The Most Disappointing Console Games of 2008
by twswordsman
So many people make top 10, 20, 100 lists of good games, let us take a look at some disappointing ones. These games are not bad games, they just didn’t live up to the hype that was generated by the fanbase, marketing, and/or editor previews. Wish the game had more of these sections At number 9, Sonic Unleashed is a great example of how to mess up a good thing. No doubt the brass at SEGA demande...
So many people make top 10, 20, 100 lists of good games, let us take a look at some disappointing ones. These games are not bad games, they just didn’t live up to the hype that was generated by the fanbase, marketing, and/or editor previews.
Wish the game had more of these sectionsAt number 9, Sonic Unleashed is a great example of how to mess up a good thing. No doubt the brass at SEGA demanded that there be more in the game then just running, jumping, collecting rings, and defeating Eggman; however, adding in God of War style gameplay was not a great solution. /sigh @ marketing. The graphics are amazing, the music is some of the best in the series, the sound design on the 360, for those fortunate enough to have 5.1 Dolby Digital, destroys Gears of War 2 (yes, I said it); however, the gameplay and voice acting and story drag the game down. A game with so much promise, but misses the bar.
Behold, the power of the "cell" processor, BELIEVE IT!At number 8, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm is another one of those “great promise” games. It sports some of the most impressive cell shading in gaming yet it plays like the ps2 games before it. If the game was a straight brawler, there would not be such outcry, but because the inclusion of a main hub world and other side mission, important characters and events in the Manga series had to be left on the cutting room floor. It looks so good, yet so much could have been done more with the game. In any case, the game is gorgeous but its visuals do not bring anything new to the gameplay.
You think that's air you're breathing now?At number 7, Mirror’s Edge is DICE’s attempt at first person platforming, yet it disappoints by being a bleh experience throughout. Each level varies and challenges are mental, but the game seems at times to control itself or unnecessarily presents enemies for the sake of conflict. But like Matt Leone of 1up fame said “It seems like a proof of concept demo”. With its' short campaign and niche multiplayer components, the game feels more like the demo, only 4 hours longer. At its price, Mirror’s Edge offers little replay value to those who are not obsessed with time trial runs.
With a wink and a nod, she passes the statue...At number 6, Tomb Raider: Underworld could be best described as “Lara Croft, again”. The game was marketed as a tomb-refresh but its’ combat system and level design were so 1998 that it just didn’t live up to the hype. The game, again looks amazing, but the entire package just was not there. A reboot to the franchise, it is not. Not much else to really say about it, it is a forgettable game.
Creative and innovative...but lacks full support.At number 5, LittleBigPlanet suffered at the hands of server crashes and other localization issues. Its community touted the game as a giant creative force that could not be stopped. Journalists even said that Miyamoto and the entire Nintendo staff pulled their hair out wondering why they never thought of the game themselves. It was set up to be the biggest launch and reboot to the PS3 this holiday, what happened? Many would argue that the game is still amazing and that the simple fact that not many people are playing it is not indicative of quality, but quantity. A counter argument, community is this game’s strength therefore quantity is proportional to quality. Sony’s failure to secure a smooth launch for LittleBigPlanet cements this game in the top 5 most disappointing games of ’08.
I wonder if three is a Gamestop around here to trade in my old NES games?At number 4, Animal Crossing: City Folk makes the list for the simple fact that Nintendo’s been hyping an Animal Crossing game for Wii for at least a full year before its release on November 16, 2008. Many speculated it would be Nintendo’s first attempt at making a console MMO, however the game turned out to be Animal Crossing DS on Wii. Seriously, Nintendo executives must think little of their consumer base to assume a port of a 10-year-old N64 game is something to get excited over. Never has there been so much anticipation for a Nintendo online foray since Mario Kart DS, yet Nintendo drops the ball. Its online functionality is no different than the DS or Gamecube versions. It would be best to just find a Gamecube at a Gamestop and buy Animal Crossing on that instead of investing in a Wii this holiday.These were hard, and I thought about the next three, most disappointing games of the year…
The force is strong, let's just say that.At Number 3, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed should have been game of the year. Being a secret apprentice to Darth Vader, using the ultimate power of the force, new technology that animated characters procedurally, awesome graphics on the next gen systems, it was the Star Was game to end all, but sadly technical issues marred its release. Unfair challenges brought the game’s momentum to a scratching halt. The game’s story, not to say much, lacks in depth and substance. The motivations of Darth Varder are questionable within the realms of the lore and the music seems to be recycled John Williams scores, again. Nothing about this “new game” is new with the exception of some fancy tech that GTA IV utilized much better. The gameplay felt stilted and it stopped being "fun". 
Much better than a band from Peru...At number 2, Wii Music has got to be the most heart wrenching, gut busting blow to the Wii lineup this year. Previewed as a tech demo at the Wii unveiling, Wii music displayed remarkable tech that seemed to bring to life old Nintendo songs and offered players a chance to customize their listening experience. What was eventually churned out by NOA was a Simon Says, open a hole in a wall, game that happened to play music. It’s clunky controls make it unplayable and the music selection is elementary. The game does not even sound like it utilizes the normal Wii Midi interface that is used in most Nintendo games like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or even to some extent Mario Galaxy. From a company that produces some of the finest game music in the world, Nintendo is like Moses in the desert frustrated at the children of , striking at the rock of music hopping that something comes out to satisfy the thirsty masses. What spills forth from this game is nothing but garbage.And the most disappointing game of 2008 is:
You want this....wait like everyone else!10 years in the making, spanning a failed development cycle on 4 different platforms, removing conventional camera direction in favor of context sensitive controls, emulating gameplay found in Diablo and Phantasy Star Online, and a story that would please Thore…Too Human showed no signs of being a fairly great game, so why is it the top most disappointing? Too Human was hyped not by the company it was published by, but by the developers themselves.At its core, the gaming community is skeptical of marketing and PR for games and very few will fault a developer if a game turns out to be crap; either the gaming enthusiast says the developer didn’t have enough time or that marketing thought an element of a game needed to be done by CRT time. The problem here is the developer had plenty of time to iron out the bugs, and years to examine how the gaming public would react to the game. The engine they were using, however unfinished it may have been, was solid enough to put out a good looking and playing game. And the story seemed like a very interesting, intelligent premise. There was no reason to doubt the developer. With past games like Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness and the remake of Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, the company’s track record showed a solid portfolio of well crafted games. There was no need to doubt the developer when they said it would be a great game.
In the name of Ogden, I punish you!The promise of 4 player co-op and loot and gear customization was enough to make the dungeon crawling fiend inside any gamer foam at the mouth. The online e-peen battles began with forum posts stating what class is best suited for looting and dps. Disscussions of the story spilt over into podcasts and video previews. At the same time, negative coverage was squashed; the E3 build was Microsoft’s fault and 1up’s negative preview was the result of an editor’s lack of knowledge of the product. The game was so defended by the masses that 1up had to run a series of interviews where the editor of the negative preview had to answer to the developer of the game. Never before in the history of video games has the editor of a major publication had to sit down with the developer of a game and justify a PREVIEW.The game was hidden behind a wall of hype and wishful thinking and when the blinders eventually came off—gamers were left with what was reality—the game was incomplete. The 4 player co-op was removed not for technical reasons, but because game difficulty and play balance issues. The story made little sense in its context and the game play amounted to nothing more than a point-and-click brawler. The loot was not as important to the game play experience and there were many ways to cheat the system in so that the leveling aspect seemed unrewarding. The game wound up being the worst case scenario for most gamers, 60 dollars spent on a game that no one else was playing. Too Human serves as a lesson to all gamers, just cause its been cooking for a long time does not mean the end product will be better.
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Well that's my list, leave comments! :D
So long disappointing games of 2008, bring it on 2009!