Worst or most disappointing gaming experience ever?

[Droid party]

A little while ago I recall someone asking the question of what the most tense gaming experience they have ever had was. This intrigued me enormously.

As I sit here typing this, I'm looking at my copy of Doom 3 and thinking of how disappointed I was with it when I first played it, and I wonder what bad experiences others have had.

Now when I say bad experiences it could be a boss that you just couldn't kill that drove you to the point of frustration, a game that didn't live up to your expectations ( or hype from others) , a game console that blew up two minutes after taking it out of the box and playing it, anything you want, any bad experience that you want to share.

[racketboy]

I'm sure there were others, but the first one that comes to mind is Sonic Adventure.
I remember that before the Dreamcast was released they had the demo kiosks running Sonic Adventure with the first demo level, and was literally blown away by how much better it looked than the PS1 and N64. That whole killer whale eating up the bridge thing made my jaw drop.

When I finally got my Dreamcast, I couldn't wait to play it. Of course, the demo was included on the Generator disc and I loved playing that first level over and over. Back then, I didn't read many game reviews, so I didn't really know how the rest of the game held up. I was seriously expecting more of the same Sonic levels. I did't mind the cutscenes too much at first since I figured it was the trendy thing to do and it was initially cool to see Sonic in 3D.

However, once I had to start wandering around the little hotel and figure out where to go, I was like WFT! There lies the disappointment. The game wasn't terrible, but it did not live up to my expectations....

[Droid party]

Yeah this has all been really well documented ( maybe a little too well ...Sonic phantom anyone ) and that was pretty much what bugged me. That and when you realized that you had to get on the train to go to the next area to get to the next part you had to find but at no point did anybody tell you that you had to go there , not that I really wanted to listen to them since they were so badly voice acted.... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST LET ME JUMP ON SOMTHINS'S HEAD TO MAKE IT EXPLODE AND HAVE A CUTE BUNNY JUMP OUT!!!... oh sorry the evil in me broke out again.

Sorry sonic 3d fans.

[fastbilly1]

Oblivion was one of mine. I am a big Elder Scrolls fan back to Arena and Redguard, heck I even own Shadowkey. So I thought it was going to be the next logical step right? After logging in 10 hours I kept getting the feeling that it was plasticy and like a bad console game. Then those "enhancements" bugged the mess out of me...I am sorry when I am in the middle of nowhere and kill the hermit in his house, no guards should show up and his stuff should not be autoflagged as stolen.

Other major disappointments would be Quake 4, Scrapland, and Fallout 2. All good games, but by far not up to the expectations their earlier incarnations had given me.

[Mozgus]

Other major disappointments would be Quake 4, Scrapland, and Fallout 2. All good games, but by far not up to the expectations their earlier incarnations had given me.

At least Quake 4 took the awesome engine of the terrible Doom 3, and made a game that actually utilized it. I beat Quake 4 and had fun while it lasted. It was one of the best looking games my 7600GT could run, and turning into a Strogg was one of the most memory scenes in any FPS.

[durkada]

This is easy -- only one game was traumatizing in its badness: Atomic Bomberman.

Atomic Bomberman, if you don't know, was going to be the first great Bomberman for PC -- networkable, with a level editor and customization up the wazoo. It was being developed by a large publisher who wanted to honor the franchise (rather than, say Bomberman Zero,which wanted to ass rape the legacy).

An early beta demo was released. It was rough around the edges, but showed great promise. Instead of using the usual cartoonish Bomberman characters, they opted for ray-traced figures -- and it worked. It worked very well, actually. Music came in mod-like files, which suggested even more hacking could be done.

And then, literally, two weeks after the first beta was released, the game went "gold". They simply pulled the development plug on this one and slapped it on retailers shelves. Buggy, certainly, but essentially the finished product was the Beta. Everything about it was godawulf and rushed. The menus amounted to text mode-esque screens that were difficult to navigate and comprehend. Virtually everything promised was absent from the release. Network play worked for shit. AI was horrible. The whole thing was simply still-born. For some reason, they contracted the guy who did the obnoxious voices for Cow & Chicken to do the voice work for this one (yeah, lots of Bomberman taunting) -- it grates your brain. The main purpose of the game seemed to be the promotion other Virgin games -- movies of which, the average user could not abort during the installation process. Needless to say, never bought another Virgin game.

So, to yours truly, a professed Bomberman whore, it was devastating.

[GagaMan]

Eye Toy:
I don't know, I guess I was expecting a bit more from it. I bought Sega Superstars for a fiver and the Eyetoy for another fiver and also picked up Eye Toy Play for £2, but both games seemed too alike. A lot of the mini games in Sega Superstars didn't work as well as I hoped and expected precise movements of your arms (like the monkey ball and NiGHTS) ones, and the only ones I really enjoyed a bit were the ones where you hit things like House of the Dead and Virtua Fighter (as well as wishy washy on Play). having to wiggle your hands over a button for about 20 seconds just to select something is a pain in the arse, and it all feels rather monotonous.

[Mozgus]

I recently made a thread about my 2nd attempt at this game, but my biggest gaming disappointment may have been Final Fantasy 8. After 7 and Tactics, I was pretty much under Square's control. I bought Parasite Eve and Brave Fencer Musashi (I believe these were the two) just to get the FF8 demos, one was just an FMV, and one was playable. I spent entirely too much time on those discs, and loved every second. Then the game eventually comes out, I get maybe 6 hours in and just wasn't having any fun so I quit forever. Heartbroken. At least those two other games were masterpieces.

Runner up would be The Sims for Gamecube. Highest selling PC game of all time, which I've never even tried, ported and enhanced for Gamecube? Sign me up!
::2 hours later::
I miss my fifty dollar bill.

At least Sims 2 was fun for 10 days.

[racketboy]

At least Sims 2 was fun for 10 days.

So you did get tired of it, huh?
I got a much better run out of Animal Crossing....

[Mozgus]

At least Sims 2 was fun for 10 days.

So you did get tired of it, huh?
I got a much better run out of Animal Crossing....

Yeah I might uninstall it today. Cant imagine getting back into it. I'm almost dead of old age in it and I just dont wanna see that, I didn't fulfill any goals or get anywhere in my career. It's like a glimpse into the future. I don't need that kind of fucking depression, lol. I could have maybe accomplished something if my sim didn't spend like 90 minutes on the crapper, or 90 eating, or 90 doing damn near anything.
I had animal crossing on gamecube a while back, but playing that solo is pointless. It's a good game if you have a family of casual gamers who all live different daily schedules, and could just check in to the game to make little changes for the others to see later. I'm sure it's so much better with online play.