Top 10 Most Surprising and Disappointing Games of All Time

Or from the seventh generation, whichever you prefer.

Surprising obviously means games that exceed expectations, while disappointing means games that fall short of expectations. They don't necessarily have to be favorites or least favorites. A lot of the most disappointing games I've played were actually still great.

Most Surprising

10. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (A huge step-up from the original, though I still expected great things from it.)

9. Mortal Kombat (2011) (Originally thought it was all flash and no substance.)

8. Motorstorm: Apocalypse (Didn't think much of the first two, but this one was a real surprise.)

7. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (The first one wasn't so great, so I wasn't expecting much from the sequel.)

6. Kid Icarus: Uprising (Didn't know what to expect, but I loved it, even the on-rail sections.)

5. Mega Man 9 (The first Mega Man game I played more than 15 minutes.)

4. Final Fantasy X (I didn't like Final Fantasy III or XII, but this ended up being my favorite PlayStation 2 title.)

3. Rayman Origins (Didn't expect this to be on the same level as Mario, Donkey Kong, and Mega Man.)

2. Demon's Souls (I knew the online play was going to be awesome, but not everything else too.)

1. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (My very first Fire Emblem game!)

Most Disappointing

10. Red Steel (But you could turn the gun sideways!)

9. Dead Space (Predictable jump-scares, insultingly easy puzzles, repetitive environment, among other things.)

8. Half-Life 2 (For the "best game ever," it certainly had a lot of problems. The only thing worse were the expansions that followed.)

7. BioShock (Should've just been a movie.)

6. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Should've just removed the first half of the game.)

5. Final Fantasy XIII (Extremely linear and tedious, and that's not to mention the cringe-worthy dialogue.)

4. Scribblenauts (I fell for the hype courtesy of System Wars.)

3. Resident Evil 6 (I don't even care it wasn't a horror title, the action was bad too!)

2. Paper Mario: Sticker Star (Just make Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 2 already!)

1. Super Mario Sunshine (Seven main worlds with little variety between them, blue coins making up 1/5 of the Shine Sprites, cumbersome camera, etc. Super Mario Galaxy more than made up for it, however.)

Does not compute...two of the best games of their generation

This.

However that was originally what they were going to do.. But Miyamoto-sama stepped in, was unimpressed and just said "This is just a port of the gamecube game". They then went back to the drawing board over and over to appease him thus we have the clusterf#ck that is sticker star today.

l find it incredible Miyamoto would ever say such a thing about paper mario.. and they had to make it different just for the sake of it.. Yet we were treated to Super Mario Bros 2 and Super Mario Bros U in the span of one friggin month the same year.

No way im gonna name 20. I can sum up both with one game.

God of War Ascension.

After the epic Superbowl live action trailer, and all the talk of a very, dramatic and emotional campaign....it turned out to be very lackluster. Combat was excellent, but thats it.

...But...most surprising was also Ascension. Specifically the multiplayer. MP and GoW just didnt seem like something that should be pursued, but it turned out to be epic. I still play it every evening.

I am not naming 10, but most surprising has to be Dragon Dogma, best new IP last generation. Most disappointing would have to be GTA online, that shit was horrid.

Most surprising:

Demon Souls ( I was really not expecting such a game to be so enjoyable )

most Disappointing:

Final Fantasy 13 ( I wasn't expecting much from the game but holy.... jesus!! it was below my low expectations )

RE 6 ( I thought it was just going to be a fun team TPS like RE5 but.. god..... wtf )

Can't think of any disappointing. Can think of all kinds of surprising masterpieces though.

Top 10 disappointing this gen

• Resident Evil 5
• Resident Evil 6
• Need for Speed Most Wanted 2012
• Duke Nukem Forever (Just a little)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 2006
• Counter Strike Global Offensive

My mind is just blank... lol

Surprising:

• Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (SNES)
• Chrono Trigger (SNES)
• Resident Evil (PS1)
• Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
• Alundra (PS1)
• WWF Smackdown! (PS1)
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2)
• Shadow of Memories (PS2)
• A Blurred Line (PC)
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Wii)

Disappointing:

• Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins (PS1)
• Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
• Resident Evil 3 (PS1)
• Final Fantasy XI Online (PC)
• Resident Evil 5 (PS3)

Surprising (really lazy to put them in order)

• TLOU
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• FF14 ARR
• RE4
• FF11
• RE Outbreak
• Mass Effect
• DayZ Standalone
• Dark Souls
• Skyrim

Disappointing

• FFX
• Half Life 1 (no where near as good as HL 2)
• RE Operation Raccoon City
• DNF
• Aliens Colonial Marines
• Oblivion
• Vanquish
• WoW MoP (worst expansion ever)
• Torchlight 2
• Diablo 3

Most surprising

-Pikmin (This was an entirely new and unique franchise. I never expected it to have as big an impact on me as it did)

-Earthbound (an unusual game that felt like no other in a very good way)

-The Legend of Zelda a Link Between Worlds (after the last two disappointing hand held Zelda games, this was absolutely incredible. One of the best in the entire series)

-Just Cause 2 (This is essentially a sand box fan's wet dream)

-Yoshi's Island (I was skeptical of the strange new direction Mario was taken, but it's become one of my favourite platformers of all time)

Most disappointing

-Little King's Story (It was described as a Pikmin-like, but the combat mechanics were so bad, it was essentially an unplayable mess)

-Uncharted 2 (this game was hyped beyond reasoning so I was really excited to pick this game up. Turned out to be one of the worst games I've played all generation. Bad gameplay driven, and sometimes overtaken, by a plot that really isn't very good at all)

-Red Steel 2 (I've never played the first, but heard good things about the sequel... Who's idea was it to make a first person game's camera control with the thing you have to wave around to swing your sword?!?!)

-Yoshi's Island DS (It tried to be like the amazing original, but failed with bad level design and, oddly enough, a bad camera system)

WHAT!?!?!?

These are games that had the most impact on me both disappointing and surprising.

Most Disappointing

10. RE5, in fact f**k that, everything Capcom has spewed out this generation

9. Too Human

8. The Getaway

7. Devil May Cry 2

6. Every single Tony Hawk game post 4.

5. Doom 3

4. Castlevania 64

3. Duke Nuke Em Forever

2. Every single Sonic the Hedgehog game post Adventure

1. Final Fantasy 13/ 14

Most Surprising

10. The Warriors

9. Demon's Souls

8. GTA 3 (really was anyone expecting it to be the game it turned out to be, based on it's predecessors)

7. Xenoblade Chronicles

6. Valkyria Chronicles

5. Hitman 2

4. Beyond Good And Evil

3. Panzer Dragoon Saga

2. Comix Zone

1. Papers Please, who the hell thought something as tedious and banal like bureaucracy work would not only make a fun but also thought provoking game ?

I am going to only make a top 5 list to save time and I will only stick to the 7th gen as I wanted to make a topic like this to reflect on the 7th gen.

Most Disappointing:

• 5. Heavy Rain (6/10): Yeah, I know it is meant to be an interactive movie, but nothing can make things like brushing your teeth or rocking babies to sleep fun or engaging.
• 4. Splinter Cell Conviction (6/10): Turn a game that should have been a stealth game into a third person shooter in a generation where stealth games are few and far in between.
• 3. Metal Gear Solid 4 (6/10): A 'game' with cutscenes the length of movies and only 4 hours of gameplay, this coupled with a (now closed) multiplayer mode where you have to pay real money for extras makes MGS4 one of the worst value games ever.
• 2. Mass Effect 2 (5/10): We have all heard of tacked on multiplayer, but Mass Effect 2 has tacked on gameplay, and despite popular beleif, a great story does not fix issues that big.
• 1. Resident Evil 5 (3/10): Not only a bad survival horror game, but a bad game in general.

Most Surprising:

• 5. Driver San Francisco (9/10): I was extremely worried about this game as it had been influenced by the ignorant 'GTA Clone' term (grab your pitchforks and torches now because what I am about to say will drive people crazy: Driv3r > Mass Effect 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4) as on-foot gameplay had been removed completely, but the new switch mechanic was enough to make up for it and Drive San Francisco was a great entry into an underrated series.
• 4. Hitman Absolution (9/10): After Splinter Cell Crapviction, I was terrified for the future of stealth games, but luckily, Absolution was another great entry into a great franchise.
• 3. Duke Nukem Forever (8/10): I expected the worst because of the awful reviews from story whores, the game is great, you know why, because it's FUN! DNF is the game that stopped me from paying serious attention to game reviews ever again.
• 2. The Saboteur (9/10): A game I did not even know existed until I saw it in the bargin bin was my third favorite game of 2009.
• 1. Saints Row 2 (9/10): A game I purchased because of my disappointments with GTA IV turned out to be my GOTY for 2008.

Surprising

To the moon

999

Yakuza series

Sleeping Dogs

Risen

Bastion

Hotline Miami

Disappointing

Uncharted 3

Mass Effect 3

Little Big Planet

Halo 4

Red Steel

The Darkness 2

Fable 2

Most disappointing:

Dragon Age 2

Fable 2

Halo 3 multiplayer

Gears of war Judgement

Surprising:

Dragon Age Origins (never read up much on it, just bought it)

Ctrl+F

"LA Noire"

Phrase not found

Come on guys, LA Noire was the biggest let down of last gen.

Hipster thread - Lets name 10 great games and call them bad. Then name 10 lesser heard of games and call them great. Lol gaming hipsters

TC is crazy ....

also crazy and need walk assist .... those who say MGS4 sucks

Zelda Skyward Sword and Phantom Hourglass are the only games I was truly disappointed in, because up until that point Zelda was the most perfect franchise in gaming I thought.

Skyward Sword was just ok, I played through it, and I'll probably play through it again in a year or two. There are so many iconic moments I remember from each Zelda game, but that one I can only think of about 3.

Phantom Hourglass I couldn't even finish and I never even gave Spirit Tracks a chance because of it and still won't.

Hoping ALBW can restore my faith in the franchise once I give it a chance.

Disappointing doesn't mean bad, it just means that it didn't meet your expectations. It's easier for a big game to be disappointing due to the hype that generally surrounds them. Like Uncharted 2, for example, has crazy amounts of hype on the internet, so when you go into it, it's much easier to be disappointed than one that's not so hyped.

Mad work trying to do a top 10 for both.

Most Surprising Game

-Binary Domain. Game has no business being that fun

Most disappointing game that Bungie didn't make

-Mafia 2. **** that game.

Most disappointing: Gears series. Played all of them, yet never understood how they were considered amazing. Is it the graphics? Gore? Steroid users?

Surprising: Red Dead Redemption. I had doubts upon buying it that it would just be a GTA with horses. But holy crap, it was so much fun that I have it on my top 5 of last gen. I know most people think that's crazy, but I loved that game.

I ain't doing a ten list, one each. Gotta have time to play games

Most disappointing: By a mile, FFXIII. Worst in the franchise and went against everything a FF game is supposed to be. (I considered putting DMC2/Deus Ex: Invisible War here, so you know)

Most Surprising: Bunch of games jump to mind - Tearaway, Halo:CE, Heavy Rain - but I'll give it to Demon's Souls. Never expected that game to wind up being so incredibly good.

Compared to all the other turds? Um no. Then again, LA Noir is easily one of my most cherished games of last gen. Would of been top 5 if it didn't hold your hand so much.

The only correct disappointment answer is skyward sword. I let twilight princess slide because it was technically a Gamecube game, but skyward sword was supposed to be the Wii's last great game. I couldn't wait to see a Zelda game made from the ground up for the wii. Since it was coming out at the end of the wii's life where all the power of the system can fully be tapped into.....Then I played it.

Then I played it several times trying to convince myself I like, it but on the inside I was crying "Was this what I waited for?" The wound from this game is still there.

With no heritage of acclaim, a poor title doesn't have quite the same impact of disappointment as sequels to good games i.e. RE6, FFXIII, Metroid: Other M, etc.

I'm just going to focus on recent memory.

Most Surprising

1. Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
2. DmC
3. Halo 4
4. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
5. Journey
6. NIER
7. Red Dead Redemption
8. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
9. Rayman: Origins
10. Dead Space

Most Disappointing

1. Jak 2
2. Paper Mario: Sticker Star
3. Fable 3
4. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
5. Assassin's Creed III
6. Vanquish
7. Dragon Age II
8. LA Noire
9. Mirror's Edge
10. Killzone 2

Suprising:

Zero Escape, more specifically 999

Demon's Souls. I still remember everyone saying how crap this game looked after TGS 2008.

A whole bunch of XBLA/PSN stuff

Valkyria Chronicles

Disappointing:

Jak II HD. No strafe/lock on for a 2003 game. Insomniac downright shamed Naughty Dog during gen 6 with Ratchet and Clank. Times sure have changed.

FF XIII

Resident Evil 6. Best combat/controls in the series, worse everything else.

Driver 2. I was too young and impatient to finish the awful training in the car park.

Assassin's Creed III

Catherine. Hate to list this because I really wanted to like it. Block pushing puzzles with time limits killed the experience.

• Soul Sacrifice is one of the most surprising games last year, i completely thought the game was crap based on its demo but when PS+ gave it for members i thought i'd give it another shot and boy o boy how the demo did not give justice to the full game because the full game was unlike anything i played before it had an addictive gameplay, addictive online missions and an amazing story mode.
• Mass Effect is also a series that i would consider very surprising as i bought the game knowing nothing about it and bought mainly due to the hype around it and boy how for the very first time ever the hype delivered the game was straight up amazing and addictive.

your disappointed games is complte joke...

Most Surprising:

• Ace Combat Sqaudron Leader (Never heard of the game until my brother bought it and it ended up being one of my favourite PS2 games)

• Tales of Vesperia (Probably the JRPG I've enjoyed the most since FF VII)

• Far Cry 3 (Fixed everything I disliked about Far Cry 2)

• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 ( The best WW2 game I've played so far)

• Red Dead Redemption (Surprised I liked it considering that I'm not a fan of the Wild West setting)

• Chrono Trigger (Played it for the first time 2 years ago or so. I was surprised that I could enjoy a 15+ year ago so much)

Most Disappointing:

• Bioshock (The story and setting were good but the rest was not so good)

• Demons Souls (Seemed more concerned about being hard than being good. Playing the same section over and over again isn't fun. I flat out hated this)

• Final Fantasy XIII ( Everything about the game apart from graphics was done so badly. Awful, awful game)

• Operation Flashpoint: Red River (I liked Dragon Rising despite it's flaws, but Red River had the same flaws except that it curtailed the freedom you had, was less of a sim and had horrible dialogue as well

I would mention RE6 and Ace Combat:Assault Horizon but I've only played the demo so far.

After seeing the TC list and some others my faith in humanity fell down a lot.

It sucked, is what I'm trying to say.

No it didn't. It was an amazing experience. Yeah sure the story was inconsistent, but that's about it. The rest was incredibly well done. The set pieces were memorable and are among the best in gaming, the level designs were excellent, and the graphics were superb.

Now explain to me how exactly it sucked?

@happyduds77: It's his opinion. It isn't wrong or right.

disappointing:

1. gta IV

2. Final Fantasy XIII

3. Red dead redemption

4. LA Noire

5. Mass Effect ( any)

6. Assassin's creed ( any ( I haven't played IV, but I doubt I ever will)

7. Bayonetta

8. God of War 3

9. Fallout 3 ( never played new vegas)

10. Batman Arkham Origins

I could seriously keep on going

surprising:

1. Mirror's edge

2. Uncharted 2

3. Tales of Xillia

4. Far Cry 3

5. Just cause 2

6. Batman Arkham Asylum

7. Flower

8. The elder scroll IV: Oblivion

9. War Hawk

10. Final fantasy XIII-2

Top disappointing game ever for me ---> Diablo 3 PC version ... The biggest letdown i could ever imagine

Top surprising game ( though i can think more than 20... ) --> ICO for ps2

Maybe, but it's without a reason at least a good one.

Alright, I'll list some that I'm enjoying/I've enjoyed more than I thought I would.

Resident Evil 6

Spectrobes Origins

Bit Trip Runner

Dead Island

Samurai Warriors 3

Spyborgs

Blades of Time

Sin and Punishment 2

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

Need for Speed Nitro

Rage

Virtua Fighter 5

Half Life 2 and Episodes

Mass Effect

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

They tried to make a BioShock movie. It's too expensive.

Edit: This is only for the 7th gen

Top 10 most surprising

10. Rage (bought it for 5 euros on a bargain bin and was expecting a meh game. Great gameplay and interesting world to explore)

9. Urban Trial Freestyle (Never played Trials but UTFreestyle was very solid and fun. Just another case of bad reviewed game because it copied another instead of being scored based on its own merits)

8. Hitman: Absolution (the early footage made it look good. The reviews made it look average. My playthrough made it look AWESOME and a waaaaay better game than most AAA games out there)

7. Tomb Raider 2013 (Was a fan of old TR games and from the early footage I just felt this new one was just an Uncharted clone but was actually better than Uncharted and thats no easy feat to do. Great game all around)

6. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge (never played the original NG3 besides the demo but Razor's Edge was solid)

5. GoW: Ascension (after the average reviews and bashing on forums I actually ended up enjoying it more than I thought and its at least on par with GoW3 imho)

4. MGRising (I had hopes it would be good, I just never thought it would be THAT good. Best HnS last gen for me and I never though Bayonetta would be surpassed before Rising came out)

3. DmC (after all the trash talk and with Ninja Theory track record in the gameplay department, the DmC remake surpassed my expectations with satisfying combat and great artsyle)

2. Shadows of the Damned (Average reviews besides the GS 8.5 score and when I beat the game I actually though, to my surprise, GS was right! Great game with great characters, music, solid gameplay and amazing artsyle, and the Suda51 silly humour was the cherry on top of the cake)

1. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (was never on my radar as a game but since I'm a fan of everything Playstation I gave it a try when the price went down. Oh boy, I spent dozens of hours playing 2v2 battles online and so many great hours of fun playing with friends at my home. Solid gameplay and to this day its the only game that made me completely pissed with reviewers for bad scoring it, most of them just because it was a "Smash clone" when its a solid fighter on its own. Fvck you reviewers!)

Top 5 most disappointing (sorry, not feeling like doing another top 10 and have in mind these are not bad, was just expecting better after the hype and overall great reviews they got)

5. BioShock Infinite (Rave reviews that said the game was a game changer when it comes to story and storytelling and afirmations that the ending twist would blow heads up. I left disappointed with a meh twist at the end that didnt live up to the amazing BioShock 1 twist and a convoluted story that wasnt really interesting to start with. Still a great game but miles away from recreating the 1st game in the series)

4. Lollipop Chainsaw (I'm a fan of Suda and I know gameplay is not his strongest suit but Lollipop was just... too damn basic. Still liked it but was expecting better from Suda)

3. Catherine (great reviews and great feedback on forums. Encountered a very basic game with too damn hard puzzles that get tedious after awhile)

2. Final Fantasy XIII (Was expecting too much out of this and found a repetitive game with melodramatic characters that would make cringe even the most emotional person and a convoluted and stupid story that became far too ridiculous.

1. Silent Hill: Homecoming (HUGE SH fan. Homecoming was a tedious and non-memorable experience that should have NEVER used the Silent Hill name. Never played Downpour mostly because of the sour taste Homecoming left in my mouth

Surprising (as in good or even better than I expected)

1. Dragons Dogma

2. Two Worlds 2

3. Ni No Kuni

4. Oblivion

5. Medal of Honor Warfighter

6. Spec Ops the Line

7. Bad Company 1 and 2

8. Dungeon Defenders

9. Driver San Francisco

10. Heavy Rain

Disappointing (mostly dismal pieces of trash)

1. Skyrim

2. Medal of Honor (self titled)

3. Grand Theft Auto 4

4. Battlefield 3 (console)

5. Final Fantasy XIII

6. Assassin's Creed 3

7. Dragon Age II

8. Dragon Ball games in general

9. SOCOM 4

10. Duke Nukem

most surprising

Demon's Souls - there was a lot of negativity before the Asian release

Mushihimesama Futari - officially got me back into the shmup genre and made me realize that there's still a niche/they're not dead.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - I didn't think anything by vanillaware would top odin sphere. But they put out two incredible titles this generation. Muramasa being my favorite and Dragon's Crown being a great follow up.

Mother 3 - I didn't think the 3rd mother installment would be great by any means - figured EarthBound was a one hit wonder.

The Dream Machine - officially got me back into the point and click adventure genre resurgence. The Neverhood was one of the first and best titles that I played. I found out about this new claymation adventure and was hooked back in.

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor - the first title was okay, but I'm a big Treasure fan and I had to check it out. Ended up being a top 2 choice for me last gen. The amount of fun I had with this Wii title was unmatched.

SpyParty - still in an open beta, but one of the most intense games I played in the previous gen. the most unique alternative stealth title the genre had to offer. I even paid $15 to be in the closed beta a couple years ago and would easily pay $60 to still be in it.

The Witcher - not sure if this should really be listed, but for the most part... I don't enjoy fantasy based in the past with dragons, etc.. (I despised Dragon Age: Origins). I actually enjoyed this title, and the second one blows away the first

Vanquish - another nailbiter much like SpyParty. I'm a big Mikami fan and will buy anything he makes. Vanquish could be one of his best titles behind Resident Evil 4.

The Sea Will Claim Everything - my first introduction to the Lands of Dream, I was blown away at how great of a writer Jonas Kyratzes was/is. The throwaway dialogue alone is well worth the admission price.

most disappointing

Darksiders - I'm a huge hack-n-slash fan, the intro of the game was incredible, then the other 98% of the game dragged. the influences (or rips) of other games was obvious. I stayed far away from the 2nd title.

Team Fortress 2 - I could write a book on why I don't like Team Fortress 2. I was an avid competitive player in Team Fortress Classic from 2000 until around 2007. I picked the game back up in 2012 to play in a world-wide wireplay TFC league. TFC was the main reason I got into the FPS genre. Everything that made TFC awesome, was basically stripped away and watered down in Team Fortress 2. Instead of grenades, everyone has funny personalities! you can dress your character in a hat! don't worry about learning how to bunnyhop, conc grenade, ramp slide, shark, learn conc aim, and chop hop, because we stripped it all away in the new title - in addition to some of the best weapons like the super shotgun!

Resident Evil 5 - does much have to be said about this? After the departure of Mikami, the IP went nearly full action and full shit. I hated the fact that I had to play the game co-op.

Mass Effect 2 - haters gonna hate, but I honestly enjoyed the first Mass Effect WAY more. Part of it... was the exploration of different planets. In this space RPG, you can literally go almost anywhere. The second title really restricted where you could visit and what you could do. On a gameplay mechanics level, Mass Effect 2 far surpassed Mass Effect. But in the original game, I really felt like I was part of a full space universe.

Neverdead - sadly, I was pretty hyped for this b movie-esque title, and it was just as bad as many of the reviews pointed out. I couldn't bare to complete it.

Dead Space 2 - the original dead space was fantastic. it created an atmosphere that made me feel "trapped". different areas of the ship being quarantined... it was intense. The second title took everything that made the first scary, and threw it in your face. you could literally run by enemies and through areas which took that intense "trapped" feeling in the first title, and flushed it down the drain. I was hoping for a great follow up, and possibly something that could dethrone silent hill/resident evil as a series.

Cross Edge - fan service and I didn't realize it until I played it. this was one of the only titles I returned the entire last generation. if you played it, not much else needs to be said.
Final Fantasy 13 - 95% of the game was closed off. I still had fun with it, but it was hard not to be disappointed by the "action" route the new installment took.

Devil May Cry 4 - I actually really enjoyed this title. It was fantastic and one of the most complex titles the genre has to offer. Unfortunately, one playthrough means you basically play the same game twice... which is hard to not be disappointed by.

Devil May Cry - one of my favorite franchises picked up by one of my least favorite developers. The series was about gameplay and mastering the steep learning curve. Not so much about the story, visuals, etc...