The best video games typically combine various great ideas to create an overall epic experience. However, it isn’t just great games that contain good ideas. Even underwhelming titles can have some cool mechanics or a compelling story premise.
Sadly, though, one creative idea isn’t enough to make a game good. For instance, if an RPG has an incredible character creator, but a poor story and combat, it is still a poor game. Therefore, there have been times when a great idea has been wasted because almost everything else around it has been bland or broken. Here are some examples of that.
8Can’t Trust What You See
Haze
The first-person shooter Haze has an interesting story premise. You play as a futuristic soldier who is taking a drug called Nectar. All of your fellow soldiers are, too. This substance enhances your combat ability, making you a more effective soldier. This is actually visible in gameplay, as it improves your speed and highlights enemies for you to kill.
However, the drug also works as a hallucinogenic that stops you from truly seeing the pain and violence that you’re causing. So, when on Nectar, you don’t see blood or dead bodies. As a result, you don’t realize until later that you’re actually playing as the bad guys, and you’re mercilessly slaughtering rebels. Unfortunately, Haze has pretty generic gameplay and the story doesn’t make good on its interesting premise.
7The Health Bar Is For Metropolis, Not Superman
Superman Returns
Batman has had a bunch of good games, but Superman arguably hasn’t had any. For instance, 2006’s Superman Returns is pretty uninspired. That said, it does have one really good feature, and that is the health bar. The titular protagonist doesn’t have HP; instead, the game’s health bar is tied to Metropolis. So, you fail the game if the city takes too much damage.
This is very fitting for a Superman game. After all, not many characters should have the ability to kill Superman, so it doesn’t make sense that he can lose HP due to random enemies. Yet, he cares deeply for Metropolis, so if the city were destroyed or its residents killed, the Man of Steel would feel like he failed.
6Staking Vampires
Redfall
Redfall is an FPS game that has numerous issues and few redeeming features. One interesting thing the game does, though, is allow you to stake vampires with the spike on the end of your gun.
This follows the classic vampire rules in which one of the only ways they can be killed is with a stake through the heart. Plus, it makes the FPS combat feel different from the standard fare. If there were more originality shown in other aspects of Redfall, it may have been better received.
5Fragile Alliance Multiplayer
When it comes to third-person shooters, Kane and Lynch has neverbeen among the best. At least it has the Fragile Alliance multiplayer mode. This is a game mode where players online control criminals trying to acquire as much money as possible and escape in the getaway vehicle. Once you do get away, though, those funds are split evenly across the team.
Therefore, if you kill your teammates, you may end up with more loot. The consequence of this is that there are fewer of you to fight the cops trying to stop you. In fact, dead criminals respawn as cops, so you’re only adding to their number. This creates a cool risk-and-reward element to the whole experience. Plus, there’s always a lot of tension in this mode since your buddies could stab you in the back at any moment. If the game’s core combat was more enjoyable, it could’ve been a beloved mode.
4Using Your Immortality
NeverDead
In NeverDead, you play as an immortal character. This alone isn’t incredibly original, but it’s the way this immortality is used that stands out. It’s more than just not being able to die. Your body parts can fly off during combat. You can even lose your torso and be forced to roll around as a head. If that happens, you need to put yourself back together mid-fight.
Also, the feature isn’t just used during battle. You can actually detach limbs to complete puzzles. Sadly, despite the game’s creative main premise, everything surrounding it is quite bland.
3Mindjacking
Mindjack
Mindjack is a third-person shooter primarily known for its standout feature: the ability to mindjack people. This means literally taking over their mind and controlling them for a while. It isn’t just reserved for people, either. You can take over drones and vehicles, too.
This makes the combat much more interesting, as you can jump around different people as the fight goes on. Unfortunately, though, controlling anyone in this game isn’t enjoyable enough for the mechanic to reach its full potential. Yet, it is certainly a neat idea.
2Iron Man-like Exosuits
Anthem
Anthem won’t go down asBioWare’s best game, due to its many technical issues, bland story, and unimpressive combat. Yet, there is a reason why the game initially interested many people. That reason is the sweet exosuit that your character gets to wear.
It’s very similar to what Iron Man generally dons. Therefore, you may fly around the game world using your rocket boosts. That part of the experience actually feels pretty fun. If only they were more interesting places to fly around.
1Eliminating Each Member Of The Justice League
Evil versions of superheroes are fairly common these days, even in video games. That said, the idea of a title where you systematically eliminate each member of the Justice League sounds very intriguing and original. This is the core idea for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Yet, it doesn’t quite live up to the premise. Having it set in the Arkham series and undoing some of the things done in those games was a bad start. To make it worse, the combat is repetitive and the mission design is generally unexciting.
