10 Crucial Improvements The Gaming Industry Must Make In 2015

2. Accurate Advertising

The most obvious example here is Watch Dogs, but as that game revealed itself to be nothing more than a cut n' stick patchwork of established game ideas held together with the barest idea of originality (you could hack things!), it's Destiny's current existence that's the most egregious. Dropping a string of teasers for your game that alludes to a wider world is one thing, but when the developer diaries and interviews mention things like 'every gun having a story' or show off footage from a campaign cutscene that's nowhere to be found - as well as having TV ads that play as if Destiny has a Saints Row-style approach to combat and dialogue - it's just plain lying. Anyone who got stuck into Destiny knows it to be dull as dishwater in the exposition, with every other random word receiving a capital letter for the sake of some authority: "The Light has defeated Crota and shown the way for The Book to be revealed" does not for a gripping narrative make, and on top of that it all sounds incredibly pompous - far from the Led Zeppelin-backed advert that's been dominating screens of all sizes since launch. It's not like this approach to story hasn't been done before - Dark Souls' lore in particular likes to refrain from telling the player much of anything - but when you find out all the misdirection and smoke n' mirrors approach to plot is actually to sell you the story back in instalments, it's just insulting.