Audiences balked, but we still love these games, movies, and TV shows
Every Thanksgiving, families across the United States stuff themselves full of roasted bird. But this year, we thought it was also as good a time as any to give thanks to the truly exemplary turkeys: the flops, misfires, and misunderstood oddities we can’t help but love.
We have a strong “no trolling” policy here at Polygon and are never here to reappraise something for the sake of a reappraisal. That said, we also love making, defending, and arguing about our opinions across a dinner table. We believe cultural curiosities that critics dismissed or audiences shrugged at deserve a place at the table, just like that green bean casserole only one person loves, but you have to make anyway.
So in a season built around sharing what brings us joy, let’s spend this Turkey Day championing the turkeys:
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Fallout: New Vegas was a turkey at launch and a masterpiece today
The second season of Prime Video’s Fallout is arriving next month, and the games are back on my mind. They always are, so back in March, I undertook a complete replay of the core series, which was a wonderful idea that I will do again one day. And after revisiting them all, my opinion remains steadfast: Fallout: New Vegas is the best entry in the series. It’s a take most Fallout fans have settled on since the game’s release back in 2010 — but you wouldn’t know that based on its launch.
When New Vegas landed in stores, it had many things going against it. Firstly, it wasn’t developed by Bethesda, as that studio was too busy developing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Instead, duties were handed over to Obsidian Entertainment, a studio primarily known for sequels to beloved games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights that, while good, didn’t live up to the original.
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I love Heavy Rain, just not for the reasons David Cage wanted me to
Quantic Dream’s 2010 interactive drama, Heavy Rain, is what I can only describe as a very weird game. David Cage’s dark thriller puts players in the shoes of four protagonists, each of whom are somehow related to the Origami Killer: a mysterious figure who kidnaps young boys during periods of heavy precipitation, using rain to drown them. Origami figures are then left at the scene of the crime as a sort of calling card. This is a great concept for a gripping thriller, but Cage didn’t quite stick the landing, instead creating one of the funniest games I’ve ever played.
Like most David Cage gigs, Heavy Rain takes itself extremely seriously, despite how unintentionally goofy it can be. The game mainly consists of walking around and pressing buttons, and the most action players ever participate in comes in the form of quick-time events, which are the first source of potential hijinks. The overabundance of QTEs can easily turn what should be a tense chase sequence into a side-splitting experience when players react a bit too slowly, and hilarity inevitably ensues.
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Universal’s Waterworld stunt show makes the notorious turkey a better movie
Kevin Costner’s Waterworld was a legendary failure — with critics, with moviegoers, with profit margins. With a reported budget of $175 million, and a worldwide gross of only $264 million, the Kevin Reynolds-directed post-apocalyptic blockbuster gifted box-office reporters “sunk!” headlines for years to come. An outlandish premise didn’t help its legacy: Costner stars as a human-fish hybrid badass hero man in a world where the oceans have risen to cover the land and everyone drinks pee to survive. It’s weird, sad, and rather hopeless.
Somehow, in the year 2025, it’s also wonderful, if viewed with the right context. It all hinges on whether you have a chance to visit Universal Studios Hollywood for the Waterworld live stunt show.
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