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- kinesis8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+48No Daikatana?
I could have sworn John Romero said something about making us his bitch... lol - MechaZain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25One could argue that you simply need to put "PETER MOLYNEUX" and the list is finished. That being said, if you look past Molyneux's delusions of grandeur you'll realize that his games thus far have been really good.
- nklnch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25I agree with all of these. They all built up widespread expectations and failed to deliver. Some of these sold well, but all were widely regarded as disappointments.
One big one that you missed: Drv3r. People really expected a GTA comptetitor and it was just awful in every way. - goosnargh, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25Black & White. That was hyped waaaay more than Fable and now everyone seems to have forgotten about it.
No idea what Blinx is doing in that list, I barely even know what that game is. - trivialmaggot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Blinx was hyped?
- SurrealDream, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Yeah, first thing I thought of when I read this title was "Daikatana"
..."Suck It Down"...lol, how delightfully cheesy.
EDIT : I totally agree about "Killzone" though. - BugMeNot2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19@kinser
"[Halo 2] is still better than all fps games out there currently despite it's problems."
You're kidding, right? - terminalpariah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18"It [Halo 2] is still better than all fps games out there currently despite it's problems."
No, it's... really not. It's very good, and happens to be Xbox Live's killer app, but it's not the best FPS ever. - ajb2015, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16They left out the part about Fable being only 10 hours long. I beat the game in about three sittings. Huge letdown.
- Ocelot13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15what is Perfect Dark Zero?
remember how it was suppose to be so f'ing good but turned out to be crap? - phej, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12God, "Enter the Matrix" was just plain horrible. It had such potential but it just sucked so hard as did "The Path of Neo", imho.
Sidenote, I hate websites that split up their content to two or three pages so they can get more AdSense impressions and possible clicks. Thank God for "print article" button. - JDoorjam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11See, I was a huge fan of Fable, and played it through several times, but I had only even heard of it a year or so after it came out and so was completely oblivious to the game's hype and disappointment. I'm glad that instead of feeling like promises had been made and broken, I simply got to play a solid (if short) game.
- Klitzy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Uh...How about Brute Force?
- cheez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11red steel was a very much hyped game that turned out absolutely horrible. not sure if it belongs on this list, but still up there.
- herrshuster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I loved Fable, (The Lost Chapters)
so screw all ya'll - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I thought this was about the Hype Machine (http://hype.non-standard.net/)
- Phil246, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11off topic but i really hate sites which split articles over multiple pages just so you have to click to get another page ( and some more ads while you are at it )
Theres no excuse for doing it online - Fair enough with print you have to span it over multiple pages because pages dont scroll - but browser windows do.
Anyway, Here's the article text for those who hate it about as much as i do.
The Hype Machine #1
February 13,2007 - Over this past generation there have been many games, some not even covered in this installment, that have been touted and praised prior to their respective releases. Unfortunately, millions of gamers have been left disappointed, playing games rushed to release, missing entire features, and ultimately feeling broken. In this first edition of The Hype Machine, we cover five games from this generation that stand out among the crowd for being ultimate let downs to their cult followings. Some of these games are still good, but compared to their promises, they definitely missed the mark.
FABLE
When Fable was first revealed gamers became excited to learn that Lionhead Studios front man Peter Molyneux would be leading the charge. Originally titled Project Ego, the game would feature real life movements and behaviors in a living, breathing world. Every action your character performs could change the overall outcome of the game, anything from killing a lonely drifter or chopping down a tree in the center of town. The basis for open-ended gameplay was mounted, and Molyneux made sure everyone knew how great Fable was going to be.
Surely Fable sounded like a pretty cool title, simply because Peter Molyneux made it so. The designer himself dubbed Fable as his “dream game,” one in which he waited his whole life to make. Throughout the months leading up to Fable’s release, Molyneux kept insinuating the fire by adding remarks that Fable was one of the greatest games ever made and even stated that the game would go on to sell millions and be one of the highest selling games on the Xbox.
Overall it was Molyneux’s boldness which caused fans to get their hopes up when Fable released. Features, which were promised in the game, such as upgradeable weapons and armor, destructible objects in all areas, and nearly unlimited missions, were vaguely represented in the overall product. The combat was frustratingly simple as well, just a simple hack-and-slash affair that can kill every enemy in exactly the same manner. Even the aging dynamics, which was the main selling point for Fable, did not even work properly as your young hero would eventually grow up to look older than everyone in the game despite the fact he was younger than everyone in the beginning.
After Fable released Molyneux himself apologized to fans and gamers, stating how some of his promises were overlooked and many of the features simply could not fit into the game before release time. Although he managed to perfect his game and release a newer version later on (Fable: Lost Chapters), Fable ultimately was a letdown for its massive hype, which failed to deliver on any of its promises.
WHAT IT DID RIGHT: Fable managed to sell well over one million copies in the first few months of release, making it one of the fastest selling games to reach a million sales on the Xbox. Along with the PC version, Fable to this day has sold more than three million copies. Although not as grand as once mentioned, the story and hero aspects worked quite well, allowing the player to become evil or good depending on the situations. Characters in the worlds acted differently depending on which route the character chose making replay a very noteworthy feature.
KILLZONE
In 2004, Halo reigned supreme over shooters and helped Xbox become a definitive product in the console race. Sony, in an effort to stop Halo’s glory, decided to enlist the help of Dutch developer Guerilla Games in hopes they would create a game capable of crushing Halo and prove that the PS2 was the all-around better system. In short, Killzone was born, a shooter which would quickly be hailed as the “Halo-Killer,” and committed Sony into a no-holds-barred battle against Microsoft.
From the start Killzone had promise written all over it. A futuristic sci-fi setting in which an enemy group known as the Helghast started fighting against the human settlers of a distant planet. Equipped with futuristic weapons, players were than thrust into the middle of a giant battle that spread across the reaches the space. Even the term “killzone” was secret to gamers as the developers hinted that a special gameplay mechanic would be implemented which would further add mystery and intrigue into the Killzone name. Sony, liking what they saw, officially signed a contract with Guerilla Games, which would make them develop games exclusively for the Playstation 2, and future Playstation consoles.
Killzone released a few months later and was what some reviewers called “one of the biggest letdowns of the year.” The ‘Halo-Killer” was found to have incredibly unstable frame rate issues which caused the game to slow down in the mist of gunfights, as well as loose controls which caused your character to run around in spastic motions. Killzone also suffered from a pack of glitches some of which caused bullets not to register when hit or bodies to just disappear from the battle. Although Killzone supported 16-player online multiplayer, it was a complete and utter mess as servers crashed constantly and players often found it hard to join any game.
All in all Killzone proved that even with the littlest title of “Halo-Killer,” the game brought with it the biggest expectations. Even future sequels, such as Killzone: Liberation for the PSP, have gotten mixed reviews for its terrible controls and bad shooter dynamics. While Guerilla Games has announced future Killzone titles to be released, there is no point in trying to hide the fact that it will always be compared to Halo, and that may be its ultimate downfall.
WHAT IT DID RIGHT: Killzone managed to sell very well despite all the technical problems. After only a year out in stores, Killzone quickly became a Greatest Hits title where it eventually sold nearly 50 percent more than it did originally. Killzone managed to gather a massive following, and online play has been steady up to the launch of the Playstation 3. An impressive E3 trailer of Killzone 2 shows promise for the Playstation 3 version as well, but any information since that trailer has been kept secret.
ENTER THE MATRIX
Following the cult hit sci-fi thriller The Matrix and the announcement of two sequels being released in the latter half of 2003, Matrix fans were greatly anticipating the video game adaptation that looked to expand upon the first Matrix sequel, called The Matrix Reloaded. It was supposed to have everything that Matrix fans wanted in a game: agents, bullet-time, and the powerful kung-fu action that the original was known for while tying into the feature film. In an attempt to link the game and movie together, it offered cut scenes from the movie itself along with a script penned by the Wachowski brothers, offering a storyline that takes place alongside the movie and supposedly gives fans a broader view of The Matrix mythos. Enter the Matrix looked to be the ultimate movie licensed game of all-time.
However, as its release neared, not all was as well as it seemed. By the time reviews hit the web and newsstands, Atari had shipped 4 million copies of the game to retailers, managing to sell 1 million in its first week and 2.5 million after its first month on retail shelves. Enter the Matrix’s financial success was sealed, but the media was too late to warn gamers of the fraud that was Enter the Matrix.
It was clearly a rushed job by the developers to get the game out in time for the movie’s release, as the game was clearly unpolished and buggy. Parts of the game were just slapped together at the last minute. Despite the obvious flaws, it managed to become a decent game for Matrix fans, but they clearly deserved a true Matrix game to do the series some justice. The Matrix: Path of Neo was released two years later to a better reception from the media and fans alike.
WHAT IT DID RIGHT: Enter the Matrix brought The Matrix to the videogame world. The trademark bullet time style, the powerful kung-fu action, and plenty of agents to go around gave the game the Matrix feel that it needed. There just wasn’t enough time to polish this rushed title. The story nicely interweaved with the movie, filling in the blanks of the action that takes place on screen with newly shot scenes that gave the game a nearly complete Matrix feeling. The hacking minigame was a nice feature that further enhanced the immersion that Enter the Matrix offered for just entering codes and finding secrets
COMMAND AND CONQUER: TIBERIAN SUN
Call it a victim of the post-Starcraft era, or call it a casualty of the game’s extraordinary predecessors. The truth is that Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun was not the product we expected upon its fall 2000 release.
After nearly four and a half years in development and several glowing previews from the likes of respectable gaming mags, Westwood’s return to the iconic C&C universe looked like money in the bank. Unfortunately for the gaming community, it turned out to be more controversial than the debate on Social Security. In lieu of advanced AI, we got units that avoided terrain obstacles that the player hadn’t yet uncovered. Instead of real-time lighting, we got some snazzy glow effects that were directly tied to the particular campaign map we were playing. Day/night cycles existed, but they did not affect the behavior of in-game units one bit.
The multiplayer package of Tiberian Sun also had some problems. The much-touted unit veterancy system hardly mattered, and the NOD side was completely overpowered. Unless you painstakingly laid concrete underneath your entire base (piece by piece), built walls around your perimeter (piece by piece), and stuck turrets around your construction yard (again, if you’re using the GDI component towers, piece by piece), you could expect a NOD opponent to knife you in the throat with a subterranean APC rush. Funny; in the year 2030, APCs full of engineers are still more effective than, oh I don’t know, an artillery strike. Wait, scratch that. NOD’s mobile artillery could lob explosive rounds from great distances, annihilating any ground unit within seconds. Before the game was patched, not even the speediest vehicles (the recon bike and buggy) could these miracle shells.
Months before Tiberian Sun’s release, Westwood touted the end of simple tank massing strategies that became the staple of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert multiplayer. Instead, we got something even worse in the subterranean APC, which took the annoyance of the engineer rush to a whole new level. We also received the Orca Bomber rush and the Banshee rush, which involved two speedy air units – really, the only viable tactic on the game’s huge maps that didn’t involve five guys carrying screwdrivers.
Tiberian Sun still made a great deal of money, mostly because it was pre-ordered like the second coming. Within weeks of its release, Westwood had sold roughly 2 million copies. Not bad for a game that is today considered the bastard child of the C&C series.
What it did right: Despite complaints that Starcraft, a game released a full year prior, provided a more balanced multiplayer experience, Tiberian Sun did some things well. Notably, the single-player campaign was entertaining and moved along the C&C mythos. The terrain graphics were also very good. Westwood decided to render every vehicle using voxels (pixels with an associated volume), giving them a pseudo-three dimensional look. The movement of these vehicles was affected by terrain – something that very few real-time strategy games (save for Total Annihilation) had done at that point.
BLINX THE TIME SWEEPER
Who can forget the loveable cat known as Blinx? One of the first games announced for the Xbox, the game quickly picked up steam when Microsoft talked about its gameplay mechanics. Using the power of the Xbox’s hard drive, players could stop time in the game, rewind, fast-forward, slow-down and even record to implement effects in the game. Because of the new (at the time) gameplay modes, Microsoft insisted and gloated that Blinx could not be playable on any system except the Xbox mainly because of the hard drive and all of the processing power the game required.
Sure enough Blinx became a house-hold name with gamers and one in which Microsoft further tried to take advantage. Because some deemed Master Chief too violent, Microsoft actually tried making Blinx the official mascot for the Xbox. By the time the game was released, the time-changing cat was nearly accepted as the system’s overall poster-boy.
But ultimately Blinx was booted from the spotlight because of his terrible game. Microsoft started feeling the effects of what hyping does to gaming and quickly tried to fix all the mistakes Blinx caused. Statements of processing problems and “released before it was finished” remarks came flying out of Microsoft within the weeks that followed Blinx’s release, but ultimately more time simply could not have made Blinx that much more fun to play. Although the premise was itself a neat idea, it was implemented rather poorly. Each time control can only be used a certain number of times in each level and some, such as the reverse button, were only used to help rebuild fallen bridges or towers.
To top it off, each level had a time limit, making exploration and combat daunting because if the player did not finish the level in the given allotted time, they would fail. An unimpressive control scheme, which had you pressing the same buttons for different time skills, as well as above average visuals, made Blinx one of the biggest letdowns in gaming. As one reviewer stated, Blinx the Time Sweeper was “One of the most overrated games ever.” Even the sequel, which proved to fix all of the problems, actually made the series worse and caused Blinx to disappear from the gaming scene forever.
WHAT IT DID RIGHT: Blinx’s time shifting gameplay was something never tried before in gaming, and Blinx earns the honor of being the first game to try out that feature, for better or worse. Blinx also managed to sell just enough copies to make it one of the first inductees into Xbox’s Platinum Hits group. It also made Master Chief the face of the Xbox, which is by far a much better choice. - wheremyarm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Honestly, a list of 5 things had to be separated into two pages? What a page-view scam.
- spidoman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Fable could have been a lot more, but it was still a good game.
And if you don't think the original Black and White is an amazing game then you're an idiot. You may have no enjoyed it, but it was a fabulous strategy game. - zhouray, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Don't you know Doom is all about the graphics?
If I remember correctly, John Carmack didn't believe in storyline. - IndieJones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I think Black and White deserves a spot on that list more than Fable, even.
I'll never forget April of 2001, gaming magazine and websites all over the world were screaming "10 out of 10!" for Black and White. Yeah, and then when they actually played the game for more than an hour? That whoooshing sound you heard was the collective backpeddling of gaming journalists everywhere. - ytsohptwhere, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Halo 2. Period. Also like many have said Red Steel was so over hyped and it failed to deliver.
- TheRingmaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Tiberian Sun was/is awesome, although the other four are good picks.
- Cerberus047, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7No duke nukem forever love? its got YEARS of hype!
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I agree, I was so let down by Halo2. It felt more like "Halo: The online expansion pack".
- bobbothegrayson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Devil May Cry 2
- Ayavaron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Driv3r was extremely over hyped. It had at least two cover stories from EGM and then the very issue after the final cover story the reviewers gave it about a 7 out of 10 which is in the context of the magazine, pretty lame.
- wierdaaron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Black & White 1 and 2. Huge hype, sucked.
The Movies. Huge hype, was a big letdown.
I wrote an editorial for Gaming Horizon about how Molyneux's whole career has been going from letdown to letdown and how all he keeps doing is leaving the big studios to start his own gaming company (Lion's Head, Bullfrog) and then letting larger companies (Microsoft, EA) buy them once they drive their one game into the ground, then leaving and doing it all over again, and I was attacked as being "anti-british". (wtf?) - sneakerelph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Doom 3 was really more of a showcase as to what the engine could do. id has never been good at making incredible games, but John Carmack is a programming god that can license engines out. That's how id makes it's money.
- caddyalan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6There was a lot of hype pumped into Fable, but not everything planned for the game ended up in the final product...
I'm fascinated by "fan generated hype" -- when there's something which isn't heavily promoted, but which a small group of fans try to declare Teh Best Thing Evar. It's especially true for things which are offbeat or tough to categorize, like Katamari and Okami. (I was surprised how much I liked Katamari despite the annoying "bump and lose stuff" effect, but I just didn't like Okami...) - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I bet your one of those people that bought(or would buy) ET for the ATARI system.
- Kazbaeden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The thing about Fable is I heard none of the hype, picked it up because I saw a friend play it, and I enjoyed every minute of the game.
- pegisys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I never followed the fable hype, I ended up getting when it came out for the xbox and thought it was a great game.
after going online and seeing a lot of promises that didn't make it I could understand some being up set but it's not like the game was trash - newinjuly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4it's annoying when people try to use big words to make them sound impressive but then use them incorrectly. "insinuating the fire"??? c'mon.
- nipterink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4that game was never hyped, and it was dirt cheap.
- Nickerz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4where the ***** was Diakatana? That game was hyped to no extent. Hey the guy from doom made it! They had huge offices! Millions of dollarz!!!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What? The Bouncer isn't on that list? Surely you remember the game that was supposed to be Square's first epic PS2 game that ended up being...not very epic.
- wierdaaron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Whenever I'd play Tiberian Sun multiplayer against my brother, he'd accuse me of cheating because he'd hammer my command center with ion storms and all kinds of badness and all I'd do is keep hammering the "repair" tool and survive anything he threw at me.
I always loved that game. One of my favorite RTS elements is building up a kick-ass base, and it bugs me when an RTS puts the base-building on the sidelines or removes it entirely. I wouldnt mind a mode where all you can do is build defense structures and units and try to hold off attacks from AI or human opponents. - grumbel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4### I wrote an editorial for Gaming Horizon about how Molyneux's whole career has been going from letdown to letdown
So Populous was a letdown? Syndicate was one? Theme Park was one? Dungeon Keeper was one? I don't think so. He definitvly over hypes his games lately, but so he has produced a whole bunch of truly awesome games in the past and even if his last few titles fail to meet the hype they are still quite solid and uniq games. He is at least somebody who tries something new every know and then instead of just producing yet another WWII FPS like most of the rest of the PC gaming industry. - knodi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yep Killzone was way over hyped by Sony, looks like they are doing the same for Killzone 2.
- TheSource, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This isn't bad, I've seen much, much, much worse on Digg.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What about Soldner?
- benjie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Glad to see they included Tiberian Sun on that list. It was probably the most disappointing game I ever bought. I tried it again a couple weeks ago in hopes that I had forgotten a redeeming quality. No such luck.
- StellarlyAstral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Daikatana should be number one. There is no reason why it shouldn't be, plus I don't remember much hype about Blinx The Time Sweeper.
- whiteguysamurai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4If you mean, more to do..more to see, better weapons and an original concept, yes.
If you mean same, tired gameplay with androgynous male leads, then no. - SSCrow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You know. Fable Lost Chapters was pretty good.
They added a lot of content to the game.
Although it was Hyped.
I still enjoyed every moment of Fable. - evilspoons, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Maybe it's just because they came out so much later than the PS2 versions, but I didn't find Vice City or San Andreas to be buggy at all on Windows. Sometimes the controls got a bit irritating (RC helicopter minigame in Vice City, anyone? Ughh) but I definitely enjoyed both, even though I got them ages after they had been released for the PC.
- bury, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What about C&C Renegade? I thought that game would be awesome - FPS view in C&C. It was so bad, however, friends and reviewers steered me away from buying it.
- Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Maybe there is and everyone's just anti-social.
- whiteguysamurai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Blinx was OK.
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