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What Were the Biggest Disappointments Of 2010?

We had such high hopes for 2010, but unfortunately not everything can work out better than expected. Here are the 11 things that we thought would be great but ended up not so much.


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Lost
Credit: ABC
11

Lost

So one of the best parts about Lost was formulating wild theories about what was going on on the Island. Was it a parallel reality? Unstuck in time? Purgatory? And the creators promised us that, by the end of the series, we'd know.

Well, they were right, but we wish they hadn't told us. The massive hit ABC show totally went off the rails in the last season, perpetrating all of its worst tendencies (New characters nobody cares about! Huge leaps in logic!) and adding one horrible new one.

The whole reason for everything was a magic cave like something out of Land Of The Lost. I can't even begin to express how shoddy the whole wrapup was.

Gran Turismo 5
Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment
10

Gran Turismo 5

Okay, some facts to kick this thing off. Gran Turismo 5 has been in development for five years. We first saw it at E3 in 2005. The world of racing games has changed a lot since the first GT game came out, and it seemed like Polyphony Digital was struggling to catch up.

The new game tried valiantly, but for half a decade of work you'd expect something a little better than what we got. Cars could now be damaged for the first time while driving - unfortunately, that damage barely affected performance and was expressed in Dreamcast-level graphics. The new course editor was a bust, not letting players make racetracks from scratch.

And, worst of all, the game just seemed like a coat of pain on GTA4, with some cars obviously Xeroxed over and retextured. A few good things (karts are awesome) weren't enough to make this one work.

The Last Airbender
Credit: Paramount Pictures
9

The Last Airbender

So the world turned on M. Night Shyamalan a few years ago, after the back-to-back disasters of The Village and Lady In The Water. So when he signed on to direct a live-action adaptation of the hit Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, most thought he was following a natural career trajectory.

But then people started bringing up that the cartoon is actually really good, with a rich, nuanced plot and memorable characters. And then stills started coming from the set that showed a vibrant, dynamic world and fascinating creatures.

And then we saw the movie. Horrible acting, an incoherent plot, and tacked-on 3D (maybe the worst general trend of 2010) made it the nail in Night's coffin - we hope. Oh, and let's not forget casting predominantly white actors for the film's predominantly Asian characters. Nice one.