(OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Have you ever bought a game expecting one thing but getting something else? It is happening more often now as the presure to produce crap instead of quality has heighten to an all time frenzy.

Thus far my list is a short one, but here it goes.

(No rankings, just titles as I recall them.)

1. MOO 3 - They flat out lied.
2. Tribes 2 - Buggy as hell when released
3. BOTF - Buggy as hell when released
4. Empire Earth - AI to aggressive
5. Dugeon Siege - Hated the controls
6. Star Fleet Command - Too complicated
7. SOF II - Poorly desighned game.
8. Unreal II - Just plain horrible game
9. Quake III - Not at all fun
10. Civ 3 - What, no multi player? J/k Game sucked.

Games I liked right out of the box.

1. SE IV - Set the Standard
2. SimCity 4 - Delived what it said it would
3. SimCity 3 - Unlimited (Fun)
4. SimCity 2 - Fun
5. Civ 2 - Liked it a lot
6. StarCraft - Many of hour playing
7. Diablo - Can any one say BattleNet?
8. Diablo II - Like crack cocane
9. Deus Ex - By far one of the best FPS
10 Dark Forces - This game rocked!
11. Tribes - By Far the Best Game ever!

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Dont know about bad games, I have been quite lucky in that regard (and dont buy many games anyhow) but games I have loved straight out of the box are as follows

1 Age of Empires/Age of Kings
2 Starfleet Command (easy to control with a bit of practice)
3 Mediaval - Total War
4 Dark Forces
5 Whacky Races (Morris the Moose is a diva)
6 Cuthroats
7 Any Tomb Raider game

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

The greatest disapointment I had was with M.A.X.2 (Mechanized Assault and eXploration). The original MAX1 is in my top 3 of best games ever, it's a relatively unknown turnbased command and conquer clone with lots of strategic aspects. (If you haven't tried it, do)
I could rant here for an hour about MAX2 and what's wrong with it but I won't (do a search on google if your interested in that).. It's a sad thing that so many sequels to great titles get rushed out of the door and end up like big dissapointments.

[ February 28, 2003, 10:52: Message edited by: henk brouwer ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

That's an easy one: Metal Gear: Solid.

It should have been nameed - Metal Gear: A lame movie with brief periods of gameplay in between.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Bad Games that I didn't like:
-Deadlock
-Seven Kingdoms 2

Good games that I didn't like:
-Pharaoh (I love Caesar III)
-Age of Kings (my first RTS)
-Medieval {that awful strategy map)
-Call to Power

Games I like:
-SE4
-Civ3 (my own mod, with recruiting units from the actual population and only historicly neighbouring tribes)
-Shogun
-Lords of the Realm II (my first game, back in '96)
-Strategy Command

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

M.A.X.1 was a an awesome game for the first 100 turns or so. After that it, it was worse than MAX2 because it would frequently crash. MAX2 was released unfinished. IMHO, that is the same story with MOO3. I think they made some design decisions that resulted in a game that was even more unplayable than the current game. But they knew that if they released at least something that they could make some money off the name.

Even with the mid-to-late-game bugs and crashes in MAX1, I still load it up at least once a year and play around with it. There is and probably never will be a game that compares to it in terms of building a base with radar, anti-air defense, turrets, etc.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

bad games
MOO3 (as already anticipated)
Max II
BOTF
CTP I (without patches)
Age of Wonders II
Steel Panters III
Pax Imperium (macintosh)
any realtime "strategy" game I came across in my long gaming career

good games
MAX
SE3 and SE4
MOO2
MOO
MOM
Age of Wonders I
Warlords I-III
RFTS (the original not the sequel)
CTP II
Panzer Campaign Series (HPS)
Steel Panters I-II
Westfront from Talongames

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

bad game :
warcraft3
every single RTS except Total Annihilation & warlord2
diablo 1234etc.....(I hate the conceipt)
neverwinter night

good games
SE4
Steel panther WAW
TA + expansions
fallout 1 & 2
warlord2
warcraft2
operational art of war 2
planetscape torment (best RPG storyline ever)

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I really don't get why so many people seem to hate this excellent game. They seem to treat it as though the developers personally insulted them when they made a sequel.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry I didnt like it. I think the main reason is that it has no movement grid(hexes) in strategic and tactical combat. (AoW I did have this) Therefore its difficult to calculate unit movement several turns in advance. And a second reason is that it has not really much flair for me. (no naming terrain or cities etc.) I have other problems with the game (like unbalanced spells etc.) but the above are the major ones.

BTW I am never insulted just because some developers make a game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I really don't get why so many people seem to hate this excellent game. They seem to treat it as though the developers personally insulted them when they made a sequel.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">AoW II is OK. It has some very nice features but unfixed memory leak makes me very angry. Yes, I have the latest patch but it still makes playing after few hours impossible.

[ February 28, 2003, 16:14: Message edited by: oleg ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Disappointments:

Civ III
Heroes of Might and Magic IV
Battlecruiser 3K

I could go on, but I'm getting depressed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Games that rewl:

* Master of Magic (despite bugs)
* Master of Orion (despite not being SE-IV http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )
* Half-Life/Team Fortress Classic (unfortunately, the first 15 minutes of the Half-Life single-player campaign are more memorable than the Last 15... and yes, I still play TFC)
* System Shock II (first game to give me goosebumps)
* Diablo II (most fun you'll ever have clicking a mouse over and over and over and...)
* Homeworld (breathtaking graphics, backdrops and soundtrack -- except for that lousy song by Yes! -- and the best voice acting you'll ever hear... PERIOD)
* X-COM: UFO Defense (set the standard for turn-based squad tactical)
* SE-IV (lest we forget http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )
* Lode Runner (I'm talkin' the original Apple ][ Version here, now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif )

Biggest Surprises:

* Serious Sam (yes, it's nothing more than Doom II with a facelift, but that's not necessarily a bad thing)
* Shogo: M.A.D (a friend let me borrow this one... I was very reluctant to give it back)
* Heavy Metal FAKK 2 (there's more to this game than staring at Julie Strain's caboose... seriously. A good budget title)

Biggest Disappointments/Suckage:

* Oni (spent less than 6 hours on my hard drive)
* X-COM T.F.T.D (take X-COM, and add water... LOTS of water... how was this supposed to be different?)
* X-COM Apocalypse (appalling graphics; aliens look like poorly rendered Barney's)
* Magic Carpet (this game was so close to being good, but the darn thing keeps crashing... if they made a newer, bug-free Version, I'd be first in line to buy it. I was so ticked I resolved to never buy another game by Bullfrog ever again)
* Daikatana (I paid exactly $1.00 for the game, and I still think I got ripped off http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif . I want those few miserable hours of my life refunded!)
* Pretty much the entire Ultima VII series
* MOO3 (well, I haven't actually bought it, but it seems that it sucks so much, I can feel the pull from here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )

--Raynfala

[ February 28, 2003, 17:01: Message edited by: raynfala ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Hmm, I am so conservative in acquiring games that I am rarely 'disappointed'. I usually wait years after they are released and then survey the opinion field. And even then I often get ... 'evaluation copies' ... before actually buying. My involvement with SE IV before it was even released is highly unusual. Well, completely unique, actually.

Still, I have to agree that nearly anything 'Real Time' is a pain in the arse. I recently tried to play Starfleet Command II, partly out of curiousity at how RT games are developing (what with the RT component added to MOO 3) and partly out of attraction to getting to control a Trek-type starship. The graphics are beautiful. It's a very attractive looking game. But it's about speed and timing, and the computer will always win a contest of speed and timing. I managed to win a few of the early scenarios by retrying several times, but they get more and more difficult. And the game has bugs. SERIOUS bugs. Like solid lockup bugs. Managing to get within seconds of winning some difficult scenario and having the game lock solid has got to be the definition of frustration. I uninstalled SFB2 and carefully searched my registry for any remaining trace of it. End of story.

The original MOO and MOO II are very good games, though they have their flaws. Master of Magic is awesome. Why haven't they updated it for Windows? The Civ series is good, though it seems Civ II is actually better than Civ III. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif All of the SimCity games have been great. I hope SC 4 gets patched/fixed so it can carry on the tradition.

[ February 28, 2003, 18:07: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with this statement, for the most part. Europa Universalis II on Hearts of Iron are my only exceptions to this rule. I have now seen that RTS can be done well.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">EU are quite nice. Anyone ever played Close Combat 2? I loved this game and I think it is a fine example how you can do RTT (Last T for Tactics http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ). I never felt overrun by time (you could pause) and it did get rid of those IGYG problems of so many games. I played it hours and hours in single player (very good AI most of the time) and days with friends over LAN.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

I think the most unsatisfactory time I had with a game was Starfleet Battles. I just don't the patience for a large learning curve. I'm sure if I look at my stack of computer games at home I'll see other games that didn't cut it. But whoever said that Civ 3 sucked I would have to argue strongly with. Now, I haven't tried the add-on, and I heard people had issues with that program, but since I couldn't run it I can't say anything about that. But Civ 3 IMO is the best of the series so far. I did like the feature in Call to Power that let you built a space station, but Civ 3 is definitely one of my favorite programs. Along with Sim City 3000 Unlimited. Hopefully my next computer will let me play some of these new games, because I still want to check out Sim City 4, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 (the original still kicks ***), Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale 2. I'm not really into RTS, or any of those Tom Clancy Rainbow Six clones, so I can't say anything about those either.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">MAX 1 crashed? I never had that problem, and I remember playing games of up to 500 turns, multiplayer was very unstable though.. did you use the patch? I also really liked the system used in the game to improve/upgrade your units, very simple in design, but choosing the right tech upgrades could be crucial.

As for Max2: It crashed so often that I never completed a single game or reached the hundreth turn. They gave up patching it after 1 or 2 patches that didn't solve the problem.

I'm still hoping for a MAX3.. it will never happen though.

* starts searching for his MAX1 CD to reinstall it*

[ February 28, 2003, 18:44: Message edited by: henk brouwer ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

I don't buy too many games, but there have been some disappointments:

1. Civ III (My expectations were too high. I wanted SMAC on Earth)
2. Seven Kingdoms (RTS just isn't exciting to me)
3. Europa Universalis II (Locks up on my computer even though I meet the minimum requirements)
4. Black and White (Same problem as EU II)
5. Spaces Empires IV (AI and graphics) (Please don't go ballistic, read on...)

Best games:

1. SMAC (Depth of play is immense - did need some serious patching, though)
2. Space Empires IV Gold (PBW and modability make AI and graphics deficiencies irrelevant - or even an asset in the case of graphics, because an artistically challenged person like me can make a shipset)(Oh, and I shouldn't forget, the best community of gamers anywhere)
3. Combat Mission (revolutionary gameplay - this is how to combine turn-based and real-time action!)
4. Civ II
5. Strategic Command (Third Reich on the computer!)

I'll reserve judgment on MoO3 until I actually play it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've played Close Combat 5, and its probably the most realistic WW2 tactical game ever. If you forget that in reality most battles in the Western front were decided by the allied air supremacy, that is.
But it is a great game. Definitively a top ten ever in my book.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Everybody says Starcraft is so great... so I finally get it and, hey, it's not bad, but honestly, it looks like just another RTS to me... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif an RTS with an interesting storyline, for sure, but gameplaywise, there's nothing particularly novel... of course I say this as the game is around 5 years old, maybe it was novel then, but then I generally don't buy a lot of new games anyway...

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's got to be one of my all time favourites too! I eargerly await Lords Of The Realsm III. It should be out this year. Latest rumour was august i think.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Chronon,

Have you tried working with Paradox tech support about this? I had lockup issues, and tech support told me that the game can have this problem if installed on a fragmented HD. I did a defrag, ran the install again and never had another problem. The game is worth the effort, let me tell you. Very much so. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was not novel then. Starcraft, like all Blizzard games, is designed for people that are not gamers.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

When Star Craft came out, it was the first of its kind. Now the market has been swamped by look alikes.

Games that Dissapointed me:
Tribes 2 (At first, because of the bugs)
Moo3 (For all of the published reasons and then some)
SimCity 4 (Too difficult to early)
Unreal 2 (Bad design, horribly scripted game)
SOF 2 (The first was fun, the sequal was not)
DF 2 (Jedi Night was not fun to play as Dark Forces)
Armada II (Horrible graphics, not at all fun to play)
Dominion War (S&S game, what else need I say)

Games I have enjoyed right from the box:
Tribes
Tribes 2 (Although many of my friends could not play, I could)
BOTF
SEIV
SimCity 3
Freespace (awsome game)
Elite Force (Although a short game)
Armada (nice graphics and fun to play)

Tribes 1 and SEIV were by far the best out of the box games I have ever played. I love them both equally. Too bad I never really got into the PBW games. That I do honestly regret and will for a very long time.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

What I've been grossly disappointed by:

Fallout: Tactics totally un-true to the franchise!
Civ3 especially the slimeball tactic of their expansion pack!!
Pax Imperia 2 the DEMO was better! argh!
Anything that says "RTS" or "Real-Time Strategy" it's all a mad clickfest, where's the STRATEGY in that ... ?!?
Baldur's Gate 1 how many times am I supposed to die and still LIKE the damned game ... ?!?!?
X-COM Interceptor pure and utter ****e -- this garbage should never have been made!!

OTOH, games I have loved, typically right out of the box, and will GRIEVOUSLY HURT YOU if you refuse to try them:

Master of Magic I sitll go back to this one ...

Master of Orion

Civilisation 2 (MultiPlayer Gold)

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (expansion for SMAC)

SE4 and SE4Gold

Thief 1 marred only by a storyline with not enough THIEVING nd too much "dodge the evil nasty thing that wants to kill you"

Fallout 1 and 2 classic, wonderful CRPGs, with some great tongue-in-cheek humor thrown in

X-Com: UFO Defense (the first X-COM title) great game, best in the series IMO; known as "UFO: Enemy Unknown" in the UK

A few of the games that I have liked, and would recommend, but don't consider to be must-play-them's:

Icewind Dale they appear to have gotten the hint WRT easy character deaths since BG1 ...

Emperor of the Fading Suns boring against the AI after a half-dozen turns, but against humans it MIGHT be GRAND ...

X-COM: Terror from the Deep not enough innovation; a sub-par sequel, but not grossly flawed

X-COM: Apocalypse not enough innovation, again. great eye-candy, but the story somehow falls flat

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Capitalism 2
Civ 1 , 2 ,2a and the other ones

Imperilism 2

Bob the Builder

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

I guess my dissapointment has been more along the lines of games that have never been produced:
Empire Deluxe II
Battle Isle II, (had hex based movement)
Ballence of Power, (Cris Crawford). An outstanding simulation of Cold war. For those who know it I found a way to win every time.
Don't do Anything. You score will not be as high but the world will love you.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sachmo, I have to admit that I did not contact Paradox tech support about the problem with EU II. It does look like a good game, so you have convinced me to give it another try. Thanks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Total Ann. is still my all time fav. game.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sachmo, I have to admit that I did not contact Paradox tech support about the problem with EU II. It does look like a good game, so you have convinced me to give it another try. Thanks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif [/QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bu sure to reload the latest patch from http://www.paradoxplaza.com/downloads.asp
That also fixes some problems + increases the playability of the game.

Personally I rank EUII as the best single-player game ever. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

primitive http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

To be honest, I don't think I liked SE4 "right out of the box" ... it's been a couple years, but IIRC my first reaction was "OMFG this makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER and the interface is so awkward!!!" Well, that's my initial reaction to MOO3 (and I haven't even played it since a marathon 5-hour session when I got it on Wednesday) - so I can only hope I warm up to MOO3 like I did to SE4...

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What I thought was innovative about Starcraft was the beautifully orchestrated balance between the races. Each had very different strengths and each followed a different path of development, yet none had any real advantages over the others.

When I played each race it felt like another race, instead of the same one with different pictures.

This is what I loved (and still love) about Starcraft.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

wow those moo3 forums are a minefield... Ouch...

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Thanks, Primitive, for the link to the EU II patch. I'll give it a try and see if I can get it to work.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Disapointing games:
Total Anihilation Kingdoms, Interesting but I like the original more. I don't really like "Medival" stuff much, robots kick @$$.

Star Fleet Academy: I had the SNES Version and loved it, it was like Star fox but with star trek stuff, and bought the PC Version and I was like WHaaaaaaat?!?!?!?! I couls never get my joystick to work and, I don't know it just wasn't that muck fun to me. I still have the little pewter Andorian that came with it.

X-Com Intercepter: I kinda liked it for about 5 minutes, then the Specters started showing up, also the play controll felt loose, I had to chase a low end alien for 5-10 minute just to line up a good shot whil they scored every hit, It Could've been much better than it was. I've never played any other X-com Game, but if I had I bet I'd be even more pissed of.

Streets of Sim City: OMFG THIS BLEW AND SUCKED IN A WHIRLWIND OF CRAP. I was expecting SimCopter on the ground, the Idea of using Scurk(sim city urban renewal kit)to make my own race courses and ralies seemed cool but the cars wouldn't turn, Even when I slowed down. Simcopter was alright, it was fun to fly around my city in an apatche and blow stuff up and save people from burning skyscrapers and such(it got a little repetative and hard but only at the later difficulty levels when riots broke out), but SOSC was repetative from the start, all you did was try to drive to checkpoints in time but you couldn't because the times were to short. the only good thing was the music, it had a realistic car radio you could listen to with 5 different types of music with a good variety in between them.

There's more but I got to rest my hand

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And I noticed Atrocities just stepped in... Wonna bet how soon he will be branded as Troll ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, as a dedicated despiser of RTS games, I -do- have to give you that much; SC is a well-made RTS, with fairly balanced sides and a pretty decent storyline.

...

But when all's said and done ... it's still an RTS, and RTS's all suck. So, there! 8P

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And I noticed Atrocities just stepped in... Wonna bet how soon he will be branded as Troll ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Charging in to the Official MOO 3 forums and starting a thread telling people to check out SE IV takes some hutzpah. I would not be surprise if he gets into trouble either... But it's still funny. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Dissapointed:
Battlecruiser 3000AD (didn't have half the features is said it would, was lucky to be able to play it for five minutes, an insanely complicated user interface.)

SEIV: First time I jumped into it I thought it was horrendous, but I grew to love it....

SEIII: The first time I played it I couldn't figure out how it worked, thank god for persistence.

BOTF: Well duh

X-com Terror From the deep and beyond: All of them crap, at least Terror from the deep was playable.

ST: Armada: Decent, but boring campaign, week borg, and buggy as hell.

Everquest: Boring as hell, stupid gameplay, and annoying people.

Others, but I care not to list.

Games I liked:

Master Of Orion: Incredible game
Master Of Orion II: Even better then the first
Machine hunter: Sensless robotic violence, explosions to induce epeleptic seizures, and little to know story, how could you not like it??

HOMM I-III: Heroes of might and magic, great game, very different from anything I had played at the time.

X-Com: UFO Defense: Another reason why I love the bargain bin.

All Diablos: Evil slashing fun. Of course, the excessive clicking is kinda annoying.

Sim City II & III: Great games, unfortunately by III I had lost interest in city building http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

So many more, but not enuogh time to list them...

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All I want to know is if you just want to play Civ 3: Play the World in solo mode, is it worth the price to get the new tribes and the couple of new stuff they included? I heard it's not good for multi-play, which doesn't make sense, since it was advertised for multi-players. But since I don't do multi-play, I just need to know about the solo play mode.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Any luck?

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

After my post got embarrasingly lost...

Big disappointments (No rankings, just titles as I recall them.)

1. Patriot - incomplete
2. Superpower - buggy
3. Civ III
4. Call to Power I
5. Hearts of Iron – buggy as hell, true greatness was fumbled
6. Creatures I, II & III – too cute, my kids drive me nuts with it
7. Battlcruiser 3000
8. Imperium (the only attempt at a 3D galaxy I’ve seen)
9. Age of Empires (don’t like RTS arcades; too fast; no pause for orders)
10. SM’s Alpha Centauri - aweful graphics, absurdly unintuitive tech tree. Graphics usually do not matter to me, but I found these offputting to the point of making the game unpleasant.

Games I liked right out of the box (Not in order)

1. Conquest of the New World Gold
2. Star Fleet Command
3. Stars! – #1:The best ever MP, outstanding interface
4. Civ 3 PTW add-on w/ patch
5. Civ 2 - Liked it a lot
6. Civ 1
7. The Operational Art of War (all editions)– outstanding, #2 favorite
8. SE IV
9. Dungeonkeeper II – a hilariously engrossing jaunt
10. Tanks!
11. Harpoon
12. Medieval Total War – fun, mixed implementation, good interface
13. Reach for the Stars! (Ancient original edition on Apple II)

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

If I can get my new compouter soon, I'd like to know how these following games rate, since I've been wanting to play some of these for years, but couldn't due to hardware requirements:

America
Dungeon Seige
Neverwinter Nights
Microsoft Train Simulator
Trainz
Icewind Dale 2
Civ 3 expansion (can't remember the title)
Rollercoaster Tycoon 2
Any Sims title after the first one

If I do get a new computer, I might not be playing SE4 for awhile due to binging on these other games for awhile.

[ March 05, 2003, 17:51: Message edited by: gregebowman ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

A lot of games have disappointed me - the marketing hype for most games is "deceiving" at best - so my list would be most of the games I've bought but it's generally safe to say any RTS.

Games that I played for more than 20-30 hrs:

SExx (III, IV, and Gold)
SMAC (& Alien CrossFire - Hey, I liked 'em)
AutoDuel (anyone remeber this??)
Pax Imperia (from my Mac days)

Someday I'll get around to getting some of the others mentioned, but I don't get a whole lot of time to game and it's almost exclusively SEIV...

[ March 05, 2003, 18:17: Message edited by: rdouglass ]

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

Disapointments:
1. Metal Gear Solid 2: Seriously, the worst story line in game history, made absolutely no sense, and you didn't even play as Solid Snake, but instead as pansy Raiden!
2. Final Fantasy 8: Seven was a master piece with possibly the best villian in Videogame history. Eight had a crappy story, lame villians, and characters no one could care about.
3. MOO3: Waited like three years for this to come out, and yeah it didn't live up to the hype. Its fun as hell, but still...
4. Farscape: Knew it would suck, but not this much!

Best:
WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth! Say what you will about wrasslin' but this is one of the funest games I have ever played
2. Fallout 1&2: Beat all Final Fantasys except 6 and 7. Make a 3 damnit!

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I would recommend very strongly against Dungeon Siege. This game plays like the developer was just trying to get something out the door *before* Neverwinter Nights. The graphics are amazing. But the gameplay isn't, IMHO. I never even finished this game.

I enjoyed Neverwinter Nights and finished it. My chief complaint with the single player play for NWN is that it just gets so easy about halfway through. Even with max difficulty settings the NPC's and monsters just don't hit you very much even though their damage *is* increased. I have experimented just a very small bit with their toolset for creating new modules and was impressed with it. I think the re-playability of this game *should* be pretty high since it is so easy to create new modules.

If you check out the review of RollerCoaster Tycoon II on Gamespot.com, I think that review is right on target. There are a few enhancements to this game that might make it more appealing to someone who has never played before. But if you played the original and are looking for a successor with loads of new features and better graphics, this isn't it.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All I want to know is if you just want to play Civ 3: Play the World in solo mode, is it worth the price to get the new tribes and the couple of new stuff they included? I heard it's not good for multi-play, which doesn't make sense, since it was advertised for multi-players. But since I don't do multi-play, I just need to know about the solo play mode.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I wouldn't know. It won't even run on my frikkin' computer!!!

Who in the Nine Hells ever heard of an Xpac that WON'T run on all the O/S's of the BASE program ... ?!? Civ3 (base) will run on Win95 ... WTH won't the xpac ... ?!?

And, yes, I'd be getting it FOR the multiplay. That's where most games' longevity is ... playing against other human beings.

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

I won't list the bad games, as their are too many to list, and I prefer not to be too negative, in general.. Here's the goods!

I see a lot people exclaiming their fondness over X-Com, but no-one said anything about JAGGED ALLIANCE 2, or it's prequel.

Fallout 1 and 2, definately.

Viper Racing -- INCREDIBLY good physics, and the only game I've ever played with a truly dynamic damage modelling technique!

Grand Prix Legends -- Hard as hell, but PERFECT physics, AWESOME sense of speed.

European Air Warrior -- Excellently well-rounded gameplay. No flight simulator since has been quite as well-rounded.

Let me throw in another vote for Autoduel. This was one of my all-time Favorites, and if someone doesn't make another game based on the Car Wars series, I will totally freak out. I have a TON of ideas about a game like this, and would LOVE to exercise them!

Combat Mission : Barbarrossa to Berlin -- I can't believe more SEIV players don't know about this game. It's so appealing in similar ways. I LOVE the armor penetration modelling, it makes me ERECT.

Total Annihilation : Similar in some respects to the complexities of SEIV, you could build your empire in HUNDREDS of different ways, and each unit countered another, appropriately. PLUS -- YOU COULD LOB SEVERAL NUKES AT A TIME AT YOUR OPPONENT! WOW!!

--Ed

Re: (OT) Games That Have Dissapointed You
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All I want to know is if you just want to play Civ 3: Play the World in solo mode, is it worth the price to get the new tribes and the couple of new stuff they included? I heard it's not good for multi-play, which doesn't make sense, since it was advertised for multi-players. But since I don't do multi-play, I just need to know about the solo play mode.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I wouldn't know. It won't even run on my frikkin' computer!!!

Who in the Nine Hells ever heard of an Xpac that WON'T run on all the O/S's of the BASE program ... ?!? Civ3 (base) will run on Win95 ... WTH won't the xpac ... ?!?

And, yes, I'd be getting it FOR the multiplay. That's where most games' longevity is ... playing against other human beings.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I know. I was so disappointed when I saw the hardware requirements for that expansion. Heck, that's more than most new games coming out. If you're going to require all that, then make Civ 4. Not require all of that stuff for a "xpac". I've never heard of that either.