8 Video Games That Turned Out Nothing Like You Were Expecting

A complete surprise, for better or worse.

Spec Ops The Line
2K Games

Sometimes you look at a video game and think, "Honestly what the hell were they thinking?"

The games on today's list took everyone by surprise when they released; some for the right reasons and some for terrible ones, and they all managed to do so in pretty unique ways.

Sometimes it was the mis-marketing of a studio, or the promises of a developer that simply didn’t match up, and in some instances, well, it was thanks to cleverly placed twists and turns that knocked audiences on their asses.

8. Star Fox Adventures

Star Fox Adventures
Nintendo

It’s been a rough old time for Star Fox fans, as after getting the exceptional SNES original and the rather outstanding N64 instalment, it was a long old wait before players could take to the furthest reaches of space again.

Yet in the build up to Nintendo releasing their GameCube console, Shigeryu Miyamoto began teasing that our favourite space-faring furries would be coming back as a launch title for the little purple powerhouse. The marketing seemed driven at showing off a tonne of space battles and emphasised just how slick all of the new graphics would look, it even boasted on foot missions for players adding in another layer to the experience.

Yet when the game actually dropped in 2002 it turned out to be a game that no one was expecting and to be honest, very few people actually wanted. For a start the game barely features any space combat and instead is nearly all of the action is on foot. True there are some vehicle sections, but these are limited to weird hoverbike moments that are at once very short and still managed to overstay their welcome.

Plus the plot was absolutely nuts and not in a good way, seeing you rescuing and then battling dinosaurs who all spoke in absolute gibberish, and the game used a combat system that promised deep and layered combos but boiled down to watching a fox fool reptiles with a staff while cycling through one of 3 OOF noises. Bad times for all.

At least there's Star Fox Zero.

...nah... never mind. It’s still too soon.

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Contributor
Contributor

Jules Gill hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.