Poll: Potential in games...

[Pyroguekenesis]

These are the games that are often overshadowed by the larger, more popular ones but have the potential to be one of the best if they were to be continued or certain aspects of it were fixed up. Feel free to add in games that are somewhat popular online or offline.

Feel free to add in games, you think that had the potential but developers screwed it up with its sequels and how.

For me, Machines by Acclaim Studios was the very first game I ever bought. And I still have it, despite it's extremely old age it is very unique to any other games I have played so far. Put it simply it is a R.T.S with robots, but you can actually 1st-person pilot the units themselves. If you know a game that can do this, please tell me. There are so many units in the game and just as many in variety in weapons and designs. Sadly, Machines 2 never got released because Acclaim got closed and bought out. I think Combat Arms by Nexon actually has more customization choices than the recent Call of Duty games, would make a marvelous MMOFPSG .

 

[Sixcess]

The Force Unleashed had the potential to be a great Star Wars series.It's set in a time period that enables the use of the most iconic imperial imagery of the original trilogy - like Star Destroyers, Stormtroopers and of course Darth Vader. Production values are high, it looks fantastic, it sounds fantastic, and it could have told a genuinely compelling story of the struggle of the main character between the light and dark sides of the Force.

A mechanic that made the game harder if you used the Force for good would reflect that struggle in the gameplay. The dark path is, we are often told, stronger and easier, so if you want the good ending you're going to have to work for it.

Instead they decided to go all out for God of War style spectacle, and revel in over the top violence that has little place in the Star Wars universe, and to enable that level of spectacle they ramped up Starkiller's power levels to a point where he just doesn't fit in that universe.

I won't even get started on the DLC.

I hate on TFU quite a lot, but only because it could have been great, if only they'd tried to challenge themselves, and the players, a little bit.

 

[teisjm]

@OP: In dungeon keeper 2 (and perhaps 1 as well idk) you have a spell that lets you enter the head of a minion and controll it 1st person style, and while aged, it's still a hillarious game.

Robot arena was fun, and could with some polish be awesome.

Spore had potential, but lacked, well everything...

 

[EHKOS]

See, the thing is, it's not about how it looks, or if theres a story or interesting characters, it just has to be fun and appeal to our baser insticnts. I love destroying things, therefore I found fun in Red Faction Gurrila. I never beat any missions, it's just a destruct sim to me. The funest...lets go with that, the funest games are the ones that are just fun for no reason. I loved MW2. I don't know why, but it was addicting. Stuff like this makes fun games, games nowadays are a chore for me to beat. I liked Crackdown because all you have to do is run around, same with prototype.

And sure, strict, story-filled games are fun too, but in a different way. I find I have much more fun doing in a game when I'm not expected to feel a certain way and just do what I want.

 

[EHKOS]

The Force Unleashed, I won't even get started on the DLC.

I hate on TFU quite a lot, but only because it could have been great, if only they'd tried to challenge themselves, and the players, a little bit.

Now if you're talking about the second one (afaik there was no DLC for the first but I could be wrong) I thouroly enjoyed kicking Ewoks.

 

[Neverhoodian]

The Force Unleashed had the potential to be a great Star Wars series.It's set in a time period that enables the use of the most iconic imperial imagery of the original trilogy - like Star Destroyers, Stormtroopers and of course Darth Vader. Production values are high, it looks fantastic, it sounds fantastic, and it could have told a genuinely compelling story of the struggle of the main character between the light and dark sides of the Force.

A mechanic that made the game harder if you used the Force for good would reflect that struggle in the gameplay. The dark path is, we are often told, stronger and easier, so if you want the good ending you're going to have to work for it.

Instead they decided to go all out for God of War style spectacle, and revel in over the top violence that has little place in the Star Wars universe, and to enable that level of spectacle they ramped up Starkiller's power levels to a point where he just doesn't fit in that universe.

I won't even get started on the DLC.

I hate on TFU quite a lot, but only because it could have been great, if only they'd tried to challenge themselves, and the players, a little bit.

I agree. A friend of mine brought his Special Sith Edition copy over once and I got a chance to play it for a few hours.

I won't deny that flinging scenery and stormtroopers around with explosive results is entertaining on a primal level, but I just couldn't bring myself to take the narrative seriously. Moreover, Starkiller's degree of Force aptitude is absurdly overblown. He would be more at home in the Dragon Ball Z universe, where nonsensical stories and godlike powers are the norm.

The DLC missions were even more absurd. It was like a laughably bad fanfic.

I don't care how hard Lucasarts tries to force it (no pun intended) on the fans, I consider it non-canon (along with most of the prequels and a good amount of the Expanded Universe).

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Timeshift could have been fun. The graphics are good and the game has a really nice art style. My main problem is that it tries so hard to emulate Half-Life 2, right down to the "hiding plot in the scenary" because at times it can be hard to figure out why you're doing what you're doing. My main problem was there is no consistent difficulty. At times it can be too easy because in a small space you can just slap on Time Slow and shoot everything with a shotgun before it can react. At other times it's too difficult. The only surefire way to recover your health when there is little cover is to use Time Stop, but when the game tosses enemies that require you to use Time Stop to be killed along with normal grunts and no cover it can be damn awkward. Also, it loves breaking the flow with it's "Time Puzzles". Anyone's who has played it should know what I mean.

Also, Helos.

 

[random_bars]

These are the games that are often overshadowed by the larger, more popular ones but have the potential to be one of the best if they were to be continued or certain aspects of it were fixed up. Feel free to add in games that are somewhat popular online or offline.

Feel free to add in games, you think that had the potential but developers screwed it up with its sequels and how.

For me, Machines by Acclaim Studios was the very first game I ever bought. And I still have it, despite it's extremely old age it is very unique to any other games I have played so far. Put it simply it is a R.T.S with robots, but you can actually 1st-person pilot the units themselves. If you know a game that can do this, please tell me. There are so many units in the game and just as many in variety in weapons and designs. Sadly, Machines 2 never got released because Acclaim got closed and bought out. I think Combat Arms by Nexon actually has more customization choices than the recent Call of Duty games, would make a marvelous MMOFPSG .

I've never heard of that game, but it sounds interesting, I'll have a look. There are other games of that style, though they're quite rare - 'strategic action' is what I call the genre myself.

Personally, the game like this that I love is Brutal Legend. It's set in the Age of Metal, an alternate history period which is basically the crazy stuff you see in heavy metal album covers brought to life. The setup of the multiplayer is basically a battleground with your faction's stage at one end, your opponent's at the other, and your aim is to destroy their stage.

You can create units, upgrade your stage (which serves as your base) and direct your units around with simple commands like any other RTS, but it doesn't have the emphasis on micromanagement or base building. Instead, you play as your faction's leader and can fly around to see what's going on, or land and just kill stuff yourself with basic combat using your weapon and guitar (which can summon stage pyrotechnics, basically special attacks).

But you can also perform Double Team attacks with any of your units where you will be invulnerable to being damaged yourself (the unit will take the damage instead) and can perform an attack which ranges from a controllable version of what that unit would do normally, to something completely crazy and different - like a unit which can summon a huge flaming stonehenge ring from the ground, into which a giant sword crashes down.

And on top of THAT, each faction can play from a huge variety of solos which each do something different, from summoning wild animals, to spawning a pulsating boil in the ground which explodes if an enemy touches it, to attaching an anvil to your opponent's leg, to crashing a huge flaming blimp onto the battlefield. It seems daunting at first, but once you get some practice, the different aspects of the game come together to make a game that's totally unique.

Sorry if I've seemed obsessive, but this really is an overlooked gem - so many people gave up when the game's strategic elements began to show, but if you just stick with it (and don't try to play it like a regular RTS i.e. flying in the air constantly and doing nothing useful or fun) then you'll find a game that's addictive and unique.

Other games of this genre are Sacrifice, Battlezone, Battlezone 2, Battalion Wars, and Pikmin (kinda). Of these I've only played Battalion Wars (for about 5 minutes) and Pikmin, but Brutal Legend is the most recent (I think) and is what I'd recommend. It's on 360 and PS3, although the PS3 community is apparently pretty lackluster.

EDIT: here's a video of it if my crappy explanation was too crap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGrK70GgTXM

 

[rokkolpo]

Everything in the world has more potential than is shown.