1. Duke Nukem Forever (2011)

Absurdly long development times are perceived as harbingers of doom nowadays, and 2011’s Duke Nukem Forever serves as the poster boy of such a perception. Development spanned 15 years for Duke Nukem Forever, and it’s still in the Guinness Book of World Records today for that reason. Not releasing an entry in over a decade will no doubt poison a franchise, but the game’s quality also failed to garner optimism for ole’ Duke. For one, Forever’s design was outdated without actually, you know, being good. The pacing tries to ape Duke Nukem 3D, but falls on its face due to the lack of viscerality the former had and the incredibly repetitive level design. Duke Nukem Forever soured players with its cringy humor too, yet I believe it could’ve been charming if some creativity was put into it. Remember how cool it was to run into a corpse of Luke Skywalker in Duke Nukem 3D? Or the unique visual aesthetics of levels like the “Escape From LA” stage to the 2001 Monolith on the moon? Duke Nukem Forever failed to use its raunchy referential charm in creative and fun ways, leading to a boring time embarrassingly cringing at the screen for many players.

2. Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Another 4th game in the respective series with a troubled dev cycle was Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While The Veilguard didn’t bomb quite as hard as Duke Nukem Forever, its tone is similarly to blame for its meager performance. Unlike the gritty (and very bloody in the case of Origins) realistic medieval tone of the previous Dragon Age games, The Veilguard is lit up in bright purples and sanitized almost like an ‘E for everyone’ title at times. Even the enemy designs lean in the cartoony direction with dragons that hardly instill any sense of fear or urgency. But it’s the awkward writing and dialogue that really disappointed a lot of fans. Instead of working you way through an origin story through blood, sweet, and tears, your character is just instantly accepted as ‘the hero’ of the narrative. Teammates rarely argue with you and often feel more like cheerleader social workers than elite warriors. At least the combat feels satisfying, but many have lamented the series distancing away from RPG mechanics since Inquisition, and The Veilguard is the series at its most streamlined and RPG-lite.

3. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

Unlike Duke Nukem Forever or The Veilguard, Mirror’s Edge fans don’t mind a return to the series in the style of Catalyst. The main reason Mirror’s Edge has been dormant since 2016 is because DICE and EA have been focusing almost exclusively on reviving the Battlefield franchise. And thanks to recent gaming trends of big companies not giving small series’ a chance, it’s unlikely we’ll see another Mirror’s Edge title. But Catalyst didn’t exactly do everything right. The story was incredibly bog-standard, with characters that fell flat for a majority of players. The main reason to play the game was the excellent parkour movement, and that’s something Catalyst opened up substantially thanks to its more open structure. However, many locations felt copy-pasted, adding a sense of bloat that didn’t exist in the first game. Catalyst is still recommended by fans of the short-lived series, but its bump in quality from the first game, as well as DICE being busy elsewhere, doesn’t leave a lot of room for a series return.

4. Bionic Commando (2009 reboot)

Bionic Commando’s gritty 2009 reboot effectively killed the franchise due to a paltry 27,000 US units sold in its first month. Capcom’s top brass criticized the outsourced dev team for being difficult to work with, affirming their hesitancy to outsource overseas that would reverberate throughout the company for years. We previously cited Bionic Commando as an example of nonsensical story twists in games, and for good reason. This reboot is laughably campy despite its attempt at high stakes grit. The dude’s arm is his wife for crying out loud. But it wasn’t just story that players couldn’t take seriously, it’s also the janky movement with the arm rope slinging and the average shooting and combat mechanics. I’m glad the Bionic Commando reboot exists, if for the memes and campy ‘B-movie’ quality alone, but it also helped convince Capcom to shelf the series, and that’s a shame considering how iconic the original 2D titles were.

5. Saints Row (2022)

It’s been three years and I still haven’t encountered anybody who likes the Saints Row reboot. On paper, the ingredients for a decent Saints Row experience are there. But the exucation is severely half-baked. The open world design is uninspired with a plethora of repetitive side missions. Even the humor is disappointing, something the series always differentiated itself with. Saints Row was always known as the more goofy GTA, with well-written gags and scenarios that managed to get a chuckle out of gamers. But the reboot is anything but that, going for a more serious tone in-between jokes that fall flat on their face. Seeing how poor sales were and the terrible critical reception, it’s very unlikely we’ll see a new Saints Row anytime soon.

6. Lost Planet 3

Lost Planet 3 is undoubtedly the black sheep of the series. It’s the only entry developed by an outsourced western team, it didn’t heavily feature mechs in combat, and was panned by critics and the fandom alike. If relegating mechs to a minor role wasn’t enough of blow to fans, the repetitive side missions, bland level design, and less fluid combat sealed the deal. At least you’re still fighting Akrids in a snowy environment, but besides that, the game is hardly recognizable from the past two entries.

7. Crackdown 3

I’m not going to pretend that the Crackdown series was a household name worthy of GOTY discussions or anything, but the first two titles showed a lot of promise for the arcady GTA/Saints Row alternative. Crackdown 2 in particular was just a ton of fun to let loose and enjoy the bonkers open-world mayhem in. And the third game had a lot of hype leading to release, with none other than Terry Crews starring as the main city-destroying protagonist. But even longtime fans couldn’t find much to enjoy with Crackdown 3. The world map lacked variety, basically feeling like the same three nighttime city blocks copy/pasted throughout. The missions and gameplay don’t do much to make up for level design either, forming a repetitive loop of basic tasks over and over again. There’s not even anything fun to collect; with ability orbs comprising the majority of world secrets. I don’t even think Crackdown 3 would be appealing if it released decades ago; it’ll be a miracle if we see another entry any time in the near future.

8. The Order: 1886

Everyone talked about the life-like graphical fidelity of The Order at the time of the PS4’s launch. It was the defacto tech demo game for the console for good reason, showcasing impressive lighting and texture details. But hardly anything noteworthy could be said about any other aspect of the game. I can’t in good conscious call The Order a bad game; it’s just that it wasn’t much of a game to begin with at the asking price. The campaign takes around six hours to complete with little more than some collectibles to warrant further play sessions. It’s not just that it’s brief though, the content is somewhat superficial with its many quick-time events and bog-standard cover shooting. It’s one of those games that’s fine to rent for the story and setting, but you’ll forget about in a couple weeks. While The Order never developed into a series, it was initially planned to be one, with a sequel on the docket until the studio, Ready At Dawn, shuttered in 2024.

9. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Finally, we have the controversial cult classic, Kane & Lynch 2. This game was bound to have mixed reviews from its inception. Despite how it appears, Kane & Lynch 2 is a highly unconventional art piece of a game. The camerawork is intentionally amateurish and, at times, nauseating, in an effort to simulate cop cams or body cams. Plenty critics called out the camera as terrible and superficial, but it’s also the element that appealed to its fans the most. It’s really the five hour campaign and repetitive cover shooting that resulted in the general poor reviews and lackluster sales. And with IO Interactive moving on with their enormously successful Hitman games and upcoming James Bond title, it’s unlikely Kane & Lynch will get another opportunity to gain a following beyond that small cult classic crowd.

DEAD RISING 4

The Dead Rising series had already suffered a bit of a dip with its third instalment, but Dead Rising 4 turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for what had at one point seemed like a major Capcom franchise. Unfortunately, it seemed like the game just never got what it was about the series that fans liked. From the questionable changes made to Frank West’s character to the ridiculously over-the-top tone that tried too hard to be funny, from poor design decisions (like the removal of timers) to disappointing boss fights, there was too much about the game that just didn’t work out.

Splinter Cell: Conviction – Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell: Conviction was released in 2010 to a divisive reception, and a lot of that can be associated with the radical changes that the game made with respect to franchise norms. It veered away from the tactical stealth action that made the original games popular in the first place, and introduced new elements like Mark and Execute which can be used to clear out rooms full of enemies in an instant alongside the inability to hide dead bodies among others. These changes were mostly made in an effort to make the game appeal to the masses.

Sure, it’s understandable why fans of older games didn’t gel with this formula – but we adore Splinter Cell: Conviction simply because these new mechanics enable a sense of flow to the gameplay proceedings. Sam Fisher moves at a brisk pace, dotting from cover to cover and clearing out huge hordes of enemies with relative ease – and that feels really empowering which is something that’s missing from other entries. And that’s also really fitting since you are racing against time to prevent a terrorist plot, so better to be quick and ruthless than clean and slow.

Falling into the latter category is a little franchise by the name of Lost Planet, which sought to combine third-person shooter action and Mecha brawls against the backdrop of a sci-fi dystopia. Over the course of less than a handful of entries and a handheld spin-off, the franchise faded into obscurity. This begs the question – what the hell actually happened to Lost Planet?

Lost Planet was a bit different from other action games by Capcom, one of those being that the game was exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, as opposed to most of its other titles which found a home on Sony’s PlayStation 3. The game is set against a futuristic dystopia, wherein the planet Earth has become uninhabitable due to factors such as pollution, wars, and global warming – and humanity is on the lookout for alien planets to colonize and potentially, inhabit. Upon stumbling on the alien planet, the expedition team comes face to face with an alien race by the name of Akrid – and you embark on a long and arduous journey to help in colonizing this hostile planet.

While the story setup isn’t anything to write home about, it formed a solid basis for an enjoyable and action-packed gameplay loop nevertheless. As protagonist Wayne, you have the ability to wield different kinds of weapons – from rifles to grenade launchers to miniguns – to defeat a multitude of enemy types. On top of that, you could also use a grappling hook to reach higher vantage points or hack a VS which is essentially a Mecha to wreak havoc upon your adversaries. You also have to keep tabs on your Thermal Energy at all times, as it will deplete constantly in the face of adverse weather conditions and you have to keep recharging it through the use of heat generators or killing enemies.

Apart from the fun single-player offerings, Lost Planet also offered a decent suite of multiplayer options as well – which mixed the game’s thermal energy management systems with standard game modes like CTF and free-for-all – resulting in an experience that was as addicting as it was fun.

Lost Planet released in December 2006 in Japan followed by January of 2007 worldwide, and critics and fans unanimously praised the game on account of its fun gameplay and engaging multiplayer mode, and it stands at a respectable rating of 79 on Metacritic. As mentioned before, Lost Planet was originally an Xbox 360 exclusive – but the game would soon be ported over to PC and PlayStation a few months later in the form of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition which added a few new bells and whistles to the game’s multiplayer offerings. Lost Planet also enjoyed a great commercial reception, selling over 2.8 million units in lifetime sales for both versions of the game.

Following the breakout success of the first game, the developer already began laying plans for a sequel. New ideas would be added into the mix, such as a fleshed-out co-op mechanic for the single-player campaign that would allow players to work together and share important resources like Thermal Energy as a team to overcome new threats. Apart from that, the game would also have a change of scenery from the first game, among a slew of other things. Lost Planet 2 finally released in 2010, although unlike its predecessor – the game was released on both Xbox 360 and PS3, which was followed by a PC release a couple months later.

While Lost Planet 2 had a few neat ideas that were an improvement over the original, the game was criticized on account of some of its bizarre game design choices, particularly with regards to the interface and encounters. All in all, Lost Planet 2 was met with a lukewarm critical reception – and the game stands at a rating of 68 on Metacritic, which was still respectable albeit lower than the first game. Over on the commercial front, the game sold 1.5 million copies in around a year – which was obviously lower than what the developer had projected.

The developer also produced a handheld spin-off for the franchise in the form of E.X. Troopers that released for the PS3 in 2013, which added new elements such as a melee fighting system and a jetpack among others. The game didn’t have a strong critical or commercial reception, and at least the latter of these problems can partly be attributed to the game being released in Japan only.

For the third mainline game in the franchise, development duties shifted to Spark Unlimited. This prequel would veer away from its predecessors as it incorporated some role-playing elements into the mix, such as side-quests and crafting equipment among others. In addition to this, the game would also add an element of survival horror into its gameplay – as the camera jutted really close to the protagonist’s shoulder and the mission environments felt claustrophobic.

Lost Planet 3 finally released in 2013 for all major platforms, but failed to really impress critics once again. The new direction for the series was criticized by players as it made for a repetitive gameplay experience that goes on for way longer than it needs to, and the gameplay mechanics didn’t boast much depth either. Between having the series’ lowest Metacritic score of 61 and the game being developed by an external studio not previously involved with the franchise, Lost Planet 3 flopped on a commercial level as well. Unsurprisingly, there’s little to no information available with regards to its sales figures.

With three commercial failures to weigh against one breakout success, the developer naturally put the series on indefinite hold after Lost Planet 3. Rumors of a franchise revival started doing the rounds as the developer had allegedly pitched a potential Lost Planet 4, but the management refused since the investment needed for the project would be too risky for a niche franchise. Jump to the current day, and it seems highly unlikely that Lost Planet would be resurrected once again – and that’s a shame because these games could end up being a lot of fun when they were firing on all cylinders.

As for what happened to the series, it’s rather obvious. Ever since the release of the first game, the sequels didn’t quite hit the mark in their gameplay and story departments – resulting in an underwhelming critical and commercial reception over and over again. As a result, the developer had to put an end to the series since the investment didn’t bear any fruit. All that said, we do really hope to see the franchise return to the mainstream once again – but we can only wish for now.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

For the entire month, Darksiders 3 will be available for all Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. It was the latest game in the action series from THQ Nordic and Gunfire Games. For August 1st to the 15th will be Capcom’s Lost Planet 3, the final entry in that series and one that took a more narrative-based approach than its predecessors. From the 16th to the 31st is Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the final entry in the Fatal Fury fighting series. Rounding out, the original Yooka-Laylee will be available from the 16th going into September.

The slate of games will be available for subscriptions starting August 1st, and will be playable on all Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles, with Lost Planet 3 and Garou: Mark of the Wolves also being playable on Xbox 360.

Who’s ready for some free games? We’re happy to reveal next month’s Games with Gold selections are Darksiders III and Yooka-Laylee, with classic titles Lost Planet 3 and Garou: Mark of the Wolves available via Backward Compatibility. https://t.co/InmY9e1Dkn

— Xbox Wire (@XboxWire) July 28, 2021

Microsoft continues its never ending quest to have Xbox and Xbox 360 games be playable on the Xbox One via its backward compatibility initiative. Of late, we have begun to see new batches of backward compatible games be released from a single series or publisher. Today’s update is similar—it’s four new games, all from the same publisher, three from the same franchise.

The publisher in question is Capcom, while the games are Lost Planet, Lost Planet 2, Lost Planet 3, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. While the latter two Lost Planet games are nothing special, the original was one of the most unique action games available at the time, and one of the original “killer apps” for the Xbox 360 in its early years, so it’s good to have it be available on the Xbox One as well.

Code Veronica represents one of the more divisive Resident Evil games; nonetheless, it has its fans, who will, I am sure, be more than happy to play through it again.

You can see Microsofr exec Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb’s tweets making the announcements about these new games below.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1098629230814887937?s=21

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1098629079505371136?s=21

Remember Spark Unlimited, the company which developed Lost Planet 3 and Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, both which saw mediocre critical and commercial success? It was recently revealed via NeoGAF that the developer was auctioning office equipment, which prompted rumours of it shutting down.

Those rumours turned out to be true as former Spark Unlimited CTO John Butrovich stated to Polygon that, “It’s the end of Spark as a game developer.” All employees have been laid off and current projects have been cancelled. This included an unfinished free to play title, though current projects which still make money are now being handled by a trustee.

Spark Unlimited first came into its own with Call of Duty: Finest Hour which was the first console-based title in the franchise (based off of the PC version created by Infinity Ward) and served as the company’s highest rated game till date. The studio also created Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and Legendary for previous generation consoles.

Some games, such as DmC: Devil May Cry just didn’t live up to forecasts despite strong critical acclaim. Others like Lost Planet 3 have only sold 300,000 units across North America and Europe because quite frankly, nothing by way of marketing or positive critical response could save them.

These figures were revealed in the latest Investor Report, with Capcom previously forecasting that the game would sell 1.2 million copies. The current sales refer to units sold-in to retailers. So expect actual consumer sales to be much lower. Considering the overall quality of the series thus far – even Lost Planet 2 floundered on release – don’t expect Capcom to revisit the franchise in the near future. What does this say about the success of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, another Spark Unlimited title, when it releases next year?

Check out our review of Lost Planet 3 here to find out exactly what went wrong with the game.

There’re a lot of things that made the first games as unique as they were (in their own way) that Lost Planet 3 unfortunately does away with, and a lot of additions it makes that make it more of a “mainstream” shooter than many of us would want it to be. None of the things it does make Lost Planet 3 broken or downright bad- because it’s not. However, the sum of all parts, the game itself, is just very underwhelming, never delivering anything truly good or anything truly bad.

It would be unfair, however, to talk about how good the story is- the only notable good thing in the entire game. It’s the story of a very ordinary person named Jim Peyton, a guy you can easily sympathize with, and his struggles on the planet he’s been posted on.

"Sure, shooting the akrid and their gooey weak spots is fun as ever, and the boss fights against the gigantic aliens are occasionally fun, and some of the mech sections do manage to pump large amounts of adrenaline through you, but in the end, it all just becomes so repetitive, so monotonous"

The story strikes the perfect balance between Peyton’s personal life- that of his wife who’s back home and the newborn son she’s raising and how the two are coping with the distance between them- and the larger scheme of things that soon becomes visible as we find out more about E.D.N. III (the planet) and the corporation that has hired Peyton.

The main character- especially Peyton- have also been acted very well. There’s no over-dramatization of emotions or unnecessary emphasis on any reactions. It’s simple and that’s why it works. You can easily understand what the characters are going through- well, except a few who haven’t been acted so well (not counting the extras and NPCs, many of which are downright horrible)- and what their thought process would and should be in the situation they are throughout the course of the story.

It’s a shame that the game itself often tries its best to make you not want to come back to see how the narrative unravels. As I’ve already mentioned, it’s not that the game does anything or omits anything that makes it particularly bad. It’s just that it just doesn’t do enough to keep you hooked, to make you want to come back and marvel at the thrilling gunplay. Because there is no thrilling gunplay.

Sure, shooting the akrid and their gooey weak spots is fun as ever, and the boss fights against the gigantic aliens are occasionally fun, and some of the mech sections do manage to pump large amounts of adrenaline through you, but in the end, it all just becomes so repetitive, so monotonous that you never feel the same amount of thrill and excitement doing those things later on in the game as when you first did them.

"The things that Lost Planet 3 introduces aren’t anything that we haven’t seen before either- cover system? Check, even though it makes little sense in the kind of game that Lost Planet 3 is."

It’s a shame- if only the developers had put a little more thought into the creativity of their gameplay segments rather than focusing entirely on the story, the game would have been much more balanced and would have been more enjoyable and more memorable for it.

The things that Lost Planet 3 introduces aren’t anything that we haven’t seen before either- cover system? Check, even though it makes little sense in the kind of game that Lost Planet 3 is. Team deathmatch? Check.

In-game currency to upgrade your weapons? Check. It’s all tried and true, and none of it is implemented in a manner that will make you say “wow.”

Lost Planet 3 is a very underwhelming game, then, but not a broken one. It’s got a few technical issues- bugs and invisible walls and bland textures and whatnot- but it’s not necessarily a “broken” game. It can be fun occasionally, but the monotony becomes a little too much to take at times, and it can turn you off to the idea of coming back to play the game again. Which is a real shame, because the story being told here deserves to be backed by proper gameplay.

 This game was reviewed on the PC.

The financials also revealed sales figures and projected targets for several top games: DmC: Devil May Cry sold 1.15 million worldwide, with an expected 2 million unit target; Resident Evil 6 hit 4.9 million units sold but with a target of 7 million units; and Dragon’s Dogma sold 1.3 million units (with no target, which means it was a surprise that it did so well). Resident Evil: Revelations has a 1.2 million units goal, which it will apparently reach, but Lost Planet 3, requiring 1.2 million units in sales, isn’t faring well.

In a statement, Capcom COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto talked about the plans to offer more DLC. “I regret to say that, up to now, we had few plans for the full-scale implementation of DLC. From here on out, we need to focus on the long-term provision of content starting at the earliest stages of development.

“Furthermore, in terms of user response, if the additional related content we are providing continually to users online is deemed uninteresting from the start, there will be no ongoing business to pursue. This means that, more than ever before, the creation of underlying content is the key to success.”

(Source)