Top 5 Disappointments of 2012

From the ending to Mass Effect 3 and Assassin's Creed 3 to the Wii U, Resident Evil 6, the fall of the Final Fantasy franchise and more, the 411 staff ranks their top 5 gaming disappointments of 2012!

[FATAL1TY]

%100 disappointment

[R6ex]

Exactly ... planned to buy the Wii U, thinking it will be next-gen. Sadly, its so last-gen.

Bought a quality gaming PC instead.

[andshesays]

I was going to buy a wiiu too, but after the disappointing reviews of most of the games (besides I have a pc for steam/ps3) I decided to buy some new clothes instead!!!

[fossilfern]

I was pro WiiU but after the poor launch line up I just kept my money and going to put it towards a holiday or even a year break somewhere. I will get a WiiU when a new Zelda or Metroid come out.

[blackbeld]

Yep, I would like to have the Zelda package too.

So I have more time to save money for a PS4 and WiiU.

[WhosYourDaddy]

True. Unbelievably bad console.

[Kran]

the % should go after the number.

otherwise you're saying:

"Wii U
percent 100 disappointment"

so... yeah. your statement is now invalid :)

[EddieNX]

100% Disagreed. Wiiu is 100% awesome. It's just launched , give the console time to grow lol.

You guys are stupid . When pikmin 3, Monster Hunter Ultimate,Bayonetta 2, Rayman legends are all on wiiu you gunna be missing out.

Your loss , not ours :)

Wiiu is awesome IMHO.

[ElectricKaibutsu]

Man, N4G hates the Wii U, huh? Of course the Wii U doesn't suck, or if it did then it's certainly too early to tell. But some people here go by the notion if you say something loud enough and enough times it makes it true.

[Kran]

it is a PS3 fanboy community after all.

[r21]

I wouldnt call the Wii U disappointing, just not that appealing yet.

[dafegamer]

if they announce a hd zelda and 3d mario, then im all in for WiiU ;)

[Snookies12]

For me it would take either a new Metroid, StarFox, or F-Zero.

[jslash]

"I actually don't know what it is, I only just finished Mass Effect 2 last week. But I do have in on good authority from friends that I should be angry with how the game and trilogy end, so I guess I am."

You can't include Mass Effect 3's ending in the list if you haven't freaking played it. I'm a fellow writer and it's this sort of crap that makes me understand why people have such a low opinion of us.

[aliengmr]

I do agree that commenting on something you haven't experienced isn't right.

However, based on the reaction to it, you could hardly call the ending a resounding success.

[InTheLab]

Assassin'sCreed 3 is awful. I'm not talking about the bugs. The pacing is terrible. The game is still lagging behind its peers in terms of stealth. And lets not forget the biggest issue.....its just not fun.

The AC franchise is running on fumes at the point. The slow gameplay feels even slower with all of the cutscenes. The 100 per cent sync only reminds you that you are a slave to whatever bull$$$$ the developers want you to do. You're not rewarded for creativity like Deus Ex HR or Dishonored. You're stuck playing a memory which is the problem.

Im not buying another AC until they stop screwing around with memories and do something with the future and REAL stealth.

[Sainox16]

Resident evil is my top disappointment this year

[akaakaaka]

I play the game and is fun and variety once you use all characters is fun but its not a resident evil in terms of horror and gameplay.. is just Hollywood like action ..

[Dfooster]

The mass effect ending was one of the best things in gaming this year for me. I don't know if its because I played all three games one after the other so had the events fresher in my mind but I totally got the ending and thought it was incredibly clever. I can understand some people not getting it but for it to be universally trashed I find confusing.

Maybe I'm the only person outside of the USA to have played a mass effect game I don't know but a sad ending doesn't automatically constitute a poor ending. Some of my favourite ever movies are the ones that end in way that Hollywood and all its cliches wouldn't dare attempt.

Bioware attempted something thought provoking and different and got hounded for it.

I'm basing this assessment on the revised ending they made as I never saw the original, so if it was entirely different then fair enough but the version I played had me thinking about its many implications for days after. No other game has made me think about the final choice I made and how it affected everyone I had come into contact with all through the trilogy quite like the mass effect one did.

[aliengmr]

"Bioware attempted something thought provoking and different and got hounded for it."

They got hounded for piss poor writing. The original ending had no resolution at all. It was a short confusing cinematic in 3 different colors. Hardly something you end a TRILOGY with.

There was also the entirely contrived plot. Introducing the primary antagonist in the final 5 minutes with no foreshadowing at all. Not holding to a proper dramatic arc. Then there's the fact that it wasn't the originally planned ending. ME2 actually foreshadows a different ending, one involving dark energy.

Mass Effect was basic sci-fi. For the most part, science was there to ground the fiction in reality. Biotics don't use magic, they use technology to harness dark energy. Most everything is explained (loosely) by science in the codex. You know what isn't? The ending. It stops being the sci-fi it was and plunges into fantasy. Lore is there to make the world/universe grounded and believable for the audience. The ending of the entire trilogy threw it all out.

Another point I want to make is there is a big difference between a series of sequels and an actual trilogy. A trilogy is a single continuous story with 3 acts. The 3rd act has to not only resolve its own plot but provide the resolution to all 3 acts. Its not easy, and I never expected BioWare to get it 100%, but they didn't even come close. An example of a proper resolution is the Lord of the Rings trilogy (the movies, Tolkien went a little over-board in the books.).

You like it? That's okay. This post isn't trying to change your mind. I'm explaining to you the various reasons why many had serious issues with the ending. I couldn't go into them all. You talked about liking those who take risks and go against conventional themes, I like that as well, but that was NEVER the original intent of Mass Effect. It was safe, classic, sci-fi. It had to be because the very idea of compelling storytelling in video games was, and still is, daring. You don't start being a rebel in your 3rd act.

My last issue is this, those who hated the ending, got it. You don't 'like' it because you figured some secret the rest of us couldn't. We understood that it was complete crap. In fact we have gone point by point numerous times as to what we had an issue with.

TLDR; There are valid reasons for not liking the ending. It being sad was the least of its problems and most just wanted an actual resolution. We got it, and it still sucks.

[metroidfusion2]

I will try something for myself fuck what anyone says and the wii u is definitely next. Gen and it already has 10 native 1080p and 60fps games possibly more and this is just the beginning I'm sure more native 1080p and 60fps games are coming and of couurse the graphics will improve but the fact that the wii u is running games exactlly the same or betteer then games that have been made for other systems and took years to make is good whether its missing dlc or has extra dlc is good but just like any other system you have to give it time

[lilbroRx]

This article was pretty much made to bash the Wii U with the other others thrown into to make not look so obvious. Its a typical trick to disguise biased opion as an unbiased proffesional opion.

I can think of 5 disappointments in gaming this year this year that exceed anything they have on that list. This list is only listing recent event to cash in on the hype and popularity.

Only one of those events didn't occur in the last 2 months and one didn't occur at all.

[TongkatAli]

I love my Wii U

[arbitor365]

i don't know why people were disappointed with the wii u. or rather, I dont know why people were surprised by the wii u.

I predicted that it would be gimmicky, graphically underpowered, and lacking third party support from the moment it was announced. it wasn't too difficult

[PopRocks359]

I don't believe it's anything more than trolling. The Wii U was not even listed as #1 on this list and a plethora of the early comments are slamming the Wii U.

[deletingthis34675334]

This year has been pretty mediocre (but not the worst) overall except for a J-RPG localization and two open world shooters. I bought only a handful of 2012 releases total this year which is unusually low for me. Hopefully next year will be better, and so far it seems to be. We have Tales of Xillia, Ni No Kuni, maaaayyyyyyyybe Dark Souls II but hopefully From Software won't go too mainstream with this as it is kind of worrying me right now, GTA V, and some upcoming MMOs to look forward to.

[HonestDragon]

Ah, yes, the trolls have emerged. In their natural habitat, being internet community sites, the trolls are attracted to articles reflecting the personal or benign opinions of people who think a game or console is good or bad. The trolls pounce at the opportunity on unsuspecting prey in the form of innocent commenters.

The troll also leaves their signature mark which consists of hounding their prey with insults and their over aggressive attitude. This is mere chest pounding, of course, but they are a proud lot for their inadequate assumptions and lack of reasoning. They revel in activities such as cyberbullying and spamming. Hence the caveman mentality, especially when they reflect on the role of women and how supposedly amazing first person shooters are.

In the case of this article, the migration of trolls seen here, are saying that the Wii U is not a good system. However, their reasoning behind not getting one is because of being followers of others' opinions rather than having experiences of their own. Yes, the trolls' shortsightedness is not uncommon as they rely heavily on the support of people they don't know personally.

For if they had actually experienced the Wii U, the trolls would mention about specific game mechanics and change in direction of Nintendo, rather than lambast the company for finally going 1080p and trying something new. But this is the way of the troll. They shall forever be unknowing of personal experience and will only be reduced to a diet of stale beer and bags of potato chips.