The most disappointing games of 2011 (so far!)

Welcome to the halfway point of 2011. What better time to make a couple of lists? Following aren’t necessarily the worst of the year — if I’m lucky, I didn’t play those! — but the most disappointing to me personally. These are the games with the widest gulf between what they could have been and what they actually are.

After the jump, let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence

10) Homefront

Decent multiplayer, but awful single-player. Which is a disappointing step down from the developer’s previous game, Frontlines, which had stellar multiplayer and decent single player. Read the review here.

9) Dirt 3

A mostly soulless racer that doesn’t understand what made Dirt 2 so good. Read the review here.

8) Brink

Why does a mainly online multiplayer shooter have so many online issues? Didn’t the guys at Splash Damage figure this stuff out when they did Quake Wars? Read the review here.

7) Bulletstorm

“Dick-tits” is as good as Bulletstorm gets.

6) Shadows of the Damned

This underwhelming shooter from the creator of Killer 7 wishes it was funny enough to have thought up the phrase “dick-tits”. More here.

5) DC Universe Online

Why create a really cool open-world city and then build onto it an MMO that eventually moves all the players into private instances, leaving the cities abandoned? I love the basic combat, but the world building is the equivalent of Cambodia under Pol Pot. Read the review here.

4) Test Drive Unlimited 2

True to the original in nearly every way, including the horrible online support, bugs, and incomplete features.

3) LA Noire

This would be a great game if it had a game in it. Read the review here.

2) Patapon 3

What has Sony done to my precious patapons? Read the review here.

1) Marvel vs Capcom 3

Why would Capcom make such a wonderful and relatively accessible fighting game, but without interesting ways to play? And why would it be so utterly undocumented? And why would they nickel-and-dime us for DLC consisting of half-assed AI modes that should have been in the game in the first place? Why is Mortal Kombat, which is a considerably worse game, such a better overall package?