Flawed games that could have been great?

[jfrost]

Mirror's Edge, guess everyone would agree. The game has promise, a cool-looking style, even a well thought of system of signaling your path to you... It's just that the game is so poorly executed a lot of times. Combat is underwhelming, there are some QTEs that no one could see coming and sometimes it's not even obvious where you have to jump.

The game could've been way better if they took the time to iron out these flaws. However, it's hard to think that they'll get another chance.

[Curlypaul]

While it's by no means a broken game, Ecco the Dolphin is an experience marred by its outrageous difficulty. I don't mind the often confusing puzzles, because they make me feel lost and alone in its world which is a sensation that really only Metroid and Ecco were able to offer in the 16-bit era... but it gets to a point where you know what to do, but the inordinate difficulty of actually commandeering Ecco through the nightmarish onslaught of death makes it an often infuriating affair to actually to see the puzzle to completion. This really detracts from what is otherwise an incredibly atmospheric and engrossing experience -- it just distracts you from Ecco's biggest strengths as an experience and a work of art. The atmosphere of Ecco is the incentive to play, not the obscene difficulty... had it struck a balance between feeling like a smoothly progressing experience and creating an overwhelming sensation of being lost in an alien (figuratively and sometimes literally) world, it would have been a complete success in all categories. Still, I've always found it more than worth it to put up with its flaws because I don't think any game surpassed it in that era in terms of sheer thickness of atmosphere, but what I find to be a subjectively a near-masterpiece turned out to be objectively so-so.

I remember my sneery mate coming round and he walked in to find me playing Ecco - "What you playing that for?" he said "Thats a giiiiiirls game"

Obviously he never actually played and it and assumed that because it had a dolphin in it, it must be easy. How wrong he is!

[J T]

I wish Mirror's Edge and Zeno Clash didn't have shooting elements. They worked well as a parkour game and first person beat em up respectively.

Zone of the Enders 1 was great to play, but the main character was annoying and the storyline was full of holes with an ending that felt like the game just sort of stopped for no reason.

[Gamerforlife]

I think he was talking about silly gameplay mechanics that ruined an otherwise great game.

Hm, for me it's the single player part of the COD series. The scripted events the designers think of are a blast to play, but I hate that there are endlessly respawning enemies, and you just have to rush through to move on. In FPS games I always loved to find a strategic spot and take out the enemies one by one, with as little damage as possible. As you understand that is impossible to do with cod.

This is why I dislike a lot of shooters, doesn't seem like real strategy matters. Gameplay seems to focus more on how much damage you can take before you have to grab a health pack or take cover and recharge your shields. It's like they are just games of attrition. Also, I generally hate ALL types of enemy respawns in any genre with only a few exceptions. Aside from it being annoying, I like carving a path of destruction through a game and seeing the carnage left in my wake. You can't experience that in games that respawn enemies.

One game I was recently dissapointed with is Enslaved. I've been harsh in my criticism of it, saying it sucks. It's not really a bad game though, they just didn't do certain things the way they should have in my opinion. The platforming is too forced. You can't make jumps unless the game wants you do, which gives the controls an odd feeling and also makes the platforming not feel like any real skill or observational ability is required at all. Also, the co-operative gameplay that was the game's real hook for me becomes less and less important as the game goes on as Monkey basically goes about doing everything himself, which usually involves killing lots of stuff in repetitive combat and engaging in lots of "hold my hand" platforming. Plus, the story, which had so much potential, doesn't make use of any of it and even makes some horrible missteps. I was hoping for Enslaved to be something special, and in all fairness it doesn't suck, despite what I've said in other threads, but it does dissapoint. Oh well, if nothing else, it deserves props for trying something different and I'll also gives props to both it and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for being among the few games I've played that actually do achievements/trophies right(and they don't f**ing lock your damn save files like a lot of other games do these days to prevent players from "stealing" other players achievements)

Mirror's Edge, guess everyone would agree. The game has promise, a cool-looking style, even a well thought of system of signaling your path to you... It's just that the game is so poorly executed a lot of times. Combat is underwhelming, there are some QTEs that no one could see coming and sometimes it's not even obvious where you have to jump.

The game could've been way better if they took the time to iron out these flaws. However, it's hard to think that they'll get another chance.

Good points, I'll still respect the game for what it tried to do though, and all in all, it's really not that bad of a game even with those flaws. Though, I never actually finished it though, maybe something I should try sometime this year

I wish Mirror's Edge and Zeno Clash didn't have shooting elements. They worked well as a parkour game and first person beat em up respectively.

Zone of the Enders 1 was great to play, but the main character was annoying and the storyline was full of holes with an ending that felt like the game just sort of stopped for no reason.

What you said about Mirror's Edge and Zeno Clash is a problem with modern gaming. Too much genre mixing. It works in some games, but can be annoying in others. I miss PURE games that just focus on one thing. Fortunately, we can still sometimes find games like that on download services like Xbox Live Arcade or in the indie game scene

Have you tried Zone of the Ender 2? I never finished the first one, sort of lost interest in it, but I LOVED the second one

[J T]

I wish Mirror's Edge and Zeno Clash didn't have shooting elements. They worked well as a parkour game and first person beat em up respectively.

Zone of the Enders 1 was great to play, but the main character was annoying and the storyline was full of holes with an ending that felt like the game just sort of stopped for no reason.

What you said about Mirror's Edge and Zeno Clash is a problem with modern gaming. Too much genre mixing. It works in some games, but can be annoying in others. I miss PURE games that just focus on one thing. Fortunately, we can still sometimes find games like that on download services like Xbox Live Arcade or in the indie game scene

Have you tried Zone of the Ender 2? I never finished the first one, sort of lost interest in it, but I LOVED the second one

Yes, I like the indie games that really fully explore a single game mechanic as well, like Braid Super Meat Boy, or VVVVVV. I'm not against genre blending though, I just think that those games had something unique and the shooting segments just felt weak and unnecessary.

And I love Zone of the Enders 2. It's one of my favorites. I also like the first one and have played through it a few times, I just feel that it was kind of sloppy and unfinished.

[Original_Name]

While it's by no means a broken game, Ecco the Dolphin is an experience marred by its outrageous difficulty. I don't mind the often confusing puzzles, because they make me feel lost and alone in its world which is a sensation that really only Metroid and Ecco were able to offer in the 16-bit era... but it gets to a point where you know what to do, but the inordinate difficulty of actually commandeering Ecco through the nightmarish onslaught of death makes it an often infuriating affair to actually to see the puzzle to completion. This really detracts from what is otherwise an incredibly atmospheric and engrossing experience -- it just distracts you from Ecco's biggest strengths as an experience and a work of art. The atmosphere of Ecco is the incentive to play, not the obscene difficulty... had it struck a balance between feeling like a smoothly progressing experience and creating an overwhelming sensation of being lost in an alien (figuratively and sometimes literally) world, it would have been a complete success in all categories. Still, I've always found it more than worth it to put up with its flaws because I don't think any game surpassed it in that era in terms of sheer thickness of atmosphere, but what I find to be a subjectively a near-masterpiece turned out to be objectively so-so.

I remember my sneery mate coming round and he walked in to find me playing Ecco - "What you playing that for?" he said "Thats a giiiiiirls game"

Obviously he never actually played and it and assumed that because it had a dolphin in it, it must be easy. How wrong he is!

Hahahaha, someone said that to me once almost verbatim, and I sat him down, punched "NNNNNNNN" into the password screen, and had him play "Welcome to the Machine". Problem solved.

I'm glad it isn't just a meaningless game about dolphins having happy fun time, and the challenge does put a few hairs on my chest when I talk to my friends about that "dolphin game" I've been playing, but it would have been so nice if they had just strategically placed enemies in creepy places in those deep winding labyrinths in order to built an even greater sense of fear and tension to go along with that claustrophobia rather than being a frustrating bombardment of countless embodiments of death trying to chomp, bash, shock, or squish you to death.

[BananaXX]

Blacklight: Tango Down, takes me 5 minutes + to find a game, and when I get in one I realize why it takes so long to find anyone to play with, terrible to play lol. But this game oozes with atmosphere.

Thats the only game I can think of at the moment.

[Bradtemple87]

I wish Mirror's Edge didn't have shooting elements.

Agreed, I think it stood very well on the platforming foundation.

[GigaPepsiMan]

Sonic Unleashed is an obvious answer, why that gimmick? I don't know. I'll be fair the wii version did the werehog justice but the ps360 versions made it unbareable.

[brainofjtd]

Final Fantasy XIII. I liked the story... once I got through the 30 hour prologue. Sometimes GETTING TO THE POINT is the best option.

Castlevania II: SImon's Quest. Too much cryptic b.s. and if the actual fight against Dracula in Castlevania was any indication, friggin' game wasnt even done yet.