A reader lists the games he’s been most disappointed in on Sony’s last generation console, including The Division and The Division.
Before I begin, let me first just explain that by ‘disappointing’ I don’t mean these are the worst games on the PlayStation 4. This is simply a list of titles that, for various reasons, I didn’t enjoy anywhere near as much as I expected to. Of course, this is all just opinion, and in some cases the disappointment was simply because of my own high expectations, so feel free to (politely) correct me in the comments!
10. Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell
After the slightly disappointing Saints Row 4 I had kind of lost interest in the series and so only gave this standalone expansion a go when it appeared for free on PS Plus. Unfortunately, with its outdated controls and repetitive missions, it failed to even meet the relatively low expectations I had and even the opportunity to play co-op couldn’t make it worth my time.
9. eFootball
Again, I can’t say I was expecting all that much from eFootball, but I don’t think anyone saw this complete car crash coming! Most of you will have seen the nightmare inducing pictures of distorted players that plagued its release, but while patches have now fixed many of the bugs the complete lack of in-game modes and options (outside of those that try to push you into spending real money) still persists. The saddest thing is that the actual gameplay is pretty good, but it already feels like this series is dead in the water.
8. Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War
Despite the removal of the much-maligned loot box system, Shadow Of War remains an unsatisfying sequel. The excellent Nemesis System and enjoyable combat of the original remain at the game’s core but in taking the ‘more is more’ approach the game just feels overwhelming to the point that you never feel as though you’re making any real progress. It’s still a decent game, but with multiple maps full of (often repetitive) quests and enemies it’s undoubtedly inferior to its more focused predecessor.
7. Alien Isolation
The exemplary presentation and audio captures the feel of the movies better than any game has done before, unfortunately the game built around it just isn’t particularly entertaining. Even by survival horror standards the gameplay is very slow paced and almost entirely involves sneaking around the space station pulling levers and pushing buttons as directed, hoping not to be spotted by the various enemies. Being stalked by the alien itself does feel suitably tense on occasions, but even this is spoiled by having to constantly repeat large sections of the game every time you die. At around 20 or so hours it’s also far too long.
6. Evolve
I had high hopes for Evolve, even after seeing the mixed reviews – turns out those reviews were right. The concept itself, a team of hunters with different abilities attempting to track down and kill a monster, is potentially a good one but in this case it simply doesn’t work. The vast majority of my online time involved running around in circles for 15 minutes trying to keep up with the monster until it reached its final form. At that point we’d either die or defeat the bullet sponge of an enemy, either way missions just felt like they all played out in almost identical fashion, and I lost interest in less than a week.
5. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
The increased difficulty makes the fast-paced run and gun gameplay of The New Colossus all but impossible on even the default setting (the lowest setting is too easy) and it doesn’t work as a stealth game either. Enemy detection is too inconsistent, and in a good number of areas alerting the commanders results in enemies infinitely respawning until you can kill them and shut down the alarm.
To make matters even worse, you’ll often find yourself wandering around a U-boat that acts as kind of a hub in between most missions, performing menial fetch tasks before you can even get back to the shooting.
4. The Division
Despite my misgivings about loot-based shooters, The Division still looked as though it could be good fun to play with friends and family, unfortunately unambitious is probably the most generous way I could describe it. The cover-based shooting is functional, even if it’s not as good as something like Gears Of War, but it’s the role-playing elements that just turn everything into a monotonous grind. Fighting my way through a series of bullet sponge enemies to be rewarded with a gun or item of clothing that has slightly higher numbers, but no actual effect on the gameplay, was just tiresome and I traded it in pretty quickly.
3. Monster Hunter: World
My first foray into the world of Monster Hunter, and most likely my last. I expected the game’s core loop of crafting appropriate gear to be able to hunt down more difficult monsters to be repetitive by its very nature, but what I didn’t expect was the tedious gameplay. Every hunt involves hacking away at the enemy for what seems like an hour until it runs away, you then chase it and repeat until it eventually dies and you can claim your reward. Patience rather than skill seems to be all that is required…
Trying to team up with friends and family is also a chore, with a series of restrictions and hoops to be jumped through just to join someone else’s game. I’m just glad it was ‘free’ as part of the PlayStation 4 collection!
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
I was looking forward to this long-awaited sequel to one of my favourite Xbox 360 games, unfortunately Rockstar decided to spend all the development time creating an incredibly detailed world rather than actually giving players anything fun to do in it. The opening two to three hours are arguably the most monotonous I’ve experienced in modern gaming, as you listen to stories about events that are far more interesting than anything you’re actually doing. Even when you do actually see a bit of action, you’ll find the controls to be as clunky as they always are in Rockstar Games, making shootouts far less exciting than they should be. Let’s hope GTA 6 is a bit more fun!
1. Back 4 Blood
I was incredibly excited to finally see a successor to the brilliant Left 4 Dead games, and my initial impressions were pretty good thanks to the improved gunplay and an interesting looking card system to add variety. In every other respect, however, this is inferior to two games that are now over a decade old. Gone are the missions, each set in memorably unique settings, to be replaced by ‘acts’ that may as well all just take place in the same locations. And gone are the final escapes that saw everyone desperately trying to survive that one final onslaught. The various enemy types are also far less interesting and don’t require the same level of teamwork to defeat as those in Left 4 Dead. All in all, the biggest disappointment on the PlayStation 4.
By reader drlowdon
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