Feature: The Top 10 Most Disappointing PC Games Of The Decade (2000-2009)

Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Features

Last Friday, we gave our picks for the best PC games of the last decade. But where there's a ying, there's also a yang. While there were plenty of PC game titles that met or even surpassed expectations, there were also games that, while not necessarily all bad, simply didn't live up to the hype.

Big Download has picked 10 PC games that were released in the last decade that, for a variety of reasons, ended up being massive disappointments. They serve as lessons that even the most talented game developers can sometimes create flawed games.

Editor's Note: Steven Wong contributed greatly to this article

Click on the image above to continue reading The Top 10 Most Disappointing PC Games of The Decade (2000-2009).

Gallery: Top 10 Most Disappointing PC Games Of The Decade (2000-2009)

Tags: deus-ex-invisible-war, doom-3, fable, featured, spore, star-wars-galaxies, the-sims-online

7 Comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

I agree with nearly all your picks and especially agree whole-heartily on Spore at #1 but Mirror's Edge and Doom 3 don't belong on this list as far as I'm concerned. I personally though Mirror's Edge was a great game despite a few rough spots. It might have been a little disappointing that there wasn't more polish but it is far from being a worst contender. Doom 3 was a great game in its day. Sure Half Life 2 dropped a few months later and kicked it in its nuts but Doom 3 released to solid reviews and great sales. It wasn't until it was looked at retrospectively (and compared to better competition) that it was deemed disappointing. But Dues Ex Invisible War, Hellgate London, Sims Online, and your other picks definitely deserve their places and Spore, oh man, what a heartbreak that was. Much deserving.

...bysmittyPosted at 3:10PM on Dec 21st 2009 by bysmitty

I disagree with the inclusion of Mirror's Edge on that list. It's not the best game out there, but it's decent. I don't remember the game getting much hype other than the fact that it was a DICE game.

Doom 3 was also another decent game, but I can see where it could have been a huge let down for some. Other than that, I agree with the list.

I am surprised Daikatana wasn't on there. Was it released in 2000? I'm not really sure about that. At any rate, I would have also chosen Quake 4, and, perhaps, maybe Fable. Black and White being on that list kinda makes up for the lack of Fable, but I actually sorta enjoyed B&W.

Posted at 3:50PM on Dec 21st 2009 by thatguyrom

This list is severely lacking ins Modern Warfare 2.

Horribly out there story, raised price, no dedicated server mods, or custom maps, plus the dozens of glitches.

If that's not disappointing for one of the most anticipated games of the year, I don't know what is.Posted at 4:33PM on Dec 21st 2009 by Alexander

Mirror's Edge shouldn't be on the list, BioShock should.Posted at 4:57PM on Dec 21st 2009 by asfm

Star wars Galaxies was an amazing game till that 2005 update it was flawed in many ways but why did so many people play it, Then they changed the whole game and are now sitting at like 10,000 subscribers sad story.. and i agree with the above mw2 not being on there what you guys thinking on that one, IW are singlehandly killing pc gaming with that move.Posted at 5:22PM on Dec 21st 2009 by GONE BY FRIDAY

really some games in this list aren't that bad

really nobody talked about "prototype" it was horrible in epic proportions...they postponed the game by one year ...mostly spatt out cinematic trailers that weren't even close to game engine graphics,and the whole concept of you been a superweapon is cool for a about 5minutes, and then it's repetitive game play

and GTA4 runs like crap even on a $1000 build.still has poor performance optimization to this day,nobody talks about that...i've seen on plenty of forums people saying 'it's not your pc it's simply gta4 is a broken game"

and surprised the any of the NFS titles show up this either...i mean everything after most wanted....

Posted at 10:59AM on Dec 22nd 2009 by pubbaa

I have to beg to differ on Deus Ex: Invisible War. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one, but I enjoyed it greatly. I can accept that a lot of people didn't like it, but on a 10 most disappointing of the decade? Nah, not even close.

Also Star Wars Galaxies seems an odd choice. I never played it, but in its original incarnation it is still spoken of highly for many things it apparently did right. It is often held out as one of, if not the only MMO to get crafting right. Post-CU or NGE usually gets thumbs down, to put it mildly, but many people seem to have far too many fond memories of their time in that game before those events for it to be called an overall disappointment. Certainly the devs at Icarus liked it, Fallen Earth copies an awful lot of both the best and worst of SWG.

As for Spore, while it definitely deserves the #1 spot, I have never understood the hype that surrounded it. It always sounded to me like exactly what it turned out to be: A vaguely interesting concept, but not much of a game. Why everyone went ga-ga over it and started declaring that it would change gaming as we knew it, I never could see. Posted at 2:11PM on Dec 22nd 2009 by Myria