Just about every major release this year has left me underwhelmed. I sort of stopped looking forward to most games, so I guess it's hard to muster up strong feelings that would result in dissapointment. One of the few titles that does stand out though would be Guild Wars 2, which NCSoft somehow let me return even after I played the digital copy I purchased. That was actually pretty nice of them in retrospect. I had a difficult time getting anything out of the combat, and frankly I found the world and questing structure to be extraordinarily drab. Confronted by unwieldy combat and unappealing classes the idea of leveling up seemed daunting, as I felt the game had little to offer for any time invested. Everything felt regressive in relation to other MMORPGs, and even those have fallen out of favor for me.
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Let's do this again. What's your most disappointing game of the year?
- Thread starter Macho Madness
- Start date
SFXT
The game just didn't feel right at all. The artistic style in terms of what they did with the coloring was just horrendous. The UI is so cluttered. Gameplay mechanics felt rushed and the gem system definitely felt like an after thought and added to many variables to the game. Definitely a useless gimmick.
The game just didn't feel right at all. The artistic style in terms of what they did with the coloring was just horrendous. The UI is so cluttered. Gameplay mechanics felt rushed and the gem system definitely felt like an after thought and added to many variables to the game. Definitely a useless gimmick.
Ugh, i had a lot of dissapointments in 2012...
AC3 is the first game of the series i played for few hours and don't really want to get back to it. Missions are painful, with a rough fail states and sometimes bad checkpoiting. Running in the wilds is boring as hell, for the first time in AC...
Diablo 3 - I've played D2 for a year when it came out, i don't really like D3 on inferno... Item drops are shockingly terrible for a loot game. EDIT: Oh yeah, and the story... I was so angry at the last cutscene, it was horrible.
Guild Wars 2 should have been my game of the forever, but after hitting max level and finishing all quests there just wasn't anything to do. It didn't help that the instances are terrible for me, i don't understand how they're suppose to work.
Man, this year was a bummer... AC3's probably my best/worst pick, since i have actually enjoyed both GW2 and D3 when leveling my character.
AC3 is the first game of the series i played for few hours and don't really want to get back to it. Missions are painful, with a rough fail states and sometimes bad checkpoiting. Running in the wilds is boring as hell, for the first time in AC...
Diablo 3 - I've played D2 for a year when it came out, i don't really like D3 on inferno... Item drops are shockingly terrible for a loot game. EDIT: Oh yeah, and the story... I was so angry at the last cutscene, it was horrible.
Guild Wars 2 should have been my game of the forever, but after hitting max level and finishing all quests there just wasn't anything to do. It didn't help that the instances are terrible for me, i don't understand how they're suppose to work.
Man, this year was a bummer... AC3's probably my best/worst pick, since i have actually enjoyed both GW2 and D3 when leveling my character.
BomberMouse
Member
Journey, I don't think it was interesting neither visually nor on it's gameplay. I had to force myself to finish it and when I reached the ending, it bugged out and I fell of the world. POS.
Flower was a thought act to follow and Journey didn't deliver at all.
Flower was a thought act to follow and Journey didn't deliver at all.
Launch Diablo 3, I played it about a month and it made me sick. Maybe it is better right now, but I deinstalled it and wil lforget it forever.
RE6, don't know why I expected a proper RE game after RE5... seems like this franchise won't return to its glory, shame.
ME3, yep no game before gave me the feeling that all my decisions and everything in the prequels didn't matter.
oh and Ghost Recon Future Soldier, no real reason, just felt off.
Don't know which was the worst for me,probably Diablo
RE6, don't know why I expected a proper RE game after RE5... seems like this franchise won't return to its glory, shame.
ME3, yep no game before gave me the feeling that all my decisions and everything in the prequels didn't matter.
oh and Ghost Recon Future Soldier, no real reason, just felt off.
Don't know which was the worst for me,probably Diablo
I wanted to like Halo 4 more than I actually did. Nothing from the campaign really stuck with me besides the visuals, which were great.
Also I could do with fewer vehicle sections.
RawkHawk2010
Member
Paper Mario: Sticker Star. The announcement of that game was what made me a 3DS owner.
Then it gets released and it contains no story, no characters, and well, nothing even worth talking about.
Then it gets released and it contains no story, no characters, and well, nothing even worth talking about.
matrix-cat
Member
Definitely Mass Effect 3. No neutral dialogue options, and far fewer chances to actually choose dialogue for myself. Shepard is supposed to be me, the lifeless automaton through which I interact with the world of Mass Effect, not a boring soldier character who'll ask me for some input every now and then. That whole subplot with the kid in the first mission is the most amazingly hamhanded attempt to insert drama where it doesn't belong.
The game replaces most of the proper close-up dialogue wheel stuff with zoomed out button pressing, and drastically cuts back on side quests. It makes you switch to the multiplayer disc when you start up what you thought was a neat side mission (it'll actually be a round of Horde mode to play by yourself). A couple of character deaths are handled extremely poorly (
), certain series-long mysteries are left untouched (seriously, they couldn't model Tali's face after three games?). Javik and everything in From Ashes, all stuff of monumental importance to the lore, was $10 day one DLC. Oh, and the ending is terrible.
The game replaces most of the proper close-up dialogue wheel stuff with zoomed out button pressing, and drastically cuts back on side quests. It makes you switch to the multiplayer disc when you start up what you thought was a neat side mission (it'll actually be a round of Horde mode to play by yourself). A couple of character deaths are handled extremely poorly (
I still have no idea why Legion blew up
Diablo III and its disastrous loot system, which was deliberately gimped to accommodate the existence of the Auction House. It was also completely unbalanced and had ludicrous difficulty spikes, at launch especially, and the story was a train wreck that didn't even make sense in the context of the series. It was like they just simply forgot about the actual details of the plots of the previous games.
Criminal Upper
Banned
Resident Evil 6. I still only bothered to beat Leon's scenario. And the other two are worse.
dragonflys545
Member
Diablo 3. I'm done with Blizzard! Inferno was stupid, RMAH, Crappy Loots and the fact that they still don't have PVP. At this point I doubt it'll even matter to put that crap up.
MaxwellGT2000
Member
If first time being able to play a port of an old game counts...
Tales of the Abyss 3DS
I heard such good things about this game, the combat was fine and functional, and to start off with things seemed like they could get interesting, but it kept having more and more filler, all of it needless, and even the game commented on it. I found that to be one of the strangest choices ever, as the game became more marred by filler quests I found myself bored and distracted, put the game down and had to come back months later, finally finished it and much like my boredom it felt like the writers got bored halfway through when they built up characters and a story that could be something, and then betrayed the player on so many levels and just half assed the ending. The next morning I just wanted it out of my collection.
If only new games count...
New Super Mario Bros 2
Disclaimer: Disappointment =/= bad, though usually do go hand in hand but not in this case. So no it's not a bad game at all, it's pretty great in fact for a platformer, but that's not the record the plumber holds it's being top dog... and this game felt like some homebrew Mario project. After coming off the highs that were New Super Mario Bros Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns, I'm slapped in the face with a game as simple and basic as the first New Super Mario Bros game on DS, it was like a cold quick shower, then it was over and I traded it in towards New Super Mario Bros U. Which that game is like night and day compared to NSMB2, and so that by far is my biggest disappointment this year, everything else people are mentioning... I either had low expectations to begin with, or don't really care one way or the other, though I recognize these disappointments for various reasons.
Tales of the Abyss 3DS
I heard such good things about this game, the combat was fine and functional, and to start off with things seemed like they could get interesting, but it kept having more and more filler, all of it needless, and even the game commented on it. I found that to be one of the strangest choices ever, as the game became more marred by filler quests I found myself bored and distracted, put the game down and had to come back months later, finally finished it and much like my boredom it felt like the writers got bored halfway through when they built up characters and a story that could be something, and then betrayed the player on so many levels and just half assed the ending. The next morning I just wanted it out of my collection.
If only new games count...
New Super Mario Bros 2
Disclaimer: Disappointment =/= bad, though usually do go hand in hand but not in this case. So no it's not a bad game at all, it's pretty great in fact for a platformer, but that's not the record the plumber holds it's being top dog... and this game felt like some homebrew Mario project. After coming off the highs that were New Super Mario Bros Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns, I'm slapped in the face with a game as simple and basic as the first New Super Mario Bros game on DS, it was like a cold quick shower, then it was over and I traded it in towards New Super Mario Bros U. Which that game is like night and day compared to NSMB2, and so that by far is my biggest disappointment this year, everything else people are mentioning... I either had low expectations to begin with, or don't really care one way or the other, though I recognize these disappointments for various reasons.
VeryGooster
Banned
Combat is just awkward, level design is bland, some framerate problems, and the voice acting is mediocre, especially for the two main characters.
I found The Last Story serviceable, but I had a hard time understanding what the game did for some people to receive the acclamations that it has. Holy god the framerate, though. Yeesh.
MaxwellGT2000 said:
The cynic in me shouldn't have liked NSMB2, but for some reason I actually quite liked its level design.
tiggerkiddo
Member
I had high hopes for Street Fighter x Tekken but the gem system was busted, not very balanced and the dlc fiasco caused it to sour on me. Otherwise I've had low expectations for everything.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
Don't understand the Diablo III hate. Haven't really played it. It's not the game itself, right?
Anyway, my disappoint of the year is a tie between SoulCalibur V and Mario Kart 7. SCV because none of my favorite characters returned and the new cast felt to generic to be the new faces for the series. And MK7 because it just felt like the series never got better. Sonic Racing Transformed is how a kart racer should evolve.
And hate to admit this...but New Super Mario 2. Same reason as MK7, although NSMBU looks like the real deal. Hope Nintendo sees Sonic Racing Transformed and steps it up with the next Mario Kart...although I have a feeling they won't change anything at all.
Anyway, my disappoint of the year is a tie between SoulCalibur V and Mario Kart 7. SCV because none of my favorite characters returned and the new cast felt to generic to be the new faces for the series. And MK7 because it just felt like the series never got better. Sonic Racing Transformed is how a kart racer should evolve.
And hate to admit this...but New Super Mario 2. Same reason as MK7, although NSMBU looks like the real deal. Hope Nintendo sees Sonic Racing Transformed and steps it up with the next Mario Kart...although I have a feeling they won't change anything at all.
Pretty much almost everything I'd put on a TOP 10 list this year.
But if I had to pick one I'd say Dishonored. It's still in my TOP 3 this year, but...my god it's so fucking easy.
It's probably the first game I've ever played on the fourth difficulty level right from the start, and it still feels like Easy mode. This is especially disappointing because I can feel playing it as an action game without using any powers would be so much more fun, and that's NOT what I wanted from that game. It's terrible when a good game could've been so much better.
Also you can't see your legs. What the hell, Arkane? Fix it in the sequel.
But if I had to pick one I'd say Dishonored. It's still in my TOP 3 this year, but...my god it's so fucking easy.
It's probably the first game I've ever played on the fourth difficulty level right from the start, and it still feels like Easy mode. This is especially disappointing because I can feel playing it as an action game without using any powers would be so much more fun, and that's NOT what I wanted from that game. It's terrible when a good game could've been so much better.
Also you can't see your legs. What the hell, Arkane? Fix it in the sequel.
Hellshadow
Member
Max Payne 3 - did'nt care for the Sao Paulo setting and just didn't like the shooting enough to finish the singleplayer. As for multi, I'd rather play Uncharted 3.
AgentOtaku
Member
Combat is just awkward, level design is bland, some framerate problems, and the voice acting is mediocre, especially for the two main characters.
I feel bad as I felt like I was supposed to buy this on pure principle alone
- Possibly The Gooche's last game
- Project Rainfall
But when I read the reception here on GAF and watched numerous vids on YouTube, I just couldn't get excited about it all. Didn't buy as I didn't want another Xenoblade scenario IE: Don't believe the GAF hype with that one.
Oxigen_Waste
Banned
You have GOT to be kidding me... Journey's amazing! Sounds like you were expecting something completely different considering you're negatively comparing it to Flower.
Rodney McKay
Member
Games I played in 2012 that were disappointing:
-Diablo 3 (thought it was kinda boring), but I had no major expectations about it.
-Darksiders 2 was enjoyable enough for me to play it through again right after beating it, but I already knew it was a prequel/concurrent with the first game so the story wasn't too bad (ok, no, it was).
-Fable 3. I already knew about the shitty end of game "King" stuff, so that wasn't too bad. What was bad was that the "game" part felt worse in just about every way to Fable 2. The controls felt sluggish and the side missions had little charm (best parts of Fable 2 were some of the amazingly well done side-missions).
-Tales of the Abyss 3DS. I hadn't played a JRPG in a long time and this was a bad one to dive into. Awful characters, boring combat, and the story failed to hook me after 6 hours.
My biggest 2012 disappointment: Iron Brigade PC
I love Double Fine (well, I love Psyconauts and I liked Brutal Legend a lot) and I love Orcs Must Die! and Toy Soldiers, so I was hoping this would be as good of a tower defense/action game as those were with some great Double Fine humor added in. Maybe as a multiplayer game it could be fun, but I played it single player and it was just a hassle to play. The mechs were not fun to control and the trade off of weapons vs. traps was too severe when you only have one mech on the field.
I had big expectations for this game and it failed on all of them. Didn't have fun playing it and it wasn't very funny (the salutes were the only charming thing).
Biggest disappointment of the last 2 years: Red Faction Armageddon (still)
Still trumps anything I played this year so far. I think after the incredibly massive disappointment of that game, I have unable to let myself be hurt that way again. It's not like Guerrilla is even all that "great" of a game if you look at it bit by bit. I just loved how it worked the destructible environments into the core gameplay, something no other game I've played has done as well (or at least as fun). It let me connect to the world more than any other open world game has ever done (by letting me destroy it!). After I play Guerrilla, any other open world game feels so incredibly static, they just don't feel as "real" to me anymore.
Armageddon just nerfed all of that and put you in little caves with hardly anything to interact with and replaced it with annoying jumping bean aliens. To top it off I preordered it on Steam for full price. Nothing to sell to anyone, no disc to snap in half, just a greyed out name in my Trash folder on my Steam library.
-Diablo 3 (thought it was kinda boring), but I had no major expectations about it.
-Darksiders 2 was enjoyable enough for me to play it through again right after beating it, but I already knew it was a prequel/concurrent with the first game so the story wasn't too bad (ok, no, it was).
-Fable 3. I already knew about the shitty end of game "King" stuff, so that wasn't too bad. What was bad was that the "game" part felt worse in just about every way to Fable 2. The controls felt sluggish and the side missions had little charm (best parts of Fable 2 were some of the amazingly well done side-missions).
-Tales of the Abyss 3DS. I hadn't played a JRPG in a long time and this was a bad one to dive into. Awful characters, boring combat, and the story failed to hook me after 6 hours.
My biggest 2012 disappointment: Iron Brigade PC
I love Double Fine (well, I love Psyconauts and I liked Brutal Legend a lot) and I love Orcs Must Die! and Toy Soldiers, so I was hoping this would be as good of a tower defense/action game as those were with some great Double Fine humor added in. Maybe as a multiplayer game it could be fun, but I played it single player and it was just a hassle to play. The mechs were not fun to control and the trade off of weapons vs. traps was too severe when you only have one mech on the field.
I had big expectations for this game and it failed on all of them. Didn't have fun playing it and it wasn't very funny (the salutes were the only charming thing).
Biggest disappointment of the last 2 years: Red Faction Armageddon (still)
Still trumps anything I played this year so far. I think after the incredibly massive disappointment of that game, I have unable to let myself be hurt that way again. It's not like Guerrilla is even all that "great" of a game if you look at it bit by bit. I just loved how it worked the destructible environments into the core gameplay, something no other game I've played has done as well (or at least as fun). It let me connect to the world more than any other open world game has ever done (by letting me destroy it!). After I play Guerrilla, any other open world game feels so incredibly static, they just don't feel as "real" to me anymore.
Armageddon just nerfed all of that and put you in little caves with hardly anything to interact with and replaced it with annoying jumping bean aliens. To top it off I preordered it on Steam for full price. Nothing to sell to anyone, no disc to snap in half, just a greyed out name in my Trash folder on my Steam library.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 Edition)
-Horrendous car handling
-Poor map design
-Poor sound design
-Terrible opponent A.I
-Terrible crash cam
-Severely limited customization options
-Useless police encounters
-Uninspired and repetitive single-player
A completely disappointing experience from start to finish.
-Horrendous car handling
-Poor map design
-Poor sound design
-Terrible opponent A.I
-Terrible crash cam
-Severely limited customization options
-Useless police encounters
-Uninspired and repetitive single-player
A completely disappointing experience from start to finish.
saltine161
Member
Assassin Creed 3 not because its a bad game, but because the potential for it be an amazing game and really build on the greatness of AC2. Also story was very bad, and after the great story of Ezio, it was sad to see Conner wasted on a story that didn't help him grow as a character.
GrandHarrier
Member
Playstation All Stars. Was keeping an eye on it through development, as I was a huge Sony fan during PS1/2 era; the end result is a game that doesn't know what it wants to be with some extremely bad character choices / omissions. Seems more like a paid advert for future products (Bioshock, the Playstation classic...?) than acknowledging the systems rich history.
Oh, and the game itself is meh. Should have just cloned Smash. Can't deal with the no damage from normals.
Oh, and the game itself is meh. Should have just cloned Smash. Can't deal with the no damage from normals.
Playstation All Stars
It's a spam fest. I originally thought that it's roster would have been my only gripe, but also having a super system, and a full fledged combo system (like SF4) in a 4 player game just doesn't work. UI's cheap, unlockables are cheap as hell (Icons taken from the PSN store, nice. Player cards taken from random spots on several game covers/artwork is also extremely lazy), leveling up has no meaning nor actual progression like a legit leveling up system. Also ripping the music from their respected franchises and making them all "techno" with a cheap transition in the mash-ups is also a joke.
Resident Evil 6
It was either too chaotic, or that sequences just dragged out for too long. I didn't like like the transition between chapters/set pieces, and having to play a full chapter in one sitting was too long, especially since I was playing it with a friend. Will continue later.
These and Borderlands 2 (which was awesome, btw) are the only games I've bought that were released this year. If were counting older games, then...
999
Simply da bess. Not focused so much on the gameplay, but the story is really quite unique, and the dialogue was near ace. I've no doubt that Zero Escape: VLR will be another one of my favorites for 2012 games, when I get around to playing it. Also looking mighty forward to Kid Icarus and *gasp* my first playthrough of Zelda's Ocarina of Time
.
It's a spam fest. I originally thought that it's roster would have been my only gripe, but also having a super system, and a full fledged combo system (like SF4) in a 4 player game just doesn't work. UI's cheap, unlockables are cheap as hell (Icons taken from the PSN store, nice. Player cards taken from random spots on several game covers/artwork is also extremely lazy), leveling up has no meaning nor actual progression like a legit leveling up system. Also ripping the music from their respected franchises and making them all "techno" with a cheap transition in the mash-ups is also a joke.
Resident Evil 6
It was either too chaotic, or that sequences just dragged out for too long. I didn't like like the transition between chapters/set pieces, and having to play a full chapter in one sitting was too long, especially since I was playing it with a friend. Will continue later.
These and Borderlands 2 (which was awesome, btw) are the only games I've bought that were released this year. If were counting older games, then...
999
Simply da bess. Not focused so much on the gameplay, but the story is really quite unique, and the dialogue was near ace. I've no doubt that Zero Escape: VLR will be another one of my favorites for 2012 games, when I get around to playing it. Also looking mighty forward to Kid Icarus and *gasp* my first playthrough of Zelda's Ocarina of Time
also on the 3DS
Criminal Upper
Banned
Yeah, except that Xenoblade did live up to the hype, and is the only great Japanese console RPG released this entire generation.
SkyMasterson
Member
You know, when people call a game garbage, sometimes it's an exaggeration but in the case of RE: Operation Raccoon City, you are absolutely right.
It is a piece of shit and for some may even ruin RE2. Luckily for me I can separate the two.
I don't even know where to start. Should it be with the terrible generic characters that fit a dudebro game to a T?
or is it the absolutely awful animation in the cutscenes? Leon and Claire move like action figures with limited articulation.
Though I wasn't too hyped for this game so it probably wouldn't be my pick. Sorry for the rant.
Based on the demo, I would say RE6. Though things could change when I play the full game but seeing what I'm seeing and what I've read and what I played of the demo, what a huge disappointment!
Makes you appreciate RE5 more...
At least Revelations was good, but Capcom couldn't even spell the games title correctly.
It is a piece of shit and for some may even ruin RE2. Luckily for me I can separate the two.
I don't even know where to start. Should it be with the terrible generic characters that fit a dudebro game to a T?
or is it the absolutely awful animation in the cutscenes? Leon and Claire move like action figures with limited articulation.
Though I wasn't too hyped for this game so it probably wouldn't be my pick. Sorry for the rant.
Based on the demo, I would say RE6. Though things could change when I play the full game but seeing what I'm seeing and what I've read and what I played of the demo, what a huge disappointment!
Makes you appreciate RE5 more...
At least Revelations was good, but Capcom couldn't even spell the games title correctly.
Oxigen_Waste
Banned
Fingers crossed for Ni No Kuni. Sure is looking great!! ^^
ME3 is the poster child of disappointing games talk for me. It instantaneously turned me from crazed ME fan to apathetic ME outsider.
Nonsense side quests that were as pure and barren as it gets for fetch quests, completely stupid and backwards mission log, shamelessly lazy use of sprites, shameless DLC hack job, no hub worlds, etc... And this isn't even getting into ME3's more notorious draw backs...
Nonsense side quests that were as pure and barren as it gets for fetch quests, completely stupid and backwards mission log, shamelessly lazy use of sprites, shameless DLC hack job, no hub worlds, etc... And this isn't even getting into ME3's more notorious draw backs...
eso76
Member
Played very few games this year. I must have bought like 2 retail games at full price, one of them being Halo 4 which campaign I found disappointing. Just a lot less exciting and memorable than i expected, for various reasons.
Not bad per se, but I had higher expectations and made my interest in the series drop. I think Halo could use a new direction (wouldn't mind seeing it take a more far cry-ish route).
I only tried re6 demo, but it was enough, and this is coming from someone who really enjoyed 5 for what it was.
Absolutely terrible.
Not bad per se, but I had higher expectations and made my interest in the series drop. I think Halo could use a new direction (wouldn't mind seeing it take a more far cry-ish route).
I only tried re6 demo, but it was enough, and this is coming from someone who really enjoyed 5 for what it was.
Absolutely terrible.
Writer_Head
Member
RE6 just for being terrible.
DidntKnowJack
Member
It's funny because I didn't play very many of the big AAA games released this year. I didn't play Mass Effect, Diablo 3, RE6, Max Payne, AC III, Halo 4, etc. I only say that because one of those might have been my choice. But I'll go with SSX. It's not a bad game, it's just not fun.
Didn't surprise me because I saw videos of if and played the horrible demo.
lazybones18
Banned
Mario Power Tennis
famousmortimer
Banned
Dishonored. It wasn't terrible, obviously, but i made the mistake of building it up in my head and what it delivered was a great atmosphere with pretty blah everything else.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Hitman Absolution by a country mile! Turn the Hitman series into a Conviction knock-off and add in a completely BROKEN disguise system, eurgh!
Will there be a most disappointing game of the year award on gaf later? I feel it would be interesting just because this year has been quite notable for disappointing AAA releaes.
Will there be a most disappointing game of the year award on gaf later? I feel it would be interesting just because this year has been quite notable for disappointing AAA releaes.
AgentOtaku
Member
Can't agree with that
I'm especially fond of the hugely underrated Blue Dragon. Tales of Vesperia was really good too.
I couldn't get past Xenoblade's visual aethestics. Art design didn't appeal to me at all so it wasn't fun to look at. Being on the archaic Wii did it no favors either.
Found UK dialog to be annoying as shit as it never shut up.
As much as I loved Diablo 3 and put a load of hours into it, I just thought it was not as good as it was hyped up to me. Sure they have done some nice updates but there is just fundamental things in there that stop it being a real successor to Diablo 2. Just really disappointing to wait so many years to play it and then it just not perform they way you wanted.
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