The annual 'Disappointment of the Year' article, 2011

[Andy]

To view the article that these comments correspond to, please visit http://thisismyjoystick.com/editorial/t ... ticle-2011

[Phil]

Wow. Definitely a few surprises in there. I got LA Noire for Xmas and have just started playing. As it's been on my radar since release i have to say that i'm now a little nervous about how it may or may not develop

[mistyka]

Guess a big clue for LA Noire was the price drop to a mere fiver by Christmas. Although Dungeon Seige 3 was in that list and I nabbed it for that price. Had a lent copy and would love to play through it again without having a timing pressure on getting it back to someone. Brink was dropped to 7 and so was Rage.

[Phil]

I think by and large those Xmas price drops are about marketing. None of those games are new. La noire was out in February wasn't it? And the complete edition is now out which is another reason the price was dropped so much

[Azer249]

I have to agree with Ray on that one, Dragon age 2 was just awful. Yes, it did improve on things such as the combat mechanics, but what happened to the things that made DAO amazing? The runes, enchanting, lore and unique locations were all scraped. Dragon Age 2 is possibly one of the worst sequels ive played. All of the dungeons were repeated and it felt more of a Hack & Slash game to me.

Brink was also terrible, after all of the hype it just turned out to be a rushed game. What's worse is that the developers made loads of promises such as the "unlimited customisation" and they couldn't even implement something as simple as primary and secondary colours. What they gave you instead was a load of pre-set colour combinations that made my eyes burn. Not only that but the AI was overpowered and your team were pretty much useless. One good thing that did come out of it however was the "SMART Movement" system, basically a simplified version of mirrors edge. It was pretty fun playing it on-line with friends (i had some great games on release week with Ray) but when it came down to it, it was an awful game for a AAA pricetag.

Other them two i think its been a great year for games.

[Paddy]

I think by and large those Xmas price drops are about marketing. None of those games are new. La noire was out in February wasn't it? And the complete edition is now out which is another reason the price was dropped so much

It came out in May Phil if memory serves correctly. But even so...

[Andy]

Phil, don't worry too much. It's a solid game in fairness. The chance for real greatness was squandered, tho, IMO. It's worth it just to follow Phelps' personal journey, what happened in the war and how he redeems. In terms of what happens in the 'present' in the 60's, and the cases he's on, it's pretty pedestrian.

[Crank]

Sorry I'm going to have to disagree about the 3DS, yes it was marketed horribly and left us saying WTF is going on for half the year, but the initial design of the thing is far from bad. I can defiantly see where he's coming from with the mediocre games and the online integration, that's something Nintendo has yet to fix, which always disappoints me. However I can't agree with his comment on the second analog stick or rather lack of it because the kind of games you're mostly playing on the hand-held do not need a second analog stick. The battery life is pretty bad but sadly that's the cost of the 3D effect. And its concept was not poorly received at least I thought it was received greatly, it's a new playing field that gamers want to get into the entire idea of 3D gaming is an idea that I find so amazing it's hard to wrap your head around it and it just shows how quickly the gaming world evolves. Also while they did leave us hanging in end they released some, quite frankly amazing games, such as Super Mario Land 3D, Ocarina Of Time 3D, and Mario Kart 7; these games bring Nintendo back to its roots of amazing game play that would draw you to your couch and make you play until the game was beaten and you found out it had been 3 days. Anyway I just wanted to share my views and say I don't think the 3Ds was a disappointment i was defiantly unsure for a while but it was great in the end.

[Jasmine Henry]

Well I'm glad that someone agrees with me about Brink and LA Noire!
I was looking forward to both games but I was so disappointed with Brink, it was just so..broken! Bethesda hyped it up as if it would be the greatest thing ever, it was pants :/
And yeah, Rockstar's tech was great but the story was so disappointing, why do they find the need to kill off a main character in every game they make?

[Paddy]

Well I'm glad that someone agrees with me about Brink and LA Noire!
I was looking forward to both games but I was so disappointed with Brink, it was just so..broken! Bethesda hyped it up as if it would be the greatest thing ever, it was pants :/
And yeah, Rockstar's tech was great but the story was so disappointing, why do they find the need to kill off a main character in every game they make?

Damn it. That's my play-thru fucked then.

Just for future refrence, top right of the text box click the button marked SPOILER

Cheers.