Editorials

The “Disappointing Game of the Year 2010” Article

December 29, 2010, Author: The TIMJ Team

Like a lot of sci-fi nerds, I grew up on Star Wars. I’ve watched each of the movies more times than I can count and I’ve read enough wikis to know what the ‘Rule of One’ is. The Force Unleashed II was definitely among my most anticipated games of 2010 but it ultimately became my biggest disappointment this year.

I believe the key to any successful sequel is to build on things that were enjoyable about the previous work while also addressing its biggest issues. The various issues which marred the original’s potential were barely pinpointed, let alone addressed in Force Unleashed II. The story lacked so much direction that plot points just spontaneously manifest themselves into play. Some of the well-known characters in the series have barely significant roles and the inclusion of Yoda and Boba Fett was just desperately pointless. To think, in 2010 a game developer would create a level purely for fan service and literally nothing else is the highest of insults.

Truthfully speaking, I expect Lucas Arts to abandon the franchise altogether. As grim as that may sound they’d be doing themselves and this once-great universe a favour. That said, if there is to be a third Force Unleashed, they must do something they’re not exactly renowned for; listen to the fans. There are those who care about these games and honestly who better to seek advice from than those playing them? Even then there would still be a lot to do in erasing the not-very-pleasant memory that was The Force Unleashed II.

Runners up: Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, FIFA 11.

I have been conflicted between WoW: Cataclysm and Kinect for this dubious honor, but Kinect wasn’t really that much of a disappointment, because I was fully expecting it to be a piss-poor experience wrapped around horrible, mind-numbing games.

Blizzard painted Cataclysm as a big innovation to the world of Warcraft and I was foolish enough to reactivate my old and dusty account to check. The whole “innovation” is just a new coat of paint to hide the same old mechanics and the same old gameplay that we found for several years in WoW, in all the WoW clones, and in all the games from which WoW copied.

It’s a sad realization, for me, that a software house that I used to respect a lot (Blizzard), has now become the biggest obstacle on the way of innovation for a genre that has now become completely stagnant. With the few innovative games being fought tooth and nail both by Blizzard themselves and by their army of fans that have been carefully trained to be unable to accept any kind of evolution that strays from the trite WoW mold.

Luckily there are alternatives out there, but the sole existence of WoW and its massive inertia makes their road to success twice as hard and slippery as it could and should be.

Runners up: Kinect, All Dragon Age DLC.

I’m pretty much a positive game reviewer; no matter what game I play I try to find some good points. Unfortunately, this plan doesn’t protect me from the horrors of disappointment.

This year’s main disappointment is unfortunately Fable III. It’s not a bad game, it’s just that so many features were cut out in order to streamline and make the game even more approachable. The features cut remove so much of the charm that Fable 2 had. Take for example the expression system; rather than it being a way of drawing a crowd and making you feel awesome when you are surrounded by fans, all the interactions are now limited to one-on-one. You just feel less like a hero.

The other issue has to be the UI; beautiful to look at but it’s so impractical to use. Any RPG where the quest log is around five button presses is making a huge mistake. Also the plot is a little bit generic after a certain point. Such a shame considering just how good the voice acting is (from Simon Pegg, Michael Fassbender and Steven Fry especially) and the concept behind it all. Was expecting more based on how much I enjoyed the last Fable game.

Runners up: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Rulers of Nations: Geopolitical Simulator 2.

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