"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad" - Shigeru Miyamoto
Hype is the killer of all dreams sometime. The same goes for games. It's building and building of anticipation all the way to a game's release. Some deal with lengthy delays and exciting first showings but in the end, just don't cut the mustard. Is it gamer's high expectations or could a developer avoid the inevitable? Doesn't matter by the time's a game is released. These games below came with incredible exposure in the beginning, but hurt many feelings in the end.
Too Human
Too Human spelled the beginning of the end for Canadian developer Silicon Knights. What hoped to be a four disc story arc on the original Playstation ended up being a Xbox360 dud. One would think with an almost ten year development cycle over three platforms, an epic game would have a great product; not the case with Too Human. This horrible mash of dual stick action with loot based RPG elements was disappointing through and through. Things got worse afterwards for Silicon Knights, after unsuccessfully sue Epic Games and losing in a countersuit, the failed X-Men: Destiny project with Activision was the final nail in the coffin for the developer.
Duke Nukem Forever
For more than ten years (14 years exactly), Duke Nukem Forever could have been called vaporware. Duke Nukem Forever went through multiple developers before settling with Gearbox Software by the time it saw a summer 2011 release. Why did it suck so badly? Time is the reason. When first announced, games like Halo and Call of Duty didn't exist which is why it tanked so bad. Duke Nukem Forever was a shadow of its former self. Not to mention the extremely sexist machoism was fine in the 90s but, not so much now.
Resident Evil 6
The core games (not the crappy offshoots) in Capcom's Resident Evil series seemed pretty stainless in quality. That was until last year's completely underwhelming Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil 6 wasn't horrible but average at best. The three different story arcs was pretty awesome though the controls and gameplay mechanisms diverted too much away from what made the series great. It seemed more focused on being a big action title than its survival horror origins.
Lair
When Sony named Factor 5 developer of Playstation 3 exclusive Lair, everything seemed promising considering it usage of the Star Wars license on Nintendo's previous consoles. It seemed as Sony was on the way to creating a new great franchise but those crappy Sixaxis held it back enough to kill the game and real usage of the motion control in the future.
Advent Rising
Advent Rising had everything going for it. The script was written by adored science fiction writers Orson Scott Card and Cameron Dayton, scored by Tommy Tallarico and featured voice acting talents of Will Fredle and Dwight Schultz. It was set to be first of a three part trilogy about the adventures of Gideon Wyeth. Advent Rising's biggest pitch was a contest that involved a million dollar price to those who could find these hidden symbols. It didn't pan out well because it gave an unfair advantage to those who had the game early in other countries forcing publisher Majesco to compensate players with bogus prizes.
Have any releases that deserve to be on the list? Comment below.