Things that were ALMOST awesome.

[Ekonk]

I don't know about you, fellow Escapists, but to me, there's nothing sadder than wasted potential. Wether this be in a game, a movie, a book, or a song. There are many instances when a certain element or even the basic premise of a storyline is really great, but is executed so badly that it's sad to see all that potential go to waste. Or games with great gameplay and a story that make you want to cry tears of sorrow over how bad it really is. The same goes for songs that have an awesome intro and then plunge into crap.

An example: the sci-fi horror Pandorum starts out setting the mood right - it's genuinly chilling and the 'survival'-mood is very high. However, then the space-orcs show up and all sense of dread in the audience is overwhelmed by one single thought, 'WTF, director?'

Another, more famous example: Twilight. Because when you think of it, the romance between an ordinary girl and a bloodsucking monster who doesn't know if he loves her or her blood could make for a great book. Sadly however, it didn't.

<color=FF000>So tell me, Escapists, what are you experiences with things that were almost great?

 

[Snownine]

Hancock had to potential to be badass. Then halfway through they dragged out the whole retarded story about them both having powers and all that other crap. I just wanted to see the lazy,drunk low self esteem, dude with superpowers find his calling and become the hero he was capable of.

 

[Ekonk]

Hancock had to potential to be badass. Then halfway through they dragged out the whole retarded story about them both having powers and all that other crap. I just wanted to see the lazy,drunk low self esteem, dude with superpowers find his calling and become the hero he was capable of.

Hey, I forgot about that one! You're very right though. That story turned to crap faster than I care to remember. And it started so awesome... :C

 

[Riobux]

I still retain the idea that Kane And Lynch: Dead Men was almost]/i] great. It had so much going for it and a multi-player that was like a social psychology study in motion. It had originality on it's side. It showed as Kane just simply couldn't do anything right no matter what and the ending reflected this. Not even the Silent Hill series had done multiple endings which each one was a bad one. I also think that while it came close, I don't think it went over that "wow, this has been a waste of time" line.

I think the reason it ended up flopping as hard as it did was partly because there was no real motivation to get a good score in the multi-player. Sure, you COULD get one, but you're not being rewarded. There was no levelling up system or even a medal system. The closest you got was achievements and the ranking system (with costumes; #1 being Kane and #2 being Lynch). I felt it was just so easy to really build on the concept of a heist and a fragile alliance. To have a levelling up system that developed the key roles in a typical heist maybe. You'd start off in a basic robbery situation of some petrol station and as you level up, you gain access to more and more high-risk-high-reward scenarios.

Another problem was the AI. Sure you can have Lynch be the AI, but he'll be as intelligent and as useful as a bag of door knobs. My only real complaint about the whole "let's hate this game!" campaign was to use the blow-back of guns as the big complaint was just silly. Yes, guns do have recoil, stop expecting every guy to be able to absorbed the recoil magically. Oh, and the swearing. I don't think it'd be possible for Kane to show how desperate he really was to fix things if he wasn't swearing all the time. It didn't feel excessive because of how messed up Kane and Lynch generally are. Yes, they swore a lot, but they were also on the run from the cops, Kane was trying desperately to save his daughter and Lynch is trying to keep his schizophrenia under control despite not having any more medication.

I really don't think the GameSpot controversy helped though. That was just really stupid.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

Nice one bringing the Quake series up to date with modern technology, Raven.

Oh wait, except you turned it from a claustrophobic shit-your-pants twitch FPS to an uninspired average shooter. Any game which forces you talk walk up and down the same corridor three times can sod off.

Hancock had to potential to be badass. Then halfway through they dragged out the whole retarded story about them both having powers and all that other crap. I just wanted to see the lazy,drunk low self esteem, dude with superpowers find his calling and become the hero he was capable of.

Y'know the DVD I have of that film actually stops working at the part we find out the woman has powers. It's awesome.

 

[EnzoHonda]

A.I. could have been brilliant had it ended at the scene where the kid was in the water, talking to the fairy. But no, they had to get Liam Neeson to come talk about midichlorians or some shit.

The Boondock Saints could have been awesome, but they went too far. Willem Dafoe in drag. Swing and a miss.

 

[-Drifter-]

Red Dead Revolver comes to mind. It had a lot going for it, but around the time you arrived in Brimstone things started getting a bit too ridiculous. When you find yourself fighting crazy, teleporting magicians and men with cannons for arms, it's hard to take the game seriously.

 

[Omikron009]

Far Cry 2 on the 360. With a decent save system and less travel time, it would have been awesome. As it stands, it's only fun in short bursts.

 

[-Drifter-]

Far Cry 2 on the 360. With a decent save system and less travel time, it would have been awesome. As it stands, it's only fun in short bursts.

I don't think the travel time is the problem. It's the fact that there are enemies everywhere. Whenever I play that game I travel on foot, as far from the roads as possible, because trying to drive on them is suicide.

 

[Avaholic03]

The Matrix Trilogy...if they didn't get all weird and pseudo-religious.

The Invention of Lying was one of the best ideas I've ever heard of, and then they fucked it up with some seriousness and religion.

Humanity could have been a good idea, if it weren't for all those religious nuts trying to impose their beliefs on everyone else.


Hmmmm...I'm sensing a theme here.

 

[SpecklePattern]

Yeah. Hancock had lot of potential.

From the games Left for Dead 2 had huge potential but... I don't know. It's like there is something missing. That game is almost awesome.

And from real life one of our universitys meeting room is ALMOST awesome. They fixed it up to have all this bling bling like LED ligths and nice sauna and all this. The room is quite big also. But it doesn't have places for you to sit on! Damn! That place is ALMOST awesome. Like building new super fast airplane and only placing the seats on the other side of the plane :/

More like offtopic:
Wasted efford is sad. Doing things half the way is same as not doing them at all but time and money is just wasted.

 

[ottenni]

Inglorious Basterds could have been so awesome if more time was spent with the actual basterds as opposed to with all the other side plots.

Also chocolate pizza. If only...

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I still say Alone in the Dark for xbox had the most potential for greatness. It had innovative combat, decent story, extensively awesome fire physics, and so many other great things going for it. Unfortunately everything that was good turned to be horribly presented, the driving was so bad it puts driving the Mako in ME 1 and every other car in GTA IV look normal and the next worst thing was the inventory system. I mean what other game have you played that when you accessed your inventory didn't pause the game? I ask you what other game i don't believe there is one.

 

[blarg363]

The consol version of AvP, If thay had just nerf'd the preds and fix it so that when you go to counter a heavy attack with a light attack like the game tells you, it acctualy worked like taht i'd be playing right now.

 

[SimuLord]

Inglorious Basterds could have been so awesome if more time was spent with the actual basterds as opposed to with all the other side plots.

Also chocolate pizza. If only...

Domino's made an Oreo Dessert Pizza. Much like Twilight, right concept, wrong person to execute it.

 

[Crowser]

I still say Alone in the Dark for xbox had the most potential for greatness. It had innovative combat, decent story, extensively awesome fire physics, and so many other great things going for it. Unfortunately everything that was good turned to be horribly presented, the driving was so bad it puts driving the Mako in ME 1 and every other car in GTA IV look normal and the next worst thing was the inventory system. I mean what other game have you played that when you accessed your inventory didn't pause the game? I ask you what other game i don't believe there is one.

Resident evil 5, resident evil 4 on pro mode and demons souls. But yeah I agree with you on Alone in the Dark...

 

[Bourne]

My first love had great potential, but then again, my first heart break has shaped me into what I am right now, that is to say, a controlled and neat monster.

As for movies... I would have to say that M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening could have been something special, but unfortunately, that writer/director/madman holds himself way to high to do anything productive anymore. I also think the Alien vs. Predator movies could have really done something great, but instead did something Hollywood.

Books... I've never finished a book I didn't like. I was hoping for more out of Cormac MacCarthy's Outer Dark, but I was also truly horrified by it, so it wasn't all bad.

Food... pretty much every "Mexican" restaurant in my Texas town. So sad.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Condemned 2 was so brilliant, so awesome. Then you pulled superpowers out of your ass and they pretty much removed the melee combat. It's not like the gunplay was bad, because it wasn't. It was very well done in fact, but it just did not belong in Condemned 2.

In any case, halfway through it was bye-bye scare factor. Such a shame.

Also I Am Legend. It could've been legendary, but the horribly sweet Hollywood-ending truly screwed it up.

 

[VivaciousDeimos]

Along the same lines as Twilight there's the Inheritance Cycle. Another instance of the author meaning to say one thing, but their writing says something completely different. Eragon is supposed to be a traditional fantasy hero, but his actions depict him as a complete and violent sociopath with no understanding of basic human interaction. If this was the actual premise of the story, maybe tied in with the idea that being linked to a dragon made someone more violet and this is what drove Galby insane, it could have been a very interesting twist on the fantasy genre. Alas no.

 

[deth2munkies]

Avatar was almost awesome. If they didn't completely neglect the plot, it'd be the best movie ever.