Nemesis should've been SO much better.
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00:00Video games get hyped to the moon and back, and as a result there are many out there ranging
00:04from the outright awful to the pretty good that don't manage to fully capitalise on
00:09their lofty concepts.
00:10Whether it's mechanics that aren't taken far enough, a story that begs to be fleshed
00:14out, or simply ambitions that aren't supported by technology actually available, all of the
00:20following games fail to hit the mark.
00:23With that in mind then, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 More Video Games That Ruined
00:27Their Own Potential.
00:29Number 10.
00:30Deus Ex Invisible War.
00:32Even if you've not played the original Deus Ex, you're probably aware of its status as
00:36one of the most influential and acclaimed PC games ever made.
00:40Well this sequel promised even more choice than the original game, along with superior
00:45visuals and a continuation of the original game's plot, albeit with a new protagonist.
00:50Now while it would be unfair to call Invisible War a bad game, because it absolutely isn't,
00:56but there's a reason why most people forget that it even exists, and that's because it
01:00never feels like anything more than a cheap imitation of the original.
01:04Yes, the emergent gameplay is satisfying on occasion, but the game is hampered by hilariously
01:09awful AI, scaled back customisation elements despite the game promising more freedom, a
01:14dubious universal ammo system, smaller levels, and an overwhelming feeling that basically
01:20everything was dumbed down in order to appeal to a wider playerbase.
01:24In trying to rake in more sales though, Ion Storm ironically alienated those who made
01:28the original such a success, and had those very fans soon enough returning to the vastly
01:33superior original.
01:34Despite decent sales, the franchise evidently stopped being a priority after Invisible War
01:39as the next game, Human Revolution, took another 8 years to reach gamers.
01:44Number 9.
01:45Back 4 Blood.
01:46Back 4 Blood was supposed to be the successor to Left 4 Dead, but in the end, it kinda just
01:50settled for scooping up its table scraps.
01:52The most recent game from Turtle Rock, this multiplayer shooter wore its inspirations
01:56on its sleeve.
01:57EAU played as one of four characters fighting back against hordes of the undead and special
02:02infected in order to get from safe room to safe room, and on paper, it has everything
02:07that made Left 4 Dead so damn addictive, but in practice, things were just a little bit
02:12off.
02:13The attention to detail just wasn't there this time around, and as such the combat wasn't
02:18As impactful or as fluid as it could have been, weapon handling didn't feel satisfying
02:22while the difficulty balance often made runs feel unfair and joyless.
02:27Throw on top of this strange character progression systems in Back 4 Blood, while not a completely
02:32terrible game by any means, failed to take the torch from its zombie predecessor.
02:37Number 8.
02:38Red Steel.
02:39Red Steel was by far one of the most hyped launch titles for the Nintendo Wii, with the
02:43company promising that the unique motion controls for both gameplay and sword fighting would
02:47pretty much revolutionise how we play games.
02:50However, the game meant to be the ultimate advertisement for the Wiimote, well, wasn't.
02:55Yes, in addition to some disappointingly drab graphics, laughably poor voice acting and
03:00duff enemy AI, Red Steel's motion controls were inconsistent and clunky at best, making
03:06even moving around a chore, while the sword fighting lacked the finesse and satisfying
03:10feel that had been promised.
03:12In addition to this, the game doesn't even have the courtesy to be a short blast, it's
03:16around 8-10 hours long, but given how exhaustingly tedious the majority of the action is, it's
03:21likely that many never even made it to the finish line.
03:24In 2010, Ubisoft Paris did release a vastly superior sequel though, which essentially
03:28played how the original should have.
03:31Number 7.
03:32GTA Online.
03:33Rockstar promised that GTA Online would be a significant expansion of GTA 4's solid
03:38deathmatch style, allowing San Andreas to become their playground, introducing levelling
03:43up, missions and best of all, cooperative heists to their awesome booty.
03:48Even ignoring the massive server issues which plagued GTA Online upon launch, it just felt
03:52incredibly piecemeal for the longest time, and still kinda does.
03:56The missions were insanely repetitive for one, enough that there wasn't much incentive
04:00to keep playing to increase your rank.
04:02And then there's the heists, the most hyped up part of GTA Online, which were delayed
04:07repeatedly until finally releasing in March, a whole 17 months after the game first launched.
04:13By which time, most players had just lost patience with Rockstar and moved on to other
04:18games.
04:19Oh and while the heists were initially promoted with huge 8 player cops and robbers type gameplay,
04:24this was ultimately scaled back to just 4 players, further compounding the crushing
04:27disappointment that a lot of gamers felt.
04:30Throw in additions that made the use of microtransaction shark cards virtually necessary to keep playing,
04:35and the whole thing still has drawbacks to this day.
04:38Yeah, you can have a lot of fun in GTA Online, but there's always the sense that this thing
04:43just could have been more.
04:45Number 6, Spore.
04:46Spore was built up to be the god game to end all god games, allowing the player to nurture
04:51an organism from the most basic essence of life, to building an entire civilization in
04:56the far reaches of space, and who wouldn't want to play that?
05:00Well, as it turned out, Spore was so empty and down on its promises that it's hard
05:04to believe that it wasn't made by Peter Molyneux.
05:07The final game was essentially 4 loosely connected and incredibly short minigames and a half
05:12decent space sim, which had clearly been dumbed down to appeal to a wider playerbase, but
05:17in turn resulted in a game that wasn't really worth playing for more than a few hours.
05:22In addition, a lot of the previously advertised features were cut from the final product,
05:26yet despite all of this, the game somehow scooped a mind-boggling 84 on Metacritic,
05:31which was incredibly disconnected from the player consensus.
05:35Number 5, The Dark Pictures Anthology.
05:38For a time, everyone thought that Supermassive Games were going to lead a revolution for
05:41interactive movie-like video games.
05:44Their PlayStation Horror exclusive, Until Dawn, grabbed the attention of fans around
05:48the world as being a tight, charismatic love letter to the genre.
05:51People loved it, I loved it, and we all eagerly awaited what the developers would do next.
05:56And that project was even more ambitious, an anthology series featuring shorter standalone
06:02games of the same quality as Until Dawn, each bringing a new cast of characters, utilising
06:07a different horror subgenre and tweaking the gameplay with new gimmicks.
06:12On paper, The Dark Pictures Anthology sounded awesome, but the tight turnaround of the releases
06:16and their shorter experimental nature didn't quite mesh.
06:21At the time of recording, 3 of the 8 planned installments have released, and none have
06:26quite made the impact of Until Dawn.
06:28Now they've not been bad games, some like House of Ashes have been particularly enjoyable,
06:34but others like Man of Medan failed to leave much of an impression at all.
06:38Whether the series is struggling under the pressure of the turnaround or what, The Dark
06:41Pictures Anthology has not yet earned its spot as being Until Dawn's true successor.
06:46Let's just hope then that the upcoming The Quarry can do that instead.
06:50Number 4, Brink.
06:52Brink was sold as a revolutionary first-person shooter with a heavy focus on parkour movement
06:57mechanics taking place on the unique setting of a giant floating city known as The Ark.
07:02An impressive marketing campaign did a terrific job selling it as the next big shooter at
07:07the time.
07:08And to be fair, Brink wasn't a bad game by any means, but rather a decidedly average
07:12one and one that didn't appear to maintain the attention of most gamers for more than
07:16a week or so.
07:17Yes, the smart player movement system was fun, yet not as innovative as advertised.
07:23And when the rest of the game felt so ordinary, it ultimately couldn't do all that much
07:27to impress.
07:28The AI was also a huge problem.
07:30Enemies put up a courageous fight while any bots on your team were more of a hindrance
07:34than a help.
07:35And there just wasn't enough to the game outside of its gimmick to distinguish it from
07:39anything else at the time.
07:41Without more depth and more personality, Brink was always destined to be quickly forgotten.
07:45Number 3, Final Fantasy XIII.
07:48The first Final Fantasy game on the PS3 was always going to get a ton of people excited.
07:53And from the fluid gameplay and gorgeous graphics shown off pre-release, there was no reason
07:57not to expect a major return to form after several underwhelming entries.
08:02Square Enix just seemed to lose their enthusiasm for the series after Final Fantasy X.
08:06And because XIII is yet another hilarious overwrought, often incomprehensible story
08:11featuring inane, unlikable characters, they didn't seem to get the passion back with
08:16this one.
08:17Yes, the game looks lovely and the combat still holds up pretty well, but a massive
08:21chunk of the title is essentially one long linear corridor which feels completely at
08:26odds with everything the Final Fantasy franchise has ever been about.
08:30As such, XIII is one of the few Final Fantasy titles to be a one and done, in that there's
08:34very little incentive to return to it once you've done your self-imposed duty as a
08:38fan by steamrolling through it one time.
08:412.
08:42Resident Evil 3 Remake Resident Evil was riding high again following
08:46the double whammy of Resident Evil 7 and the remake of 2.
08:50The stink of 6 was well and truly gone, and fans had no reason to doubt that the remake
08:55of Resi 3 was going to continue that winning streak.
08:58But while nowhere near the complete disaster of some games in the series, Resi 3 did underwhelm
09:04in a big way.
09:05That's because it felt more like an expansion of the second game than a full release in
09:09its own right.
09:10An already incredibly short game, the remake feels even leaner, cutting out certain elements
09:16and speeding through its own campaign without giving anything the chance to breathe.
09:20And if there was one Resi game that could have been expanded on, it was 3.
09:25Seeing more of Raccoon City in the midst of chaos could have been amazing, as could have
09:29a next-gen version of Nemesis stalking you through the streets.
09:32And these potential expansion points weren't just wishful thinking on the part of fans,
09:37as Resi 2 changed and bolstered so, so much, including Mr. X, that fans were expecting
09:42Resi 3 to do the same.
09:44Sadly, it just wasn't interested in doing that, and as such didn't live up to the
09:48potential of what a remake could have been.
09:511.
09:52Halo Infinite Halo Infinite has some of the most compelling
09:55gameplay in the entire franchise.
09:57The way it plays, its art style, the whole presentation is a return to form.
10:01The foundations are fit enough to support a truly incredible game.
10:06The issue is, that's all the game currently is though, a foundation for something else.
10:12Despite being delayed a whole year, Halo Infinite still feels unfinished in both its campaign
10:17and multiplayer, with key modes not even being present at launch that you'd expect from
10:21this series.
10:22Infinite is a live service, and you can tell Microsoft have used that as an excuse to deliver
10:27a basic version of Halo that will hopefully be completed with time.
10:31With an insulting grind in the multiplayer, basic matchmaking features being nowhere to
10:36be seen, and an over-reliance on the storefront, Microsoft took the wrong lessons from other
10:41free-to-play titles and put them in their marquee release.
10:44And look, I'm sure that in a few years, this will be one of the best Halo games on
10:48the market, but right now, it's all just unfulfilled potential.
10:52So that's our list, I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
10:55That got really sour towards the end, I'm sorry for that, I should have had maybe more
10:58jokes than that.
10:59Either way though, let me know what you think about this list in the comments, and while
11:02you're down there, could you please give us a like, share, subscribe, and head over
11:04to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
11:08Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see
11:10you soon.