Fail of the year

[SwimmingRock]

Since I can only base this on games I've actually played, I'm going with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I'm a completionist, but this is one of the two games in my entire life I returned to the store without bothering to finish it (the other being Viking, which came out last year, I believe).

I've loved the Castlevania games since the NES days (not all of them, obviously), but this was a God of War clone and I hate God of War. I struggled to finish the first and swore I would never play another. I was just horribly disappointed by the lack of Castlevania-ness and the combat. You could just tape down the x button, go read the dictionary and somewhere around Q the enemies would final-fucking-ly die.

 

[Ir0n Squid]

Final Fantasy XIII.

I don't even know where to begin. Suffice to say, I'm glad I didn't pay any money for it.

It was the first Final Fantasy I ever played and its quality ensured that it would also be the last.

Aw don't say that. Don't believe that FFXIII represents the whole of the FF game library. Trust me, all the other games are WAY better than this bastard child.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Sure looks like that distinction goes to P2P MMOs. APB and FF14 for example.

Then again F2P MMOs came into their own this year too. LoTRO, PotBS, Vindictus etc. fantastic.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Star Trek Online for me. I know there were worse games this year, and worse MMOs (FF IVX to name just one), but STO was my personal disappointment of the year.

I don't play MMOs and particularly subscription MMOs, but I love me some Star Trek, and the idea of owning your own ship and doing away missions as you explore the galaxy and teach alien women the ancient Earth custom of cunnilingus (why do you think Kirk went on all those away missions?) really sold me (plus I'd bought a new Gaming level PC a month before release.

It was a let down. I wasn't drawn in to the world, and I didn't know anyone else to play with (MMOs are better when you have some chums). As well as that the space combat was shallow (I had expected more in depth control like in Bridge Commander), the planets were small, you couldn't walk around your ship, or even see the bridge, and it just didn't feel like Star Trek. There was no sense of exploration or wonder. I didn't go past the free trial, but I still wasted £30 on the game up front.

 

[rokkolpo]

Halo: Reach

Probably the greatest multi player game IMO, with hundreds of hours of gameplay, a ton of content and a huge community.
The big let down was the narrative.

Seriously how bad was the narrative?
You've cracked it up as the best game ever and it's the fail of the year because of the narrative. Really?

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Final Fantasy XIV isn't MY game fail of the year- it is the GAME INDUSTY fail of the year.
How bad does a fail have to be that the company actually fires the development team, makes a public apology and then makes it free? Seriously, if they added that all the CEOS committed suicide onto that I wouldn't find it out of place.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

Final Fantasy XIV. Easily.

When a company goes on record saying that the game is now free to play until they figure out what to do with it, you know the game has failed miserably.

Honourable mention goes to APB for tanking a small developer, but still comes no where near the type of reaction FFXIV got.

 

[Teh_Lemon]

APB, and I never even got a chance to play it ;_;

EDIT:
HoN was rather dissapointing after it went out of Beta, however... but I guess that's been out for a while :x

EDIT 2:
No wait, I take it all back!! Just Cause 2 SUCKED, and I played that ***** to completion. SUCKED SUCKED SUCKED SUUUUCKED, minus the "i'm just going to do whatever the hell I want" moments.

 

[ChocoFace]

every 'free' MMO.
Item shops suck.

 

[C95J]

For me, it is probably:

Xbox 360: Halo: Reach because although I liked it, I didn't as much as other games and never really played it and as far as I am concerned a waste of money. Loved Halo 3 but I think I just didn't like the series as much as I used to.

PS3: I have 2 for this one, Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2. Heavy Rain because I heard SO much good stuff about it, but for me it was the most boring game I have ever played in all honesty. And Uncharted for pretty much the same reasons, I just didn't really like the gameplay.

PC: I am afraid it has got to be Amnesia: The Dark Descent. NOW DON'T JUMP AHEAD OF ME! I liked the gameplay I watched and thought it was a thrilling game, but there is a bug associated with my graphics card which pretty much flips the screen upside down excluding torchlight and window light. It means I have not been able to play it and am disappointed that they have not patched it.

 

[meatshield]

Fable 3, easy, short,glichy, really not awhole lot of replay value either, you can go on a villager killing spree oh say 200 kills donate a few mill gold and get you white wings back.
I dropped $90 on limited Ed, 10 dollars on DLC quest expansion(gave the game 20 mins more play)big whoop! NPC in the game are well ulgy.

 

[Korten12]

FF14, I thought it was going to be good.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I miss the Master Chief and Cortana...

Don't we all...

As for the worst game this year... Kane and Lynch 2... Easily

2nd place goes to Final Fantasy

 

[Talon_Skywarp]

Kane and Lynch 2- Worst game Of the year

Most disappointing- FF13. I felt used

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Alan Wake

I bought into all the hype and build-up for it, where it was seen among the general gaming population as being an intense survival/psychological horror game that would fuck your brain until it begs it to stop, then make your heart run laps for 10 hours until it nearly dies.

What we got...just...watch Yahtzee's review of it. It pretty much sums up this embarrassment perfectly.

 

[MintyNinja]

Just rented and played The Force Unleashed 2. It took me 6 hours. Where in the hell is the rest of my gameplay at?

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom. I know it's not a 2010 release, but I only played it recently and it's horrendous.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

1. New Vegas bugs
2. New Vegas loading screens
3. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood INstant fails and 100% sync mechanic
4. Kane and Lynch, the whole game

 

[northeast rower]

so many. Bioshock 2 takes the cake for me, but God of War 3 and Force Unleashed 2 were close behind.

 

[Moeez]

Alan Wake

I bought into all the hype and build-up for it, where it was seen among the general gaming population as being an intense survival/psychological horror game that would fuck your brain until it begs it to stop, then make your heart run laps for 10 hours until it nearly dies.

What we got...just...watch Yahtzee's review of it. It pretty much sums up this embarrassment perfectly.

Really? Why didn't YOU like it?