10 Most Disappointing, Overrated Games of 2008 @ Fidgit

Lists are lists, with sites like Digg and stuff like that, they generate traffic to your site depending on how sensationalist the title of the article is, and of course if it has the word 'list' 'top X', etc. Having said that, I can't say much as I haven't played most of the entries in the list. The only one is Age of Conan that I actually enjoyed. My secret to enjoying MMOs is to treat them like any single player RPG I buy. If I enjoy it for one month it's good, and AoC I enjoyed it for 2 months, then it sucked... but I got 2 months worth of enjoyment for $65, in terms of single player RPGs that would have been at least 2 games at $40-50 each.
 
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Why don't I see the worst game of 2008 Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods in that list?

I wouldn't call Forsaken Gods a disappointing game - probably everyone expected it to be... with four letters :D
 
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Fallout 3 definitely deserved being in either of those lists. Most disappointing game of 2008 imo.
 
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WHAT!!!!! FO3 is an excellent (though not perfect) game!!
 
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I realize right now that I am expecting too much out of lists. I was about to say that I would have gotten a great kick out of reading these particular lists with this exact lineup of games if only the author had gone into more depth to make a case for why each one was so disappointing or overhyped.

But I guess it's silly to be mad at a list for just listing things without much explanation, since that is the essence of list-making. It may make for an unsatisfying read, but it is what it is.
 
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Fallout 3 definitely deserved being in either of those lists. Most disappointing game of 2008 imo.

F3 is one of the better cRPG's for years. This is something I hadn't expected.
 
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F3 is one of the better cRPG's for years. This is something I hadn't expected.

Yep, it is not deserving of the ridiculously high scores as there are more bugs than ghouls, but it is a wonderful game nonetheless ...
 
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A title needs to be somewhat highly rated to begin with to be "over"-rated... Noone had any expectations for, nor rated Gothic 3 forsaken gods very highly:p

EDIT: I havent played that many new games in -08, and the few I bought exceeded my expectations.

I can see why he puts Civ4:Colonization both on his top ten and top ten disappointments list, but given that I belong to the minority that doesnt fully appreciate Civ4 I wouldnt say that game disappointed me (and going by the reviews I've seen it doesnt seem that overrated either). The game is fairly typical modern Firaxis fare, a minimal facelift (of the civ 4 rather than the original colonization concept), some cartoonish graphics (also present in the original), and relatively competent execution. Not too inspired but not crap either, and for those who enjoy Civ4 it must feel like an excellent mod.
 
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How about a list from the pro players here at the watch? Keep it short, what are your top three most disappointing and top three overrated?
 
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Dhruin was right, list do cause all kinds of activity.

Not a bad idea CM. Let's see how much damage we can cause with another list;)

Disappointing
1. Alone in the Dark - Interface and gameplay killed this game for me.
2. Spore - Was really looking foreward to this one, but it was too simple. First 2 parts of the game was fun, the cell stage and the animal stage. It became too simple after that.
3. Space Siege - One word, BORING. I was hoping they would improve the Dungeon Siege formula a bit. Unfortunatly they didn't improve it at all with this one.

Overrated
1. Fallout 3 - Easily hands down the most overrated game this year. It's a fun action game and the graphics are amazing, but like Oblivion and Morrowind it felt hollow and without aim.
2. Spore - It wasn't as overrated as Fallout 3, but it wasn't the game everyone was saying it was.
3. Sorry no #3 for me, I'm not that active in keeping up with the latest and greatest. Pretty much whatever is being talked about here is what I'll check out and those are the only two that I played that were overrated. Maybe GTA 4 should go here, but once I got it running it is a lot of fun.
 
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I think it's kind of redundant to have 2 seperate list, so I'm just going to name 3 games from 2008 that generally sucked a$$ imo.

1. FarCry 2 - This one is a no-brainer, should have just stayed on the consoles.

2. Call of Duty:World at War - It's actually a very fun game. It was just disappointing to me for the exact same reason that CoD4 was - an incredibly brief single-player campaign.

3. Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - I haven't even actually played it yet. Is that really necessary?
 
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Personally, I'd suggest that this "personal forummembers' list" would be in a separate thread, but that's just my opinion.
 
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Disappointing:

1. Age of Conan - I like the game in its current state, and I might still end up considering it the best MMORPG. But at launch it was in an extremely poor shape in so many ways, and it's only just recently it has begun to resemble a functional piece of software.

2. Mass Effect - Actually, an overall pretty good game. However, I expected MUCH more from Bioware than this. Crappy combat system, horrible character development system, and utterly uninspired item design. Sidequests were repetitive in the extreme and the story was merely decent.

3. Pirates of the Burning Sea - This is nothing at all like I hoped it would be. I'm a big fan of pirate games, and the developers made this one sound like it had everything I could ever want. The execution, however, was boring and bland. What a letdown.

Overrated:

1. GTA4 - Archaic gameplay structure, primarily in terms of the awfully outdated checkpoint save system. Everyone raves about the characters and the story, and yet I experienced nothing profound during my playthrough. Nothing whatsoever. I completed it by being stubborn as hell. The last few missions were frustrating and the ending was a major letdown.

2. Fallout 3 - Good game overall, but the hype is unreal. The primary problem is the overly forgiving gameplay, and the severely dumbed down character development system. Skills are too easily maxed and they don't feel distinct or important enough. They removed traits which was a wonderful feature of the old Fallouts. Finally, the dialogue and story is just not up to the Fallout legacy, and Bethesda need to reconsider who they hire as writers. I don't find the world more immersive or plausible because 75% of the population are completely bonkers, and the rest are murderous scum without the glee and giggles. Try basing it on something closer to reality if you want immersion.

3. Portal. Someone has to say this. Cute idea - great - but let's be real. Nice concept executed well, but just because the developers have a sense of humor and can put together random bits of personality quirks and "story", and slap on a cute tune - it does not mean a classic is born. Simply too limited for the praise it got.
 
JemyM's list:

1. Porter
2. Mmm. Porter.
3. Porter

JemyM's 2008 list of disappointments, in no particular order:
Spring: Yes, spring. The PC spring of 2008 was an absolute disaster. It was so bad that I eventually bought myself both a PS3 and PSP during summer and announced PC gaming dead. I had to eat that up during autumn though.

Alone in the Dark
AitD must be seen to be believed. I really decided to give this game a chance and I played it for about 30 minutes before I turned it off never to open it again. The PC controls are simply insane and the actual game itself simply got me scratching my head, wondering what the developers were thinking. Worst disaster I have seen in a long time.

Call of Duty: World at War
Now CoD:WaW isn't really a bad game. I had just expected more of the "sequel" to Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare that was one of the more innovative and refreshing shooters I have seen.

Golden Axe: Beast Rider
It was quite sad to see the first Golden Axe game in ages fail this bad. From IGN's review "If had to sum up my feelings for Golden Axe: Beast Rider in five words or less, I'd actually do it in one: hatred. The game is so ridden with poor production values that there's absolutely nothing redeeming about the game, and its checklist of annoying issues will drive all but the already-insane crazy long before it ends."

Far Cry 2
Playing FC2 right after Crysis Warhead simply made me recognize that this wasn't the game I had hoped for. Maybe I will give it another chance later.

Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods
I always loved the Gothic series, but frankly the buggy mess of G3 didn't make me have high hopes about Forsaken Gods, which was quite a good decision considering how it turned out.

Mass Effect
Graphically and storywise, Mass Effect is absolutely stunning. But Mass Effect also made me realize that the future of Bioware wont be the bioware I learned to love. The oversimplified dialogue system completely removed the depth of the dialogue of previous games from the same developer. Even worse, the Inventory system is probably the worst I have seen in a roleplaying game. I have really tried and I haven't been able to come up with an inventory system worse than ME. Finally the "free-roaming" part, when it came, felt like a waste of time. Generated content wasn't a good idea in Oblivion and it wasn't a good idea in Mass Effect either.

Silent Hill: Homecoming
Not as bad as Alone in the Dark, I give them that. But due to a bug in the PC version, the control settings simply wont work, rendering the game unplayable. The fact that it have been ripped to shreds by reviewsites isn't a bonus. They have made the SH series into an actiongame and that means that another great horror series follows Resident Evil into the grave.

Space Siege
I had high hopes over SS, considering I really liked Dungeon Siege II, but it seems it didn't deliver.

Penumbra: Requiem
It feels the developers just finished Penumbra Chapter 2: Black Plague and then asked themselves "hey, weren't we going to make a trilogy?" and then forced requiem into existence, with barely no ideas at all. Requiem feels like a puzzlegame mod using Penumbras engine, but that's about it. This one could be skipped unless one just have to play them all.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky
I have never been a fan of prequels, so having a second chance of playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R never felt like a good idea in the first place. Still, I really loved S.T.A.L.K.E.R so I had to check it out. But the game simply wasn't what I had hoped it to be. Having played it now, the game simply couldn't keep my interest.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
I had expected much of this game. I have a friend who were all crazy about it so it was one of the leading reasons that got me into buying a PS3. Well, the reviews made me decide to wait with the game until it gets cheaper. This simply isn't the game I was looking for.
 
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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Yeah this was funny. I tried the demo on xbox and was happy it was never released on pc. Id rather replay the old jedi games than bore myself with this.
 
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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Yeah this was funny. I tried the demo on xbox and was happy it was never released on pc. Id rather replay the old jedi games than bore myself with this.

It was very mediocre on PSP, but the Wii version was plenty fun - my wife even got into it. But based on the hype I would still call it one of the most over-rated.
 
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