Grand Theft Auto IV - nominated by Kevin
Repetitive mission-based game play? Check. Ethnic stereotypes and crudeness? Check. While most people found GTA IV to be a breath of fresh air, a select group felt it was just going through the standard GTA motions. While there’s a lot new in the series, it just didn’t shine bright enough for some to take away from the sameness.

Ninja Gaiden 2 - nominated by Ryan
As is often the case, Chris Kohler summed it up perfectly. His review Ninja Gaiden II Gets Combat Right, Everything Else Wrong hits the nail right on the head. The first Ninja Gaiden revolutionized the way people thought about hardcore combat, but with the sequel I think we were all expecting something more. Expectations not met, Itagaki.

Pirates of the Burning Sea - nominated by Dan
An MMO with pirates? In theory this is a title that couldn’t fail - it should only have been made better by a ninja-themed expansion. And yet a focus on economy and privateering took all the wind out of our sails. Besides — being the only one online really takes the M’s out of playing an MMO.

Iron Man - nominated by Jim
Getting our hopes up about a movie license? What were we thinking? But there was enough hype and positive talk surrounding the pre-release of this one that we couldn’t help but get excited. Besides — it was Sega! Ok, ok, we’re sorry. We’ll never get excited about a movie license again, we promise.

Up next? The Games That Most Surprised Us!