There are many reasons why a highly anticipated game will fail. It could be due to an outdated game engine, poor story telling, a toxic work environment, or a few unknown bugs. However when a game fails, it creates a learning experience for both the devlopers and the industry.
Then there are the moments when it was obvious the game was going to be a failure, and yet the development team was oblivious to the red flags. This is due to early criticism, poor source material or just an obvious bad ideas.
Here are five games that were obviously going to fail but the development team ignored the red flags.
5. 007 Legends
Back in 2012; Activision attempted to honor the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series by recreating several iconic films within the context of the Daniel Craig era. The premise is that following the events at the beginning of Skyfall, Bond is reflecting back on his legacy as told through recreating five “classic” films.
It appears that Activision had a loose definition of the word “classic” as 3/5th of the game was influenced by the worst Bond films ever. It was a given that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was going to be among the selections, but they had options when it came to picking a movie from the Sir Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan era. Hence, there should have been no reason why Moonraker and Die Another Day were selected.
The poor source material along with the same Call of Duty gameplay resulted in 007 Legends being panned by critics and gamers. Kind of sad, knowing that EA could make a better James Bond game than Activision.
4. Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil was the leader of the horror genre when the original established the foundations for the genre while Resident Evil 4 rebranded the series for a new generation. However, as the series progressed, the horror elements became lost which brings us to Resident Evil 6.
When gamers had a chance to play the demo, many were not that impressed. Several critics also felt the same and they shared these thoughts with their readers. The most common complaint was the title had completely abandoned its horror roots for a mindless action game with zombies. Sadly, they were right to warn us to not get this game.
Resident Evil 6 has been panned by both critics and gamers for being the worst game in the series for completely abandoning the survival horror genre. From a laughable plot (involving zombie terrorists) to a shoehorned multiplayer, this was one train wreck of a disaster that everyone but Capcom saw coming.
On the bright-side, the failure of Resident Evil 6 has pushed the series to go back to its survival horror roots. Resident Evil HD was the best selling digital download game of all time while Resident Evil 0 HD is coming in 2016 while a Resident Evil 2 is in the works thanks to popular demand.
3. Aliens: Colonial Marines
When Aliens: Colonial Marines was announced, many saw it as opportunity to continue one of the greatest stories in the context of gaming. The idea was brilliant, especially following the success of Aliens vs. Predator 2. However, that was back in 2001 and that game got canceled before Gearbox resurrected the project in 2006.
Following the disastrous release of Duke Nukem: Forever, gamers were quick to not get excited over a game that has been in development for almost a decade. However, the guys at Gearbox didn’t really learn their lesson when they decided to release another game that had been in development for almost a decade.
It’s funny how those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it and Aliens: Colonial Marines just made things worst for Gearbox and Sega. The games failure resulted in Gearbox being sued for false advertising while the Alien series almost became a toxic brand for gaming until Alien: Isolation saved it.
2. Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is the iconic neo-noir thriller from Quentin Tarantino about a group of criminals trying to figure out what happened following a botched diamond heist. After much debate and attempts at murdering each other, the crew suspects that one of them is an undercover cop. Because they had to use alias at all times, nobody could trust anyone.
Spoiler Alert: Mr. Orange is the cop, this is what happens when you don’t bother to watch an iconic film.
The film has been hailed as one of the greatest crime films on par with The Godfather saga and Goodfellas while being recognized as one of the most iconic Indie films of the ’90s. Despite its gritty tone and influence on pop-culture, Reservoir Dogs isn’t a movie that could have been made into a game.
Reservoir Dogs the game is a third-person shooter that adds to the story by focusing on moments that characters only talked about in the film. Oh, and Michael Madsen was the only member of the original cast to return.
The game was panned by critics, gamers and fans of the series for adding nothing unique to one of the greatest crime films. Kind of hard to make a third person shooter based on a film known mostly for its dialogue and a torture scene.
1. Dino Crisis 3
Following the success of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami attempted to redefine the survival horror genre with Dino Crisis for the PlayStation. The game was a hit and it was followed by the more successful Dino Crisis 2. The series had promise, and Capcom would have had another horror franchise, but then Dino Crisis 3 happened.
It appeared that Capcom attempted to make a hit game by mimicking the success of the ’80s film, Predator. The project started off as a joke about Rocky Balboa fighting a space alien but after it was actually approved, several edits had to made like having the premises crafted into a real story. The result was one of the most iconic Sci-Fi films along with another memorable classic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Capcom decided to do the same thing with the joke about “Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs in Space,” only somebody forgot to edit out the joke part. Instead, they took the joke then shoehorn the premises of Event Horizon followed by adding HAL 9000 that has a legion of mutant dinosaurs and somehow it got approved as a game.
To no surprise, Dino Crisis 3 was panned by both critics and gamers while having effectively killed the series. There had been some talks of resurrecting the series, but so far Capcom has showed no real interest.
What game did you think was going to be an obvious failure? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
