The most misleading game ads of all time

Back in 2000, N64 games – especially N64 games that required the ill-advised expansion pack – didn't exactly have much street cred. Aware of this, the Big N and Rare decided it was time to enter into some risqué business advertising. On paper, it made good business sense. After all, Sony had opened games up to a whole new audience thanks to their edgy PlayStation ads.

What better way to sell a sexy, female-lead, sci-fi FPS than some of this…

While we’ve got no problems with bumpy parts of the girly variety, the whole concept of selling Perfect Dark on the back of sex appeal is truly bewildering. Especially when this is your lead character…

With the Dreamcast and Sonic’s sexy, next-gen curves already available to gamers, Joanna Dark’s pixelated mess of a face and blocky 64 bit-sponsored textures hardly said ‘Sex on a cartridge’. Misleading, then. Not that we mind too much, of course. The final game was ace and deserved to sell as many copies as possible.

The first MotorStorm was undeniably exciting. Probably the only game worth owning at the PS3’s launch, it combined break neck speed with sickening break your neck physics and vehicle argy-bargy. And what could possibly go wrong with the sequel when it looks like the video below?

Exciting, no? Well, it would be if half of the death-defying footage shown in the ad held the merest glimmer of truth. Hurtling hundreds of feet from the back of a biplane to meet the starting line-up below? Awesome! Pity the actual game always starts like this…



Above: Not a death-baiting plane jump in sight

The last 20 seconds of gameplay may also look exciting, but are pretty misleading compared with our experiences of the game. We’d say a more accurate trailer would take out all the explosions of bikers getting twatted and replace them with infuriating footage of drivers getting stuck behind tiny rocks and palm trees.

18 Mar, 2009

Game commercials that'll make you say "WTF!?"
We pilfer the archives and dig up some mind-bending TV ads

10 adverts that would actually work in games
We make perfectly targeted ads so the marketing gurus don't have to


...and 5 retro trailers that make just as little sense

David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for GamesRadar+ and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too. 

Latest in Sports
Umaga is a key player in The Bloodline Showcase
How to unlock all wrestlers in WWE 2K25
FC 25
FC 25 FUT Birthday guide and full cards list
WWE 2K25
WWE 2K25 review: "A colossal package even if you never go anywhere near Virtual Currency"
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 screenshot showing three skaters performing tricks in mid-air
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 could be making a major change to Pro Skater 4, with the apparent removal of free-roaming in favor of "streamlined goals"
WWE 2K25
WWE 2K25 DLC guide to all Season Pass wrestlers
Image of the box art for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S with an orange GamesRadar background.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 pre-orders include Doom Slayer and an actual full-sized skateboard
Latest in Features
The Witcher 3 screenshot of Geralt
Avowed and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tap into the same thing that makes The Witcher 3 so compelling – and it's something I'm always looking for in RPGs
Marvel Rivals Spider-Man
Spider-Man has become every Marvel Rivals player's worst nightmare
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
A woman in a underwater machine waving during the cinematic teaser for Subnautica 2.
Subnautica 2: Everything we know about the new underwater survival game
The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G being held above a motherboard by a reviewer
AMD's pro-consumer 9070 strategies are exactly why it's primed to dominate the CPU market in 2025
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows' transmog looks set to combine the best of Odyssey and Vahalla to make changing my drip easier than ever