For every awesome game and announcement revealed at E3 2013 – and we found 10 in particular to be our favourites – there were a handful of titles that just didn’t click. It could be that they didn’t live up to expectations. Perhaps there wasn’t enough showcased.
Maybe it just didn’t look great at all. But as always, E3 has its share of disappointments. The years ahead will be enough to prove us wrong as to whether these games truly are disappointing, but until then, here are our top 5 most disappointing games of E3 2013.
5. The Crew
How could a game be disappointing when we didn’t know anything about it beforehand? Simple: By taking up too much time in a presser, that too the prime slot, and simply not delivering anything we hadn’t seen before. Even worse, The Crew just couldn’t put an interesting spin on any of the aspects it was advocating, even though the thought of three-man car gangs stealing from civilians in a persistent universe that combines single-player, co-op and multiplayer sounds exciting on paper.
Next to other open world games like Watch_Dogs, Saints Row IV, Grand Theft Auto V and even Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, The Crew just didn’t quite measure up.
4. Super Smash Bros.
It was great hearing that the new Super Smash Bros. will be coming out in 2014 for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. It was great seeing the difference in styles and the return of all the characters we know and love. However, we knew that Nintendo was going to be showing us its newest sequel in the crossover fighting genre for months now. The company itself announced the same a good few weeks before E3.
And what did they showcase besides the same old fighting – which honestly didn’t look at all that different from Brawl – and one new character, that too Animal Crossing’s Villager? Not much. The announcement of Mega Man helped things slightly, but it couldn’t take away from the underwhelming nature of the reveal.
3. Call of Duty: Ghosts
Where do we begin? First off, did we have any expectations from this game at all? We’d be hard-pressed to, what with the first trailer at Microsoft’s Xbox Reveal event in May boasting an AI dog companion and fish that swim away from you as new features. Infinity Ward was adamant that the engine, despite just being a heavily modified version of the previous generation’s, would allow for new experiences.
So what did we get? Underwater shooting that still felt completely on rails with its set pieces, and the ability to control the dog, viewing things from a camera on its back. That’s it. Given how bad Black Ops 2 was, we didn’t think Ghosts could be any worse. And it isn’t, by the looks of it, but it sure as hell isn’t any better.
2. Dragon Age III: Inquisition
So Bioware is neither afraid of The Elder Scrolls or Dark Souls, and promises that Dragon Age III: Inquisition will be great. At E3 2013, it was revealed that Morrigan has returned and is seeking to bring darkness to the world. A great way to continue the storyline from the first game – something Dragon Age 2 was notorious for not doing. How could this possibly go wrong?
First, by showcasing mostly CG footage and no actual gameplay. Some sequences looked to be rendered in real time – and if they were, they don’t live up to the pedigree of Frostbite 3 by a long shot. Then again, the game is still 1.5 years off. It’s been delayed till fall 2014, since Bioware wants to take the time to “craft a great experience”. It’s understandable that EA needed to quell doubts and build excitement for one of its premier franchises. But as with Super Smash Bros., we just expected so much more.
1. Dead Rising 3
Dead Rising 3 is the perfect example of a great announcement that is quickly dashed into the ground by incompetence and an idiotic creative direction. The game is open world now, and will emphasize a more action based approach. It will also be exclusive to the Xbox One, which means you can utilize features such as Kinect and even SmartGlass for such interesting features as summoning air-strikes.
So how did it go wrong? Firstly, Capcom decided to strip away all the elements that made the franchise notable, opting for a darker, grimmer style. There’s no timer or different ways to end the mission – but the open world aspect should make up for that, right? Well, like Resident Evil 6, Capcom is trying to appeal to the Call of Duty gamer with Dead Rising 3, hence the action oriented approach. Remember the last time that worked out for any game? We don’t either.
What was the most disappointing game of E3 2013 for you? Let us know in the comments below.
