...This video is but one example...
One example of how you can have one of the worst games ever made
and make it look awesome through visual media.
It's all in the presentation.
Sonic The Hedgehog (2006): This was one the worst games I've ever played. Riddled with bugs the platforming is horrible, the mission hubs insufferable, and the very idea of creating a fast paced world and locking it down with "talk to people" quest gates is silly.
But, check out he above video, clearly the game is awesome... or so the video would have you believe. The musical theme, "His World" from Sonic 06 is the stuff adrenaline is made of; it's very powerful combined with choice imagery that only represents the best of the best the game has to offer.
Are these awesome moments worth the horrible gameplay that surrounds it? NOPE. Curious about the story but don't want to suffer through the game? There's a YouTube video for that:
The story is lackluster and it revolves around sonic rescuing a human princess who contains the very monster that will destroy the world. Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnick is more or less relegated to secondary villain status in the face of two very religiously symbolic villains: Ibilis and Meptiles. It introduces a new ally in the form of Silver the Hedgehog, a psychic from the future who uses telekinesis as his primary attack.
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These aren't really valid examples of trailers, they are just used to prove a point: You can have something dumb as a brick and make it look cool.
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Lets use another example shall we? Minecraft, an extremely well built building game with sub-par adventure elements and a horrible combat system. This game screams UNREACHED POTENTIAL; and the playerbase responded, with mods they added in features the game desperately needed. But these mods are not officially supported and likely never will be.
Fanboys will defend minecraft, but at the end of the day, IT COULD BE BETTER, is what it screams to me as 2D retro pixel games like Terraria, Starbound, and Edge of Space all achieve heights of exciting game-play that minecraft will just never reach.
I'd love to see minecraft FINISHED and reach a state where it's worthy
of this trailer:
And for our final example we have a GOLF game that really isn't all that great:
Trailers are a magical thing aren't they? A really sub-par game of internet cartoon golf can seem like an action game ready to burst. That's all I have to say.
Concluding points
*Don't buy things solely based on trailers.
*Don't pre-order games unless you are 100% certain you'll have no regrets if they suck because NOTHING is a sure bet these days.
*Don't be suckered into hype; commercials and a fancy logo gets people in the mood to buy, but those people are usually stupid. Don't be stupid.
*Wait for Reviews. No reviews? Then you can wait... You can't? Oh. The Instant gratification you get is called Impulse Buying, congratulations you are THE SUCKER that's born every minute.