13) Haze
Haze looked good on paper. A dystopian near-future setting? Check. A nefarious multinational? Yup. A respected developer with a good CV? You bet. After TimeSplitters, expectations were high for Free Radical’s newest game and promotional materials billed Haze as the “Halo killer.”
But, behind the scenes, Free Radical was in turmoil, with the team struggling to get to grips with an unfamiliar engine and under time pressures to assuage a publisher spending silly money on promotional material. All the while, the marketing machine was in overdrive, selling a package that could never possibly meet the rising tide of expectation.
[wgtc_youtube video_id=”VGilQTiRyGc”]12) Perfect Dark Zero
Any follow up to Perfect Dark needed to be good. The N64 classic had carved out a passionate fanbase thanks to its outstanding visuals and pitch perfect level design. When Joanna Dark’s return was announced in the form of Perfect Dark Zero, fan frenzy reached fever pitch.
But times were changing and the old guarded need reinvigorating in the form of a fresh, innovative experience. Zero was anything but. It shot out the gate as a launch title to coincide with the Xbox 360 but landed with a resounding splat.
Unspectacular and undercooked, Zero was most galling for how inoffensive it was.