Werehog Pads Out The Runtime [Sonic Unleashed]
Making games is hard. Really hard. Even with an experienced team of developers, games don’t just magically come together — and even an arguably great game can be ruined because there just isn’t enough. Sonic Unleashed is a victim of length — Sega didn’t want to sell a Sonic game that’s only a few hours long.
So instead of just giving fans what they wanted, the developers jammed a square peg into a round hole. The insanely fast platforming levels in Sonic Unleashed are incredibly detailed and elaborately designed, but they were labor intensive. To make the game longer, the Werehog was invented — a ridiculous concept for a silly game, but also a terribly boring gimmick that drains all the fun out of an otherwise fun little game.
The Werehog is a slow wolf-hedgehog hybrid that beats up enemies with God of War brawling mechanics. The platforming is glacial and the fighting mechanics are just dreary, with mind-numbing repetitive music repeating its way through more than half of the game. Nobody wanted this!
Instinct Mode Makes Costumes Useless [Hitman: Absolution]
As a bona fide Hitman aficionado, this one really hurts. There’s a lot to love about Hitman: Absolution, the red-headed stepchild of the Hitman series. There are imaginative scenarios and a surprisingly huge number of levels to sneak through. There’s even a little bit of action and stealth to break up the open-ended assassination missions.
And then Instinct Mode drags everything down. In normal Hitman games, Agent 47 only needs to steal a person’s outfit to blend in. Not every costume gives him access to all locations, so figuring out which costumes you need to breach the target’s lair is one of the most important aspects of the game. And one that’s critically absent from Absolution.
Instead of giving you anonymity, costumes suddenly make you a target. Everyone will instantly recognize Agent 47 unless you use a new “Instinct” meter, which actually allows you to move undetected for a very limited time. This one change makes costumes almost completely useless. If Instinct Mode was removed from Absolution, the game would instantly become way better.
Check out more gimmicks from the Hall of Fail on the next page.
