Ah, Thanksgiving. When we eat and stuff our faces like we might never taste food again. It’s the time of year where we get to play extra video games, and where we long for Christmas to get the last few that we haven’t bought. In light of this holiday, I thought I’d leave you guys a short feature before departing on my great Turkey adventure tomorrow.
In honor of these great birds on which we feast upon, I wanted to discuss gaming’s biggest turkeys. What do I mean by turkeys? Basically, anything that flopped or completely fell under your expectations. Anything that you devoted your time to that turned out extremely disappointing. That game that broke your heart and that you wanted to be good, but sadly, it just sat there like a lame duck. Er, turkey.
Let’s begin!
Halo 2
I know, I might get panned for this a little bit, but I just had to stick it on the list. After playing Halo CE and loving it with every fiber of my being, Halo 2 was a major disappointment on almost all fronts. Multiplayer combat was dumbed down like crazy, accuracy and skill were removed from the equation, and the campaign was incredibly weak for a supposedly AAA title. Worst of all, it was given nearly perfect scores all around. I was sick of this game after just a few months, having first been fooled by it.
Metal Gear Solid 2
This is the game that made me stand in line one blustery night in October, 2000, waiting for the PS2 to release. I couldn’t wait to play a next gen MGS game, to see what the story was going to be with Snake and his foes, and what awesome twists would await me in the next wave of the story. What I got was Raiden. And Vamp. And… god, it just hurts too much to keep talking about.
Star Fox Adventures
Seriously… why in the name of all that is holy can we not have a new proper Star Fox title? The Wii would totally work for it, and it can’t be that hard to develop an on-rails shooter. Star Fox 64 came out over 10 years ago, and we still haven’t gotten anything close to being a worthy successor. Get with it, Nintendo!
Every Bond Game After Goldeneye
For real, it can’t be that hard to make a good game based on the James Bond series, can it? Goldeneye remains one of the best console first person shooters I have ever played, and the game that convinced me that multiplayer gaming belonged to Nintendo. I can still hear that death music playing over and over in my head, we played this game so much. On the flip side, I hear that Quantum of Solace is like Gears of War meets Bond, so that can’t be all bad.
Nintendo Wii
I just couldn’t help myself. The story of this generation is a topsy turvy one for me in terms of what I was excited about. First, I couldn’t wait for the Playstation 3. I wanted to keep playing all the franchises I knew and loved. Then, Nintendo wowed me with its high concept machine, then known as only the “Revolution”. You can’t spell revolution without the word “love”, and boy did I love the idea behind this system.
And here I am today. Loving my 360 and enjoying my PS3, but loathing my Wii. I can’t stand it, just sitting there, taunting me. I’ve almost given it away a couple of times. I can count on my fingers the periods of time where I’ve played it for longer than a couple of days. Thanks Nintendo, for ditching your fanbase and leaving this excited Nintendo fan to bathe in his own tears.
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Those were just off the top of my head, but some dishonorable mentions would have to go to Super Mario Sunshine, Final Fantasy VIII (I know, but I just hated it), Suikoden IV, and KOTOR II. What about you guys? What were some of your biggest gaming turkeys?
1. Ah Halo 2. I suppose I concerned myself with the story moreso than the online. Yeah, now that I reminisce, I recall returning to Halo CE (aka the Pistol) after my ass started to hurt after all the Sword rapage. Frankly, Halo 2 WAS overrated. Halo CE was awesome, Halo 3 wasn’t bad at all, but Halo 2 was a bit of a disappointment now that I take an objective look at it.
2. I know you’ll scold and scorn me for this, but…I…never…played…um… M…G…S. Ahem.
Yes it’s true. I’m deprived. I need to go play it and experience the disappointment.
Sob sob sob! Oh Eddy! I’m sorry!
lol
3. Star Fox Adventures was pretty dang awesome, and I don’t know why they only made one. I mean, Dinosaur Planet was pretty sweet, but they didn’t have to go back to DinoLand for a sequel, know what I mean? You know what would really increase Wii sales at least a little! A sic Star Fox FPS, or maybe TPS! Like Assault but with online multiplayer! And have it like Medal of Honor Heroes 2, and how MOH:H2 pwned in terms of control ease. THAT. Would pwn.
4. The Quantum of Solace game was better than the movie. lol
5. Ugh. I don’t really need to repeat myself, do I? lol Nintendo has just grown old. They’ll need a miracle to rise from their ashes.
Great post eddy. Interesting. I think halo 2 made halo 3 look like the ‘B3ST EV4R!’. I jus completely for get about 2. It sucked…
And the wii thing. I coulden’t believe now that I was struggling to pick to get a 360 or a wii! I was stupid…
My big fat turkey was “Raving Rabbids 2”. I know it’s kiddish but I had a big crush on the first RRR. So I bought the 2 all pumped up to play rabit hunt and stuff, but what do I see? Everything was almost a down-grade. Jus epicly rick-rolled.
I agree with all of the turkeys exept some of the disonorable mentions, I was very pleased with Super Mario Sunshine and Kotor II. Sunshine did it’s best to change some of the formula and I think it was well delivered and Kotor II hardly changed anything (nothing needed to be changed).
My biggest turky would have to be COD:WOW because all my friends were like “best game ever” and I played it and the campain was weak and horiblly scripted (Ive lost 2 saves to trigger hurts) and the multyplayer just wasent as fun as Tf2
Too Human. I thought it was going to be a lot of fun. And then they released……garbage. I also would agree with the Nintendo as THE biggest Turkey of all time. Now leave me be….I’m not crying it’s just something in my eye.
Can’t help but agree with the Wii. Nintendo’s losing it…sure fancy motion control is nice, but is it too much to ask for some nice games that haven’t been retreaded for years? Also, Halo has definitely gone downhill since the first one. And I’ve just gotten started on the MGS trilogy … I call it that because the fourth one is just one big cutscene … so can’t really comment on that.
But I thought that KOTOR II was just as good as the original, though – except for the whole ‘rebuilding HK-47’ deal, that is.
Eddy, let me know when the Wii is ready to flee your apt. I will take it off your hands,lol.
Halo 2 was a huge disappointment. I played Halo just last year for the first time and it was so much fun. played Halo 2 and it was a bore.
NFL Head Coach was crap, as was that Jaws game. Had such high hopes for it!
KoTor II was unfinished and basically a mess.
Starfox Adventures was a lesser verson of Zelda. Kinda lame.
Has Far Cry 2 escaped you? I thought that the new concepts would be great, until they released it….lol. I also lol’d at the Wii. I haven’t touched it since brawl, and even that was disappointing, since I had higher hopes. Also, although I enjoyed MGS 4, I found myself playing for the story (I <3 cutscenes) having been a MGS fan for a while. However, I could see how it can be boring. Stealth Espionage Action? Give me a break. Running around with a machine gun owning people and blowing stuff up with REX was so not stealth.
Anthony, want a Japanese ver. wii? I’ll sell it for $100. hehe
For me it would be
Timesplitters 3:future perfect- seriously i like the story but all the maps were fucked up, gretel went gay (my fav. char) and i hated the bosses (splitter crow first form is alright). I really only played it for the sex jokes.
I dont see what the problem is with halo 2 i found it fine. But halo 1 was better.
Starfox Adventures was awesome.
I have only played one MGS game (port. ops) and i loathe it.
Wii seriously needs better games.
Starcraft ghost i was so looking foward to it and it was cancelled.
i bought my wii on the oping day. now i never play it. i did play it until it overheated though when i first got it. but now as previously stated i never play it, the games are for younger audiences and the games that were once great like the Zelda series have died under the rain of the wii. thank you for basically describing my feelings about he wii i thought that if a did not play it then it would be considered that i wasted my money. well i have indded been left in a pool of tears from the wii.
Haze was disappointing considering it came from the guys who made Timesplitters.
Snowman, send the Wii and I might send the money,lol.
I didn’t think Halo 2 was that bad. The gameplay was better and there were more weapons. But, yeah the story was bad. I don’t really play multiplayer so I can’t comment on that aspect.
Oh, Halo2. Thank you, Bungie, for releasing that awesome trailer which looked nothing like the final product, thank you for making me stand in line for six hours on a NOVEMBER night, and thank you for adding LIVE, so I could have racial epitaphs hurled at me over a tiny earphone.
I’m constantly disappointed by Sonic Team, as well. Every game they release is a proverbial turkey sandwich, dripping with the gravy of poor game design, and the cranberry sauce of sadness for a once great franchise….Now I’m hungry and sad.
Halo 2 is great when you have nothing to do and you find all the map glitches and skywalks in Outskirts 😀
MGS2 sucked.
I didnt even BOTHER to get that star fox or the other one, SF64 still lasts me a few hours of fun every time i play
The World is not enough, TWINE, was much to sketchy. I played it for the raptor magnum <3
I would have only gotten the Wii for Twilight Princess, but while at the store I decided to just get it for GC xD
Reading the other comments:
I only got the chance to play brawl once. SSBM will keep me occupied for now.
Some story with TS3, TS2 is still a challenge to me this day on hard mode.
I’m still getting Farcry2, I liked farcry 1 😐
Halo 2 was the best of all the ones on the xbox. halo CE for PC…..best Halo ever.
So yea, Wii sucks…and Goldeneye still reigns supreme.
I think Turok sucked, the new one. totally lame.
Superman 64 was the ultimate turkey of all time, IMO.
[quote comment=”2457″]Haze was disappointing considering it came from the guys who made Timesplitters.
Snowman, send the Wii and I might send the money,lol.[/quote]
Totally agree. How could it go from looking as good as halo to looking (graphically) as goo as goldeneye and gameplaye as good as goldene (rouge agent 😛 ) I’m guessing it’s a ploy by Free Radicle so that when TS4 comes out, we’ll all be like WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOWOWOW WE LOVE U 3 RAD! and it’ll seem so much better seeing as the last one was a stinker/pile of bullshit/ burroshit
I disagree about MGS 2, but to each his own.
My biggest has to be Deus Ex 2. Deus Ex blew the pants off anyone with a brain, but the follow up was just… *shiver*…
Lets pray Deus Ex 3 is a rebirth of something pure…
I kinda disagree with the James Bond one…I liked Nightfire alot. I thought it was the closest they came to Goldeneye after all those years..Did anyone else think it was good?
i thought halo 2 was good. now that i go back with all these bad thoughts in my head, i find all the flaws. i think your opionin of a game veries if you’ve read reveiws that are good or bad.
the biggest letdown i had was bloodwake.i know its old by i still kick the gamebox periodically. the other big one was deux ex: invisible war. all the guns used a ridiculas ammo system. a full blue bar meant one smiper shot or 100 smg bullets.
and i just read julez comment. is there gonna be a deux ex 3?
[quote comment=”2484″]and i just read julez comment. is there gonna be a deux ex 3?[/quote]
Yes there is. I expect you guys to post something about it as soon as we know more.
[quote comment=”2457″]
Snowman, send the Wii and I might send the money,lol.[/quote]
K, lol. Whoa wait, MIGHT?