Top 10 Gameplay Trailers Nothing Like the Final Game

The Godfather of the stealth genre, Hideo Kojima has always been a master of deception when it comes to what gamers think his games will end up being. With “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,” he even managed to outdo himself. Gamers anxiously waiting to once again fill the iconic headband of Solid Snake were completely blindsided when after only the first couple of hours, they were suddenly playing as newcomer Raiden. Kojima even went so far as to include footage of Snake in areas of the game we never got to play. In a pre-social media age, Kojima managed to sneak this one past gamers and in a series already known for its twisting narrative, this was a reveal no one expected.

Activision has something of a documented history of deceiving gamers, but it could be argued much of that mistrust started here. The “Call of Duty” franchise was already well known to PC gamers, but for one of its earliest releases on consoles, the publisher wanted to set the bar higher than any other military shooter could, with visuals that rivaled their PC counterpart. So what did they do? Well, they lied. Activision presented cinematic footage as actual gameplay, even going so far as to have large portions of the fake footage be set in first-person. While the game still sold millions of copies and cemented a series that continues today, it was only the first of many shady practices still being used to this day.

This won’t be the last time we’ll hear from Ubisoft on this list. With “Tom Clancy’s The Division,” Ubisoft looked ready to build off the groundwork that had been paved by “Destiny” only a couple of years earlier. A stunningly realized world, unique multiplayer integration, the ability to aid your friends with a drone via your mobile device or tablet, “The Division” looked to set the new standard for multiplayer shooters. However, when the game finally released, not only did it suffer a substantial graphical hit, the drone companion app was nowhere to be found, along with many of the game’s more unique features. But hey, at least we could still close all those open car doors.

Do you love Jack Black? Better yet, do you want to play as Jack Black in a video game with some of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s greatest performers? Double Fine managed to tap into something that gamers didn’t even know they wanted and EA capitalized on this with their marketing prominently featuring rock stars like Ozzy Osbourne front and center. What EA conveniently left out of their promotional material for their rock and roll hack and slasher was the shift to a tower defense game nearly halfway through. Gamers were understandably confused by this change upon finally playing the title, and despite some being upset at the tonal shift, the game was still received well by both gamers and critics.

Hey look, it’s Ubisoft again. Seeming to learn nothing from their showing of “Watchdogs,” more on that in a bit, Ubisoft once again showed off a new multiplayer game now set in the “Rainbow Six” universe with not only graphics but environmental destruction unlike anything seen outside of the “Battlefield” franchise. Gamers quickly caught wise to what Ubisoft was once again showing as “actual gameplay” and were once again absolutely correct in their assumptions. The game suffered yet another in a long line of Ubisoft graphical downgrades. Despite the game’s shortcomings compared to its initial showing, the “Rainbow Six Siege” community has been going strong with countless updates and improvements since the game’s release and is even receiving a next-gen upgrade.

This is it. This is the game that not only introduced many gamers to the term “Vertical Slice” but also made them second guess anything Ubisoft showed off as “actual gameplay.” “Watchdogs” was another one of Ubisoft’s famous “One more thing” presentations at their 2012 E3 showcase. And to say it made an impact would be underselling it. The game demonstrated not only particle and lighting effects that were seemingly impossible even on high-end PCs at the time, but just an overall sense of realism that was too good to be true. And of course, it was. By the time of its release in 2014, the game had suffered a substantial graphical downgrade and so had gamer’s trust in Ubisoft.

Before we begin, it cannot be understated how much credit Hello Games deserves for not only finally delivering on the promises of “No Man’s Sky,” but exceeding them. That being said, this one was very rough for while there. With the possibility of an endless randomly generated universe to explore and name planets, plants, and wildlife, Hello Games was the little indie studio that could do more than AAA would ever dream of. However, whether it was overambition or just outright lies about the game they were developing, upon release, gamers the world over made their disappointment known. Demands for refunds and even class-action lawsuits against Sony and Hello Games, the outrage and ire of gamers was certainly felt to the ends of the universe.

We wouldn’t envy anyone who had to follow-up the critical darling that was the original “Bioshock,” but creative director Ken Levine and his team seemed up to the task. The game’s first reveal trailer showed off amazing new plasmid powers, Elizabeth opening tears, and displaying incredible abilities to assist in battles, as well as unprecedented environmental interaction. Sadly, this was a case of the team’s overambition getting in the way of what they were actually capable of with the hardware available at the time. While the final game still ended up pleasing most fans and critics alike, we can’t help but look at this original footage and wonder what could have been had the developers not had their head’s so high in the clouds.

Launching a new console is never an easy thing. You need to build up hype for what this new machine is capable of and convince gamers this new system is worth upgrading to. Guerrilla Games was hard at work on their pre-production of “Killzone 2” for the Playstation 3 when their internal target render was presented by Sony on their E3 stage as actual gameplay running on a PS3. The jaw-dropping trailer sent gamers into a frenzy at the possibilities of what the new Playstation was capable of only to have those expectations let down when the true game released 4 years later. The game still certainly impressed visually, but nothing could compare to the shock of that initial footage reveal.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

This Title’s Graphical Quality Bore a Terrible Curse Upon Release

Most of the Game’s Most Promising Content Was Scrapped Before Launch

Originally High Sci-Fi, the Game Released as Another Bland Grey 3rd Person Shooter

Games set in the “Alien” franchise don’t have the best track record. While a few titles manage to stand out, most are largely forgettable and some downright unplayable. Enter Gearbox Software promising the ultimate “Aliens” experience. Showing off tense Xenomorph encounters and a story that would not continue the “Aliens” storyline, but would also be canon in the “Aliens” universe. This new title, however, quickly fell into the latter category of “Aliens” games upon release with ugly, muddy graphics, and atrociously bad enemy AI. Using a pre-rendered trailer and presenting it as gameplay, Gearbox quickly found themselves in legal trouble for false advertising as many fans rightfully felt lied to. At least “Alien: Isolation” introduced us to the true terror of the Xenomorph at last.