Gaming Disappointments/Pleasant Surprises

[Exius Xavarus]

Surprise: Kid Icarus: Uprising. The banter between Pit, Palutena and the baddies are gold. Pit cracks me up quite a bit.

Disappointment: Dragon Age II. I just didn't really like it as a whole. It was an all right game on its own, but I personally think it would've been better named something other than Dragon Age. I preferred the combat of Origins much more than I did for DAII, which was sort of disappointing because of all the hype I'd listened to about how they vastly improved it.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Dragon Ball: Ultimate Tenkaichi was a massive dissappointment, I don't even know why I was looking forward to it.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

What can I say? When you've got a sandbox game set in your own hometown done by a developer who's shown that they're not just f#$%ing around, you trust that the game would be in good quality.

Lucky guy, how is the Hongkong-edition? I heard over epicbattleaxe.com that you got the whole DLC for free. I was a bit shocked that they use the SR3 DLC routine with this game. It`s easy to miss out some of the cosmetic stuff, vehicles and a buffed up triad/police/face-meter but i like extra missions and especially extra moves, since those are really strong points of this game. I`m also a sucker for outfits. I`ll wait and see what they`re comming up with.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Disappointment: Hellgate London. Fuck that game with a rusty pipe. Everything about that game was a failure.

Surprise: From Dust. I was expecting to enjoy it. I was not expecting the paroxysms of glee I got off it.

 

[Panorama]

Max payne 3, was the most recent let down for me, i was really hoping for something similar to the second game, which was slightly silly in its grim and grittyness, and that made it my favorite of the series, and then unfortunately they forgot this and made it overly serious and the mono-logging continuously annoyed me aswell.

 

[Mint Rubber]

Disappointments:

Crysis 2 - "So we heard you guys like tropical islands, open world gameplay and wacky octopus-like aliens. That's why we're gonna give you a city, lots of corridors and generic alien-robots."

FEAR 3 - Oh my God, where do I even start? I admit, the series is a guilty pleasure of mine and I've played every single installment, but this game has no redeeming features. I can understand that it's a budget title but the story makes absolutely no sense. And the gameplay...they added cover in a series that's supposed to be about bullet-time ballet, and they added it badly too. They also got rid of the iconic replica soldiers and now you're fighting against an endless supply of corporate goons. It's so bad it makes me feel indifferent about the whole series. Now I don't generally go on hating but the people who worked on this game should consider a career change. I'm not even going to get into the bad graphics, total lack of scary stuff and co-op no one asked for.

Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior - I knew it's gonna be bad, but man was I in for a treat... Suffice to say that the devs believed that the imperial bolter is actually a real rocket launcher. One of the few games that I never finished.

Surprises:

Latest surprise: Spec Ops: The Line - this game took me completely by surprise, in a good way. It's one of the few games I've ever played that actually plays YOU on a psychological angle. It also takes a definite turn for the surreal, another plus in my book. I'm amazed this game got green-lighted in today's world of boring brown bro-shooters. I can not recommend this enough.

King of surprises: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher's Bay - When someone says that Movies/ Movie franchises can't spawn good games I turn them towards this gem, a great example to the contrary. The game has it all: good varied gameplay, great atmosphere, great graphics and a stellar cast (Vin Diesel's voice makes half the game). If you never played it get Assault on Dark Athena, it also contains this game with a remade engine and better graphics.

 

[Moonpig123]

Disappointments: Resistance 2. It just seemed to make up the story as it went along, and not in a good way. The promise of Nathan Hale as an action hero was squandered and the ending sucked.

Also, Halo Reach. Dull story and bland, forgettable characters (although the multiplayer's as fun as ever).

Pleasant surprises: Rogue Trooper. I wasn't familiar with the 2000AD character before the game, but I'd read some decent reviews and seen a couple of gameplay videos, so I gave it a shot. It's one of the nicest surprises I've ever had in gaming: fun, inventive and well-crafted, with a tight script and varied action. And yet, I've never met anyone else who's ever played it, or even heard of it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum. I expected to enjoy it, but I was unprepared for just how completely polished it is.

Ratchet and Clank. The first one, and the first game I ever got for the PS2. I'd never heard of it, but I got it (with the PS2) for Christmas years ago. I remember thinking it was one of the most inventive, purely FUN games I'd ever played.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Dissapointment- No More Heroes 2. I loved the first game so I expected the sequel to be even more better. Sure I like the new characters but the gameplay itself was the dissapointment, the developers just cave into the fan demand over the stuff they didn't like in the first game. The result was the change that made the game worse (the fun mini games were now bad 8bits games, no more entry fees mean the game will end alot faster).

Surpises- Xenoblade Chronicle. Sure I had heard good things about that game pior to release but playing the game itself, it blew me away! Yeah I expected it to be an JRPG with some changes but those changes are exactly the stuff that made me put off from JRPG (the game let me save whenever I want, the map are HUGE and etc).

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Here's one that was a combination disappointment/pleasant surprise: Orphen: Scion of Sorcery for the PS2. Thanks to an article I read in PSM around the time of the PS2's launch, I was expecting it to basically be a 3D castelvania with a license from some anime I'd never watched. What I got was an action RPG based on some anime I'd never watched. It's a pretty neat little game, though, well worth the $2 I spent on it in Gamestop's $4.99 and under bin.

Another pleasant surprise from that bin: Wipeout Fusion. I'd never played more than a demo of a Wipeout game before, so I wasn't expecting much going in. It turned out to be one of the best racing games I'd ever played.

 

[natster43]

Disappointment: Crackdown 2, Fable 2, and Marvel Vs Capcom 3.
Suprisingly good: Fallout 3, Dynasty Warriors 7, and Deadly Premonition.

 

[Big Phil]

Disappointment: Really can't say. Everything I've played had its ups and downs, but I can't say any of the games was actually a disappointment.

Pleasant surprise: Rayman Origins. I knew this game had good reviews all over the net, but after trying it out for myself I was absolutely overwhelmed at how good a platformer it is. Everything is great: from the gameplay and difficulty curb to the level design and (especially) the soundtrack.

 

[Twyce]

Surprise: Dragon's Dogma. Bought it on a whim, didn't expect to enjoy it that much (maybe waste an evening here and there). That game took up my whole weekend and more. Absolutely adored everything about it, even it's weird ass glitches. It's like an Idiot Savant of games.

Disappointment: Witcher 2. I expected to fall in love after all the praise. But the game just didn't keep my attention. A shame. I might go back and try it again. We will see.

 

[itsthesheppy]

Pleasantly surprised: Mount & Blade

I picked the game up on a hunch one day because I was bored out of my skull and looking for something new. I ended up putting 450 hours into it.

Disappointed: LA Noir

Just terrible. Boring, the conversations and interviews felt really artificial. Why can't I doubt him, and then believe him? Why can't I accuse him of lying, but then back it off to merely doubting? Why can't I present a piece of evidence to accuse him, and if that fails, present another? Frustrating and awful, despite the really good presentation.

 

[the_great_cessation]

Disappointment: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
A lot of this game seemed a lot more soulless and manufactured then it's predecessors. The lack of a true overworld, uninteresting NPCs and repeated dungeons, bosses and limited enemies really left a bad taste in my mouth. As someone whom Zelda was such an important part of my childhood, it was really disheartening to see the latest installment be so tepid and uninspired.

Surprise: Batman: Arkham Asylum
I played this on the recommendation of a friend expecting it to be a fun little diversion. What I got was one of the most atmospheric, engaging and interesting games of this generation.

 

[Edl01]

Disappointment: Ocarina of Time, over years and years of hearing about this supposably "best game ever" I finally played it and got a sub-par action games with puzzles which half the time are so easy a two year old could figure it out and half the time things you just figure out with blind luck and adventure game logic. The combat was not very fluent for me and even then the majority of the time I found the game incredibly easy only ever getting stuck once or twice and the boss fights were just a complete jokes with most of them going down in just 1 or 2 tries for me. The last boss was also just as pathetic, I beat Ganondorth on my first try and Ganon only took me 2 more which is ridiculous for such a game.
Contravercial I know but just my opinion.

Suprise: Sonic generations, finally a good 3D sonic game; it only took them 10 years to make another one which I think gives me rights to say I was suprised with how much I liked generations.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Disappointment: Kirby's Epic Yarn. I'd heard all these good things, yet when I'd beaten the game, I had felt challenged only once, and was left thoroughly unimpressed. Paper Mario managed to be a familiar face that ran with a theme based on aesthetic choice, with cute mechanics associated with it, but Epic Yarn just felt like the opening chapter of a much, much bigger game, and then--nothing. I was bummed, but happy that I'd only gamefly'd it, because it was done and back in the mailbox the same day as I took it out.

Surprise: Xenoblade Chronicles. Went in thinking this would be another bad entry in the current gen's list of JRPGs, but, had I been wearing them, my socks would have promptly blown off. Thirty hours later, it finally finishes teaching me the last gameplay mechanics, and the open, semi-tactical combat is fast and fluid, while the story and characters are engaging in ways that I haven't seen in years. Easily the best new JRPG since Kingdom Hearts joined the scene a few years back.

 

[-Drifter-]

Pleasant surprises: Rogue Trooper. I wasn't familiar with the 2000AD character before the game, but I'd read some decent reviews and seen a couple of gameplay videos, so I gave it a shot. It's one of the nicest surprises I've ever had in gaming: fun, inventive and well-crafted, with a tight script and varied action. And yet, I've never met anyone else who's ever played it, or even heard of it.

I'd completely forgotten about this game until you brought it up. I used to visit Game Tap quite a bit and one day they had Rogue Trooper for free, so I gave it a go. Fun game, though Gunner's constant yacking got pretty annoying pretty quickly.

Disappointment: Witcher 2. I expected to fall in love after all the praise. But the game just didn't keep my attention. A shame.

I definitely agree with this. Combat was fun (sometimes) but otherwise it's "meh" across the board. Another generic medieval fantasy, pretty to look at but small and restrictive, decently written but overstuffed with boring exposition.

I did eventually get through it, but it took about four or five tries.

 

[folders5]

Disappointment: Batman Arkham City, wasn't as good as arkham asylum, and it just seemed a bit all over the place. The storyline didn't really hold me either.

Also a disappointment was Assassins Creed Revelations campaign mode, I think that the storyline was a bit dull, didn't really go anywhere, and we didn't find out much that we couldn't already guess. Thought the first person sections about desmond's childhood were good, although I don't really get why they made it such a huge obstacle course.

Dead Island was a bit disappointing too, I bought it cos the trailer looked so awesome, but it didn't have the awesome storyline, and the quests are too easy.

A good surprise: Skyrim, got this as a gift, and thought it was pretty slow at first, but once I got exploring, I found I couldn't put the game down. Love how much you can customise your character. Only critisism is it gets complicated when you have loads of quests, but I spose it serves me right for being lazy and not completing them before starting a new quest.

Heavy Rain, Brilliant game, got it as a gift, and I think it's probably my favourite game in my collection. Love the gameplay, have completed it several times over. Comes pretty close with my favourite ps2 game "Farenheit".

Another huge surprise was Red Dead Redemption, I'd heard everyone talking about it, yet when I looked at it all I could imagine was a third person shooter. When I got it I was amazed, couldn't stay off it to be honest.