10 Times Video Games Found A Way To Be Even Worse
Ubisoft gonna Ubisoft.
The sheer amount of work that goes into even the worst video games is undeniable, and so it sucks when a new entry into a hit gaming franchise falls far short of expectations.
There's always next time at least, right? Countless AAA franchises have rebounded from a dud entry or two and even emerged stronger than ever before, though it's perhaps more common for a flagging series to just keep on trending downwards.
That's certainly true of these 10 games, all of which impressively out-did a hugely disappointing prior entry into the series by making yet another major misstep.
These 10 games all wore their desperation on their sleeves, whether crassly implementing loot box monetisation, misguidedly going the mobile game route against fans' wishes, pointlessly chasing the open-world gravy train, or simply releasing a lackluster, even unfinished product.
Each of these games left a large swath of the fanbase bitter and frustrated, that the series they loved seemed to hit rock bottom and then just... keep falling.
We can only hope that things might upswing from here, but you're probably better off keeping your expectations low...
10. Loot Boxes - Star Wars Battlefront II
2015's Star Wars Battlefront was one of the biggest gaming disappointments of the last decade - a visually stunning Star Wars-themed shooter that was ultimately an empty shell of a game.
Once you got past the gorgeous presentation and sheer fan-serving thrill of it all, Battlefront was egregiously lacking in content for a game touting a full-fat AAA price tag.
Without a single-player campaign or meaningful suite of multiplayer content, many understandably objected to EA selling a Season Pass for access to more maps and characters, feeling that they were being excessively greedy given how scant the base release was.
But EA seemed to listen to fans' vocal complaints, and made a persuasive case that 2017's Battlefront II would rectify the previous game's mistakes. With the addition of a campaign and all multiplayer DLC being free with no Season Pass to speak of, it was easy to be excited.
But in the days before Battlefront II's release, critics with reviews copies noted the aggressive implementation of loot box microtransactions in its multiplayer component, making player progression so staggeringly slow as to heavily incentivise spending real-world money.
And though EA quickly responded by removing all MTX elements, the fundamental structure of Battlefront II was still built around them.
It took many months before EA could adequately reintegrate MTX in a less-offensive way, by which time many players had already sworn the game off and moved onto other things.
This is without even mentioning the single-player campaign, which was infuriatingly lackluster and forgettable, seeming to confirm that EA said all the right things pre-release but did very few of them in reality - at least until a tectonic backlash forced their hand.