Top Ten Worst Endings in the Last 5 Years
DS, Editorials, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Yousif A. | July 12, 2009 at 1:07 am
In gaming today, stories are a huge part of the experience, and the ending means a lot after your hours of effort to reach your final goal. However, sometimes your graft is not worth the results. Koku Gamer brings you the ‘Top Ten Worst Endings in the Last 5 Years’, to celebrate (or commiserate) the most recent disappointments in gaming. Remember, this is about endings, so expect spoilers!
10. Halo 2
It still hurts. After waiting for the release of possibly the most anticipated game of the year, it was over much too quickly. Like a couple of games on this list, it suffers from WTROMG syndrome (where’s the rest of my game). Halo 2 ended before it really got started, and gamers were outraged when the credits started to roll at what seemed like a halfway point. After the sprawling epic that was Halo: Combat Evolved, many like me felt short changed. On a side note, our famous writer Dylan S. whole heartedly disagrees with this opinion — however, we all ignore Dylan, so Halo 2 still made it on the list.
9. Bioshock
Considered by many to be one of the greatest games of the current generation, Bioshock enthralled many gamers with its grim 1950’s underwater utopia. More importantly Bioshock drew gamers into the world of Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontane, while discovering the events that led to Raptures demise. After discovering the truth about Altus and his catch phrase of ‘Would you kindly’, you find yourself on a path to fight the clever bugger in the final showdown. Upon completing the game you are shown one of three endings based on your morality — unfortunately all three sucked. Not only was the final boss battle completely out of line with the rest of the games theme, but both endings left the player feeling a little empty inside. Get cancer and die or take over the world with freaks that now magically obey you. Oh and don’t forget, you find nuclear weapons all of a sudden. Bioshock 2 is in the cards now; let’s hope they can finish this game off with as much style as they began with.
8. Gears of War 2
Dun dun dun, you’re the bad guys!!! Oh how that game wasted away at the end. The original ‘Gears of War’ didn’t exactly have the best ending, but it did leave you with a sense of achievement. You beat Raam (a cool boss), you blew up the bad guys, they’re not dead, cue sequel. The second game, on the other hand, just left you with a bad taste in your mouth, after what was a decidedly solid title. The final section in the game had you fight a boss that you simply couldn’t lose to, only to be rewarded with a cinematic that essentially mirrors Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Gears 2 deserved better. At least a boss fight worthy of Raam would have softened the blow.
7. Crysis
You fight though possibly still the prettiest game on the market on high spec, through Korean soldiers, alien beings and giant robot death ships, only to be treated again, to a WTROMG situation. Your Commanding officer flies off in a chopper after going quite mad, you fight it out with an epic boss that looks like something from Warhammer 40k, your squad mate shouts for you to join him, you fly off towards the island to epic music and then the screen fades. It ends just as it got you really excited to be in the plot for the first time. Crysis Warhead seemed like it might alleviate that problem but no, we got to play as someone else during the exact same events. Crysis still hasn’t got a true sequel, making this ending a little bit worse every day.
6. Resident Evil 5
My hate for this game can be seen clearly throughout the website. As a huge Resi fan, this game took what I loved and raped it, yes raped it. For the most part I can let it go, they can always do better next time (Though, thanks to the mass media and public liking it, I doubt I’ll ever see that day come). However something they can never take back was the destruction of the devious Albert Wesker. Wesker was the genius behind the scenes in all the Resident Evil games, collecting viruses to one day bring back Umbrella (as mentioned in Resi 4). Now, he is reduced to a raving lunatic with a plan that makes about as much sense as an ice cream sunblind. Not only that, but the end boss was a mess, with every player I’ve spoken to dying repeatedly, only to defeat the boss through trial and error. Resident Evil 5’s ending sums up my feeling of the entire game perfectly — badly executed.
5. Final Fantasy XII
A real WTROMG moment. Any Final Fantasy that ends with a ‘to be continued’ moment deserves to be on this list. FF12 ends on a blatant hold for the Nintendo DS’ Revenant Wings to continue the story, and it angered me and countless other gamers. The plot was pretty short anyway, but it felt like we only got half a Final Fantasy. Not much more can be said for this one other than if they do this in FF13 or Versus, Sqaure-Enix will have definitely lost my vote.
4. Alone in the Dark
A poor game that actually started well, ended badly too. Satan is coming back and there is jack sh*t you can do, apart from make a choice. The female protagonist is going to be the host of Lucifer’s return; you can shoot her in the head, or leave her to her fate due to your emotional inability to pull the trigger. Leave her and the inevitable happens. You then sort of wander off, abruptly ending the game. Shoot her, and you commit an unforgiveable sin, thus making you the host. Great list of choices for something I had no control over there guys.
3. Knights of the Old Republic 2
The ultimate WTROMG moment, KOTOR2 left you stunned as no real resolution came from anything you did in the game. Even today without a sequel, the game leaves you wondering what happened to the second half of one of the great original Xbox titles. After facing your mentor in a fated battle to discover the fate and location of Darth Revan, you get next to no explanation (and in hindsight Reven’s fate sounds a lot like the plot of Mass Effect) and fly off into the distance expecting more game play only to face the rolling credits. All was forgiven with the joy that was Mass Effect and the news of KOTOR: Online, but a final part in the trilogy would not go amiss, Obsidian.
2. Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit
Your dead, you have sex, you fight aliens in a massive super powered battle, the QTE lasts forever (Shenmue skillz!) and then you are treated to a depressing ending to what started as a fantastic game with a sci-fi edge. What happened half way through this game is anyone’s guess, but it was not in line with the opening feel of the game, and left gamers confused and lost when the game ended.
1. Dead Rising
Dead Rising was one of the most enjoyable ‘mess about’ games ever, and if you could contain your playful side, there was actually a plot to get on with. However, after the bonus 24 hour level you could earn from doing the original 72 hour campaign, you find yourself in a hand to hand combat fight on top of a tank surrounded by zombies. Epic as that sounds, the result to this battle is much less than satisfying. The camera pans out and fades to black, leaving the whole situation completely unfinished, only to then present you with a text explanation to your escape and deeds after the final battle. You feel jipped, crushed, after working so hard to get to this point, only to be given a paragraph of text to verify your conquest. Worst ending ever….at least in the last 5 years.
Honorable mentions go to Half-life 2, Prince of Persia (recent), and Fallout 3 for having crappy endings resolved quickly by added content. Also to Fable 2, which just made it out of the top 10. If you wonder why there is a lack of Ps3 exclusives on the list, it’s due to the fact there aren’t that many, and the endings are not that bad (Give them credit — when Sony puts out an exclusive, it’s usually pretty polished). Think we missed something that deserves to replace something on this list? Even think that an ending we called out is not actually that bad? Post below and let us know what you think. No registration required to post.
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i would put halo 2 at the top just because the game was hyped so much you had no idea it could be such a downer, btw half life 2 did not have a bad ending it had a cool ending that mad me want to play more yet i was satasfied
replace halo 2 with jericho’s ending, it was a decent end, but the ending just left you…. with a shallow feeling.
Fable 2 should be in there for its shocking final scene.
No battle, just blasting your helpless nemesis a few times and then bam game over.
Not every game has to have a taut ending that ties up every loose end, killing whoever needs to be killed and saving whomever needs to be saved. The Bioshock ending has to do with the genetic key to Rapture, which you obtain from Fontaine’s corpse. You either choose to use it and rule Rapture…which eventually leads to nukes. Or you reject it and hang out with the Little sisters until you eventually die, like anyone else. You obviously did not get what it was going for, but that’s not the game’s fault.
Also, despite KOTOR II’s incompleteness, I found it to be a pretty good ending, partly because not everything was wrapped up in a neat little bow. I don’t need a fairy tale. I need good story.
bioware had nothing to do with Kotor 2. Obsidian made it. and the ending sucked because they were forced to push out an incomplete game by a christmas deadline thanks to greedy mr. lucas and friends. so blame lucasarts, for god sakes dont blame bioware.
also, you either over exaggerated, or misunderstand the bioshock endings. you dont die of cancer, you live out a normal (yet brief) life and die of old age (he ages rapidly as explained in the game, so the little sisters were only young woman by the time he was old) OR you use the pheromones which ryan and fontain had been using to control the splicers and you take over a nuclear submarine that was searching for the crashed plane. while certainly not the greatest endings, its a far cry from the ignorant exaggerations you claimed here.
good job smart guy.
I know why KOTOR 2 had a bad ending, doesnt make it any better, however I did not remember Obsidian being in charge, so thanks for that.
Bioshock just ended on a down, even the end boss sucked. I think it deserves to be on the list, however as I say everyone is welcome to enjoy these if they like. It’s what makes the world great, different people will take different things away from every story.
Yousif.A
I hate the endings for games this gen. It’s like developers put so much effort into their games high production values and all, then they just rush the ending. Quickly slapping some shite together.
Bioshock was amazing, the ending did what it was intended to do, my friend almost cried from the good ending, even though i was evil.
Dead Rising has 5 endings. Did you finish with the real ending?
GTAIV’s ending was dissapointing. The boss battle was ok, but the final cutscene and story ending sucked.
@ ilker007yasin
that video and the one I was speaking of was the real ending
I think you’re on to something with fallout 3. That should have made it in there as the worst. But if any of you have played bethesda’s other game, oblivion, you may notice it didn’t even have a proper ending. you killed the big god guy, the credits roll and you continue playing. WTF?
Soul Reaver’s to be continued was just terrible after all the epic voice acting and great gaming.
Chrono Cross was just terrible if you didn’t really want to play it again. I was left with one of the worst endings ever and never bothered to play again.
What about Far Cry 2? That game was utter rubbish, I mean seriously, the worst game, story wise, I’ve played thus far. And what about R2? What a cliff hanger! Also they’re plenty of PS3 exclusives, though as you mentioned most don’t have a lackluster ending.
Fallout 3’s ending was horrible. no wonder they had to change it in the dlc
Gotta agree with Bioshock. Not because the ending was bad. It was …. acceptable. But, Bioshock, regardless, should stay on the list because it squandered a great story in order to give a useless plot twist at about the halfway point.
SPOILER!!!
Wait wait waitaminute. The real villain is a cartoonishly voiced con man? So much for your clever sociological experiment guys. You just erased the brilliance of your story’s first act.
SPOILER ENDS!!!
worst ending?
play the ps2 game bujingai. this game have the worst ending in the history.
Games in the past five years with awful endings? Rainbow Six Vegas, but a few country miles. That cliffhanger ending was AWFUL!
The end of bioshock felt like a completely different game (in a bad way), so it was the most jarringly bad ending. RE5, however, was poorly designed throughout, so it’s awful, awful ending wasn’t too surprising. I only beat that game out of spite. Definitely two of the worst final bosses in recent memory.
Assassin’s Creed
I actually wandered around for about 5 minutes then looked on YouTube to see what I had to do.
“walk into the room and press Y. game over”
I guess this blogger never beat the new Bionic Commando. That game should have gotten first place on this list.
I thought Dead Space’s ending was bad/didn’t make sense. Plus on Bioshock’s ending it didn’t bother me…I had such a good time the ending was just a way to make me respect the people that made it, by means of credits. I started a new game after they ended. And also I loved RE5, I had fun kicking Wesker’s ass. He deserved it. He’ll be back if Capcom is smart.
Fallout 3 pre-Broken Steel?
Persia’s endings is one of the best not one of the worst….
Asshole
here’s a harder list
top 10 endings that didn’t suck(in the last 5 years)
I would have to add Ghostbusters to this list.
The real ending is but a voice-over done while the credits roll. Good job kid, but five is too many, so you’ll be in a new city (obviously setting up the sequel).
I would also agree that Resistance 2 has a frustrating ending.
Did this guy even play Half Life 2? Best ending sequence ever. Boss fight was awesome. And it ended the way it did because its Valve, and they already knew that they were going to make 8 more games following the exploits of Gordon Freeman. HL2 deserves to be in the best game endings
How is Fable 2 not on this list? That had to be one of the best games that leads up to the most un-suspenseful and least satisfying ending ever.
I have to argee with Toke FableII is all about earning magic powers and other skills to avenge your sisters death then you the ending to the story is reaver shoots him after a 10 min speech, real let down if you ask me.
also i think these could have made the list:
Kane&Lynch;Dead men
Mortal Kombat Vs Dc
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Good list.
Have to say that the Far Cry 2 ending is awful, in that… there… is… no… ending. Not really. The rest of the game oozes beautiful cinematics and high presentation values and the end just has a brief sequence, a black and white photo and then some very *long* and criminally *unskippable* credits sequence. C’mon guys, if you’re going to spent so much time on the rest of the game, please spend some on a rewarding ending…
agree, just one problem, wesker isn’t dead… if you look closely the two rpg’s miss his head and are muffled by the lava, which the game obviously showed us isn’t enough to kill him since his mutation…. trust me we’ll be seeing him again sometime in the future. they just needed to finally give the fans that boss battle with the man with the plan, so they did…
i think the end of starcraft brood war should be there because of the ending that nobody really wanted to play beat that zerg mission as i mean you go through the 2/3rds of the game playing as terran and protoss and you end up having to kill the people you played as thats just like having to kill your own son
I cannot believe no one mentioned Fallout 3! Epic game, unbelievably detailed, and it takes hours and hours to complete fully…only to have a 20 second ending w/ lame black and white snapshots and a wishy-washy voiceover talking about your morality.
i have to agree with the person above
^^
fallout 3 should be atlease in the top 3 :O
its an amazing gameee. leads up tooo and endless supply of good endings
and then dissapointment :\
ah well atleast the dlc for ps3 is coming out soon
Little correction: Obsidian Entertainment developed KotOR2 not BioWare. Though I fear BioWare’s reputation will be forever sullied for allowing Obsidian to make sequels to their two best titles.
Wow, you really are a poor gaming journalist man. No, it’s not because I’m a fanboy of any of these games. It’ just on a technical level, many of these had great endings. Very well written stories if you well. Not an opinion, but a fact. You need re-analyze your article and change a few of these titles. Clearly you haven’t played many terrible games, or they would be on this list. A gaming journalist needs a vast understanding of games in general, both terrible and superb.
Ugh, props for trying though.
Saints Row 1 had a pritty bad ending, You went through the entire game starting from a nobody up to a somebody only to get blown to pieces on a boat with no explanion and then the credits start to role. WTF.
Luckliy Saints Row 2 solved the whole sorded affair of being blown to shit and living to tell the tale by saying you survived but as a mangled wreck.
Resistance 2’s ending was just as shitty as Halo 2’s
Ninja Gaiden II’s Ending was horrible. Surprised that wasn’t in.
@ Sanzee
No, the argument of whether a story is good is but a matter of opinion. Since it is not always true for everyone who is exposed to the story. Facts are something that can be tested as to being valid and true all of the time. And with the rest of your statement, I do agree that there are many terrible games out there but there is a reason why it is mainly popular ones that are brought up in the top 10 worst blah blah blahs. I’m sure there are plenty of terrible games out there that no one plays that would easily fill a top 25 list. However, seeing as NO ONE PLAYS THEM, it wouldn’t be very beneficial to the web community to hear about crappy games having crappy endings. No big surprise there.
And finally you say, that in fact, many of the games have great stories and endings yet you suggest the author changes a FEW of the titles. Saying that many are great and suggesting the change of few brings up a self-conflicting argument and an inconsistency. Then there is the fact that your critique has so many grammar and spelling flaws that it really discredits you from having any say as to whether a journalist is good or bad at their job.
Don’t critique others so harshly for trying to do something good and useful. If you find something wrong with my critique of your critique then please let it be known.
@ Matt
You’re my hero. You said everything I was too late to say.
@ Sanzee
Fail…
Bioware didn’t develop kotor2 it was obsidian.
Bioshock was a rather poorly made story from about the middle on. Only adolescent lame-brains who never picked up a damn good book thought that the story was awe inspiring and the plot twists were jaw dropping.
Resistance 2. You get shot and the screen goes black.
Someone mentioned KOTOR 2’s developer to me on N4G and I thanked them and I thank all the posters here too. I can’t be perfect 100% of the time.
killzone 2’s ending was so unsatisfying
such a lame ending to such an amazing game
Also thanks to which ever member of staff beat me to editing that!
I have to agree with a person below, killzone 2’s ending blew.
Half life 2s ending was SICK, when the G man pops up and stops everything, how he toys with you….
I think Devil May Cry 4 ending was bad. We don’t know how Nero got that arm and what his relation to Vergil is (besides a DMC 4 novel release in Japan stating that Vergil’s his “dad” but it makes no sense cause the timeline doesn’t add up) and well, i thought with the bonus cutscene after you defeated the enemies when the credits rolled you’d get at least a cutscene with Vergil or whatever. All we get his fake hooters (Trish and Lady) and a Power Rangers type pose in the end. LAME!
Too human, that game… i wanted so much more so much all i can say is WTF i know theirs suposed to be sequels but he got shot in the face lived in hell got rescued went back to hell and just wtf wtf it dosn’t seem right he went through all of that and all that he found out was oh i got shot in the face and my siblings went to hell to get me back then i see my emo zombie wife, and kill her on accident THAT DOSN’T MAKE SENCE its easily worse then fable and just about any of the games on their ending wise i gues its not totaly finished but still just wow
Haze, if you played the game to the end it either had a verry deep and meaningful end or it felt like wtf i went through all of that to stop one evil and i find out i was still helping evil its either disapointing or shows you something about the world its really up to you so it
id like to also put folklore on the table it was a good game but ending wise again i was disapointed you end the game with the scarecrow screwing every one over and keats was from another world that just wasnt satisfying im sorry not at all
are u stupid or what or blind ?? halo 2 and gears of war 2 have an awesome ending specially gears of war 2 is much better than the ending of gears of war 1 …
Assassin’s Creed
Haze. Bad game with an even worse end boss and closeout movie. I agree on the RE5 thing. That game is just pure crap. I miss the feel of the old ones. No RE game will ever top the gamecube remake of the original. RE0 is a close second.
1st place should go to Halo 2.. no question. the 1st halo was epic, but this one sucked donkey`s willys. ending to halo 3 (legendary) was good.
Resident evil code veronica was shit too. 1st time i killed the end beasty thing purely by a random shot into the air. i tried to do it again to show my mate & just could NEVER do it. cost me a controller too due to gamers rage !
Res evil 4 i couldnt get into, was really dissapointed by that & res 5 just looked shit tbh so never touched that.
crackdown was a bit lame, zone of enders could of been better. Gears of war 1 was stupidly hard to kill the big bad turd on the train! tbh i think i`m just tiring of the current games & how they are these days. you can get through a game & then on the Boss they ramp up the difficulty so much its near impossible. so many games have that nowadays its a shame. make us think rather than have us try to shoot someones head off with precision etc (which i find difficult on dualshocks/360 contr etc). too many samey samey games nowadays
@random
I thought Killzone 2 ending was perfect. Wasnt disappointing at all, maybe you just wanted to play for alot longer that is why you didnt like it to end.
It is a perfect setup for killzone 3, you killed the main badguy in KZ2 now fight your way back.
I don’t get the comments about FFXII. I mean, the entire story was a bit lacking really, and I don’t see why you should single out the ending. What “to be continued” moment? It’s a standard FF ending really, the world is safe and the characters are now starting their happy new lives. Ok there was a sequel that was presumably planned from an early stage, but FFXII was still very self-contained.
Uhmmmm, Fahrenheit? Correct me if I’m wrong but that game had an open ending. Depending on what you did in the game and how you played it, you got a different ending to other players. I played it twice and got two different endings. I suggest you play it again, and then revise.
True farenheit had multiple endings, but none of them were good. All went of subject, you no longer felt you were playing the great game that you started.
Alright here goes:
Alone in the dark 5:
Ending was maybe not to your liking however, the good guys dont always win (devils advocate, godafather movies, taxi driver ect) that doesnt mean that the ending wasnt good, just not to your liking.
Gears of war 2
same thing here, i liked the little extra voice at the end thing
and
Bioshock
o surprise same thing here
I hated the game, however I had nothing against the ending
If you dont like unfinished games and unhappy endings… what about Final Fantasy X???? Personally I loved the ending just not the sequal.
though I wholeheartedly agree with you that games that end midway are bad you also have to make a destinction between midway and a good ending that makes for another game. A good example of this is HL2 which in my opinion is a good ending especially with the explosion and before the last fight alyx hand on the glas of the elevator.
I dont agree that FFXII ending was left hanging it just hinted at something after the game ended.
I would have added NWN2’s ending in the mix.
Silent Hill Homecoming had the most disappointing ending ever. Yes, the concept was cool, but the moment was annihilated by two measely little words: “I forgot.” DONE!
From the way you write it seems you like fairytale endings. Luckily not every game designer thinks your way.
@Smee
Not at all, infact one of my favorite endings is the worst you can get on Silent Hill 2. Not to mention Flashback, Another World or F.E.A.R
Good list, i totally agree.
I was so disappointed with Halo 2 that I never bothered to even reach the end. Also why would anyone actually play through Alone in the Dark to see the ending anyway?
Ian W.
I got caught off-guard by Bioshock, although the game itself was great.
Halo 2… never bothered to play to the end. I haven’t played KOTOR II yet, but seems idd a lame ending.
@ A few others:
Why NWN 2 ending? It opened up the way for the expansion… besides, it continues the line of NWN 1 – which also had a more or less unfinished ending which was the perfect idea for the expansions.
HL… crap ending? Nada. Valve just continued the way they did with HL1 – leaving question marks behind on purpose. As a matter of fact, HL2 left less questions then HL1 – since in HL2 you know the surroundings and conditions you’re going to meet – while HL1 was a standalone with such an end that you really, really wanted to look for the content that told you more.
This is a really great top ten list Yousif. Halo 2 was really weak, so disappointing. Final Fantasy XII wasn’t that bad, it just wasn’t p to par with the other ones. Anyone can post their own list to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.
What about XIII, granted it came out in Q4 of 2003, but think it deserves a dishonourable mention on this list for having ended with a cliffhanger about to enter epic boss fight but instead rolls credits, similar to Halo 2 but at least with Halo they knew they were going to make a sequel. Oh yeah and now they are making a movie of it…
Tetris ending is the worst.
The worst ending I can remember is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
The game was hard enough as it is. I wanted to feel good that I beat it.
Ian
How did you miss FEAR 2? THE GAME ENDS WITH YOU GETTING RAPED BY A PSYCHIC ZOMBIE.
Well I think GTA Chinatown wars should be there somewhere I mean every one is dead except you. Then there was that lame bonus mission wich reveals ling is your sister…
Now when I saw the ending to RE5 I cant help but scream CAPCOM WTF! HAVE YOU DONE!!!… The worst ever ending of all time right there. I mean its worse than the RE movies. HOWEVER WESKER MAY STILL RETURN! In a interview with the director he confirmed wesker was dead but this may change due to the sequel if fans demand it. I mean they upset a lot of people with that ending….
I only know a couple of those endings, but GoW2 was on my short list of personal disappointments in recent years. The last boss in GoW was just a disappointing though.
Kane and Lynch takes the cake though, there is no good reason to finish the game at all. I won’t make a huge post here, but if anyone wants to see my list I posted it here: http://spencercongdon.com/2009/11/poor-game-endings/
Wesker didn’t die… i fyou look closely the rpg’s miss his head… i believe uroboros is protecting wesker and he does survive!
@JL
I’m guessing you just played the LS ending, so you got to fly off on the Hawk to a destination unknown. That’s great…if you know where th hell you’re going.
For those that didn’t play the DS endings, there are TWO – one where Malachor blows up and the other where the camera just pans away from the planet.
I get that you don’t want a fairy tale, JL, but other stories have endings, that make sense and leave a person going ‘how sad’ or ‘what a good ending’. K2 made players go ‘WTF just happened?’