In 2021, everyone was waiting for these games, but they failed. GTA – only flowers

Very often (even too much) large publishers with a huge budget, a well-known franchise and a talented development team release something completely different from what gamers expected. And it’s not only about the setting, the implementation of the storyline or gameplay mechanics, but about the overall quality of the product, the ill-conceivedness of many elements and the abundance of problems that, it would seem, simply cannot arise at this level. In 2021, which is quite expected, there were plenty of projects with a carriage and a small cart of problems – almost everyone distinguished themselves, but I decided to choose the brightest from the abundance of failures.

Battlefield 2042

An incredible shooter

Fans of the Battlefield franchise literally rejoiced when, after two and a half years, EA nevertheless announced a new part of the series – with gorgeous graphics, large-scale military clashes and a lot of interesting things. True, the happiness did not last long – already in the beta test it became clear that the project, to put it mildly, was not quite ready for launch, and this was only confirmed on release. The shooter is replete with bugs and flaws, a lot of elements do not work as they should, sounds disappear, technology violates all the laws of physics and stuff like that. It’s like it’s an indie game from a small studio and not an AAA release from a titan of the gaming industry. Sorry for those who paid for the pre-order.

Madden NFL 22

American football in the spirit of EA

It makes no sense for large publishers in the sports simulation genre to spend energy on innovation, innovation and quality growth, because gamers buy new parts of famous franchises from year to year, no matter what. For example, Madden NFL 22, which only has a logo and a cover from the new, easily set a record for sales – fans are ready to deposit money even if the graphics, physics, mechanics and modes quietly migrated from the previous part. Then, of course, gamers poured a lot of negative assessments and comments on the release, but what’s the point if the box office has already been made.

Far Cry 6

Action about a terrible dictator from a fictional republic

• To this topic: Charismatic Dictator, Tame Crocodile and Huge Map – Far Cry 6 Review

Ubisoft, of course, has a lot of good ideas and even good implementations of them, but all this pales against the background of the desire to stretch the gameplay for longer. Far Cry 6 is the clearest example of this. Instead of showing a cool story about a dictator and his son, saturating the players with dramatic scenes and vigorous narration, the developers smeared all the advantages of the project on a huge open map with many similar tasks, adored quests to clear bases and other “exciting” activities. The result is a rather boring grind game with an interesting story in the background.

NBA 2K22

When basketball was turned into a fan service

Although fans of sports simulators have long got used to the lack of any innovations, NBA 2K22 decided to disappoint gamers in other areas as well. For example, the developers stubbornly refuse to fight with cheaters, who are more in the game than in some competitive shooters. And in a paid game there is so much donation that it might seem like I launched a free game on a smartphone, and not a $ 60 AAA project on a PC or console. Yes, the graphics were really improved this time, but apart from a beautiful picture, the next part of virtual basketball did not show anything good.

Call of Duty: Vanguard

Another shooter Activision about WWII

• To this topic: No evil Russians and cozy multiplayer – Call of Duty Vanguard review

Making an AAA shooter once a year and not hitting your face in the dirt every time is an unrealistic task, even if you are Activision with an army of subsidiary studios and hundreds of millions of dollars in your account. And although many Call of Duty fans hoped for a miracle, in their hearts everyone understood that again the setting of World War II, again a story about Americans defeating the Nazis, again cartoon skins on weapons and a sea of ​​problems from integration into Warzone. This is how it actually happened – the new shooter actually turned out to be a reskin of MW 2019, only the weapon became an order of magnitude worse and more boring. When to draw a decent weapon, when is it urgent to rivet the next part?

eFootball 2022

Unsuccessful attempt to invent a football simulator

Konami decided that they could well compete with EA’s FIFA if they switch to new technologies and, of course, make the game shareware. But instead of applause and happy comments, the publisher received a completely opposite reaction – fans would gladly erase eFootball 2022 from their memory, but the technology from Men in Black has not yet been invented. Horrible physics, plastic athletes, twitchy animations, a sea of ​​in-app purchases and a multitude of technical complexities practically buried the only competitor of the EA assembly line. And, probably for the best, this game is a vivid demonstration of how you should definitely not do it.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood

Werewolves, shootouts and a blob of plot

Fans of the rather famous board game Werewolf: The Apocalypse were expecting from Cyanide Studio, which gave the world Styx: Master of Shadows, something fun, deep and detailed, but in fact it turned out boring, dry and dull. The combat system is extremely simple and straightforward, the virtual world is empty to the point of impossibility, the storyline is presented somehow sluggishly and without frills, and the richest lore of this fictional world decided not to tell at all. Instead, the gamer from time to time fought with squads of enemies, turned into a huge wolf and looked at the vivid special effects – the potential audience was clearly expecting something different.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition

Legendary remaster from specialists from India

When Rockstar bosses announced that they would be releasing full remakes of three iconic Grand Theft Autos, the community was overwhelmed – we have dreamed about it for over ten years. But then it turned out that the development was not carried out by a famous studio, but some kind of outsourcing team from India, which does not even know what the Rockstar logo is (instead of a five-pointed star, the designers drew a six-pointed one) – what can we say about other aspects. The trilogy turned out to be a real failure, which at first was difficult to believe. A world-renowned company cannot release this on release, right? But maybe – and does not even hesitate to take good money for it (now the release has been canceled, but the residue remains).

Biomutant

The ferret’s journey that has been awaited since 2016

• To this topic: Biomutant review – great ideas run into boring implementation

Imagine a situation when for many years you are promised a fruit cake with an amazing filling and delicious cream, but in fact they bring you “Napoleon” dried up from old age – this is Biomutant. The authors of the project have promised a breakthrough for years, something incredible, amazing and multifaceted, but in fact they have a very simple plot, an extremely formulaic combat system, darkness of grind, quests of the same type in the spirit of Ubisoft and interesting (for five minutes) character creation mechanics. The audience, of course, was not expecting this at all, but no one got the desired cake – be content with what you have.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Sea of ​​Grind in a famous franchise

“Dungeons and Dragons” has a huge army of connoisseurs all over the planet – this is the most popular board game in the world, which only gets better and more interesting from year to year. With a video game, the situation is exactly the opposite – the plot was written for show, and the gameplay is so monotonous that it’s even funny. From race to race, only the scenery and design of enemies will change, but the essence of the gameplay will not change one iota up to the last level. And the authors of the project also did not think over the mechanics of multiplayer with the selection of players, so in the end they turned out to be a terrible piece of work on the topic of the popular franchise, which clearly did not deserve such a famous name.