Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Chad Ochocinco’s hosting job on WWE Raw, George Michael getting two months in the slammer for driving while high, or Oprah giving away the new Motorola Android phone, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
I’ve been meaning to write my (not a) review for the “Witch Hunt” DLC for Dragon Age: Origins since last Thursday. I’ve played it a bunch of times and I’m certainly familiar with it, but for various reasons I haven’t pulled the trigger on my (not a) review. Part of it is that I don’t have much to say about the game. Here’s the short version: it’s incredibly disappointing. Here’s the long version: the gameplay, graphics, and voice acting are what you’d expect from Dragon Age, but the story — which was purported to be a grand finale that dramatically reveals the fate of Morrigan — is a total letdown. There’s nothing grand about “Witch Hunt”; it’s just another piece of good Dragon Age DLC.
The other part is that I’m…uncomfortable being disappointed in BioWare. I adore the company’s games. Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk are fantastic people that I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with. Thankfully, I’m not working for a proper editorial site at the moment, so I don’t have to lie to you and pretend that these factors aren’t creeping around my brain. I just hold BioWare to incredibly high standards (perhaps unfairly so), so when the company releases a decent product that should have been more, it’s disappointing.
Anyway, I’m officially going to blame the whole not-writing-a-(not a)-review thing on jet lag. As for you, I want to hear about your gaming disappointments of 2010 (thus far). Shout it out (please)!
See, that's the problem with high expectations. If you come to expect the exceptional from any particular developer, you will eventually be disappointed. It is absolutely insane to think that a game maker can make exponentially better games as time goes on. The exponent on that equation relates to what we come to expect from them, and it isn't fair for them, but still, that's how things are.
Moral of the story; lower your expectations and always think that games are going to be worthless until proven otherwise.
You will be much happier when you're proven wrong than thinking something is going to be better than it actually is.
-M
Although it isn't from 2010, Wolfenstein is actually a disappointment for me. I love id Software, and their past games were good. But their latest venture just wasn't as good as I would have liked. It tried to have a story while still being a basic no story type fps, and that just didn't work out too well. Also, it feels more like CoD or CoD2 but came out closer to the time of either Modern Warfare games, and there is a huge difference between how those games feel. I just expected more overall and was a little let down.
On a side note that is one reason I don't always like to receive games as a gift. I got
Wolfenstein, Skate 2, and Bioshock as gifts and I don't really want to keep any of them (I'm having second thoughts about going back to bioshock again though) but I feel compelled to because they were gifts.
Red Dead Redemption. I wanted to like it. But it had just so many problems and the story didn't keep me interested at all. Also the "long" riding around times got old really quick.
Transofrmers War for Cybertron. It was supposed to be the games that made Transformers fun. Heck after playing it I realized I actually enjoyed the first one and this one was complete crap.
Kane & Lynch 2. The poor choice of camera movement was enough to make my head literally hurt. I wanted to play it but I physically couldn't.
Lost Planet 2. How do you get rid of the ONE thing that made the original special, the Survival in the Snow???
BioShock 2. Maybe it was just me but I played it for a bit and it never really drew me in like the first so I just haven't picked it back up.
I WOULD HAVE TO SAY MY BIGGEST LETDOWN OF 2010 IS AND WAS UFC UNDISPUTED 2010. THE ONLY GAMES THAT I HAVE TRADED IN/BOUGHT BACK IN THE LAST TWO YEARS WERE GAYS OF WAR AND THE AFOREMENTIONED GAME.
Caps were locked cuz rpad said to shout it out.
Most any dlc released this year for me mw2 map packs, assassins creed 2 dlc
@Slicky
I watched my friend play some of that game, and it didn't look like a lot of fun. For as much as I love the western genre none of the wetern theme games ever look good, even though I had hoped that it would.
@Big Blak
HAHAHA
Here's another excuse: my glasses broke. It's true! The night I got back from Asia, my glasses (that I've had for like eight years) just snapped in half. I've been alternating between prescription shades (hard to use a computer) and contacts (can't take naps) ever since. I'm going to try out some frames in a few minutes.
Mine isn't really a 2010 game as much as it's a game I played this year.
Dead Space.
I just couldn't get into it. It bored the hell out me.
Alan Wake. Disappointing to me because the story wasn't a surprise for me.
I'm going to have to add inFamous to the list. The gfx were quite dated looking and I thought Prototype was just a better sandbox game. I compare the two solely because they released at the same time and I played both. The story was better in inFamous but not enough to make me beat it. I got bored pretty fast.
I think sandbox games in general are over for me as far as consoles go. I just don't enjoy them like I used to. I much prefer a linear story heavy game as opposed to sandbox. I beat GTA4 based solely on the fact I enjoyed the characters and story. I can't say the same for Lost and the Damned.
@Ray: As you know, I'm also a huge Bioware fan. Witch Hunt was really not worth releasing….much like the Pinnacle Station DLC that marked the last bit of DLC for the original Mass Effect. In both cases, I feel like they threw out something because they felt like they had to, and not because they had something great to put out. I'm all in favor of DLC, so long as it's good DLC that adds to my experience.
@Topic: My biggest gaming disappointment was Dante's Inferno. Sure, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the God of War games it was cloning, but I was expecting it to be much better than it was.
My biggest disappointment in 2010 was MAG. I give credit to Zipper for making the 256 player experience work basically lag free but the game just wasn't that good for me. Zipper made the Socom games on the PS2 so I was expecting MAG to be much better than it was.
@Nightshade
Agreed on Dante's Inferno. I was so exited for it until I played the demo.
I thought MAG was good, but unfortunately BC2 was just too badass and retired MAG for me very quickly.
also the damn incessant updates turned me off.
Damn. I haven't bought glasses in like eight years. I don't remember them being this expensive.
Yes, I have had the same pair for 3 years now and refuse to replace them until they are broken. It's $50 for the eye exam and another $400 for frames and lens. I'd rather blow that on something that is electronic and has internet access.
@Smartguy
Just think of how great it would be for the glasses to be electronic and have internet access. haha. You could take care of both need and want with one purchase.
@ BSU
That's what I was gonna say.
I want a snapdragon processor and a wifi hot spot through my specs, damnit.
@N8
lol, that would be pretty nice. Tether everything through your glasses. Now if only I needed to wear glasses! And, you know, they actually invented that stuff.
@BSU
If i could get glasses that used LTE and gave me HUD, I'd pay thousands of dollars for them. I'd never take them off.
@Smartguy
I might have to start wearing glasses if they offered those kinds of capabilities.
@ Smartguy
You mean so if you got punched in the face, your life meter would go down on your glasses?
Or if you tripped and fell, you could see your awareness plummet as well.
@N8
No, my HUD would alert me before any of that would happen so I could take appropriate action.
@ Smartguy
So, you would want a HUD with spider-sense.
"Caution: Human fist approaching at 9 o'clock"
@N8
Of course, why just have a cosmetic one? lol
I just watched Machete. He gets EVERY woman.
I think Expendables was the better action movie.
@smartguy The Expendables wigged me out when Stallone and Rourke shared scenes. Their plastic faces were disconcerting.
most disappointing?
hmmm
god of war 3 maybe?…great game, just expected much much more after waiting for it so long
by the way guys…i changed my team name and logo over at the fantasy football league
i do that a lot….please tell me what you guys think
@ thunder
Priceless!