Let's War! What's your Most Disappointing Game of the Year?

[ATB]

I have two that come to mind:

Shadow of the Colossus

and....

Okami

SotC is well loved on this board, but I still feel it was a long way from the perfection label that people granted it There was emotional impact upon killing the first few titans, but by and large, after you've gone through the variants, it's basically the same fight over and over in different locales.  I would have liked to see more variety in the bosses- and the ways in which you kill them, less travel (more time spent on traveling than fighting) and especially more character development.

Okami- I'm not terribly far in this game...I want to say 8 hrs...and it has been a struggle to get that far.  I was really looking forward to this game (bought it on release day at full price), but it just hasn't delivered for me.  Knowing that it's about 40 hrs long means I'll probably never invest the time in it that one apparently should.  Sure it's pretty, sure it's witty, sure the evironments are neat, but for me it's just missing 'something'.

[jblank]

In order:

Madden 2007 (360)
NCAA Football 2007 (PSP)
Fight Night Round 3 (PSP)
World Series of Poker: TOC (360)
Test Drive Unlimited (360)
Table Tennis (360)

[IkeVandergraaf]

I think BFME2.  I know everyone loved that game, but I just didn't.  Maybe I didn't play enough of it, or maybe it's because I didn't play MP, but I thought the graphics were subpar and the interface was teh suxxor.

Also disappointing was Rise of Legends.  I was really excited about it at first, and the interface and graphics are spectacular, but the campaign was lackluster, they never did get the MP code right (at least before I quit playing it) and the gameplay turned out to be nothing more than your standard build-a-giant-army-and-march-it-across-the-map.

Both of those are PC games.  For console I would have to say NCAA Football 2007 for the 360.  While I probably played that game more than all of my other 360 games combined, it stank of unfinishedness.

[Dante Rising]

Elite Beat Agents
Rule of Rose

[Lockdown]

Rise of Legends (PC)

Age of Empires III  (PC)

[Kevin Grey]

Although it may sound odd since I would actually put the game in my Top 10 for the year, I'm going to go with Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the 360.  I *love* the Splinter Cell series, especially Chaos Theory which was probably one of my top two or three favorite games last year.  So my expectations of the first next-gen Splinter Cell were pretty high.  I liked some of the ideas behind the game but, in the end, I thought many of the new concepts and changes weren't well implemented.  And a bad patch in the middle of the game almost made me do something I've never done with a Splinter Cell- stop playing.  I got past it and the game did really improve but I still feel like it wasn't nearly the game it should have or could have been.

[wonderpug]

Rise of Legends, almost definitely.

[corruptrelic]

Micromachines V4

Worst game I played all year.

[Misguided]

Ninety Nine Nights. I thought it looked pretty good. I wanted to be able to play through it to see the story, but it really didn't grab me as I'd hoped and it was too difficult for me (and I knew that might be the case going in, not having ever played a game like that).

[Knightshade Dragon]

This is gonna anger some folks...

Dead Rising

I found it a fun distraction when I need to just mow people down after a hard day at work, but I didn't find the game I was hoping for here.  I was dissapointed...

[JLu]

For this year?  I think I'd call it a tie between Perfect Dark Zero and Shadow of the Colossus.  The first just fell flat for me.  The second is all boss fights which I cannot stand (SoTC however I totally understand how folks would love it; just not for me).  Chromehounds is up there pretty high too -- I wanted to like it, but the difficulty in playing multiplayer with people who were not in my group was a fatal flaw.

[Hetz]

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)
Age of Empires 3 (PC)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (360)
Chromehounds (360)

[Starshifter]

I'm going to anger a few here with this one:  Oblivion

But, I'm still trying my best to get into it.  I'm planning on picking it back up very soon.

Another disappointment:  Chromehounds

I never bought it after hearing that it was just a glorified multiplayer game.  No story = no good to me.  And I was really pumped to pick this one up.  I hate multiplayer.  I'm actually considering dropping to silver on Xbox Live this coming year and save the $50.

[Kevin Grey]

Ooh, Hetz mentioned GRAW!  I might have to change my vote.  Huge disappointment to me. 

[Kobra]

Shadow of the Colossus

and....

Okami

Someone is trying to be edgy and controversal.   

[coopasonic]

Mario vs DK2: March of the Minis I think was the name... teh suck. Nothing else really disappointed me, perhaps my expectations are not that high.

[fyedaddy]

PC: Dungeons & Dragons Online

360: Chromehounds

[whiteboyskim]

PC: Oblivion, no question. I will not buy another Elder Scrolls game ever again as I'm convinced Bethesda couldn't tell a coherent story if they were handed one gift wrapped.

As for console, I can't really say I was overly pissed off or blown away by anything released this year. Especially considering this year has been devoted, for the most part, to burning through my backlog so the majority of the games I've completed this year have been from prior gaming seasons.

[Farscry]

PC: Dungeons & Dragons Online

360: Chromehounds

Heh... funny enough, mine are the exact same with one addition.

Star Fox on the Gamecube. What a pile of crap. I know this came out in the past, but I didn't play it until this year, so it counts for me. I'd say this was actually the biggest disappointment of these three titles.

[Kobra]

PC: Oblivion, no question. I will not buy another Elder Scrolls game ever again as I'm convinced Bethesda couldn't tell a coherent story if they were handed one gift wrapped.

+1

Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)

-1, the expansion made this kick huge ass.

Rise of Legends (PC)
Age of Empires III  (PC)

+2!

[DamageInc]

PC: Dungeons & Dragons Online

360: Chromehounds

I agree with the PC title you chose

360: Still Perfect Dark Zero, it sucked enough to carry over to the next year

[Clay]

PC: GalCiv 2, The Movies
Console: PSP NCAA Football 2007 (pre-patch), Bully

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Okami. I just couldn't get into it.

[warning]

My PC disappointment was Rise of Legends.  I was a huge fan of Rise of Nations, I was totally stoked for the steampunk meets Arabian Nights setting and I loved the idea of a story-driven campaign.  The reality was it didn't look anywhere near as good as it could have and the campaign was dull.

My console disappointment was Dead Rising.  They managed to take a game concept that sounded like fun on crack (zombies in a shopping mall?  genius!) and hamper it with an obnoxious save system and frustrating game mechanics.

My runner-up is Oblivion.  I love Oblivion - I really do.  But I was surprised I didn't love it more than Morrowind.  The environments in Morrowind were so cool, so alien that the generic towns and forests and caves in Oblivion were a let down.  As were the Oblivion gates by the time I'd closed the 43rd one.

[fyedaddy]

PC: Dungeons & Dragons Online

360: Chromehounds

I agree with the PC title you chose

360: Still Perfect Dark Zero, it sucked enough to carry over to the next year

I rather liked PDZ and still play it fairly regularly. Why was it such a disappointment to you? Were you a huge fan of the original and this one didn't live up to it for you? That could be the difference... I never played the original.

[Destructor]

Star Fox on the Gamecube. What a pile of crap. I know this came out in the past, but I didn't play it until this year, so it counts for me. I'd say this was actually the biggest disappointment of these three titles.

Which one? They're all nowhere near as good as the older games, IMHO. Put Fox back in the fucking Arwing all the damn time and the shooter fans will be happy.

And definitely Dungeons and Dragons Online for the PC. Not sure about my console choices yet.

[CeeKay]

PS2:  Bully.  My interest in playing didn't wane, it dropped dead on the spot for some reason.
360:  Dead Rising (didn't even buy it on account of the tiny text that non-HD owners get)
PC:    Can't think of anything off the top of my head.  NWN2 would have been a contender but I've ironed out my issues with it.

[denoginizer]

1. Rise of Legends. -  Online problems.  It doesn't look good enough to run that crappy.

2. EA's NFL Head Coach. - These types of games need a great interface.  And this one is terrible.

3. Spliter Cell DA. - I am forcing myself to keep going.  The first SC game I almost stopped playing.

[Farscry]

While I'm not as big a fan of the PDZ campaign, the multiplayer became a load of fun with Fyedaddy and a bunch of bots going nuts all over the place. I still think that the original Perfect Dark has PDZ beat on the number and quality of maps, gameplay modes, and the awesome Challenge mode that PD had, but PDZ is still a ton of fun in multiplayer.

I still laugh about this moment in the desert map when Fyedaddy rounded a corner in a hovertank...

And Destructor, on Star Fox, I'm specifically complaining about the Cube one with its lack of actual classic Star Fox gameplay. The SNES original is still my favorite, though the N64 one came really close (my main gripe on that one is that it was just too easy, even on the "hard" mode).

[Andrew Mallon]

PC: Dungeons & Dragons Online

360: Chromehounds

I agree with the PC title you chose

360: Still Perfect Dark Zero, it sucked enough to carry over to the next year

I rather liked PDZ and still play it fairly regularly. Why was it such a disappointment to you? Were you a huge fan of the original and this one didn't live up to it for you? That could be the difference... I never played the original.

I never played the original and I thought PDZ was horrible. It'd be laughing over how bad it was if I hadn't shelled out $60 dollars. Why is it disappointing? The horrible AI, the crappy checkpoint system, unclear mission objectives, unresponsive controls, and shitty stealth implementation are just the first things that pop into mind. 

Awful, awful game.

[ATB]

My console disappointment was Dead Rising.  They managed to take a game concept that sounded like fun on crack (zombies in a shopping mall?  genius!) and hamper it with an obnoxious save system and frustrating game mechanics.

Beside the save system what frustrating mechanics are you talkinga bout?

[fyedaddy]

I never played the original and I thought PDZ was horrible. It'd be laughing over how bad it was if I hadn't shelled out $60 dollars. Why is it disappointing? The horrible AI, the crappy checkpoint system, unclear mission objectives, unresponsive controls, and shitty stealth implementation are just the first things that pop into mind. 

Awful, awful game.

I admit that I'm only six or seven missions into the campaign itself and it's been far from GOTY quality, but the multiplayer sessions (especially the bots) have been GREAT. Maybe I'm putting to much credit into the MP over the campaign but that is what I used for my initial praise of the game.

[metallicorphan]

prolly tomb raider,i will agree that it was improved over past titles,in the end it was still the same old figgity game


gears of wars,very short single player and crap maps for multiplayer gets that up there as well

[PeteRock]

I also have to vote for Perfect Dark Zero.  At first I was impressed with the visuals and really hoped to get into a coherent, interesting story, and instead I found that the controls were unresponsive, the story was non-existent and the parts that were intended to resemble a story instead became a series of disjointed events used as excuses for each level.  The controls were frustrating, the gameplay was fairly boring, the story was disjointed and bland, and this was one of the first games I've owned that I put down and had absolutely no interest to ever pick up again.  There are some games I get away from for a while but eventually go back to and get right back into the story and gameplay, and after repeated attempts to get back into Perfect Dark Zero, it has gotten to the point where it pisses me off just to see that box sitting on my shelf.

[warning]

My console disappointment was Dead Rising.  They managed to take a game concept that sounded like fun on crack (zombies in a shopping mall?  genius!) and hamper it with an obnoxious save system and frustrating game mechanics.

Beside the save system what frustrating mechanics are you talkinga bout?

Needing to replay the first portions of the game to level your character up.  How easy it was to miss important cases because you didn't happen to be in the right place at the right time.

[Jancelot]

Call of Duty 3
After the splendid perfection of CoD2 this sequel is rather disappointing.  The friendly A.I. is messed up as it misses triggers and frequently fails missions for you.  The level design is also pretty bland this time around.  Here's looking forward to Treyarch's CoD4 and a return to quality.

Dead Rising
I have a hard time putting this one here because I did enjoy the game quite a bit.  But overall I felt it was brought down by several significant issues.

[pr0ner]

My most disappointing game was Bully.

[depward]

GRAW or Dead Rising for me.  Intially GRAW lead me to purchase a 360 for the "KILL3R GRAFICKS!!1!" but after playing it a bit ... I realized it just stunk.

[whiteboyskim]

Call of Duty 3
After the splendid perfection of CoD2 this sequel is rather disappointing.  The friendly A.I. is messed up as it misses triggers and frequently fails missions for you.  The level design is also pretty bland this time around.  Here's looking forward to Treyarch's CoD4 and a return to quality.

You know what? This may be it for me as well. I'm almost through the game right now and it's absolutely awful. I'm especially appaled at the "directional audio" by how spectacularly it fails. You know the Sarge in the early missions? The guy who gives you the missions, that's right. What's that you say? You can't hear a damn thing the guy says even when you're standing right next to him and staring him in the face even though most of the other guys sound normal? Wait, this SAME THING happens later to one of the other major characters? So I actively have to turn on sub-titles, some of which are different than the script btw, in order to understand what's going on?

Sounds like a winner, Johnny, let's make a game exactly like that! And make the graphics sub-par, the controls awkward, and the friendly AI stand right in front of you whenever you're lining up a shot.

[Goonch]

This is gonna anger some folks...

Dead Rising

I found it a fun distraction when I need to just mow people down after a hard day at work, but I didn't find the game I was hoping for here.  I was dissapointed...

That's it!!!! You have done it! I wiss you an Unmerry Christmas