A video game trailer is supposed to get you psyched for the game it is advertising by showing you all the best parts. It’s supposed to say, “Hey, look at this game! It’s going to be really good!” Unfortunately some of those trailers are damn dirty liars, and when the game comes out critics and people looking forward to it are disappointed in one way or another. These These are the top 20 trailers for disappointing games so far this console generation. (Click here for 10 – 1!!)
20. Mario Party 8
We’ll start off with something lighthearted. If there is one thing the Wii is good at it is mini games, so Mario Party 8 seems like a perfect fit from the trailer. However, it seems that the series has gone on so long that Nintendo is scraping the bottom of the barrel for mini game ideas, and the ones shown in the trailer are the best among a sea of mediocrity. Also, this trailer lies through its teeth because one kid would be choking another one for star stealing. It’s just the way the game works.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNhglqbItaw[/youtube]
19. Damnation
A guy in a cool hat who is shooting guns, doing crazy acrobatics and shooting guns WHILE doing crazy acrobatics? This game has to be good, right? Halt right there criminal scum. This game is actually infamous for being one of the worst games this generation. Crippled by bugs and bad game play elements, Damnation is not nearly as good as its trailer would lead us to believe.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJBU7ocsVJE[/youtube]
18. Ju-On The Grudge
Mini-games didn’t work out so well for the Wii, but maybe some survival horror might. Using the Wiimote as a flashlight seems like a good idea for immersing you in the game. The trailer shows some freaky parts and people being freaked out by them, but the footage must have been of people playing Ninjabread Man because the game is about as scary as the movie, which is not scary at all.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thCO0b9He9E[/youtube]
17. Red Steel
Admit it. When the Wii first came out you were excited about the prospect of motion controls and the fact that you could tilt the Wiimote to point your gun sideways in Red Steel. This trailer figured you might be looking forward to that, so it takes every opportunity to show you that you can point the gun sideways. Once you actually play it and laugh when you rotate the gun, there is little left to enjoy in Red Steel. The trailer failed to show the frustrating camera and made the clunky sword fighting look smooth as silk. Worst of all, it shows the guy being super active while playing, which we all know isn’t true.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnoVn5SGa0E[/youtube]
16. The Cursed Crusade
This one is a pretty recent release. The trailer shows a templar fighting another man in armor and showcases some cool in-game fighting moves. I guess it’s not too hard to make this game look impressive when the setting is the crusades, because everyone loves games set during the crusades! When you actually play the game it boils down to a hack and slash with a lazy story about the characters being part demon or something. In the end it doesn’t look like this trailer lied to us as much as rode on the coattails of the setting.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_YUl3hr4Jo[/youtube]
15. Darkest of Days
I was intrigued when I first saw this trailer. Jumping through history’s battles with modern day weapons sounded like it would be a fun time, but the actual product falls on its face when it comes to the action department. The lack of action actually makes sense when you think about it. How much action can a game have when you have an assault rifle and your enemies have one shot rifles, or better yet, spears and shields?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_X4rbtP7qk[/youtube]
14. White Knight Chronicles
If you are a JRPG fan you probably watched this trailer, shrugged off the fact that the main character’s name is Leonard, and got super excited at the prospect of this epic adventure from developers Level 5. For most, that excitement quickly faded when they started the game and found out that during the story you can’t play as the custom character they invested their time in. It only gets worse from there as you experience a highly anticipated battle system that boils down to spamming your best moves, and a story that will make you fall asleep with the controller in your hands. Oh look, we saved the princess… nope wait, someone left her alone and they captured her again. Yes, that actually happens.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY_A78QfUCI[/youtube]
13. Duke Nukem Forever
There’s nothing like 12 years of development that hypes a game up so much that it can’t possibly meet expectations. Nevertheless, the trailer promises ass kicking, gum chewing, nut punching and much more as you watch. The game also delivers on its trailers promises, but not on the level everyone was hoping for. I enjoyed the game myself, but I went in thinking that it was just one big dick joke rather than a shooter that can stand up to the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield. That’s just simply not going to happen with a game that is literally the Frankenstein’s Monster of videogames. Still, this trailer is entertaining, so it nabs a spot on the list.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVuuyRGB_BA&ob=av3e[/youtube]
12. Need for Speed Undercover
I’m not huge into racing games, but their trailers are very pretty. Undercover seems to be the black mark on the Need for Speed franchise. It seems like the developers put too much time into the cut-scenes and not enough into the actual game itself leaving the player with some glitches and a super easy campaign. Maybe this should have been a movie instead.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkHJzHIbQQg[/youtube]
11. Prince of Persia
This one is kind of an odd ball. While it was well received by critics, it left a bad taste in the mouths of long time fans of the series. For fans of the old Prince, the new redesigned Prince and his companion were irritating, but not a huge deal; kind of like that high pitched sound that comes from old TVs. The larger elements that fans questioned were the newly implemented automated platforming, the confusing story, and the lack of character development. Still, the game was well received by most critics, so I couldn’t very well have it break the top ten. If the critic scores were a little lower it would definitely be higher on the list because the trailer is excellent.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdZT6HIwoU4[/youtube]
There you have it! Click here for the second half of the Top 20 Good Trailers for Disappointing Games.
I’m excited for part two, full of Sonic Unleashed, Mirrors Edge, Alpha Protocol, and maybe even FFXIV.
I gasp at your words against Mirror’s Edge!
I enjoyed Mirrors Edge… but it was a HUGE disappointment. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the same feelings I got when I finished Brutal Legend. I had fun, but not nearly as much as I should have.
I think that Mirror’s Edge 2 can outdo itself by having the city as an open-world game, with quests and task. Main quests would follow scripted sequences like Mirror’s Edge’s missions because they had that feel to them, although open-world tasks would be great.
It’d be a bit like an RPG I guess.
Hey, I wouldn’t say Dead Island was a disappointing game, but I think the trailer didn’t justify the potential epicness of the game.
And Battlefield 3 had tons of amazing singleplayer trailers (like Guillotine) that ended up as a whole in a bad single-player campaign.