Games

5 Underwhelming Games of 2016 (So Far)

Which games failed to impress in 2016?

Published

9 years ago

July 19, 2016

2016 has been an epic year for games. From the brilliant action of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End to the brutality of Doom, we’ve been treated to some great releases. However, there have also been a few underwhelming releases. We’re not saying these games are “bad” per se, but rather failed to live up to the high expectations placed on them by gamers and critics alike.

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst

A sequel to DICE’s 2008 free-running game was long overdue, so when Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst was announced, fans were extremely excited. As beautiful as Catalyst is, and as fun as the gameplay can be, it was let down by moronic AI and cheesily-predictable story. DICE has so much potential with this franchise, but didn’t make a big enough leap with Catalyst to please hungry fans.

Mirrord Edge Catalyst

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game made by the team behind Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance? Sounds like a match-made in heaven. There’s so little that could’ve gone wrong with Mutants in Manhattan, but somehow it did. Chaotic combat, a short campaign, and the fact that there’s no local co-op (in a TMNT game!?) got the highly-anticipated return of the half-shelled heroes off on the wrong foot. Gamers loved the fan-service Mutants in Manhattan had to offer, but were perplexed at some of the design choices.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutants in Manhattan

Battleborn

The issue with Battleborn is that nobody really seems to know what the heck it is, even after sitting down and playing with it. Yes, it’s a character-based first-person shooter with a colourful art-style similar to that of Borderlands, there are MOBA elements in one of the modes and we know there’s campaign, competitive multiplayer and cooperative non-story modes, but it all comes together in a massive jumble of incoherency that left a lot of gamers deciding to not invest the time that could’ve made it great.

Battleborn

Carmageddon: Max Damage

The revival of Carmageddon, one of the original vehicular combat pioneers, hasn’t exactly been worth the wait. The visuals are sub par, the gameplay is a little too straight-forward, and the AI isn’t up to scratch for a game released in 2016. While it does manage to capture the spirit and tongue-in-cheek nature of the original, Max Damage fails to reproduce the slapstick magic with too many shortcomings bringing it down.

Carmageddon Max Damage

The Division

The Division is a great game, but at the same time, it’s also one of the most underwhelming games of 2016. The reason being is that the expectations for Ubisoft’s massive open-world multiplayer shooter were through the roof, but the final product didn’t meet the standards built up by fans. Enemies ended up being bullet-sponges and the repetition of taking them on began to wear thin after a while. The end-game content isn’t as robust as it needs to be for a game of this scale, leading to many gamers questioning how engrossing The Division will be in the long run.

The-Division