The 10 Biggest Letdowns in Video Game Endings
5. BioShock
Source: 2K Games
Here's another complex, multi-ending game where the player's actions and choices either send them down either the path of righteousness or the path of evil. Either way, they suck.
If the player chooses to save all of the "Little Sisters" instead of killing them for their "ADAM," they are treated (and I use the word loosely) to a sweet scene of the little girls growing up and honoring your dying corpse on your deathbed. In the end, "family" is your reward.
Family? Have you seen people with families? They are constantly tired, overstressed, and frustrated. They look like the "reward bus" ran them over and then backed up over them just to make sure they got them.
If they choose to kill off just one or all of the girls for their large "ADAM" stockpile, they are treated to a FPS scene of an abusive man overpowering the innocent children for a greedy grab at self-fulfillment and power, even at the risk of sacrificing the lives of the innocent to build your throne. In other words, it's a Cliffs Notes version of The Dick Cheney Story, only much cheerier.
4. Halo 2
Source: Microsoft
Lots of guys at the start and middle of the millennium sacrificed whole chunks of their personal and social life to beating the Halo games. And who can blame them? It's a rich and intense science fiction story about man's warring nature and the sacrifices that are made to ensure the sanctity of peace. Who cares if its long playtime and addictive nature caused a bigger outbreak of mental depression than Radiohead's last tour?
However, a game that requires such attention and actual sacrifice should have come with an ending that made up for such dedication. What they got instead was a thrown together, unexciting ending that basically served as a teaser trailer for Halo 3. The ending would've been an improvement if that same hand reached out of the TV and cockpunched you square in the balls.
3. Ghostbusters (original NES version)
Source: Nintendo
A major contributor to a video game's success or failure is its difficulty. Easy games are obviously no fun and impossible games are known to cause high blood pressure, hair loss, and (in some extremely rare cases) eye herpes.
This lame attempt to capitalize on perhaps the most successful and iconic member of the pop culture universe not only failed miserably on just about every conceivable level, but it also came with an ending that can be blamed for most of my generation's low SAT scores on the writing section.
After enduring one of the most monotonous and unexplained tasks in a video game since the original E.T. you fight the evil Zuul or what appears to be a Christopher Walken caricature in a thong. When you defeat the evil thong of evil, you are treated to a "Conglaturation" (actual spelling) screen where you are applauded for "prooving (also actual spelling) the justice of our culture." The screen then cuts to a rolling set of credits filled with Japanese names that unintentionally explains why the final screen reads like it was translated by an electronic Japanese-to-English dictionary with dyslexia.
2. The Legend of Zelda
Source: Nintendo
It's a great game, an epic among epics. Some might call it "legendary" (yes, I'm being paid to write these jokes).
The ending is about as epic as buying socks.
After defeating the giant evil and rescuing the final part of the Triforce, you are able to free the beautiful Princess Zelda from her underground prison and bring peace once again to the land of Hyrule. The credits roll. Then evil returns to the actual world.
1. Ghosts 'n Goblins
Source: Capcom
This game might be one of the hardest old schoolers of all time, but it's also one of the most fun. The huge learning curve and extreme difficulty made the simple challenge of beating it a sign of virility that separated the pixilated men from the boys when its menacing terror first hit store shelves across the nation.
The terror, mind you, didn't come from playing and accomplishing the game. It came from its epic tragic ending that caused kids to throw controllers into TV screens long before Nintendo product testers failed to adequately gauge the safety restrictions of the Wii controller.
In the game, Arthur defeats Satan after a long and epic battle that takes him through Hell and back and then, back again, only to save the fair maiden and be told that "This story is happy end" (sic) and they feel "strongth" (double sic) filling up their body, which will come in handy when they are told to play the whole game all over again. This is usually the part where you scream and wake up, but you don't wake up, so you just keep on screaming.
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