We all love video games. It’s why we’re here, sharing our hobby with others in the gaming community. Let’s be real, though. Has every single game you’ve ever wanted been a knock out of the park? Of course not. 

Gamers these days do tend to have high expectations thanks to the internet and the ability to participate in beta tests, see gameplay before a game release, receive updates from the studio before a launch, and much more. 

But there was a time when I saw very little of games before their launch and I just assumed I would enjoy them. That was not always the case! The following are the two biggest letdowns in gaming for me. Coincidentally, they were both released in 2007. I guess it just wasn’t the right year.

Image courtesy of Flagship Studios

Hellgate: London (2007) - PC Game

This game had so much potential! It released on Halloween day and my husband (then boyfriend) and I took the day off work to set up and play this for hours on end. 

Hellgate: London was a dark fantasy action RPG that fit everything we were looking for in a game at the time. We were really into Killing Floor, so the idea of dealing with zombies in London sounded great. Some former Blizzard employees with ties to the Diablo franchise even worked on the game, so what could go wrong? 

Similar to Diablo, the game had random generated areas. But as we played all day on Halloween, we came to find that the random areas had very little individuality. Everything looked the same, running around in sewer pipes beneath London. The game quickly became monotonous and repetitive - and that’s coming from someone who loves collection quests in World of Warcraft. 

After months of eagerly waiting for this game, my husband and I enjoyed a nice weekend of constant play before giving it up just a few weeks later. 

Image courtesy of Sonic.fandom.com

Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) - Nintendo Wii

I’ll start this off by stating I am a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan. Sonic on Sega Genesis is what got me into gaming as a kid in the early 90’s. My cat is named Sonic. I have Sonic gear all over my house. But, woof, this game. 

A few weeks before my 18th birthday, my family had a celebration dinner and my husband (again, then boyfriend) surprised me with what I thought was one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. He knew the Nintendo Wii was about to have its first Sonic game hit the system just three days before my birthday so he preordered it as a gift for me. 

When we picked up the preorder, we planned to spend the weekend playing Sonic. I’m not even sure we spent an entire day on it. Early Nintendo Wii games were either a hit or miss. The Wii had some really neat controls with its revolutionary system and many games wanted to take advantage of those controls. Sonic and the Secret Rings had some rough controls. It was difficult to guide Sonic and play the game when the original games had such fluid controls. 

We were so bored with this game that we ended up trading it in for GameStop credits! How sad. I wanted to like this game so bad. I love Sega and I love Sonic. But we weren’t the only ones who disliked it because Sega chose to stop selling low-performing Sonic games (like this one) in 2010 as an effort to raise the value of the brand with better performing games. I also didn't want to see Sonic get flushed down the toilet with crummy games, so I appreciate what Sega did! And now we have Sonic Mania, an amazing Sonic game!

Were these games a complete waste of time and money for me? Yes and no. Did those games suck? Overall, yeah. But games like the ones mentioned above remind me of how much more I value other games. The gaming market is saturated with tons of games and sometimes it’s hard to dig through them all without finding some junk.

So let’s hear it. What game were you looking forward to playing that was a total letdown?