Diablo 3. that game just straight up ignored alot of what people liked about diablo 2.

Sleeping dogs.

Nobody wanted anything to do with that game, then all of a sudden a week before release everybody started masturbating over it. Of course I love a good circlejerk as much as the next guy but man.....that game was so dissapointing. That game is 4 hours too long, the story is dumb to the point of absurdity, the side content is entirely pointless, and the list goes on. It does look pretty though.

ME3 and AC3 had dissapointing endings, but the journey (95% of the game, like you said) was awesome.

Kingdom of Amalur on paper that game should have been amazing in practice it is booooooring.

Does a supposed next gen console count?

SSX, the game was really fun, but all the death traps ruined the longevity in that game for me, wished they'd just created a handful of large mountains, where you could just freeride and chill out, sort of like the open world in Skate.

Resident Evil 6 is the Saints Row the Third of Resident Evil games: I flew a 747, then rode a panda, then my boss turned into a mutant fire breathing T-Rex. Most fun I've had with a Resident Evil game in years.

As much as I appreciated the attention to detail in story telling in Spec Ops: The Line, it was wasted on me because of the ridiculous difficulty spike, I'd love to know what happens to those characters and how their psyche slowly unravels, but after I spent an hour getting my head filled with bullets after moving 10 feet from the check point, I couldn't be arsed. The worst part is that I loved the fact that the loading screen says "It's all your fault", but then after dying constantly and being stuck at that slow loading screen those words start to grate a bit.

Basically 2012 in a nutshell for me

• Natural Selection 2 despite its technical problems is by far the most enjoyable competitive multiplayer games I've played this year.
• Counter Strike: Global Offensive is well..........it's Counter Strike. You either love it or hate it.
• Wargame: European Escalation is arguably the best RTT I've played in a long time though it can be quite punishing.
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown I felt more empathy when one of my Squaddies died than anything Bioware's cheesy writers could do with that stupid kid in ME3.
• FTL is amazing even though the RNG can be bullshit
• Dishonored wasn't bad but was just underwhelming.
• Borderlands 2 was fun but the constant use of memes got annoying.
• Guild Wars 2 got boring real fast.
• Planetside 2 turned into a mess real fast.
• Assassin's Creed 3 was boring

I don't think it can be Mass Effect 3 everything till you go back to earth was great.

Both ACIII and ME3 were my favorite entries in their respective franchises.

But yeah, wtf happened to RE6.

I was pretty disappointed with Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3. Diablo 3 because of the design decisions made. That game was less than half-finished when it was released. Mass Effect 3 because I just didn't enjoy most of it. The new epilogues helped explain somethings but overall I was fairly disappointed.

I SOOOOO wanted The Old Republic to end up being great and while it was fun for the month that I played, I never felt compelled to keep playing and found most of it to be forgettable.

@Demyx said:

I was pretty disappointed with Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3. Diablo 3 because of the design decisions made. That game was less than half-finished when it was released. Mass Effect 3 because I just didn't enjoy most of it. The new epilogues helped explain somethings but overall I was fairly disappointed.

Oh jesus I forgot about D3. Well I guess that is for the best.

Borderlands 2 or Resident Evil 6. Played way more of Borderlands than I did Resident Evil, so I dunno if RE6 picks up later on. From what I've heard, it doesn't. Borderlands 2 was a fine game mechanically, but dear God did that game's sense of humor drive me up the fucking wall. After hearing both the Double Rainbow reference and the "arrow in the knee" joke, I uninstalled that game. Also, fuck Claptrap. He was fine for one game. I was hoping Sir Hammerlock would blow him up or something, but no.

Both Max Payne 3 and Assassin's Creed 3 left me really underwhelmed. It sucks because I love both franchises and really wanted to like them both. Mass Effect 3 didn't really disappoint me though, because I really liked it up until the last 30 minutes or so.

Most disappointing game to me would be The Secret World. I'm not that deep into MMO's but I've played a decent amount. TSW had so much promise with it's setting but, man, it was stiff, boring, unrewarding, pale and empty. I used to love Funcom but I was not 10 hours into this before I turned of the audio to listen to some podcasts to make sure I didn't fall asleep. It had some good sides to it, but they were few and far between.

Yeah, I'll just go ahead and agree with the OP here.

@msavo said:

You nailed all 3 major disappointments of the year.

1. AC3 - just kinda boring , except for the boat missions and sword combat

2. Darksiders 2 - still good

3. RE6 - it's alright , just got old pretty fast

4. Borderlands 2 - I just can't play it , it's the same game again with some improvements

5. Trine 2 - still good

@jonny126 said:

People rag on ME3 too much. It wasn't as good as 2, but ME2 is one of the best games of this generation so that's a lot to live up to. Definitely agree with you on Assassin's Creed 3 and Resident Evil 6. I'd also toss Hitman on that list.

Not everyone considers Mass Effect 2 as good as you believe it is.

I thought ME3 was pretty half-assed even when totally ignoring the ending. I know a lot of people say they like the other 95% but I only saw cut corners everywhere -- which I guess is fine if you have to do that, but I shouldn't be able to tell so easily. I could never get out of that mode where I only saw problems and never get in the head space that the game wanted me to be in. The MP was alright for a little while though, aside from a f2p unlock slot machine model in a full priced game.

Diablo 3 went from a legacy of people being hooked on D2 for a decade and having enough hype to sell record numbers just on love of the franchise to a game most people dropped in a month. That's pretty hard to beat as far as disappointment goes.

I just finished Gravity Rush, and that was a pretty big disappointment. Such a cool idea marred by shitty combat. My review of it probably sounded way harsher than the two stars I gave it.

While I do think that gaming culture in general focuses too much on what is disappointing, I would have to say AC3 as well. I was having so much fun with that game until I did most of the side stuff and had to go back to the story... whomp whomp. Too little freedom in missions for an engine and world that were supplying so many possibilities.

@wemibelec90 said:

I just finished Gravity Rush, and that was a pretty big disappointment. Such a cool idea marred by shitty combat. My review of it probably sounded way harsher than the two stars I gave it.

I platinumed it and at the end I just felt indifferent. The world and style of the game was neat but, like you said, the combat was just bad. Not horrible but not great either.

Dishonored that game was awful

For me Soul Calibur 5 easily takes the cake. I didn't expect it to be amazing or anything, especially after the Quick Look, but that game was really just a steaming pile of shit, and I normally have a lot of reserve when it comes to insulting games I don't like. It pretty much ruined everything I liked about the series beforehand, and was worse about the things I didn't like to begin with. I really don't see that series recovering easily either, I feel like they killed it.

Anyways Assassins Creed 3 was really the only other disappointment, but I liked that a lot more than other people seemed to. Beyond some nitpicks like framerate, and a disjointed feel, I think it would've been a a much more impressive game if the missions themselves were simply more creative or fun.

ACIII takes the prize in my book. I really like it because it's an AC game and I'm into playing those but I hoped there would be more significant changes and especially the design of the main missions was extremely uninspired from time to time. Hitman Absolution is a close second and again it's a game that's far from being bad but it's not really what I wanted after sinking so much time into Blood Money (especially that fucking abysmal checkpoint system).

In my personal opinion ME3 doesn't belong on that list and it is in fact my GotY. Yes, the ending was basically a kick in the balls but I've made my peace with it a while ago (haven't even played the extended cut yet) and no other game except maybe Far Cry 3 came close to the enjoyment I got out of it.

@Hailinel said:

@jonny126 said:

People rag on ME3 too much. It wasn't as good as 2, but ME2 is one of the best games of this generation so that's a lot to live up to. Definitely agree with you on Assassin's Creed 3 and Resident Evil 6. I'd also toss Hitman on that list.

Not everyone considers Mass Effect 2 as good as you believe it is.

Mass Effect 3 is better than Mass Effect 2.

@Hunter5024 said:

For me Soul Calibur 5 easily takes the cake. I didn't expect it to be amazing or anything, especially after the Quick Look, but that game was really just a steaming pile of shit, and I normally have a lot of reserve when it comes to insulting games I don't like. It pretty much ruined everything I liked about the series beforehand, and was worse about the things I didn't like to begin with. I really don't see that series recovering easily either, I feel like they killed it.

Anyways Assassins Creed 3 was really the only other disappointment, but I liked that a lot more than other people seemed to. Beyond some nitpicks like framerate, and a disjointed feel, I think it would've been a a much more impressive game if the missions themselves were simply more creative or fun.

True, there were things about SC5 that were very disappointing, but all the same, I actually did enjoy the story mode, as short as it was. The game just felt like Namco rushed to get it out the door far too soon.

@Hailinel: It really did, which is weird considering they had four years since the previous Soul Calibur game.

For me it has to be AC3, ME 3, Darksiders 2, Diablo 3 and Borderlands 2. I didn't finish ME3, I got halfway through and just gave up on it, it felt like a bad version of 2 to me. Diablo 3, you've heard all my complaints from a million other Diablo fans months ago. Darksiders 2, strip away good ideas from the first through in loot call it a day. Borderlands 2, bored to tears within 5 hours, just not enough changes to keep me interested. AC3 was the worst ending of the decade for one of, I think, the coolest story lines in games for a while.

@Hailinel said:

@jonny126 said:

People rag on ME3 too much. It wasn't as good as 2, but ME2 is one of the best games of this generation so that's a lot to live up to. Definitely agree with you on Assassin's Creed 3 and Resident Evil 6. I'd also toss Hitman on that list.

Not everyone considers Mass Effect 2 as good as you believe it is.

exactly. Thus if you believed that, then ME3 was not disappointing because it was largely the same anyway, beyond the ending.

Max Payne 3 or Spec Ops: The Line is my favorite game of the year. I'm torn on which to pick, because I love everything about them.

My most disappointing game would have to be Borderlands 2. It was a good game... but... I just had the feeling of "meh" the entire time playing it. I never got to beating it, uninstalled it half way through the story.

@BeachThunder said:

@Sploder said:

I only played good games this year :)

Disappointing doesn't necessarily mean bad, just a failure to live up to potential.

I rephrase for myself then. I enjoyed all the games I played this year. Never disappointed. Yes, I love Mass Effect 3. Shocker.

Mass Effect 3. It's just a disappointing game altogether, which really falls apart after Tuchanka. It simply feels rushed or underdeveloped. Add to it some idiotic BioWare-branded fanservice, terrible character arcs (EDI, Ashley, Kai Leng) and one of the worst end levels in video game history that completely failed to deliver on any promise - the assault on Earth. People rag on the ending, but what really ruined that game for me is that uneventful corridor crawl which culminates in a battle where the game throws waves of the toughest enemies at you without checkpoints. And there's the ending that comes out of nowhere, rapes the lore into oblivion and goes against the series' very theme. The Extended Cut and Leviathan didn't fix things, it only made it worse. Leviathan introduced more dumb developments and EC only showed how short-sighted BioWare really is.

It's just puzzling. Mass Effect 2 was a great game, sure, but it was also a gigantic patchwork job, forced by EA's sudden decision to include Cerberus as a major plot point and the need to accommodate the 360's DVD drive. But they managed to pull it off and the stitches were only visible after you actively looked after them. In ME3's case, it's like they put all the cash and effort into Tuchanka and then realized that there is no way in hell for them to do the rest the way they wanted to. That fucking assault on Earth. ME2's main selling point was the Suicide Mission and it delivered. It wasn't really hard or anything, but it was a tense, memorable experience. 3's endgame looks like it was made in a weekend.

My more personal one is Darksiders II. While I didn't have a lot of expectations when I went in, I was absolutely blasted away by the first act. The prologue and the adventures in the Forge Lands are just fucking great. I was sure it's going to be my GOTY just going by its clever design. It struck me as a game which knew what it wanted to be, whose developers simply knew what they wanted to do, intelligently borrowing concepts and spicing them up. Then, the Dead Plains happened and the bland environments combined with boring padding simply ruined the game for me. The Forge Lands had three distinctive styles, fun dungeons and cool boss battles. The Dead Plains are a complete anti-thesis - boring environment, tedious level design and terrible boss fights that now rely on how much Resistance and Defense you have. And the game never recovered from that. I can't imagine how they manged to fuck this up. Why did they feel the need to add 5 hours of needless bullshit into an otherwise well-made game?

Man, I'm really torn about this year's GOTY. It's either Max Payne 3 or XCOM at this point. I haven't finished Assassin's Creed III yet, but right now the game failed to grab me as much as AC2 did, which was my favorite game of 2009.

Assassins Creed 3 so far.Havn't finished it yet.Don't know if I will.

All games disappoint me for I am a person on the internet.

Max Payne 3.

I have had zero disappointments this year, most of the games I played this year were great. I haven't finished ME3 so maybe that's it. I could say SH:Downpour, but that was a bit expected.

didnt play AC3, ME3 or RE6 so biggest disapointment has to be Darksiders 2, just because I loved Darksiders 1, and 2 just didnt "click" with me. I would almost say the same about Borderlands 2, which i stopped playing at around 14 hours, but I still intent to get back to it. But yeah those 2, really made me reconsider getting excited for sequels based on my love of the originals.

@EpicSteve

Well written blog Steve. Interesting points were made. My biggest dissapointment was the amount of negativity in the community. Not just on GB but everywhere else. Your blog would've been better had you started with the positives first, then the negatives as you do when for eaxmple, you are going to give constructive criticism someone at your work. Just saying. Still this has been an interesting thread to read. Cheers.

It's so cool to hate on ME3 and other popular games nowadays. Arthur Geis was right on the most recent Rebel FM. A few people poisoned the kool aid and everyone is following along.

AC3 suuuuucked.

But the ending of ME3 really soured the entire experience, even though the first 80% of the game was real good. ME2 is still the best game in the franchise.

Man I wished ME3 would've gotten a different ending.

I only got four new games this year (trying to cut down a massive backlog) and of them, I would say ME3. The game was pretty awesome sans the nonsensical ending but, then I got sucked into the indoctrination theory and my heart was crushed by the extended cut.

Journey

@shadowwolf9 said:

Arthur Geis was right

This has literally never happened.

Borderlands 2 was a bit dissapointing.

Can't think of any games that disappointed me.  
Mass Effect 3 I loved(Questions were answered)  
Assassin's Creed III is fantastic 
Hitman: Absolution is a great game. 
 
Those are just the more recent ones (ME3 = Recent because I jumped back in to play the Omega stuff) 
 
Maybe one of those indie games. 
Like "Oldschool 2D platformer with retro graphics #4234"  
 
 
But if I had to be serious it's probably Chivalry, that game's just fucking terrible but I wasn't really disappointed because I didn't expect anything from it, at all. 

Diablo 3 took it for me, though I haven't played ME3 or AC3 yet. Year of the bad 3?

yeah, definitely Assassin's Creed 3.

Ubisoft definitely did a great job in making it look like something special though. I haven't liked any of the previous AC games, yet for some reason I decided AC3 looked good enough to buy on day 1.