Biggest disappointment this year?

[internetonsetadd]

Not disappointing to me, since we all knew it was a shameless moneygrab. Plus its mere existence prompted a proper spiritual successor.

Yeah, this is all old news, but like most I was disappointed the moment I read FPS. It should be water under the bridge at this point, especially with Cartel in the works, but some of EA's statements about the lack of success seem to imply that they believe there just wasn't enough interest in the Syndicate IP. Head -> sand.

So we didn't get a worthy successor, and to add insult to injury the IP will most likely be shelved indefinitely because EA doesn't seem to want to address the fact that they published a style of game that no one who played the first two wanted. With EA masturbating frantically in the captain's quarters over the prospect of digging up legacy treasure, chances are an isometric tactical game wouldn't have been good anyway, so I suppose there's no real loss here.

[NathanH]

Havent played because I luckily waited for fan reviews:
ME3

If you like Mass Effect 2 you should definitely play ME3, regardless of the fan criticisms it's mostly a very good successor to ME2. If you don't like Mass Effect 2 then maybe not.

[Dariune]

If you like Mass Effect 2 you should definitely play ME3, regardless of the fan criticisms it's mostly a very good successor to ME2. If you don't like Mass Effect 2 then maybe not.

I enjoyed 1. The gameplay itself was fairly average and although the storyline was generic I found it quite easy to get into and was portrayed in a way that only CD Projekt can rival (Production values wise).

2 however made the gameplay worse (IMO) and the story was terrible. Well, there wasnt really a story. It was just a bunch of sidequests stitched together. So although I managed to get through it once, I didnt really find myself enjoying much of it.

Armed with that info, what would your reccomendation be?

[jnx]

How exactly did the second one make gameplay worse? You're the first person ever to claim this, I'm sure.

[Dariune]

You're the first person ever to claim this, I'm sure.

Im hoping your exaggerating there because both on and off line I have met many who feel the same way. Not that it matters. My opinion is only valid as far as I am concerned.

It made it worse by gearing it more towards the cover based shooting and less towards the statistical character development. The powers and class choices mattered less because they were all going to end up just doing the same thing. Bang bang, duck, blast bang bang.

ME1 suffered from this as well but not nearly so much as two.

The Mako, although far from ideal, was a welcome distraction in ME1 but they replaced it with the epitimy of tedium (Scanning) in ME2.

Equipment, though not handled particularly well in ME1, still gave me a small sense of progression and they stripped that out for 2 as well.

Lastly, the infinite ammo wasnt my ideal design choice either.

So there you have it. I, and several others, preferred 1.

Edit: words
And to say I am one of those irritating people who feel like almost all games are dumbed down to unplayable standards these days. So take what I say with a pinch of salt.

[Nalano]

I loved Mass Effect 3 and enjoyed Max Payne 3. Civilization V: Gods and Kings was exactly what I thought it was going to be, and I can't think of any other major games released this year that I purchased. Considering Guild Wars 2's launch in two weeks, I doubt there will be very many other major purchases for me this year.

So, um. It looks like a really upbeat year for me.

[Tritagonist]

Armed with that info, what would your recommendation be?

Hard to say. I wouldn't recommend Mass Effect 3 to anybody new to the series, but there is - despite the disappointment I felt - some value there if you're already a veteran of the series, so to say. BioWare brought back weapons modifications, but between the very limited options I never really felt like choosing one over the other was ever a particularly difficult choice to make. On the default difficulty I never got the impression I was ever in danger because of equipment choices I had made, or that I ever got a huge benefit because of them. Perhaps this is different on higher difficulties, where +10% shield might matter, but I didn't see it. Conversations in ME3 are more simplistic than in ME1 and ME2, often giving only two options and little in the way of 'left side' extra dialogue. It also seems to carry back-and-forths between characters on without player involvement for longer periods of time, effectively making them cutscenes.

Though the entirety of ME2 could easily be cut without losing anything of major interest, the story in ME3 builds on what was previously established. Although you will probably scratch your head a few times wondering if the writers ever bothered playing ME1, it's still pretty much on the same level as most other BioWare games. Which for me means that it's enjoyable in the same way the occasional Hollywood movie can be fun to watch. The ending sequence is still baffling, but if you go with what ME1 and ME2 were all about - Shepard's attempt to stop and destroy the Reapers - the actual ending (post-patch) isn't all that terrible.

[NathanH]

I agree that in ME2 they toned down some RPG stuff too much. They were trying to strip out a lot of the bloat from ME1 and sometimes went too far. In ME3 the balance is much better. The demo is worth playing, at least.

I'm always confused by complaints about ME2's story. The story is, you're assembling an elite team to launch an incredibly dangerous mission. I think this story is handled well. Such a story is always going to be basically a bunch of side quests. It's not even an unusual setup: there are a bunch of Things you have to acquire. In this case it is team members and team loyalty. Similar setups exist in, for instance, Kotor 2 and Dragon Age.

[TillEulenspiegel]

I'm always confused by complaints about ME2's story. The story is, you're assembling an elite team to launch an incredibly dangerous mission.

That's a shit story to tell. That'd usually be the prologue, or chapter one, or the first act of Ocean's Eleven. Not 80% of the thing.

[Nalano]

That's a shit story to tell. That'd usually be the prologue, or chapter one, or the first act of Ocean's Eleven. Not 80% of the thing.

Somebody go exhume Akira Kurosawa so we can inform him, then.

[Oak]

Civilization V: Gods and Kings

Oh! There's one, thank you. It didn't fix the problems at the heart of Civ 5 and it made the menu music worse.

[Serenegoose]

I loved Mass Effect 3 and enjoyed Max Payne 3. Civilization V: Gods and Kings was exactly what I thought it was going to be, and I can't think of any other major games released this year that I purchased. Considering Guild Wars 2's launch in two weeks, I doubt there will be very many other major purchases for me this year.

So, um. It looks like a really upbeat year for me.

This is me! I've been really happy with 2012 thus far. A few other games I bought and enjoyed (Spec Ops, OMD2) but yep, no stinkers. Looking forward to GW2 but going to pick it up a little later, either once it's fallen down a price notch (admittedly unlikely) or just once the initial rush has quietened.

[Jamison Dance]

Diablo 3 was the only game I bought that I regret this year.

Dishonored looks interesting, but the pre-order nonsense means I am waiting a few years to pick it up, so I won't be disappointed if it stinks.

XCOM also looks awesome. I might pre-order it, and that is pretty much the only way I am disappointed by a game, since I usually only pick up stuff I am pretty sure I will like based on reviews.

[Patrick Swayze]

I'm going to have to stand up for syndicate here.

If you erase all knowledge of it's namesakes then it's a decent fps thats worth a blast through once.

I only paid £6 but I came away satisfied with what I'd paid for the game.

Fun weapons, reasonable AI, cool bossfights, hacking mechanics, the best lighting in a game since mirrors edge....

It doesn't deserve the hate.

[DaftPunk]

I'm going to have to stand up for syndicate here.

If you erase all knowledge of it's namesakes then it's a decent fps thats worth a blast through once.

I only paid £6 but I came away satisfied with what I'd paid for the game.

Fun weapons, reasonable AI, cool bossfights, hacking mechanics, the best lighting in a game since mirrors edge....

It doesn't deserve the hate.

YOU paid that much,other got it with full price,imagine that .. lol

[Mohorovicic]

Syndicate is anamorphic. That on its own deserves some hate.

[coldvvvave]

YOU paid that much,other got it with full price,imagine that .. lol

I paid 20$ on release, sure it wasn't very good but I had some reasonable fun with SP and was only let down by "the plot".

[Cooper]

Well it's because if you don't know anything about the game you don't realize how often they update the game and how you need beta patches which aren't updated on Steam. When I first started I came in on a broken patch and was always stuck on loading and didn't realize why until I finally checked out the forums.

You are installing an in-progress mod and you didn't go to the forums to check recent info before you tried installing it?

Refer back to jnx's post.

[Cooper]

if you erase all knowledge of it's namesakes then it's a decent fps thats worth a blast through once.

nevar forget

[Moraven]

DayZ has been fun until the exploits and abuse has taken a bit out of it. Still got my money's worth and play it here and there Glad to see a standalone release being made.

WoW simply not having new content for a year. I have taken a couple breaks since the last patch and when I do play I can find other things to do, but just a long time to not have anything new in the game.

Orcs Must Die 2 no new music!

Defenders of Ardania... don't own a tablet to have played it before. Terrible PC port. Even if UI was fixed, not sure how much of a game there would be.