Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight removed base building from a real-time strategy franchise built on base building, a design betrayal worse than #7 Crackdown 3's broken promises. EA Los Angeles' 2010 finale required an always-online connection for single-player, capped unit counts, and delivered a campaign so insultingly short that fans pretend it doesn't exist—its 55 on Metacritic is 40% lower than the series average. The 30% smaller Tiberium map and absence of traditional harvesters made the 10-hour slog feel like a desperate cash grab, proving a 15-year-old legacy can be destroyed faster than #6's physics glitches could launch skaters.