What games that were bad that you saw potential in?

[llew]

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. I wanted so much to like this game, but the developers spent way too much time focusing on minute details for "authenticity" (like setting speakers up next to tanks to get the exact sound) and not enough time on basic mechanics.

The biggest problem I had was the squad. To have a good squad based game you need one of two things: Good AI or Good Commands. Dragon Rising had neither.

Firstly, the command radial (why do they have a command radial on the PC version??) was horrible. If it doesn't pause the action at least give us a way to go back if we make a mistake. It was way too easy to select the wrong sub-menu in the thick of battle, and if you did the only way to go back was to close the menu and reopen it. That's just poor design.

Also, I liked being able to order a flank, or ROE, but I couldn't order them to go to a specific spot. Sure I could order them to a general area, but they'd always move.
I have two examples. In the first one, my squad was protecting a town from an enemy assault. Thinking tactically, I figured it would be better if my squad took cover inside the buildings. They refused. Every time I gave them an order to move inside the house, they'd make a perimeter instead.

In the second example, I ordered them behind a wall to my left, only to look a couple seconds later to see that they had taken cover on my right instead.

On the wrong side of the wall.

It seems like the devs were counting on the AI making up for poor commands, but the AI is so terrible that it reaches comic levels. What finally turned me off the game and made me sell my copy was the fact that the AI wouldn't register if you were in front of them. I was blown up four times in a single weekend. Three were when the AI shot a rocket at a tank with me standing in the way, and one time they bounced a frag grenade off my head and landed it at my feet.

It's a shame too, because the game had enormous potential. It just couldn't live up to it, and the fault is entirely with the developers.

thats exactly what i thought was wrong with it!

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Fable 2 could have been so much better if they had focused less on graphics and more on what made the first one so much fun.

And seriously? That final boss fight was a joke.

 

[CoverYourHead]

Farcry 2.

Prototype - I still like it, but it could've been better.

Tenchu Z.

 

[Booze Zombie]

*Sniffle* Mercenaries 2...
WHY?!
I wanted you to be good!

 

[KitAlexHarrison]

I think that Aliens Vs. Predator definitely had a lot of potential, and that can be seen in feint glimmers in the Alien campaign.

 

[Noxshadow]

Dark Void is one of those games that is really good, but it's just too short. If they would release some more levels. The two Horde-style levels they released were nice, but they whole draw of the game was the interplay between the jet gameplay and they third-person cover-based shooting. The problem with the "Survivor" missions was that there were two; one focused on ground-based shooting, and they other was focused on dogfighting. No overlap. I really want to see something akin to Alone in the Dark's Inferno Edition, where they fix everything up a little. How about the "Watcher Edition"?
The game had a solid (If not wholly original) basis for it's gameplay, but it just needed MOAR content.

 

[Kingemoney]

I'm going to say Evil Genius. It was a damn fun game with a lot of clever elements, but (my version at least) was so riddled with bugs it was damn near unplayable.

 

[Noxshadow]

Also, Fable II.
I feel sorry for Peter Molyneux. He just can't keep his mouth shut. Fable 2 was defiantly a step forward, but the more you include, the more glaring it is what you've left out.
"Oh, pistols and one-handed weapons? Where is the duel wielding?"
"We can dye out clothes? Why is pulling teeth easier that trying to get the right colors?"
"A dog? Why can't I select the breed?"
And so on and so forth.

 

[Doitpow]

Oh gods above Project Nomads

The greatest concept ever attempted in gaming.

 

[Legion IV]

Mass Effect 2.

 

[I_AM_BATMAN]

STALKER: Clear Sky

This game have so much potential!

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Jurassic Park: Trespasser.

If only it was done right it could have been the best game EVER!

 

[Ironsouled]

Any and every Bond game. epic because its bnd... but any of em could be massively improved.

 

[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?

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.

I agree that none of it changes the game drastically. That's why I thought it was bad sequel. But you just listed several things they did change, which kind of disproves your own original claim.

 

[OutcastBOS]

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.

I agree with this. If you don't have the violence, It's not an MK game /joke I agree that a Marvel vs DC would be cool, and an MK vs. Marvel would be even better, they probably wouldn't have a problem with the violence-see ultimate or zombies timelines. hmm...Goro or Juggernaut?

 

[blaze2142]

Legendary.
It could have been so much better.

 

[NyteRaven]

Any and every Bond game. epic because its bnd... but any of em could be massively improved.

Largely, I agree, but improve Goldeneye 007??? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

 

[WorldCritic]

Star Wars The Force Unleashed, as much as I hate on it I really did see potential. You know after I got past the crap controls and horrible graphics on the Wii version.

 

[CowboyfromHell666]

The Force Unleashed. So much potential destroyed by a shitty plot, shoddy and uninventive gameplay, cruddy visuals, a retarded camera and the unmistakeable general whiff of Lucas about it. Also the lack of a duel mode on the 360.

Remember in that one trailer that it showed the Apprentice bringing down a whole Star Destroyer? From what I heard, when you actually do so in game, that it wasn't as good as it seemed. I never got it after I heard some not so good reviews.