Biggest Letdowns of 2007

Following our Game of the Year Awards, we take a look at some of the most disappointing titles of 2007. All I can say is, it's honestly been harder than choosing the best games of '07. Writing about bad games can be just as difficult as playing them. We should point out, however, that these aren't necessarily the crappiest games out there. It's more like a selection of games we feel are substandard and have simply failed to meet our expectations. Not to mention they've never lived up to the usual hype and pre-release marketing hogwash.

Worst Game, Period
EMPIRE EARTH III


Why it sucks?
As far as strategy games go, this is just about the lousiest one you can find. It's also, by far, last year's greatest disappointment. The reason we think that is, is because the designers failed in practically every aspect, most notably by deciding to offer a single-player campaign with virtually no storyline. Empire Earth III becomes tedious really fast, on top of being a near-disaster, performance wise. Everything this game has to offer is mediocre at best. If nothing else, it represents a good paradigm of how sequels (and strategy games) should NOT be made.

Contenders:
Lair, Infernal, You Are Empty, Need for Speed: ProStreet,  Spider-Man 3

Worst Action Game
LAIR
Why it sucks?
We'll make this as brief as possible. Investing into a project such as Lair is almost as bad an idea as, say, making a console with a Blu-Ray drive. It's basically there for show, when you honestly don't need it that much, if at all. It's blatant that whoever headed the game's development, didn't take one minute to focus on the gameplay and actually make Lair worth playing. Its massive hype was completely unwarranted, since the final release amounted to nothing more than an interactive movie with a gaudy makeover and nothing else to entangle players.

Contenders:
Soldier of Fortune: Payback, Hour of Victory, Transformers: The Game

Worst Strategy Game
EMPIRE EARTH III
Why it sucks?
Everything we said in regards to EE III stands. Again, it's like the developers made a major U-turn in the franchise, tearing down the rather solid foundation established by previous games in the series. Shame.

Contenders:
Ancient Wars: Sparta, Frontline: Fields of Thunder, Maelstrom

Worst RPG
TWO WORLDS
Why it sucks?
Don't even bother trying to find out why this game sucks. Two Worlds will probably go down in history as being the worst Oblivion-wannabe ever. It's a shallow and rather repetitive experience, one that doesn't even come close to what Bethesda Softworks had done with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In short, it's a generic, free-roam, hack'n'slash RPG, bound to be forgotten moments after you've played it.

Contenders:
Loki, Dawn of Magic

Worst MMORPG
FURY
Why it sucks?
Will we ever see a game that outshines World of Warcraft? There were some honest attempts last year (Lord of the Rings Online, Tabula Rasa, etc.). Fury, on the other hand, is far from an honest attempt. In fact, its badly optimized engine and confusing gameplay mechanics made it into one of the greater disappointments on the MMO scene. Additionally, Fury was largely criticized for featuring too many useless skills, as well as an excessive amount of NPCs. The fate of Fury worsened when the game's developers, Auran, announced that the studio is closing its doors. Even though the Australian development studio shut down and fired all employees, they claim this won't be the end of Fury. Yeah, whatever.

Contenders:
none

Worst Sports Game
TIGER WOODS PGA PGA TOUR 08
Why it sucks?
Okay, I'm not much of an expert on putter techniques, but I sure know a crappy golf game when I see one. This doesn't so much stand for the PS3 edition of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. To cut to the chase, EA Sports messed things up in an attempt to fiddle around with the mechanics of the game. For some reason, both the X360 and PS2 versions are filled with awkward moments, making the game far less enjoyable than the edition released a year earlier. Players complaining about crashes further trashed the game's reputation and definitely didn't help salvage a feeble sports game.

Contenders:
Championship Manager 2008

Buggiest Game
BLACKSITE: AREA 51 (PC)
Why it sucks?
So, how was it? How should we know? We barely managed to play the game for about five minutes. Serious technical problems got in the way of this one, from critical sound bugs and frequent crashes to save game issues and such. Maybe some of you didn't experience these problems, but we sure as hell did and so have a lot of gamers according to Midway's boards.

Greatest AD Fest
NEED FOR SPEED: PROSTREET
Why it sucks?
Yes, we were mighty disappointed with last year's racer, Need for Speed: ProStreet. The trouble with this one is that EA went for change and innovation and ended up overdoing it. So, everything that was once good about the franchise is simply gone. Not only that, but they infested the game with so many annoying adverts, you'll sometimes find it difficult to concentrate on the road ahead. The promo galore isn't unusual for EA's games, although they went a bit too far this time.

Worst Babe
JANUARY BOTD

Why she sucks?
It's a known fact. Some babes are gorgeous and others are, well, not so gorgeous. The gorgeous ones end up on coke and the not-so-gorgeous ones get married to the likes of us.

Probably just as well. Who'd like a gorgeous woman hopped up on coke in his bed, right?

Anyway, according to the votes cast by you guys, here's our winner in the Worst Babe category and 4 not so lovely contenders.

(Just for the record, I'd do all of them. – Ed)

Runner-ups:

Well that about sums it up.

Of course, it's in our nature to disagree with each other, so I'm sure most of you will be quick to point out some fleeting disaster of a video game we might've missed last year.