Looking at the year as a whole, I think it’s pretty fair to say that it may, to many, feel more than a little underwhelming. The more I think about it though, on the positive side of things, we haven’t had too many terrible games. We have, however, perhaps had way too much mediocrity and disappointment.
Still, early 2019 is shaping up to be great, so that’s at least something to be grateful for. In the meantime though, let’s look at what I consider to be the five worst games of 2018!
I must start with what is going to be a pretty obvious one, but I do so with more than a little protest. You see, I’m actually something in the minority here as I actually rather like Fallout 76. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the game has it’s problems hence why I’ve included it on here, but I think on the whole my inclusion of this game is more to do with the clearly half-assed effort Bethesda put into it.
It’s already been revealed that Bethesda recycled code from Fallout 4 and Skyrim for this. In itself, that’s not surprising (or, indeed, uncommon), but when they didn’t even go to the effort to hide it though? That’s pretty bad. I’ll give you a quick example, the ‘Scorchbeast Queen’ is actually a re-skinned Skyrim dragon. In the code, it is 100% referred to as a dragon.
On the whole, Fallout 76 is on the list for two reasons. Firstly, because it was clearly rushed out the door and spoiled what could (and in fairness still can) be a great concept. In addition, even by Bethesda standards, this game is pretty clunky to play.
The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree that Fallout 76 and Metal Gear Survive are generally similar games. Of course, in gameplay, they both play very differently think of them both, however, in terms of release and reception.
Both games are the latest release from a much-loved franchise, in addition, both saw relatively unexpected releases this year. The similarities do not end there though, both games were also found to largely be re-packaging of existing work and certainly on launch were received by the community as being rushed half-baked concepts. Who can, of course, forget that initially, Konami made additional character slots in Metal Gear Survive part of a paywall!
The sad thing is that Metal Gear Survive today, is actually pretty decent and I hope Fallout 76 will get there one day too. In terms of public perception though, the damage is done for this game. Whatever fixes have been applied all came too late the save what could have been an interesting (if relatively uninspiring) new direction for the franchise.
I am a pretty huge fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise. As such, I was absolutely thrilled to hear that a brand new game would be coming out at the start of this year. When it landed though, I frankly wish that KOEI Tecmo hadn’t bothered. The game was terrible and I’m not just talking about the PC version either.
Both the PS4 and PC version (both or which I played) was a grim affair. Dull graphics, low framerates and ugly scenery. This was not the Dynasty Warriors I knew and loved! Subsequent patches have helped, but the same is still a rather unattractive affair. At best, the patches have simply turned this release into a pig in makeup.
This should (and could) have been my favourite game of the year. Instead, it’s my bitterest disappointment!
We again find ourselves in familiar themes as a Secret of Mana remake was, for a time, top of many peoples wishlist. When it finally came earlier this year, like DW9, many of us simply wished that they hadn’t bothered. In fairness, it wasn’t outright awful and I think that more of the more even-headed fans could at least see it from that perspective.
When you decide, however, to remake a game as beloved as this though, standards from fans are clearly going to be high and what did Square Enix do? That somehow managed to make it less impressive! Of course, the small matter of this simply being a port of the mobile version didn’t help.
Again, later patches and updates have fixed some of the initial damage and the remake is still worth playing. The Secret of Mana was, however, a lesson to Square Enix that they needed to stop pumping out these games to turn over a quick profit.
I’m probably going to get a lot of criticism for mentioning this game because, in its current state, it’s actually a lot of fun. In fact, on launch, it was a lot of fun. For most players though, within 2-3 days of release, something became horrendously apparent. Namely, that while what we had was fun, there wasn’t a lot of it.
At the time I described the game of providing 10 minutes of amazing excitement followed by 50 minutes of monotonous boredom. Even despite the DLC, I still stand by that, albeit it’s perhaps a 30/30 split now.
So, my inclusion for this game on release is more of a criticism of the state in which it was released. Like it or not, Sea of Thieves was early-access disguised as a full release and the lack of content put many people off this franchise. For that reason alone, this game makes my list.
I couldn’t finish off this list without giving Final Fantasy XV a mention. While some of you might be questioning the inclusion, remember that 2018 saw the release of the PC version and it’s that which I’m criticising here. Now, on the positive side of things, the game looked absolutely fantastic on launch and in terms of glitches and bugs, was also pretty decent. There was, however, one major problem. Namely, it carried over practically every flaw that the console version had too.
The plot is bad and rushed and the ‘Windows Edition’ did nothing to help that.
What does, however, tip the scales is the cancellation of 3 of 4 planned DLC packs for 2019. Many of us were hoping that with the DLC, things would’ve been better. The plot might have been filled out a little and the last 3rd of the game may not have felt so horrifically rushed.
Well, that’s not happened. Square Enix has pulled the plug on all but 1 of them and has essentially completed all work for the game. It is, what it is, in it’s current state, like it or not!
This should’ve been one of the greatest games ever to release on PC. Instead, it’s thoroughly mediocre. How sad is that?
What was the worth game you played in 2018? Has Mike missed any major gaming turds off the list? – Let us know in the comments!
Mikes is a miserable sod at the best of times and may not necessarily be experiencing the love and forgiveness of the Christmas Season – As such, please note that Mikes Rant is an opinion piece and we at eTeknix as a whole may not (and probably don’t) agree with him!
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