Same as title. Games that at least tried to bring something new to the table but was still bad overall? First game that fits this description that comes to mind is Spyro Enter the Dragonfly. Yeah, it was glitchy and unfinished and what not but at the same time it was the first Spyro game with multiple breath types at your disposal at all times, something that wasn't the case with the PS1 entries that came before it.
Sonic Heroes.
It had an interesting concept to control three characters, but half the time the levels got slowed down by using either power and flight. Also there are a ton of needless glitches makes the game less enjoyable at times.
Bionic Commando. The swinging was pretty decent but the whole 'there's radiation here so you can't go here' and god awful story really killed it :/
tbh i'm gonna go with waku waku 7.
it's a shitshow of anime tropes mushed together into a quirky fighting game (intentionally, mind you). as much as i think it's really fun to play, i just can't take anything seriously when i play it. kinda not my thing i guess. but the fighting mechanics are very solid
That's kind of the point of the game...
i get that. and i can see its appeal. but i much rather prefer a little bit more plot, and not just "let's get the seven balls to make a wish" parody. galaxy fight is superior in how more meaningful things actually happen between characters (roomi tries to escape from her family, then rolf goes after her. alvan wants to protect his planet and challenges felden. etc.). by far, tesse has the most unique and complex role in waku waku 7's lore. of course the rest are just parodies. tho tesse is more of a combined tribute to astro boy and japanese maids than a parody.
but it's a great game. just the change of pace in plot and characters that i'm not a huge fan of.
It's a change of pace that is welcome seeing that there are lots of tryhard plot games out there
You could probably say a lot of things from Spore fit this. A series of mini-games representing evolutionary progress. Great idea. Its a shame it ended up being a watered down sims game, because I still revisit it sometimes.
MySims had a few clever fun things, but i feel like it could have been better-executed overall. it was overhyped yet ended up being a subpar casual game.
However controversial this may be, I'll nominate the Golden Sun series. I like the idea of spells for combat having practical utility outside fighting, to solve puzzles and stuff. The problem with the game is that its mythology and characters are badly defined, in that the game can't decide who is or isn't an expert on the supernatural, how much of the supernatural is public knowledge, and in some cases lose track of these things over the course of a single conversation.