Every year, a handful of titles are released that just don’t meet the standards of the players. This isn’t about the licensed super-hero games based on the movies, like Captain America or Green Lantern. While these licensed titles are stinkers, the gaming community expects them to be. When it comes to the most disappointing games of 2011, hyped up games with potential need to be taken into account. The following five games could have been great if they lived up to their promise, but unfortunately these titles have all fallen short of expectations - do you agree or disagree, let us know in the comments what your biggest Xbox 360 failures of 2011 were.
5. Dead Island: Many of you might be a little surprised to find Dead Island on this list. After all, Dead Island is a great deal of fun and the RPG elements point this take on the zombie genre in a new direction. That being said Dead Island was plagued with numerous issues upon release, and these problems were not corrected nearly as fast as they should have been. Given that Dead Island was suffering from such an abundance of bugs, there is no way that the developers were unaware of the situation. Dead Island was basically an unfinished project when it hit store shelves in late August, and this should have been considered an insult for anybody who paid $60 for it on day one. Even with a day one patch that fixed 37 unique problems, Dead Island still played like a broken game. The game’s “Bloodbath” DLC was delayed for over two months, while the development team worked on fixing the core game first. Hopefully Dead Island will serve as an example for future titles, encouraging game-makers to delay the title until it is fixed rather than releasing it while it is still broken.
4. Supremacy MMA: Supremacy MMA didn’t have to try too hard to be a solid mixed martial arts title. All the developers had to do was emulate what UFC Undisputed had done in the past and add their own style to it. Imitation wouldn’t have lead to an amazing game, but at least it would have taken the game out of our Most Disappointing Games of 2011 list. There were multiple detractors in Supremacy MMA. The controls were simple and unexciting, robbing the player of the chance to acquire skill or strategy and diminishing the fun factor. That being said, the combat was nothing revolutionary either. The fighting lacked thrills and excitement, leading to a truly dry single player experience. The online multiplayer was not any better, as players from all over experienced lag-plagued and clunky gameplay. This is definitely one fighting game worth skipping.
3. Call of Juarez: The Cartel: The Call of Juarez series had put out decent titles until The Cartel was released this past summer. The Cartel hurts in a few key areas: Game design, faulty AI, and disappointing graphics. The latest Call of Juarez installment feels lost, as if it is going through an identity crisis. The gameplay that worked so well in the previous old-timey titles does not translate well to modern day, and the tone of the game is never successfully conveyed. The AI in this game is horrible, whether they be a friend or an enemy. Your partners never know when to shut up, which wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t saying the exact same thing over and over again. They spend so much time yapping, that their gun-wielding skills take a back seat. Don’t expect them to help during firefights, not that you will need it. The enemy AI isn’t exactly tactical either. They seem programmed into a routine, rather than programmed to react to the player’s movements. Lastly, the graphics aren’t anywhere near as successful as the dominant first-person shooters of today. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if The Cartel wasn’t so obviously trying to mimic the more popular shooters.
2. Duke Nukem Forever: Playing Duke Nukem Forever is like taking a trip to yesteryear and realizing that the past wasn’t that great. The game is like coming back home from college after four years, only to find that all your high school friends haven’t done anything with their lives and you’d rather not be associated with them anymore. The Duke franchise took quite the vacation and when it finally returned, nothing significant had changed. It was the same old gameplay, the same old jokes, and the same old mechanics. Rumor has it that Duke Nukem Forever was named after its development cycle, and this feeling of development hell is translated to the player. Forever often times feels discombobulated, trying to remain true to its roots while pushing the envelope to the extreme. Ultimately, it turned out to be an unsuccessful combination. Duke Nukem Forever gives nostalgia a bad name.
1. The Dreamcast Collection: Perhaps the most disappointing video game collection released on the Xbox brand, and definitely the most disappointing game of the year. Nothing was more exciting than reading the headline, “Sega Plans to Release Dreamcast Collection,” only to later read that this collection on supported 4 titles. This game is a slap in the face to anybody who loved their Sega Dreamcast. Sonic Adventures and Crazy Taxi are no-brainer additions to the collection, but the fact that Space Channel 5 Part 2 and Sega Bass Fishing are considered the two other best games to come out for the Dreamcast is preposterous. There are so many other great titles missing from this “collection,” such as Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure 2, Phantasy Star Online, Sega GT, and the list goes on and on. In addition to the small and poor selection of titles, some of the games don’t live up to their past glory. The original soundtrack has been stripped from Crazy Taxi and replaced with copy-and-paste rock music. Space Channel 5 Part 2 also feels dated. Playing it, you remember why you loved it as a kid, but now it just doesn’t work the way it used to. The Dreamcast Collection definitely could have benefited from more consideration for the fan base that would be buying the game. The lousy selection of games makes The Dreamcast Collection seem more like The Dreamcast Grab-Box. This is why it is our most disappointing Xbox 360 game of 2011.
