Top 10 - Unpolished Games

By Emily Buxton

The Top 10 is back again with Top 10 - Unpolished Games.

Some games were always destined for greatness. Other games, no matter how much love was put in, just wouldn’t fly. And then, there are those hazy grey area games left floating in the middle. These are the games that had so much potential, but for whatever reason, just didn’t amount to everything and more. Full of rushed storylines, unpolished graphics and bug-filled gameplay – this is my Top 10 ‘Games that could have used an extra 6 months work’.

*Warning – possible spoilers ahead*

10. Black

Black started out with a bang, and looked rather impressive for a bit, but quickly dwindled into a confusing mess of a story, with some truly terrible AI. You fight, blow stuff up, run, fight some more, blow stuff up and continue running. For a game with such a lot of hype, it didn’t impress me in the slightest. The developers of Black could do with a lesson on beauty not being skin deep. It might be a stunning looking game, but without the gameplay to back it up, it’s not going to get played through again.

9. Batman Begins

The movie was a huge success, so what happened to the game? The graphics were pretty good for a current gen title, and it captured the atmosphere of a dirty crime-riddled Gotham City. The problem was with the shoddy combat system. For some reason, the developers gave Batman the flexibility and grace of a 2 x 4 plank. Which turned into a dilemma when you were playing as a superhero. The moves were slow and laborious and any of the snazzy combos you managed to pull off were shown as a cut scene. Great. A totally revamped combat system would have given this game a new life.

8. Singstar

As a big Singstar fan, it pains me to add the original Singstar title to this blacklist. When it first appeared on the scene, it seemed to be the answer to our budding karaoke prayers! Er, except for the fact that the duet function didn’t work properly, and the marathon length career mode was a hot mess. Singing the same Jamelia song over and over and over again as you build a five-hour, throat-shredding, headache-inducing superstar career just isn’t fun. Ever.

7. Halo 2

Before I get hate mail for putting this title on here, let me state how much I enjoyed this game. Honestly. The graphics were excellent, the music was outstanding and the gameplay was utterly addictive. My problem with Halo 2 lies with the so called ‘ending’ of this game. Quite frankly, there wasn’t one. One minute you’re kicking butt, and then next minute you’re staring at the credits. I have no problems with cliff-hangers, but this felt like someone had misplaced the last page of the script. In the making-of footage, even the developers themselves moaned during their interviews about not having nearly enough time. With an extra 6 months under their collective belts, this game could have been near perfection.

6. Far Cry Instincts Evolution

Yes, I realise that this was designed as more of an “expansion pack” game, but it doesn’t excuse the short length, and horribly anti-climactic ending. Far Cry Instincts was a terrifying and lengthy adventure with a solid storyline. Evolution felt like an add-on, there only to tempt the crazed Far Cry fans. Together, the two stories packed quite a punch, but as separate games, Evolution wouldn’t stand out from the crowd. The graphics were top notch, but a longer, more eventful plot would have made this game a success in it’s own right.

5. Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness

In production for years, and eagerly anticipated by the masses, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness nearly killed the Tomb Raider franchise. To start with, Lara was plucked from her natural cave-like habitat and thrown onto the urban streets of Europe. Sure, cities like Prague might sound exotic on paper, but the fans were unimpressed. Then throw in a bucketful of bugs and the most clunky frustrating god-awful controls known to man, and this chapter of the Tomb Raider franchise is best left in the dark.

4. Playboy Mansion

The idea was fantastic. Everyone who’s played the Sims has wished you could make your Sims do naughty things without the annoying pixel-blur effect. If you’re going to control the lives of cartoon people, eventually you’re going to get bored of making them collect the mail and water their plants. Enter the girls of the Playboy Mansion. Unfortunately, nudity, outrageous sex and crazy parties couldn’t save this bug-filled, poor excuse for a game. It becomes quite a challenge to host a fabulous party when you’re stuck in a doorframe or unable to get yourself out of the pool. The actual story mode was acceptable, but still far below the quality needed to lift this game out of its funk. Even a slight overhaul of the graphics would have done wonders in making this an adequate game.

3. Fahrenheit

Not even a strangely subtle necrophilia scene near the end could save this game. What started out as a creepy and truly fascinating story ended up as a rushed and bizarre trip into a nonsensical ancient-Mayan Wonderland. Part science fiction, part murder mystery, entirely disappointing. The saving grace for this game was the solid graphics and the refreshingly engaging cut scenes. My advice is to play about 5 hours of this game, then switch it off forever. Sometimes it really is best to keep the mystery alive.

2. Driv3r

So it had some cool celebrity voices. And the storyline was ok. But did anyone else notice how unbelievably bad the gameplay and graphics were? The environments were so devoid of any details that just by playing this game you felt your personality slipping away. The indoor settings were particularly bland, composed mostly of block shaped… blocks, and monochromatic walls. The missions were impossibly hard and the freestyle driving was about as interesting as Russell Crowe. The trick to having fun with this game is to acquire all the cheats, equip a bazooka and go looking for the Timmy’s. If you’re desperate to drive around and shoot at people, do yourself a favour and buy GTA: San Andreas instead.

1. Knights Of The Old Republic 2

Poor Obsidian. Not only did they have to follow up one of the most popular games of 2003, but they had to do it without the help of BioWare. Like sequels everywhere, it suffered from a hyped up and overly expectant audience, so an inferior storyline was practically assumed. What did come as a surprise though, was the monumental crash and burn that the storyline went through. My award for the most botched up storyline goes to Knights of the Old Republic 2. On the plus side though, it has made the first game seem even better by comparison.

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