Most Disappointing Game of 2012? + Most Surprising Game of 2012?

[Spirit]

We all have our personal games of the year but what about the titles that we were looking forward to which wholly disappointed us? And what about the titles which wholly surprised us in being better than we ever thought they would be?

Personally I can't speak for the most disappointing, i have rather been out of the loop this year, but for most surprising I'm going with Dead or Alive 5; i knew it'd be good but I had no idea just how good it'd end up being. I won't bore you with a review so i'll just end here.

So, what is your most disappointing game of 2012?
And what is you most surprisingly decent game of 2012?

 

[ShadowDiety]

Darksiders 2 really disappointed me, I hyped it up too much for what it barely turned out to be.

Nothing really surprised me though...I guess if I had to pick one, it would be Assassins Creed 3.

 

[Kazumi]

My most disappointing title of 2012 would have to be Dishonored. Even though the game was pretty fun, it was short and lacked the depth that I was really looking for. Not exactly the big boost to the stealth genre that I was looking for. However, what it did do was make me even more excited for Thief 4.

The most surprising title of 2012 would be probably be Far Cry 3. I didn't really follow the game much in it's development, as I was rather disappointed in Far Cry 2 and to me it seemed like they were focusing a bit too much on the multiplayer component of the third one. Fortunately however, my fears were put to rest and the game turned out to be amazingly fun, both in single player and multiplayer. With a solid 60+ FPS, custom servers, beautiful PC exclusive tessellation an other effects, as well as a very robust map editor, I see no place that I can complain.

 

[shogun_zidane]

I expected Darksiders II to be the best ever but they added elements that I thought the first game was perfect without, so that disappointed me. As for surprising me? That goes to Resident Evil 6! Even though I just got it like a week and a half ago I still play it everyday.

 

[Zorth]

I expected Guild Wars 2 to be the best game of 2012 but was disappointed. I don't like how it was hyped up to be a revolutionizing game in MMO gaming but was really just another regular MMO game with stunning visuals. The visuals I have to say are more then stunning, A-net did an amazing job and the games visuals are just spectacular for being an MMO, but then again this doesn't make a game. The same with the soundtrack, it's really amazing.

Now, I know my expectations are the main reason for this game being disappointing but to be clear I'm not calling GW2 a bad MMO. It's actually quite nice but it disappointed me a lot since the developers have been telling us before launch how they want their MMO to be different from the rest, they don't want any boring grinding or stiff combat. But the truth is to me GW2 was just the same leveling grind as any other MMO except the quests just randomly appear to you as you are exploring which is actually kind of nice, but the same mindless killing of X amount of monsters with stiff combat is still the same. I could say the same for PvP, both world & structured. You can just jump into this massive field of crowds of different players with numbers just popping up on your screen which makes it the same MMO as the rest of them (let's not forget it's not the most balanced PvP combat out there).

So my problem I guess isn't really the game itself because it's not that bad, it's more that the game was hyped up to be something it's not. Maybe it's just me, I've gotten tired of these WoW & Everquest clones that all have the same stiff combat and boring leveling, maybe I'm just tired of MMO's in general I guess?

For the most surprising game of 2012 I'll have to go with New Super Mario Bros. U, when I got the Wii U I didn't expect to have that much fun with the games since I mainly bought it for Zelda U and to casually play some games on it. But I've probably spent well over 50 hours playing NSMBU, I never expected to be this obsessed with the game. I think this is mainly because I just went out and randomly ordered the Wii U to try it out and never bought it specifically for a game that was out there, so I was never that deep into it, no high expectations and turned out to be a blast!

 

[A Link In Time]

The 3DS was home to both my most disappointing and most surprising games of the year.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 fell short of the mark and was a regression after its DS and Wii predecessors. The DS original had the hype benefit of being the first 2D Mario platformer in over a decade with the Wii sequel adding multiplayer whereas the only new Mario's sidescrolling stereoscopic 3D venture offered was DLC. I enjoyed the additional levels but they are overpriced-$2.50 for three courses-and should have been included in the game to begin with. New Super Mario Bros. U puts NSMB 2 to shame with its great new gameplay mechanics and modes.

Kid Icarus: Uprising caught me off guard early in the year. I was expecting a high profile title from the likes of Masa Sakurai and company but I never expected an adventure quite so quirky. The voice acting is tremendous, arguably the best in any Nintendo game, the campaign is full of unexpected plot tiwsts, and multiplayer is surprisingly decent. My only complaint is the lack of control options for lefties such as myself. Prolonged play sessions lead to hand cramps. KI: U is the most comprehensive handheld game I've played in awhile and could easily be mistaken for a Wii experience. In an industry that's increasingly cutting corners, it's great to see a polished product rear its head,

 

[JuicieJ]

The most disappointing game has to be Star Wars: The Old Republic. I'm a huge KOTOR fan, so I was naturally excited to get to play an MMO game that (I thought) would tie into that. Yeah, that didn't quite happen. The gameplay was mediocre, to boot. There's a reason it went F2P. I would say Resident Evil 6, but I knew that game would suck beforehand.

The biggest surprise, on the other hand, is without a doubt The Walking Dead. It's a point and click game... with Game of the Year quality. I don't think anyone saw that coming. Truly a fantastic game.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Most disappointing: Assassins Creed 3

Most Surprising: Dishonored

 

[Deeds]

I know that a lot of people will disagree with me, but I'm going to have to say that My Most Disappointing Game of 2012 was Halo 4. Reason being is that I, obviously, expected a lot more out of the game - The way 343i hyped it up was incredible, they stated that they were massive halo 3 fans (me being that also), and that they'd try and make it as similar to that as they could... They didn't. To me, it was like Halo: Reach v2. In other words, didn't feel like Halo.

Most Suprising Game of 2012 will probably be, for me, Nintendo Land, only because every single minigame looks incredible. The visuals are really nice, and the creativity of the entire game is magic. I'm really impressed with it.

 

[Ventus]

Most surprising game of 2012 = Guild Wars 2. Now, don't get me wrong, I was a bit let down by the fact that it isn't the WoW-Killer we've all been waiting for nor the MMORPG redefinition that ANet was hyping it up to be. But, it IS a huge, sprawling adventure full of amazing visuals (even on all lows) and intriguing boss fights. Even though the game is basically a grind fest, it's a FUN, fast-paced one that you can even Pick Up And Play. It's amazing.

Most disappointing game of 2012 = ZombiU, I guess. Thought it was gonna be the new RE, but it has largely failed. Crappy controls among other things make ZombiU a terrible game totally unworthy of buying. IMO.

EDIT: I totally forgot Diablo 3 existed. D3 is THE most disappointing game of 2012. Seriously gonna hype me up for this crap? NVM going back to D2.

 

[Castle]

To me the most disappointing video game of all time is Mass Effect 3, it just happened to be released this year.

Other than that there's Final Fantasy XIII-2 which was excellent but faltered in the end game (story crapped out again )
Dishonored which was just utterly unremarkable in every respect. And other games I didn't play but are monumental failures included Diablo 3 and Old Republic.
(Bioware made the list twice in the same year!! They're on a roll!)

Most surprising? Hmm... well, there are no pleasant surprises this year...

 

[Cfrock]

I have an answer for this thread now!

Most Disappointing Game

Th game which disappointed me the most this year was Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I have not played the game and I am certain I will adore every second of it but the shop I pre-ordered it from failed to get it to me by the release date. This was the final straw in my relationship with said shop (you can read all about it in one of my blog posts) and I cancelled my pre-order, deciding to get the game after Christmas so I could focus on ACIII and ZombiU (which is so good, Ventus is just being silly Also, add me on Wii U, Ventus ). So, through no fault of the game itself, I was disappointed by Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

Most Surprising Game

The game which surprised me the most this year was Halo: Combat Evolved. Now I know what you're thinking, "But Christopher, Halo: Combat Evolved was released back in 2001," and you're correct. But this year it surprised me. How? I was watching a friend play through it and I could remember everything so clearly. The sights, the sounds, the smells, everything. And then he exited a building on The Silent Cartographer and I noticed a cave in the rock. It was the opening of a tunnel which ran down to the beach, an alternative route up to the building that I had never seen before in all my life. Well, I was quite surprised to say the least. To say I befouled my pantaloons would be saying far too much.

 

[DarkestLink]

Nothing surprised me this year. But I was immensely disappointing by Paper Mario: Sticker Stars. 2nd Worst game I've ever played next to Star Fox Adventures.

 

[Castle]

I totally forgot Diablo 3 existed.

Did you think it would be that easy?

Any surprises out of video games this year has been like opening your front door on Christmas morning to find a neatly wrapped present...
... only to open it and find a flaming turd.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I didn't get to play many new games this year, but I was surprised by how much I liked Borderlands 2.