Top 5 Biggest Video Game Mistakes of 2016

No Man’s Sky

Let’s just get the obvious one out of the way straight off the bat. No Man’s Sky was a pretty huge misstep this year. From the way it was marketed, to the gameplay experience, and even a shoddy PC port, the highly hyped title left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans.

Upon release, No Man’s Sky was missing a handful of features that Hello Games’ Sean Murray had mentioned in interviews and at industry events prior to launch. While it cannot be denied that No Man’s Sky offered up a huge universe for players to explore, many of its planets were rather dull, and few lived up to the beautiful tropical scenes we’d caught glimpses of in gameplay demos. Combine that with a gameplay cycle that could quickly become tiresome, and a very lackluster reward for reaching the center of the universe, and No Man’s Sky felt very much mishandled.

Had it been given a little more time in the oven, perhaps more gameplay features could have been added in. Instead, what players were left with was something that didn’t quite deliver on their ambitious space adventures.

Mighty No. 9

Mighty No. 9 was supposed to be the modern day spiritual successor to the classic Mega-Man series. It was going to combine the beautiful visuals possible with today’s technology with the classic side-scrolling action of the beloved franchise. Unfortunately, the near $4 million crowdfunded budget was not reflected in the end product.

Mighty No. 9 didn’t have the excellent controls of its inspiration; instead, it felt incredibly clunky and slow. This immediately leads to one of Mighty No. 9’s biggest downfalls. Gameplay became frustrating and any platforming then becomes difficult, not because it’s challenging, but because the game doesn’t handle anywhere near as it should. Keiji Inafune’s spiritual successor to the series he spent so long with felt more like a cheap knock-off of the little blue man. Even the most dedicated Mega Man fans will have a hard time enjoying this.

Poor PC Ports

When it comes to running games at their very best, the PC platform is commonly the place to go. PCs simply have more power available to use and as such, if you put the money in, you can get incredibly high frame rates at 1080P or even 4K resolutions. For years now, games launching on PC have been relatively problem-free, with Arkham Knight and a few others as exceptions. Yet, 2016 went and changed all that and became the year that a bunch of AAA games, for one reason or another, were just terrible on the platform.

Whether it was Forza Horizon 3 with its choppy framerate and constant crashes, No Man’s Sky’s plethora of problems, or the sluggish and stuttering Dishonored 2, PC players had it pretty bad this year. For some, these products can simply be virtually unplayable.  While many of these issues are later resolved in patches, it’s not been a fun time for release time players, and here’s hoping QA can get a little more thorough with PC titles in 2017.

Battleborn

Battleborn was possibly one of the biggest mistakes of 2016, not because it was an absolutely terrible game, but due to the way it was handled. While its gameplay is definitely outdone by Blizzard’s Overwatch, Gearbox didn’t give it much of a chance when it came to its release date, either.

Considering both Battleborn and Overwatch are team-based shooters, Gearbox and 2K Games would have been better off doing their utmost to avoid a direct clash with its competitor. Unfortunately, their game released mere weeks before the superior Overwatch, and as a result, was completely overlooked. Especially when an open beta for Overwatch was tactically conducted mere days after Battleborn was released.

Had it not been going up against direct competition within the space of a few weeks, Battleborn may have seen a little more success. Hopefully, Gearbox’s next title won’t suffer a similar fate.

Switch Silence

When the Nintendo Switch was first unveiled back in October, the industry was pretty excited over the prospect. After all, the reveal trailer showed players taking the Switch with them on the go and playing Zelda, Mario, and Skyrim in their full-fledged forms. Unfortunately, Nintendo then revealed that we wouldn’t be hearing anything else about the Switch until a special reveal event in January 2017. A little disappointing, and a pretty big mistake on Nintendo’s part.

Following this first look, there have been countless rumors floating around the internet regarding a less impressive experience when using the Switch as a handheld, and a very limited battery life, too. While these reports remain unconfirmed, if the mounds of Switch hype are met with less than expected features come Jan. 12 or shortly after, Nintendo has severely limited the gap between bad news and the March release date.

Getting all of the details out in the open early on, and curtailing any rumors or guesswork, would have allowed Nintendo to focus on the most exciting points of their new system leading up to its release date. The last thing Nintendo needs is for potential day-one buyers to have a change of heart so soon to launch. Let’s just hope the January event leaves players delighted rather than deflated.