Every year a number of games release promising gamers the world. Of those games, few live up to the hype. Here are the games that received some epic hype while they were in development, but failed to deliver on the many claims made prior to their release. Though the games listed below offer a decent gaming experience, over all, what they end up delivering is an incomplete gaming experience.

Bulletstorm - With all the hype that surrounded Epics other shooters, the expectations for Bulletstorm where very high. That is until we all got our hands on the full version of the game. What felt like a first person take on Gears of War, didn’t meet the same quality in terms of design and pacing.

The only thing Bulletstrom did carry over from its influential relationship with Epic Games, was the testosterone induced dialogue which only highlighted the overly juvenile gameplay. Though Bulletstorm is a fun game, it’s not the Triple-A shooter most had hoped it would be when it released early 2011. The game was able to pull in some good reviews scores from most critics, but its sales and user review scores showed that consumers were unhappy with the results.

Brink - After going through a number of design changes and being delayed a number of times, Brink was eventually released in April of 2011. Some of the features Bethesda focused on the most, were Brinks almost Parkour like traversal mechanic, and the games many combat classes. Though Brink had all the right pieces, they never truly came together to complete the experience. This has resulted in the games review scores falling below average for both the user and the critics review. It seems all the changes in development didn’t work out well for Brink in the end.

Dragon Age II - One the best RPG’s featuring the fire of Dragons hit consoles and PC’s in 2009. In 2011 Dragon Age received its first sequel. The sequel launched in March of 2011 to the high anticipation of all the fans the original game had earned.

Once fans sought to take on the fire of dragons again, it became clear that the flame in Dragon Age 2 was not as hot as it was in the original game. On almost every level Bioware let fans down with the releases of Dragons Age 2. The game was so poorly received, that EA's employees started posting false reviews in an attempt to boost the games review score. A third game is expected, but Bioware will have an uphill climb if they intend to win back the scarred fans.

Gear of War 3- The Campaign One of the biggest releases of the year was released to record breaking sales this past holiday season. Epic's final game in the Gears of War franchise had some of the greatest improvements made to its multiplayer modes; with Horde Mode 2.0. Epic proved that they are the creators of  the popular online mode used in many games. With the latest release of Gears of War 3 its the one mode that shined the most. Because of all the focus on the online modes, it seems the single player mode suffered.

The first Gears game by far has been the best telling of the franchise's story. While the recent release of the third game, has brought the worst story telling seen in the franchise. The amazing build up that lead to this final game was only met with an epic let down through the games campaign. The story felt poorly paced and didn't add much to the gameplay( though improved) which felt overly familiar. One of the worst parts of Gears of War’s single player campaign is the games difficulty. Instead of giving players a challenge as to fight to save the planet of Sera, Epic made the experience really easy, and converted the heroic adventure into a predictable journey that saves itself. Most Gears fans, including myself, quickly realized that this game was created to be enjoyed as a multiplayer title.   

HomeFront: This shooter that may be a prediction of the future has a great story and some nice gameplay, which for the most part offers a solid gaming experience. The story was captivating and interesting, while the multiplayer showed that it is rooted in the foundations of what makes a shooter great. However, what caused HomeFront to lose the war of greatness, was the abrupt ending to the short single player campaign, and the epic hype surrounding the game before it released. The release was additionally hampered by the games lack of diversity online. HomeFront promised much, but only delivers on some of those promises, rendering it an incomplete shooter destine for the bargain-bin.

Red Faction: Armageddon: The first Red Faction on PS3 & 360 was an open world game that had all the freedom found in the sandbox genre. This follow-up to the successful release of it predecessor, has changed the entire dynamic of the world by restricting players to a linner experience; with less destruction.

Red Faction Armageddon was expected to be a great open world adventure, but instead THQ converted the game into a Gears of War knock-off; restricting players to the over the shoulder camera and even going as far as to include the Gears style curb stomp. Still a fun experience, Red Faction Armageddon is a shell of what the first game was.

Duke Nukem Forever: The one game with the longest development cycle known to man, failed to deliver an experience worthy of what fans of the series had expected. After waiting forever this should have been one of the best games ever to launch. Instead it's a cookie-cutter shooter, not deserving of the epic hype that surrounded it.

Duke Nukem Forever was one game most felt could have remained forever unreleased. An average shooter has a very difficult time surviving the rushing waters of the FPS genre, especially with all the amazing shooters releasing. With the release of Duke Nukem Forever, 3D Realms barely reaches the average mark, and so lets down fans of the franchise.    

Saints Row: The Third: – largely considered the Grand Theft Auto substitute, THQ’s sandbox crime game built a very strong following with its previous two releases. The first two games had all the right things to make stealing of cars and robbing random pedestrians fun. They also had a great balance between a good story and fun sandbox gameplay. With the third game, THQ has decided to pursue a sillier adventure; one that highlights big heads and overly sexualized humor. This further hampers the weak single player story they have presented.

The new direction for the game lost its appeal to most fans, and caused its average user review score to fall drastically. What should have been a great sandbox gaming experience to hold you over until the next release of GTA, has turned into a kiddy mini game no one wants to take seriously. If Saint’s Row returns, it’s not clear how they can build on the silly adventure they’ve presented here. With the success they’ve had in the past it’s perfectly accepted for Saints Row to be the GTA alternative, it was the only competition for Grand Theft Auto. But now, it’s just another time killer for those times when there's nothing else to play.