Some controversies in 2014 were odd, like Hatred which ignited public outcry due to the fact that you could murder innocent civilians. Did anyone who complained even play Grand Theft Auto? We’re just saying. Watch Dogs’ visual degradation and boring gameplay was a subject of much controversy, especially when you factor in all the bugs. It only set the stage for a bigger controversy though.
It was odd to see the controversy created over Rise of the Tomb Raider being exclusive to the Xbox One and Xbox 360 when it releases in Holidays 2015. Forget the fact that it’s a timed exclusive, Microsoft was looked at in a negative light for paying extra to net a third party selling point for their console. Of course, then Capcom announced Street Fighter 5 as exclusive to the PS4 so really, third party exclusives in this day and age aren’t a major shocker.
What was a major shocker was a game’s launch being screwed up so bad that the developer actually had to offer free DLC and games as compensation.
Nominees:
- Assassin’s Creed Unity Broken At Launch
- Hatred
- Watch Dogs Broken At Launch
- Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox One Exclusivity
Winner: Assassin’s Creed Unity Broken at Launch
We refer to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Unity naturally. The game shipped with micro-transactions in the interface and asked players to put down as much as $99 for extra currency. We already talked about the gameplay and story issues above.
It’s just amazing to us that Ubisoft could release Unity in as broken a state as it was. The 900p resolution and 30 FPS frame rate for Xbox One and PS4 ruffled a few feathers but it made no difference when everyone had a shitty frame rate to deal with. Facial animations broke at the drop of a hat, revealing horrors that remain etched in our minds till this day. Glitches, save data issues, copy-pasted crowd individuals, disappearing crowd individuals, draw distance problems, co-op problems – you could spend a week checking off the number of ways Unity was broken.
For all the broken mechanics though, it was simply angering that Ubisoft didn’t delay the game. You could make the argument of a yearly release and shareholders and whatnot but even EA delayed Battlefield: Hardline to allow for more polish. When you’ve done worse than EA in terms of disappointing players at launch, you know you’ve gone wrong somewhere in life.
Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.
