All-time PC gaming disappointments

[Jack Burton]

Max Payne - built a whole new computer based on the 'optimal' system requirements i read in a PC Gamer preview - then found out the game itself was a dull Tomb Raider-like shooter (minus  the acrobatics) with a really overdone Chandler-wannabe narrative.  it may be a wee bit of an overstatement to say i started to lose faith in the current gaming industry due to this experience... maybe...

Whaaaaatt???!!  I couldn't get enough of these two games.  I'd pray for Max Payne 3 but the team is busted and they're working on Alan Wake.  And I don't do horror/thriller stuff real well, although somehow I managed to get through F.E.A.R.

But I HIGHLY agree with Pirates of the Carribean and MOO3.

They should come out with a Majesty 2

[CeeKay]

Max Payne - built a whole new computer based on the 'optimal' system requirements i read in a PC Gamer preview - then found out the game itself was a dull Tomb Raider-like shooter (minus  the acrobatics) with a really overdone Chandler-wannabe narrative.  it may be a wee bit of an overstatement to say i started to lose faith in the current gaming industry due to this experience... maybe...

Whaaaaatt???!!  I couldn't get enough of these two games.  I'd pray for Max Payne 3 but the team is busted and their working on Alan Wake. 

I loved the first Max Payne- I played through it a bunch of times, and I enjoyed the second one but that only got one playthrough out of me.

[Blackadar]

Hmm. I'm going with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor.  All my dreams of a return to gold box glory with flashy new graphics and gameplay possibilities died a painful death.  I believe that was when I stopped reading previews on a regular basis.  So now I'm unlikely to get my expectations up that high again.

Good call.

[Calvin]

Max Payne - built a whole new computer based on the 'optimal' system requirements i read in a PC Gamer preview - then found out the game itself was a dull Tomb Raider-like shooter (minus  the acrobatics) with a really overdone Chandler-wannabe narrative.  it may be a wee bit of an overstatement to say i started to lose faith in the current gaming industry due to this experience... maybe...

Whaaaaatt???!!  I couldn't get enough of these two games.  I'd pray for Max Payne 3 but the team is busted and their working on Alan Wake. 

I loved the first Max Payne- I played through it a bunch of times, and I enjoyed the second one but that only got one playthrough out of me.

The Max Payne games were fantastic, great games.

[warning]

Max Payne - built a whole new computer based on the 'optimal' system requirements i read in a PC Gamer preview - then found out the game itself was a dull Tomb Raider-like shooter (minus  the acrobatics) with a really overdone Chandler-wannabe narrative.  it may be a wee bit of an overstatement to say i started to lose faith in the current gaming industry due to this experience... maybe...

Whaaaaatt???!!  I couldn't get enough of these two games.  I'd pray for Max Payne 3 but the team is busted and their working on Alan Wake.

I loved the first Max Payne- I played through it a bunch of times, and I enjoyed the second one but that only got one playthrough out of me.

The Max Payne games were fantastic, great games.

[Max Payne]My adoration for the game poured like blood from a chest wound, piercing the night with the sound of its impact.  I tried to hate it but it grabbed me like a cheap prostitute on a cold winter night and wouldn't let go.[/Max Payne]

[Soulchilde]

SWG -that game was just painful to play.  SOE screwed the pooch by not allowing Jedi from the start.  Even if the nerfed the Jedi advancement at least people would have been able to play them

Horizon- You could play  freaking Dragon, but the gameplay was the suck and the lag was horrendous

Wing Commander 4- They killed a excellent series with this game

[whiteboyskim]

Max Payne - built a whole new computer based on the 'optimal' system requirements i read in a PC Gamer preview - then found out the game itself was a dull Tomb Raider-like shooter (minus  the acrobatics) with a really overdone Chandler-wannabe narrative.  it may be a wee bit of an overstatement to say i started to lose faith in the current gaming industry due to this experience... maybe...

Whaaaaatt???!!  I couldn't get enough of these two games.  I'd pray for Max Payne 3 but the team is busted and their working on Alan Wake.

I loved the first Max Payne- I played through it a bunch of times, and I enjoyed the second one but that only got one playthrough out of me.

Get thee to the Internets and find the Cinema Mod v. 1.6. You'll find yourself in the midst of many replays courtesy of that one mod alone.

[Kevin Grey]

I'd almost list the first Max Payne as a disappointment.  Didn't grab me at all and was almost a chore to play through.  Loved the second game though. 

[Purge]

I enjoyed Deus Ex 2 quite a bit.  Definitely not as good as the first game but good enough that I harbor the series no ill will.  Ultima 9 probably falls in the same category- Ultima 8 was a much larger disappointment to me (and a much worse game to boot). 

So Ultima 8 would definitely get my vote here. 

+1 ... Ultima 8 = UltimaDiablo

[unbreakable]

+1 ... Ultima 8 = UltimaDiablo

I think that's an unwarranted insult to Diablo.

[Purge]

no.

Ultima8 was way prettier than Diablo. It was just WAY more fun to play ugly diablo than buggy-as-all-heck u8.

[Clay]

Titan Quest was a big disappointment for me.  I want to like it and I have tried to start it many times, but it just seems like it is without any soul.  Despite gameplay similar to Diablo I/II, it just falls flat for me.

[unbreakable]

no.

Ultima8 was way prettier than Diablo. It was just WAY more fun to play ugly diablo than buggy-as-all-heck u8.

U8 = crappy game
Diablo = great game

I think you owe Diablo an apology, sir.

[CeeKay]

+1 ... Ultima 8 = UltimaDiablo

I think that's an unwarranted insult to Diablo.

yeah, I thought it was supposed to be Super Avatar Brothers!  Ultima 8 is the only Ultima from the main series that I've never had a real chance to play- my PC couldn't handle it upon release and then I couldn't get it to run later on.

[phormio]

I haven't seen this one, so I'll submit Star Wars: Rebellion. That's going back a day or two, but I remember having such high hopes...

Also, and this may be something of a limb I'm crawling out onto, I was let down by Heroes of Might & Magic V. I really thought Nival could rescue the franchise (a personal favorite through III) but HoMM:V just never did for me. The 3D overhaul struck me an example of something being done just because it could, not necessarily because it should.

[Eightball]

Ultima 9 was disappointing overall, but Ultima 8 was a trainwreck.  Especially on the heels of Ultima VII: Black Gate and Serpent's Isle, some of the finer Ultimas in the series.  Going from Ultima VII:  Serpent's Isle to Ultima VIII was a drop off of insane proportions.  You had nowhere to go from Ultima VIII but up...so IX to me was less of a disappointment.

MOO3, of course.  Goes without saying, and KOTOR2 simply because it was rushed.

Oh and just because I loved Arena and Daggerfall.  Battlespire, you sucked.

Edit:  Just remembered another.  Betrayal at Krondor was an excellent RPG, really well done, and well written to reflect Raymond Feist's world.  The sequel, Betrayal in Antara was terrible.  Bleh.

[corruptrelic]

What's with all the Master of Orion III hate? I spent countless hours playing it and enjoyed it immensly! I'm tempted to reinstall the thing just after reading some of these comments!

[Autistic Angel]

Outside of adding program instability or actually causing damage to the operating system, I don't know what could be done to make Master of Orion 3 a worse game.  Maybe if the intro movie showed the designers pointing out at you and laughing....

I really mean this: MOO3 is the worst game I own, and the only reason I haven't thrown it forcibly in the garbage is so that I'll always have a reminder not to get too caught up in name brand nostalgia or pre-release hype.

-Autistic Angel

[Destructor]

I really mean this: MOO3 is the worst game I own, and the only reason I haven't thrown it forcibly in the garbage is so that I'll always have a reminder not to get too caught up in name brand nostalgia or pre-release hype.

Ah, yes. IGN's 9.2 review of MOO3. They either played a FAR different game than the rest of us did (or a VERY early beta with the promises of 'it'll be fixed, don't worry', or they were SO bought off it wasn't even funny.

[whiteboyskim]

I really mean this: MOO3 is the worst game I own, and the only reason I haven't thrown it forcibly in the garbage is so that I'll always have a reminder not to get too caught up in name brand nostalgia or pre-release hype.

Ah, yes. IGN's 9.2 review of MOO3. They either played a FAR different game than the rest of us did (or a VERY early beta with the promises of 'it'll be fixed, don't worry', or they were SO bought off it wasn't even funny.

Six pages about a game rated 9.2 that NO ONE OUTSIDE THAT COMPANY loved? Something smells like McGriddle...

[Blackadar]

Outside of adding program instability or actually causing damage to the operating system, I don't know what could be done to make Master of Orion 3 a worse game.

They could have made Outpost again. 

[Blackadar]

I really mean this: MOO3 is the worst game I own, and the only reason I haven't thrown it forcibly in the garbage is so that I'll always have a reminder not to get too caught up in name brand nostalgia or pre-release hype.

Ah, yes. IGN's 9.2 review of MOO3. They either played a FAR different game than the rest of us did (or a VERY early beta with the promises of 'it'll be fixed, don't worry', or they were SO bought off it wasn't even funny.

It's one of 3 things:

1.  Payola
2.  A rabid fanboy review (something OOTP was guilty of encouraging in the past)
3.  A review written from the features on the box (and yes, this does happen)

It wasn't just IGN, though they're the best known.  GameZone gave MOO3 an 87.  UnderGroundOnline gave it a 90.  Gameplanet gave it 4 out of 5, as did Game Informer.  To this day, I don't think IGN was paid off.  I just don't think the reviewer played the game before writing the review.

Most online and written mags don't play the games for very long before giving them a review.  Case in point: Black and White.  With everyone rushing to get their reviews out the door on this overhyped game, most didn't play it past the first couple of monster missions.  So you have scores like 100 (Computer Gaming World), 97 (IGN), 94 (PC Gamer), 93 (GameSpot), 91 (GameSpy) - all of which were published right after the game was released.  That's why I used to love writing for GamesDomain.  We had a policy that you *had* to play the game all the way through before reviewing it.  Our reviews weren't the first on the street, but they were often the most thorough.  Those were reviews that you could generally trust and the "gold" award (the highest) was debated internally before it could be given to a game.   

[Kevin Grey]

Edit:  Just remembered another.  Betrayal at Krondor was an excellent RPG, really well done, and well written to reflect Raymond Feist's world.  The sequel, Betrayal in Antara was terrible.  Bleh.

I'll add that the "official" sequel Return to Krondor.  Man, I was so hoping that it would be good but it was so boring.

[CeeKay]

Outside of adding program instability or actually causing damage to the operating system, I don't know what could be done to make Master of Orion 3 a worse game.

They could have made Outpost again. 

at least their remembered to include the AI in them unlike Ascendancy 

[Space Herpes]

Interstate '82.  In so many ways they messed this up.  The game play was no where near as fun.  The dialog wasn't cute or clever.  The story was lame rather then cheeky.  I so wanted more after I'76 that this was a huge disappointment to me.

[EngineNo9]

Interstate '82.  In so many ways they messed this up.  The game play was no where near as fun.  The dialog wasn't cute or clever.  The story was lame rather then cheeky.  I so wanted more after I'76 that this was a huge disappointment to me.

Absolutely!  Interstate '76 is one of my all-time favorite PC games, and '82 really dropped the ball in so many ways. 

[CeeKay]

Interstate '82.  In so many ways they messed this up.  The game play was no where near as fun.  The dialog wasn't cute or clever.  The story was lame rather then cheeky.  I so wanted more after I'76 that this was a huge disappointment to me.

Gametap has both of them now.  I figure I'll grab them for eventual play.

[unbreakable]

Oh yeah, how the hell could we forget about the crap churned out by Bethesda Softworks LLC?

Daggerfall, Morrowind, and especially Battlespire.  All very lovingly crafted drink coasters created to rip off consumers.  Then throw in Pirates of the Caribbean ftw!

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Oh yeah, how the hell could we forget about the crap churned out by Bethesda Softworks LLC?

Daggerfall, Morrowind, and especially Battlespire.  All very lovingly crafted drink coasters created to rip off consumers.  Then throw in Pirates of the Caribbean ftw!

Yeah, ok.

[Calvin]

Oh yeah, how the hell could we forget about the crap churned out by Bethesda Softworks LLC?

Daggerfall, Morrowind, and especially Battlespire.  All very lovingly crafted drink coasters created to rip off consumers.  Then throw in Pirates of the Caribbean ftw!

Yeah, ok.

Seriously UB, just give it up-nowhere near the type of game that would be on any objective list of biggest gaming dissapointments. And whoever mentioned Ascendancy, TAKE THAT BACK. God I love that game.

[Clay]

A thread of all-time PC gaming surprises and gems in the rough would be more fun.  Less rant, more rave.

[warning]

Oh yeah, how the hell could we forget about the crap churned out by Bethesda Softworks LLC?

Daggerfall, Morrowind, and especially Battlespire.  All very lovingly crafted drink coasters created to rip off consumers.  Then throw in Pirates of the Caribbean ftw!

Well PotC wasn't developed by them - just published by them so I'll give them a pass on that.

Daggerfall I played for about 2 hours and didn't like it much.  But it was buggy and ran like a dog so that was part of it.  Battlespire I never played.

Morrowind I loved.  I still have plans to replay it.

Oblivion was a good game but I liked Morrowind much more so I guess Oblivion was a bit of a disappointment for me.

[jimmyorr99]

I haven't seen this one, so I'll submit Star Wars: Rebellion. That's going back a day or two, but I remember having such high hopes...

Also, and this may be something of a limb I'm crawling out onto, I was let down by Heroes of Might & Magic V. I really thought Nival could rescue the franchise (a personal favorite through III) but HoMM:V just never did for me. The 3D overhaul struck me an example of something being done just because it could, not necessarily because it should.

I would have put this in my surprise category. Although it really could have been the single greatest star was game ever, it still did pretty well on my chart. There were certainly shortcomings and a few bugs. The interface was also killer. After a few hours my right hand would hurt from clicking so much. still though, it integrated strategy on a galactic level as no game had done before. It laid the ground work for Empire at War, which I personally love.

My disappointment would have to be AOE3. I loved the first two and logged a ton of hours on both of them. I don't know what it was, but despite the graphics, it just wasn't as fun to play the third one in the series. Maybe it was the new weapons, but I feel as though guns changed eveyrhting and made it a much more different game. No more melee attacks is hard to cope with. I suppose I was just expecting an end-all-be-all game that never materialized. 

[unbreakable]

Oh yeah, how the hell could we forget about the crap churned out by Bethesda Softworks LLC?

Daggerfall, Morrowind, and especially Battlespire.  All very lovingly crafted drink coasters created to rip off consumers.  Then throw in Pirates of the Caribbean ftw!

Yeah, ok.

Seriously UB, just give it up-nowhere near the type of game that would be on any objective list of biggest gaming dissapointments. And whoever mentioned Ascendancy, TAKE THAT BACK. God I love that game.

I didn't complain about Arena, because although it was really boring, it was actually fun for a little while.  But as for the rest, they are perhaps the biggest gaming disappointments of all time.

Battlespire was great if you enjoy falling through the floor.  Pretty much the same with Daggerfall and Morrowind, but even if you aren't into skydiving, the game is vacuous and boring enough to pretty much seal it's place on the list.

Ascendancy I'll agree with you on.

[edit] Oops, sorry, I have to take back what I said about Morrowind: I actually never played that one.  Now it may or may not be true, but I can't say.

[CeeKay]

Oh yeah, how the hell could we forget about the crap churned out by Bethesda Softworks LLC?

Daggerfall, Morrowind, and especially Battlespire.  All very lovingly crafted drink coasters created to rip off consumers.  Then throw in Pirates of the Caribbean ftw!

Well PotC wasn't developed by them - just published by them so I'll give them a pass on that.

Daggerfall I played for about 2 hours and didn't like it much.  But it was buggy and ran like a dog so that was part of it.  Battlespire I never played.

Morrowind I loved.  I still have plans to replay it.

Oblivion was a good game but I liked Morrowind much more so I guess Oblivion was a bit of a disappointment for me.

Daggerfall has the honor of being the only Elder Scrolls game I've played and completed the main quest line.  I almost finished Arena, but my PC at time died and I had no luck getting it to run under Windows 95 or 98, so I'd have to disagree with the 'coaster' classification.  Morrowing was OK but I could never get it to click enough to finish it.  I never played Battlespire either.

[fyedaddy]

For starters... Arcanum, Black & White, and MOO3.

[Rowdy]

Biggest personal disappointment (defined by me as not meeting expectations or standards set by previous games) was HoMM 4.  I had just finished my HoMM 3 obsession at the time and rushed out to buy it on day 1 without reading any previews.  After playing for an hour and noting the utter lack of AI it went back to the store for a refund.  (those were the days)

MOO3 was a tremendous disappointment, given my love for MOO2, but I had learned my lesson with HoMM 4 and waited for the reviews, fortunately, so they never took my money.

Black & White gets the runner up to those two

(dis)Honourable mention: AOE3, Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights (original campaign - was really looking for a similar game to Baldurs Gate 2)

[hitbyambulance]

oh yeah.  Dungeon Siege.  that was even more of a disappointment than Max Payne. barely....

[ANZAC]

ALL THE GAMES THAT NO LONGER WORK EVERYTIME WE UPGRADE IS IMO THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT.

[CeeKay]

oh yeah.  Dungeon Siege.  that was even more of a disappointment than Max Payne. barely....

but it was the finest potion drinking simulator EVAR!