10 Video Games That Didn't Go FAR ENOUGH

The gaming medium is packed full of eclectic experiences, new ideas, and brave innovations.

Approaching a video game with a fresh perspective can grant new opportunities, and when a title promises something different, it's always hard to live up to the hype. Standing out from the ever-growing crowd is a feat reserved for the very best minds in the business, meaning only half an idea simply won't do.

That said, half-steps are nothing new, as there are plenty of games that claim to offer a unique gameplay formula, quirky narrative wrinkle, or revolutionary presentation. Such claims are ripe for fan anticipation, so when the game releases and it doesn't utilise the feature as much as expected, it stands out for all the wrong reasons.

It doesn't mean that the product is bad, and can't be improved in the future, but it's a sign that the developer bit off more than it could chew, and promoted an addition that wasn't fully fleshed out.

There are plenty of games that go too far with an idea, but perhaps even more that simply don't go far enough.

For all its shortcomings, Life is Strange is a superb example of character development done right, and overcomes its issues to be one of the best games of 2015.

Max Caulfield is a great protagonist, and players are granted the opportunity to see the fictional town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon through her eyes. The story that unfolds is one of friendship, deception, and mystery, but one of the most well-known inclusions was Max's sudden ability to rewind time which gets her into, and out of plenty of sticky situations throughout.

An unexpected ability is the one through-line for all Life is Strange main characters, and though Max uses hers regularly, it never feels like anything other than a lazy plot device.

Alex Chen being an empath in Life is Strange: True Colors is baked into the fabric of the story, as her ability to experience others' emotions allows us to better understand the world around her. It's essential to the journey, but Max being able to rewind time is just a means to unravel what has already occurred.

Max constantly keeps it hidden, and the solution would surely be to reveal it to more side characters, as it would then feel more of a substantial narrative thread.