The 5 Most Dissapointing Games of 2011

[Sixties Spidey]

5. Red Faction: Armageddon.
THQ: Hey! Here's a sequel to one of the most enjoyable sand-box games ever!
Me: WOO HOO!
THQ: Except we're going to replace everything you loved in Guerrilla with every boring, tedious gameplay element from every shooter in the past six fucking years!
Me: Yeah, no.

4: Battlefield 3 (Single Player Component)
The rest of the game was great. Multiplayer's a blast and co-op is awesome. The single player? Yeah, it's an awful mish-mash of every CoD campaign since Modern Warfare 1, and I was expecting something that was at least Bad Company levels of good, seeing as those games had great multiplayer and a solid campaign.

3: Homefront
Out-dated engine, boring sounding guns, ridiculous as all fuck premise, plot, and setting with absolutely nothing that distinguishes itself from Modern Warfare or any other shooter out there. Yes, the game sold well, but the studio was closed down even after it's relatively solid performance, leaving me to believe that THQ actually stands for Talentless Hateful Queefs.

2: Duke Nukem Forever
I'll say this much, it was fun. Worth the 15 year wait? Yeah, no. It wasn't. A more competent studio could've made a more solid Duke Nukem game in a fraction of the time it took to develop DNF. Thankfully, Gearbox still stands as one of my favorite developers, thanks to the good-will they generated from Borderlands, so I hope after they're done with Borderlands 2, they make a Duke Nukem game that's able to exceed Forever and 3D. No weapon limit, no cover, no regenerating health, just Duke the way it was. As Forever stands, it's a clunky shooter that only serves to highlight the phases the FPS genre has gone through over the past 15 years.

1. RAGE
I was actually stoked for this game... only to find that it was a schizophrenic shooter spread too thin between driving and shooting along with a myriad of issues and a plot inspired, AKA: COPIED from Fallout 3.

 

[.No.]

I'm enjoying Rage for what it was. Though I'm 4 hours in and there's absolutely NO hint of a main plot. This is concerning.

Yeah... There's little to no main plot really. Just "FIGHT DA (power) AUTHORITY." It's not a bad game, it's just short, and has an even shorter co-op. Never tried the multiplayer.

 

[vrbtny]

There is another thread asking almost the same thing, but it has a poll and doesn't put a limit on how many you can name. Just FYI.

....whoops. It utterly passed me by. Could you link me or something, because I don't remember it.

I forgot to include Home Front because I honestly couldn't remember if it had come out this year. I agree with the OP. It had potential to be an amazing, gripping story but they squandered the opportunity.

Homefront had that quality. I had actually totally forgotten about it/destroyed from my mind due to shear disappointment in the game. Only did i remember it when it appeared for sale on Steam.

75% and not a single monkey given.

See below for epic ideas about Homefront.

That is very harsh on DAO2. Yes it was worse than expected, it was also a very polished and FUN game. How can it be a disapointment and be a lot of fun at the same time? We should judge games based on how fun they are not on how many features we like.

And i hope Dragon Age 3 is more like Dragon Age 1 than Dragon Age 2, which was a step in the wrong direction.

My biggest disapointment this year was: From Dust.

I just called it as I saw it... mind a lot of forum hate sort of spurred me on. To me DA2 was this big a let-down. Like i said, the game had heritage(Well, one massive epic game) and Bioware produced it. Yet it felt... bad.

Totally with you on From Dust. Seriously, it was one massive, massive let-down. The bugs, the glitches the DRM. The way that it all descended into a simple case of keeping the torrents of water off your civilization. And there was barely any development of your tribe, which I had been looking forward too.

Homefront would have been epic if it took a guerrilla kind of approach to defending one's homeland, (think Marsden's "Tomorrow" series.) I'm still waiting a game like this where one uses innovation and stealth to basically make pin-pricks against an overwhelming force. Developers seem to think this would be boring, I'd consider it damn exciting.

That would have been epic. A RPG/shooter hybrid where you have to band together a group of survivors to fight the enemy.... would have been epic....Bioware! I have your next project!

3. Mass Effect 2(PS3) - Boring guns/gear(this means lots to me in an RPG) and stiff combat. I think I let the hype get to me a bit so that's my bad.

I was oh so very tempted to put ME2 in. But i didn't mainly because it wasn't really a disappointment to me. ME1 left me suspiciously cold(well, compared to some. Seriously, why are so many people praising such a average game?) So ME2 was left off the list mainly because I didn't find it a disappointment, because I wasn't expecting much from it.

 

[Project_Xii]

For me personally it'd be a short list, since there was very little I played this year that I didn't enjoy (ie. I avoided the worst of it). So in terms of dissappointment, there was little. There was, however, some truly awful games that I didn't expect to be anything but that, and they lived up to those expectations wells. Those were:

5: Crysis 2 - Broken, infinitely spawning enemies that pretty much rendered the stealthy sneaky approach useless. Dumbed down gameplay. God awful story. Mediocre graphics, especially on consoles. All round 'meh' compared to some of the better FPS games that came out this year.

4: RAGE - Wasn't expecting it to be great, wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it was though.

3: Duke Nukem - Did expect to be awful, was so, but at least it had humour.

2: El Shaddai - The game that single handedly killed my enuthsiasm for arty, niche Japanese titles. Until this game, every time I saw an arty J game I'd go "FFEERRK YEAH!!" Now, i go "hmmm...... cautious". That game. That goddam game. I hate you so much for that, El Shaddai.

1: Bodycount - A game so bad, no one has even played it. Only one other person on this site has ever quoted me and said they actually played it too whenever I mention it, and judging from the rest of the posts that's probably accurate. This game is the pus that fills the boils on the backs of terrible game developers who lack the skill to even make a game playable, let alone good or fun. It's #1 for me cause I really, REALLY hoped it'd be Black: Part 2. Silly me. I had faith, I really did. But Bodycount should have been aborted in the development womb and then used as a basis for all future developers so they know what kind of gaming stem cells they SHOULDN'T use. Don't play it. Your soul doesn't need the crushing.

 

[Sexy Devil]

My most disappointing game was Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One

I doubt most people on the Escapist actually give a damn about the R&C series, but to me, this was a huge let down. Don't get me wrong, it looked awful from the second it was announced, but somehow, it managed to go downhill from there...

This, this, this, one thousand times this. Hopefully after that disaster they'll go back and continue tweaking their old structure. If they want Multiplayer then bring back the R&C3 stuff that everyone loved. Still don't know why they abandoned that.

Hopefully Overstrike is better.

 

[vrbtny]

5: Crysis 2 - Broken, infinitely spawning enemies that pretty much rendered the stealthy sneaky approach useless. Dumbed down gameplay. God awful story. Mediocre graphics, especially on consoles. All round 'meh' compared to some of the better FPS games that came out this year.

Crysis 2 was my backup. Boy was that game disappointing. I reckon if i had put it in I would have used about 5 thousand words.... and then a few more. I might actually add it as a honorable mention. Got lots of things to say about it.

 

[Generic_Username]

Skyward Sword. Ugh.

 

[vrbtny]

Skyward Sword. Ugh.

I never played Zelda. What was so bad about Skyward Sword.

*Raises R&R Shield*

R&R stands for Rant and Rage

 

[DaSpoony]

Hopefully Overstrike is better.

I've got mixed feelings on Overstrike. I didn't really like the characters from the trailer (the main guy was way to much like Nathan Drake for my liking) but the gameplay looks like it could be really good.

It is a bit scary though that it's going to be a 4 player co-op shooter adventure - just like All 4 One...

Hopefully after that disaster they'll go back and continue tweaking their old structure. If they want Multiplayer then bring back the R&C3 stuff that everyone loved. Still don't know why they abandoned that.

It sucked that last generation I never got internet for my PS2, and could only play R&C3 online at my friend's house or locally. I would kill to play online R&C this generation, it makes no sense to me either why they removed it!

 

[Generic_Username]

Skyward Sword. Ugh.

I never played Zelda. What was so bad about Skyward Sword.

*Raises R&R Shield*

R&R stands for Rant and Rage

Well, nothing was really bad about it. It was just disappointing for a Zelda game, compared to the rest.

You can put your shield down.

 

[vrbtny]

Skyward Sword. Ugh.

I never played Zelda. What was so bad about Skyward Sword.

*Raises R&R Shield*

R&R stands for Rant and Rage

You can put your shield down.

Hell no. This entire thread requires a R&R shield.

I would have to be a fool to lower it.

 

[Sarge034]

....whoops. It utterly passed me by. Could you link me or something, because I don't remember it.

One link coming right up! I suggest you look at it. There are some really good points of view discussed there.


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.335828-Poll-Most-Disappointing-Game-of-2011?page=1

And I think the most disappointing thing about Home Front is that the end seems like it should have been the quarter or halfway mark in the game. It just ends when you gain control of the SUPER WEAPON OF DEATH. You now have control of the Golden Gate Bridge. That will surly force out the oppressive North Koreans! Right?

I can just hear it in a COD kill streak like voice. OUR GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE IS ONLINE!!!

And the North Koreans would be like. OMGS you corner camping tac insertion camping NOOOOOBZ!

 

[endtherapture]

Crysis 2 for me.

I enjoyed Crysis 1 was so much, great, amazing replay value beyond any other shooter I've played, it was just sooo fun.

But then I played Crysis 2, and it was an on the rails shooter. The aliens were ruined, the new suit modes sucked, the story was incomprehensible, and it was just rubbish and horribly overscripted. The freedom of the first game was gone.

 

[vrbtny]

....whoops. It utterly passed me by. Could you link me or something, because I don't remember it.

One link coming right up! I suggest you look at it. There are some really good points of view discussed there.


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.335828-Poll-Most-Disappointing-Game-of-2011?page=1

Darnit, how did I miss a 5 page thread?...I'll be right back, got to go do some reading.

 

[vrbtny]

. The characters were all-right

Preposterous. A cute shy and innocent elf to fulfill our dirtier fantasies, a charismatic female pirate with big breasts, a nerdy mage with emotional problems and gay (I don't care that he's gay, in fact it can be a good thing, but it felt just completely unnecessary and horribly done), A stupid brother with low self-esteem.... Dreadful, in my opinion. Especially Merrill.
I liked the Dwarf though.

See post #12. Go rage at that dude, I gave as fair a review as I felt. That dude actually defends, I did put it as the most disappointing game of 2011..... what more can i do?

 

[M4t3us]

My feelings exactly, I'm not alone! YAY!

 

[AJax_21]

Crysis 2 for me.

I enjoyed Crysis 1 was so much, great, amazing replay value beyond any other shooter I've played, it was just sooo fun.

But then I played Crysis 2, and it was an on the rails shooter. The aliens were ruined, the new suit modes sucked, the story was incomprehensible, and it was just rubbish and horribly overscripted. The freedom of the first game was gone.

In all fairness, Crysis 2 does offer more freedom than your average COD clone so calling it an on-rails shooter is stretching it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely with you it being the most disappointing game of the year. It's simply a step down from Crysis in every single department. It also amuses me how their lead writer was talking shit about other games having shitty writing when his game has the most convoluted, boring, badly written story I have ever seen for a shooter.

In its own, it's a pretty decent game but a sequel to Crysis it's simply not good enough.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

My most disappointing game was Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One

I doubt most people on the Escapist actually give a damn about the R&C series, but to me, this was a huge let down. Don't get me wrong, it looked awful from the second it was announced, but somehow, it managed to go downhill from there...

This, this, this, one thousand times this. Hopefully after that disaster they'll go back and continue tweaking their old structure. If they want Multiplayer then bring back the R&C3 stuff that everyone loved. Still don't know why they abandoned that.

Hopefully Overstrike is better.

I'm going with these guys.

Speaking of Overstrike, I think All 4 One was their test run in implementing a 4 player co-op. I just really, really, really wished they hadn't used the R&C franchise for it.