Thats funny, Civ Rev is easily on my top ten for this year, but also one of the most disappointing games as well. The multiplayer was the first really playable version in the series, and there the AI problems didn't stand out. The balance between civilizations and victory types really shined there. Sadly, like the poor AI, the frequent synchronization bugs and hard freezes ruined the otherwise really great experience

No More Heroes? Really? Whoever paid you to make this list just got taken for a ride.

Yeah, Civ Rev was a weird little Firaxis experiment. They simplified a lot of things quite well, and you could see the design principles sort of naked to the world -- "no tradeoffs" being a key element. But it's not quite a good enough job.

There's just not enough to the game to make it interesting, plus they simplified the controls so much that some needed automation and shortcutting features aren't there, making managing more than 3-4 cities a real pain. And as usual, it's unbalanced in that you can race to a domination victory long before any other possible victory condition, partly due to the stupid AI, partly due to just a weak design.

The only other one of those games I played was Mercenaries 2, which was also stripped down to a sort of weak arcade status. Not that the original game was a marvel of realism, but the new game is just silly. And the misfeatures, ouch. Did any of the designers actually play through a whole campaign? If so they would have stripped out the incessant "I'm going for the vehicle" chatter -- in English yet.... The guy who's saying that is a sniper in an inaccessible tower. Just shut up, OK?

The game certainly has its fun elements, but it's a porridge of random bits that just don't work that well together. I got through the first half of the game, failed to blow up Solano's bunker in the scripted transition scenario, and then just didn't want to play any more.

By Skitzo at 9:53 AM ON 12/08/08

No More Heroes? Really? Whoever paid you to make this list just got taken for a ride.
___

Honestly now. What the hell good is this comment?

Yeah, Civ Rev and No More Heroes seem like the standouts here. I can see Civ Rev turning off old-school Civ fans (I'm not one) but I thought Firaxis did quite a good job at bringing a complex mouse-driven game to consoles.

No More Heroes completely blew me away with its carefree attitude and bloody freneticism. I guess I might have been offended by the story if I didn't think it was largely self-deprecation on Suda's part as well. We're all in on the joke, it's cool.

Missing game: Mirror's Edge. Man did that thing ever fall on its face, and bad.

Yeah, Civ Rev and No More Heroes seem like the standouts here. I can see Civ Rev turning off old-school Civ fans (I'm not one) but I thought Firaxis did quite a good job at bringing a complex mouse-driven game to consoles.

No More Heroes completely blew me away with its absurdist attitude and over-the-top freneticism. I guess I might have been offended by the story if I didn't think it was largely self-deprecation on Suda's part as well. We're all in on the joke, it's cool.

Missing games: Mirror's Edge. Man did that thing ever fall on its face, and bad. MGS4: I thought that MGS3 showed that Kojima Productions had remembered how to make a great game... but no, they forgot again, and eclipsed the awfulness and self-indulgence of MGS2 while they were at it.

You forgot Spore, which an only hold your interest for about an hour. It should have been better.

You forgot Spore...what a horrible game. Sure designing your creature and culture are fun. But the ENTIRE rest of the game is about the most boring thing to play. In this care...dumbing down was not a good idea.

It's strange to me to think of Mercenaries 2 as "disappointing".

I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, and while the ridiculous mess that came out earlier this year wasn't what I was hoping for exactly, it was playable.

Ultimately it also provided me with a lot of entertainment, and given the disaster a game this unpolished should have been, I was impressed that they managed to get it out the door in working condition.

If they could have figured out how to turn off the annoyingly repetitive dialog I might have even finished it...

This is a strange and seemingly out-of-touch list. How can Siren be on it? Have you even played previous iterations? Was there something promised that it didn't deliver on? I don't get it. The complaint about the higher resolution is void, as it's not Siren's focal point. While it didn't go with the usual trends like bloom and lensflares, the game's world and visual style are well-realised and competent.

why are u doing this list before the holiday season ends? the year isnt even over.

Dangit...I hate to jump on the bandwagon...SPORE. When I think of the game, like right now, I like it. When I look at the game on my monitor, I like it. When I play the game...I think about other games. So much hope, so poorly executed.

I'll third on spore. I enjoy it and appreciate having creativity as a design element. very cool, but the 'levels' are all not complex enough to keep it interesting.

Well, Spore, critically, did very well. I'd imagine it's part of the Ten Most Overrated Games list that Tom refers to.

As for me: Mercenaries 2 and Haze by far. Too human wasn't great, but I got enough enjoyment out of the mindless loot-whoring aspects of it with a friend to make it worthwhile.

I'm sorry, Force Unleashed: "Great story?" Are you fucking retarded?

Also, while I can't say this with certainty, Tom almost certainly meant Siren's poor resolution as in it brought all of its narrative and gameplay elements together poorly. Not as in it rendered at 720p instead of 1080p.

Anonymous, did you actually play Force Unleashed? It really was a pretty good story, especially for a video game. If you really think it's so demonstrably terrible, why are you afraid to attach an identity to your comment? Incidentally, I forgive you.

I'm looking forward to your idea of overrated games, Tom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GssQ_kaV8-4

all the force unleashed cutscenes so you dont have to play the game. and yeah, not a bad story for a game

Red Alert 3 was pure genius and should not be on the list. Sure its over the top, but that is what Red Alert has always been. The multi-player is really fun and this is easily the best RTS released in 2008. Plus, it runs well even on my crappy computer. You have to give credit where it is due. It has Tim Curry traveling back in time and killing Albert Einstein. What more do you want for crissakes????

Wow that was a joke list right? If not you people need to have your rights for game discussion stripped away ASAP. This site is a joke.

The thing that i love the most about your field, Tom, is that you can be so comfortable and insulated due to your contacts (Sponsored by gaming powerhouse SciFi.com!) that you can not feel completely ashamed for spewing out a Top 10 list of your own despite knowing full not only how lame they are, but how lame everyone ELSE knows they are as well.

But hey, it's better than hearing your experienced opinion in review form. What? The fourth title in a game has backstory, and i should read about it if i want the game i'm jumping into to make a little more sense? Puh-fucking-shaw! What a ridiculous notion! I'm going to go read more manuals now.

Force Unleased.

I think you got it off. It should be, "Great physics, shame about the everything else in it.

Motorstorm Pacific Rift in 10th place??? Have you even seen the game?? it looks like a dream! it plays like a dream!

after seeing motorstorm on the list i couldn't take this guy serious...this whole list is a fail after that....

No Ninja Gaiden 2? No Unreal Tournament 3?

wait a min, wasn't this the same site that made a count down of 2008 most overrated games?

No More Heroes? Really? You're an idiot.

You do know that No More Heroes is being nominated in multiple categories in upcoming video game award shows, right?

This is the worst '10 most dissapointing' lists I have ever seen...

RA3? NMH? MotorStorm 2? Siren? CivRev?

What heap of **** is this? Great ANOTHER person who thinks they can write about games on the web.

No More Heroes? Geez...I was surprised by how much the game did well and how different it was. Great boss battles, fun controls, cool style and interesting story. Shouldn't be on here.

This is a terrible list. Red Alert 3 was not dissapointing for me, Pacific Rift was actually pretty good, No More Heroes was great, Siren: Blood Curse is a budget game and Cvilization: Revolution has become a favourite for a large number of people. Stop thinking you can write about games. You may have your own opinion, but this article is written as FACT, and it clearly is not.

I respectfully disagree with your opinion of some of the games on this list, but the top three are spot on.

NMH? You're a retard :)

Now I know why I've never heard of this site - you"ve never even played these games!
Epic Fail!

Wow Motorstorm and No more heroes in this list, u gotta be joking

Too Human is a dungeon crawler, not an Action RPG. You fail.

Out of curiosity, how many people jumping up in defense of NMH have played Killer 7? I'm almost positive that a big portion of Tom's disappointment comes from the fact that he has played and enjoyed K7. K7 is one of the most interesting and well thought out games of our time, and I expected no less from NMH. In that regard, yes, it was disappointing... but I still found it to be an entertaining game, though I'm very surprised that it's been recieved so well by the general gaming public.

Seriously, motostorm doesnt deserve to be there. Mirror Edge, Wii Music, Wii Fit and the biggest one should be Devil May Cry 4.

is this a joke? The author obviously does not know alot about games.

Never write again. No More Heroes was a GREAT FUCKING GAME!!

There is no top ten for horribly written articles of 2008. You, sir, have that honor all to yourself.

Are you retarted Tom Chick? The same people who made Goldeneye?!!?!?!?! Bitch, that was made by RAREware.

You don't no nothing about games. YOU ARE A SHAME. Motorstorm it's a good game. No more heroes it's probably one of the best hardcore games at wii. Siren it's a good game too. Force Unleashead it's the best action game for the Star Wars Series. Red Alert and Merceneries are two others good games. Stop writing about games, please!!!!!!!!!!!

"1) Haze
The guys who made Goldeneye and Timesplitters have come to this?"

Maybe that's because GOLDENEYE SUCKED! All Bond games have been terrible, and I really don't understand why people thought this one was so great. It was boring and lame, just like Bond movies.

@'retarted' guy

Free Radical was founded by most of the Goldeneye team after they left Rare. It's why Perfect Dark Zero was so incompetently designed.

i loooooooove titties

No More Heroes? Really? Who paid you to add that game to the list?

Literally. Literally on me? The joke is literally on me. That is what you are saying. That, like a fireman's hat, or perhaps a koozie, this joke is on me.

I... I cannot combat this statement! Its inaccuracy is so extreme that I am completely disarmed.

*commits seppuku with Strunk & White's Elements of Style.

I agree whole heartedly. Tom is both RIGHT and THE MAN.

YOU ALL SUCK!!!!

I would have put "Spore" and "Mirrors Edge" on that list, not "No More Heroes" or "Motorstorm: Pacific Rift". Think about the definition of the word "disappointment" and explain to me how exactly NHM and Motorstorm:PR fit that definition. What exactly were you expecting in sequels to Killer 7 and the first Motorstorm? Both games improved on the originals, neither game promised anything that wasn't delivered, neither game was over-hyped so how did they disappoint anyone? Just because you didn't like the games doesn't mean they should be listed alongside blunders like "Too Human". Too Human is obviously one of the biggest disappointments of 2008 because people actually expected something from it - the huge budget, lengthy development time, and massive hype surrounding it led people to believe it would be worthy of all the attention it was getting but it turned out to be a very mediocre game (averaging 6's and 7's on review sites). Spore is another great example - it got tons of hype, was in development for a long time, and had a ton of potential but turned out to be a mediocre game bundled with DRM causing it to become the most pirated game of 2008. What you've done with your list is just named off a bunch of games you didn't like with little or no justification. Both NMH and Pacific Rift got generally favorable reviews (8/10's) and neither game was over-hyped (in fact both were fairly under the radar compared to everything else that came out this year).

No More Heroes? Honestly, are you nuts?

too human wasnt in much dev, the rumored "10 years of Dev Hell" is just that. it was actually only in production for only a fraction of that time (the usual prod. length of games).

now working with THAT data the game still falls a bit short. i could have been better but i still had fun with it (and still do).

after all, Too Human is just a huge giant Pantasy Star Online (DREAMCAST) rip off anyway!