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The Top Five Most Disappointing Games of 2008

From the article: "There's still a small (and rather unpleasant) step that has to be made now, just to make it easier for everybody to understand that huge budgets and obscene amounts of advertising are not the only things needed for a game to be considered a success. Because, as you will see, we will not talk about unknown, indie or low budget productions - we're talking about products that we, as gamers, considered "smoking hot prospects" when they were announced. But we were proved wrong."
Uni-g - contributor
Published: 323 days 14 hours ago | Article | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | PC
 
 

Showing: 1 - 47 of 47 Comments
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N2NOther - 323 days 13 hours ago
1 -
Fable 2 is easily my biggest disappointment...It was a solid game that I played through to the end, but it didn't deliver what I was expecting at all. It was too short, even with doing all the available extra missions, I beat it in 15 or so hours, which is ridiculous for an RPG. The story was crap, they jobs were tedious and boring, the lack of customization, especially after the first one, was disappointing as well. And don't get me started on the fact that you couldn't die.
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Monchichi025 - 323 days 12 hours ago
1.1 - WHAT????!!!!!!!!!!
Are you nuts!!!!! Fable 2 was incredible; don't know what game you played! That's why it's won some Game of the Year awards and is in everyone's top candidates!

But whatever, there's always haters....and you my friend are one of them!
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Mr Marbles - 323 days 12 hours ago
1.2 - Yeah
Fable 2 was pretty solid, your nuts.
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Toolster - 323 days 10 hours ago
1.3 -
You cant call him a hater just because he felt it was not the game it should have been. everyone has games they love and hate that other ppl will hate and love.
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shovelbum - 323 days 8 hours ago
1.4 -
I actually had a pretty good time with mercs 2 especially in co-op. Haze is just horrible and I was one who was looking forward to the title but after a few minutes I wondered why it was even released in its current condition.
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N2NOther - 322 days 23 hours ago
1.5 -
I do know what game I played...It was Fable 1.5. I love RPGs and Fable 2 was just an incredibly dumbed-down version of one. It lacked the depth of a truly great RPG like Fallout 3 or a Final Fantasy. I had fun with it, but considering the hype and the scores and my expectations, the fact that it failed to measure up makes the game a huge disappointment. See, just because I didn't LOVE the game, doesn't mean I hated it, it just means I was, get this, DISAPPOINTED. Sucks, I know.
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ThanatosDMC - 322 days 21 hours ago
1.6 -
Pretty much Haze for me. I was looking forward to it till i downloaded and played the demo. Textures were blurry and all the weapons were just lame. No promises fulfilled.

I can't wait for Resident Evil 5! I hope the Mercenary mode is also co-op or something with other players.
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SL1M DADDY - 322 days 16 hours ago
1.7 - I'm in with the Haze vote.
They took a pretty cool concept and ruined it with lousy game mechanics. If only Infinity Ward had their way with the game it might have turned out great.
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Kigmal - 323 days 13 hours ago
2 -
The games that come to my mind are Haze and Too Human for 2008. As for me I didn't really buy any games I was disappointed in.
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SRU9600 - 323 days 12 hours ago
2.1 -
Too Human was one of my top 5 games of 2008.

Despite the MASSIVE amount of bad press it received (I still maintain that most of that bad press came from people that hate Denis Dyack) I had an absolute blast playing it.

I think I put about 60 or 70 hours into it before I grew tired of it.

Too Human "2" will be a day one purchase for me.
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Mr Marbles - 323 days 12 hours ago
2.2 - too human
was also a solid game, people just hated on it to prove some stupid point. Great fun once you started playing the game, and that is all that matters.
2.3 ASTAROTH | 323 days 4 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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ape007 - 323 days 13 hours ago
3 -
GTA IV

coming from a huge gta fan
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Mr Marbles - 323 days 12 hours ago
3.1 - I agree
GTA4 was crap, many of us predicted Saints Row II would be better, and we were right.
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N2NOther - 322 days 23 hours ago
3.2 -
So wait, I'm nuts for thinking Fable 2 was disappointing, but you think GTA IV was "crap". Yeah, you're a beacon of sanity.
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Baka-akaB - 323 days 13 hours ago
4 -
I dont get what's Mercenaries 2 doing there ...
I'd agree with too human as well , except , that it's not a dissapointment when you pretty much expect what happened :p .
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Awookie - 323 days 13 hours ago
5 -
Spore really did disappoint the creator was great but the gameplay elements were just half assed
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Jason 360 - 323 days 12 hours ago
6 -
Battlefield BC
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ALL_STAR_28 - 323 days 6 hours ago
6.1 - Bad company was amazing
wth are you talking about Bf:bc was one of the most underrated games of the year its online play was amazing and wouldve been better if they had all the features of most shooters.... imo bad company was an amazing game that needs more respect....
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somekindofmike - 323 days 4 hours ago
6.2 - Bad Company Rules!
I traded in Bad Company After completing it to get Far Cry 2, What a foolish mistake, after reading some amazing reviews of Far Cry 2, and based on my experience of the original I thought it was going to wipe for floor with Bad Company! That's the biggest mistake I've made this year!
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Jager - 322 days 23 hours ago
6.3 -
i hated BC... past BF games had subtitles, and those where played for the multiplayer only really... then BC comes around... Huge focus on the Single player storyline... and theres no subtitles? WTF DICE?
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Twister - 323 days 12 hours ago
7 -
Star wars force unleashed was pure crap.
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callahan09 - 323 days 12 hours ago
8 -
The article mentions that Haze had a poor story and poor combat. I don't get that. What was poor about the combat? I enjoyed it thoroughly. It had a good selection of weapons that all worked perfectly, and you had special moves like the slide and a special melee that could disarm your opponent. The nectar-based gameplay options were really cool, too. Cause your opponent to go berserk by shooting his nectar hose and you open up the opportunity to watch your enemy kill his friendlies as he goes berserk and fires all-out like a psychopath, and save yourself a clip or two of ammo.

The level designs were nice, with tons of nooks and crannies and a lot of things to see on the journey. There was not one single loading screen or frame-rate blip in the entire game. The first time I played the game, I just wanted to play the first level or two and then take a break, but I was instantly engrossed and with the action never letting up, without a single pause in gameplay from start to finish, I ended up playing the game for like 6 hours when I only intended to play for 1. I got about 1/3 of the way through the game before realizing I'd been playing for so long and decided to take a break. And the story was engrossing, too. I admit that I agree that their was some bad voice acting, but it was almost entirely early in the game.

Did these critics even play the game past the opening scenario? Once you become a Promise Hand rebel, the story and some of the voice performances become really, really good. I think the game is under-rated, and it really ticks me off because Free Radical were a talented dev studio, and Haze was a fine game, and the critics raped it and now Free Radical's dead. All because of unfair criticism on ONE of their games.
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SRU9600 - 323 days 12 hours ago
8.1 -
I'm going to pick up Haze soon, now that it can be had for so little money.

I've only played the demo, and that demo was so bad that I swore I would never play the full game, but for $10 I'm willing to take a chance.

I've heard people (like yourself) say that it is actually half decent if you don't go into it expecting a AAA experience.
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Jason 360 - 323 days 12 hours ago
8.2 -
Dude... it's gone and dead, move on.
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PirateThom - 323 days 12 hours ago
9 -
I think GTAIV was the only disappointing game this year, by disappointing I mean "expected to be good, but turned out lame".

I predicted Haze and Too Human would suck hard though, so no disappointment here.
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poindat - 323 days 12 hours ago
10 -
I cannot access the link. Would someone be kind enough to post the list of games?
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MaximusPrime - 323 days 11 hours ago
10.1 -
seems website is currently down.

i cant access it either. (i can before)
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Cheeseknight28 - 323 days 11 hours ago
10.2 -
Age of Conan
Facebreaker
Mercenaries 2
Haze
Spore
11 DragonWarrior46534 | 323 days 11 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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dktxx2 - 323 days 11 hours ago
11.1 -
Are you crazy? MGS4 disappointed you? I understand Mercs 2 and fable 2 (even Gears 2 a tiny tiny bit) but MGS4? I think your standards are a little high.
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NaiNaiNai - 323 days 10 hours ago
11.2 -
why MGS4, cause its just another spin off of the first game. thats how the series works, same story different charaters.
-nai-
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LittleBigSackBoy - 323 days 8 hours ago
11.3 -
like halo?
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somekindofmike - 323 days 4 hours ago
11.4 - WHAAA!!
I think you have way too high standards!!!

seriously what games did you actually enjoy this year?
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Gambit07 - 322 days 22 hours ago
11.5 -
I'm guessin' he enjoyed wii music.
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solsub - 323 days 10 hours ago
12 -
My biggest disappointments of the year were Far Cry 2 and (I know a lot of people will disagree with this one) Fallout 3.
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rhood022 - 323 days 8 hours ago
12.1 -
I'll second the Fallout 3 disappointment. Which is sad because the Fallout universe (not to mention the first two games) has such an interesting and amazing combination between story and gameplay.

This game just doesn't have it in the story department. I mean it is literally--

a) Follow dad from point A to point B
b) when you arrive, dad is gone but do some random task and I'll tell you where he is
c) repeat points (a) and (b) until you find dad and then do tasks for him until he ...
d) repeat (a) and (b) (minus looking for dad) until the end.

While it was cool to roam around the Capital Wasteland, the complete lack of free-form and sidequests compared to other Bethesda titles makes exploring the landscape a chore and pointless. Unless you have some OCD to SEE EVERYTHING. (despite the fact that nearly every landmark outside of the downtown area is essentially the same asset but just with different names)
-----------
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omodis420 - 323 days 3 hours ago
12.2 -
I agree with Far Cry 2. But Fallout 3 is awesome. I think that if you just run through Fallout 3 you will be disapointed. If you take your time an explore you will get a lot of miles from it. I have put in 20 hours and I am only at the point of having to go to Rivet City.
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Gambit07 - 322 days 22 hours ago
12.3 -
Hated Farcry 2.
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creeping judas - 323 days 7 hours ago
13 - I know I'll get flamed but hey it's my opinion
MGS4

and

GRiD
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boodybandit - 323 days 7 hours ago
13.1 - I have yet to play MGS4 *ducks*
but why didn't you like GRID?
I had a blast with GRID myself but I like all racers (sim and arcade)

My biggest disappointment in 08 came from Gears 2 (only because it was my most anticipated game of the year for me and my expectations were probably way too optimistic) because I don't like what Epic did with the online (matchmaking, weapon tweaks and voting options). I also wasn't too fond of how the single player campaign ended. There was no final battle and it was unexpected to see the credits roll when they did.
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creeping judas - 323 days 6 hours ago
13.2 -
the reason GRiD was a disappointment for me was that I had hyped it up in my mind so much. That when I was able to play it and found out it was just an arcade racer, I was disappointed. See all their other games in the prorace series were amazing sim based games, and that's what I was expecting.
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boodybandit - 323 days 7 hours ago
14 - My most disappointing games this year were
GTA IV and Gears of War 2.

GTA IV was nothing like the past versions. It got so repetitive so early on and it severely lacked diversity.

Gears 2 I was a little disappointed with the ending of the single player. Love horde mode but hate nearly everything about their matchmaking and I am not to fond of the tweaks they made to the engine (too many bugs, glitches and over all balance issues).
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somekindofmike - 323 days 4 hours ago
15 - My top five disappointments this year are...
PS3 gamer, based only on games I've played, no particular order

Haze
(enough has been said about haze already)

Far Cry 2
(No where near the quality of Far Cry 1!)

Pro Evo 09
(Ok, But Pro Evo 6 on PS2 is still my personal fav)

Little Big Planet
(great game, but the level editor didn't have as much freedom as I expected, still awesome though)

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
(never been so bored by a Gran Turismo game, I'm still looking forward to the full release though)
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omodis420 - 323 days 3 hours ago
16 -
Star Wars Force Unleashed
WTF happened?
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red5ive - 323 days 3 hours ago
17 -
what about Too Human??
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Lord Vader - 323 days 2 hours ago
18 -
Gears 2 MP is my biggest disappointment, having loved the 1st game's MP so much. Haze & Merc's & Facebreaker & Far Cry 2 = horrid... but I wasn't stupid enough to buy those games, although I wasted a rental on all of them.

Slightly disappointed with MGS4 b/c like Bioshock, after you play it 2 or 3 times, it's rather pointless & offers very little replayability. But like Bio, the 1st playthrough was phenominal though.
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