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Game PR gurus often promise things that aren't always delivered in their final games. Often caught in the pre-release storm of hyperbole, hateful buzzwords and excitable press releases, the marketing men commit their games to features or mechanics the developers just can't live up to. In a world of 22 hour days, sleep deprivation and divorce-baiting deadlines, shit happens. That seemed to be the case with the following failed preview pledges. They all got talked up (sometimes outrageously), but when it came to the crunch they simply couldn't step up and deliver the goods they promised.
What they promised
Prior to the game’s release, Jun Takeuchi, the producer behind Resi 5, promised heat and lighting effects that would genuinely have an impact on gameplay, in turn, distinguishing it from the illustrious fourth game. In an interview with Famitsu he stated when Chris stepped out into sun-kissed areas from dark buildings the screen would blur, as his eyes adjusted to the change in light. Capcom also promised prolonged exposure to the scorched African environments would cause the former S.T.A.R.S’ man to suffer hallucinations and mirages.
What they delivered
Well, Capcom didn't quite manage to integrate the whole light/dark interplay into gameplay, did they? Not unless, having both bright bits in the game and dark bits in the game, which make no discernible difference to the way you shoot enraged tribesmen in the face paint, count. And, sadly, the only mirage was the promise it wouldn't be a carbon copy of Resi 4… only with more QTE bits no one wanted.
What they promised
Peter Molyneux was determined players would be able to plant an acorn in Fable and watch it grow into a tree over the entirety of the game’s length. The high profile developer, who’s often been called out for overhyping his games, was keen to stress that the mechanic would make it into the final product.
What they delivered
Alas, poor old Pete never managed to get his growing acorns in the game. We’ll cut him some slack, though. After all, he manned up to your own Dave Houghton in an interview last September and admitted he may have been over-egging the whole growth mechanic, saying: “It's so next time you see me, you don't say "You said that bastard oak tree and acorns would be in the game!" [laughs] Next time we meet, you're going to say "Why didn't you tell me about this?” We’ll just mark this failed promise down as a casualty of an overly ambitious, yet still aces games.
What they promised
In an early press release Ubi Soft claimed: 'You’ll replicate sword-fighting movements.' And: 'Learn the art of Japanese fighting.’ It genuinely made us think Red Steel would teach us how to wield a blade like a Japanese Darth Maul.
What they delivered
Since when did swinging a tiny bit of plastic in impotent little horizontal swipes constitute realistic sword-fighting movements? Just like Twilight Princess, your fruitless flapping could never hope to mimic the graceful ballet of violence on-screen. This is because Nintendo’s system didn’t – and annoyingly has yet to – implement 1:1 control into its games. Hurry up Wii MotionPlus.
What they promised
A new dawn in destructible environments (thanks to Geo-Mod technology) that would reinvent the FPS, creating completely free-form solutions to existing shooter conventions, like needing keycards for doors. THQ were so excited about it they proclaimed in one of their press releases that: ‘It gives fps gamers the long-awaited ability to modify [read: destroy] at will. No simple pre-calculated events, we’re talking about being able to point a rocket launcher at nearly any spot in the world and blast a hole.’
What they delivered
Exactly what the press release above states. You just have to change ‘No simple pre-calculated events’ to ‘A whole game made out of pre-calculated events that require you to blow up very specific bits of wall, totaling about 0.000093 of the total environments in the game.’ The whole destruction element was scripted like a bad reality show. Only now, almost ten years later, is the latest Red Faction coming close to the original promise.
