Top 5 Most Disappointing Video Games... of All Time? (videos included!)

Sometimes, a game isn't quite what you expected it to be. True, it's easy to get caught up in the hype, to develop higher than appropriate expectations for a title...  With all the media frenzy surrounding AAA releases these days, it's hard not to, unless you're a technological hermit. Unfortunately, many titles fail to live up to the hype that their gung-ho advertising department kicks up. As a result, the games often end up feeling as empty and unfulfilling, much like a celebrity marriage.

Of course, even if a game doesn't live up to the hype, that doesn't mean it's incapable of being good. There are plenty of titles out there which, although overhyped, still turned out quite well. The titles on this list… aren't among them.  Do note that since Molyneaux has long since been outed as a snake oil salesman, none of the Fable titles will appear on this list.

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever has had a long, storied, and excessively stormy development history. Originally planned for a 1998 release, the game suffered from several engine changes coupled with delay after delay, until eventually, in 2001 one, the announcement came that it would be "done when it's done."

Naturally, as all this was transpiring, the hype engine that is the Internet went into overdrive, and everyone spent hours and hours discussing how awesome the game would be when it finally released, and how cool it'd be to finally play as Duke after such a long wait. Eight years later, when most people had either forgotten about the game or given it up for lost, another teaser trailer surfaced. Again, the hype kicked in, until the studio lost its development team in 2009 and got hit with a lawsuit the same year.

Finally, after a fourteen year wait, the release date was confirmed for May 24, 2011. Fans of the series rejoiced: Duke would finally return! On July 27, 2011, Duke Nukem Forever finally hit store shelves… and it was a flop.

On the surface, the game was everything the fans asked for: Duke hadn't aged a day since the 90s. Unfortunately, poor framerates, terrible load times, frustrating mechanics, and grainy visuals made the experience much less than stellar. To add insult to injury, it quickly became clear that, in today's gaming landscape, there simply wasn't any place for a crass, crude character like Duke any longer.

(Continued on the Next Page...)