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Top Ten Most Disappointing Games Of 2009

Written by MarkyX | December 15, 2009

2009 is almost gone, and, looking back, there has been numerous key moments in the gaming industry: Capcom has managed to revive the fighting genre single handily with “Street Fighter 4.” The Wii has been receiving titles that are actually marketed towards gamers with doubledigit ages. And Star Wars fans have been drooling at the many developer walkthrough videos for the upcoming Star Wars MMO by Bioware. To say the least, in term of gaming, things are looking good.

With that being said, this doesn’t necessary the gaming industry did a perfect job this year. While sale records have been broken, there have been a few games released that received a ton of hype but failed to fufill their promises. The rules for this year’s list remain the same as last year: Any game that I was personally hyped about and didn’t meet my expectations is a candidate for this list. Because I only have a Wii, 360, and my PC, don’t expect anything from the handheld consoles or the Playstation 3.

10. Madworld
MadWorld

I know it’s very strange to label “Madworld” as disappointing game when I’ve given the game a favorable review, there’s a logically reason behind this.

“Madworld” was developed by Platinum Games, but they didn’t always go by that name. A few years ago, they were called Clover Studios and worked under Capcom, many artistically unique games were released by them, such as “Okami” and “Vietiful Joe.” It was one of their games in particular that had me hyped about “Madworld,” “God Hand.”

“God Hand” was a visually poor beat’em up that didn’t receive great reviews. It was released on the Playstation 2, and it was the last game created under the Clover Studios name. While the mainstream public didn’t bite, those of us who wanted to challenge ourselves and enjoyed punching people in the face got one hell of a game. I won’t list the features, but you can search on Youtube to see how the game works. It might be a good idea to do so, and then compare it to videos of “Madworld.” You might see a resemeblence.

And this is where the disappointment comes in. I liked “God Hand” and when I saw “Madworld,” I was hoping for a next-gen upgrade to the underrated game. Instead what we received was a dumbed down version of it. “Madworld” is still a great game, and you should try it if you haven’t done so, but considering this game from the same guys who made “God Hand,” I was disappointed with this one.

9. Street Fighter 4
Street Fighter 4

As stated before, this year is when Capcom finally released “Street Fighter 4” and made the fighting genre popular once again. While it doesn’t have a huge following like the original “Street Fighter 2,” there we plenty of fans infesting the Xbox Live and Playstation Network servers. Unfortunately, they all used Ken or another Shoto character.

Just like last year with “Mario Kart Wii,” I’ve always wanted to play fighting games online against other people from around the world. However this doesn’t mean much when everyone uses the same characters. Add to the fact that the balance between the characters is somewhat skewed, and you have a rather disappointing title that doesn’t meet the expectations.

Let’s also not forget the incredibly hyped, but useless focus attacks and the idiotic addition of Ultra moves. I never thought I would see the day where a fighting game rewards you for getting your ass kicked. “SF4” is by no means a terrible game, as this is the best fighting game currently out there, but compared to the competition, it’s not really saying much.

8. Empire: Total War
Empire: Total War

I’ve given “Empire: Total War” a favorable review many months back., and to me, it was (and still is) definately one of the better strategy games out there. The problem with the game is that, despite all the efforts to make it look and play well, it still suffers from many of the same problems from past “Total War” games.

For starters is the A.I. Creative Assembly, the developers behind “Empire: Total War,” promised that they had a sole programmer focusing on A.I. Even they knew that in the past the A.I. was pretty damn hopeless, which is something you can’t ignore if you plan on creating a single player centric game. When the game was released, it was hard to know that they assigned a programmer to the A.I. since it was barely an improvement. As mentioned in my review, the A.I. had trouble with pathfinding, made predictable useless tactics, and the diplomacy was nowhere near “Civilization” standards.

Although mentioned in my review, I didn’t go into great detail about the multiplayer in “E:TW” and the reason I didn’t is because when I got my copy of the game, barely anyone was actually playing it. All I simply said was “good netcode, it works, and has ranked play.” Now, it’s been a few months, and the game has had a bit of sucess, and those things still didn’t change, and I was heavily into online play. However, there was a time where I just decided to stop because of one simple reason: There was no balance. Just like previous “Total War” games, there are plenty of cheese tactics and ways to nearly kill the entire army without much effort on your part. The “Total War” franchise has never been known to be balanced, hence the lack of competitive play around it. Again, much like the A.I., I was hoping to see some big changes.

7. League of Legends
League of Legends

“DOTA” has been slowly getting more mainstream attention ever since the announcement of “League of Legends” and “Heroes of Newerth.” From a business standpoint, it makes sense: DOTA, despite being a custom map for the aging WC3 engine, has over a million players from around the world. It has proven to be successful formula without risking anyone’s pocket. So why not make a commericial product out of it?

Riot Games decided to do just that, using folks from the earlier versions of the “DOTA” map before Icefrog took over. They hyped many features about the game, such as making it more newb friendly yet keeping the depth of the “DOTA” map, making the game much more gank oriented instead of a farmfest, and games that would be played in 30 minutes.

In some areas, they did succeed, but they also failed on many fronts. The game was released far too early, with only one game mode and one map. They even introduced a microtransaction model, giving advantage to those who are willing fork out extra cash. Despite the 40 champion roster, you’ll only see a select few heroes due to their champion “cycling” and the need to unlock them.

Fortunately, they are improving the game with each patch, slowly making the pacing much faster and champion tiers closer together. However, considering the game is free meaning no player needs to hold accountability and you need to constantly unlock to even play well, it’s not hard to see why this would be labelled as a disappointing game by yours truly with all the hype around it.

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Comments

42 Responses to “Top Ten Most Disappointing Games Of 2009”

  1. John on December 15th, 2009 10:24 pm

    You forgot the Conduit… that was a complete disappointment (and it was hyped up WAY more than most of the games listed)

    Reply

  2. doa766 on December 15th, 2009 10:37 pm

    it sounds like you suck at MW2,

    I can’t stay hidden on a spot for more than 10 seconds before I start to get bored so I always move around and I hate campers,

    I admit that the problem increased this time around but there’s no bigger satisfaction than playing it straight and beating all the campers anyway, even of the bigger maps it can be done,

    of course it takes a lot of skill and it seems you don’t have it, try Halo or Left 4 Dead where you don’t even have to aim and you’ll probably feel more at home

    Reply

    PimpMasterFong Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    @doa766,

    One of the main things I disliked about MW2′s multiplayer was that I got no satasfaction out of killing people what so ever. Whenever I killed someone, I felt cheap. I felt like I used to feel whenever I’d run around killing people with an M16 in COD4. Like a total douche bag. Owning some M16 noob in COD4 however was one of the most satisfying experiances out there while in MW2, just about every gun kills people in one shot.

    Reply

  3. dude on December 15th, 2009 10:39 pm

    i think your list is pretty much dead on granted ive only played a little modern warfare 2 but i admire you for putting that on your list its a game that just dosent deserve that avalance of hype

    good article prototye got what it deserves any one else notice hes from new york and sounds like hes native american

    Reply

  4. Acadian Ghost on December 15th, 2009 11:19 pm

    While I appreciate the effort your putting into your website here and I would hope you keep it going, I think you have a ways to go yet to achieve legitimacy amongst the crowded ranks of the N4G posters.

    I noticed plenty of grammatical errors in your writing, along with blatantly false statements about the content of certain games on the list (such as endless spawning enemies in MW2). I also do not see it wise to trash various groups of gamers who follow certain games (many of the same people who might try out one of your articles, only to be turned off from ever returning).

    Keep up your interest in games and keep writing, but I believe if you put a little more effort and maturity into your writing you would end up with more readers and a much stronger website.

    - Acadian

    Reply

  5. MarkyX on December 15th, 2009 11:46 pm

    (such as endless spawning enemies in MW2)

    Did you get a different version ? I remember Brazil having plenty of respawning enemies.

    Reply

  6. cajun on December 16th, 2009 2:04 am

    actually – Prototype sold 1.6+m copies globally, pretty much smashing all other new IP action games this year for sales.
    it was WAYYY better than Ass Creed 1 so i’m sure the sequel will correct the first games faults.

    otherwise,goodlist!

    [inc borderlands, dragon age, brutal legend, bionic commando etc etc]

    Reply

    2.o Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 10:01 am

    @cajun, Bionic Commando IS on the list. (look at number 4)

    Reply

  7. Evan on December 16th, 2009 3:45 am

    This list = FAIL

    Reply

  8. David Macphail on December 16th, 2009 3:54 am

    man, you suck at Fighting games and MW2 yes ?
    put uncharted 2 on that list too that was overrated !!!

    Reply

    David Macphail Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 10:43 am

    @David Macphail, Wow, this just goes to show how pathetic Xbox 360 owners are. They have no exclusive games to fill up their time so they resort to impersonating people on message boards? That says it all.

    If Uncharted 2 should be on this list then so should every 360 exclusive ever made, fact.

    Reply

    PimpMasterFong Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    @David Macphail,

    Dude, don’t even joke about that. Uncharted 2 is way better than any 360 exclusive currently available (I know I sound like a PS3 fanboy but, seriously, it is).

    Reply

  9. Stephen on December 16th, 2009 3:56 am

    Yeah IDK who posted this but I agree with a few of the games and even if MW2 is a flop it has pushed way too many copies to even begin to call it that. I mean a game that is as POPULAR as it has become and call if a flop do your research before posting a bs article.

    Reply

  10. Hm on December 16th, 2009 4:29 am

    Could be, could be… I disagree with MS2 though – it’s still an undeniably good game, despite the ridiculous story and snowmobile sections. I’d put Killzone 2 in there – still don’t understand what’s so ‘amazing’ about that dull game; and Dead Space – repetitive and very tedious level design. Each to their own I suppose.

    Reply

  11. choi on December 16th, 2009 5:32 am

    wow..the author talks like he has a deep understanding of the fighting genre,but from the description of the games mentioned he just sounds like all those random scrubs from GT,Gamefaqs and even shoryuken

    Reply

  12. John M on December 16th, 2009 6:28 am

    SFIV? seriously?

    Reply

  13. Joel Monteiro on December 16th, 2009 7:16 am

    Sounds like you always get butt hurt on MW2. It’s an excellent game and the reviews prove it. or are you one of those types of people who think companies paid to the whole world to trick costumers into buying their stuff?

    Street Fighter IV and Prototype? Really?

    Reply

  14. Ian on December 16th, 2009 7:29 am

    The most disappointing thing of 09 is this poor excuse for a blog and your incredibly bad taste in games.

    Get a job and some new opinions.

    Reply

  15. rob on December 16th, 2009 8:30 am

    i just love how every time a critical article posted on n4g attracts sooooooo many fanboys who have to throw insults in the comments section like it really even matters. you should sign all your articles with “FLAME ON!” in they are all this uh… well… inflammatory.

    but bravo sir for actually speaking out against MW2. that game is way over rated.

    Reply

  16. Mitch on December 16th, 2009 9:18 am

    This list needs work……every 360 game of this year should be on it. Forza was crap with bad graphics, Halo 3: ODST only lasts for 5 minutes and all other 360 games were flops as well because nobody bought them.

    I can already tell you the most dissapointing games of 2010: Halo: Reacharound and every other game that is 360 exclusive because they all have compressed audio and won’t even sell 1 million copies!!!

    Reply

    Swyrough Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    @Mitch, a lot of the xbox 360 exclusives sell over 1 million, gears of war, fable, left4dead, etc. PS3 has a huge problem with pushing exclusives, uncharted 2 is yet to reach 1 million copies and that is winning goty awards right and left and was the biggest ps3 exclusive in 2009.

    So im all for saying ODST was overrated and bad, but it did sell 2.5 million copies, so dont say they dont sell 1 million copies. And plus Halo: Reach will sell insanely so I really just dont get why you said that

    Reply

    PimpMasterFong Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    @Mitch,

    Unfortunatly, even if it sucks Halo: Reach will most likely sell an incredible amount of copies due to the fact that just about every 360 owner out there is going to buy it and there sure as hell are alot of 360 owneres.

    Reply

  17. dommafia on December 16th, 2009 10:14 am

    SF4? are you nuts? your reasoning for adding sf4 to this list is laughable at best. Like you said yourseld, this game single handedly has brought back the fighting genre back…

    Have you seen how many tournaments are going on right now based on sf4? have you seen how much this game proved that fighting games can work on pc and be popular? there’s no many things that SF4 did right…. you sir need to replace sf4 with a truly garbage game by the name of WOLFENSTEIN… THE biggest let down this year for all those that follow the wolf series

    Reply

    David Macphail Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 10:47 am

    @dommafia, Come on, Street Fighter IV was rubbish. Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 was miles better and so was Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe. SF IV and MW2 are probably the 2 most worthy games on this list.

    Reply

    mikey Reply:
    January 6th, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    @David Macphail, lol you obviously dont play fighting games. Maybe you play by yourself in one player mode for a couple of hours. MK vs. DC universe is a complete peice of crap just like every mk game since UMK3. Nobody plays this game competively, its just a 1 player trash fighting game. Smackdown vs raw is a freakin wwe wrestling game that is not played competitively. Examples of games actually played in tournaments worldwide: SF4, Tekken 6, Marvel vs. Capcom 2. SF3 3rd strike. Guilty Gear, Smash bros.

    Unlockables and a bunch of one player crap dont make a good fighting game.

    Reply

    MarkyX Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 11:43 am

    @dommafia,

    Yes I’ve seen the tournaments, but Street Fighter has always been more about fanboyism as opposed to making a good game. The proof is the reaction with Street Fighter 3 which had a great system and unique characters, but the whiny children complained about no Ryu/Ken/Chun Li. What did they do? Put them in the game of course.

    SF fans don’t want a balanced game with good controls, they just want to play Ken all day or another Shoto. Even Daigo uses Ryu constantly in tournaments and it’s boring to watch flowchart matches.

    Reply

  18. Trustyz on December 16th, 2009 11:57 am

    Sounds like you just suck at games , all you do is complain about the ways you got beat rather than the acctual game. your reasons are laughable.

    Reply

  19. Sean on December 16th, 2009 1:38 pm

    Street Fighter 4 was a very good game. The Ultras added more strategy to the game. And yes you only build Ultra meter while getting hit but I guess you don’t understand how hard it is to pull off an Ultra attack against a skilled opponent. The focus attacks are very useful also if you know what you are doing. And it is not SF4′s fault that everyone uses a shoto character. The game is way more balanced than you assume.

    Reply

  20. Yuchao Wu on December 16th, 2009 1:56 pm

    SF4?! Are you kidding me? Because there are too many shotos online and the focus attack doesn’t work for you!?!

    It just sounds like you have no real understanding of SF, and I’m not blaming you, most players don’t. SF has always been in a league of its own because of its difficulty and depth, even from the very first SF2 that kicked off the tradition, understanding the game and being able to play it competitively was not a common skillset.

    Only people who suck at SF talk about “imbalances”. SF rewards the crap out of players who pick the game apart and invest in understanding the tools of the game and learn to basically became craftier and cleverer players. This is the fundamental appeal of SF and both the player base and Capcom knows it. So when you whine about a game whose pedigree is really only matched by stuff like Nintendo’s Zelda franchise, you really sound like a ignorant douche.

    Reply

    MarkyX Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    @Yuchao Wu,

    So you’re saying Vega is a good character in SF4, compared to the original SF2 turbo?

    Reply

    Fo real? Reply:
    December 16th, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    @MarkyX,

    In SF4, Vega has a hella hard time getting around things but that doesn’t mean he isn’t usable. It’s all up to you – the player, if you want to make excuses with the character that YOU pick/play then go ahead but Wu is right. To the player, SF rewards them in numerous ways if you pick apart and learn the game correctly.

    Reply

  21. IMiinty on December 16th, 2009 4:34 pm

    @doa766
    Are you retarded, Call of Duty takes no skill unlike Halo. In cod all you have to do is get lucky and shoot first and you seem amazing. Unlike Halo where you actually have to know how to four shot or have some tactics.

    Reply

  22. Fo real? on December 16th, 2009 4:44 pm

    Are you kidding me? You’re basing KOF12′s review on it’s graphics and Arcade play? And you think SF4 is no good because of all the Shoto players ONLINE? Man, do you even know what a fighting game is all about? It’s about 1 vs 1. It’s about you vs another opponent duking it out until someone is left standing. It’s not about ‘oh there’s another ryu and oh i can’t play online because my internet sucks.’ Go buy a friend or go to a local tournament man. Thats where the real competition is at, not online mate and sure as hell not in arcade mode. Lol 10 mins to beat KOF’s arcade mode on hard, you good.

    Reply

  23. This list sucks on December 16th, 2009 4:57 pm

    it sounds like you suck at MW2. your list sucks btw

    Reply

  24. ipierce on December 16th, 2009 5:52 pm

    It is the most disappointing review of 2009.

    Reply

  25. George on December 16th, 2009 6:03 pm

    Ok, I agree that MW2′s MP is a bit of a disappointment but you say the single player is a disappointment? ITS BETTER THAN MW1. Way better, what’s wrong with it? You say the level design is a maze? Really? Cuz i never encountered a maze when playing.

    Reply

  26. wowa on December 16th, 2009 7:15 pm

    nice list nothing i’d disagree with. sadly listing fan favorites will get you flamed all day. boohoo the writer was dissapointed by your game that sold well get over it.

    Reply

  27. PimpMasterFong on December 16th, 2009 9:31 pm

    I agree with you fully on MW2 except for the bit about the singleplayer. I beat it in a little under four hours on medium and about four and a half the next day on veteran. I also didn’t like the Task Force 141 portion of the campaign very much at all(which included all of the stealth based levels). The thing that made the original Modern Warfare so incredibly amazing was the fact that the things you were doing were actually possibe. In MW2 however, you escape a enemy base on a snowmobile, shooting an automatic handgun, with one hand, accurately at other people on snowmobiles all while driving at top speeds down a mountain. That is not Call of Duty. The American levels in my opinion, especially second sun and whisky hotel, were incredible due to their extremely realistic yet awesome set pieces (the emp sequence was the best part of the games campaign). On the multiplayer, COD4′s was the best I have ever played and still is. MW2′s however, this is in my opinion, is dreadful. I could go on for another paragraph or two on why I find it dreadful (my k/d is 1.5 so it isn’t because I suck) but I have already written way to much. Oh, spec ops was very fun the first time through.

    Reply

  28. Bowserone on December 17th, 2009 1:08 am

    this list shouldnt say Top Ten Most Disappointing Games Of 2009 because few of the games disappointing…it should read GAMES I HAD A PROBLEM WITH EVEN THO MOST OF THEM WERE GREAT AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESSES. THEN IT WOULD BE CORRECT. with the exception of bio commando i dont recall alot of these games tanking or being disappointing

    Reply

    MarkyX Reply:
    December 17th, 2009 at 1:14 am

    @Bowserone,

    Because we all know commercial success has much to do with quality and not marketing, amirite? That would make Twilight comparable to any of Hitchcock’s films in terms of quality. Or better yet, let’s perform Godwin’s law and say since Hitler was a popular guy, he was good man.

    Reply

  29. Dotaguy on December 17th, 2009 4:47 pm

    Really? SF4? Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2? League of Legends?

    This list is stupid, those are some of the best games in a long time.

    You should list that you are a huge HON fanboy too to make this responsible game journalism, since that is the main reason you are so opposed to LoL, and you went in with massive prejudice against it before it was ever out.

    Reply

  30. LF_CryptLord on December 19th, 2009 3:23 am

    LOL @ LoL being #7. The “author” (and I use that term loosely) is a HoN fanboy, and a terrible writer to boot.

    Reply

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