2014 Disappointments In Gaming – GameSided Roundtable

Greetings! This is our weekly GameSided Roundtable feature, where our writers converge to provide their opinions, wishes, statements or critical thought on one general topic centered around video games. Sometimes it can be funny, sometimes it can be serious. Contemporary, classic; we hope to cover a wide variety of things in this segment as a group. If you wish to submit an idea for a GameSided Roundtable discussion topic, you can leave the editor an email at: daniel.george@fansided.com. We’ll totally give you (and your Twitter account, if applicable) a shoutout!

This week’s GameSided Roundtable topic: “What is your most disappointing game of 2014?”

Martin Benn (Twitter)

My most disappointing game of 2014 was Watch Dogs. A new franchise from Ubisoft in a city environment and a ton of “hacking” to manipulate the world. What could go wrong? Well, just about everything. The city of Chicago is testing out the world’s creepiest security system so you can hack into it and play Minority Report stopping crimes before they happen or you just steal money from their bank account with no moral penalty. The fact this game even attempted a morality tale in the face of countless thefts, murders, and psychological scarring your player inputs on others is the most lighthearted moment this game gets.

There are plenty of things to cite as things I didn’t like about this game. The driving was not very fun and, worse, it was pretty clunky. The hacking was so easy there was hardly a time of feeling nervous about your surroundings. The city of Chicago has never been more boring and unlike itself. The story is abysmal. To top it all off, you play as a raspy voiced “hero” because the story, setting, and gameplay could not be generic enough. I shall not go further as I’m not going to pile on more here. It was just a really uninteresting and, at times, a mechanically bad game.

Georgina Young (Twitter)

I don’t like Mario Kart 8. I don’t like almost anything about it.

I’m a huge Mario Kart Wii fan, as I was of Double Dash, but the Wii version is where I really came into my own. I learned where and when to perfectly execute wheelies, I learnt my favourite bike and character combination. I learnt when best to flick the Wii-mote, the best route around the courses, how to carry an item behind you and pick another up. I learned how to disable a POW block, and I annihilated all the competition with Baby Daisy and the Quacker.And it was all gone in an instant. All the best mechanics

And it was all gone in an instant. All the best mechanics are gone, and replaced with more based on chance and luck. So while you guys are over there playing with your Wii U I’ll just be here fiddling with the sensor bar.

Jon McSwain (Twitter)

This past year will likely go down in history as the most issue ridden year in gaming. Broken game after broken game littered 2014 with bad vibes and upset gamers. It really was the year that gaming companies tossed out ethics and morals and just became fully enamored with the all-mighty dollar. Whether their games had just a few issues or like Assassin’s Creed: Unity (barely playable), there were decisions that were made that caused ripples throughout the gaming community. These disappointments culminated in Microsoft’s most cherished franchise; Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Without any doubt, this was my biggest disappointment of 2014.

When I was contemplating purchasing a new gaming console, I weighed many different variables before reaching a decision. I had about convinced myself to purchase the new PS4 when I began reading about the upcoming Halo MCC, and that finalized my decision. It is my absolute favorite Microsoft franchise and the thought of playing through the games again was more than I could resist. I spent most of last year anxiously awaiting its arrival and on launch date I couldn’t fire it up fast enough. The game looked great. That is, until I attempted to play some multiplayer, which was my biggest draw to the game. To my dismay, the online multiplayer just wouldn’t connect. Time after time waiting to join a match, only to finally connect in a game of 2v6! The multiplayer was/is so bad that I have nearly shelved the game in hopes that at some point 343 will get it fixed. It’s very perplexing to wonder why a game that already worked could be riddled with so many issues. It has been a colossal failure for Microsoft and its most cherished franchise.

The sheer greed and reckless abandonment by Microsoft has been a huge disappointment, although not by any means surprising. As the gaming industry tries to wipe the mud off their faces, I can only hope that they have learned some valuable lessons during this embarrassing year. Here’s to a new year with, what hopefully, brings better choices.

Next: An MMO, An MMO-like & A Disappointment Due To Unreasonable Standards