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5 games that tried so hard and failed so miserably to be original
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Written by: random dave
This list isn't just about games that couldn't quite clinch originality: there are plenty examples of that, Haze, Call of Duty 3 and Dynasty Warriors V to name but a few. This is, if you like, a medal for 'trying your best'. These games have all attempted so hard to be original, and just, for some reason, failed. It's the award you got in primary school for taking part in the race even though you were 5 stone heavier than the next fattest person in your class, and subsequently suffering a stroke as a result of which. (Was that metaphor in bad taste?)
5th game
that tried its best to be original
Perfect Dark Zero
Oh it could have been so good. Everything was going well for it, it had the background of an amazing shooter to support it, it had the Rare support, it even had a hot woman protagonist. Where did it all go wrong for Rare's blunt sharp-shooter? For its sins, it introduced a cover system, a rolling about button and came up with a variety of different weapons in order to ensure that this game would be the perfect one to launch the 360. But, the gameplay, 360 buyers soon found out, only had the longetivity it did because there was nothing else to play. But as soon as the next decently popularised game came out, everyone raced at lightning speed to their disk drives and, gingerly, hit 'eject'.
So what was it that failed PDZ in its efforts? The storyline, for one, was when you strip it down, pretty basic, and not original at all, but that wasn't so much of a problem, except it presented itself as primarily a multiplayer game. However, the multiplayer was boring: the vehicles were too exciting and too exotic, despite how original they were meant to be. The maps were frigid at best, and lacked colour and flare. And maybe, there was one thing that was out of Rare's control. Because PDZ was the game to be released with the 360, it meant that everyone had imbued all of the spirit and anticipation of the 360 into Perfect Dark. And of course, when Perfect Dark was mediocre at best, it was just a let down for, possibly the highest anticipated game to date, with the exception of our number one spot.
4th game that tried its best to be original
Rainbow Six 4
Rainbow Six 3 had possibly the most playability of any Xbox game on XBL. I played it for hours and hours, days on days on end. I finally put it down in exchange for Halo 2, but despite this, it still holds a special place in my heart. And so, I wrongly suspected, should Rainbow Six 4. RS4 had a playability span akin to that of a velociraptor. Despite introducing a truly innovative character modification system, and updating the graphics on RS3. It also had a moderately interesting and unused story, which you expect from a Tom Clancy game.
And yet, it was one of my least played games, bar one, which comes up next. Why was this? Well, firstly, the maps were unbelievably dull. I only played three or four, and most of those I was forced to, there was only one that I really liked... and even then, one spawn was superior to the other. But essentially, the game play was the same as Rainbow Six 3, no significant changes in interface or combat systems--and what wasn't in RS3 wasn't any good anyway. When the game's worse than its predecessor, you automatically ask: "Why the fuck am I playing this game?" And when you ask that question, you know its time to consign the disc to its case on a dusty shelf.
3rd game that tried its best to be original
Star Wars Battlefront 2
I played this game for maybe 3 hours, before never playing it again. I didn't immediately jump out of my skin for dislike, I was just shocked at how so much new stuff could actually make the game seem more like its ancestor than were they to keep the game exactly the same. Battlefront the original was an amazingly decent 'Battlefield'-like game. Battlefront had absolutely no problem in maintaining its individuality from the Battlefield series that it borrowed so heavily from. Its success in this can be attributed partly to the fact that it's set 'a long tim
e ago, in a galazy far, far away'. But Battlefront 2, as the developers clearly realised, was going to have to be majorly different in order to distinguish itself. A set of new maps and a couple of extra classes was not going to do it.
So they made a big fuss about updating the system, adding 'Heroes', changing the gameplay so some of it was in space, adding many new vehicles, and creating a respectable amount of new maps with structural and tactical design to enable 'crunch' zones and lax zones. I feel so sorry for this game, because it should have been an incredible success. And its a mystery to me, because I know that many reviews score this highly, as would any gamer reviewing this independently of the gaming world. But the fact remains that, even after trying so hard to be individual to Battlefront, Battlefront 2 was an extremely short lived game, that, in the main, died not long after I was done with it.
2nd game that tried its best to be original
Project Gotham Racing 4
This was, for all intents and purposes, a very good game. But it lacked its own separated state of respect. PGR 4 was, unlike PGR 3, always referred to as PGR. It just didn't exist separately from the Project Gotham Universe. This was a shame, because PGR 4 brought in many new things that PGR 3 didn't have: the calendar system of races for one. And in this sense, it had a great amount of innovations, but... it was still just PGR. It never stood out as a great racing game, it lacked just that little bit more to push it over the edge. PGR 3 on the other hand has this edge, but, when we went to PGR 4, it had all the same cars as PGR 3, with only a few new additions. Of course, I understand, they're not going to be able to add 150 new cars in the space of a year: new models aren't released that quickly. But, between PGR 2 and PGR 3, sufficient new models were released to allow PGR 3 to assume the title: new.
Everyone wanted to like PGR 4 because it was such a large franchise, and one of the cornerstones of the name 'Xbox'. However, I think, despite the addition of motorcyles, it was difficult for many people to say "This is an outstanding game", like they could with PGR 3. So, here, the PGR series have taken a backstep, despite taking a step forward in originality.
1st game that tried its best to be original
Halo 3
What a shame. Such a shame that this was not the game it should have been. It was a great game, for maybe a month, and then, even after that, had good replay value. But it should have been what CoD 4 later turned out to be. Halo 2 set it up for great multiplayer, and of course, the original Halo would have it have great single player. And it had both of these. But really, it felt like that was all they had done, taken Halo and Halo 2 and packaged them in the same cellophane.
This wasn't through lack of trying, though, the rank system and various new items, such as the flare, should have set this game up to being completely original. But it always felt as if they could have been released as a separate add-on for Halo 2. There was no key, fundamental change in the game to make it seem like Halo 3. It always just felt like Halo 2.5.
Labels: Original
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