Top Ten Gaming Disappointments

There are a lot of things in the gaming world that makes me happy, but there are also some that puts me into great shame. Whenever it’s a company deal, a new console/game, etc. they all matter to a certain extent to a point that makes people hyped up and anticipated.

But nowadays, I can’t stand hype as many things I know mostly have a certain part that really saddens me into something that the movie “The Butterfly Effect” can describe (what an awful film). So as a response to a certain Forum thread on Gamespot, I decided to make my own Top Ten Gaming Disappointments, but why not place it in the forum? Because I want to make my own opinions here where I’m allowed to say anything freely and also to have a bit more effort into making this well-thought (hopefully), so let’s start…

10. Tecmo

Ninja Gaiden, Rygar and Dead or Alive… Do those games mean anything to you? Because some do for me, it’s really sad when a company that takes arcade style games to consoles and make them more of an increasing challenge. Ninja Gaiden on the NES or Xbox were hard but fun games, Dead or Alive 2 is a favourite of mine on the original Sega Dreamcast and while I haven’t played Rygar on the NES and PS2, I do have a bit of hope for the Wii version.

There may be other titles I’m missing but those are the ones I can think of right now. But I feel that Tecmo has lost a lot of confidence for a while now after last year with the “Itagaki” incident after he finished developing Ninja Gaiden II on the Xbox 360 (which (in my opinion) was a rather disappointing release that hopefully Ninja Gaiden Sigma II on the PS3 can be better if they fix the problems that is) due to unpaid bonuses. He filed a lawsuit for the company, they shut him up then they lost a few profits. It’s been hell for Tecmo after the whole thing and their new-born title “SPRay” on the Wii was badly received.

I was gonna put it higher on the list, but its low since Tecmo has been under a lower profile for a while (until the GDC for NGS II on the PS3) and there wasn’t really much for me to say as nothing new that have made them in a worried state lately.

9. Backward compatibility

Ever since game consoles like the Sega 32x (which is an add-on that sucks balls), the Playstation 2 and the Game Boy Advance, Backwards compatibility has became an interesting feature to show that you can replay your old favourites without having to pull out the old console just to enjoy them.

And while Nintendo were smart to include the have full compatibility to play Gamecube games (to play favourites and missed out titles), but somehow Microsoft and Sony have screwed that up and it’s saying a lot for Sony side since the PS2 was capable of playing old PS1 games, but let me explain.

When you buy a console that allows backwards compatibility, you expect the whole console to fully work with all past games of its predecessor, right? Well, after a great success with Xbox, Microsoft brought out the 360 with its backwards compatibility but the whole feature for it feels unfinished as you have to install patches to update the library of compatible games and make it larger. Why the hell can’t you have it straight from the box? As if the RROD wasn’t such a huge issue.

Now onto Sony’s side as they screwed this up as well. While the PS2 was also a standard in backwards compatibility with PS1 games (as I’ve previously mentioned) why the hell remove the feature in the later versions of the PS3? Even with the latest 80GB (which lead to cancelling production of the other versions) doesn’t have the feature? It just makes no sense, I mean is it because it would cost more to put in that feature? Is it the real reason why the first 60GB model (which I’m lucky enough to own) costed so expensive? Because I don’t think it should have been with or without that feature, I just think it’s pricey because of Blu-ray which isn’t THAT ready for the market (in my opinion) since there’s very little difference between that format and the original DVD.

Overall, with the exception of the Nintendo Wii, Sony and Microsoft screwed up something that could have given the past games a little more life (if the consumer is into it that is).

8. Nintendo of Today

Speaking of Nintendo, I am still fond of the company since I’ve played and loved the original Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 (but the Gamecube didn’t grab me, despite it had some great titles which I sorely missed out on) and of course, the original handhelds to this day. I was excited for the Wii when it came out but didn’t get it till Christmas as I got to experience the motion-controlling fun that it has offered. But I then gave it up for a short while but now in full-force with some great games I own and expecting better ones to come, I really don’t care what others think of the Wii’s library (it’s sounds like most console fanboys are mistreating the Wii WAY worse than the Gamecube when that was an underrated system).

But what really saddens me is that Nintendo is lacking that entertainment feel that they used to have, back in the old days with that certain special energy that they had. I still do support the Wii and DS as of today, but it seems to lack a certain support for the consoles (but the DS has somewhat great support though). Back in the early days of the NES and Super Nintendo, a lot of big companies put their games on the systems and try to squeeze every power of the consoles to its full potential and why are they not doing that in this day and age just surprises me.

I’m guessing because of the whole “cartridge” thing with the N64 might have made an effect on the developers since cartridges were more expensive than CDs at the time, thinking that Nintendo aren’t really ageing well as the Playstation was rising up and trying to be more advanced in hardware technology which grabbed most gamers attention and as I’ve listed in my top 3 biggest mistakes by Nintendo back on my GS blog, they came in a little too late with Gamecube as the first console to utilise optical discs while bigger consoles like the PS2 and the Xbox were on the horizon and while the GC has some really great games but it wasn’t enough to capture most gamers as it felt a little watered down (despite some big selling titles like SSBM, Super Mario Sunshine, RE 4, etc.).

Then comes the Nintendo Wii (previously named “Revolution”) and with its interesting innovation was a good enough idea for a bestselling console and while it isn’t a powerful console compared to the 360 and PS3, it proves a message that High powered games aren’t gonna be any good. While that is a nice thought but the only problem that defeats the idea is the lack of decent 3^rd parties and killer apps (with a few exceptions here and there) and it just makes me wonder since all these crappy games are on there to try and cash-in on the console and it just makes me wonder… What the hell happened to the Quality Assurance team that Nintendo used to have?

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, back in the NES days, Nintendo had a policy for developers to make games of being “acceptable quality” to secure a decent library of games that doesn’t fall under atrocities like E.T and Pac Man on the Atari 2600 after the crash of video games in 1983. Now why Nintendo of America (or Japan, if I can count them in) isn’t doing that anymore? It just really surprises me.

Now as I said, I still love my Wii and have a good range of games but Nintendo really need to work their way back immediately if they want to survive in the console market and not fall flat, but this section is low on the list since the Wii and DS has been selling strongly, Nintendo may have a big chance to stay within the gaming market (but it’s a positive imo).

7. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

A little personal disappointment for me as I was hoping it was going to be one of the best games of 2007 but falls flat on its face for me. While I will admit after another rental, it’s not as bad as I thought was when I first tried it but still, it’s an utter pit of hype and BS for me that sadly did not sold on me. (Before I go onto this, please note that I’m not going to mention the whole “Gertsmann” thing because it’s not worth it.)

After the recent success with the awesome Hitman series, the European developer IO interactive were on a roll and decided to go into a new direction with Kane & Lynch. A more dark, co-op experience with an interesting multiplayer system and having Hitman’s composer Jesper Kyd at their back to do the music, I thought that this was going to be one blast of a game. But it turned for the worst when I heard mixed reviews for it.

When I rented it, I thought it was terrible at first, but the second rent gave it some saving grace by a little. The plot was a little generic, the dialogue consists of one too many F-bombs (which isn’t a real problem but can be bothersome from time to time), the cover system was flawed, the graphics were a bit muddy, the AI was a little buggy and the hit detection is bad when shooting from a distance.

The game is rather a bargin bin buy or a rental at best in my opinion. It’s an ok game at best I did kinda like it but still a disappointment. That’s all I can say about that.

6. Codemasters

For those who didn’t know Codemasters, they were an independent UK game developer back in the 80s when the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 were on the market. They were also responsible for the Fantastic Dizzy series, Micro Machines and as well as notorious for creating unlicensed games for the NES and Sega Mega Drive. But most people would know them for developing the famous Colin McRae Rally series (God rest his soul), LOTR Online and more recently the Overlord franchise.

I think I do remember one or two games brought out by Codemasters which were great, like Downhill Domination on the PS2 for instance and I guess that’s all I can remember from them, so I may not be into what games they have put out, but that’s beside the point.

What I’m trying to say is that when were coming out with a few titles, the two in particular failed miserably to succeed in my expectations. The first victim was Clive Barker’s Jericho. The infamous horror writer comes back with a new game (after the often seen overlooked Undying on the PC) and I was sold on how it was gritty was its presentation, the storyline was intriguing and the gameplay elements seemed interesting (if not similar to Battlefield 2: Modern Combat on the Xbox, PS2 and Xbox 360) but after some mixed reviews, I decided to give it a rental and I was glad I gave it a rental as it was a very generic FPS/Survival Horror game.

Suffered due to long load times, bland environments and very stiff gameplay, while the game was playable in the least, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped to be. That’s all I can say about that as I did think it was an ok attempt but just didn’t work out as hoped.

But then Codemasters announced Rise of the Argonauts, I had a bit of hope for this game as it was an interesting take on to make a new story revolving around Greek Mythology of Jason and the Argonauts with other characters such as Hercules, Achilles, Pan, etc. and it was going to be a well-developed Action-RPG, so it lead me to believe that it was like God of War and Mass Effect put together, it seemed very interesting.

I pre-ordered the game and got it at Christmas (I also rented it before Christmas, but I’m not going to include that), then when I went to play it, I could not believe how rushed this game was. On how much lack of fights there were, difficult since health meter was turned off automatically (which I didn’t think to check), the graphics were nicely designed but a little off in some areas, the lazy running animation and sluggish frame-rate didn’t help at all. It felt like a rushed Mass Effect and as for the action since while Mass Effect may not have many action parts, but it was finely balanced with that and the conversations between characters, etc.

But while these games are done by different developers, I’m a little stunned on how Codemasters doesn’t inspect of the games in development, I’m not sure if publishers do that, but isn’t quality an issue these days? So, I may not be surprised if their latest title Damnation will be any good, but if it is, I’ll be stunned.

5. Video Game Reviewers

Over the years of gaming and if you wanted advice on a game or information, most resource to look up on the game was in magazines and (now in this day up to this day and age) websites. Most of them were reliable for the most part if you wanted to know if a game is either good or bad and you’ll mostly agree. But nowadays, they’re mostly doing it for either 5 minutes of fame or just to get paid either way no matter how good or bad the review is done.

Now I know reviews are mainly based of player’s opinions and of course, not everyone is going to agree with everyone, but it just kinda bothers me on how things that used to be reliable back in the early days are just unhelpful these days unless they’re overhyped piles of crap which is considered “perfect” from the reviewers. While some reviewers do give a few unknown and least expected games a fair chance from time to time but most views in this day and age are just plain biased.

A good example would be one my choice for the most underrated game of 2008, Sonic Unleashed. While it did have a few issues that made it a little unplayable to a point, it was still a blast to play every now and again, I enjoyed it after I rented it on the 360 which I actually prefer it more than the Wii version which most critics seem to give high props on instead of the HD console versions. IGN gave the game a 4.5/10 while Gamespot gave it a 3.5/10 and since I own it, I have no clue what the fuck they’re talking about. It’s either they don’t like Sonic or just prefer more of the Daytime stages. Now, I know there’s a bunch of people who would prefer the Daytime stages more than the Night time Werehog (and I agree) but I never had a problem with the Night time gameplay, it was mainly like a platforming/beat-‘em up section kinda like the modern platformers like Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, etc. but I do agree that the concept was rather stupid, but I think it’s ridiculous for a game to have a rating so low to call it “a horrible game”.

Another example for me is Dark Messiah: Heroes of Might and Magic on the PC (then later ported as “Dark Messiah Elements” on the Xbox 360). Being a non-PC gamer, I’ll do my best attempt to describe my opinion about the critics view and my views on the game.

Gamespot gave the original PC version a 6.7 for the reason being “Dark Messiah wraps a dull story around repetitive gameplay. It’s not a bad game, but it’s technical glitches brings it down”, now I understand why they brought up the whole technical glitches part since the game was obviously not ready for a full release yet but that’s no excuse as most games on the PC or consoles (in this day and age) can be released with a huge amount of problems that can be fixed with downloadable patches. I know it’s a pain in the ass to download them but still, why complain if it happens all the time no matter how good the game is.

I did not think the action was that boring, it kinda reminds me of Thief in a way (but I have owned it but back then I didn’t have the right computer to play it, sadly despite it worked once or twice but didn’t know how to play though), it was fast, challenging and sometime strategic pending on the situation I was in.

As many people see it as like an Action/RPG, but the thing is that people should know is that Dark Messiah is NOT Oblivion. The stages are linear, there are no side quests and the story and character development isn’t all that deep. While you do have to worry about your magic meter, items, etc. The game has RPG elements but the game isn’t heavy on it.

While there are a few other decent reviews upon this game (after doing a bit of looking around), I still can’t see why Gamespot gives it a 6.7 (After all, I got the game for about $20 or more, if I can remember).

So overall, if you wanted an opinion on a game, in this day and age it’s usually best a rental or a bargain bin game unless you’re recommended to it by a friend or someone close to you to give it a try. But it’s still sad on how helpful second opinions from game reviewers are long gone in this day and age. Oh well.

4. Rare bought out to Microsoft

One of the best Nintendo 3^rd-parties that supported the SNES and N64 well to keep them at the top of the gaming world was Rare (or Rareware as they were called back then). After brutally punishing gamers with Battletoads on the NES (as well as it’s spin-offs on the SNES and Game Boy), they were highly supportive with the SNES with the highly popular Donkey Kong Country series as well as surprising everyone with its ultra combo fighter in the arcades with Killer Instinct (which was also on the SNES and sequel on the N64).

As they moved on to the N64, it was then birth to two of the most beloved FPS ever, 007 Goldeneye (based on the James Bond flick of the same name) and Perfect Dark. They also gave out whacky-fun platformers like Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie (and its sequel, Banjo-Tooie), Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini and as well the quirky but fun and challenging Blast Corps and cartoony racer Diddy Kong Racing.

But after their last game which was Star Fox Adventures on the Gamecube, they were bought out by Microsoft (by owing 51% of Rare to be exact) in 2002. Since they were bought, they’re imagination was seem left behind as they made intriguing but somewhat lacklustre and less appealing games. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all of them were bad but lacked a certain appeal that Rare had back in the 16-bit and 64-bit days.

While I did enjoy Conker: Live and Reloaded on the Xbox, it really saddens me on how a company I grew up playing their games on the SNES (Donkey Kong Country series) and N64 (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and a bit of Blast Corps from time to time) have become somewhat lacklustre and to be honest, Perfect Dark Zero on the 360 really didn’t cut it. Kameo wasn’t appealing to me, Viva Piñata didn’t caught my eye but got me a little confused, the new Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts didn’t get me either (we did own the original on the N64 but I wasn’t too fussed about it. Sorry!) And I may try and get Grabbed by the Ghoulies on the Xbox originals, but I just don’t know how to feel about that.

It’s just sad to see on how some game developers can lack progression in this day and age and does that by showing it. While I haven’t really played any of the newer games by Rare (like the latest Banjo-Kazooie game) and I’m pretty sure some are good, but they just don’t seem to have the same appeal to me as their earlier titles were.

3. Console Wars

This has been going on for a very, very long time since the dawn of video games. When does it ever end and can’t we all agree that at least one of each console that is competing has good games for it? Obviously, no one cares about that. Most people care about which console is the best and it’s mostly debatable but still has no point, it’s all based on opinions.

In the 90s, it was obviously two consoles going against each other, The Sega Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo, each console has its upsides and downsides. The Sega Mega Drive may have inferior graphics and sound when compared to the Super Nintendo but other than that, they were competitive and while other consoles tried to cash in on their success but failed miserably as they focused too much on the hardware than the software.

Now those days are over as we now have 3 consoles competing and most from what I’ve heard that it’s all bitching and moaning of saying which console has the most exclusive games, better graphical capabilities, backwards compatibility and online features.

Jeez… When the fuck did the apocalypse of the video gaming community came?!… As an owner of all three systems and I enjoy them all greatly no matter what issues they have or the lack of decent games they have. They’ll all have something to make the system worth something at least like the PS3 with Resistance and Killzone 2, the Xbox 360 with Halo 3 and Gears of War and the Wii with SSBB and MadWorld (despite poor sales for MadWorld).

The thing is, no matter what hard facts that you try to give that all consoles has its strong and weak points, many console fanboys will mostly ignore you and just try to give you their facts that “this system is teh best EVAR!!!! Becuz, it haz so many gamez!” and give you bullshit things about what consoles has more exclusives, what games that aren’t exclusive, what 360 games that have been ported to the PC, why the Wii is the worst or best system since it sells like hot cakes and a whole lot of random bullshit that pops out off them fanboys mouth that doesn’t prove anything.

I know it’s a debate by gamers, gadget wizards, etc. that will never stop, but I’m tired of hearing of someone saying that this console sucks and this one is better. Because, no console is going to be perfect, nothing is ever perfect in this world and if everyone can learn to shut up and understand that, the better.

2. Canned Sequels

Sequels in the gaming world are a mixed bag, it depends if the game is improved on the original or just brings it down to a new low of suckage. But sequels that are in development to a greatly anticipated title are cancelled, that is a very different story. This story has a very special place in my heart for my many years of gaming.

Let me explain a good example. Shenmue (if everyone knows this game) is considered a cult classic of the Sega Dreamcast as it had some amazing graphics for it’s time, having a different style of gameplay as it was very different at the time as an adventure game with fighting gameplay elements as well as revolutionary for the QTE sequences and really bad English Voice acting. However, being as a huge project it was (costing at least US$40 Million to produce) there was only two in the series that was originally planned as a 6 or 7-part series, fleshing out the storyline of Ryo’s tale of revenge for the murder of his father. Since the original creator Yu Suzuki has been MIA lately (despite now somewhat working within Sega), it’s been a real mystery on when there will be a 3^rd. There were hints of a remake of the first two games for the Wii as well but none of that is considered true though.

Another example is a game that I was rather fond of during the PS1 day. The game was titled Fear Effect and while the gameplay plays out a lot like Resident Evil, it was known for its engaging yet warped storyline, an odd set of characters and pre-rendered graphical scenery with cel-shaded character models. It’s one of my favourite games on the original PS1 and it sooner or later followed up with a sequel “Retro Helix” (which is more of a prequel though), I never got to beat it though (but I may go back into it in the future) but it was as enjoyable as the original. After that, the publishers Eidos was on a roll and had third game in development planned for the PS2 but unfortunately it was sooner or later cancelled when I read it on that one issue (don’t remember which one) of the official Playstation magazine, I was utterly disappointed.

You see my point here? Sequels to great games that further develop storylines and expanding into a small franchise that can be memorable for gaming history seems to not last very long and it really saddens me that these games deserve a much higher respect then they have ever got. I nearly thought that when Max Payne 3 wasn’t gonna be in development anymore until that one faithful day that Rockstar games would continue it on which I’m still happy to this day.

However, it doesn’t change the fact that a lot of great titles don’t seem to get the attention it deserves and as well as the continuation of a great game that it should be. It just makes me sad. I don’t know what games in this day and age that I can compare to that are in category of what I’m talking about but you all should know what I’m talking about.

And finally my #1 biggest gaming disappointment is….

Why? Well, you’re gonna have to wait for the epic rant for it, coming very soon…

Sorry, but I just don’t have to effort to talk about it right now! So, you’re all gonna have to wait and let me tell you… I have a lot to say. It may have been said a lot but it’s gonna be big…

Stay tuned for it. Thanks for reading and until next time, Take Care.