GameReviewPad’s Most Disappointing Games of 2020
Louis Hughes’ Most Disappointing Games of 2020
1. WWE 2K Battlegrounds (NS)
After the attention from the critically acclaimed WWE 2K20 (sarcasm), 2K decided to take a year hiatus to go back to the drawing board. During that time, they announced WWE 2K Battlegrounds to bring back the arcade style last used in WWE All-Stars. Except WWE All-Stars left a good feeling while Battlegrounds left a lot to be desired.
The game itself is good with fun gameplay and a huge roster of wrestlers….I mean WWE Superstars. What made this my top disappointing game are the microtransactions. Yes, you can unlock Superstars with in-game currency you earn after matches, but the prices fluctuate among each wrestler, and the fact that you’re unlocking the current roster! It makes sense to unlock legendary rosters, such as Goldberg, Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock, etc. To my surprise, I am trying to unlock Asuka, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, among other current superstars. That, to me, sealed it with this being the biggest disappointment. If 2K does this to WWE 2K21, this will only add fuel for the upcoming AEW game to release so WWE/2K bring their A game.
2. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
How is it that I called this one of my favorite games of the year only to have it as one of my most disappointed? While I’m still having a blast with the game’s story and environment, as I got further in the game, the glitches started to show. Not the glitches you see online, but the ones where my side missions don’t start/end properly, leaving me to reboot the game. I’ve had moments in other open world games where this would happen, but they were minor and never happened again. This is an ongoing issue for me that has me really close to just sitting out the game and to wait for the next big patch. In hindsight, this game did set an example for corporate to let developers have the final say on when the game is ready instead of releasing in time for your holiday bonuses. Who am I kidding?
3. Super Mario 3D All-Stars (NS)
I wasn’t even going to put this on my list, but upon seeing that I haven’t played the game that much I’m reminded of why.
There were lots of rumors stating that Nintendo would celebrate Mario’s 35 anniversary with a compilation of 3D Mario games. While I found these rumors true, one rumor I thought was being stretched. That was the rumor of Super Mario 64 being remade with the Super Mario Galaxy/Odyssey engine, while the other games would be left untouched and just upgraded the textures and controls.
In the end, we got three Mario games untouched with a few improvements made. While the pandemic (maybe) played a part in Mario 64 not getting the remastered treatment, I feel this and the previous All-Stars collection has tarnished the name. Super Mario All-Stars is one of my favorite games of all time because they took four games (one never released in the US) and remade them to take advantage of how the games would look on the SNES. The one on Wii was literally the same collection, only with extra goodies, while this had the potential to be something special.
Andre Calvert’s Most Disappointing Games of 2020
1. The Last of Us Part II (PS4)
The Last of Us Part II was a game I had circled on my calendar for many years. So much so that in 2018 I decided I finally wanted to own a Playstation 4 to have it ready in case The Last of Us Part II released in 2018 or early 2019. After playing The Last of Us Part II it felt like night and day in terms of story compared to The Last of Us. Not only was the story itself underwhelming and all over the place, but the disjointed storytelling helped contribute to the problem with pacing. Although the gameplay wasn’t bad and even improved in some cases, some of the characters and their actions were just not believable in The Last of Us Part II. Although the graphics and voice acting added a lot of realism to the game, the unrealistic story in terms of specific characters made it a mismatch. For the general above reason, I don’t expect to ever play this again.
2. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
Cyberpunk 2077 is a big can of worms to discuss, but to put it mildly, the game is unfinished and the character building wasn’t very unique or fun. I was immediately disappointed in the lack of impact of the backstory choice of your character in the very beginning of the game and that helped set the negative tone of the rest of my experience. There is a lot to like in Cyberpunk, like the voice acting and dialogue options, but the basic nature of the game and the feeling of everything just “being there” without a proper rollout made everything feel rushed. Side quest vomit of being bombarded with phone calls one after the other was just weird. I didn’t experience too many bugs, but I experienced enough bugs for it to be annoying in some instances to have to redo parts quests. Sadly, one of the deciding factors in this being my second disappointed as opposed to my first is that this game has a chance to be improved, while The Last of Us Part II will always be disappointing with the story. A sign of the times…
3. Watchdogs Legion (PC)
Watchdogs Legion is a game I was surprisingly looking forward to, so I decided to double-dip at the end of October with Ubisoft Plus to play this and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla in the same monthly period. It’s really as simple as I was just so bored playing Watchdogs Legion in the first hours or so of my experience that I didn’t feel motivated to continue. The gameplay just felt very bland and the mechanics of the game involving taking control over random strangers made it difficult to form a connection with the characters, despite most of the characters being different. Sorry Watchdogs: Legion, I tried…
