As we’ve established, the first six months of 2017 were pretty fantastic. Our ranking of the 10 best games of the first half of 2017 features more greats than most year-end lists. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Resident Evil 7, and Horizon Zero Dawn have already made this a very good year.
That said, this year hasn’t been perfect. With the highs have come some regrettable lows, with 2017 playing host to its share of high-profile flops. We’ve seen heavily fan-backed games like Yooka-Laylee and Friday the 13th: The Game stumble across the finish line, and big triple-A productions like Mass Effect: Andromeda get torn apart by fans and critics alike.
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Given how stacked 2017 has been so far, these are 5 games you simply don’t need to waste your time on…
Note: We’re focusing on most disappointing games, not the outright worst. To make this list, a game has to have had some potential. We’re not going to be picking on a bunch of obvious junk from Steam here.
5) Yooka-Laylee
Man, did I want to enjoy Yooka-Laylee. Made by a team of ex-Rare employees, Yooka-Laylee attempted to recapture the bygone golden age of 3D platformers, but ended shattering a lot of 90s kids’ rose-colored glasses. Was this really what old-school 3D platformers were like? And, if so, why did we ever enjoy them? Developer Playtonic Games delivered exactly what they promised backers, but clunky controls, technical issues, and dated level designed combined to make Yooka-Laylee more frustrating than fun. The makers of Yooka-Laylee had their hearts in the right place, but good intentions don’t necessarily result in good games.
Check out WWG’s Yooka-Laylee review here.
4) NBA Playgrounds
NBA Playgrounds looked like it could be the successor to the classic NBA Jam games fans had been wanting for a long time. A return to an era of simple, accessible sports games that you don’t have to invest your life in! Unfortunately, the final product served up an underwhelming mix of frustrating shooting mechanics, lacking presentation, and a dearth of options. Developer Saber Interactive have attempted to bring NBA Playgrounds up to snuff via updates, but most players have already moved on. Air ball.
Check out WWG’s NBA Playgrounds review here.
3) Valkyria Revolution
Fans had been waiting for the 2008 cult-classic RPG Valkyria Chronicles to get a proper full-scale follow up for a long time, but, unfortunately, this is what they got. Valkyria Revolution does have a compelling setup and a few solid mechanics, but it squanders them over the course of a longwinded, repetitive campaign. Poorly translated cutscenes that drag on for more than half-an-hour at a time, laughably unoriginal characters, and shallow hack ‘n’ slash gameplay – Valkyria Revolution makes every mistake in the book. Valkyria Chronicles is one of the best JRPGs of the past decade, while Valkyria Revolution wasn’t even best JRPG of the week when it came out.
Check out WWG’s Valkyria Revolution review here.
2) Mass Effect: Andromeda
Is Mass Effect: Andromeda the worst game on this list? No, in fact, it’s probably the best. That said, the expectations for the game were also by far the highest. Mass Effect: Andromeda was an okay game, but that doesn’t cut it when you’re talking about the latest entry in one of the most popular and acclaimed series of all time. Andromeda‘s wonky animation and embarrassing glitches are well documented, but looking beyond the technical limitations, it simply wasn’t a great RPG. A good premise and beautiful worlds simply can’t make up for dull one-dimensional characters and bland mission design. Mass Effect: Andromeda may have killed off a series that’s sold nearly 20 million copies – that’s an impressive feat.
1) Friday the 13th: The Game
Friday the 13th: The Game had an, ahem, killer premise — play as either Jason or one of seven counselors in a battle for survival at Camp Crystal Lake! It seemed like the makers of the game really cared about the property, and the title built a rabid pre-launch fanbase. Aaand then it actually came out. The game was essentially unplayable at launch, gutted by server issues and a myriad of bugs, and it stayed that way for weeks. Setting aside the game’s many online and technical issues, Friday the 13th: The Game is built on a fundamentally flawed premise. Yes, wreaking bloody havoc as Jason is fun, but you only spend a fraction of your time controlling him. As a generic doomed teen, the game is largely a drag. No game 2017 game had more enthusiastic fan support than Friday the 13th: The Game, and as such, no game’s failure was more crushingly disappointing.
Check out WWG’s Friday the 13th: The Game review here.
Well, there you go – five entries for the Hall of Shame. Let’s hope 2017’s worst disappointments are already behind us!
