10 Awful Plot Twists That Ruined Good Video Games
This list of 10 Awful Plot Twists That Ruined Good Video Games reflects a collection of excellent titles whose narratives are shattered by cliche or lackluster change in its story. Ever since Super Mario Bros. 2 was revealed to just be Mario sleeping, gamers have encountered frustrating plot twists which just left them shouting, "what were they thinking?" at their television screens. These plot twists undermined the effect of everything else the game had to offer.
Warning: This list contains massive spoilers. Please read at your own risk!
- 10
Bayonetta
Cereza is Bayonetta as a childSurprise, surprise! The little girl with nerdy glasses, long braids and a lollipop in her mouth is actually Bayonetta as a child! As if all the angels out trying to get to her weren't obvious enough. The Bayonetta mythos is rather silly, but the whole, "meeting yourself as a child" ordeal should only really matter if you're telling a story about time travel, which Bayonetta is not. From Paradiso to this potential disruption in the space-time continuum, Bayonetta meeting and saving her childhood self starts off our list of 10 Awful Plot Twists That Ruined Good Video Games.
- 9
Mirror's Edge
Celeste is the masked assassinMirror's Edge was quite phenomenal and reminded us that there are still many aspects to the first-person experience that have yet to be explored. But the plot twist that Celeste, Faith's good friend and the ONLY other female Runner in Mirror's Edge, was the masked assassin that tried to detain you was very much expected and ultimately disappointing. Even from the look on her face, you could tell that she was eventually bound to betray Faith. It was probably the Gozer/Ivan Drago's wife haircut that was a dead giveaway towards her being deceitful.
- 8
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Reznov has been dead the whole timePeople forget that before Modern Warfare, the Call of Duty series was only known for World War II depictions. Black Ops was a nice relief from the Modern Warfare series since it takes place in the 1960s during the Cold War. While it had a fresh narrative, we felt that finding out Reznov had been dead for years was extremely lackluster and rather pointless. We felt that him being dead and Mason imagining him there next to him throughout Black Ops was a cheap plot device inspired by Russell Crowe's character in A Beautiful Mind. Also, the fact that no other characters ever spoke to Reznov besides Mason didn't really help.
- 7
Final Fantasy X
Tidus, Auron, Jecht and Zanarkand are all dreamsNever before did the Notorious B.I.G.'s opening lyrics of "it was all a dream..." bear so much semblance to a Final Fantasy title. Much to the dimwitted-Tidus' surprise, the opening hour of FFX where Sin destroyed his city (including him), actually happened. Meeting Auron, who was there when Sin destroyed Zanarkand, didn't really help convince Tidus that his hometown wouldn't be standing. We haven't remembered a ghost story this underwhelming and pointless since Thir13een Ghosts.
- 6
God of War 3
Pandora's Box contained hopeWhen Kratos was cursed with wearing the ashes of his dead wife and child (who he killed in a blind rage), the concept of hope got thrown out the window. Instead, Kratos became the most angry and badass Spartan ever and raged a one man war on just about everything between him and the top of Mount Olympus. After tens of thousands of corpses behind him, you would think that opening the mythical box of Pandora would unleash some huge cataclysmic event. Instead, all it did was bring about hope. Really? The guy killed his family, wears their ashes on his skin and has knocked off more gods than Atheism. If all Kratos needed was hope and good vibrations, he could have gotten himself a box of kittens.
- 5
Metroid: Other M
Madeline Bergman is an android clone of Mother BrainHalfway through our list of 10 Awful Plot Twists That Ruined Good Video Games is the worst Metroid story next to Samus' pinball adventure. It played decently, but everything about Other M from a narrative perspective was horrible. Nevertheless, finding out Madeline Bergman is an android clone of Mother Brain shouldn't have been that surprising; her initials match up to Mother Brain! Team Ninja is known for busty brawlers and bustier ninjas, all with nonsensical stories and horrible dialogue. So there should have been no surprise that Team Ninja's take on Samus would have that many dismal and predictable plot tropes.
- 4
Resident Evil 5
Jill is the masked womanWe remember when the premise of Resident Evil 5 was announced. Our initial response was "Chris Redfield is back.. so where's Jill Valentine?" This would continue to echo itself until the day we first played Resident Evil 5 and saw the masked woman in the opening scenes. Not obvious at all, right? With the conundrum of suck that was Resident Evil 6, Capcom has been on a steady decline when it comes to its non-street fighting franchises. Making Jill Valentine a pale blonde didn't help.
- 3
Fallout 3
Dying from radiation in the original endingAlmost every single moment of Fallout 3 was amazing, except for its ending. When we were left with being forced to die due to radiation poisoning (despite having radiation suits, medicines that resist radiation and even a companion who can withstand it), we felt rather cheated by Bethesda. The original ending was universally hated to the point that Bethesda decided to change the ending with the Broken Steel DLC, saying that the Lone Wanderer survived. Trying to make the Lone Wanderer into a Jesus-figure was a little bit too much. Fallout might have taught us that war never changes, but it also taught us that endings sure as hell can.
- 2
Heavy Rain
A killer is you.Whatever you thought of Heavy Rain, one thing was undeniable: the plot twist was terrible. Heavy Rain was a pretty important game for the PlayStation 3 and Quantic Dream. It's just too bad the story lost all credibility at the end.
In Heavy Rain, you played as multiple protagonists, including Scott Shelby, the asthmatic private detective. His only job the entire game is to try and stop the Origami Killer before he claims another victim. Only Shelby can't stop the killer because... he is the killer! It would have been a pretty impressive feat to pull off, however, Quantic fumbles the opportunity by falsifying entire sections of the game (Manfred's death, anyone?) to keep you from discovering the truth about Shelby. If only better writers had been given the chance to make Heavy Rain memorable for more than just a meme.
- 1
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Raiden is the protagonistMetal Gear Solid 2, we really wanted to like you, we really did. We were so hyped up to return back to Solid Snake and shoot rockets and giant walking tanks... until Raiden happened. Immediately after the tanker sequence (basically the first chapter) of MGS 2, we were introduced to the newest person to hold the rank of Snake, Raiden. We found out that Raiden is being emo, his girlfriend is pregnant and hates his lack of personality (so do we), and that everything was just a simulation created by artificial intelligence. We could go on and on, but having Olga's armpit stubble and Raiden's debut just minutes away from each other was just too much. Raiden holds a Tidus-level of annoyance, which is why Raiden being the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 is the Big Boss to our list of 10 Awful Plot Twists That Ruined Good Video Games.
- Bonus
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