20 Video Games That Ruined Their Own Potential

As the busiest gaming period of the year arrives, what better time to remember the danger of pre-ordering a game off the strength of PR-driven Internet hype? Not every game can be or has to be a Game of the Year contender, but as a gamer it's immensely frustrating to see a promising new IP or long-awaited sequel simply phone in adequacy when something so much greater was possible. For every game as astonishing as Metal Gear Solid V, there are dozens that can't deliver on their promises and are instead content to settle for silver (or in some cases, bronze), and this doesn't mean games that were entertaining for 95% of their play-time and then stumbled at the finish line (looking at you, Mass Effect 3), but titles that fundamentally presented an intriguing pitch and then went on to betray it for the entire game. Many of these 20 games could have been masterpieces, and all of them should have at least been great games, but through a lack of diligence and a failure to innovate, the results were typically passable yet not really much more. Here are 20 video games that ruined their own potential...