5. Brutal Legend (2009)
I can honestly see why Brutal Legend was a complete turn off to some, but as a huge fan of heavy metal, I was instantly and hopelessly drawn in, simply on the strength of the soundtrack alone. However, I can't say that I'm completely surprised by it's weak financial performance. The game was designed to be a hybrid of the action-adventure and the real-time strategy genres and as console-based RTS titles tend to struggle, developers Double Fine were encouraged to avoid revealing these RTS elements and instead emphasise the action-adventure elements. They, rather foolishly in my eyes, heeded this advice. Brutal Legend did not do what it said on the tin and as a result it was panned by many critics (although praised by others). This mis-directional marketing campaign translated to poor sales, with Brutal Legend shifting only 215k units in month one, making it a total flop by any definition and seeing EA cancel Double Fine's planned sequel. Again, honesty is
usually the best policy; if people had been warned to expect RTS elements, maybe Brutal Legend would have attracted the players that it was after, the players who'd appreciate the game for what it was and not criticise it for what it wasn't. Still, I guess now we'll never know.