What games that were bad that you saw potential in?

[PixieFace]

Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords.

Oh, how I yearn to discover what that game could have been had LucasArts not shoved it out the door months upon months in advance for a Christmas release...

 

[asiepshtain]

There's also Mirror's Edge. It wasn't exactly bad, but it was kind of frustrating to see a game that could've been made awesome so easily end out so average. One way to make it better would've been a more open world. Mirror's Edge is a lot better once you know your way around and an open world would have made that very easy. Another way is to actually let you outside. For a parkour game I spent a hell of a lot of time indoors. One final way would be to make multiple ways to get to your target. It would remove some of the puzzle aspect, but would allow the game to flow much better.

These few changes would have made both games brilliant. The potential was there but the developers never fully used it.

This. Mirror's Edge wasn't terrible, but it's bad relative to the fact that it was so close to being a great game, but turned out mediocre. I'd be interested in seeing where a sequel goes, and I'll definitely buy it. The game disappointed me at times, but it was a very creative, interesting effort, and it's one of the less forgettable titles I've played lately.

This again. It's a shame they didn't release the abstract maps expansion pack to the PC. I've only seen it but it looks to really fulfill on the promise the game made. I would defnitily buy a sequel.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Left 4 Dead 2, Crysis, Far Cry 2

Why do you list L4D2, and not L4D1, when they're the exact same game?

Maybe because L4D2 was more of the same when he wanted something different? I know that was my biggest problem with it.

Anyways, I have to say the best example for me would be Half-Life 2. Nothing really they could have done, just lacked the elements I look for in a game.

 

[likalaruku]

I was really happy with Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe because I'm a Batman fan, & I would have prefured just using MK style butusing X-Men vs DC Universe instead. Unfortunately the Mortal Kombat fans raised a big stink about it. If nothing else, the game had Sam & Max entertainment value, where even if it wasn't playable or interactable, it still would have make a kickass animated movie on it's own.

 

[Super Toast]

Mirror's Edge. It had so much potential but Faith was difficult to keep moving, it had an awful combat system, the controls were arse and the story was incomprehensible. And it was WAY too short. It's a shame, as a FPS game with an emphasis on Parkour could very easily work if the studio knew what it was doing.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Far Cry 2 would've been much better if you could move around the map quicker and the stealth aspect actually worked. Removing the glitches would've been nice too.

Nah, the malaria subplot was the clincher. That goddamn subplot ruined the entire game for me.

As for Mirror's Edge, well, I loved it. Way too short and anticlimactic though.

As a comparison to its predecessor, I would have to say Oblivion. Beth totally has to do a remake of Morrowind.

 

[Treblaine]

Lair, the game had potential, ruined for so many bad choices and glitches, if they had worked on the game a bit more it would have been great. The idea of riding a flying dragon to go to battle is great.

I think one problem with Lair is though dragons seem cool, aerodynamically they do not work at all, hell even conservation of momentum doesn't work so trying to animate the models to fly smoothly is a neigh on impossible task

Assassins Creed 1

Talk about shocking the player the moment the game starts. You think your playing medieval crusades but it turns out to be sci-fi that isn't too hard to believe. Such potential...

+1 on this.

I mean it is obvious even the developers knew it was a shit idea as they kept that aspect a secret yet called it a "spoiler" to stop all the magazines blabbing the truth. BULLSHIT! An aspect revealed in the first 5 minutes of gameplay is NOT A SPOILER!

Hideo Kojima did the exact same thing with Metal Gear Solid 2, he KNEW that Raiden would be unpopular but I'm telling you after the success of MGS1 he clearly got too cocky and thought he could do no wrong. So he kept even the character's existence a secret, he even went as far as releasing a trailer showing Solid Snake fighting on later levels only it's obvious he just superimposed Snake's model for Raiden just for the trailers. Now that's false advertising.

I hated him coming back in MGS4 as well... he was an utterly pointless element.

 

[Steppin Razor]

Haze.

Free Radical were working on it. How did they drop the ball so badly?

 

[NyteRaven]

For me, the two games with the most wasted potential that I can bring to mind have got to be:

Warhammer Online:- had a development time of something like 9 years with various developers, including Sega, Atari(twice) and finally Mythic, who just fumbled the whole thing the moment they said that Dwarf Slayers weren't going to be in it at launch.

Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior:- great premise, just a crap job of implementing it, need I say more?

I'm sure there is a lot of others that I can say the same sort of thing about, but they're the ones that spring to mind.

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

Left 4 Dead 2, Crysis, Far Cry 2

Why do you list L4D2, and not L4D1, when they're the exact same game?

...Because they're not?

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

I'd have to go with Lair. There were some parts that were awesome to the max but unfortunately it just didn't stay that way.

 

[Fox242]

Haze and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. Haze had potential because of the "Nectar" factor while Turning Point showed some promise due to the unique setting and story. Too bad they sucked ass.

 

[Kagim]

SH: Home Coming.

If i was looking for an action oriented game play i would have to say its really good. I wanted to be creeped out and be disturbed though. That stupid puzzle that took an hour to solve is probably the biggest mood killer in the history of gaming.

SH: Shattered memories.

If it wasn't on the damn Wii. By the time i finished the game my elbows hurt like mad from flailing around like an idiot, that and the damn room that's pitch black. Everything else about the game was good. Especially the Easter eggs with the cell phone.

Fallout 3:

I liked it, yes, but it felt to much like Oblivion with a coat of paint. The shooting should have been tightened up. Enemies move around choppily at times and aiming at an enemy who is essentially floating at me is hard. I just find it odd i am a pretty good shot in Killzone 2 and Resistance but have such a hard time hitting anything in Fallout. Most importantly i really felt cheated when it seems as though i paid $60 for an Oblivion Mod.

White Knight:

The story line is awful so far for me. Maybe i blinked but why the hell does the main character instantly fall in love wit ha girl he JUST met. Why does the GIRL fall in love with a random kid she just met. Why is the dialogue good except for this stupid clunky romance that feels more roughly inserted then prison love? I want answers dammit!

Edit: I just noticed ZP did a review of SH:SM.... Crap i hope i didn't repeat anything he said... Ug...

 

[Rainheart]

Somehow most people here seemed to have played a different Mirror's Edge than I did. I will not set your treasured opinions on fire, but the game was not hard. It was pretty easy, even on hard mode. Though that may just be me by choosing the pussy option for playing on PC - which is not really an option for me. It was just too short and when the only complaint about a game is, that it is too short, that's not really a complaint. Stoked for the sequel!

Dragon Age: Awakening. It had nice characters, but almost no attachment to them, only hints of their greatness.
You could import your character, but your choices didn't matter. Maybe I am just used to the luxury of Mass Effect, but that's just stupid as they are both Bioware games, even if they are developed by different teams.

 

[Kagim]

SH: Shattered memories.

If it wasn't on the damn Wii. By the time i finished the game my elbows hurt like mad from flailing around like an idiot, that and the damn room that's pitch black. Everything else about the game was good. Especially the Easter eggs with the cell phone.

Try the PS2 version, like I soon will.

I would but i only buy games once. I don't really want to pay for the same game i already beat again.... It seems silly to me.

 

[Slaanax]

Brute Force

A squad based cooperative shooter where each player takes on a character with unique abilities. How you use those abilities to accomplish your mission is left up to you. Of course, it turned into a linear experience with seemingly endless weak drones and souped up bosses at the end of the level but the original idea was pretty nice.

I still had a ton of fun playing the game, for me though Force Unleashed could have been an amazing game, everything about the game was fun except for the whole story and the final 2 boss fights.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Left 4 Dead 2, Crysis, Far Cry 2

Why do you list L4D2, and not L4D1, when they're the exact same game?

...Because they're not?

They changed the atmosphere, story, and characters. None of that affects gameplay. They added three new special infected, which makes Shiva corner stacking more difficult, and therefore makes the game actually worth playing. They added finales that require you to do more than sit in a corner and fire.

None of this changes the game drastically.

 

[Silent Eagle]

Alone in the Dark has some good ideas. The control scheme for weapons was actually pretty good and the fire physics were awesome. It's they were all executed in the most horrible fashion.

I agree, Alone in the Dark had big potential, but there's so much horrible things in it. Some of it is summed up in the Alone in the Dark Unskippable [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/758-Alone-in-the-Dark].

Hell Yahtzee agrees with us,nuff' said