GamingBolt Game of the Year Awards 2013

Most Disappointing Game

What defines disappointment? If a sequel isn’t as good as its predecessor, does that not make it fun in its own right? If a title attempts to appeal to everyone and just skids past with almost satisfying everyone, does that make it a disappointment to the essence of the series? If a game features an all-star development team and yet manages to be above average rather than truly great, does that mean it’s not worth your time? For that matter, can you be disappointed if you expected nothing in the first place? There are many factors towards deciding this year’s most disappointing game. So which title managed to create expectations, crush them mercilessly and then dig a new hole to bury itself?

Nominees:

– The Cave

– NBA Live 14

– Gears of War: Judgment

– Splinter Cell Blacklist

– Call of Duty: Ghosts

Winner: NBA Live 14

The last major iteration of NBA Live was in 2009 with Live 10. Since then, EA put the dampener on basketball sports titles, content to allow the likes of NBA 2K to succeed. That was until it was announced that NBA Live would be returning and releasing exclusively for the PS4 and Xbox One. It would feature the Ignite Engine and be developed by EA Tiburon, who have years of experience with the Madden series. What could’ve gone wrong? As it turns out, everything. Rising Star Mode is incomplete, the graphics and animations are atrocious even by current-gen standards and compared to NBA 2K14, there is little to no effort to try anything new or carve its own niche. For all the criticism hyped on the other nominees, they were still in an enjoyably playable state upon arriving. NBA Live 14 can’t even claim that. This was the grand return we waited four years for? Unacceptable.