The biggest "Meh" of 2012

[Creator002]

I. Want. To. Play. As. Desmond!

Did I just read that right? Desmond is sooooooooo boring though. Also, a modern day Assassin's Creed game would take away the best bit; exploring history.

I agree with most of that, if not all, but I kind of want the AC story to start wrapping up (if it hasn't already). They can't go into the past too far away from present day anymore (except for, maybe, the civil war and world wars) unless they go pre-Conner and I'm really enjoying the whole "end is nigh" tone it's pulling. I want to play in that time period now. I'm don't really want anymore history unless they can do a WWII period Assassin's Creed somehow.

 

[Ieyke]

I'm going to have to say it's Assassin's Creed 3.

Not really a letdown because I called that it would be relatively..."meh"...compared to the other AC games when they first announced the setting.
I'm probably in the top tier of AC enthusiasts, but I don't forgive things that aren't up to par.
Naval battles were fantastic though....just needed more.

AC3 is still an Assassin's Creed game though, so that means it's still much better than the vast majority of games.

----

Diablo 3
Just nowhere near as good as Diablo 2.
I'm not surprised.
But why did it have to be a complete retread of D2?
I could've completely restructured the story and chosen a better array of settings for the game without even trying.
And the character stats/abilities/leveling/etc are all...*sigh*....skill trees were so much better.

.
.
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You say Prototype 2 sucked?
Not surprised.
The first one sucked too.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter sucked?
Well, duh.
I'm not sure why anyone is surprised that ANOTHER generic military shooter is going to be "meh"...

 

[DustyDrB]

On release, Endless Space was pretty underwhelming. But they keep on patching it and now I'd say it's gotten to the point where it's a legitimately enjoyable. But it does feel like I bought a Beta version of a game. I'm just not pissed because 4X strategy games in space are too few, and I bought it because I really wanted to support that kind of game.

Kingdoms of Amalur is the definition of "meh". It started off well. It had a neat little tutorial area and had me thinking, "OK, this could get really good later". But then it actually started getting easier. And the story got more and more boring. If you graphed out on a line my enjoyment of that game over time then it would start off moderately high, like "All right. Good combat. Nice style. A little stale in the story and camera departments but I can deal with it". Then it gradually drops a little as I initially start exploring the world and discover the world doesn't have much character. Then it freefalls to that "not awful, but really boring" area when you realize this game will never challenge you and never engage you.

 

[Squidbulb]

Hitman: Absolution so far, I haven't played a whole lot of it yet. The mechanics are generally improved (although the new disguise system is a bit silly) but the level design has really gone downhill. It's baffling really, I can't work out why the devlopers chose to take it in this direction.

 

[aceman67]

How I felt about the entire ME3 ending Controversy, and everyone's over reaction to it. Seriously, can we shut up about it every time ME3 gets mentioned?

I liked the original ending. The Extended cut was just icing on the cake.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Halo 4 is my biggest "Meh" of 2012

I was worried about 343 for a while because I actually like the Halo games (I have my problems with them but when you get right down to the bone Halo is fun to play)

So the first thing 343 does when they get to release a Halo game is re-release the first one (And if your anything like me and think the games got better as time went on) the worst one.

So I was immediately suspicious.
Then Halo 4 came out and it was very boring to play, dull level design, crap AI, the worst multyplayer balancing in the series so far, lame score, Steve Downs is still allowed to talk, etc.
So I was willing to write it off as a failure, but then something weird happened.
I started caring about what I was doing... Which is fucking unprecedented for a Halo game.
Between Cortana, Laskey and Del Rio performances and 343's writing the story actually had emotion and a compelling arc.

And then the librarian started yelling at Master Chief about how the Didact kept humanity out past the due date and now he's trying to burn his library card so he doesn't have to pay the late fees or something. And between the nonsensical exposition and Steve Downs' bullet to the ear hole acting the game lost me again.


Halo 4 was like a roller coaster from mediocrity to slightly different more tolerable mediocrity, and by the time it was over I was glad it was over without feeling like my time was wasted so... yeah. Pretty Meh.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

How can you go without mentioning the long-awaited return of Spec Ops?

Are you kdding? The Line was freaking amazing! The only dissapointing thing about was that it didn't sell well.

 

[aaronobst]

Assassin's Creed 3 for sure. It felt incredibly straightforward action game, like some giant Michael Bay production.
The Naval battles would have made a good enough game by itself however.

Oh and this section of the game could just fuck right off

 

[sethisjimmy]

Specs Ops: The Line. Attempts to subvert the generic military action genre by being a generic military action game. Nice one.

Far Cry 3. This one almost makes it into the realm of pretty good, but after a series of really, really boring missions in the second half, was destined to be a forgettable experience.

Max Payne 3. Obviously not terrible, the high production values are there, it's just that the story is weak and the gameplay manages to make bullet time not fun anymore. Good music though.

 

[afroebob]

How can you go without mentioning the long-awaited return of Spec Ops?

Are you insane? Spec Ops was one of the best games of the year. It got a lot of shit for being a Call of Duty rip off, but thats just because people don't understand what the game is about. They go in saying 'Well, lets go play another Call of Duty clone' and go through the whole thing not realizing that the game is a critique of the entire modern shooter genre.

Specs Ops: The Line. Attempts to subvert the generic military action genre by being a generic military action game. Nice one.

Same goes to you, too! Shame on you, shame, shame, shame!

Anyhow, mine would be Diablo 3. I had never played anything from the series before and when I played it now I was just bored with it.

 

[Xdeser2]

As much as I like the gameplay of the series,

My pick has got to be Halo 4.

Its not BAD, per se, but very little in it is good. Sure, the tried-and-true formula stands up pretty well with fun (but frankly bulletspongey) enemies but by now its just OLD, and it seems to have taken steps back from Previous Halo titles. No dual wielding, and the only enemies in the game are the ones from Combat evolved. Don't tell me that the Prometheans are good enemies either, they're not. They have sparks of fun now and agian but the Knights are just teleporting bulletsponges and the dog-things are more annoying than challenging.

Also, its short. REALLY short. as in, 3-5 hours shorter than previous titles. That annoys me the shiiiit out of me, and the multiplayer just feels like Call of Duty with higher jumping and Battle-Rifles. Seriously, 343i? You couldn't do anything new with the multiplayer so you borrow from CoD? Sad. sad days...

___________________________________________________________________________

Other than that, its been a great year for games. X-com and Far Cry 3 being my top 2 favorites

 

[Skeggers]

Despite sort of being stuck in some sort of Limbo with this generation going on as long as it has, a lot of good games came out this year. Although the game I was most hyped about that fell flat on it's face was probably Sniper Elite V2. The demo really is the best part of the game and it's right at the beginning. There I was thinking that planning your escape and carefully planning out your shots was going to be important throughout the whole game, but nope, after the first mission that's all forgotten in place of a really dull, sluggish third person shooter with little-to-no tactical elements whatsoever.

The problem is that the game does too much third person shooter-ing and not enough sniper-ing. And it is a shitty third person shooter-er. I'll be honest, I was tricked into buying the game by the killcams, which were pretty sweet.

 

[Flac00]

"Meh" can apply to most games released every year. Mediocrity is the greater part on the gauss curve and there's too little difference to be worth arguing wether a game is just above or a little below average in quality. So meh it is.

It's only the rare excellent games and the horrible turds that really stand out.
The meh list is endless.

That's a pretty depressing view on everything. I mean, most of these games that came out a pretty much above average, that's kind-of why they are contending for game of the year. To think that something like Far Cry 3 or Dishonored is average is ignoring much of those games. I'm just using these two as examples.
Far Cry 3 had amazing voice acting and very unforgettable characters. Not to mention its world and AI interaction with animals and humans was pretty groundbreaking.
Dishonored had an art-style like nothing we have seen before. No game that I know of has been able to make its world look like an oil painting, and in 3D no less. Not to mention Dishonored also had a great mix of open movement in its levels with Deus Ex esque freedom.. Not to mention a very original story line and world in comparison to most everything that came out this year.
Not to mention all of the other great and unique games to be released this year (FTL, Journey, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, etc.). To say all of these are "average" is to be so cynical that it's unrealistic.

 

[Flac00]

I will only say this because I am in the presence of such learned pop culture and video games buffs that frequent this site, but the biggest meh was, for me

The Dark Knight Rises

The whole series felt as if it were to crescendo toward the final install, each one topping the last. However, while the movie itself was good, I don't think it built on it's predecessors.

But we'll hate it, because it can take it. Because it's not the movie we deserved, but it's the one we needed right now. A solid endstone, a defining part, a good trilogy....

Uh.....this is a gaming forum.....soooooo....yeah.
Though I do both disagree with you and agree. I mean, just based on your comment, it seems you just want the whole conversation to burn.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

I will only say this because I am in the presence of such learned pop culture and video games buffs that frequent this site, but the biggest meh was, for me

The Dark Knight Rises

The whole series felt as if it were to crescendo toward the final install, each one topping the last. However, while the movie itself was good, I don't think it built on it's predecessors.

But we'll hate it, because it can take it. Because it's not the movie we deserved, but it's the one we needed right now. A solid endstone, a defining part, a good trilogy....

I was going to say the exact same thing, but I thought the forum only applied to video games. I disagree in that I don't even think it was a good movie on its own. Too many characters, generic action, bad editing, bad dialogue, poorly-handled "political commentary", terrible pacing in a dull first act. Really, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle was the only good part.

 

[major_chaos]

Yea as much as I know it won't make me any friends around here I'm gonna say Torchlight 2. it was't bad, it was just average in every way, doing nothing to stand out, and I think I have never before cared so little about a story in my entire life. The whole thing was just Diablo 1.5 and I couldn't bring myself to finish the second act.
Disclaimer: This is out of games I played, and I haven't played AC3 or the new hitman game.

 

[sethisjimmy]

How can you go without mentioning the long-awaited return of Spec Ops?

Are you insane? Spec Ops was one of the best games of the year. It got a lot of shit for being a Call of Duty rip off, but thats just because people don't understand what the game is about. They go in saying 'Well, lets go play another Call of Duty clone' and go through the whole thing not realizing that the game is a critique of the entire modern shooter genre.

Specs Ops: The Line. Attempts to subvert the generic military action genre by being a generic military action game. Nice one.

Same goes to you, too! Shame on you, shame, shame, shame!

This argument is essentially "you didn't get it", which I don't think is true. The only "critiquing" of the genre it does is a few story moments in the middle and end, and the rest of the game is one big boring shootout. It plays like a straight boring shooter the entire time and then at the end says "haha don't you regret enjoying this stuff?"

 

[afroebob]

How can you go without mentioning the long-awaited return of Spec Ops?

Are you insane? Spec Ops was one of the best games of the year. It got a lot of shit for being a Call of Duty rip off, but thats just because people don't understand what the game is about. They go in saying 'Well, lets go play another Call of Duty clone' and go through the whole thing not realizing that the game is a critique of the entire modern shooter genre.

Specs Ops: The Line. Attempts to subvert the generic military action genre by being a generic military action game. Nice one.

Same goes to you, too! Shame on you, shame, shame, shame!

This argument is essentially "you didn't get it", which I don't think is true. The only "critiquing" of the genre it does is a few story moments in the middle and end, and the rest of the game is one big boring shootout. It plays like a straight boring shooter the entire time and then at the end says "haha don't you regret enjoying this stuff?"

Its not just good because is a critique of the genre, it also has a fantastic story surround Walker and the downfall that surrounds him, not to mention a great look at PTSD. But I will admit, it is NOT fun. Its not fun at all, so if you want a game that's fun than your shit out of luck.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

I'm gonna have to say Assassins Creed 3 was probably the biggest meh(or not) I have given towards a game. Hell I barely even managed to say meh the most that ever makes it out of my mouth is m-then half an e and that's it.

Oh yeah and Diablo 3. That one actually receives a full Meh.

 

[Dr Jones]

How can you go without mentioning the long-awaited return of Spec Ops?

Are you insane? Spec Ops was one of the best games of the year. It got a lot of shit for being a Call of Duty rip off, but thats just because people don't understand what the game is about. They go in saying 'Well, lets go play another Call of Duty clone' and go through the whole thing not realizing that the game is a critique of the entire modern shooter genre.

Now I'm a HUGE fan of Spec Ops, just got it and finished it recently and was just.. Wow... Actually my GOTY of 2012. But I must admit that if you have a piece of art and the message goes WHOOSH over a lot of people's head's, the fault lies with the artist and not the viewer. Of course sometimes it could be the intention of the creators that some people just wont get it. With that said I do think they made Spec Ops' story accessible enough, I understood it. There is not definite answer, just interpretation (which the lead writer Walt Williams himself has stated & he has some interesting theories on the story himself).