Top Ten Most Disappointing Games Of 2009 [TGH]

TGH writes:
"2009 is almost gone, and, looking back, there has been numerous key moments in the gaming industry: Capcom has managed to revive the fighting genre single handily with "Street Fighter 4." The Wii has been receiving titles that are actually marketed towards gamers with doubledigit ages. And Star Wars fans have been drooling at the many developer walkthrough videos for the upcoming Star Wars MMO by Bioware. To say the least, in term of gaming, things are looking good.

With that being said, this doesn't necessary the gaming industry did a perfect job this year. While sale records have been broken, there have been a few games released that received a ton of hype but failed to fufill their promises. The rules for this year's list remain the same as last year: Any game that I was personally hyped about and didn't meet my expectations..."

[Delta]

I Concur

[jjohan35]

ODST, Fear 2, and Wolfenstein need to be added to the list. Biggest waste of $60 in my opinion.

Don't agree with MW2. 380,000 players strong on the PS3 at any single time. Not sure about 360 since I haven't renewed my subscription.

Completely agree with Fight Night Round 4. I hate the new control mechanics.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

10. Damnation
9. House of the Dead Overkill
8. Madworld
7. Shellshock 2
6. Modern Warfare 2
5. Sonic and the Black Knight
4. Halo 3 ODST
3. King of Fighters XII
2. Resident Evil 5
1. The Conduit

[NecrumSlavery]

My top 3 Are:
Prototype
Beatles Rock Band
WET

MW2's SP is great though short, but the MP is completely broken. I vomit in my mouth a little when I see it win over better games.

[specialguest]

SF4 should not be on that list at all. If you're a true fighting game fan and played SF4 enough to master all of the basic elements, then SF4 is not a disappointment.

Useless Focus attacks and ultras?!? He's probably a scrub and never mastered it. No wonder he chose SF4.

Compared to the competition? What competition???

[sikbeta]

Prototype (6 on the list)
Bionic Commando (4 on the list)
Fight Night Round 4 (3 on the list)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2 on the list)

And I put on the list:

RE5
Everything GH related XD
Everything RB related XP
Everything F*ctiv$ion related lol

And I disagree with:
SF4
Don't played the others

[topdawg122]

These guys obviously don't know sh*t about street fighter, one of the best fighting games of all time

[Budg3tG4m3r]

TheDeadMetalhead that list is good RE4 and ODST were good though.

Ratchet and Clank, god that was a bad game.
I didn't like MW2.
UC2 was great but I don't like scripted games all that much, still fun though and worth GOTY (twice)
I don't agree with Prototype I liked much better than Infamous.
I do agree with Section 8<-- very bad game.
Bionic Commando was fun, MP sucked but I don't see why people think it as bad, unless they are talking about the story.
Terminator should have been on that list.

jjohan35 I don't agree all those were good games accept MW2. I didn't hit the disagree BTW.

[bitboi]

have you ever played street fighter 3: third strike? cuz if you did, you'd never say that part 4 is better...

[SilentNegotiator]

While it had it's moments, it was short and didn't push the envelope. The fact that firefight doesn't have matchmaking still saddens me.

Modern Warfare 2, also. Short, re-skinned climaxes, and glitchy multiplayer.

[Venomish]

The writer should only be disappointed with himself for being a total scrub in sf4.
useless focus attacks....sigh... stfu, just stfu and stop making yourself look stupid

[hay]

@specialguest: Dunno dude, I play fighting games since '91(SF2) but SFIV was hell of a disappointment for me. Animations sucked, char models sucked, gameplay was stiff and boring.
Only BlazBlue was worthy fighter this year. And maybe T6 if you close your eyes on button mashing "goodness" that expands the series by each iteration.
SCIV on the other site was pure "mash-fest", and KoFXII mediocre(which was hugely disappointing for me since I played the SNK fighters since Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting).

Mad World wasn't disappointing, it was rather refreshing experience on Wii and Prototype was fun but was overshadowed by inFamous.

[rockleex]

Yes, and please read what he has to say about how much MW2 sucks compared to COD4.

It is VERY obvious that Infinity Ward should have held Betas for MW2. To balance the gameplay, to reduce the lag, to get rid of glitches, to fix the outrageous maps, etc.

[DasBunker]

id have to add Resident evil 5 to the list..

[bitboi]

agreed!

[sikbeta]

I'm with you, lame game

RE4 + steroids + bad story = RE5

[TheDeadMetalhead]

I think it's best that we all pretend that RE5 never existed, and that Dead Space was the real RE5.

[Myst]

Yeah KOF was a disappointment to my friend and I, to which we were both looking forward to the game only to find out that the list was far to small and the characters I would have like to play as weren't making their appearance. All in all it looks nice, but it doesn't look like it has the same KOF pizazz to it.

[MajestieBeast]

Wow someone actually put mw2 on the list nice.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Not nice.

MW2 is a fantastic game.

Did you play the campaign?

[NateNater]

Just because MW2 has a short but sweet campaign doesn't mean it shouldn't be on the list. The MP in MW2 is completely broken and a total glitchfest. Until this is fixed (if it ever is) it deserves to be on this list.

@ 4.3

It is an excellent game. Thats why it sold around i believe 5 or 6 million copies so far. It has memorable parts and is a blast to play with friends. However, people complain because its full of glitches. So many glitches have popped up since its release that people have become frustrated with it. Thats where the hate comes from.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

For some reason there is a lot of hate for MW2. I'm not sure I understand why, since it is an excellent game.

I guess the trend is to hate on MW2 now....

[STICKzophrenic]

People tend to start hating on anything that gets too popular. It becomes popular for a reason, then some people are late to the party and don't understand why so many people love. Others feel the sequel doesn't live up to its predecessor. Whatever the reason, for every person who hates a game, there are 20 who love it. The disgruntled people are the most outspoken for whatever reason.

[enviable27]

Maybe its because a game with a 4hr campaign is not worth $60? Just sayin.

[glennc]

the article is about disappointing games. MW2 was too short, rushed, tacked on spec ops even shorter, glitchy untested MP... so yeah, a disappointment after MW and the money it made for both IW and Activision. it has nothing to do with popularity and everything to do with expectations

i am not sorry i bought it but there isn't anything memorable about it.

[rockleex]

It was short, but it was definitely not sweet.

The single player campaign managed to kill some of my braincells with its ridiculous plotholes.

You were basically doing random missions, with random objectives, with a random as hell storyline. There simply was no point to the single player.

Don't even let me get started on the multiplayer. -_-"

[chasegarcia]

Street fighter 4? Modern Warfare 2?

[Omega Zues]

for the most part I agree with the list. Modern Warfare 2 just dropped the ball on its multiplayer since every day we find a new glitch and spreads like wild fire.

[The Emperor]

I agree bout the glitches, but it's still fun though.

I don't understand the disappointment for ODST, it did just what it set out to do, which was to fill in the gap between halo 3 and reach by adding all the multiplayer packs as well as firefight and the Reach beta, the campaign was fun, nothing to not like about it. 4 hours? haha bet anyone whoever says that hasn't played it, taken me 8 hours, since I like to enjoy my games. too bad the 4 hour rumor has been spreading, it's such a fun game, but then again it's Halo, can't really say it's not, about a dozen million ppl think so

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

What the heck?

Modern Warfare 2 is phenomenal! Both the campaign and the multi-player are a step above almost any game out there.

The only reason it's not my game of the year is Uncharted 2.

[Limited_Vertigo]

A step above? WTF... Everything about MW2 (especially the multiplayer) is a step backwards.

What exactly about MW2 is a step forward?

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

The writing.
The character development.
The voice acting.
The sheer amount of customization in multi-player.
The incredibly well-crafted "spec-ops" mode.

You guys just want to rag on it because it's popular.

Lol.

Losers.

[rhood022]

Ok.

The writing and plot progression is not a step up. It's a near identical copy of the first Modern Warfare. This, in turn, makes the characters 2 dimensional and largely forgettable (I've played the single player game three times through and could only name "Soap" and Price) and the story horrendously predictable.

I mean, I wasn't shocked when certain characters died. I'd seen it before in the first game. I'd have been more shocked had the characters lived through the game. Nor was I surprised that there was some sort of great catastrophe half-way through the game.

The only area where the game moves past the first one is multiplayer.

[jdktech2010]

you do realize that if you play through it more than once, you will have actually seen the characters die and know what happens....sorry, hadn't had my sarcastic comment of the day

[topdawg122]

NO doubt MW2 is in the top 3 games of the year, don't understand all the hate, probably just a bunch of noobs.

[sikbeta]

WTH!

I hate the game not for being a loser like you said, quite the opposite, I just hate it because is the NEW MADDEN NFL, now you get it?

Slightly updates for a Game that sell a Sh*tload of copies, instead of invest to make it better, is not the best way to go

Maybe Next year F*ctivi$ion will release a new COD game and is going to be the same glitchy/buggy cr@p like MW2 or even worse, but wait the game will have an slightly update, so is COOL and deserve to spend $60 on it

And with the "success" of the new COD, kodick will announce a new COD game again and so on

[Rocket Sauce]

Modern Warfare is fun for sure, but it's unbelievably stupid, much like the first one.

[rhood022]

@jdktech

I assume you're commenting on my post. But it's obvious I meant that the plot in MW 2 was similar to the first game, i.e. COD: MW. That includes the similar plot twists and the use of a great catastrophe to move the story forward.

I did NOT say that I expected the plot to change after playing through MW 2 the first time.

[tomsau]

The writing was not a step above
It was full of plotholes, and made me feel nothing about the characters
oh hey look... shephard shot whats-his-face and gaz (i know hes ghost)
thats not character development
The campaign did what it wanted to do: provide good playable scenarios
but it felt like they tacked the story on around that
fair play to them, it works... but its not a step forward in writing
The voice acting is in the top few percent though, i agree

Spec Ops: Definitely one of the finer points, i agree that it was great, but not really a step forward for gaming on a whole, its been done before

Multiplayer: Granted it's more customizable than the last game... but it's not a step forward in customisation
look at Metal Gear Online, now that game has customisation. it has everything call of duty gave, plus huge customisation for the avatar

I've seen games go more than a step further than MW2

Now, I'm not hating on MW2, I love it... it's so addictive, even when I'm dying and getting pissed off saying 'i shot him first', I still go back for more. But it's not a technological advancement
It's average, if that.

[rockleex]

Customization doesn't necessarily mean it will be good.

The glitches aren't even a part of my concern compared to the rest of the game.

Its the most unbalanced COD yet. AC130?

Most ridiculous maps ever. Laggiest online. Pointless and ridiculous single player "campaign".

You know how bad the game is when its many glitches aren't even as important as the ridiculous game design itself.

[bozebo]

mw2: "Overall weapon damage has been reduced, claymores won’t kill half the time, and grenades are useles"

what? I didn't notice any of that. Apart from with the sniper rifle damage. (learn to plant claymores... 95% of mine kill someone)

the main issues with the game is how badly ported the pc version was. though, the map design issue is definately true - its the thing I note most about it design wise. Havn't played 1p yet, waiting till I get my new graphics card and monitor.

operation flashpoint was an epic fail too. I had a feeling it would be well before it was out, same with mw2...

also, infamous, prototype and all those kinds of games that are not gta are total crap. the biggest flaw in infamous is how damn loud the footsteps are. wtf, do all the devs live in wheelchairs?

[lordkemp007]

MW2 is a great game although its just not (in my opinion ) goty material.

I think where the sense of disappointment lies is that with their hordes of cash they made off MW1 little appears to have been done to improve the graphics or single player campaign length.

Multi-player is also a broken glitch fest across all platforms at present.

People expected another repeat of 2007's MW1 success. Financially they have pulled this off, sadly its at the expense of the gamers.

[Anorexorcist]

"The first “Modern Warfare” was very close to perfect; the maps were small, provided few places to hide, and had few entry points."

"In “MW2,” that has changed. Maps are much larger, with way too much cover, making this once aggressive game into a world of campers. This is further enforced by the lousy map design that has openings in nearly every area."

I wholeheartedly agree with these two statements. The maps in MW2 seemed to have been crafted to cater to campers and idiot "Emo Kids" (Which is my way of referring to the people who crouch and sit in the corners of rooms [like pathetic, depressed Emo kids] waiting for people to walk through the doorway so they can blast them in the back with a shotgun).

Getting a high killstreak seems to be more of a matter of luck and circumstance in MW2, rather than pure skill. The maps in MW2 really just don't seem to be as good or as user-friendly (for campers they sure are, but for everyone else who has balls and tenacity they aren't) as the ones in COD4.

My favorite map in COD4: Vacant

[bjornbear]

To me Rome: Total War is still the best (and was better), and i expected os much more "new" stuff

I basically finished Rome, n within a month went into Empire, and it was TOO similar =(

However, if i were to want to play a Total War again, i'd go for Empire =)

[unrealgamer58]

mw2 soooooo deserves to be on the list

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

The campaign of MW2 alone warrants a 10/10.

Although short, it's absolutely amazing! It was one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had.

inb4 "You haven't had many experiences then."

[kesvalk]

how come you only say nonsense since you started commenting here on n4g? get a hold of yourself man!

[Baka-akaB]

focus attack useless in sf4? Did he really played it ?

Otherwise i can only agree with kof xii , though it's still enjoyable offline .

Also on the subject people should really lay of a bit about sf4's balance .. it's direct competition barely got anything better , and actually usually worse .
Blazblue is awesome but deeply unbalanced . Hell a better balance is possibly the main attraction of the sequel

And kofxii is a bit more fair than sf4 but isnt even played , with snk to blame .

I hardly see any better current standard to mesure sf4 against in the realm of 2d fighting that would allow people to claims sf4 is so unbalanced .

I'll take any day fighting a good sagat , wich was always overpowered to various degrees in every street fighter , over getting my arse kicked by V13 or arakune .

[kesvalk]

did you played tatsunoko vs capcom?

it's my reason to be dispointed with SF4...

it's so much better.

PS: parry>focus attack any day man, i hated FA too.

[Pumbli]

I'd say he left out Aion, I thought I had finally found the successor to WoW... Oh how wrong I was, how very wrong I was.

[MajestieBeast]

Leon no offence but the campaign is 5 hours long they can get away with it once for making a brilliant multiplayer but twice is pushing it. Yes i played it i didnt think it was all that special hell i thought the campaign of Crysis was better but i guess its taste i just think it was little to no improvement over cod4 except for killstreaks that encourage camping(Nuke)and more perks no visual improvements like other titles this year. But back to the single player the only thing i really loved was the Snowmobile segment but that was only like 2minutes of the game.

Multiplayer: They basicly shipped a beta like Socom for the ps3 and gears2 for the 360 only this time its a big glitchfest and 2 new hacks a day.

So no i dont think its that impressive they
had 2 years and if this is what they did then its a mediocre job compared to uncharted 2 and assasins creed 2.

@Pumbli wow now that you mention it yep ncsoft really dropped the ball im lvl 38 and the lvling is just to boring plus all the bots in game and goldsellers just turned me off the game for good.

[r2kcipher]

I would add Borderlands to that and take away mw2. Most people were bashing it before it came out. So how can it be disappointing to you? It was better than I thought it would be so I am happy. Invite a friend over to play coop and you will have a blast. Borderlands on the other hand..... not so much.

[olon12]

dude modern warfare 2 , street fighter 4 and prototype just remove this post you dont know what games are.

[Kevinmc333]

I can't believe a four hour game (Modern Warfare 2) had done so well. I guess a lot of people who bought the game are idiots. lol. You spend sixty dollars on a four hour game. I rented the game and beat the single player campaign two times before I returned it. I haven't rented it or thought about it ever again. The game really didn't blow me away. The visuals were average when you compare this game to Killzone 2...Modern Warefare 2 story sucked. I just really can't think how this game has benefited me in any way. No wonder a lot of people who bought the game are pissed. I would be pissed if I had blown sixty dollars on a game that brought nothing new to the table.

[Hoggy1983]

The length of the single player campaign gets shorter every day.

[tomsau]

Posted at wrong place

[glennc]

how all you people not see how old the gameplay is in MW2 is beyond me. the game mechanics have changed in only one place and that was enemy respawning in SP. the problem was they had no experience in anything but respawning and so the game was too easy. and MW1 was even older gameplay.In MW2 nothing has changed in years gameplay wise. the environment damage model is the same as COD1 (not MW), the vehicles are still detached from the experience whereby you become the vehicle, not ride in the vehicle. the actual levels are basically corridors with complete linearity where the game could be on rails and you would get the same experience because the game is just a big budget interactive movie, completely scripted. JUST LIKE THE FIRST COD (and every one since).

i just hoped for more and i bet IW know they will have to evolve the game next time to keep up, a bit more than just changing the setting.

unfortunately most people get blinded easily by graphics

[kraze07]

SF4 shouldn't be on that list.

[chak_]

biggest? flashpoint, plain & simple

[Samus HD]

Mad World is a fucc*king Good game - why in the top 10./'';.

[dommafia]

sf4? get the fackouttaheah

[Irish-Republican]

what about fifa10 the worest fifa yet the refs dont have a clue in it

[SportsFan]

1st of all, your list is "Null in Void", because through your own admission, you have not played or owned a PS3, or any handheld systems...which means that your games of the year are most likely Halo: ODST, Left 4 Dead 2, and Forza 3. (All good games of course) Since you haven't played the best of 2009 games, your list consist of only games you know about....which means: I AM ABOUT TO OWN YOU!

1st of all, the only disappointments on your list is Section 8, which I do agree with you on. The other games were not disappointments. (Unless you want to talk about sales...in that case, I don't see Forza 3 on here. You know, the GT5 killer.) Anyway...what possessed you to put Madworld on the list of 2009 disappointment? (TURN IN YOU WII...YOU WANKER!!)

-Modern Warfare 2 is a good game. I agree, it definantly appeals to the casual gamers now, with it's "Halo" and "Camp Fest" feel to it. However, I think it's a really good game, just no where near COD4. (In My Opinion) I hate campers and stat whore, but these are Dependent Variables...where the camp spots, map size, and care packets lean on a game that is already great. Thus making the Call of duty game itself the Independent Variable, because the game's action, campaign (length is irrelevant because the campaign was still fun....except the need of the "No Russian" level), and online.

Aside from you medicare and biased list of disappointments....were a few missing games like: Halo: ODST, Forza 3, NCAA 10, and Tony Hawks. I will give RE-5 and Prototype a pass because there just happened to be a ton of great games close to that genre this year. (Batman:AA, inFAMOUS, Uncharted 2, GTA4-Guy Tony, Demon Souls)

Bottom line: 2009 had a ton of great games, while others did disappoint as well. The main issue is price....there should be a tier system for ra lot of these games. Sports games are not (AND NEVER WERE) $60 dollar games. Bungie should have lost Halo fans (But they wont) for the $60 Expansion: ODST....which would not have gotten hated on as much, if it came out at a more honorable price. Also..the guy who wrote this biased crap and video game "blasphemy" should go rent/buy/play games from all platforms...that way, you wont get embarrassed on here. There were games from ALL platforms that under-deliverd, but you completly missed that.

Modern Warfare 2 (PC) -No dedicated Servers
Ratchet & Clank (PS3) -Good, but startign to loose the "it factor"
Tony Hawk (MULTI) -Activision thought this gimmick would work?
EA Sports (MULTI) -Enough with the $60 annual sports games!!
COD4: MW1 (WII) -Why did you do that to yourselves??
Forza 3 (360) -The GT5 "Killer" was outsold by GT5:Prolouge
*Handhelds gets a pass from me.....designed to be "anywhere" fun, and they deliver on that.

[Hoggy1983]

I don't think you can have a game on the list simply for not selling as much as another. By all accounts Forza 3 is brilliant.

Killzone 2 doesnt sell as well as Halo but doesnt stop it from being a good game.

[SportsFan]

Forza 3 got a TON of hype...and although good, it clearly isn't the GT5 "Killer". (The same thing happened to Resistance 2, when it was compared to Halo 3)

The reason why I pointed out Forza was because it is known as the racing game of the year...and only moved 1 million units. That's a failure for a one of the 360's main 2009 titles. Killzone 2 sold 2.3 million units...Half of which are BEFORE THE PS3 DROPPED TO $299. It has generated some more sales sice then, and the numbers show this. Of course halo 3 outsold this game, it's a known sequel. Killzone 3 will smash in sales, mainly because of the technical achievments of Killzone 2.

I am a PS3 fan, but you can clearly see that my comment was fair and unbiased...as I pointed out games from every system, that failed to impress. Forza 3 is not a bad game, but althoug I may dissagree, I wont argue with people who believe that Killzone 2 is a flop. Because the game got a ton of hype and barley sold over 2 million copies... Halo 3's 10 million sold (Good or bad), is what EVERY FPS will be judge by. Forza 3 it GT5's direct competition, so I pointed out that with all of MS bragging, GT5: Prolouge smashed teh COMPLETE Forza 3 game. (Just like I had to eat crow when Resistance 3 and Killzone were beign called the Halo3/Gears2 killers...and the sales proved otherwise.) Although....I will say that Killzone 2 is one of the best shooters of 2009.

[lizard81288]

its just SFII with teh grafixs added to it.
i was very disappointed with it, and so were all my friends that got their hands on it. my one friend is really good a street fighter and sometimes plays in local events. he was also disappointed by SF4. glad to see its on the list. i was so disappointed with it, i uninstalled it from my computer.

i hope Super Street Fighter 4 isn't as bad. they are starting off on the right foot by adding more characters from the series than just from SF2
>_>

[pippoppow]

Played the original SF2 plenty of times. I found it just an over priced HD version. It should have been a sub $40 game. Me and my brother were disappointed. Don't think it sucks but definitely nothing special.

[spektical]

you know what i realized on these boards, fanboyism gets you nowhere.
This list is good, but i would rather switch out MadWorld with Wolfenstien and move it up the list. While i agree with everything the author said about MW2, the game wasn't a failure. Activision just chose to make a nooby game uber nooby so anyone can pick up the control and get some kills. Everyone knows MW2 is a nooby game, but lots of people play it cause its fun. IMO Killzone 2 is better than MW2 because it caters to a more hardcore fanbase that rewards those who are elite at FPS games, while MW2 lets everyone jump in. This year was the year of button smashing, hence all the fighting games this year, and couple FPS. Great year overall that was capped off with Uncharted 2 and MW2. Next year is going to be even more crazier for both 360 and ps3. cheers for 2010!!!!

[ShadowCK]

"Then comes “Modern Warfare 2.” The single player campaign is less than five hours on a normal settting."

Funny how he praises Call of Duty 4's single player but forgets to mention that both games have the same amount of length. Yes the single player campaign is brisk, but its design has been improved on just about every front. The same goes for competitive multiplayer, where small tweaks pack a much bigger whallop than you'd think. Toss in spec ops and you have a game that will give you a tremendous amount of play time per dollar.

MarkyX really doesn't really know what he is talking about. He complains that both games have infinite respawning enemies, even through IW have said many times during interviews that Modern Warfare 2 wouldn't have infinite respawning enemies.

http://www.moddb.com/compan...

I know what my disapointing game is this year, but I am not allowed to say, otherwise I would be bombarded by disagrees.

[Twizzlada_Shogun]

Tony Hawk must have made this list himself in order to sway the attention away from his abomination this year.

[cpuchess]

Agree with Empire Total War. That was my biggest disappointment this year. Creative Assembly's willingness to release the game full of bugs totally turned me off from future purchases with them. Most games have a bug or two but this game went way beyond the norm.

[Scary69]

I agree with #2 MW2 on the PS3 or 360 all you get is A LOT of campers (noobs). I think the game would have been great if that maps weren't as huge bu decent but oh well.