Happy new year! Welcome back to We The Nerdy’s “The Top 5” where a few of us get together list our top 5 of a thematic topic for video games. Last week, we collective listed our Top 10 Games of the Year, so this week it’s time for the opposite end of the spectrum: 2014’s disappointments!

Bryan Boshart –

5. Far Cry 4

Sometime a game fails to exit from the shadow of its predecessor. Far Cry 4 tries and fails to live up to the standard set by its forebears. It emulates all the best points of the third entry: crazy, interesting antagonist, soaring through the country’s skies, wild animals, and stealth. Far Cry 4 even emulates these features quite well, sadly, while it is still a quality game, it could have been so much more. Pagan Min was an interesting villain, but he gets scant amounts of screen time compared to the two rather boring mission givers who tag along with you. In what is quite possibly the most confusing thing, the whole impetus of the adventure is only accomplished through the secret ending at the beginning of the game. At least I can blow up an enemy base from elephant back.

4. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

The trailers I watched for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor had me hyped. Open-world/Assassins’ Creed-esque style of play and the cool new Nemesis system made Shadow of Mordor one of the games I was most excited to play this year. I ended up being disappointed first by the lack of content in the open world. Other than killing orcs, and challenges that tasked you with killing orcs there was almost nothing to do. The world map was also rather small compared to some of its contemporaries. Killing blows were devastating, but otherwise the combat was shallow. The Nemesis System was a clever idea, even if it wasn’t executed to its fullest extent. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor just plain didn’t live up to what I expected.

3. Destiny

Destiny promised to be the first successful MMO shooter. On many counts it delivered, but ended up being held back from the greatness it could have achieved. The main areas of the map didn’t have that much to do, which was compounded on by the small amount of enemy types. The lack of content was especially noticeable during the patrol missions. The most egregious error in Destiny was the terribly designed levelling system. After reaching level twenty, the only way to further level was through items. The drop rate was so low that it took fifteen hours for me to see my item that raised my level, which fell from a generic enemy instead of a boss. While the core gameplay was solid and fun, the bad drop system and mostly barren planets left a bit to be desired.

2. Watch Dogs

Watch Dogs promised a futuristic Grand Theft Auto with unique gameplay through its hacking system. The hacking system was the first and biggest problem. Hacking in Watch Dogs only works when it prompts you, otherwise the other cars would just avoid the obstacles automatically. Characters in Watch Dogs were rather bland. Aiden Pierce was a boring protagonist, who cared more about his niece than her own mother did. The only two interesting characters (the other hackers) don’t get near enough time on screen. Watch Dogs also featured some nonsensical missions like chasing down Defalt a Deadmau5 emulator, who somehow ended up being a moderately important character

1. NHL 15

Where to start with NHL 15? The first NHL entry on new consoles really disappointed me. Practice mode gives no option for 5 on 5 or with any defensive players at all, effectively making the mode a glorified shootout.  Be A Player mode offers no coaching advice and it lets you choose when you want your player back on the ice. Even more odd is that you can choose which team that you want to join, because that’s exactly how the draft works (sarcasm).

The most egregious problem was the missing modes. At launch, EASHL, GM Connected, Live the Life, and the 94’ Anniversary mode have all been removed. There’s not even a standard season mode, and the only way to play a full season is through Be A GM mode. Even now, months later, I’m befuddled how a game can be so good on the ice but so awful off-ice.

John Newby –

5. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Look, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was on my Top 10 Games list, but I still had some issues with the game. To start, all of the areas beyond the opening moon section were just corridors filled with huge amounts of enemies. These corridors quickly became mindless gun ranges with no variety. Yeah, Borderlands has always been about randomly murdering enemies, but the first two games took advantage of varied locales. The Pre-Sequel just seemed to run out of areas.

The other issue with The Pre-Sequel is the final boss battle. The first Borderlands had a bad boss battle, but The Pre-Sequel was even worse. The final boss consisted of a multi-layered boss that was painfully difficult, and it was even harder to find. While most players could simply run to the boss’ area, I had to exploit a glitch to trigger the battle. Once this battle triggered, you had to spend about 30 minutes shooting the Sentinel and its rotating faces. If you died, you had to run quite a ways to get back to the battle before the boss’ health reset. This was a disappointing end to an otherwise great game.

4. Assassins Creed: Unity

I know that most people considered Unity to be a massive disappointment because of the creepy faces glitch, but I honestly thought that was hilarious. I had no issues with that glitch. My issue with Assassins Creed Unity was the return to a city and a bad combat system. I absolutely loved the ships and open exploration of Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag, so I was disappointed to return to a city, despite how gorgeous Paris was. I quickly tired of running around a city while climbing big buildings. Unity just felt like a retread instead of a leap forward.

My other big issue with Assassins Creed Unity was the combat system. While Black Flag made you feel like an unstoppable killer, Unity switched out for a combat system relying on a different style of parrying attacks. Explaining why this new system was terrible compared to the older style can only be described using “Feeling” as a description. The Black Flag combat system felt intuitive, letting you seamlessly switch between pistols, swords, daggers, and hidden blades while countering multiple attacks. The Unity system just felt clunky and old.

This may sound like nitpicking, but I wasn’t disappointed by too many games during 2014.

3. DriveClub

DriveClub had the potential to be the next great racing game for Sony, but it was a complete disaster. The servers were completely broken from the beginning, and Sony’s promised PlayStation Plus version still hasn’t been released. Even worse, DriveClub was supposed to have a dynamic weather system that affected the driving, but that was only added a short time ago.

Of course, the broken parts of DriveClub weren’t the only reasons why this game was disappointing. Honestly, DriveClub was actually a pretty crappy racing game. The computer-controlled racers all drove in the exact same line with no changes, and anytime you ran into these racers, they would shove you off the track. When this happened, DriveClub would penalize you because of “cheating”. Even worse, the cars in DriveClub just didn’t handle very well. Trying to win felt like a chore, no matter what car you happened to use. DriveClub should have been way better, but it was truly disappointing.

2. Madden 15

Madden 15 would seem like an obvious choice for disappointing game because the gameplay doesn’t change that often, but that’s not my issue with Madden 15. No, my issue with Madden 15 is that the game broke my PlayStation 4. Madden 15 had a “wonderful” feature where it would corrupt the saves on your PlayStation 4 and cause all kinds of freezing issues. Basically, anytime you would go to play Madden 15, the PlayStation would freeze and refuse to do anything else. After multiple attempts to play the game, you would have to erase everything on the system and go back to factory settings. Sure, Madden 15 has other issues like disappearing players and ridiculous AI, but a system-breaking glitch is enough to make the game disappointing.

1. Watch Dogs

When Sony announced the PlayStation 4, they decided to showcase a new game from Ubisoft, called Watch Dogs. This game was supposed to be the modern version of Assassins Creed that brought in the next generation. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Watch Dogs was a very boring GTA clone that required you to run around a nondescript version of Chicago “hacking” pedestrians with your cell phone. Plus, the next generation of gameplay boiled down to simply pressing a button over and over. Need to avoid the cops? Press a button. Need to steal some money? Press a button. Need to beat up some enemies? Well, you can’t do that. Go try to hack a security camera instead.

Not only was Watch Dogs boring, it was also pretty ugly. The next-gen graphics were great when you looked at the main character and certain objects, but almost everything else in the game was extremely ugly. I would drive around Chicago and randomly stop next to unusable cars and houses just to compare the graphical differences.

It was very sad that Watch Dogs ended up being just a boring open world game with barely any variety, a terrible main character, and some pretty bad graphics. I couldn’t wait for Watch Dogs to be released, but I didn’t make it more than six hours into the game.

Sean Mesler –

5. Broken Games

The year started off great! Huge titles released with minimal issues. Then, once the fall hit, it seemed game after game released in such a poor state, that it’s a wonder they just weren’t delayed. Driveclub, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin’s Creed Unity being the most egregious examples. Patch after patch failed to fix all of the issues and in the case of Driveclub and Halo, the games didn’t work properly for a month. I really hope developers and publishers take notice and make sure that they either ship a fully functioning product or just take the short-term hit and delay their game.

4. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

I’m a relatively big Metal Gear Solid fan, insofar that I’ve played and highly enjoyed all of the numbered games in the series. With that said, the fact that this was sold a retail product is shameful. While it looks great and plays great, it really is a glorified and, at the time or release, expensive demo. Side ops and time trials don’t hold much interest for me, and played exactly how I felt they would, padding to give the false impression of depth to justify the cost.

The one thing I can truly say about Ground Zeroes, is that it definitely brought my hype level down for The Phantom Pain. And that is truly disappointing.

3. Assassin’s Creed: Unity

After taking a break from the series after Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, I finally came back to the series with last years surprisingly delightful Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The pirate theme and ship battles did a lot for me in switching up the formula and making the franchise fresh again. Going into Unity, I was wowed by the screen shots and live demos I witnessed, thinking this is going to be the best Assassin’s Creed game yet.

I was wrong.

Thankfully I managed to play it after all of the launch issues were patched, so it wasn’t that it was a technical mess, but rather, it just wasn’t very fun to play and I was pretty bored after the 10^th hour or so. Don’t get me wrong, there are some high points: it’s stunning to look at, the rift missions were great science fiction type moments, getting down from buildings was much more fun and combat was improved, but the story didn’t engage me, the story missions weren’t very interesting, leveling up felt stunted, and Paris just wasn’t a very interesting playground. I’m not sorry I played it, but I definitely wish it was a whole lot better.

2.Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Yes, I know. I’m a heartless bastard. How could I dislike a game with such a touching story and a dog? Well, easily if the game isn’t any fun to play; Valiant Hearts: The Great War really falls short in the gameplay department. “Action” sequences control horribly, all of Anna’s rivival minigames are tedious and so simplistic that they aren’t very fun either. I really did like the story though.

1. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

When the credits rolled on the critically lauded Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, I sat back and decided that the “overrated” now has a new mascott. Yes, the controls are great, it’s a good looking game and the Nemesis system is pretty neat. But when all is said and done, it’s a neat system in search of a better overall game. Never before have I experienced a system that is so well realized and so poorly implemented at the same time. It was so meaningless. All of the work I did to kill or dominate the Warchiefs had no bearing on the end game and was ultimately pointless. Why did I level up all of my skills if they played no part in the boss battle?

And that story? Well, I should say “story” in the most sarcastic way possible. No side character sticks around long enough to leave much of an impression and all of them are absent from the end of the game. And don’t even get me started on all time I spent learning how to hunt for no reason whatsoever. Ugh, the more I think about this game, the less I like it.

So there you have it! Our most disappointing games of 2014. I’m sure you have your own lists and we would love to hear them so by all means, tell us how wrong we are in the comments below!

Till next time!