Games that are so unfinished that they deserve not even an F, but an INCOMPLETE! Yes, an I...even lower than an F! Down there by M!

[Estil | 1,258]

Basically as I already mentioned about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I feel the same way Mr Feeny does here at 11:30...they made an attempt at remaking FF7 but they are not even close to thinking it all the way through, with no assurance that they'll even finish what they started so until and unless they do the only grade they should get is an INCOMPLETE.  Yes, lower than an F!  Down there by M!  

But seriously what games are there that are so flagrantly unfinished/unpolished/etc that the game doesn't even seem fully completed and such, it deserves a grade of not even an F but way down to an I?  I guess one example would be the infamous Big Rigs Over the Road Racing for PC...you can race against a truck that never even moves, there's often NO collusion detection (no really you just pass right through walls/buildings) just for starters. 

And who could forget that infamous Final Fantasy 9 strategy guide with that "PlayOnline" thing where it often says "if you want more details, check this keyword at "PlayOnline.com" or something.  Naturally that would be taken down after a few short years so if that's not the textbook definition of a guide that deserves a grade of "I" I don't know what does.

Any other examples of games (or game accesories) that are not even worthy of an F, but an I for incomplete?

[Sumez | 2,927]

I'd say Final Fantasy XV is a perfect example of this. It's pretty embarassing it was even released. There are a lot of hints at cool things that were planned or even used to be there, but was just left hanging after the development process basically started over to target the PS4.

 

FF7 Remake? No way. The game is super tight and solid, one of my best game experiences of 2020, and IMO the long awaited comeback for the FF series, which I haven't been too interested in for, I guess, a couple of decades by now?
The production value is over the top, and it really drags you in. What caused me to keep going, though, was the combat. It seems shallow at first, but gradually starts to make more sense. After the first playthrough when you get to replay chapters on Hard Mode, it really starts demanding that you play both strategically and tactically, and I couldn't stop myself until I had completed everything on hard, and even got all the achievements. I spent more time on that than I did with my first playthrough of the original FF7. The boss battles especially are insanely satisfying, and all feel like very unique challenges.

It has flaws of course. The 11th hour 

Spoiler

plot twist about the game not being a retelling, but about Sephiroth travelling back in time to change history is pure BS that doesn't bode well for the sequel, but the remaining 90% of the storytelling was immaculate.

And the combat system does have a few hiccups, such as the way you become absurdly stunted once two of your party members have fallen, but with a little cleaning up here and there I think it has the potential to hopefully be reused in many games in the future.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Although it likely falls in the F category, I think Mighty No. 9 should not have been released in the state it was in. The frame drops and stuttering of such an empty and ugly game was inexcusable, especially for who was involved in making the game. It wasn't completely broken, but overall it was a terrible experience.

the only other games I've played that I remember being complete shit were Superman 64 and Sonic 06, but both are notoriously known for being such.

 

Although I've never played it... Cyberpunk for now past gen systems looked hilariously bad and insanely incomplete/broken.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Andy_Bogomil

[erac | 78]

Echoing FF XV. That thing was more bug than game, and even the game parts sucked, the only (main) FF to go as low as 7/10 for me.

[RH | 4,882]

I don't game much on modern systems (well, just the Switch) but aren't many physical games on the PS4 and xbox "unfinished", but you don't notice it because on the first boot up, on launch day, you have to download multi-gigabyte updates?  I bet if you played many of those games without an internet connection, you'd find a lot of "incomplete" titles.  IIRC, that was the case for WWF 2k18 for the Switch and was an abysmal, buggy mess on launch.

Historical stinkers that I'm aware of include Big Rigs (PC, 2003), Extreme Paintball (PC, 1998) and Driving Emotion Type-S (PS2, Japanese version, 2000).

Big Rigs is just a cluster... to many bugs to catalog.  Same is true for Extreme Pinball but in that one, the whole game is super blocky, even for that era, and the AI isn't even an AI at all.  The players just run into the wall.  DET-S, from what I heard, is decent for a US release, but the Japanese build that came out first was much worse.  Supposedly they didn't finalize the driving mechanics and as soon as you booted up the game and started the tutorial, your car curves and steers into the wall.  You can't finish the tutorial and there's nothing you can do to fix the problem, making the game 100% unplayable.  This is a Squaresoft title, and I think it was the last title they published under their old name.  I have a sealed copy that's still not worth much, but I've never brought myself to open it and see if it is a decent racer since they, supposedly worked out many of the bugs for the US release.  Regardless, the problems with the Japanese version haunted the release in the US.  This is a complete shame that they couldn't get their act together.  I've been wanting a (real) Rad Racer sequel, at least in spirit, for decades.

[Webhead123 | 675]

If Video Game Companies Made Jigsaw Puzzles - YouTube

[PII | 1,882]

Cheetah Men II, of course.

Not saying that it deserves an F or lower, but I've heard and to some extent seen that Knuckles Chaotix is an unfinished game; seems like they neglected to put the enemies in....

[Tanooki | 4,929]

So as far as Final Fantasy 15 goes, if you want the good working game do the pocket edition?

[TDIRunner | 2,718]

Surprised no one has mentioned No Man's Sky.  I know they eventually fixed the game, but at release, the game wasn't even a fraction of what was promised.  The "fixed" version of the game was kind of fun, but by the time it came out, most people didn't care anymore, and I think a pretty small number of people really got a chance to play it the way it was intended.  

[MegaMan52 | 2,439]

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. I don't consider it a bad game, and apparently it was in development for over two years. But it's definitely unfinished, full of glitches, has framerate issues, long loading times, etc. I made two videos showing glitches in this game:

 

The PS2 version has even more glitches, and freezes more often than the GameCube version. Also, the back of the cover and page 7 of the manual have screenshots showing a portal in the Dragon Realms castle (probably would've lead to other hubworlds or levels like the portals in the first three Spyro games):

Several levels were cut from the game, such as Enchanted Forest and Baked Alaska (both are referenced in the game's code, and the latter was mentioned in a documentary).

Edited April 13, 2021 by MegaMan52

[Estil | 1,258]

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

FF7 Remake? No way. The game is super tight and solid, one of my best game experiences of 2020, and IMO the long awaited comeback for the FF series, which I haven't been too interested in for, I guess, a couple of decades by now?
The production value is over the top, and it really drags you in. What caused me to keep going, though, was the combat. It seems shallow at first, but gradually starts to make more sense. After the first playthrough when you get to replay chapters on Hard Mode, it really starts demanding that you play both strategically and tactically, and I couldn't stop myself until I had completed everything on hard, and even got all the achievements. I spent more time on that than I did with my first playthrough of the original FF7. The boss battles especially are insanely satisfying, and all feel like very unique challenges.

All the more reason why I hope and pray that they do just as good a job on the rest of the remake...and that they in fact finish the remake.  As it stands now they've only done about the first half of Disc 1.  And you don't even truly begin the game proper until that very point you go onto the overworld for the first time.  Also I hope they can finish this project on the PS4 and not do like, some of it on PS4 and the rest on PS5, that would not do at all.

[Estil | 1,258]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the infamous Action 52...hoo boy how many flagrantly incomplete games are on that one...even that contest they did for it not only is unreachable under normal circumstances but they put the same confirmation/entry code in every cartridge!  Lotta good that does  

[mbd39 | 2,013]

The DOS port of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles you can't even progress past the second stage because of an impossible jump. That's really broken.

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by mbd39

[Gutling | 31]

As a more recent game, Rage 2 on PC. Apparently other platforms as well, there is a bug where the last mission waypoint never appears, so you cannot finish the game. Infuriating after multiple hours completing all the side quests and such, just to be unable to beat it. Its been several months since its release, and there is no talk about fixing it.

[Tanooki | 4,929]

50 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

The DOS port of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles you can't even progress past the second stage because of an impossible jump. That's really broken.

 

Good good one to use, more obscure reference.  Most people aren't aware of the unfinished shoveled crap that came out on computers (PC, euro computer formats) in the 80s and earlier-to mid 90s.

The PC(DOS and every other computer style) port of the original Street Fighter arcade are all collectively broken too.  Not like the arcade was 100% reliable even when converted to buttons to do the special moves for Ryu/Ken, but they're not possible to pull off on the home market - exception being Fighting Street TG16/PCE CD.

[DefaultGen | 5,386]

Color a Dinosaur... it’s a coloring game with 2 colors. Red and blue. How on Earth is that possible. The premise of Color a Dinosaur sounds awful to begin with, but if you actually play it, it’s just unacceptable that it even exists.

It somehow, inconceivably, makes Videomation look advanced, a horrible program they made 2 years earlier!

[Link | 2,707]

I had Videomation. I almost had Stockholm syndrome for it. It sucked but I still “played” it semi-regularly. 

[Estil | 1,258]

6 hours ago, mbd39 said:

The DOS port of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles you can't even progress past the second stage because of an impossible jump. That's really broken.

 

Yep, that's an I game alright.

[Estil | 1,258]

4 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Color a Dinosaur... it’s a coloring game with 2 colors. Red and blue. How on Earth is that possible. The premise of Color a Dinosaur sounds awful to begin with, but if you actually play it, it’s just unacceptable that it even exists.

It somehow, inconceivably, makes Videomation look advanced, a horrible program they made 2 years earlier!

Yeah I know, how is anyone suppose to color with only 2-3 crayons?  

[Strange | 1,698]

Super Mario Maker. It’s such an embarrassment for Nintendo, you can literally see all the pieces of some would-be Mario levels just laid out. It’s like they expect you to make the game?!

[Estil | 1,258]

2 hours ago, Strange said:

Super Mario Maker. It’s such an embarrassment for Nintendo, you can literally see all the pieces of some would-be Mario levels just laid out. It’s like they expect you to make the game?!

That's the whole point, like with Minecraft or SimCity!  Now when will we have a Zelda Maker?

[erac | 78]

Zelda Maker already exists, google zelda classic.

[Estil | 1,258]

17 minutes ago, erac said:

Zelda Maker already exists, google zelda classic.

A real one, not a fan made one that the Nintendo Copyright Nazis will just take down at any moment.

[erac | 78]

"Taken down any moment", the first page even says they're having their 20 year anniversary. ;)

[Estil | 1,258]

1 hour ago, erac said:

"Taken down any moment", the first page even says they're having their 20 year anniversary.

Great they just jinxed themselves...