2020 was a tough year, very hard. However, the gaming industry has outlived it better than most. Locked at home, gamers had no choice but to play, play and play, however, there were some incidents here too. Let’s talk about the worst games of the year in this article.
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Empire of Sin is a vivid indicator that one should not judge the game only by the tempting setting and past merits of its creators (by the way, does it resemble anything?). Paradox is famous for its global strategy games. John Romero, Head of Studio Romero Games, is a legend in the gaming industry and needs no introduction, and Brenda Romero, Game Director of Empire of Sin, has a hand in the script for the Jagged Alliance series.
What could have gone wrong? Well, in short, that’s it. The developers tried to sit on three chairs – to combine strategy, turn-based tactics and RPG. As a result, none of these areas received sufficient depth of study. The technical part finally finished the game. Empire of Sin has an incredible amount of bugs – both in gameplay and in animations, sound, etc. The game is saved only by the original setting of the gangster strategy, but even the most devoted fans of Mario Puzo are better off staying away from it.
The first part of Deadly Premonition was by no means a masterpiece, but thanks to the atmosphere of “Twin Peaks” and a twisted plot, it got its moment of fame and loyal, albeit few fans. It would be logical to assume that in the sequel, the developers will try to take into account and correct their mistakes, as well as develop and supplement the advantages. In general, this is exactly what they did, just the opposite.
The plot of Deadly Premonition 2 turned out to be not only extremely flat and boring, it also almost completely lost all the atmosphere. There is as much detective story in the history of the sequel as there is common sense in Alice in Wonderland … well, or in Deadly Premonition 2. And in order to strengthen their position in the top of the worst releases of the year, the developers multiplied the faceless plot into the absolute curvature of the mechanics, zero variety of gameplay and terrifying optimization. Only the most fortunate gamers are lucky to squeeze more than 15 FPS out of the game.
In general, yes, Reforged … In this case, it’s even awkward to write eyeliner. Is it really necessary for someone on Cybersport.ru to explain what Warcraft III is, why it is legendary, what is its significance for the gaming industry and esports, and how much the fans were waiting for it to be “reforged”? Well, if you still need to, then this is an outstanding RTS, which was not only good in itself, but also subsequently gave birth to a whole genre – MOBA.
Warcraft III: Reforged, too, can be said to have received cult status, albeit with a slightly different emotional color. Take, for example, her user rating on Metacritic – 0.6 out of 10 at the time of publication. Warcraft III fans have even started betting dozens of other failed games to get Reforged down. And it’s not even a matter of technical problems or broken mechanics that are quite familiar to this list – most of all fans were angered by Blizzard’s unfulfilled promises. The publisher promised mountains of gold from the revised and new content, but it turned out to be some kind of hole: almost nothing was added and even managed to cut something out.
There are many different reprints in this list. What to do, these are the realities of modern gamedev – sequels, prequels, remasters and remakes rule the show. And the goals of all developers and publishers seem to be white and fluffy – to refine and rethink old games for new gamers. It would also be nice to sell the same thing a second time with a minimum of extra effort.
The latter is especially noticeable in the example of Mafia II: Definitive Edition. The game, of course, has become a little prettier – textures and shadows have become more fashionable – and a definite plus that the owners of the original received a remaster for free. But there is a nuance in all this, as they say. The innovations were only graphic, not gameplay, and it is difficult to find them without a magnifying glass. But PhysX technology was removed from the game, deprivation is not critical, but in any case unpleasant. And the most relish is that now the original Mafia II cannot be bought separately – only in a complete set with a remaster. This means that the publisher has managed to put a new (50% higher) price tag on the old game.
I have no idea what The Last of Us Part II is doing here. This is an amazing game. The gameplay may not have revolutionized, but it is executed at the highest level. From a technical point of view, the title can be called a real miracle, especially considering that it runs on hardware from 2013. And the plot certainly did not leave anyone indifferent. Definitely Game of the Year …
So, Machinae turned his back, we can talk frankly and discuss why the release of The Last of Us Part II is one of the biggest failures of the year. Well, have you caught fire with a righteous flame? In vain, extinguish it. We will not scold the game. The failure was not TLOU2 itself, but everything that was around it.
First, the plot of the game was leaked to the network, which hit her hard. Then they began to accuse her of being politicized and of promoting some values there, and not others. Finally, many were shocked and angered by some game design and scenario decisions. The developers not only treated the favorite characters of the fans extremely cruelly, but also forced them to play for the hated ones. Of course, the authors of The Last of Us Part II knew what they were doing, and purposefully wanted to squeeze out the full range of emotions from gamers, including negative ones. Was the creative idea worth the slop that was poured on the game, and even the threats of violence? Only Neil Druckmann knows.
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