[Pax]

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