Most Disappointing Game

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With so many talented game development studios out there, so much excellent technology, and the high standards set by the great games of yesteryear, it's hard for game players not to have high expectations. While some games meet our expectations and some exceed them, some fall short. And sadly, some fall very short. These are the 2009 games that let us down more than any others.

Editors' Choice Winner

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Editors' Choice Winner

And the winner is…

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Monolith Productions

GameSpot's Best Games of 2009 Editors' Choice Winner

As you may recall, 2005's F.E.A.R. was an excellent PC first-person shooter that combined gritty urban tactical combat with occult themes inspired by the Japanese cult horror film The Ring. The game went on to appear on consoles and then had a number of expansion packs created by different developers, but none of these follow-up products lived up to the exciting gameplay and overall quality of the original game.

The status of the sequel came into question when the legal rights to the name also came into question. This was because the original game's developer was acquired by a different publisher, while F.E.A.R.'s original publisher retained the rights to the name. For quite some time, it was unclear whether the sequel would even be called "F.E.A.R. 2"--but whatever it was called, it looked great at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in both 2007 and 2008, and better still, in September of 2008 the developer finally reacquired the rights to the series' name. So all was well. There would be a true sequel to F.E.A.R., with the proper name and with development back in the hands of the team that had made the first game such a classic. However, given that the original game was a memorably great shooter with a totally unique style, it was truly disappointing to see F.E.A.R. 2 end up being a very run-of-the-mill shooter, with decent but unremarkable action and somewhat predictable "scare" sequences replacing the spectacular battles and innovative occult sequences of the original game. It's not that F.E.A.R. 2 was a bad gamebut it's hard not to be disappointed that it wasn't anything more.

Readers' Choice Voting

Info	Title	Vote
	F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin	Vote
	The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena	Vote
	Bionic Commando	Vote
	Final Fantasy IV: The After Years	Vote
	The King of Fighters XII	Vote
	Scribblenauts	Vote
	Demigod	Vote
	The Godfather II	Vote
	Halo Wars	Vote
	Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2	Vote

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18 Comments

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kwey
Posted Dec 27, 2009 11:08 am GMT

Arkham Asylum for being so damn short.
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Racer850
Posted Dec 27, 2009 7:33 am GMT

Godfather 2 should of won this award, not Fear 2
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Tomrock101
Posted Dec 23, 2009 6:16 pm GMT

Godfather 2. I loved the first.
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jbm08
Posted Dec 23, 2009 12:59 pm GMT

wtf scribble naughts disapointing hmm i dont think so
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bm1212
Posted Dec 22, 2009 12:58 pm GMT

The game was still not that bad.
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NoDzombie
Posted Dec 21, 2009 4:22 pm GMT

stormrise should be in here, made by the studio behind total war series so i had high hopes yet it was one of the worst games of the year
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leviathanwing
Posted Dec 19, 2009 3:51 pm GMT

reader write in... tony hawk RIDE... wow just wow... anyone else want to go 'rockstar' on their stupid peripheral board after that one?
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efc91
Posted Dec 19, 2009 1:14 am GMT

Halo wars
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gbrading
Posted Dec 18, 2009 1:48 pm GMT

Bionic Commando. There could have been a great game lurking underneath, yet there was not.
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Racer850
Posted Dec 18, 2009 11:09 am GMT

Godfather 2.
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English-Lion
Posted Dec 18, 2009 9:05 am GMT

I vote for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
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dahui58
Posted Dec 18, 2009 8:59 am GMT

I never played RIDE but from what I heard it sounded AWFUL

Halo Wars definately wasn't a dissapointment, and anyone who's played it for more than 10 matches will probably agree.
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Mr_Versipellis
Posted Dec 18, 2009 7:59 am GMT

How is RIDE not on here?!
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MarioGirl64
Posted Dec 18, 2009 6:16 am GMT

Scribblenauts was very disapointing.
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chocolate1325
Posted Dec 18, 2009 5:42 am GMT

I think Resident Evil 5 should be on the list.
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viper_najem
Posted Dec 18, 2009 4:58 am GMT

I expected more from The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena =(
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bigkegofhealth
Posted Dec 18, 2009 2:29 am GMT

Operation Flashpoint anyone.
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JustPlainLucas
Posted Dec 17, 2009 9:44 pm GMT

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 gets my vote. I was really looking forward to this sequel, but when I played the demo, I was severely let down. I still want to get it some day, but when the price is really cheap.
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