5 Game Reboots so BAD, They Failed Before They Were Released! - Gaming Top 5 - Part 58.
Some game reboots can be awesome. But then there are the ones that are just doomed to fail.
Doom, Tomb Raider, Metroid, Wolfenstein, all great titles that had an excellent beginning when they were first made, and had an even better reboot years later, revitalizing there respective franchises. Then there are the reboots that are so bad, they never should have been made. Some of which were blatant cash grabs by corporate dicks who know sweet fuck all about the gaming industry and what gamers want.
Here are 5 game reboots so bad, they failed before they were released.
5 – Golden Axe: Beast Rider.
If you want to know what the perfect side scrolling retro game was, just do a quick Google search for Golden Axe. It was a masterpiece in its time and has aged very well considering it is nearly the same age as me.
The original was praised for its simplicity in its story, gameplay and execution. And although the original did see a few sequels, it was this 'reboot' of the series that killed the franchise, with no follow up games of the same title.
In 2008, the idea was to modernise the game and bring it into the 3D realm with modern graphics and mechanics. While they did nail the graphics, which looked stunning for the time, the problems came in the form of an overly complicated story and poor animations and fighting mechanics. They even tried to over sexualize it to help make it sell, but even with tits and arses hanging out, nothing could help this game. One review of the game by IGN actually stated....
''Ovoid this game like the plague.''
Yeah, it was so Bad, even IGN who are known for being 'Paid off' to give good reviews didn't want anything to do with it.
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4 – SimCity.
The Sims franchise has been going since the late 90's and after a decade of dominating, it started to get a little stale, So EA ordered a reboot to revitalize and bring the game up to what gamers were beginning to expect.
2013 was around the time that always online was becoming a thing and developers were creating games that took advantage of such features.
And it was trying to bring the game into the modern age that ultimately led to its downfall, with servers not being ready in time. What servers were available were constantly being overloaded with the huge surge in traffic resulting in players games crashing, game save files getting corrupt or deleted entirely and players not being able to join a server, not being able to play the game because it was an 'Always Online' game, meaning you can not play the game unless you are connected to a server.
Eventually the problems were ironed out, a shit ton of the online features were removed, which essentially removed that 'modern' touch EA wanted in the first place, and it killed the game entirely.
Even without all the problems, the game wasn't actually any good and the reviews it received put the last nail in this titles coffin.
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3 – Guitar Hero Live.
I think I remember my ex wife introducing me to guitar hero when it was first released, and I will admit, being a guitarist anyhow, I did enjoy playing it. It was a simple idea that worked brilliantly, which is probably the main reason why it was so popular in the mid to late 2000's.
Eventually, the fad faded away when the franchise started spewing out game after game after spin off and game and... well, yeah, that double neck guitar hero guitar was about as useful as a chocolate fire guard. They tried everything to market the games, and it got to a point that no one wanted anything to do with it.
In 2015 the developers tried to bring the game up to date by redesigning the game, graphics and the controller, but by this time, everyone has had enough and want something different. Its like eating the same thing every day for 10 years, and then get given the same thing on a different plate. Its the same shit but on a different day.
While the controller was more comfortable to use and it was visually better looking, the gameplay was still the same, the songs were the exact same as before, and the ''Live'' was that instead of a computer generated band playing on the screen, it was in fact live footage of bands from various concerts. It was a hopeless fail that everyone saw coming.
It is still on sale today, but at a drastically reduced price to try and recoup some of that lost investment and sell off there stockpile of games and controllers.
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2 – Sonic the Hedgehog, (AKA Sonic 06)
After Mario was a huge success for Nintendo, Sega played around with a few different mascots before they settled on Sonic, and they did indeed find something that was truly unique and very awesome.
The very first Sonic is still considered to be the best one ever, and to this day, many people will prefer playing it over any other Sonic titles. It was simple, easy to play and very entertaining. Sure there have been games that came close to that same success, like Sonic Pinball, but non captured that same vibe the original had.
But after many games and spin off's, the franchise was tired and Sega ordered a game to be released for November 06 that would be a reboot of the franchise, giving it new life and to celebrate Sonics 15th birthday.
But because there was a short deadline and other behind the scenes problems, the game ended up being one of the worst games ever to be released. The game was not complete with many bugs, the graphics were bad, the game mechanics were worse, did I mention the bugs? And the story line was beyond creepy.
Among fans and critics, it is considered to be the worst Sonic game ever to be released.
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1 – Alone in the Dark.
When the publisher tries to stop critics from publishing there reviews, you know the game is going to be bad.
While there is not much wrong with the game, it is actually Atari themselves who are ultimately to blame for this game doing as bad as it did.
While the games graphics and visuals are very typical of 2008, and the game mechanics were.... they could be better, and the story was nothing to write home about, the game should have done reasonably well had Atari left well alone. It is still a bad game, but Atari made it worse.
After some bad reviews were published saying the gameplay was bland and the visuals were not up to par, Atari went on the attack to try and get the reviews pulled, saying the games they reviewed were stolen. When in fact, it was Atari who gave them the game to review in the first place. Well after this, the gaming world went onto overdrive advertising Atari's antics and claims in every magazine, forum, YouTube video, message boards and other media outlets, which in turn nearly destroyed Atari's reputation. As for the game, well it did OK as a mediocre game would. But it will forever be connected to Atari spitting there dummy out because some people said mean things about there poo game..... dumbass.
What's worse, they tried the same thing in 2014 with yet another reboot. And just like before, the game got a few bad reviews and Atari yet again tried to get the reviews pulled from publication making stupid claims. Only this time, the game was much worse.
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Games like Wolfenstein, Tomb Raider and Doom, originally the games pushed the boundaries of what was possible, but were ultimately held back because of technological limitations at the time. So when the technology caught up, a reboot was inevitable and it works.
Games like the ones in this list, when first released had a very simple formula that made them work so well. When you try to add to that formula or try and change it, you may as well flip a coin in the air and hope it lands on successful. Add the fact that the companies behind these games are either given too little time or they simply don't care will also help towards that games demise. Quality control for corporate dicks is wiping there arse with the keyboard developers have to use to make them money.
Thanks for reading.
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That's a shame about Alone in the Dark. I played the original incarnation on my buddy's 386 PC in 1993 (or thereabouts). Polygon rendered people and spooky sound effects - it really was an incredible immersive title for its time.
I played Guitar Hero to death when It was first released. But after a year or so when you master it, it loses its appeal. I kept it away for years in hopes that I would bring it back out to play but when I had I would lose interest too fast.
It was a fun phase 😆