Left Alive. The worst games of 2019

What will be created when you take one of Japan's most distinguished developers, the universe of the classic series of tactical role-playing games, the characteristic artist responsible for character design in the Metal Gear Solid series, and combine all of that into a war-themed action game with a touch of survival elements? As it turns out, you will get one of the greatest gaming disasters of 2019.

It's actually impressive – the developers managed to create a title in which almost all game mechanics and systems work either badly or don’t work at all. They created a stealth game full of sneaking, in which the characters were unable to crawl or silently eliminate their enemies. A shooter, in which every opponent is an ultra-durable bullet gel. But there is even a greater enemy here – character controls, which make it difficult or even impossible to aim at your opponents. Another awful feature is the AI system. On the one hand is absurdly stupid and can be easily cheated, and on the other hand our enemies can see through walls, locate us on the basis of the sixth sense and move faster than us, making it impossible to escape after detection. A wide range of weapons, among which the most powerful turns out to be the metal pipe, capable of knocking down not only soldiers, but also of destroying tanks.

Not enough? It's barely the tip of the iceberg. While delving into the game, you will also find stupid civilians walking straight under the gun-barrel during escort missions, annoying sounds, bugs which spoil game saves (which force you to restart the game), flat and shallow characters that ruin the interesting story, and a useless cliché message suitable for educational cartoons for youngest children. Only the short sequences in which you can take control of a huge mech allow you to take a short break from the nightmare of ongoing war – but that was definitely not enough to attract more players.

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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Breakpoint may not be the worst game you'll find in this list, but it was certainly one of the most anticipated major titles before its release. As a result, its shallowness hurts the most, as there were many players awaiting it, who were satisfied with the new approach selected in the Ghost Recon: Wildlands series, released two years ago.

Ubisoft overdid it with some features in the case of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint by trying to mix and make the maximal use of all popular trends known from games as a service. As a result, instead of a cooperative shooter, which would focus on such aspects as tactics or strategy, fans received a video game filled with grind, daily missions, challenges and collectibles – typical features of loot shooters. The cruel emphasis on microtransactions not only discouraged players to play the game, but also ruined the overall atmosphere of fun, and allowed soldiers to sneak into the jungle in colorful clothes or buy some sport cars.

The overall failure was complemented by more prosaic problems – a boring plot (Jon Bernthal, known from the Netflix's Punisher series, didn't help as a main antagonist), unrealistic driving physics, and poor enemy AI. Breakpoint has lost the unique spark and atmosphere of the series. It became a conglomerate of popular trends, full of glitches and minor issues.

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