With all the hype, what a let down
343214
I watched this expecting it to at least keep my interest going through the whole film like District 9. Sadly I was hoping more for the "lifeform" to pop out of the ice and eat everyone but was disappointed.
4556264
I had high hopes for this game after the great ones like Exile URU, and Revelations. However this was not the case,

First: The Audio SUCKED so bad, you might as well stick your head in a toilet flush and hope you enjoy it.

Second: The biggest let down was the increadable lack of exploration and lengh in each level/age. The associated puzzles were so weak unlike the complex levels in URU and RIVEN.

Third: The realizm was not there, The characters were well intigrated in past games but in the final game they used all digital! Didn't have that real life feel.

Over all I am a Dissapointed Myst Lover. If you purchase this don't spend to much. It just lacks all the Length and Dificulty associeated with past games like Revelations/Riven.

OH YAH THERE ARE NOT ANY FUN RIDES AND A LACK OF BUTTONS TO PUSH, BORRING!
826499
Really disappointed after all the hype. The characters were all intellectually lacking and the alcoholism and pure foolishness of the main character detracted from the story. I really didn't want to waste my time finishing this novel, but erroneously assumed, given all the positive reviews, that it would get better. It DIDN'T!
3982917
Not impressed, With all the positive reviews, i was disappointed ,
3395604
Based on its description, this book made it to my want list before it came up as a Vine program book. The premise promised so much and I was looking forward to a new take on an old science and science fiction theme. Sadly, the hype was overdone.

Sections of the book are totally non-linear. Imagine (not from the book) this sequence: First, describe going up and down the aisles of the grocery story and putting various items into your cart. Then, describe getting into your car, driving to the grocery, and going into the store. Finally, describe being in the checkout line and paying for your groceries and leaving.

As I turned the pages, I felt that I had already read them. I was thinking that Yogi Berra's comment was in play, "It's deja vu all over again." While the book is about things that aren't necessarily all arranged in a straight line, that is not sufficient reason to make the book read the same way.

The book is overwritten in too many ways, but pays too little attention to character development. Scenes and interactions take place in a digital rather than analog fashion. Little is fluid. Rather than one thing flowing into the next, one thing happens and everything stops; then the next thing starts. Too many words with too little to say.

By the time I was halfway through, I was dreading reading the rest. The day I reached that point, I had some medical tests scheduled. Lots of hurry-up-and-wait time for uninterrupted reading. I could not bring myself to take this book. Instead, I grabbed Hoban's Riddley Walker to re-read from a couple of decades ago (I never, ever (almost) re-read books). I enjoyed myself with it for those hours of waiting, and look forward to finishing it.

I did try to get farther into this one, and even did something else I have maybe done twice before with a book of fiction. I read the last few chapters to see if what had taken place by then seemed to be worth the effort of going back to read what I had skipped.
1663325
I really wanted to like this book. It was a struggle to get to the end. The world building needs so much work and although the novel's central ideas were promising, the mashup of tropes, the borrowing of other better plots, and the flat characterizations just killed it for me. It's the pacing that really worked against this novel. If the author had slowed down, built her world better, really made you question Cal and Maven's motive, I would have happily forgiven the poor plot. I was keeping a mental tally of the "twists" and not one, not even one, was surprising. I want to be surprised! I want to have to go back and reread passages to make sure I'm still on the right track, or better yet to reread passages because they moved me and captured my imagination.  Sometimes you just want a "fun read" but I felt a little betrayed by this one. The hype all over the internet, in magazines, etc etc. I bought into it and I wish I hadn't. It's really getting to the point that I feel a lot of trepidation on picking up any book that is being hyped which is a terrible shame because I've loved this genre for years and to see it so watered down is heartbreaking for me.

So in short- read this book if you like the genre, if you are into medieval-ish fantasy mashups but know that you've probably already read this story before in one form or another.
793092
With all the hype that was with this game before it came out, it sure was a bit of a let down.  I thought this game was just gonna be off the hook, but it ended up being more like a dead fish.

The game play for MW2 is average at best.  The only thing that saves it are the customizable killstreaks and the number of weapon attachments you can equip on your primary and secondary weapons.  That stuff was pretty cool and added a little spice to the killstreaks and attachments that the first MW was lacking.

The maps for the game are alright at best.  It just seems like there aren't the enough ways and spots to advance up the field of battle.  There are a few maps "Rust and Skidrow especially" that are total wastes of space.  They completely lack any creativity whatsoever.

By far the most aggravating and idiotic change to MW2 is the absence of dedicated servers.  Now you can't just click on a server and go immediately into a game, you have to fire up steam, then wait for several minutes for it to find you a game that you can join.  And if you want to play with some friends of yours you have to party up, just like X Box does.  THIS IS UNBELIEVABLY AGGRAVATING!  Half of the time your party gets split up, or the game lobby closes for some reason still unknown to me.  It's a hassle and a pain at best.  Bring back dedicated servers Infinity Ward!

This game is good enough to play for a while, at least until you get bored and go back to the first MW and enjoy it more than ever!  Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is good enough to play for a while, but then go give it to your neighbor or some little kid who doesn't have it yet.  Trust me, you won't miss it.
1347217
Game was hyped up far to much. The final product was just a giant turd of a next gen game. The concept is vary cool but the whole design and feel of the game sucks.
1643505
Uh, no. I really thought this would've been great from reading the reviews but to my surprise I was highly disappointed.
1974455
Ok. From reading the 5 star reviews, the listener could expect some house-wrecking beats, some hot singing, and lyrics worthy of a entertainer at the height of their creative powers.

Prepare to be disappointed. Again. This CD doesn't live up to the hype. I kept wondering while listening what CD everyone, who gushed about it, was listening to.  There is no attempt to grow or mature into a potentially legendary entertainer on this CD. All you notice is the sounds of cash registers ringing all over the world as people queue up ten deep to buy this crap and gush about it later to everyone with ears.

Don't waste your time looking for signature track, or swoon-worthy vocals as Beyonce has shown herself to be a vocalist incapable of singing ballads.  Her strength lies in up-tempo songs where she can do that rap-singing she has become famous for.  While that was enjoyable when she was a teenager; it is not something a married woman pushing thirty should be doing.

So...I give up! In the future, I will lower my expectations where Beyonce is concerned.
1011954
This game had the potential to be so much more.  It's fun, but the gameplay is frustrating.  Using a gun is a joke; there is a total lack of any aiming mechanism.  Using martial arts is way too easy; making it harder would increase the replay value.  The game touts stealth missions, but enemies always spot you immediately and without fail.  In general, the game was too easy and too short.  I think the powers that be are churning the Matrix machine a little too much with this title.  They seem to have given up on making this a truly first rate game.  Don't game designers test these things with real gamers before publishing them? Or don't they care?  On the flipside, the game has lots of interesting cut-scenes and great graphics overall.  It's just that I think I had really high expectations for this title given all the hype that surrounded it and the film.
3797185
I was severely excited for this pen when they had announced it, thinking it would be a viable solution for penciling in my drawings, and designs. I was GRAVELY disappointed.
The pen does not live up to the hype what-so-ever. I experienced a great deal of trouble simply writing with the pen, let alone drawing. The pencil is more of a ballpoint pen
substitute than it is a graphite pencil. It seems that the ink inside has more of a graphite appearance than anything else. It smudges and flakes away when disturbed before it
has a chance to settle. Here's a simple comparison. Do you remember erase-able pens from the 90's...with the blue eraser that would often leave terribly dark marks and never fully
erase...and the pen had slow and terrible flow to the ink. Well, the Liquid Graphite pen makes me wish they would bring that back! I've given the pen 2 out of 5 stars because well,
it was a valiant effort, and they did have me excited by the prospect.
4673046
this book feels like King has lost his magic touch for fear..........undeveloped characters, unanswered questions, and just too many holes in the plot.  I have read more King than I can recall, but this is, perhaps, the biggest let down I have ever experienced.  I plodded through just to finish....I had read the reviews and saw a good number of them expressing disappointment; I wish I had listened.  The ending is so dull, that it almost feels like King was bored.  King seemed to have trouble holdig back on his personal politics in this one.
2694242
I'm very disappointed I bought this game at all, and in the midst of the false hype I also bought into the "expansion". This is a disappointing addition to a disappointing game. After having some of the fondest gaming moments come from 10+ years of Halo, just saying this is a disappointment doesn't capture the feeling of being let down. I highly doubt I'll ever buy from Bungie again, their legacy was Halo and sadly the company has proved they cannot achieve this greatness again. Thankfully advanced warfare has picked it up this year for cod.  Highly recommend that game.
4250587
Wow..Not Impressed at All!!! I bet there was maybe one, maybe even two decent songs, but overall two thumbs down. I bought into all Hype and good reviews the C.D. received. Don't believe the HYPE. I will be taking this to record exchange :) Oh and No wonder you can't preview the songs before purchase!
3084626
Given how much I truly love the first three books of the Mode series, I never would have pictured myself giving the fourth, _DoOon Mode_, a negative review.  Yet that's what I find myself doing.

To be fair, this book suffers from several disadvantages:  longtime fans of the series have been waiting for it for years--some as long as eight, since _Chaos Mode_ came out in hardback in 1993.  My expectations were bound to be high after a wait like that, particularly when I learned that it was to conclude the series.  I can also imagine that perhaps Piers Anthony lost the feel of these characters, this reality; though continuity errors were few, _DoOon Mode_ didn't really seem in synch with its predecessors.

Now for what requires all those excuses.  For starters, I didn't get any sense of depth from any character, even Colene, which may have been partially due to the frequent perspective-shifting--and this time most of the perspectives were used a sum total of once.  I couldn't really get into the heads of these protagonists, only seeing a slice of the action from their view.  And while I'm on the subject of the action, it seemed awfully glossed over to me.  Many things were skipped, shown entirely off-camera; I got little feel for the wonderful variety of the Virtual Mode and instead have a hunch that Anthony was trying to cut travel scenes as short as possible.  Saving, mind you, for one Xanth cameo that seemed totally unnecessary.  The characters' conflicts weren't explored to any significant degree; plot threads turned up and were swiftly cut off, not appearing to serve any purpose in the meanwhile.  (If anyone can figure out the *point* of learning that Nona's joy cannot be depleted, or the motivation for her change of mind/heart with regards to her home reality, could you please explain it to me?)

Meanwhile, I also have problems with the amount of sex in this.  All of the Mode books are heavily into sex-related issues; it's to be expected, and I'm not complaining about that.  What bothers me is that the sex seemed purposeless here, thrown in simply to have it present.  Even the new revelations about Colene's past trauma had the feel of something gratuitous.  And the sexiness of the young women was frequently described--something which was just the tip of the repetition iceberg.  Each new perspective brought yet another account of how the traveling party interacted, from a different and yet painfully similar viewpoint.  I lost count of how many times Colene was described as a "vessel of dolor."  That, to me, was wasted space that could have been better spent on more depth of plot.

Which brings me to the most disturbing thing--while all of the characters do achieve conclusions, and those conclusions are marginally satisfactory, they're... well, shallow.  Given how much I came to care about Colene and Darius, I was terribly disappointed with the book's conclusion; sure, they got the ending we all knew was coming, but it was so anticlimactic that I was dismayed all the same.  (Not to mention that if there were a romantic scene that I wouldn't have minded seeing, it would be the consummation of that relationship--something which is entirely missing!)  I have no real sense of closure with these characters.  Their finale was quick, bland, and left a bad taste in my mouth.

It shouldn't be surprising that I don't recommend buying this one.  Certainly not in hardback as I did.  However, Mode fans will probably want to read it just to know how things turn out--and it *is* worth reading, for all that I've said; my opinion of it may not be the greatest, but I'm glad to have had one last chance to slip into the worlds of Colene, Darius, and their companions all the same.  Just don't make it the first Mode novel you read, and don't get your expectations too high.
559879
Ok, I fell for all the hype on this game and plunked down the Half C-note for it.  There are VERY few above average graphics, and the game as a whole is blah.  I played for a few hours hoping to get to the heart of the game, but I never got into it.  Xbox has some great games, but I don't think this one will become a legend.