(logo chiming) - [Falcon] 2023 has
been a pretty good year for video games so far, but that doesn't mean there
haven't been some duds. Hi, folks, it's Falcon,
and today on Gameranx, the most disappointing
games of 2023's first half. Starting out at number
10, it is "Redfall." Now "Redfall" is a big
disappointment for me. I am a huge Arkane games fan,
and I wanted this to be good. It's an open-world co-op
first-person shooter from the creators of "Dishonored,"
"Prey," and "Death Loop," all games I really like. And the description of
"Redfall" sounds like something that could be good in the
hands of Arkane particularly, but it's really just kind of
an unfinished nothing game. Some of the visuals are pretty sweet, not anywhere near all
of the visuals though. There's some things involving the vampires and even some areas of the
world that look pretty cool, but for the most part, it's
a pretty middling combat, alright-ish, open-world affair. If you had an incredible story that connected all of it together, some of it's excusable, but it doesn't. There's just nothing going on. There is technically a narrative, but, man, oh man, is it ever bare bones. There's just very little going on, and I don't think there's
a better way to make a game that had some promise disappoint people. But I think probably the
biggest disappointment about it is just that it's an Arkane game. Really, it should be better than this. I love Arkane, and they're
capable of better than this. At number nine is "Forspoken." This one's not quite
the same as "Redfall," where developers that
are normally incredible put out something that's
middling in every possible way. And also, honestly, there's some game play in
"Forspoken" that's pretty sweet, some, but that's about it. Where "Redfall" comes off as unfinished, "Forspoken" comes off as half-baked, but ultimately it is
another one of those games where there are some
pretty high expectations 'cause a lot of the
stuff sounds very cool. It just isn't. In our "Before You Buy," Jake, I think, appropriately called it a jack of all trades,
master of none situation. But I'd like to add that it's not really a jack
of any of those trades. More like a crack at it, like taking a crack at all the trades. Look at all these trades. Oh, boy, I could take a
crack at 'em, and I will. I do think a lot of how people talk about this game is maybe unfair. I've definitely played worse
games, but at the same time, it's also hard for me to blame anybody for having kind of a harsh opinion of it. Because, again, like when they
first showed this game off, they're showing us all
this magical parkour stuff. High speed traversal with
parkour is really cool looking, and it just doesn't deliver. Like it misses the mark hard. - [Character] Check it out, fortress. - [Falcon] The combat is
actually the cool part about it. Again, it's not perfect, and, I mean, where it shines is where
you're against the big old boss with spectacle going on and all that. And it's honestly a little less fun and certainly a lot less spectacular when you're just kind of
fighting normal enemies. - [Character] Okay. (grunts) - [Falcon] That said,
there's a lot going on there. And like I said, there's some
good game play in this game. It's just not the majority of the game. There's a lot more stuff
that just is much less fun, much less fun. And like, again, everything about it, it's great in terms of its idea. The reveal was exciting. What this story sounds like it's going to be is frankly cool. And then it just, you know,
it's not there really. It's not developed or just
much of something at all, which is not how, as a developer, you hope people describe your game. At number eight is "Minecraft Legends." Before this release, it actually looked like a
pretty interesting game. It was kind of hard to tell exactly what it was supposed to be
from the pre-release footage, but it seemed pretty ambitious at least. "Minecraft Dungeons" was all right. We could only assume "Legends"
was gonna be cool too. I mean, Minecraft is one
of the biggest franchises in the world, and you wouldn't think they'd half half-ass the
game with the name on it. But this one's a mess actually. Basic concept, again, pretty good. Sort of like "Pikmin" crossed with more traditional RTS
elements, set in an open world. On paper, that sounds really fun, but the execution just is subpar. The actual combat parts are so simplistic, they're practically brain dead. The game could be incredibly easy if not for some of the worst
AI pathing in the world. I'll run through a single scenario. There's bad guys at the top of a cliff. That's where the base is. The only way to get in
is to build a bridge. Fine, cool, make sense. But the problems begin to come in when you're actually trying to
get your units up the bridge. These things are narrow, and there's nothing stopping these idiots from just falling off the side. So most games make it
so units just bunch up to get through narrow
spaces, but not here. They just happily walk
off the side of the bridge and get stuck. No, they don't try to backtrack
and climb the bridge again. They just bunch up, and the only thing you can do is drop down and try to guide him back
again and hope for the best. This sort of problem has
been solved for many years, but for some reason, "Minecraft Legends," I don't know, just totally messed it up. Look at this, what is this? - [Character] This outpost is done, but there are more piglets out there. There's no time to waste. - [Falcon] At number seven is "The Last Case of Benedict Fox." When they showed this
game off the first time at Gamescom 2022, stood out
as a game to keep your eye on. It's a Metroidvania with
a pretty cool premise and some really gorgeous visuals, honestly, the kind you don't
see in games like this. It was an indie, but it got a pretty big
push from Microsoft. And having a day-one Game Pass release makes it one of the more
noteworthy releases of the year. Unfortunately, it needed
some more time in the oven. It was rough. The thing I noticed immediately when starting the game up was the controls which were just really
unresponsive and inconsistent. For any normal game,
that's obviously a problem. But for a Metroidvania, ooh,
it's much more of a problem. Like these games are often about precision platforming and movement. So it kind of works itself
out to be a death sentence. Sometimes jumps don't
register, combat feels clunky, and it comes out awkward
even at the best of times. To make matters worse though, the game had serious technical issues when it first came out. It had bugged saves, people lost progress. There were lots of graphical
issues, stuttering, and for some reason a lot of
people experienced a problem where the randomized
puzzles would want an answer that was incorrect. Everyone was like solving
the puzzles correctly, and the game was like, no, wrong, which, I mean, would kind of be hilarious if it wasn't just ruining
the experience for people. On top of that, the actual Metroidvania
elements were pretty just weak and basic, you know? Then there's the menus,
which were clunky at best. The game just needed more
QA time to get things right. And even though the developers
are putting the effort in to improve what's there, even after a few bug fixes and patches, this game still feels
like a disappointment. I know it's unfair to
expect "Hollow Night" here, but "The Last Case of Benedict
Fox" just isn't good enough to be considered much more
than an mediocre Metroidvania. At number six is ""The
Last Of Us: Part 1" on PC, which let me put it this way. When the guys were making
the "Before You By," the game didn't work. If you watch it, and I think that Jake handled
this pretty even-headedly, he talks about how normally when a game comes out that
we didn't get pre-release, we try to get a BYB out
by the end of the day, but technical issues made that impossible. They were not minor, to put it mildly. And even when the game was going, it was not, there was something wrong. To quote Jake on the load times, he said, "The load times were
long and not normal long. Like something is wrong long." Because there was something
wrong, and there was, not something wrong, lots of things wrong. The game was a mess when it was released, which is a shame 'cause
it's a beautiful, cool game. On PS5, it's the best version of "The Last Of Us:
Part 1" you could play. It is gorgeous. And when "The Last Of Us: Part 1" hit PC, it was, I mean, it was the same game, but whole lot of problems. - [Jake] It like loaded for five minutes, and then it hard crashed,
and it just rebooted. Oh, God, like the whole thing was bricked. It's finally back on, thank God, but I don't know if I wanna do that again. Totally crashed again. So much for this one! - [Falcon] At number
five is "Wanted Dead." You see the trailer for this one, you can't help but be intrigued. It's got cyberpunk,
John-Wick-looking takedowns, karaoke. I mean, it looked absolutely nuts. And while I didn't really
set super high expectations, it looked fun. So obviously it did end
up to be a disappointment. It's on this list. The thing about it is
that it mostly works. The game plays a little janky, but blasting guys with a machine gun and then taking 'em out
with a katana, it's fun. The real problem here is that
there's just not much to it. After about an hour, you've seen pretty much about
what the game has to offer, which it's longer than an hour. So let's do some math on that. I'm joking. I have no desire
to do any math whatsoever. But outside of a few okay boss fights, there's really nothing
else past that first hour. It promises an intriguing
and goofy sci-fi storyline and then, eh, just kind of stops. And seriously, got one of
the most weird abrupt endings I've ever seen for a game too,
and that's saying something. There are so many games where it's obvious the developer just ran
out of time and money. So they just ended things early. But this game, ooh-ooh-ooh. Even if the balls to end on a cliffhanger, like this is gonna get a sequel, it's not. There is a lot of wacky, bizarre stuff that's actually kind of charming if you're into that
sort of thing in games. But there's not enough of it. There's an entire arcade game
they made just for this game, which is cool. But then you go on an actual mission, and it's just tedious room-clearing against the same enemies
over and over again. Made worse by an extremely
stingy checkpoint system, might I add. You can get sent back 20 minutes or more if you die at any time. Close range combat, pretty
satisfying actually. But the guns are weak as hell, and certain enemies are just
ridiculous bullet sponges that take forever to kill. There's a few things to like here, but there's also a whole
mountain of awkward nonsense that never really comes
together or makes sense. Just being quirky doesn't
automatically make a game good and nor does just having
some good stuff in it. "Wanted Dead" is a
perfect example of that. At number four is "Colossal Cave." This one's only for the olds out there. If you're below 30, then
the name Roberta Williams probably doesn't mean a whole lot to you, but for the people who
do recognize this game, had a lot of big buzz. It's the writer/designer
of classic adventure games like the "King's Quest"
series, "Phantasmagoria." And she returned to games
after more than 20 years to recreate the original adventure game, "Colossal Cave" adventure. For old school Sierra
fans, that's a huge deal. Unfortunately, like a
lot of new games made by retired old school game developers who came back to cash in
on the Kickstarter craze, ooh, it's not good. Oh, it's not good. I mean, look at it. It just screams amateur hour
from the very first moment. The entire thing looks like
it was made with assets. Nothing seems to match. Everything looks flat and
boring, and it's ugly. The adventure game elements
are not much better. They're old school in
the worst possible way. So many of the puzzles require just pure trial and error to solve. There's no logic to them at all. And with the awkward interface, it can sometimes be hard to
tell what you can even do, but you can even get stuck on things that you know what to do with. That said, the interface is just constantly throwing up roadblocks. Even though it's an adventure
game, for some reason, there's random encounters where enemies attack out
of nowhere and kill you. That sounds fun, right? The entire game is just bad. Yeah, it's meant to be a throwback, but it probably would've been better if they just went with pixel art and also modernized some things about it. Not everything, but this is
just a bad game at this point. Like game development has
advanced far beyond this in ways well beyond graphics
and for good reason. - [Character] Little Dwarf, watch out! - [Falcon] At number three
is "Crime Boss: Rockay City." Trailers for this one were wild. It was like if you combine
a C-tier "Expendables" movie with "Mafia City," and unfortunately, the actual game's not
nearly that interesting. Nobody really knew exactly
what it was gonna be. So there was a little buzz from people thinking it was gonna be some kind of FPS "Grand
Theft Auto" or something. But the actual game is
nowhere near that ambitious. It's actually just "Payday"
with a few more game modes and more confusing. The actual shooting in
gameplay is actually all right, but the whole thing feels unnecessary. We already have "Payday," for one, and those games, they're
just a lot better. So why? What's the point? It's very unmemorable
in terms of gameplay, and the celebrity voice
acting is not good. - Woo, looking fly, son! - Baker's Blue X, all of it! - This looked fun. - [Falcon] Part of what
makes this game not work is that there's just too many modes. It's all spread way too thin. There's a rogue like single player mode, random crime jobs where
it just payday missions, and all these mini campaigns
called urban legends. It's too much. Should have just picked one gameplay style and really honed in on it
instead of, I don't know, loading up the worst shotgun possible and trying to hit a target
that's like it's sniper range. The real crime that
"Rockay City" has going on in it is that it's very boring. It's not even like an
entertaining train wreck. It's just dull. - [Character] Ah, yeah,
just like the old days. - [Character 2] Yep, like the old days. - [Falcon] At number two
is "Greyhill Incident." Might be a bit of a stretch
to call this disappointing, but I don't know. This one could have been okay. We're always looking for
good horror games, you know? And any developer can
sometimes surprise you with something outta nowhere. But with a 37 on Metacritic and mostly negative reviews on Steam, it should be clear that this is not one of those hidden gems. It does manage to have a creepy
atmosphere once in a while. But the second the aliens
show up with their goofy heads and their silly black jumpsuits, that tension is gone,
jumps right out the window. Like there's literally
guy with a tinfoil hat. He looks like a joke, but I'm pretty sure he's
supposed to be serious. I don't know, the voice
acting's so amateur as it's actually hard to tell. - This can't be our end. I don't wanna end up as an
alien experiment victim. They already cleaned your house. So I don't think they're gonna come back. I've already started
to board up your place. This will save us tonight. - [Falcon] And, you know, for a game made by a single
person, it's pretty ambitious. I have to give it that. But that doesn't mean that it's good or that it doesn't have problems. It is very poorly optimized. Movement is very slow. There's no map so you're
getting lost constantly, and the objectives are never clear. You do get a gun, barely any ammo though. And that just makes
stuff much more annoying. I can go on with all the gameplay
mechanics that feel wrong. I mean, but what's the point? Like, look at these dumb aliens. They're some of the most
unimpressive stalkers I've ever seen in a horror game. Like in all seriousness, these guys look like Party
City costumes, do they not? And finally at number one, it's
"Lord of the Rings: Gollum." I don't remember what video it was, but a while back, I remember
seeing footage for this and saying that, that looks underwhelming. I was kind to it though,
in whatever video it was. I expressed a little bit
of concern but not a lot. I wanted it to be good. And when I booted it up,
I wanted it to be good. To be truthful, the release
version looks a lot better than the version that we saw
years ago in terms of visuals. But that's not saying a lot 'cause it is not a remarkable
game in terms of its visuals. But where it is a
remarkable game is no where. It's not a remarkable game. It is a slow-paced slog
where you do a lot of stuff that you feel like you
shouldn't have to do in a game. Every once in a great while, there's this little tiny shimmer of, wow, that was why they wanted to make this. But it's just not enough. It's not even close to
enough or halfway of enough. There's so little going on in this game, and the stuff that they
do isn't done well. And again, I'll credit them
for wanting to stick by it. They've said they're gonna work on it, and I would like to see it
be a good game at some point, but it's shocking how long
they worked on this game and how little it actually
is when it came out. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment, let
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right here on Gameranx. (upbeat hip-hop music)
