While there hasn't been a great Jurassic Park game in years, a fan-made game ironically looks like it could be great, as the Jurassic Park Operations trailer has just been released. The first-person survival game looks incredible and terrifying all at the same time, and it has the potential to be one of the greatest fan-made games ever.
However, some of the worst games ever released have had some of the best trailers ever, which inevitably led to some of gamers' biggest disappointments. The gaming industry is full of misleading trailers, whether it's heightened graphics, full levels absent from the final product, or completely different protagonists. Even some great games are guilty of it, and these are the biggest culprits.
10 Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
DoubleHammerSmough points to the 2020 game for having the most misleading trailer, noting, "Every Cyberpunk 2077 trailer, basically all lies." Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most notorious releases of all time and has gone down in gaming history as the most deceiving video game rollout ever. The game's trailer made it look like the next generation of console gaming came early, as its graphics, gameplay, and vast open world looked so advanced.
However, the game was completely broken, which led to so many returns, and the PlayStation store even stopped selling it (via Game Rant). Thankfully, the game is much better now, but it took the developer close to two years to reach this point, and it still isn't anywhere near as good as what was promised. But it at least led to some hilarious Cyberpunk 2077 memes.
9 Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
PhoenixPhaux points to one of the biggest lies fed to gamers in recent memory, which is that the titular villain in Batman: Arkham Knight was an original character. The Redditor mentions, "Remember when Arkham Knight was an original character? And how many people guessed his actual identity correctly?" The character was revealed to be Jason Todd, and that it was all caused by the Joker, who had already been way overused in the series by this point.
However, even though the Redditor doesn't point out misleading gameplay, in addition to lying about Arkham Knight being an original character, that Batmobile was in no way fully controllable like the trailer had viewers believe. The trailers made it look like gamers would have full control of the iconic tank, but that wasn't the case at all, and the few parts of the Batmobile that players could control felt clunky.
8 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (2001)
InadequateChris thinks Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had the most misleading trailer all the way back in 2001. The Redditor argues, "Metal Gear Solid 2 trailers only showed gameplay as Snake, but for the majority of the game you play as Raiden." Snake is even on the cover of the game, but in reality, Raiden is the game's protagonist.
But what is most misleading is that the trailer didn't reveal how much rambling exposition is in Metal Gear 2. However, that very rambling exposition reveals one of the biggest plot twists in video game history, as Raiden finds out that everything he's been through is a twisted mind-control experiment, so it's hard to complain.
7 Far Cry 3 (2012)
Far Cry 3 is generally considered the crown jewel in the Far Cry series. The open world is one of Ubisoft's most detailed, it has a mysterious and questionably supernatural narrative that leaves players guessing every step of the way, and Vaas is an instantly iconic video game villain. However, that still doesn't forgive Ubisoft for the fact that it misled gamers with its earlier trailers.
This deleted user was most upset by the bait and switch, noting, "Far Cry 3 for example is an obvious graphical downgrade." Though the game was released on different consoles that have vastly different capabilities when it comes to graphics, there was a much greater issue, and the graphics weren't as promised on any of the consoles.
6 Alien: Colonial Marines (2013)
Timelordoftheimpala recalls the trailer for the critically panned Alien: Colonial Marines. The Redditor comments, "I genuinely don't know how you could answer anything else when Randy Pitchford himself went onstage and said what was shown was 'actual gameplay.'" The Redditor is referring to how the CEO of Gearbox Software presented in-game footage of what looked like a spectacular first-person shooter, but what gamers actually got was anything but.
However, the balance has been restored, as the 2014 survival horror game Alien Isolation is truly terrifying and packed with explosive set pieces. It tells a story worthy of a movie adaptation too, as it follows Amanda Ripley searching through a space station and investigating the disappearance of her mother, the iconic Ellen Ripley. It's everything that Colonial Marines should have been, but some think the Alien game is underrated.
5 Dead Island (2011)
Deemo3 criticizes Dead Island's trailer, claiming that the game didn't feature the story that was alluded to in the ad. The Game's trailer should that there'd be some Last of Us-tier emotional moments but that was all absent from the actual released. The Redditor also mentions that it wasn't just the first Dead Island game that had a misleading trailer, but Dead Island 2 too.
The user hilariously comments, "Dead Island 1 convinced me it was a sad story. Dead Island 2 convinced me it existed." The Redditor is referring to the fact that the Dead Island 2 trailer was released in 2014, but has still yet to be released. The game has been in development hell ever since, and it has switched hands between developers several times, but it's finally scheduled for release in April 2023 (via Gematsu).
4 Crackdown 3 (2019)
The Microsoft-exclusive original Crackdown game was reason alone to own an Xbox 360, as it was way more than just one of many Grand Theft Auto clones. The open world had an incredible cell-shaded art design, and players controlled a super agent who fought criminal gangs. Though Crackdown 2 was more of the same thing, 2019's Crackdown 3 promised to be so much more of a sandbox, or that's at least what the trailer presented.
ContraryPython was most letdown by the game following its misleading trailer. The Redditor recalls that the trailer showcased "Crackdown 3’s destructible environments," which were mysteriously absent from the game. Though the 2019 release did allow for more destruction than its predecessors, it was massively exaggerated in the promotions ads.
3 SimCity (2013)
Wickedcold thinks that SimCity had the most misleading trailer ever, noting the significant difference in not only the graphics but the gameplay too. The Redditor explains, "Not only does the finished product look completely different (in a bad way) but the trailer showcases gameplay elements that are non-existent in the finished product."
Just like Cyberpunk 2077, the release of SimCity was riddled with issues, and the misleading trailer was just one of its problems. The game required gamers to be always online when playing, which was already unnecessary, and that rendered the game unplayable when EA's servers didn't work. Between the downgraded graphics and the online technical issues, SimCity's release was catastrophic, to say the least.
2 No Man's Sky (2016)
No Man's Sky was planned to have the biggest open world ever, and the trailer promised countless planets all with their own ecosystems. But as Apaulo18 points out, that wasn't the game that excited and hopeful gamers got. The Redditors notes, "No Man’s Sky… planets! Sure they fixed it now but trailers and promos to release were a complete lie."
In fairness, No Man's Sky is a unique and interesting game, and it had huge ambitions, but it was just too ambitious, and even though developers tried, it couldn't deliver on that ambition and it left a lot of gamers disappointed. Players were left to explore a huge but completely empty universe. But as the user mentions, a lot more has been added to the game with updates since its release six years ago.
1 Final Fantasy VII (2020)
N8han11 has the Final Fantasy VII remake in their crosshairs, claiming that it wasn't actually a remake at all but was instead "fan fiction." The Redditor adds, "All the advertising billed it as, well, a FFVII remake, but it's actually a bootleg alternate universe that breaks off from the canon story near the end."
The game is a phenomenal achievement when it comes to video game remakes, but the user is not wrong, as a lot of the main story points were totally changed from the original. If players bought the game and had never played the original, they'd be under the impression that it's the very game that has been celebrated for decades, but that isn't the case at all.
Source:gamerant.com