Games which were great, and then got rubbish at the end.

[GiantRaven]

Half-Life. What the fuck were Valve thinking with that whole Xen section?! Blergh.

Vampire: Bloodlines as well. What happened to all the great conversations and multiple solutions to problems? Nope, more firefights for you!

To a lesser extent (since the ending section is generally pretty damn awesome); Alpha Protocol. Having just finished it today I could see a few sections of story that really didn't fit well together if you played the game in a certain way.

 

[zombieshark6666]

Crysis is a great example of this, starts out as a beautiful, open, interesting shooter and degenerates into dull squid fighting. And the zero gravity section. Yeah fuck that bit.

Yeah, I agree. The second part of that game was really weird and frustrating. Still, that aircraft carrier section was compelling.

Finish Crysis on X360 on Delta difficulty: check. Never again, though.

 

[Lilani]

I was really disappointed with the final bosses of Kingdom Hearts 2. So many "Press triangle to do a supermove you just pulled out of your ass!" things. Going to share any of those newfound powers, Square? Can I just have a little fun, too? I've been playing this game for so long, it's rather rude to take control away from me I hope you know.

Then the part in the final confrontation with Xemnas where you have to mash triangle really fast to fend off a bunch of lasers coming at you. Seriously? The final test of all the powers, equipment, and strategies I've accumulated over the course of the game comes down to how fast I can mash the triangle button? That is just insulting.

 

[Smiley Face]

Looks like everyone's said Bioshock already.

I don't find Assassin's Creed to 'fall apart', it's just that now that later iterations, with smoother gameplay exist, you just get tired of it by the second act. And then when Sibrand is acting hilariously you get back into it for a bit.

As for my contribution, KotOR 2, which quite literally falls apart. But then, everyone knows that.

Also, Golden Sun 2. It doesn't get RUBBISH by the end, but I just feel it gets less fun once you get to the West, with a brief reprieve at Jupiter Lighthouse. Maybe that's just me though.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Indi-

Indigo Prophecy.

Damnit!

Okay, my other pick would be Condemned 2. The game looses all sense of panic and fear when you reach the lodge. Doesn't get much better after that, unfortunately.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Mass Effect 2. I love the game easily one of my top 10, but the bullshit it pulls after you recruit Legion pisses me off to no end.

Oh I just recruited a highly badass Geth who has some of the best lines in the game, and who's best weapon is the specialist sniper rifle. But instead of doing something reasonable like I don't know waiting until all loyalty missions are complete to activate the final mission that, if you delay to ensure your team's survival, causes your entire fucking crew to die.

I swear to god how the hell does that make it through game testing.

 

[Beryl77]

Psychonauts.
That game is great, it's a lot of fun. One of the weaknesses are the platform parts, it's not the best platformer but the platform parts are bearable because there aren't too many and they're not that hard.
The end level on the other hand switches to platform only and with a sudden rise in the difficulty. The whole last part is just one big pain in the meaty ass.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Mass Effect 2. The end level was dull and frustrating, and the end boss was stupid. I dont usually call things stupid, but it really fits that boss.

-snip-

I agree. Swordfighting in AssCreed 1 was terrible. Its much better in two. Its basically the same system, but you have more weapons, as do your opponents, and you can disarm. I pretty much stuck to disarming after I got the ability.

Psychonauts.
That game is great, it's a lot of fun. One of the weaknesses are the platform parts, it's not the best platformer but the platform parts are bearable because there aren't too many and they're not that hard.
The end level on the other hand switches to platform only and with a sudden rise in the difficulty. The whole last part is just one big pain in the meaty ass.

The fact I couldnt go back when your in the last level really annoyed me.

 

[Shumiry]

I'll add Dark Souls to an extent. My first playthrough was enjoyable pretty much the whole way, but I wanted to experience both endings without having to create a brand new character. Enter NG+. Suddenly my armor had no relevance since every enemy would kill me in 2-3 hits regardless, and the fights, rather than becoming more engaging merely became annoying.

It would be different if the enemies fought smarter, (i.e. dodge and parry more) but they just hit harder and had more health, which ultimately lead to just running past them so I could conserve sorceries for boss fights.

 

[WaysideMaze]

snip

You may wanna spoiler that, just in case anyones not played yet.

I can see where you're coming from, but I like to play the Mass Effect games several times to see what outcomes are available. So on my first playthrough I actually got to spend quite a lot of time with Legion.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I agree. Swordfighting in AssCreed 1 was terrible. Its much better in two. Its basically the same system, but you have more weapons, as do your opponents, and you can disarm. I pretty much stuck to disarming after I got the ability.

They improve upon it even further in brotherhood and revelations, allowing you to perform kill streaks. Whilst I think the story seriously suffered in the last 2 games, the improved pace of combat was a very welcome break from constantly holding the block button and just countering/disarming everyone.

 

[GiantRaven]

I swear to god how the hell does that make it through game testing.

Because it's actually a really good idea? It shows how high the stakes are for the end of the game. If anything, Bioware weren't nearly harsh enough in the endgame. It seems somewhat misleading to have a 'suicide mission' in which every single minor little character can escape unscathed.

 

[Ironbat92]

I say Shadows of the Damned, it was great, until the infamous shooting gallery reared it's head, and the rest of the game just wasn't as fun to the point where I just stopped playing it and sold it for something else.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

I swear to god how the hell does that make it through game testing.

Because it's actually a really good idea? It shows how high the stakes are for the end of the game. If anything, Bioware weren't nearly harsh enough in the endgame. It seems somewhat misleading to have a 'suicide mission' in which every single minor little character can escape unscathed.

I know you're right but...

I just wanna hear as much as legions dialoge as possible and have the best ending. It's all I really want. ;-;

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Vampire: Bloodlines as well. What happened to all the great conversations and multiple solutions to problems? Nope, more firefights for you!

The guys making Vampire pretty much ran out of money 2 thirds of the way through the game, so that's why it ended up the way it did.

As well as being released with game breaking bugs.

But kudos to them, a lot of the people who made the game made patched it in their own time (the dev company went under after Vampire), without pay, so they really loved their project.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

....until the latter half of Memory Block 6, in which I'm suddenly expected to swordfight about 20 opponents at once, several times in a row, not being an Assassin at all just some epic swashbuckler. On my fifth try of *that* Templar fight, I just gave up. Going to have to YouTube the rest of the game before I get to start AssCreed2 which is a massive shame

You really don't need to you-tube it. I quit about halfway through AssCreed because I hated the main character. I picked up AC2 after some friends recommended it and honestly didn't notice missing anything (except one very minor detail, which was quickly explained).

I played (and loved) AC2 and Brotherhood. ^^ Ezio is WAY more likable as a character, I found his story much more interesting, and I enjoyed his gameplay more (particularly in AC2 - Brotherhood started to get a little silly by the end).

Anyway, OT -

Indigo Prophecy. I loved that game when it was just this psychotic tale of murder and character.
But then...well yeah, anyone who knows about the second half of that game knows why I didn't like it.

Um... yeah, that.

Such a good start... **sigh**

 

[Haz88]

/Snip

You really need to spoiler some of that stuff, especially the Enslaved bits.

I personally loved the ending to Enslaved (and the rest of the game for that matter), it asked all the right philosophical questions and carried emotional weight. It only lost out on GOTY to Red Dead Redemption, in my humble opinion.

I actually really liked Enslaved. My problem is really only with the ending which I thought came out of nowhere. The philosophical question might be interesting, but it didn't have any connection to the entire first half of the game what so ever. The villain is introduced for the first time in the ending cut scene and then the game just ends. The objective of the game completely changes mid way, from an odyssey to return home safely to a rescue/revenge mission. I just don't think that the change from the one to the other fit together very well.
I put a spoiler warning on the Enslaved parts, but I'm not going to do the same for Kane and Lynch. That game was short and boring, and I can't understand why it got a sequel. Besides, it's 4 years old. At some point it has to be alright to drag it into normal conversation without having to warn people cover their ears

 

[Shadrouge]

snip (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)

I heard they originally had an ending that the player played a greater part in (e.g. Killing certain people or other irrevocable decisions) but something along the lines of time/budget cut it down to what it was. So possibly similar to the Vampire one up above?

There's probably been quite a few, but one I can easily think of was Dante's Inferno.

Whether you liked the game or not isn't what I'm talking about, but the circles of Hell started out with quite a varied and faithful (enough) design to keep them visually interesting. But then (I hear also from restraints during development) the game began to peter out towards the end, most notably in the Malebolge, which should have been a horror show of tortures, turned into a 10-stage arena set up where you fight enemies from all the other levels with a twist (e.g. You must sustain one combo to kill 30 enemies or something.) All the while you're on a black bridge in a dark cavern with nothing to look at.