Most disapointing game of 2013

[CardinalPiggles]

Probably Tomb Raider.

The survival aspect just wasn't there, beyond the generic cover based shooting crap.

And the puzzles were crap too. It boils down to generic cover based shooter with some decent platforming.

I liked it for what it was but I was expecting more depth in terms of scavenging and survival, and a more open world kind of feel.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Mine would be God of War: Ascension.
I'm a huge fan of the God of War games and have played them all(except for Ascension, which I've only beaten once) several times. Ascension had extremely pretty graphics and environments, but not much else. Combat was the same as ever, but the camera zoomed out way too often and way too far. Often I had no clue where Kratos was and what was enemies. Took me quite a while to understand what little story there was as well.
Another thing would be Kratos himself. Since I've only played it once my memory might be fussy, but from what I recall he hardly had any lines in the entire game. He also hardly used any expressions, so it felt like I played as a Kratos doll.
Extremely disappointed, but at least I didn't buy it at full price.

Y'know I just got Ascension for $10 on PSN, after a 35gb download (holy fucking shit), I found it to be the best of the series aside from III. I never thought there was much to the games anyway, and there wasn't too much story to the other games except, revenge, betrayal, more revenge, MORE BETRAYAL, Kill the Gods. Thats pretty much it. But I found Ascension to be just as good as the other games, better in a few areas. I did have an issue with some camera angles, but it hasn't been unplayable as of yet. Also the graphics as you mentioned are some of the best I've seen on the PS3, and run pretty damn smoothly. It makes me wonder what the hell other dev's aren't doing right because god damn is Ascension pretty.
Anyway sorry you didn't like it. Also I don't remember Kratos having much to say anyway in any of the games, but I did find the whole take on the Twins of Troy to be creepy and a damn cool fight.

 

[Raggedstar]

Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is certainly out there. If you take out thechineseroom's history, all the pieces seem in place. And even when playing you can tell that it's heart is in the right place. But considering the monsters are only in about half the game and enemies are not nearly as threatening (I saw someone derp around right in front of them in a game of "tag" and got away safely), something is wrong. Not bad, but considering what an exploding success Amnesia was on nearly all fronts, it's a letdown. Machine For Pigs does scare me, but I also admit to being a complete coward who happened to admire The Dark Descent from afar.

I guess I can also toss in Beyond: Two Souls. For all the flaws David Cage games have, they usually had some really good bits like the trials in Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain by no means was my GOTY, but it didn't reach the levels of schlock Beyond got to. You had superior technology, Hollywood actors, and a very promising premise. This could've at least been interesting and I was intrigued what it would do. Now looking at it, the game looks like squandered potential.

 

[babinro]

Path of Exile

I didn't play many 2013 games this year so I freely admit that this is a high quality game especially for a free to play product. I also actively recommend people check it out because it is very well done.

That said, it disappointed me. I once again heard on the D3 forums for months on end that PoE was the 'true' Diablo 2 sequel and it was far superior to Diablo 3 (I've heard this before with Torchlight 2, Marvel Heroes and Guild Wars 2). Given that the game was free I checked it out after the official launch. The game was lackluster.

The sphere grid leveling system is overwhelming but more importantly boring. Leveling often equates to a minor irrelevant stat boost like +10 dext that's not noticeable in play. Every 10 or so levels you get something interesting. That's a lot of grind with little reward and plenty of room to mess up. This is a leveling system that's complex in appearance just to give the game the illusion of depth. It could be simplified and made far more effective without killing customization of builds.

The other major miss is the combat system. It just feels clunky to play. Torchlight 2 is far more satisfying while Diablo 3 remains king in this field. In a game that's about fighting hordes of monsters this is the true deal breaker for me. If you don't mind the combat game play in PoE there will be a LOT to love. For me, it's a major disappointment.

 

[Alarien]

Outlast.

I was *really* excited about this one, having heard nothing about it (and staying away from the media on gaming) until pretty much it was released. The initial reviews and some good Let's Plays (Pewdiepie and Tim Buckley from C-A-D) made it look really good.

However, despite a few decent moments, I found the whole thing repetitive and boring. I think the environment of the game actually became too oppressive. In the beginning, you're in a pretty straightforward office part of the asylum, so there's a disconnect between the relatively benign corridors and the inmates and scares, but once you drop into the detention wings, it's so clear that you are in "hell-ville" that my brain's ability to be surprised or even creeped out simply turned off and I went into a mental mode similar to what I would have in a standard FPS.

The story wasn't bad, the characters were kinda ok. It just wasn't very scary. The "pathing bad guy in front of a lever" shtick got really repetitive. The AI was so hard coded to do specific actions, that it became a bit self-spoofy.

Also, the battery thing was stupid. I'm sorry, but the whole "batteries that last for less than 15 minutes each" deal in games needs to go away. I'd rather have batteries that last for 2-3 hours, but are stupidly hard to find than 10 minute batteries lying all over the place.

 

[Tropicaz]

Joint for me.

1) SimCity. Between the launch woes, always-online and early problems with things like traffic, and IMO the worst of all - city size being limited to painfully small, they made such a disappointing game of what could have been amazing. I mean, I still play it from time to time, and it's so close to being good which makes it all the more disappointing.

2) Rome 2 Total War. One of my favourite game series of all time. The sequel to my favourite one of the series. And it was broken. Utterly broken. The patches are getting there a bit, but there are still major issues. Sieges, family trees, IG seasons have all taken colossal steps backwards from the first Rome (which came out almost a decade ago.) I played it for a while but it just didnt grip me like Rome 1 or Shogun 2 did. And I so, so wanted to love it. But I don't, yet. Hopefully it gets better with patches and mods but at the moment it is massively disappointing to me.

 

[nuttshell]

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.

Not disappointing because it was actually bad, but the Campaign was really poor next to, say, Brood War.

I bought it on launch and was dissapointed on the same day. SC2 wasn't really that good in terms of continuing the story but I was fine with it. After all, SC 1 and BW werent that great in those departements either. HotS just blew it all up. I was so dissapoint.

 

[nsr3]

Arkham Origins.

Wasn't expecting much, but was still disappointed from the moment I started a new game, especially given the memorable opening sequences from the first 2 games :/

 

[Andy Shandy]

While it wasn't a bad game, Tomb Raider is definitely the worst "good" game that I've played in a while. There's nothing particularly bad about it, but there's nothing great about it at all either. Personally have no idea how it ended up on so many "potential GOTY" lists. The best thing to come out of it was Miracle Of Sound's song about it, honestly.

 

[Busard]

I'll join my voice for Bioshock infinite. While Amnesia: machine for pigs is a close second, the amount of hype, delays, promises that surrounded Bioshock Infinite to just have some "meh" corridor shooter (granted with extremely pretty surroundings) and a serious dumbing down of the franchise was the biggest hitter for me

 

[Strain42]

Colossatron: Massive World Threat

I can't say for certain if the game itself is disappointing to play, but the biggest disappointment comes from the fact that I just can't play it. Throughout the entire time up to its release it was never stated that it would require iOS 7 installed in order to play it...which can't be installed on an iPod Touch 4.

So yeah, you wait excitedly for a game for months and months only to find out on the day it's released that you can't play it...that's a pretty big disappointment.

 

[Tactical Pause]

I'd like to preface my response by saying that I don't necessarily think this is a bad game, it just isn't something I enjoy.

My biggest disappointment of the year is definitely Payday 2. I wasn't too interested in it until the release started approaching, with the closed beta and everything. People on the internet were going ballistic about how awesome this game was going to be, and I eventually caved and bought it on day one (at full price, something practically unthinkable for a PC gamer).

After putting in about 3 hours, it just wasn't gripping me at all, and I was left with no urge to continue playing it. I'm sure it would be more fun with friends, but only one other person I know had purchased it, so that was kind of a moot point.

All in all, it turned out to be little more than a rather pricey lesson for me: Never buy something you aren't 100% sure about at full price, and never ever ever ever listen to reddit. Ever.

 

[Something Amyss]

Oddly enough my most disappointing game is also one of my favourite games of the year; Assassin's Creed 4.

I have similar feelings for GTA V. I haven't played AC IV, and in fact didn't play a lot of new games this year. But while I've had a blast with GTA, it's also been problematic. Especially the online, which is the primary reason I wanted it.

While it wasn't a bad game, Tomb Raider is definitely the worst "good" game that I've played in a while. There's nothing particularly bad about it, but there's nothing great about it at all either. Personally have no idea how it ended up on so many "potential GOTY" lists. The best thing to come out of it was Miracle Of Sound's song about it, honestly.

See, my expectations for Tomb Raider were low enough that I wasn't really disappointed. In fact, I would have paid more than the 10 (?) I did for it had I known it'd be better than I expected. But then, that's all relative.

 

[Rblade]

ugh as expected. Calling infinite the biggest dissapointment in a year that brought us colonial marines and the new simcity. 2 games based on absolute classics in 2 genres, yet being just straight up broken and riddled with bad decisions. makes you either to hip for the mainstream or shows that you expected that game to cure all the worlds diseases. The world looked just fantastic and vibrant, elizabeth was in my eyes the best executed sidekick to date and the plot managed to actually surprise me in places. And I loved songbird, so menacing and ever present in a skycity. Was it overly convoluted with subpar combat, sure. But biggest dissapointment, please.

On a sidenote, I always feel people seem to misremember that bioshock 1 didn't end after ryan. Still one of the best games I've ever played but the ending wasn't that amazing

 

[Busard]

ugh as expected. Calling infinite the biggest dissapointment in a year that brought us colonial marines and the new simcity. 2 games based on absolute classics in 2 genres, yet being just straight up broken and riddled with bad decisions. makes you either to hip for the mainstream or shows that you expected that game to cure all the worlds diseases. The world looked just fantastic and vibrant, elizabeth was in my eyes the best executed sidekick to date and the plot managed to actually surprise me in places. And I loved songbird, so menacing and ever present in a skycity. Was it overly convoluted with subpar combat, sure. But biggest dissapointment, please.

On a sidenote, I always feel people seem to misremember that bioshock 1 didn't end after ryan. Still one of the best games I've ever played but the ending wasn't that amazing

But everybody EXPECTED sim city and colonial marines to be shit even before they released. These are just plain bad games

Disappointment doesn't mean it's a bad game. It's more about a game that promised to be excellent, and turned out to be: "..eh". Songbird was a bunch of scripted events that didn't actually do anything in gameplay. Lizzie was an ammo dispenser, numerous stuff that were in the trailers didn't make the final cut, and a regenerating shield just to emulate all the dozen other fps with regenerating health. Terribly underused enemies like the children of silence while we get to fight boring generic human #529 and those handymen bulletsponge. Even the automated patriots didn't give the same thrill as big dady gave.
To end, the vigors made no sense in the context of the world, and the upgrades for the weapons were also plain boring compared to previous games. They've dumbed down almost every aspect except for the visuals and story.

I didn't mind playing the game. The art was gorgeous and the story was gripping enough. But calling as one of the biggest disappointment is only fair

 

[RanD00M]

elizabeth was in my eyes the best executed sidekick to date

A non character is your best executed sidekick to date? She was not a good character and as a sidekick she did fuck all except throw you shit, which in some cases was helpful, other not so much. The plot makes a huge thing about Comstock trying to get her back yet in all combat scenarios the enemies just flat out ignored her. If she was supposed to be a good sidekick/burden/escort mission/whatever they should have gone the RE4 route with her.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Cue the Last of Us theme...

Alright, I won't say the game was bad, but it tried too hard to endear its players to it's characters, story, setting, etc. Felt like Oscar bait more than anything. I didn't enjoy myself as much as the critics made me think I would. Someone here will probably tell me I was not supposed to "enjoy" The Last of Us considering the dreary tone, but I play games to have some kind of fun, not extra realistic depression. The cliches really killed it for me too, the story and character interaction was heralded as the best thing since sliced bread. Plus, I really disliked Ellie's character, I would've totally been cool with her being sacrificed for the greater good.

Though I remember God of War Ascension, don't get me started on that one. I will say I liked the environments better than God of Wart 3, but everything else was very disappointing. I'll complain about one thing, they introduced an element mechanic for the Blade of Chaos, but it made no difference to the combat. That is lousy.

 

[chstens]

Cue the Last of Us theme...

Alright, I won't say the game was bad, but it tried too hard to endear its players to it's characters, story, setting, etc. Felt like Oscar bait more than anything. I didn't enjoy myself as much as the critics made me think I would. Someone here will probably tell me I was not supposed to "enjoy" The Last of Us considering the dreary tone, but I play games to have some kind of fun, not extra realistic depression. The cliches really killed it for me too, the story and character interaction was heralded as the best thing since sliced bread. Plus, I really disliked Ellie's character, I would've totally been cool with her being sacrificed for the greater good.

Not to mention the controls were wonky and the encounters were straight up boring.

 

[Major_Tom]

It was Company of Heroes 2 for me. I loved the first one and its expansions and I was really looking forward to it. It was basically exactly the same as the first one but ran like shit, and the story... oh, god the story. It's like their whole "historic research" consisted of watching Enemy at the Gates three times. It's especially bad when you consider how well they handled the campaign with German protagonists in the expansion for the first one.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

Skyrim. Hands down. Even if it didn't come out in 2013, it would be the most disappointing game of 2013. Skyrim is the ultimate disappointment in gaming for me since Metal Gear Solid.
Yup, I said it.