Top Ten Biggest Gaming Disappointments of 2010

[Ironman273]

Top Ten Biggest Gaming Disappointments of 2010

All the things we wanted to love but didn't – ranked from 10 to 1.

Australia, November 25, 2010

Sure, 2010 had some truly excellent games – games that likely brought you hours of fun, red eyes and repetitive strain injuries of all kinds. But it also brought disappointment. We're talking about broken dreams, wet eyes and a pang in our hearts that not even the strongest alcohol seems to blot out.

While the games on our list might have turned out pretty well on the whole, we've selected the titles that had the highest expectations on them to begin with. We're talking about epic development cycles, big franchises and ravenous fans. So - even if they scored well, we were disappointed these games didn't quite achieve all they could.

Which games made our list of shame? And what about the runners-up who didn't quite make the cut? Read on!

10. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

After years of waiting for a true sequel in line with Sonics 1 to 3, fans collectively nerdgasmed over the purported return to the series' pure 2D roots. No silly side-quests, no lame characters – no awful voice acting, even – just the purity of high speed racing, jumping and ring collecting. How could it go wrong?

To be fair, Sonic 4 was completely playable – and it never went wrong, per se – but it also wasn't the perfect, shining example of how to do the 2D modern Sonic game that fans were expecting. Being merely very good isn't enough for a character like this; even saying 'this is the best Sonic game in years' doesn't have the kind of weight to it that it probably should. The controls and perspective, short length and limited replayability both held Sonic 4 back in our eyes.

9. PlayStation Move

Sony isn't exactly new to alternative gaming interfaces – EyeToy has been around for years, the Sixaxis controller took a couple tentative steps into the Wii's court, and now PlayStation Move takes another significant stride towards a motion-controlled future. The tech works very well, blending the EyeToy's personal, full-body and voice activated interactivity with the accuracy of Wii MotionPlus.

However, we're disappointed with the overall experience so far. No game – compatible or specifically designed for Move – has convincingly shown the platform to be anything more than a me-too answer to Wii's motion control. There is no killer app yet, nor will there be until 2011. Given that it's the games that ultimately decide the success of the peripheral, Move is still unproven and a bit disappointing in our books.

8. Lost Planet 2

There was a lot to like about the original Lost Planet – pace, verticality and an emphasis on pure-action gunplay that succeeded far more than it failed. As such, after a couple of years of teasing us with tempting snippets of co-op gameplay and revamped presentation, Lost Planet 2 was high on our most-wanted list games. Capcom fumbled this ball.

Not only did Lost Planet 2 fail to deliver the initially promising gameplay premise, it actually took a backwards step in several respects. The gameplay itself was hampered by an overly complex control scheme, the game's difficulty proved badly balanced and the online functionality was severely flawed by poor and short-sighted design choices.

7. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Another sequel that looked to address the sins of the father, Kane & Lynch 2 was immediately visually striking. The handicam grain, disrupted video playback look and hyper-realistic lighting and colour scheme immediately turned heads – to the point where we hoped the team had similarly reworked the gameplay, polishing and tightening along the way.

Sadly, by 'reworked', Kane & Lynch 2 merely tosses together a cover system that never felt reliable along with enemies that took far too many rounds to put down. These grunts also poured out in serious numbers, which killed the realism and upped the repetition. In short, it was a flawed and repetitive shooter that, despite great art direction, never breaks free of being mostly mindless in execution. Once again, all that potential went to waste.

6. Crackdown 2

Hey— if you had nine months to create and deliver a full game, you'd probably look at ways to cut corners too. Crackdown 2 is a sequel of the worst kind, delivering a nearly identical city, barely reworked beyond the colouration, and gameplay that is largely identical to the first game. Why does this game exist? Why?

Short answer is, it really shouldn't – or, at least, not in this form. Sure, adding a mutant infestation might've darkened the tone and upped the bloodletting, but the lack of story, structure and identical gameplay made for one of the biggest disappointments of the year. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the gameplay, but a true sequel to Crackdown deserved more.

5. Microsoft Kinect

Oh, Kinect. You and me – we need to have ourselves a frank little discussion before things go awry. Sure, you're making buckets of dough, and that bottom-line probably justifies the means – but that doesn't mean you're not a massive disappointment. When you were first unveiled, you were a sophisticated and impressive piece of hardware. Almost two years on, you're a sketch of the original idea; a watered down version of the idea we fell for.

Kinect's games and responsiveness have a lot to answer for here. The launch titles are fairly lacklustre, with a couple exceptions, and the lack of a longer-term line-up of more in-depth titles definitely hurts. The hardware itself has a lot of untapped potential, but the removal of a dedicated processor means that finer motor movements in the body aren't detectable and that really limits what can and cannot be done down the line.

4. Fable III

So here we are again: another Fable game that has failed to live up to the tremendous hype generated by its parent company, compounded by comments from Lionhead CEO Peter Molyneux that drove expectations into the stratosphere. Such hyperbole has been Molyneux's undoing in the past, and Fable III, while completely playable and even very good in most respects, nevertheless disappointed anyone expecting a fresh or progressive experience.

3. Medal of Honor

If you're going ape the tone and presentation of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise, at least make sure you emulate what really counts: quality of gameplay too. This year's reboot of the Medal of Honor brand probably deserved a different kind of booting – one that critics and gamers were all too happy to apply.

For starters, initial controversy levelled at depictions of the Taliban suddenly politicized the game, stirring up an ugly media frenzy. In an industry that already struggles with clichéd portrayals of violence, this was a messy situation. Then, after playing Medal of Honor, we were simply left wondering if the bigger travesty was, in fact, the sub-standard gaming fare. Consider Medal of Honor a guide on how not to relaunch a franchise.

2. Gran Turismo 5

Six years and millions upon millions of dollars later, Gran Turismo 5 is finally – finally – on sale. Was it worth the wait? For ardent fans, undoubtedly. For everyone else, however, we really have to wonder if Polyphony Digital understands that it ultimately painted itself into a corner. The expectations placed upon Gran Turismo 5, built off the back of years of waiting, refining, teasing, rethinking, hyping and overselling ultimately took its toll.

IGN scored Gran Turismo a very fitting and great 8.5 – but, like several games on this list, we question if six years of waiting for a less-than-excellent game is really worth it. Are we disappointed? Youbetcha. But would we be willing to wait another year for that extra polish? Heck no. At least it's finally out, right?

1. Final Fantasy XIII

Okay. Final Fantasy XIII is, without question, the biggest gaming disappointment of 2010. Square Enix promised fans so much and under-delivered in every area, apart from utterly gorgeous raw presentation values. It's true – XIII is pure spectacle, but the gameplay is so vanilla, linear and unmoving that we really wonder how the design process made it as far as it did without anyone raising some warning flags.

Being merely 'okay' isn't good enough for the Final Fantasy series. These games have a heritage and pedigree to maintain, and thirteen games in, this instalment indeed proved unlucky. The characters are routinely awful and uninteresting, the storytelling is a jumbled mess that meanders through bland subplot – and then there's the gameplay, which consists of essentially moving in a straight line for the first twenty hours, repeatedly hitting X.

Some have praised this entry for signalling a bold departure for the series; a change of direction and a new flavour. Frankly, if this is how Square Enix views the future direction of its major JRPG releases, we're more than a little irked.

Source: IGN

[iuerg87yerg879e0rg9erugjer]

Final Fantasy is without doubt the biggest disgrace square-enix has ever done, and i am a long time final fantasy fan . medal of honour though should be number 2

[TR1GG3R]

now why is black ops not on this list ??

[Massiveterra]

I hate to say it, but Kinect actually exceeded my expectations.

[iamawesomewicked]

now why is black ops not on this list ??

How is the best call of duty game to date.. a disappointment?

[0trunk]

Final Fantasy is without doubt the biggest disgrace square-enix has ever done, and i am a long time final fantasy fan . medal of honour though should be number 2

+1

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

Yes i agree COD:BO huge huge disapointment.

You gotta be a rocket scientist to be able to play that game on your pc...editing cfg's/new hardware ect. all because of bad coding on treyarch's part.

[TR1GG3R]

How is the best call of duty game to date.. a disappointment?

the best cod game to date ??? pfff surely you jest, its laggy, its multi player is a joke the only thing its got going for it is the single player story there fore my opinion its a huge disappointment

[AnotherITguy]

and why wasn't COD MW 2 included, and im referring to the pc version to be exact, it was a waste of my $60 USD.

and um about kinect, sorry bud but its pretty good, ive samped it.

[Bryan R.]

I don't agree with several things on that list. As usual, these lists are completely opinionated to the author. Medal of Honor is quite a good game...Much better than CoD:BO...Kinect is not a failure in the least bit...

[medium_pimpin]

Fable 3. Loved the first two games. This one was a bitter disappointment.

[Gaffney]

I like it how people like me with a 1.83k/d on black ops love the game but people who say the game is people with 0.7k/d etc say it's rubbish and give up before they even reach lvl50.

It's the best cod so far defo but there is lag, like I shoot someone and they kill me so fast then I watch the killcam and their not even shot.

Also not very many maps but still better than mw2 and on par with cod4 i would say except the campaign.

[mad_onion]

I really looking forward to playing FFXIII on 360 but after everyone said it was awful I just got Dragon Age instead. Definitely, a big disappointment. Fable also wasn't anywhere near as good as I hoped it was going to be, more of the same pretty much.

Kinect in the other hand hasn't been a disappointment at Dance Central alone makes it a worthy product that many people want and enjoy.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

the best cod game to date ??? pfff surely you jest, its laggy, its multi player is a joke the only thing its got going for it is the single player story there fore my opinion its a huge disappointment

Are you playing on the PC? Because I'm playing it on the PS3 and I haven't noticed lag or a disappointing multiplayer.

[Corris Veteran]

Final Fantasy 13 would definitely be the biggest disappointment for me this year without question.

[WastedJoker]

I don't agree with several things on that list. As usual, these lists are completely opinionated to the author. Medal of Honor is quite a good game...Much better than CoD:BO...Kinect is not a failure in the least bit...

[furyshinobi]

Final Fantasy 13 would definitely be the biggest disappointment for me this year without question.

I slightly disagree, I was disappointed with Final Fantasy but it's not my biggest disappointment of the year tbh ^_^ My biggest disappointment is probably Kinect because of the lack of games worth playing besides Dance Central and the price for it :(

[iamawesomewicked]

Are you playing on the PC? Because I'm playing it on the PS3 and I haven't noticed lag or a disappointing multiplayer.

I'm playing it on PC and I don't notice any lag.

Phenom II X4 955 BE, 4GB RAM, GTX 460.

[LingeringSoul]

I must also express my disappointment in Final Fantasy XIII. While I enjoyed the game overall (which likely makes me a rarity in the Gamers' Hangout), it was missing so many of the mainstays that I have come to expect from the Final Fantasy franchise. No towns, no NPCs, no good sidequests, no airship, no world map. I could honestly go on for hours. It's actually a little funny how Tales of Vesperia has more in common with a typical Final Fantasy installment than FFXIII does.

And although I didn't play it (I was scared away by the reviews), I was hoping that Lost Planet 2 would be the next big co-op game. The trailers that I watched looked fun as hell, and I couldn't help but be taken by the cameo appearances (especially Frank West). I was definitely disappointed to see the brutal reviews that it ended up receiving.

[Alladaskill17]

now why is black ops not on this list ??

Because you're a minority.

Yes i agree COD:BO huge huge disapointment.

You gotta be a rocket scientist to be able to play that game on your pc...editing cfg's/new hardware ect. all because of bad coding on treyarch's part.

I'd just like to point out this isn't a PC specific list so your issues with Black Ops are on one of the multiple platforms it was released on, enjoyed it on Xbox 360 and multiplayer is enjoyable except when I "swear I knifed him first" :laugh: seems to be a regular thing, my only complaint.

[Vortex566]

Final Fantasy 13 would definitely be the biggest disappointment for me this year without question.

+1

It was really really bad, and to make matters worse I spent over 40+ hours on it. I'm not sure I agree with GT5, but then again announcing it over 6 years ago has really cost them, as the game would never live up to the hype.

[PyX]

As I read through the list, I was saying to myself : Did... they... really... forget... FF13????

Nah, it occupies its deserved place, the first one.

I should REALLY change my avatar by the way. I?ve had it since before the game was out and I thought it was good back then. I still haven?t finished playing it yet.

[TDQuiksilver]

What a bogus list. Kinect? Gran Turismo 5? :rolleyes:

Get real IGN.

[Subject Delta]

I thought the new MoH game was a lot better than Airborne

[~Johnny]

Gran Turismo 5? :rolleyes:

Get real IGN.

For the amount of time it's been in development, compared to the end result, there's certainly warrant for GT5 being there - maybe not that at number 2 though, I'd probably swap it with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

I can't really think of any other games to put in there.... I mean I was personally disappointed with Mass Effect 2, but meh. Maybe wouldn't put Kinect in there - it works brilliant when it's set up properly, though the lack of notable forthcoming games and it's loss of power since it's original announcement is a downer, but I wouldn't put it as a disappointment by any means. It's still amazing technology that's maybe a bit ahead of its time.

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