Boy, was this a year for disappointments.
There were plenty of divisive opinions about Bungie’s Destiny, which had several issues at launch with its core gameplay mechanics and still doesn’t have enough content at this stage (don’t even get us started on the Exotic Upgrades shit-storm). Plenty of people still find it fun to this day but suffice to say, we expected a lot more from the minds that put Halo on the map.
Watch Dogs was an even bigger cluster of insanity. The game went through several reveals where the visuals seemed to be dumbed down further and further. When the game was released, it was rife with bugs and issues. Even worse, the story was simply boring while protagonist Aiden Pearce came across as lame and unlikeable. The hacking mechanics were nice but it stood out as a game that still need a lot of work (keep that in mind, by the way).
Eidos Montreal’s Thief was a much simpler case: For all the delays and development troubles, it wasn’t expected to be good. When it released, it wasn’t. Case closed. It wouldn’t have been considered if it hadn’t been in development for so long.
Nominees:
- Assassin’s Creed Unity
- Watch Dogs
- Destiny
- Thief
Winner: Assassin’s Creed Unity
Why did Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Unity sting so much more than Watch Dogs? Was it because the company won back our trust with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag? Was it because it was looking to improve the core parkour mechanics while focusing on the PS4, Pc and Xbox One only, bringing large crowds and massive, detailed environments to the mix? Was it because we didn’t think the company could disappoint us much further after Watch Dogs?
As it turns out, it was a combination of all of the above and then some. Assassin’s Creed: Unity launched in an utterly broken state with frame rate issues, glitches, horrible AI and unplayable co-op. The worst part of it all wasn’t that Unity was a great game hindered by so many issues at launch.
No, it was simply because for all the hype that Ubisoft put forth, Assassin’s Creed: Unity was simply okay. The large crowds looked pretty, sure, but the missions were unimaginative especially in co-op. The movement system was even more hit-or-miss than ever and the story was odd and simply relegated the whole Assassins-Templar war to the background while focusing on the romance between Arno and Elise. Nothing was advanced or furthered and it didn’t feel like the series really evolved with Unity – and keep in mind, that this is without Ubisoft doing its damndest to break everything about the game.
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.