Top 10 Super Misleading Video Game Trailers

In trying to hijack the Wii’s Motion control hype train, the Kinect made some bold statements about how this device would eliminate the need for a controller, and that players would be able use themselves in order to enjoy a line of specific games designed to fully utilize the Kinect’s revolutionary sensor technology. Well, they didn’t, largely due to the damn thing not picking up player movements no matter the distance, leading to some terrible title. But most misleading of all was Peter Molyneux’s ambitious Project Milo that Microsoft capped of their Kinect reveal with, Promising Skynet levels of A.I interaction that …Well … thankfully never happened.

Look at the graphics! Look at the landscapes! Look at that fluid combat! Oh man, this could be the entry in the franchise that stands above the rest. While it did indeed look dazzling, the tale of Lightning and company broke many fan’s hearts and disappointed newcomers alike when they discovered that there was in fact very little emphasis placed on exploration which often led to parts of the game becoming claustrophobically linear. As far as the combat was concerned, its extreme handholding was a far cry to the intense action we were originally promised. But hey, at least it was beautiful to look at.

Not since we took that first dive to Rapture has a game managed to give us that perfect blend of harrowing storytelling and fast-paced combat. Booker and Elizabeth’s journey through Columbia certainly made for a lot of people’s game of the year, and rightly so, but you can’t deny that almost none of the amazing features we saw in its feature length trailer made it into the final product. The power to make an opponent’s gun levitate and shoot its owner? Elizabeth and Booker creating that lightning storm? Don’t get us wrong we are very happy with the end result, but we would have loved to see some of this in the game!

Remember the hype surrounding this title? How it was going to be the next big franchise that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Bungie’s other video game triumphs? How the trailer made it seem like players would be thrown into an epic sci-fi FPS RPG with a thrilling narrative that saw them as the last defenders of humanity? Que the obvious disappointment as we discovered that the game itself seemed to provide the bare bones of the actual trailer, with the rest slowly being handed to us in chunks via DLC. Dissecting what could have been a genre juggernaut as a way to earn some extra cash? That’s a pretty crappy destiny to hand your fans…

In the months leading up to Halo 5’s release, Microsoft ran a very extravagate marketing campaign, with trailers and an extensive Audio Play called “Hunt The Truth” painting the Iconic Master Chief as turning traitorous not only against the UNSC but also humanity in general. With so much build-up surrounding the Master Chief’s allegiance as well as the eventual battle with Spartan Locke, we were promised a true clash of the titans. And what did we get? A single non-interactive cutscene of Master Chief and Locke trading punches, and none of the Chief’s mentioned atrocities making it into the final game. There are ambitious promises, and then there’s downright dishonesty.

After the monumental entry that was the original Metal Gear Solid, fans were eagerly awaiting to see what Solid Snake’s next mission would look like on the PS2. And we did…for a little while. As it turned out the trailer had only shown parts of Snake’s mission, failing to mention we would then spend the rest of the game as Raiden. Who was this pretty boy? The hell happened to Snake? Granted Raiden has now become a much beloved character of the franchise, and Sons of Liberty has gone on to become one of the best video game sequels. However, you can only imagine the initial sense of betrayal fans felt when they discovered the switch.

Talk about stepping over a much beloved licence! Fans had been dying for a chance to team up with their friends and take on the Xenomorph horde in an epic FPS that would blend together the action and horror of the original James Cameron hit. Instead they were greeted by a visually downgraded blunder of a game that had virtually no atmosphere, barely any of the scripted events shown in the trailer, with broken A.I that made the Xenos more of a joke than a threat, and to top it all off you spend most of the game getting in gunfights with other humans!

At E3 2005, Sony attempted to demonstrate the upcoming power of the PlayStation 3 by showing off gameplay of the upcoming Killzone 2. There was just one problem with this showcase: It wasn’t running on the PlayStation 3, it was actually a Pre-Rendered Trailer trying to mimic what the PS3 could do. This wouldn’t have made the list if it weren’t for the fact that Sony was rather dishonest about the reveal. Sure it looked pretty, and by the time Killzone 2 was released for said console, Players did enjoy it. But come on Sony, don’t do that again.

And the hype machine disappoints yet again, but who knew it would fail on such a colossal level? For months fans had been foaming at the mouth at the prospect of a sci-fi game of this scale, with billions of planets to explore, promising a unique experience for every single gamer. Heck, even we got roped into it! However, over time the cracks started to appear and it became clear that so much of what was promised in the trailers were straight up missing, including the promise of joining factions and engaging in massive cosmic battles! However, most insultingly of all was what we found at the centre of the galaxy. Absolutely nothing. Pretty much sums up the experience.

Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few dishonourable mentions.

“Watch Dogs” (2014)

“Brütal Legend” (2009)

“Final Fantasy VII” (1997)

Cinematic. Haunting. Breath-taking. After watching the trailer that showed the massacre of innocent tourists by an undead horde via slow motion and in reverse, players expected to be given a game that would shake their very souls, a truly terrifying experience that would blend survival-horror with a deeply emotional narrative. We got none of that. What we did get was a weak story with bland stereotypes in place of characters, technical issues, zero sense of tension and zombies that weren’t even scary. We were promised greatness, and we got a great letdown.