Games that you've been burnt by

[RyQ_TMC]

The biggest one for me was probably Command & Conquer 4. I had stopped following gaming media a good year before it came out, so for me it was (1) See it on the shelf (2) Freak out as a new installment in one of my favourite franchises was right there (3) Buy it (4) Quit about 10 minutes into the first (non-tutorial) mission (5) Never play it again.

I will probably get back to it at some point, just to finish the story (lack of a gaming-worthy PC precludes me from doing that right now), but it was likely the most severe disappointment I had in a game in my life so far.

Other than that, I'll join the chorus saying Final Fantasy XIII. I got in on release (split with my roommate, so it wasn't THAT bad, cost-wise) and even got through the entire game (the experience is much improved if you've got a bunch of beers and two other guys with you, and all three of you have a lady-with-a-sword fetish). But boy, was it crap.

There's also a smattering of indies that I bought after seeing all the reviewers gush about them, only to discover that they all seem to follow the formula of "take gameplay of a really popular game from 15 years ago, then add an aesthetic quirk". But I won't be naming titles here.

while the multiplayer is amazing, I hate multiplayer.

Eh? I'm not sure what you mean. By "amazing" do you mean "well-reviewed", or "sounding interesting", or something else whatsoever? Because that sounds like a conflicting statement.

 

[Pikey Mikey]

Saints Row The Third *Text-compression*

I sold it for a dollar because I didn't want that horrible game anywhere near my copies of Saints Row and Saints Row 2

Yeah, also the fact that the game gave you a tank, a flying tank (war-copter/jet) and a guided RPG-launcher after the first... four missions or whatnot? Which led to there being almost no challenge to it. (and, as you said, the constant random humor without any of the realness (terrible choice of words) so the humor outstays it's welcome fairly quickly (although I did find the gimp-carriage-chase-scene really funny))
In SR2 there were no tanks (only Bears, which were awesome to hide in when running from the SWAT-helicopters) and the Annihilator RPG (guided)/Satchel Charges were made available at a more fitting part later in the game. Haven't played the first one though =/
... I probably should, shouldn't I?

 

[mysecondlife]

Assassin's Creed 3.

At first it was good. Climbing trees, hunting animals, etc.

But then..

The set piece events and battles: huge disappointment

Connor's ending: um... ok...?

Desmond's ending: What. The. FUCK?

Not to mention horribly designed missions-- Completing all missions for 100% sync is just frustratingly impossible.

Eluding colonial and british soldiers are just annoying, the most effective way to make them go away is through boring combat system..

--

I'm not angry, just bored and disappointed more and more I spent my time with it.

 

[floppylobster]

The biggest one for me was probably Command & Conquer 4. I had stopped following gaming media a good year before it came out, so for me it was (1) See it on the shelf (2) Freak out as a new installment in one of my favourite franchises was right there (3) Buy it (4) Quit about 10 minutes into the first (non-tutorial) mission (5) Never play it again.

EXACTLY what I did. I use it as a coaster.

I've had plenty of disappointments, but I generally don't get my hopes up so the fall is never that far. But C&C4 was just such a slap in the face. It still stings.

The recent death of the new 'revival' game shows how badly they damaged the franchise with that one.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Batman Arkham Origins easily takes the cake.

That game is shamelessly bland and derivative, and nothing short of an insult to the first two.

I've just met the Joker for the first time in that game, I'm enjoying it so far.

Franchises like Assassins Creed get a free pass on being derivative (and arguably bland, depending on who you talk to, not my opinion on that though). Arkham Asylum, gave us an awesome Batman game. Arkham City, improved upon game play and scope, but lost some of its charm in the spreading out the locales. Which I understand, but overall it was considered an improvement. Arkham Origins, more of the same, therefore bad? I'm not saying it's better then the others, but I consider it a solid entry. But using derivative as something bad against it seems silly. It's part of the franchise, surely you play sequels to games and enjoy them sometimes? They're still derivative too, being derived from the same source.

Now if the next one, if there is one, is the same as Origins, then it starts to stagnate and then I see an issue that people could get really annoyed at.

As for bland, that comes down to preference and personal taste, so if you found it bland, you found it bland. Fair enough.

Mine, Blood Bowl for the Xbox 360. So much content cut from this title, but was still on the PC. I have the PC version now, was gifted to me by a friend and it was great, but that console port...

 

[loa]

Spore.
A DRM ridden waste of potential that literally made me stop buying boxed pc games altogether.
That was also the first time I learned about DRM and that it is now in fact everywhere.

 

[Hunter Hyena]

Saints Row The Third *Text-compression*

I sold it for a dollar because I didn't want that horrible game anywhere near my copies of Saints Row and Saints Row 2

Yeah, also the fact that the game gave you a tank, a flying tank (war-copter/jet) and a guided RPG-launcher after the first... four missions or whatnot? Which led to there being almost no challenge to it. (and, as you said, the constant random humor without any of the realness (terrible choice of words) so the humor outstays it's welcome fairly quickly (although I did find the gimp-carriage-chase-scene really funny))
In SR2 there were no tanks (only Bears, which were awesome to hide in when running from the SWAT-helicopters) and the Annihilator RPG (guided)/Satchel Charges were made available at a more fitting part later in the game. Haven't played the first one though =/
... I probably should, shouldn't I?

The first one was more or less completely basic as a GTA clone type of game, with very well done humor and the BEST talk radio station in any game to date.

 

[FoolKiller]

All the Killzone games. The trailers always make it seem like I'm going to be in these huge, epic, enemies are everywhere and it's utter chaos on the battlefield, but only the opening levels are like that. Then, you're off by yourself doing these covert things. I want to fight a WAR. Not do little black ops things behind enemy lines.

LOL... you just sold me on playing Killzone.

For me, The Last of Us sucked. The gameplay was just terrible forced stealth(I love good ones).

MGS 2's bait and switch hurt me as I played the demo and was angry about Raiden.

The first error was this game called Videomation. Here's the wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videomation Even the description on wikipedia is based on the box, which was a flat out lie. Your designs don't come to life with full video animation. Some canned animations are available but nothing in your drawing is movable. It's a shitty paint program without the ability to save. I got my money back for the first time on an open video game at Toys R Us because the manager agreed with child me.

 

[Karoshi]

Mass Effect 3. I was utterly hyped for almost over a year and then I played it.

I didn't hate it. What I did feel was mild confusion and a vague sense of disappointment. Then, it went from vague to actual disappontment. I'm still sad that it did not fullfil my expectations.

Guild Wars 2 was an utter waste of money too. I will not deny that it is a quality game with many nice features, but it bored me out of my mind 2 days later. A real shame.

Apart from that, I'm used to having low expectations therefore only few games manage to actually burn me.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I've had plenty of disappointments, but I generally don't get my hopes up so the fall is never that far. But C&C4 was just such a slap in the face. It still stings.

The recent death of the new 'revival' game shows how badly they damaged the franchise with that one.

Do you mean the online one? I remember being showered with e-mails about it "coming soon", but I gave precisely zero fudgesicles about it. I was under the impression that they wanted to make it Generals for a FarmVille audience.

Yeah, as I mentioned I'm not coastering my C&C4 disk just yet... But I really want to "finish" the series, even though I know it will cause me pain. It was already bad that they expanded what had been a planned trilogy into a longer series... I'm guessing EA used Tiberium Wars to test the waters for turning the series into a possible annual cash cow, and when that failed, they decided to resort to that old trick, taking a well-established series and completely changing the gameplay in an effort to attract twitch players, resulting in a huge flop.

 

[darkstarangel]

Ring of Red

Reaaally?! I loved that game.

Combat takes a lot longer than it should because every exchange of gunfire is pretty drawn out, and while this is happening it's quite an ugly game too, so there's nothing to distract you from the monotony. Even so, there's something about it! It's worth beating at least once if you can figure it out.

Huh, thanks for renewing my faith in that game. It didn't look bad I just never gave it a proper go. I think I got put off because it wasn't what I expected it to be, & therefore not worth my money despite how cheap I got it for. I will definately have to try it out again some time in the possible future.

 

[duwenbasden]

Dragon Age 2.

Definitely not worth the $60.

And no, not getting any DLC unless the amount of stuff justify the cost.

 

[Frankster]

Let's see....

Rome Total War 2: I'm not as resentful as others are of the game, but what killed it for me is I haven't been able to play the game since...the 4th patch? I was willing to be patient and let the game get fixed, i'm fond of the series so my tolerance threshold for screwups was exceptionally high. But if I can't play the game AT ALL then it is a literal waste of money that doesn't even give me the chance to find some redemptive qualities in it. Maybe it'll be fixed one day but for now when I look upon rome 2 in my list of installed games (i still keep it and update it in hope it will work some day) I see 15-20 gbs of wasted money.

Dragon Age 2: I blame Greg Tito and the overwhelmingly positive da2 reviews for setting up high expectations here.
Had I not been so hyped, I'd have remembered the game more fondly as up until act 3 I was still enjoying it despite some frustrations and niggles. Then act 3 the magician's illusion got ruined and over and over in my head I was thinking "is this what I was supposed to beat up my non existent little brother to get? This is the perfect flawless rpg of the decade that made origins shrivel in its pants?"

Gemini Wars: Got this during a sale and eugh..I should have done some research for this beforehand.
Basically impossible to find a game on your own (and this is a pure online multiplayer game), you have to go through some 3rd party program and jump through hoops and yeah, not interested in dabbling in the community, just wanted to play the darned thing. It would be like as if in dota or league you had to go to the chat and find people yourself to play with (and in this example at least the way to find other players is within the game itself).

These 3 are those that immediately came to mind, but got a few other burns I'm sure
catchpra: think hard It's ok catchpra, I think I've written enough as it is.

Reaaally?! I loved that game.

+1 to the ring of red love. And the fact that each engagement was a combat phase lasting 1min 30 secs was a positive to me, it made it feel more like an authentic battle with intense skirmishes followed by withdrawal as the sides lick their wounds and restock/refuel the mechs. I loved in particular how infantry worked in this game and you could do all sorts of unit/mech combinations to make truly specialized and deadly combat units who fought very differently in the skirmish phases. Meh wheres my ps2...I wanna play it again.

 

[MrBaskerville]

Silent Hill Downpour
I will admit that i didn't expect much, but i still had some hope it did look bettet than Homecoming afterall. Turned out to be a terrible game on all accounts. It had some great ideas and concepts here and there (The stage production that turns into reality among others) but the game just fell flat in every way. Horribly designed with static and boring enviroments and a broken battlesystem. There was no atmosphere and it was never fun or anything resembling fun, just plain boring. It convinced me that the studio probably has one or two people with actual bright ideas and a lot of useless programmers and clueless designers, it's so bad. One of the worst games of 2012...

Then there was Batman, i thought it would be right up my alley but i ended up hating everything about it and yet i bought the sequel , which was even worse...

Oh yeah, Bioshock Infinite is another one, best thing about it was that i could trade it in to get MgS4 and Tomb Raider. The gameplay was boring and quite annoying at times because it was poorly balanced on the so called 1999 mode (The only mode where dying isn't completely pointless). No variety in skills, a misplaced 2 weapon system and horrible gun play makes for a very tedious gameplay experience. Then there's the story, which was the usual poorly told drivel, i don't like the fps way of telling storys (What's up with all the silly vlogs?), in my eyes the method is fundamentally broken but the overwrought, pompous and self important writing didn't help. Throwing 100s of big themes at the player isn't depth, it's just a way to conceal that you don't really have anything important to say. And don't get me started on the ending... I hated that game with a passion...

 

[babinro]

Grand Theft Auto 4

Here's a game that was flooded with perfect 10 scores and game of the year praises from critics AND players. I picked it up expecting something good (although I've never owned a prior GTA game) and wound up selling the game to a co-worker about 2-3 weeks later.

I found it hard to believe that such a 'perfect' gaming experience could have such average contols, tedious side quests and frustrating respawn points. I felt like most of the game was about traveling to your destination rather than doing anything remotely fun.

GTA 5 has received similar overwhelming hype and many of the reviewers claim it's improved upon all the terrible parts of GTA 4. The parts that never came up during the first month of the game launch from players or critics. Again, I'm in a position where I'm interested in buying GTA 5 but feel like I'll just get burned again. As a result, I'm resolved to wait at least a year or more to get the non-hyped reviews of the game.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

That's an easy one. Diablo 3.

Never have been disappointed in a game more. It was so damn bland, boring and "appealed to the masses" i can't even think of any other game that "burnt" me, because everything pales in comparison to what D3 did.

Only Gothic 3 was such a huge let down - but that's a diffrent kind of burnt. Because it was so bug-ridden it was unplayable. An example: 1 single boar could wipe out the main city, because they had such a high attack speed that the target would be locked in a hit animation. Or they just forgot to add values to armor - so even the biggest most badass armor didn't protect you at all.

Edit: Add Darkstar One to that list. I'm a huuuuge Freelancer fan and was hopin' for this game. But nope.

 

[tzimize]

Alien: Colonial Marines.

I fucking LOVE the Alien franchise. Even the weak entries have had something going for them. And since I LOVE the setting I'm willing to look through my fingers with a lot of shit. Still: Alien Colonial Marines is one of the biggest disappointments of my life, and I fucking hate every inch of that game and the people who made it.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'd say my first burn was probably Fable, not because the game was bad as a whole but because it finished with such a weak ending, that it just disappointed me.

Oblivion / Skyrim (most rpgs by bethesda), I always think that these games look great in theory.. The options, the world, all is so ambitious, and they trick me every time... but when I get to play them its all a soul-less clunky mess with awkward characters and pointless side-quests forever.

Uncharted 3 was a big one for me as well, I never expected to like Uncharted 2 so much as I did, so the Uncharted 3 hype got me blustering like a schoolgirl, but then the game was out... and it was soo.. MEH.

An unexpected burn came from Gone Home. I love my silent, mysterious, narrative exploration games, but I felt the plot was so mundane, and the choice for the center story of the blossoming lesbian love was trying so hard at "unconventional", that the game lost me pretty badly.

GTA 4 was also a major letdown, so much it has turned me off for the rest of the series. The scatter-shot narrative, the dissociated characters and the borderline manic depressive tone, coupled with the completely average overall gameplay made the game an exercise in frustration, to the point that after half of it, all I wanted was for it to be over.

Grandia 3 and Dragon age 2, both had the issue of highly entertaining previous games setting the expectations high, and then delivering far less interesting or entertaining experiences, which resulted in much disappointment.

Blizard has managed to consistently disappoint me ever since warcraft 3, but surprisingly, I keep on acquiring most of their products. Diablo 3 was the highlight of crappyness there.

Resident evil 5 managed to kill any resident evil interest I might have had before.
And Indigo prophecy assured that I would never take David Cage seriously... opinion which stands the test of time

hmm I don't know.. I guess many games have sort of burnt me...