Great concept; terrible execution

[Canadave]

A couple weeks ago, I decided to give The Movies another shot. Unfortunately, just like I remembered, it's entertaining for the first hour or so of play, then it becomes incredibly slow and plodding. Thing is, I still think the concept is very cool—I love the idea of getting to run my own Hollywood studio!—but I hate how the game gets bogged down in micromanaging your actors and directors very quickly. I wanted to make the next Star Wars, not struggle to keep happiness meters full on fussy digital people; I'd just play The Sims if I'd had that in mind.

Which leads to my question: Any other games that you loved that idea of when you first heard about it, but then the execution ended up killing the game for you? Spore was another for me...

 

[clint g]

I remember feeling this way about rainbow six lockdown. It was supposed to revolutionize online console gaming. in some ways it did, in that its online modes sort of laid the ground work for Modern Warfare's system. The game itself sucked though.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Superpower. I remember it sounded really cool--global grand strategy with real demographics. The data was, by and large, realistic. The actions of the countries in the game, however, were not. Brazil declares war on China! Pakistan invades South Africa! What the fuck?? There was no sanity to it at all. I hear the sequel improved matters but I never bothered with it.

 

[Caliburn24]

For me it is Homeworld and Homeworld 2, I love the idea of space based real time strategy games, and the idea of a fully three dimensional game. And while the games are solid and fun, they are simple and the tactics and strategy are too crude and basic. The games feels like it was dumbed down and carebearified(for its a word!) so they could sell it to the masses.

Don't be afraid to make a game complicated!

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

I thought Evil Genius has a great concept. It was a decent game as is, but like lots of games in the genre the micromanaging just gets to you after awhile.

 

[Arrqh]

Considering how excellent the gameplay was and how critically acclaimed Homeworld is, I really don't see how you can call its execution "terrible"...

 

[Jax]

Not terrible but I always felt SW TFU should of toned it down a little and ST BC should of been less slower and more frantic.

as for plain terrible erm...

Operation Flashpoint tried to make a realistic game play like COD in terms of mission design, the sheer amount fo bugs and oh they dump out 50% of the original ideas for the game rushing it.

FIFA 10 got rid of the grid system to allow a more natural 360 degress way of playing but forgot players still had the controller and not our own two feet.

 

[Kelthaz]

Spore - Jack of all trades, master of none pretty much sums up this game.

Professor Layton - I love puzzle/adventure games, but the puzzles were badly implemented. You're moving along, hoping to solve a murder mystery, when every damn NPC in the game stops you to count some bottles or follow a line. It completely destroys the pacing of the game. The puzzles should have been implemented into the plot, rather than as a distraction.

Super Paper Mario - Great idea to add the RPG elements of the Paper Mario series into a 2D Mario platformer, but I wish they would have got a developer that actually knew how to make a platformer. Ignoring the excellent RPG elements, Super Paper Mario is quite possibly the dullest platformer I have ever played

 

[Robert Maxwell]

For me it is Homeworld and Homeworld 2, I love the idea of space based real time strategy games, and the idea of a fully three dimensional game. And while the games are solid and fun, they are simple and the tactics and strategy are too crude and basic. The games feels like it was dumbed down and carebearified(for its a word!) so they could sell it to the masses.

Don't be afraid to make a game complicated!

Considering no one had ever done a 3D RTS in that vein before, I don't know how you could knock the execution of Homeworld. The story was excellent, the production values were excellent, and the gameplay was easy to pick up yet difficult to master.

A game doesn't have to be needlessly complex to be good. Homeworld's overall simplicity of design is part of its charm, I think.

 

[Canadave]

Superpower. I remember it sounded really cool--global grand strategy with real demographics. The data was, by and large, realistic. The actions of the countries in the game, however, were not. Brazil declares war on China! Pakistan invades South Africa! What the fuck?? There was no sanity to it at all. I hear the sequel improved matters but I never bothered with it.

Oh yeah, I remember looking forwards to this one back in the day. Shame it turned out the way it did.

Oh, and Homeworld is one of my favourite games of all time. No disappointment here. You might as well complain about Dune 2 being a poor 2D RTS... it was the first, after all.

 

[Skywalker]

Too Human.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

The first Assassin's Creed. It was boring and repetitive, but the underlying concept was really solid. Thankfully, they learned from their mistakes, and made Assassin's Creed 2 a really great game.

 

[Hermiod]

Black & White surely has to get a mention.

 

[ITL]

Black & White surely has to get a mention.

Agreed. I loved the concept but hated the micro-management. And the excessively long-winded mini-quest type scenarios. And many other things I can't quite remember as it's been years since I said "Fuck that!" and gave up on it.

 

[ALF]

All the Star Wars Lego games. The characters aren't responsive enough, dammit! Also the puzzles are too frustrating for me to figure out. I just want to shoot stuff. I love Star Wars and I love lego and I love Star Wars Lego. How could they miss?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Black & White surely has to get a mention.

I remember that. It was fun, at first, but it became very repetitive and dull after a while... I ended up wanting to do nothing but terrorize my people and send my creature to destroy everything.

How about the Battlecruiser series? I always wished those games would live up to what they promised, but they were always lacking something crucial to make them fun and engaging.

 

[The Fatman]

Star Wars: Rebellion

 

[Kibbin]

^agreed^

I got that in a Star Wars box set and was soooo looking forward to it, but it was just really poorly implemented. Also I'm gonna stick SW: Online on as well. Why games developers should not just listen to the stupid masses.

 

[Charlie Kelly]

Star Trek: Online

The game seemed rushed, ground combat is awful. It should have been a great game.

Charlie

 

[B.J.]

Global Thermonuclear War


What?