The Misses of 2015

As we count down the days until 2016, let’s take a look at some of the big “misses” of 2015. These games were highly hyped, and were outright stinkers, or just plain failed to live up to the hype.

Battlefield: Hardline was an attempt by Electronic Arts to expand the genre of Battlefield games by adding a new twist, cops vs robbers. However, while it got mixed to popular reviews, gameplayers panned it for a buggy release and limited maps. They failed to take the “Shoot Cops” genre away from Payday 2, which is a surprise, considering that game’s age.

Speaking of Payday 2, they get the “most negative hype about a product that failed to derail a successful game.” award. They tried to cash in on the customizable weapons craze by offering safes and drills that folks could either pay for or a random drop from a successful mission (the odds of which were increased as a result of the outcry). However, there was a large vocal part of the fanbase who saw this as a betrayal from the previous director’s pledge of no microtransactions, and basically led a two week storming of the castle. While in the end, it was a tempest in a teacup and the game looks to continue strongly with new missions, maps and characters, there is now a small part of the fanbase who will scream their head off anytime Overkill Software does anything goes forward.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5. This was a bigger turkey then 99% of the ones on Thanksgiving tables around America in November. A cash grab to try to play on a popular series one more time before their licensing deal with Tony Hawk expired, it was roundly panned, and quite possibly was the worst major release of the year.

EVOLVE: This game is another one that basically lost out to the DLC=Evil view point. They promised the moon and stars, and had a really interesting idea (a game of hide and seek where the hunters try to bring down the monster before it gets too big and troublesome, while the monster tried to elude the hunters, and eat local wildlife to grow and destroy the hunters and their camp. However, the large playerbase didn’t stick around for the DLC to come out, and you can barely find a game now.

The Order: 1886 was Sony’s big release for the Playstation 4, and no one can deny that the game is visually stunning. Unfortunately, no one can also deny the fact that it was super short (8+ hours tops) and the game play wasn’t anything to crow about. Definitely a swing and a miss for Sony.

Batman: Arkham City. It’s hard to say what went wrong here, besides just about everything. When you actually have to STOP SELLING a game because it’s too buggy to be played on PC’s.. and then have to try to release it months later and STILL have some bugs.. just mind boggling. I think that Rocksteady really dropped the ball here.

There’s a few that you could be either way (Fallout 4, Battlefield:Star Wars, MGS 5.. although Konami’s actions this year made me want to punch them in the jimmies so many times, I might start using it as a rating scale. For example, their treatment of star game creator Hideo Kojima, cutting his funding mid cycle, then firing him and even barring him from attending award shows.. that’s the 10 on the Jimmies Punches scale)