Biggest letdowns of 2017

I’ve shared my favourite things so here are my biggest letdowns.

  • Star Wars Battlefront II : I don't think I need to highlight the loot crate situation that highlighted EA's greed to everyone. Yes, this was a big reason but also the first person mode in game felt broken. Confusing customisation and weird UX just made it feel like a rushed game with no love gone into it. I'm glad the community stood up together against EA and although in game purchases are turned off for now it's still a poorer game than the first Battlefront (which I'm still playing and having fun with).
  • Formula 1 2017 : I love my F1 games and I had high hopes coming off the 2016 version. Well the 2017 version reuses most of the assets and ultimately feels like the same game. The physics and driving still feels good but the graphics just don't come near to the competition. People looks strange and the constant screen tearing reminds me of a 10 year old game. I'll pick up when it's £10, that's all it's worth.
  • Sony 4K HDR TV : This was a pricey TV that suffered from lack of support from Sony to keep Android optimised and up to date. Everything felt slow, confusing and too many steps to do anything. The picture was ok but the OS just meant for a bad experience.
  • iOS 11 : So many little niggles for me from a UX and UI perspective. Bugs everywhere and even on an iPhone X it feels sluggish at times. It's been a bad year for Apple in software and I'm hoping all of the lessons taken from 2017 will improve things in 2018.
  • VW Golf GTE : I wanted to love my new car but now I'm a few months in I really don't like the VW hybrid implementation. I'm finding that for local miles it's great, if I have a charge I'll be good on electric. Unfortunately my job requires doing a lot of motorway driving, this isn't good for a hybrid. Even with a full battery (around 20 miles) I'm getting 40MPG. On a low battery it can be as low as 25MPG on a long run (200 miles). I really want to love hybrid but for me based on the VW experience I'll be going all electric with a Tesla Model 3 or petrol for my next car.
  • Sonos Play 1 : Sounds good but for me the implementation ruins the experience. The app is slow to respond and when using Apple Music it gets bogged down if you have a lot of music. Streaming is pretty solid in terms of play time after hitting play within the app and drop outs however. I'll be looking at selling and getting a HomePod as soon as I can.

Here are my letdowns, what are some of yours?

Lee Peterson @LJPUK