10 Most Disappointing Games on Xbox One

In the modern gaming industry, hype seems to be the biggest problem that both developers and gamers alike are faced with. It is becoming harder and harder to find that one game that we can throw into the market and watch it grow into a huge success. Competition in the industry is fierce and with so many indie publishers now crawling to the surface, big names now feel like they must throw games out there in the hope to keep people’s attention. Sometimes games that look awesome can turn out to be glaring disappointments, and this list names but a few of them currently on Xbox One.

 

1. MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA

The original Mass Effect series was always going to be a tough act to follow up, and Mass Effect Andromeda failed to meet the expectations that the original series had already set. During the original series we followed Commander Shepard as he cruised around the galaxy on a testosterone fuelled rampage to save the galaxy. It was filled with amazing characters and some truly masterful missions that made this game a classic. Mass Effect Andromeda has moved in another direction, instead allowing you to explore the galaxy as a settler and dealing with all the problems that come with it.

But Mass Effect Andromeda was plagued by lacklustre characters, poor graphics and was riddled with bugs. The fans wanted more of the first version and when they received this, they turned on the series, giving it poor review scores and a lot of hate online, which I think it truly didn’t deserve.

The current generation of consoles can seriously provide us with some awesome graphics and intense gameplay, and you get the impression that BioWare just didn’t use the tools they had available to them, making this game a huge disappointment when compared to the first three.

 

2. BATTLEBORN

It is hard to see where 2K and Gearbox went wrong with this game. Following the success of the Borderlands series, Battleborn had everything going for it before release with some truly spectacular gameplay footage and a lot of promises.

Now don’t get me wrong, Battleborn has all the raw materials to become an outstanding game with a wide range of playable characters (25 in fact) each with their own special ability and weapons, and even a campaign that can be played either online with friends or solo (playing solo is insanely tough!).

But when this game was released, players had to wait up to ten minutes to be connected to a server, and when they did manage to get a game in, the matchmaking was just appalling, with some players going up against people with a much higher level than them. The final nail in the coffin for this game was the release of Overwatch, which did everything that Battleborn didn’t, forcing it into memory.

 

3. WATCH DOGS 2

Watch Dogs 2 came out of nowhere at E3 2016 and many people boarded the hype train. It promised an immersive open world and abilities that they had taken from Watch Dogs and expanded on. To be fair, the trailers looked amazing and some people were hinting that this game could be the dark horse of 2016.

However, on release, the game was broken and full of bugs with the online multiplayer servers not working at all. I reviewed this game, and although I found it enjoyable, the storyline started to wear on me as the characters and missions became more and more ridiculous. The hacking system had also been changed radically so that it made it more of a chore to hack the world than it did in Watch Dogs.

Watch Dogs 2 had a lot of promise and although it has been widely accepted as a better game than the original, but I still felt hugely disappointed with this game as they could have done so much more.

 

4. GHOST RECON WILDLANDS

Ghost Recon Wildlands was another game that had a huge amount of publicity at E3 2016 and was tipped to be one of the biggest releases of early 2017. The premise of the game is simple – as the leader of a secret military unit, you must drive around Bolivia and destabilise the Santa Blanca Cartel. You can either do this solo or three of your friends can jump on the same session and give you a hand.

Now, the principle of this is a good idea if the game itself wasn’t without its glaring flaws. The campaign is repetitive and, in some cases, it is extremely difficult. The open world is pretty empty (as far as open worlds go) and there is very little to no background on each of the playable characters. When you do play online with friends or with other gamers, it is hard to find a crew that wants to actually do the missions and not blow everything up in sight.

Ghost Recon Wildlands had a lot of promise when you look at the open beta reviews and the E3 press videos, but I feel like this game is pretty empty. They could have done so much more with the storyline, but instead it felt rushed, especially towards the end. Hell, the ending is maybe one of the most disappointing things about this game.

 

5. WWE 2K17

Wrestling fans have become used to games that are full of bugs and clunky controls, but WWE 2K17 takes this to the next level and beyond. It must be said that although the wrestlers look exactly like their real life counterparts, this fails to make up for the way the game plays and also the changes they have made to the career mode and various matches.

Ladder matches have now gone from a fairly simple affair to one that requires timing and patience and the mini game they use for you to unhook the belt is often frustrating and feels stacked against you. In Career Mode you are expected to use VC (Victory Credits) to unlock new moves to keep your fan base going, offering in game purchases to do this and even then it feels impossible to get anywhere meaningful.

The Universe Mode is just as broken as the game doesn’t always recognise the winner of the Royal Rumble for the main event at Mania (one of WWE’s biggest draws) and when you reach a certain point, people who wouldn’t usually be in the picture end up jobbing you to keep the game going.

Add in the fact that the DLC for this game was just insulting, and then it could be argued that this is the worst instalment yet.

 

6. FOR HONOR

When I look back on this game, I feel like such a fool. I followed this game from E3 2015 right up to its 2017 release date, writing positive articles about the game and also giving it a damn good review score. I have since been back to this game and played it again and realise I made a big mistake on this one.

Ok, the graphics are pretty good and the new Art of Combat system is pretty outstanding but that’s as far as it goes. The single player really is just a six hour tutorial that eventually forces you to play online where they really do make their money. Somebody once figured it would take 3 years to earn all the content if you didn’t buy their in-game currency and that’s if you can manage to get online without the servers kicking you out of the game.

The developers have since patched the game, but when you look at the potential For Honor had to be brilliant and what they actually produced, you can’t help to feel a bit disappointed, and in my case, foolish.

 

7. THE DIVISION

This is another game on the list that they could have done so much more with but chose not to. The Division is set in an American city after a virus and as a secret agent, you run around blowing stuff up and taking on one of the four factions that dominate the ruined city.

With an insane difficulty spike and boring storyline, it is obvious when you play through it a second time that the game is really building you up to go into the dark zone, where they claim the real fun begins. However, the Dark Zone is more frustrating than online dating and the game does nothing to prepare you for what you will face and also all the backstabbing that seems rife between other players.

This game was seriously built up both by the developers and the community and was hyped up to be one of the best post-disaster games to have ever been made, but in reality what we got was a game with a great premise that fell flat at every turn.

Whenever I play this game, I feel like I am missing something, like the game doesn’t feel complete. It’s such a shame as The Division had a huge amount of potential.

 

8. DESTINY

Destiny isn’t a bad game if you enjoy MMOs and have both the time and patience for grinding. I don’t have time for any of this and although Destiny was promised to be an adventure from Earth to the stars, it fell short of this mark by a considerably post. Many of the missions were the same and some of the bosses were just rock hard and next to impossible to kill.

The main reason why this game made the list is because of the insane amount of grinding that you need to do to really get anywhere within the game. In all my years of gaming, I have never felt more disheartened when I complete missions and barley watch my level up bar grow. If you remove the grinding element to this game, then you don’t really have anything left to do.

The developers have worked hard to release additional content and there are a number of different add-ons with new maps and new storylines to explore, whilst you die a million times trying to complete them.

Destiny had a huge publicity campaign that made the game look like it was really going to show off what the next generation of consoles can put out and that this would be the future of gaming but what we actually got was something that had been done before a million times. Let’s just hope that Destiny 2 is going to be the game that the first one should have been.

 

9. ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY

It is fair to say that this is the game that actually killed off Ubisoft’s biggest franchise and forced them to look back and rethink their approach to try and win the hearts of the fans back.

If you have played this game, then it is worth going back and watching the E3 conference and the teaser trailers that were released for this game.

According to the trailers, the other assassins that make an appearance are actually separate characters, the same could be said when you look at the front cover of the game. Even the title ‘Unity’ implies that you will be working alongside other assassins.

What we actually get is a single player game which follows one assassin and even then I wouldn’t really call him one. It was hit with an insane amount of bugs and had numerous issues that made the game unplayable. The ‘Unity’ side of this game required gamers to jump online with other gamers and complete missions. However, the online was broken and unplayable and as a result, it took away a huge part of this game.

The disappointment of this game can still be felt today as many people reference this game as the beginning of the end for the series, and they could be right. As the second outing for the franchise on next-generation consoles, this game should have been amazing, but instead we ended up with something that was broken and rushed.

 

10. HOMEFRONT: THE REVOLUTION

I actually feel kind of sorry for this game. Coming off the back of a pretty average first person shooter on the Xbox 360, it didn’t have a great base to launch itself from. It was hit with development issues really early on and changed hands many times before finally being picked up by a company and finished. Interesting fact, though, is that this game is known for having the worst beta in recent memory.

If any of you have tried to play this game like I have then you will appreciate it when I say that this game is very nearly unplayable. With some awful glitches, clunky gameplay and poor storyline, there was nothing to keep people interested.

But if you look at the premise behind the storyline, you can’t help but wonder what went wrong. They had so much they could have worked with to make this game amazing, but instead they managed to kill off a series.