Wheelman - I expected an open world Pursuit Force with Vin Diesel in it ... which is exactly what it turned out to be. Solid game, lots of fun. No idea what everyone's beef with that one was.

Except for that epic fight at the end. You know. That the whole game builds up to. Except that you only see flashes and the aftermath.

That's some straight up Fallout 3-without-expansions bullshit right there.

Or Oblivion. Talk about disappointing end-game confrontations.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. When this game was announced, I was really excited to be able to play as a bad-ass version of Dracula! Plus I loved the concept of a fallen Gabriel whose fight to kill the Lords of Shadow marked his descent into darkness. God used Gabriel to do his dirty work, but he denied Gabriel the one thing he truly desired... Marie. Gabriel was betrayed by God, yet he continued to serve the Brotherhood of Light until he realized that everything he has done, what he put himself through and sacrificed along the way, was for nothing. Unable to die, he began to desire death more than anything in the world, and began to see mortality as a way for God to make people suffer and fear him. So he embraced everything he fought against, and started a war against humanity in which countless humans perished at the hands of Dracula, who was convinced that he was saving them from the pain that he has felt. A necessary evil, if you will.

At least that is my interpretation of the Lords of Shadow franchise. Unfortunately, the dialogue and story was really not that good (there were some moments of greatness, but they were few and far between), which was incredibly disappointing for me. Plus, the ending was such a huge cliff-hanger despite the claim that this was the end of the "trilogy." Despite my disappointment, I still enjoyed the combat! Other than the stealth sections, the game made me feel like I was truly a powerful being and they held nothing back in terms of blood and gore, adding to that power. Plus the game looked stunning and had some beautiful artwork and architecture. The background lore of the LoS universe was actually quite interesting as well.

Invisible War

I get it. It made controversial changes like universal ammo, removing skills, and changing the inventory. The UI was horrible, and the game had a lot of technical limitations due to it being made for Xbox (and very poorly ported to PC.)

But it kept the thing from Deus Ex that was most important to me - freedom. Every objective can be completed in multiple ways. There are lots of choices, with different consequences. You can play stealthy, shooty, or in-between.
If there is a locked door - you can find a code to open it, hack a nearby terminal to open it, use multitools, talk someone into unlocking it, blow it up, find a way to get around it, or just ignore it completely and find something else to do.
That freedom is what makes it a Deus Ex game to me, and that is why I love it.

+1
What an excellent interpretation of what the game was, as opposed to the reviews about what the game wasn't.

Well said!.

Deus Ex Invisible War
I think I like this game because it was my first deus ex game, which I'm glad it was as things just got better playing the other games.

Super Noah's Ark 3D
Yes the computer version is much better than the NES version(which is awful), but it's not really a "horrible" game despite what some reviewers claim and if you like Wolfenstein 3D style games it is kinda fun.

Beyond Divinity

I'm enjoying this game despite of the many negative reviews it has.

You really make me want to actually play DeusEx NeverExisted now...

I'll second Alpha Protocol. I really loved this game up until the confrontation with that russian kid where I gave up in frustration. But I sure will try it again sometime with a different character build.

Also Two Worlds - it's really kind of fun. And even more Two Worlds 2. It got a lot of hate for the largest continent being inaccessible in single player - and it really is kind of a disappointment when you think "Now the largest part of the game is coming!" and then it suddenly ends. Also the final battle is just shit.
But I really loved the game. I thought it was looking wonderful (especially the savannah) and the music is awesome. Also there's the add-on that is a very round and nice experience and one of the best soundtracks I've ever listened to.

I would also like to add TES4 - Oblivion to the list, at least the PC version where most of the flaws can be rectified by mods. Okay, the story is still a little bland and will probably always be the least endorsed part of the series (unless Bethesda seriously messes up TES6+). But I still think it's a great game: The sidequests are very good, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious. Also Bethesda are masters of environmental storytelling - places telling their little stories just by the things lying around. Fallout 3 is also very good in this.
And then there is also The Shivering Isles which alone is worth giving Oblivion a go.

There's a GREAT mod for TW2 that puts all the info into the single player campaign and makes some pretty awesome changes to the game (mostly making it a bit more challenging). It makes cloaks available throughout the game as well instead of for a small level gap nearly at the start.

Thank you very much! Since my kids urge me to play TW2 again I will try the mod on the next go.

Somehow I'm not that surprised of many of the titles people keep throwing around here. Just like with any form of entertainment it is sometimes forgotten, that there are other degrees between "the most horrible" and "the greatest ever" kind of games. Games, like Deus Ex2, that got unnecessarily much of flak, because they changed the game mechanics, but which isn't THAT horrible game if you just give it a good change.

- Duke Nukem Forever.

Yes, it's clunky and has a lot of glaring flaws, but I still find it fairly enjoyable taking into account 14+ year dev cycle doesn't equate to 14+ years awesome.

- Ultima IX.

I actually love this game, but playing it before I went back and played Ultima 7, even though I owned them in CD form from years ago, helped the non-canon of it have no impact on me. For the game it is, I think it's a pretty high-quality RPG taken in a modern context, albeit a bit linear.

Dragon Age II:
Yes, it's disappointing, but I love the way it establishes a world-threatening crisis (the templar-mage war), then focuses in on the relatively small-scale conflict that triggered it, using the framing device's inevitable outcome to play with the illusion of 'choice' in these sorts of games.

Assassin's Creed: Unity
Apparently it's an unplayable mess. My copy (which I got free with a graphics card) seems fine, and already it has some of the best climbs since AC2, a protagonist reminiscent of young Ezio, and... some irritatingly online-focused mechanics and microtransactions. OK, parts of it suck, but it's still a good game at heart.