Any endeavor, regardless of how successful or popular it is, will still have its faults….it’s “weak spots”, if you will. Even the mighty PlayStation 4, which has given us so much in a relatively short space of time where gaming is concerned, has generated its fair share of disappointments. The point of this article isn’t to dwell on these letdowns or shame their developers into stepping up their game (pun intended), but to perhaps help consumers who are budget conscious to make more informed decisions. Also, perhaps this will provide a bit of a release for those who have had to deal with various disappointments first hand. Anyhow, without further ado, here are the most disappointing PS4 games of 2014 presented in no particular order…
(Note* also keep in mind that the term “disappointing” is only applied to the following games because they seem to be frequent targets by many current gamers, not everyone feels the same way, obviously. Many other, in fact, are probably enjoying them)…
Destiny
You’ll find a fair amount of people bashing this title to pieces while many others will readily stand to defend it, considering it is nothing short of a triumph and the introduction of a great, new IP with loads of potential. On its face though, many out there were severely disappointed by what they ended up with, perhaps they were picturing a much more vast, varied and open experience? Nevertheless, when you consider the extreme amount of hype that led up to the release of “Destiny” and then check that against all the negative press, clearly it was a bit of a disappointment for more than a few.
Keep in mind though; this isn’t any sort of critical analysis of the product itself, more an illumination of public thought and reaction than anything else. Still, disappointment rings simply because there is contention out there. Clearly, many had way too grandiose ambitions for this one, perhaps imagining it as some sort of Minecraft + Call of Duty meets Halo mashup allowing for real-time traversal of multiple worlds and space. While it certainly falls short of those kinds of ambitions we must take into consideration what it DOES do well, and there are plenty of things to add to THAT list.
Driveclub
Evolution Studios’ “Driveclub” has also been vehemently slandered by a contingent of folks who really took the publisher’s hype and let it run wild with their imaginations. Those who have a grounded sense of what’s possible in video gaming probably knew that Driveclub would end up being a really decent racer with some unique features, but with various release set-backs and constant promotion touting all sorts of new “social features” it was still tough not to contemplate something groundbreaking with this title. As it stands the game is doing quite well, selling its fair share of copies and basically providing the social platform for the “car culture” that it said it would. Nevertheless, that does little to quell the denizens who are left feeling stranded, dejected and disappointed by what the game turned out to be. Chalk this one up to more over-hyped advertising.
The Evil Within
Taken as a whole, “The Evil Within” is really a wonderful horror game that blends together a number of different mechanics from other emergent titles in a somewhat fresh way, merging all of that with awesome visuals and a disturbing story. The problem of course is that it ended up leaving a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Without adding spoilers let’s just say that many might not have found the game’ conclusions to be adequately satisfying and that the association with the fabled Resident Evil series might have actually ended up hurting it in one or more ways. For instance, people really expected this to be an amazing return for Shinji Mikami, and it is….sort of. But again, because advertisers often promise the world to consumers and fans a lot of the surprise and enthusiasm tends to quickly diminish when you’re actively searching for scares, as it were.
Watch Dogs
Just sticking this on the list is disheartening, partially because everyone had such high hopes for “Watch Dogs”. At first it seemed like a contender capable of taking down or challenging GTA for the sandbox title. Of course, GTA V laid any such considerations to rest rather quickly and subsequently drew attention away from the many things which Watch Dogs managed to do well. All in all, the disappointment here comes from misdirection and competition, with a bit of overhype and Ubisoft recycling further contributing to its downfall. Now, don’t take this to mean that the game is bad, broken or otherwise faulty, because it really isn’t. The “problem” with it is that people were expecting something with more meat to dig into, a more vibrant and dynamic experience that transcended mere satisfaction to become a “classic”. We were left with yet another decent sandbox, which was for many, a disappointment given their expectations.