The absurdity unfolds when one is contemplating the box art...

''Look! It's Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS...for Nintendo 3DS.''

 

[Chaosian]

"Resident Evil" stopped being relevant after the first game. They really should have just stuck to "Biohazard".
On the flip side "Fatal Frame" is infinitely better than "Project Zero" so it's not necessarily a region thing.

 

[BrawlMan]

"Resident Evil" stopped being relevant after the first game. They really should have just stuck to "Biohazard".
On the flip side "Fatal Frame" is infinitely better than "Project Zero" so it's not necessarily a region thing.

To be fair, the characters do run partially through residential areas in 2 & 3. Code Veronica has you in a mansion for about half the game, in RE4, Leon ventures into a village during the beginning and a castle midway, and in RE 5; Chris and Sheva go through a village, a shanty town, and then a bigger village. The spin-offs or side stories are all over the place though, so most of those are even more irrelevant due to the title; and don't even start with the live-action movies.

Since were talking about relevancy; have you seen the House of the Dead series? Only the first games takes place in an actual "house" A mansion just like RE 1. HothD 2 takes place in a city, 3 is inside a experimental laboratory skyscraper that "houses the dead", 4 is in the same city again (except there are no people to rescue), and I have no fucking idea in Overkill.

 

[Skatalite]

Mario games, pretty much all of them.
Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Super Mario Bros & Friends: When I Grow Up, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 (yep), and on and on and on it goes.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Guilty Gear Xrd.

I mean, Guilty Gear is a series of great fighting games, but the titles are pretty bad.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

"Resident Evil" stopped being relevant after the first game. They really should have just stuck to "Biohazard".
On the flip side "Fatal Frame" is infinitely better than "Project Zero" so it's not necessarily a region thing.

To be fair, the characters do run partially through residential areas in 2 & 3. Code Veronica has you in a mansion for about half the game, in RE4, Leon ventures into a village during the beginning and a castle midway, and in RE 5; Chris and Sheva go through a village, a shanty town, and then a bigger village. The spin-offs or side stories are all over the place though, so most of those are even more irrelevant due to the title; and don't even start with the live-action movies.

I'd argue that "they're indoors at one point" is not a good way to justify a title that entails entrapment.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Beyond Good and Evil, terrible name for an amazing game and probably had something to do with the game underperforming hideously in sales at launch. Luckily for it, the universal acclaim meant it's performed a fuckton better since then.