2012: Your WORST/Most Disappointing Gaming Experiences

[PSI Wind]

Knowing Zero Escape 3 won't come out for a good amount of time after Virtue'ls Last Reward made me hunger for it.
Oh, and E3 absolutely sucked except for Ubisoft.

[Milo]

I didn't play/get many (if not any) games, but based on what I read/seen, there's only one-Sonic 4: Episode II

 

Episode II could had been that chance for Sega/ST/Dimps to show whatever remaining Genesis fans they had that they were actually serious about righting the wrongs they did with Episode I, let alone have Epi. II be that second critical step of taking Sonic back to his 2D Genesis roots. The fact that they used feedback from the Episode I for Generations HD, (to a lesser extent) Colors, and (to a much lesser extent) Gen. 3DS over the period of around two years was promising. And that's not even going into Sega's release of Taxman's Sonic CD port/remake. And what did they do?

- Fixed some of the loudest problems of Episode I in a half-hearted fashion or in a way that created a new problem

- Rehashed the same PR/marketing spins/claims from the previous episode

- Took some of the most-requested things for Epi. II and implemented them in the most bizarre fashion possible

- Told their (previously-primary) demographic that "the sequel you've been waiting 16+ years for" could no longer deliver on that classic experience they wanted

- Essentially skipped over almost every other problem the previous game had or re-introduced them in a new form

 

All that feedback for over two years, all of that potential to improve the game massively as a (Genesis) Sonic game, dumped down the outhouse toilet of Sega Enterprises in favor of what is essentially more of the same. That's fundamentally the worst part of Episode II, which for me makes it worse than Episode I. Episode I also could had been a great Sonic game that turned out to be crap, but at least it did have some resemblance ofthe Genesis (something that was stripped away in Episode II), and more importantly had the excuse of being a "prologue/test drive/etc."-an excuse you can't really use two years later after a series of great retro-based Sonic games.

 

The only reason I'm even interested in a third episode (which is now in development limbo, obviously as a result of how Episode II was handled) is only to have one last laugh at whatever pre-release shenanigans regarding the game or it's PR that will occur, which I'm sure would be much like that of it's episodic predecessors.

 

I'd also have to say PS Vita and NSMB2 were also somewhat of a letdown, albeit as I noted I haven't really gotten anything new game-related thing last year and I wasn't as bothered with them as much as I was with Episode II.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Kazaam

[Potada]

Kingdom Hearts: 3D

 

Now, don't get me wrong; I loved this game just as much as any other KH game. The combat was still good, the areas were big and explorable, and the story was still as weird as ever.

 

However...

 

I hated the way you have to rely completely on your Dream Eater partners for abilities and deck commands (Well, except for purchasing them, but that's beside the point). What happened to the making bigger, badder commands by mixing them? And you can't even level them up. And don't even get me started on how they got rid of the reaction bits in some of the stronger commands (If I'm going to pull off a super-powerful attack, I want to have some input, not just watch it tear enemies apart). I do have to applaud the game-making team for making a lot of them not so restrictive, but still. Mix some bits of BBS and I think it'll be golden.

 

Also, I really did like the Dream Eater partners, but, again, abilities and whatnot. If your going to have that ability link board thingy, it should mainly be for giving the spirits those attacks (That might actually have been how it worked, but I'm not really that sure. I'm pretty much writing by the seat of my pants at this point). Basically, they could have used more customization options for themselves.

 

Then, there's flowmotion. Now, I really liked the concept of this, but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. It feels overpowered at times, whether it's saying "Screw you" to certain platforming challenges, or basically decimating enemies with the attacks that stem from them.

 

I'm sure there are some things in here that sound silly, but oh well. Again, I overall loved the game, it just wasn't as great as I'd expected it to be.

[MegasonicZX]

Probably the worst gaming experience that ive had this year was having to do the final boss of persona 3 like 6 different times, and the fight itself takes like 2 hours. I would always get near the end with this jerk before he starts pulling all of these cheap moves on me and kills me (I hate you night queen) and not only that, they would be very close victories too and 2 times, not once but twice, the guy charmed my healing characters and got them to heal all of his 6000 hp back because mediarahan is the most broken spell ever, needless to say, it was the best day ever when I finally beat this guy, 1hp left, no party member's alive, I put all of my hopes on one last ragnarok and won. Let's just say I danced to the victory theme after that, for 5 minutes.

 

My worst game played this year would probably have to be tales of phantasia on GBA, before, I always thought that people over exaggerated the crudiness of this game, but my GOD was I wrong. Everything about it is awful (aside from story) from the battle system, to the random encounters, to the voices and especially how derpy demon fang sounds to the point it makes me laugh to tears, it was just awful.

This. Hell, Wraith even warned me about this and I still bought this shit. This has got to be the most awful purchase I ever made, nothing about it was fun in the slightest because it's so fucking tedious and boring. The worst part of my experience being I paid 60 bucks for it and when I returned it I got only 14 bucks back from GameShitFucktop essentially shitting 45 bucks down the toilet. Fuck GameStop and fuck this game.

how come its only these supposed GOTY's that get there prices gimped the most, while Mario is still worth gold for some reason?

[Potada]

how come its only these supposed GOTY's that get there prices gimped the most, while Mario is still worth gold for some reason?

Why, because it's Mario, of course.

[Wraith]

how come its only these supposed GOTY's that get there prices gimped the most, while Mario is still worth gold for some reason?

 

To be fair, for all the shit I give Mario, I very rarely find any glitches in his games. Meanwhile, triple A shit with tons of money poured into it like Ass Creed 3 come out the way they do. I don't get it.

[Thigolf]

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

 

I was so excited for this game. I adore Disney in every where. I love platformers. It could've been such a great game, but sadly, they fucked it up.

 

- While the 2D presentation is top-notch, the music isn't, there are some really beautiful pieces in the game, but also some recycled pieces of Epic Mickey 1 in the most unfitting places (like, exciting fighting music while you do some slow exploring)

 

- Only 11 stages, which is abysmal for a game you could buy for 40 Euro over here

 

- Tons and TONS of backtracking. Seriously, if you're basically forcing me to go in a level 5 fucking times without giving me anything new, you ruin the greatest level designs for me.

 

- While there are a lot of characters and they're portrayed rather well, they don't have to say that interesting stuff and get boring quickly. Does Mulan really have to mention she has to save China everytime I talk to her?

 

- The usual "fan-favorite" movies were chosen as worlds. Seriously, why doesn't get, for example, the Jungle Book a shot for once? No, let's take Aladdin for the 100th time. Ugh.

 

I wouldn't call it a bad game, but it could've been so great. The graphics look great, the not-recycled music is beautiful, the controls work great, and the level design is superb... But they have to ruin it by forcing you back in the levels PERMANENTLY to the point you get sick of them, giving you way too less levels... It's really a shame. I guess they were forced to release the game along with the console game, a year more could've made it great.

[Endy]

I didn't go out of my way to play bad games this year, but the most disappointing thing I played was probably Sonic Adventure 2. You know for a game that gets as much praise from fans as it does I expected much, much more.

 

I tried to like this game, I really did. I enjoyed it quite a bit at first, (then again it could be my feeling the need to disagree with everybody talking and me hearing so many bad things about it) but as the game went on, I began to hate it even more, and now I'm at the point of LOATHING IT. As everyone has said, the Mech Shooting is clunky, boring, has to many reused gimmicks, block square platforming, ect….but what really pushes me over the edge are the treasure hunting levels. Its not the level design itself that I hate, but its the damn radar! WHY WHY WHY WOULD YOU BREAK IT? Making it track only one item does not instigate any fun at all!!

 

Oh yeah, I also hate this game because its the first Sonic game to suggest that Sonic is all about speed instead of a mix of both speed and platforming. 

I would go on but I don't want to be beating a dead horse now would I?

 

Oh yeah, I also bought Dear Esther. I don't  mind a good story tied to a game, but if it has more story than a fun factor, then I think thats a bad thing.

 

I would put NSMB2 on here but honestly I wasn't expecting much when I bought it.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Iris

[Tornado]

I really wanted to like LittleBig Karting, but it's way too much like Modnation for my liking from my experience playing it at school and Modnation absolutely blows. It's a shame, because Sony really could have turned it into a true Mario Kart competitor, and all they delivered was something that even seems watered down compared to an already crappy game.

 

 

 

Everything else I bought and/or played this year  was either perfect fun for me (though Far Cry 3 is kind of obnoxious with how buggy it is at times, it was basically an impulse buy at the behest of my boyfriend so it's all good) or I suspected from the start that it would be kind of ass (NSMB2, Adventure 2, S4E2), so I wasn't disappointed.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Tornado

[SuperLink]

Probably more than I can even remember, but I'll start with an honourable mention to NSMB, mostly U but assuming this applies to 2 aswell. Yeah.. it's fun, it's solid, it works, but boy is it stagnant, where's the secrets and intrigue of the old Mario games? Why is every music track a crap re-imagining of the previous game's disappointingly mediocre soundtrack? Stagnant is the name of the game, New Stagnant Mario Bros. I really hope Mario doesn't keep going down the path of Mario 3D Land and NSMB because oh god oh man.

 

Next; this isn't much a disappointment with a game itself but rather the fact that Persona 4 Arena still hasn't come out in Europe and Atlus just thought it was an amazing idea to make it the only region locked PS3 game ever. "Fuck you Atlus" doesn't begin to describe how I feel about this situation right now.

 

- Virtue's Last Reward, not to say it's bad, or anywhere near bad, it's amazing, it's my favourite 3DS game, but the initial subtlety of 999's fantastical elements were part of what made it so... brilliant. VLR starts off being ridiculous and fantastical and never really stops, ya it has mindfucky moments but a lot of things aren't surprising when they.. well.. should be. However it works gr8 as a game mechanic and the puzzles and characters are better than 999's. I just think the plot tried too hard.

 

Annd some other games/things that most people will not be surprised to see:

- Paper Mario Sticker Star thank u Miyamoto's advice you really made this one so much better than the other ones (not)

- Resident Evil 6 no description needed

- the current state of the Final Fantasy series

- PlayStation Vita this system is so neat and clean and comfy and stuff but like.. games and marketing, where is it.

 

Last but not least this isn't entirely relevant I'd like to say I was more than pleasantly surprised by Tales of Graces f, I expected a very mediocre Tales game and ended up finding the battle system to be the most great thing ever. (the music still sux tho)

But yeah overall that game was the opposite of a disappointment.

[super saiyan weegee]

Probably more than I can even remember, but I'll start with an honourable mention to NSMB, mostly U but assuming this applies to 2 aswell.

mostly U...

mostly U...

mostly U...

MOSTLY U?

I'm sorry, but how could mention NSMBU before NSMB2?! NSMBU isn't even near the levels of samey NSMB2 was in!!

Howhowhowhowhowhowhowhow!!?!?!?!? HOW!!??

 

OK, now that i've gotten that out of my system, which game are you talking about when you say, "Yeah.. it's fun, it's solid, it works, but boy is it stagnant, where's the secrets and intrigue of the old Mario games? Why is every music track a crap re-imagining of the previous game's disappointingly mediocre soundtrack?"? Because if you're talking about NSMBU, you are wrong. Although, if you're talking about NSMB2, you are making a good point.

 

Now that my fan rage is over, I've thought of another let down. Sonic Adventure. Mainly for the same reason I was let down by SA2, people gushed over it and I thought I was getting myself into something great, only to play a relativity mediocre title.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Have a Haden New Year!

[SuperLink]

I mentioned U first and said mostly because I haven't actually even played 2, so I just assumed it'd be worse with 2 since reviews seem to indicate that.

 

Yeah U is really good, and I probably haven't played enough of it yet, but from the 2 worlds I've played so far it still feels very formulaic and.. well, like the other NSMB games; still not at Mario World's level.

 

 But keep in mind that's just my opinion from what I've played, after the first world I played some very desert looking stages with the same uninspired boring desert music from a previous NSMB game and I can't say I'm overly impressed so far. (the backgrounds are pretty though)

Edited January 1, 2013 by SuperLink

[super saiyan weegee]

Oh, you haven't played NSMB2...OK, that explains it.

[Conando]

By the way, I find Assassin's Creed III to be my biggest disappointment of 2012 as well. Though I did actually enjoy it because, I'm some sort of weirdo who likes running around doing pointless shit, the game was a glitch ridden mess, and the main missions themselves, for the most part, were not that interesting and very few even included assassinations! I have a feeling this game suffered from having "too many cooks in the kitchen" as it were. All these developers wanted to try different things and they ended up doing too much and not focusing on making any part of the game truly excellent, many parts fall short of good even. 

Edited January 1, 2013 by Kringle Of Awesome

[Spooky Mulder]

This might earn some flack, but I'll say my biggest disappoint in gaming in 2012 would be...gaming in 2012. This year in general left me pretty unimpressed. It's been a pretty forgettable year, to be honest. Maybe its because I'm coming off a high from 2011, a year that saw the reveal of a new Nintendo console, the releases of Uncharted 3, Arkham City, Skyward Sword, Skyrim, Rayman Origins, Mario 3D Land and more, but I can't shake the feeling that 2012 was kind of a gaming dud.

 

Of course 2012 had its big titles, but I think the biggest thing to come out of 2012 was probably Halo 4--a game I haven't played since I don't own a 360. ME3 disappointed a lot of people. AC3 was obviously disappointing to quite few. And even though these are certainly not bad games, I just don't think they make up for an overall pretty dull year.

 

E3 didn't exactly impress this year. The Wii U presentation could have been better. NSMBU is a great game but its still not very new. I don't remember Sony's or Microsoft's conferences, and the few things I do remember from these conferences are games that weren't even due out until 2013. The Last of US, God of War, Sly Cooper, Remember Me, Tomb Raider, GTA5, Bioshock, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends....2013 already sounds way better than 2012 was.

 

Plus 2013 is probably going to bring a much more interesting E3. PS4 and XBOX 720 announcements seem imminent which should bring a slew of other awesome announcements. Nintendo's probably going to have a pretty kickass press conference considering we'll almost certainly get a look at Mario's first HD 3D adventure which will probably launch this Fall and we'll probably find out about whatever it is Retro's been working on.

 

2013 is shaping up to be a great year in gaming, but it'll probably make 2012 look even worse in comparison. It was just a disappointing year.

[The Kid]

2012 was going to be the year, man. It was going to be the year when all my gaming dreams would come true. All the big titles were going to come out and I was going to have so much fun before the world ended (that was another disappointment, I shouldn't have taken a dump on my boss'es desk I shouldn't have been so certain the world was going to end). Sure, the year had its ups with games like Kingdom Hearts 3D and Dishonored (and a few others that have escaped me at the moment) but the downs outweighed them by decent amount. There were three major issues with gaming in 2012.

 

1. Delayed Games. Early on, this year looked so amazing, what with titles like Alien: Colonial Marines, Bioshock Infinite, and Ni No Kuni. But those titles were pushed back (some multiple times) into 2013. There were even some questionable titles like DMC, Tomb Raider, and Metro: Last Light that would've satiated our gamer lust until the new year, but alas it wasn't meant to be. I won't even go into the slew of releases that were delayed for the Wii U.

 

2. Disappointing Big Name Titles. There were some supposedly amazing titles that ended up being bombs in a number of different ways. To name a few: Silent Hill: Downpour, Resident Evil 6, Assassin's Creed 3, Black Ops Declassified, NSMB2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Mass Effect 3, and Darksiders 2. Some of these were worse than others, but they all ended up worse than we expected.

 

3. Console Complications. Both the Wii U and the PS Vita had issues this year ranging from a disappointing launch, to questionable sales, and even certain features delayed. Both systems were expected to be more than they ended up being in one way or another.  Whether or not things change for the Vita which has been out for almost a year, or the Wii U which is still in its launch window, remains to be seen.

 

And to the people complaining about SA2 HD, people have fond memories of that game from a decade ago. Nowadays everyone recognizes it as a flawed game. 

[Teoskaven]

1)The Jak & Daxter Series

 

 

It was inevitable: with my passion for retrogaming i knew someday i would have stumbled across this series, and finally i did it this year (and soon the same passion will take me to the Ratchet & Clank series, and i pray every diety existent that is better) and i was prepared for something really great since everyone i know that played this series had only positive opinions.

 

So i prepared and expected some sort of platform with the addition of guns.

 

The first title was ok. Very frustrating in some points, but ok.

 

The second is where things got insane. I can accept the distopia concept. I can accept guns replacing most of the time the platform/melee gameplay. I can accept racing with a flying skateboard or using cool-looking viechles. BUT, i can't damn accept frustrating missions that basically don't care of your upgrades or your skills and say a giant "Fuck you" forcing to fail those missions over and over and over again.

 

I'm currently stucked, like if i'm in a fucking Limbo. It never happend me while playing a game: usually you die because you don't have enough levels/equipments/skills, so you grind a bit and come back. So ether you die or you succed. But no, Jak II flips the bird to this, forcing to do hardcore style from the beginning and literally don't giving you nothing to help you aside from cheats via Precursor Orbs. And it's not saying it's a difficult game; no, Ghosts 'n Goblins for NES is a difficult game. This abomination is just cruelty made into some thousands of bytes.

 

And i checked out the other titles, to see if they are any good: Jak III has only a very solid plot in his favour, Jak X: Combat Racing it's like playing a completely different game, The Lost Frontier is an insipid sequel with better mechanics and Daxter is just a random spin-off that barely affects the plot and could be a game on its on.

 

Naughty Dog already failed me with the boringfest that is Uncharted, they are on the right way to do it again with The Last of Us and now they did even with a previous product of them. What the hell have i did to them? I want to like this guys, they made my childhood with Crash Bandicoot.

 

And the worst part is that i've played an HD port, a better version: i tremble in fear to think what were the original PS2 titles.

 

2)Final Fantasy XIII-2

 

I think this picture sums it up pretty much:

 

 

 

 

I mean, really Square-Enix: i was really starting to like this game and thought it could put to shame that Charlie's Angels rip-off that is FFX-2. And then, the ending striked like a knife in butter. And the worst part is that in reality, this is a lazy excuse to make that horrible Lightning Returns. I don't know what are afraid of at SE to desperatly grapping onto the FNC saga, but they should have let it go years ago and start to move onto something new. If they did that, maybe FFXIV would be now a good game instead of an awful MMO.

 

3)E3 2012

 

As it was said previously, it was terrible: maybe Ubisoft, Konami and somehow Sony standed out the most, but really, it sucked so hard. Even Nintendo that should have presented the magnificence of the WiiU had their best part on the Pikmin 3 demo. Epic.

 

 

Honorable mentions:

-Namco not localizing a lot of good titles;

-Capcom getting itslef hated for its retarded DLC practice;

-SEGA screwing up with the Shining franchise on Youtube just because of the release of the new Shining Ark (japan-only btw):

-The Last Guardian being delayed to death;

-Final Fantasy Versus XIII continuing to be silent without news or anything;

-The HORROR of the sound bug that ruined completely the Devil May Cry HD Collection on PS3;

-The announcement that Bayonetta 2 is a WiiU exclusive (i already talked about this: i don't care for the fact that is on the WiiU, it's perfectly fine; it's the fact that it's ONLY on the WiiU);

-Anarchy Reings being dealyed and nearly cancelled for the west;

Edited January 2, 2013 by Teoskaven

[Conando]

What sound bug is there on the DMC Collection? I don't recall ever encountering it (I was playing the PS3 version, beat all 3 games).

 

As for Bayonetta 2...gives you more reason to be disappointed with SEGA. They REALLY screwed the pooch with the Platinum Games deal. I really should have mentioned they disappointed me in my last post.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Kringle Of Awesome

[Danj86]

Hard to say for me. I don't really get excited about much of anything in the gaming universe anymore. So I don't really end up being disappointed.

 

Hmm...oh, wait...there was one...

Persona 4 Arena: First for some dumbass reason, Atlus felt that it should be the only game ever, on the PS3, to be region locked. Why? Fuck knows? Go ask him...

Then the publishers that was trying to bring the game to the continent that most game companies like to ignore, that being Europe. Somehow managed to cock it up on a massive scale. What was the first estimated release date? Ah! Yes, August. Then moved to September, then moved to October, then disappeared off the face of the freakin' internet.

I can't remember what the current release date is, but know that I'm currently flipping off Atlus as I type. Sure, this post would've been quicker to type if I used both hands, but I feel the flipping off at Atlus is required. (Not a euphemism for masturbation. (Although it does sound like a good one. lol))

[turbojet]

Anarchy Reigns

Holy fucking shit, I wanted this game. I need this game. If not for controls being better than DmC despite it not being a beat 'em up or the addictive multiplayer, or BAYONETTA...it is the music. When Sega delayed this game and essentially screwed Platinum again by doing nothing to promote the game, I was beyond pissed. 

[Soniman]

And the worst part is that i've played an HD port, a better version: i tremble in fear to think what were the original PS2 titles.

Almost exactly the same, just not upscaled. And there still damn good games.

 

Not for everyone I guess.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

If I did have to name one disappointment, it would have to be Guild Wars 2. It's not that the game is bad by any stretch, it just...feels lacking. It feels like the game is trying to lead you somewhere, with general idea of the dynamic event chains (which are not dynamic BTW), but it often feels like you end up at a dead end, or feels like you are being lead nowhere, and are praised/trumpeted while doing so.

 

The personal storyline wasn't that much better either, with the first 30 levels being the only part of the game in which you are the main character, and the rest of the game having nothing to do with you whatsoever, or barely at best. Granted, it did give some development to the NPCs, but it feels like a bait and switch to tell me how important I am in the personal story, and then change to a completely different story with no relevance to the previous plot and toss my character to the wayside.

[Burnt Ash]

Hmm. I think most of my gaming disappointments this year are Sonic related.

SONIC ADVENTURE 1 AND 2

So yeah, this year I found out that I dislike SA1 quite a bit, to the point where I just don't like replaying anything in the game except some Sonic stages and all of Tails stages. The story is cool and all, but I dunno, I can't sit through it anymore.

I still like SA2. But the rerelease just showed me how bored I am with this game. I literally walk in the game and know exactly what to expect. I dunno, I guess that's my fault for playing it a bunch of times years ago. I still like it and stuff, but I don't get any of the former excitement with it like before.

SONIC 4 EPISODE II

Oh, this game. I like quite a bit of things in this game, or maybe it's just that Metal Sonic boss theme getting to my head. I personally enjoyed it, but I hate how it pretty much does nothing to improve upon Sonic 3. Nope, any sort of progression achieved by the classics was stopped with not just Episode II, but Sonic 4 as a whole. Seriously, it tries to go forward, but it just ends up going backwards instead.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Burnt Ash

[Teoskaven]

What sound bug is there on the DMC Collection? I don't recall ever encountering it (I was playing the PS3 version, beat all 3 games).

 

Apparently it's something related only to the european PS3 version: the cutscenes in both the first and the third DMC have a terrible audio unsyncronization, wich ruins them completely.

The only one not affected by this is the dam DMC2, for its cutscenes i could'nt care less.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Teoskaven

[Cobalt_Bolt]

I don't have very many disappointing gaming experiences from last year but the ones that stand out to me the most are as follows:

 

Mass Effect 3:  It wasn't just the ending that let me down on this game but the whole "Day 1" DLC fiasco that left me rather cross at EA and Bioware.  The consolation that I took from that was that I purchased it on sale.

 

Simbin:  No information on GTR 3 since February 2012 has led be to think that it's stuck in development hell.  The racing sim equivalent of Duke Nukem Forever.

 

Sonic Adventure 2:  Releasing the Battle portion of Sonic Adventure 2 as a separate DLC just stank of a cash grab move.  Should have been part of the game to begin with.