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This is a list of
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...
s that have gained an enduring negative reception, often due to being perceived by reviewers as having low-quality or outdated
graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...
, glitches, poor controls for gameplay, or irredeemable game design faults. Such games are identified through overall low review scores including low aggregate scores on sites such as
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, frequent appearances on "worst games of all time" lists from various publications, or otherwise carrying a lasting reputation for low quality in analysis by video game journalists. The list is not comprehensive, but represents the most visible examples of games principally recognized for their enduring negative reception, or in the case of titles such as '' Final Fantasy XIV'' and '' No Man's Sky'', at their original launch before they were reworked with content updates through patches. The list mostly omits licensed tie-in games for films or television shows, which are generally accepted by the industry as
shovelware Shovelware is a term for individual video games or software bundles known more for the quantity of what is included than for the quality or usefulness. The metaphor implies that the creators showed little care for the quality of the original sof ...
and not expected to have high production values as they are typically produced by non- AAA development studios. With certain exceptions, this list also omits controversial video games whose negative reception revolves around the controversies they started and is not related to the quality of the game itself, including those that were subject to review bombing by users for non-gameplay related issues. For similar reasons, the list mostly omits indie games, which are developed by smaller teams that typically lack the ability for full quality control of their product, as well as
mobile games A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone ( feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...
, of which there are countless developers with the ability to self-publish on app stores and frequent copycats of more successful games driven by unpopular
microtransactions Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...
.


1980s


''Custer's Revenge'' (1982)

'' Custer's Revenge'' is an unlicensed Atari 2600 game made by Mystique in 1982, loosely based on 19th century American General George Armstrong Custer and the
Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, No ...
. In addition to being widely considered offensive due to its plot involving the apparent
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
of a Native American woman, the game was also poorly received for its quality. It was listed as the most shameful game of all time by ''
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the Ga ...
'', as the third-worst game of all time by '' PC World'', and ''
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
'' and the ninth-worst game by Seanbaby in ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...
''. In 2008, the
University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
professor Tom Keenan cited "the hideous ''Custer's Revenge'' game", 26 years after its release, in an op-ed piece about current video game violence issues for the ''
Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...
''. That same year, the game was credited by Australian ''
PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the presen ...
'' as being one of the worst games ever made. In response to the game's criticism, the makers of the game elected to preview the game for women's and Native American groups, an act which some thought was a publicity stunt.


''Pac-Man'' for the Atari 2600 (1982)

''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'', a port of Namco's arcade game ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' for the Atari 2600, was altered from the original in order to meet the 2600's limitations. Some of these changes included simplified graphics, a modified maze layout, and "flickering" ghosts—a result of the game rendering one ghost per frame on screen, due to the limitations of the Atari 2600 hardware. It received negative reviews upon release critical of the poor conversion from the arcade title. Later retrospectives considered it one of the worst products from this period of video games. '' Next Generation'' called it the "worst coin-op conversion of all time" in 1998 and attributed the mass dissatisfaction to its poor quality. In 2006, '' IGN''s Craig Harris echoed similar statements and listed ''Pac-Man'' among his own list of the worst home console ports of arcade games. Another IGN editor, Levi Buchanan, described it as a "disastrous port", citing the color scheme and flickering ghosts. Industry analysts often cite Atari's ''Pac-Man'' as a major factor in the drop of consumer confidence in the company, which partially contributed to the
video game crash of 1983 The video game crash of 1983 (known as the Atari shock in Japan) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including ma ...
. Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton of ''
Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...
'' stated that the game's poor quality damaged the company's reputation. Buchanan commented that it disappointed millions of fans and diminished confidence in Atari's games. Former ''Next Generation'' editor-in-chief Neil West attributes his longtime skepticism of Atari's quality to the disappointment he had from buying the game as a child. Calling the game the top video game disaster, Buchanan credits ''Pac-Man'' as a factor to the downfall of Atari and the industry in the 1980s. Author Steven Kent also attributes the game, along with ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'', to severely damaging the company's reputation and profitability. Montfort and Bogost stated that the game's negative reception seeded mistrust in retailers, which was reinforced by later factors that culminated in the crash. While ''Pac-Man'' was the best-selling title on the Atari 2600, selling about 7.9 million units by the end of 1983, Atari reportedly had expected to sell up to nine million units. After being critically panned, Atari had to deal with the returns of a large volume of unsold games, some which ended up as part of the Atari video game burial in September 1983. On December 7, 1982,
Ray Kassar Raymond Edward Kassar (January 2, 1928 – December 10, 2017) was president, and later CEO, of Atari Inc. from 1978 to 1983. He had previously been executive vice-president of Burlington Industries, the world's largest textile company at the ti ...
announced that Atari's revenue forecasts for 1982 were cut from a 50 percent increase over 1981 to a 15 percent increase. Following the announcement, then Atari parent Warner Communications' stock value dropped by around 35 percent—from $54 to $35—amounting to a loss of $1.3 billion in the company's market valuation. Atari attempted to regain its market share by licensing popular arcade games for its consoles. The revenue from selling these console games did not reverse Atari's decline and the company went further into debt. Atari ultimately reported a $536 million loss in 1983, and Warner Communications sold off the company's consumer division in 1984 to Jack Tramiel of Commodore International.


''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982)

''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'' for the Atari 2600 is loosely based on
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...
's 1982 film of the same name, reputedly coded in just five weeks to be released in time for the 1982 holiday season. The game sold 1.5 million copies and came nowhere near Atari's expectations of five million units. On top of that, a large number of the cartridges sold were sent back to the company, because many consumers found the game to be unenjoyable. Truckloads of these cartridges were buried in a landfill in New Mexico after they failed to sell.Wayback Machine
/ref> ''E.T.'' is commonly cited, alongside Pac-Man for the Atari 2600, as the catalyst for a crash of the video game industry in 1983, as Atari had hoped that
brand loyalty In marketing, brand loyalty describes a consumer's positive feelings towards a brand, and their dedication to purchasing the brand's products and/or services repeatedly, regardless of deficiencies, a competitor's actions, or changes in the en ...
would help keep consumers buying their games regardless of quality. ''E.T.'' was listed as the worst game of all time by '' PC World'' in 2006, ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...
'', and '' FHM'' magazine, and was ranked as the second-worst movie game on the "Top Ten Worst Movie Games" (first being ''
Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...
'') by
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
. It was also ranked the second-worst game of all time by GameTrailers, first-worst went to ''
Superman 64 ''Superman: The New Superman Adventures'', commonly referred to as ''Superman 64'', is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Titus Interactive for the Nintendo 64 and based on the television series '' Superman: The Animated ...
''. Some considered it so bad that the title screen was the only good part of the game. In 2007, ''
GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally ...
'' named ''E.T.'' one of the 52 most important games of all time due to its roles in the 1983 video game crash and the downfall of the seemingly unstoppable Atari. It is the only game to make the list for having a negative impact on the video game industry.


''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1988)

'' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is a 1988 side-scrolling action
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...
developed by Advance Communications and published by
Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...
for the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
loosely based on
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's 1886 novella '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''. Gameplay alternates between the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde based on the player's ability to either avoid or cause damage. While getting decent reviews when released, the game gained largely negative retrospective reviews, with reviewers criticizing bad graphics, confusing gameplay, and poor use of the characters and setting. Darrell Monti of '' Nintendo Life'' called it one of the worst games he got for the NES. In 2004, ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 ...
'' reviewed the game in their Retro Reviews section and gave it a 0.5 out of 10, ending the review by saying "Flawed on every fundamental level, ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' is possibly the most unplayable garbage available on the NES." In 2018, the German branch of ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
'' placed the game at number 8 in their list of top ten worst games of the 1980s. The writers complain that nothing is explained to the player and that some characters harm the players, but some do not. They called it a frustrating and confusing experience and said: "''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' should be played by anyone who wants to learn more about good game design ..because this title makes everything so perfectly wrong that you could almost think it was deliberately designed that way." The game was the first to be reviewed on the website '' Something Awful'', gaining a score of −37 on a 0 to −50 scale, with −50 being the worst possible score. Brett Alan Weiss of '' AllGame'' declared that the "music and graphics are tolerable, but the controls are sluggish and the action is exceedingly dull, rendering ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' almost unplayable".


1990s


''Action 52'' (1991)

'' Action 52'' is an unlicensed multicart developed by Active Enterprises for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1991. It contains 52 original games covering various genres, from shoot 'em ups to
platformers A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charact ...
. ''Action 52'' is one of the most infamous NES games for a number of reasons. The game originally retailed for over 199 (which equates to about four dollars for each game). Many of its games also have poor controls and graphics, and are plagued by bizarre glitches and technical problems; some games are impossible to complete; some will not load. ''
Kill Screen ''Kill Screen'' (stylized as ''KILL SCREEN'') was a print and online magazine founded in 2009 by Jamin Warren and Chris Dahlen and owned by Kill Screen Media, Inc. It focused on video games and culture, but also included articles based on ...
'' described all the games as "shit", and ''Atari HQ'' called it "really, horribly, incredibly bad." The game frequently appears on lists compiling the worst games ever, and ''Atari HQ'' called it the worst game of all time. ''GameSpy'' named it the fifth most shameful game ever, summarizing it as an "endless parade of inept programming, repetitive design and outright stupidity." A drastically different version of the game was also developed by FarSight Studios for the
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
; ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' wrote it was better than the NES version, but "that really isn't saying much."


''Night Trap'' (1992)

'' Night Trap'' is an
interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", bu ...
video game originally published by
Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
for the Sega CD in 1992. It was the first interactive movie released for the system, and had initially received mixed reviews. Critics praised its smooth video animation and humor, but disliked its shallow gameplay. The game became infamous after it was scrutinized during the 1993 United States Senate committee hearings on violence in video games, in which
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Joe Lieberman claimed ''Night Trap'' featured gratuitous violence and promoted sexual aggression against women. The game was removed from store shelves in the United States' two largest toy store chains,
Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loca ...
and
Kay-Bee Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy wh ...
, after both received numerous complaints. After the controversy subsided, ''Night Trap'' was ported to multiple platforms, such as the
32X The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X u ...
and 3DO. These ports were reviewed more harshly; critics felt the game had not aged well and considered its gameplay dull. '' Next Generation'' gave the 32X version a one-star rating and '' GameFan'' called it a "so-so game that got a lot more attention than it deserved." Retrospectively, ''Night Trap'' was ranked one of the worst video games of all time by ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...
'', ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'', and ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly throug ...
''. A remastered version of the game was released in April 2017 for the
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
and
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
, and later in August 2017 for the
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
. These ports were rated "T" for "Teen", a lower rating than the original "M" for "Mature" it was given upon its initial release.


''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' (1993)

'' Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' was released in 1993 for
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...
with a limited number of copies, along with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer version one year later. It was advertised as being an
interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
,
full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
game; however, beside an opening cutscene, the game's story is presented through static images. The game received negative attention focused on its "surreal" and "sexist" storyline, and poor voice acting. Uproxx's Dan Seitz compared ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' to a " Skinemax" movie, and felt that its constant use of still images was the "single saddest attempt to simulate a dream sequence ever". IGN felt that ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' was "a symbol for everything that was wrong" with the 3DO's looser licensing program in comparison to the other major consoles (which required publishers to pay a $3 fee per disc), noting that it helped to attract smaller studios whose games "served to strengthen the perception that 3DO's library was riddled with crap," and cited the game as one of the primary reasons for the commercial failure of the 3DO game system. ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ...
'' dubbed ''Plumbers Don't Wear Ties'' a "shallow, hateful waste of a game, hatmay very well be responsible for having killed the 3DO, interactive fiction, and the whale", naming it #1 on its "Must NOT Buy" list in May 2007. A re-release of the game by Limited Run Games for
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
,
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
, and
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
was announced at E3 2021. It is slated to be released in 2022.


Philips CD-i ''The Legend of Zelda'' releases (1993–1994)

Prior to the cancelled plans to release a
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both com ...
add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System,
Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
granted
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...
licenses to use some of their major characters in games for their Philips CD-i system. In addition to ''
Hotel Mario ''Hotel Mario'' is a puzzle video game developed by Fantasy Factory and published by Philips Interactive Media for the Philips CD-i in 1994. Players control Mario, who must find Princess Toadstool by going through seven hotels in the Mushroom K ...
'', Philips released three games in ''
The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-relea ...
'' franchise: '' Link: The Faces of Evil''; '' Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon'' (both 1993); and '' Zelda's Adventure'' (1994), all produced with limited involvement from Nintendo. The first two games, ''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'', were developed in tandem by
Animation Magic Animation Magic (russian: «Магия анимации», translit=Magiya Animatsii) was a Russian-American animation studio founded in Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1991, with offices later added in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a 100%-owned subsidia ...
(a Russo-American animation company), using the same game engine, and were released on the same day. Both are side-scrollers where the player has to fight enemies and collect treasure to access certain levels. When first released, the games received some positive reviews;Rice, Chris, ed. ''NEWS: ZELDA CDi EXCLUSIVE''. SNES Force. Issue 1. Pg.7. July 1993. however, critical re-assessment from the 2000s onward has been largely negative. The two games gained notoriety in that decade when attention was brought to their animated cutscenes, which were developed by Animation Magic's Russian studio; in the midst of a review of ''The Legend of Zelda'' animated series, an '' IGN'' reviewer described the games as being "infamous" and Matthew Castle of ''
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website w ...
'' considered the cutscenes to be "terrifying, rendering Link as a rubbery limbed freak with a face that swims all over his head". Further criticism was brought to ''Zelda's Adventure'', a third game developed instead by Viridis, which used a top-down approach, and shifted to a live-action visual style with digitized sprites instead of a cartoon look. According to Castle, "what 'Zelda's Adventure''lacked in hideous toons it made up for with live-action FMV-visits from a beardy wizard (not a professional actor, but the game's music composer) whose shambolic preamble makes ''
Knightmare ''Knightmare'' is a British children's adventure game show, created by Tim Child, and broadcast over eight series on CITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994. The general format of the show is of a team of four children – one who tak ...
'' look like ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...
''." It also suffered from poor gameplay, and a glitch preventing the game from playing both music and sound effects at the same time. Beyond the cutscenes (which soon became popular internet memes alongside ''Hotel Mario''), reviewers at GameTrailers have also ascribed modern negative criticism to "barely functional controls, lackluster gameplay, and numerous bugs". Danny Cowan of ''1UP.com'' noted that ''Zelda'' fans "almost universally despise these games". ''The Wand of Gamelon'' was ranked the #6 worst video game of all time by ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...
'' and the #5 by GameTrailers.


''Hotel Mario'' (1994)

Philips' deal with Nintendo for the three ''The Legend of Zelda'' games also gave them the rights to use characters from the ''
Mario is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...
'' series. The company commissioned several games featuring Mario to be made for the CD-i; however, only one, ''
Hotel Mario ''Hotel Mario'' is a puzzle video game developed by Fantasy Factory and published by Philips Interactive Media for the Philips CD-i in 1994. Players control Mario, who must find Princess Toadstool by going through seven hotels in the Mushroom K ...
'', was released. A puzzle game, ''Hotel Mario'' features animated cutscenes produced by the Russian branch of
Animation Magic Animation Magic (russian: «Магия анимации», translit=Magiya Animatsii) was a Russian-American animation studio founded in Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1991, with offices later added in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a 100%-owned subsidia ...
, the same studio behind ''Link: The Faces of Evil'' and ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon''. The game received primarily mixed reviews upon release; ''
GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally ...
'' called the game fun to play, but believed it would bore players and would only appeal to core ''Mario'' fans. Retrospective reviews of the game, however, have been negative, with the game facing criticism for unresponsive controls and the animation of closing doors. '' IGN'', while claiming that ''Hotel Mario'' was better than the ''Zelda'' CD-i games, slammed the game for being "dull", stating that there was "no reason" for anyone to play it. ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'' referred to ''Hotel Mario'' as "craptastic" and named it the 48th worst game of all time, while ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' called ''Hotel Mario'' a "horrible attempt to cash in on the full-motion-video capabilities of the useless CD-i console". ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
'' claimed the game to be "little more than a really rubbish version of ''
Elevator Action is a platform shooter game released in arcades by Taito in 1983. The player assumes the role of Agent 17, a spy infiltrating a 30-story building filled with elevators and enemy agents who emerge from closed doors. The goal is to collect secret ...
''". The game's cutscenes have been subject to much ridicule; ''IGN'' compared their quality to that of Microsoft Paint.


''Shaq Fu'' (1994)

'' Shaq Fu'', a fighting game starring American
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, received mixed reviews by critics upon its release, who praised the game's graphical style, smooth animations, and robust gameplay, but criticized its low difficulty and small character sprites, and also questioned the relevance of O'Neal's presence in the game. '' Allgame'' was similarly critical of the game, criticizing its "sluggish" controls, the quality of the in-game sprites making O'Neal "nearly unrecognizable", and a "shallow" story mode with "cheesy" dialogue. Despite these mixed reviews, ''Shaq Fu'' has remained "collectively detested" by critics and gamers, and a website also exists that is solely dedicated to the location and destruction of every copy of ''Shaq Fu''. Levi Buchanan of ''IGN'' argued that ''Shaq Fu'' had received ridicule from contemporary critics because of its connections to the phenomena surrounding O'Neal, explaining that " isego had reached such critical mass that it developed its own gravitational pull. And when an ego gets that large, the people that fed the ego to begin with love to turn on it." Buchanan acknowledged some positive aspects of ''Shaq Fu'', such as its graphics and animation, its non-linear story progression, and its "charming" simplicity in comparison to other major fighting game franchises such as ''
Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...
'' and '' Virtua Fighter'', but that it had a "goofy" story and "awful" cast. A sequel, '' Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn'', was released on June 5, 2018, to an even more negative critical reception than the original.


''Bubsy 3D'' (1996)

''
Bubsy 3D ''Bubsy 3D'' (also known as ''Bubsy 3D: Furbitten Planet'' or ''Bubsy is 3D in "Furbitten Planet"'') is a platform game, platform video game, game developed by Bend Studio, Eidetic and published by Accolade (company), Accolade. It is the first ...
'', a platform game in the '' Bubsy'' series for the PlayStation, was negatively received due to its disorienting camera, poor graphics, sluggish controls, and the titular character's voice clips. Upon release Sushi-X of ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...
'' declared it "my first coaster award", and remarked, "Pretend your controller is filled with mud—this is how Bubsy plays." ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'' named it as the video game equivalent to poorly-received films such as '' Plan 9 from Outer Space'' and '' Battlefield Earth''. ''
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
'' named it their eighth worst video game ever made and referred to it as a rip-off of ''
Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first ''Super Mario'' game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional ...
'', which released nearly 2 months prior. Internet reviewer Seanbaby named it his 17th worst game of all time, criticizing its controls, the character's personality and the graphics. ''Bubsy'' series creator
Michael Berlyn Michael Berlyn (born 1949) is an American video game designer and writer. He is best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team. Brainwave Creations was a small game programming company started by Michael Ber ...
cites the game as his biggest failure.


''Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero'' (1997)

'' Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero'', a platform game spin-off of the ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a ...
'' franchise focusing on one of the main characters, Sub-Zero, received mixed to negative reviews for its poor controls, outdated graphical appearance, and unforgiving gameplay. Its Nintendo 64 port received further criticism for its downgraded quality, including the removal of its
full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
cutscenes that the PlayStation version used. The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions hold aggregate scores on ''GameRankings'' of 53.20% and 44.84% respectively. Mikel Reparaz of ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'' opined that while the concept of giving Sub-Zero a spin-off game was interesting based on his popularity, the game "ended up a terrible mess of ugly sprites, cheap deaths and a button you had to hit just to change the direction you were facing, and the less that's said about it, the better." ''Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero'' was listed among the worst ''Mortal Kombat'' games of all time by ''IGN.com'', whose review noted the game's "dated" graphics, "stiff" character animations, and awkward controls with high input lag.
Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', '' Rampage'', '' Spy Hunter'' ...
had planned further ''Mythologies'' games featuring different characters, but the mediocre reception resulted in their cancellation (although '' Mortal Kombat: Special Forces'' stemmed from a similar concept).


''Superman 64'' (1999)

Based on the show '' Superman: The Animated Series'',
Titus Software Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactiv ...
's ''Superman: The New Superman Adventures'' for the Nintendo 64 (often referred to as ''
Superman 64 ''Superman: The New Superman Adventures'', commonly referred to as ''Superman 64'', is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Titus Interactive for the Nintendo 64 and based on the television series '' Superman: The Animated ...
'') has the player control
Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...
as he is challenged by his nemesis Lex Luthor to help save the people of
Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...
. Upon release, the game was heavily panned for its unnecessary repetitiveness, difficult and confusing objectives, poor controls, numerous glitches that interfere with gameplay, and poor graphics. Notoriously, the game has an introductory ring maze sequence that the player is given no warning about, and has a time limit that leaves nearly no room for error. The ring maze section was exacerbated by the extremely short draw distances covered by distance fog, which is explained in-game as being an aspect of the
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...
simulation of
Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...
the game is set in, but previously described as "
Kryptonite Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton that emits a unique, poisonous r ...
fog" by developers. Titus was harshly criticized for the poor quality of the game. Titus stated that while they had grander plans for the game, "the licensor killed us", and the final game only represents about 10% of what they wanted to include. ''Superman'' was listed as the worst game of all time by GameTrailers, the worst game on a Nintendo platform by ''
Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...
'', and as the worst video game adaptation of a comic book by both GameSpy and GameDaily.


2000s


''Mortal Kombat: Special Forces'' (2000)

'' Mortal Kombat: Special Forces'' is the second action game in the ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a ...
'' franchise released for the PlayStation in 2000 following '' Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero''. It has received worse reviews than ''Mythologies'', and has an average review score of only 28/100 at
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, including ratings of 2.1/10 from
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
and 3/10 from IGN. Its sales were so low that Midway placed the series on hold in preparation for '' Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance'' (2002). Ed Boon stated: "The game had a pretty bumpy development ride and the game didn't turn out very good at all." In 2011,
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
ranked it as the second most absurd ''Mortal Kombat'' offshoot (behind '' Mortal Kombat: Live Tour''). In 2013, GamesRadar also ranked it as the 41st worst game made.


''The Simpsons Wrestling'' (2001)

''
The Simpsons Wrestling ''The Simpsons Wrestling'' is a sports video game based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Developed by Big Ape Productions and published by Activision (Electronic Arts in Europe) for the PlayStation, it was first released in Euro ...
'' is a sports game based on the animated
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...
''. The game was made for the PlayStation console, was developed by Big Ape Productions, published by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
in Europe and Activision in North America and distributed by
Fox Interactive Fox Interactive was an American video game publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company published games based on 20th Century Fox properties, yet also published several original titles, such as '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos''. Histo ...
. ''The Simpsons Wrestling'' received widespread negative reviews from critics; primary criticisms for the game were directed at its simplistic, unbalanced gameplay and bad graphics. It holds an aggregated score of 41.21% on GameRankings and 32/100 on Metacritic. IGN gave the game a 1 out of 10, and declared it "the most horrific demolition of a license ever".


''Batman: Dark Tomorrow'' (2003)

Based on the DC Comics character
Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...
, '' Batman: Dark Tomorrow'' received very negative reviews from critics for its confusing gameplay, repetitive mission modes and awkward camera angles. The end of the game was also criticized because there is no direction to the "fulfilling ending" of the story beside using an outside game guide.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
gave the game a score of 2.8 out of 10, while IGN gave it a score of 2.2 out of 10 for the Xbox version and 3.5 out of 10 for the GameCube version.
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
gave it a score of 24.06% for the Xbox version and 27.83% for the GameCube version; while Metacritic gave it a score of 25 out of 100 for the Xbox version and 29 out of 100 for the GameCube version. A PlayStation 2 version was planned, but was cancelled due to the game's poor reception. In 2015,
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
named ''Dark Tomorrow'' the 18th worst game, claiming the game's camera "makes '' Epic Mickey's'' look like cinematography genius".


''Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness'' (2003)

'' Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness'', the sixth installment in the ''
Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
'' series, which acted as a direct sequel to '' Tomb Raider Chronicles'' and '' The Last Revelation'', received mixed to negative reviews for its poor controls, gameplay, and various bugs, although the graphics and original soundtrack were praised. '' IGN''s Douglas C. Perry praised its "compelling storyline" and "set of intriguing bit characters", however criticized the game stating that those aspects of the game "pale in comparison to 90% of the PlayStation 2's adventure or action-adventure games, and they actually hurt the rest of the game's best qualities", but that the new moves worked smoothly apart from the stealth actions. He also added multiple examples of good level design, smooth character models, surface textures and lightning, while feeling more mixed about Lara's unrealistic figure and hardened appearance. ''
Game Revolution ''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshot ...
''s A. A. White stated that while the game's darker story was an improvement compared to its predecessors, it never " anagedto build to a captivating crescendo", while the reviewer for ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'' called it "bountiful but confusing and ultimately of GCSE-standard creative writing." ''Eurogamer'' called the controls dated and the stealth mechanics and strength upgrade system unnecessary, while the'' GamesRadar'' reviewer cited both the gameplay and control layout as dated, citing the difficulty of effectively controlling Lara at multiple points in the game because of these issues. The camera was also criticized, with gaming outlets citing it as awkward to control and sometimes wayward or confusing during its scripted movements. In 2010, ''
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
'' placed the game 5th in their "Top 10 Worst Sequels" list. ''The Angel of Darkness'' caused multiple problems for the ''Tomb Raider'' franchise.
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
faulted '' Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life''s lackluster
box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...
performance on the poor critical reception the video game received from reviewers and fans. The head of Core Design, Jeremy Heath-Smith, resigned after the release of the game, and plans for a sequel called ''The Lost Dominion'', part of a proposed trilogy created using the game's engine, were scrapped. Following the poor performance of both the game and the second movie, Eidos Interactive took the production of ''Tomb Raider'' games away from Core Design and assigned them to Crystal Dynamics, noted as the developers of the '' Legacy of Kain'' series starting with ''
Legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
''.


''Drake of the 99 Dragons'' (2003)

''
Drake of the 99 Dragons ''Drake of the 99 Dragons'' is a third-person shooter video game developed by Swedish studio Idol FX and published by Majesco Sales. The game stars Drake, an undead assassin who is on a quest to avenge his murdered clan, the 99 Dragons, by recov ...
'' holds an aggregate score of 22 on Metacritic, ranking it as the second-worst game for the original Xbox. In 2009, the game was placed as the eleventh worst received game in the last 15 years by
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
. ''GameSpot'' Alex Navarro felt that the game was a "cacophony of terrible effects and voice acting"—noticing the re-use of stock sounds used in AOL Instant Messenger, and comparing the character's voice to a cross between a game show host and the "
Moviefone Moviefone is an American-based moving pictures listing and information service. Moviegoers can obtain local showtimes, cinema information, film reviews, and advance tickets, as well as TV content and a comprehensive search tool that allows users ...
guy". He also felt that due to the game's "disjointed" cutscenes and narration, the storyline was difficult to understand. IGN's Aaron Boulding gave the game a 2.9 out of 10; while praising the game's unique visual appearance and presentation, along with the "
bullet time Bullet time (also known as frozen moment, dead time, flow motion or time slice) is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera (or viewer) from those of its visible subject. It is a depth enhanced simulation of ...
" audio effects while slowing down time, he concluded that ''Drake of the 99 Dragons'' was "a good idea that went horribly astray and ended up disastrous" and that "there's no need to rent, purchase or entertain the thought of playing this one." GameSpot gave the game a lower score of 1.6, considering it "an out-and-out failure in every single discernable category." However, the game was rereleased on Steam in 2018, prompting Luke Winkie of ''PC Gamer'' to publish a retrospective review, in which he, while disrecommending the game overall, argued it to be an enjoyable experience and carrying some nostalgic value in spite of its poor quality as a product.


''Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing'' (2003)

'' Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing'' is a racing game developed by Stellar Stone and published by GameMill Publishing. The player competes in road races with semi-trailer trucks. ''Big Rigs'' was released in a
pre-alpha A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
state: most objects lack any type of collision detection, allowing players to drive through other vehicles and obstacles. Its physics system is so problematic that it allows players to drive up a vertical incline or accelerate to a maximum speed of while driving in reverse before a
floating-point arithmetic In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic that represents real numbers approximately, using an integer with a fixed precision, called the significand, scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. For example, 12.345 can be ...
overflow occurs, then coming to an immediate halt once the accelerator is released. The launch version lacks computer
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...
, meaning computer-controlled vehicles do not move at all during the race, thus making the game impossible to lose; a
patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song ...
was released in an attempt to solve the problem but only enabled computer-controlled vehicles to race until they reached the finish line where they simply stopped without crossing it. It also has a number of grammatical and typographic errors, most notably the message to the player on finishing a race, "YOU'RE WINNER !". ''Big Rigs'' was listed as one of the worst games ever made by GameSpot and ''
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website w ...
''. After declaring it the "worst game ever made" in a "Games You Should Never Buy" segment, '' X-Play'' Morgan Webb refused to rate ''Big Rigs'' as their scale went from only 1 to 5. On aggregate reviews, it has the lowest aggregate score of any video game, with an 8/100 on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, and 3.83% on
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
. ''Big Rigs'' was split from another game, ''Midnight Race Club'', by GameMill Publishing, which had initially sought to release just one racing game
stock keeping unit In inventory management, a stock keeping unit (abbreviated as SKU and pronounced or ) is the unit of measure in which the stocks of a material are managed. Or to put it another way; is a distinct type of item for sale, purchased, or tracked in ...
.


''Lula 3D'' (2005)

The
adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of maj ...
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based ...
''
Lula 3D ''Lula 3D'' is an adult adventure video game developed and published by cdv Software Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released in Europe on June 22, 2005. It is part of the ''Lula'' video game series. The plot centers on Lula, a porn ...
'' was criticized for its monotonous gameplay, poor puzzle designs, low-quality graphics (including animations, an inconsistent frame rate, and re-use of character models), its voice acting, the quality of its English translation, and low-brow humor that was too childish for its target audience. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the game received an aggregate score of 28% from 14 reviews. In 2013, ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...
'' cited ''Lula 3D'' and other "low-brow" pornographic games as a factor in the mainstream video game industry's general non-acceptance of adult video games. In 2017, '' GamesRadar+'' ranked ''Lula 3D'' as the 44th worst game of all time, arguing that "the game's lack of fun is rivalled only by its lack of respectable clothing", and stating that in one part of the game, trying to move the character with both the mouse and keyboard at the same time caused it to crash.
Jolt Online Gaming Jolt Online Gaming was an online gaming company hosted in Ireland. Its main site provided news, reviews, and interviews concerning upcoming games on consoles and computers, while its gaming network Jolt Online Gaming Network hosted and published f ...
gave ''Lula 3D'' a 1.8 out of 10 for making "every mistake that can possibly be made by the designers of a 3D adventure", criticizing its poorly-implemented controls and camera, tedious gameplay involving "mooching around listening to Lula's terribly voiced and poorly translated descriptions of everything around you, while collecting everything you can lay your hands on", and voice actors compared to people auditioning to be a
phone sex Phone sex is a conversation between two or more people by means of the telephone which is sexually explicit and is intended to provoke sexual arousal in one or more participants. All parties participate voluntarily; it is typically accompanied ...
operator. In conclusion, Jolt felt that "if you like good games, ''Lula 3D'' isn't for you. If you like sexual humour, ''Lula 3D'' isn't for you. If you have no qualms about pulling yourself off at the sight of dreadfully rendered computer characters shagging, then you need to check yourself in at your local therapy centre."
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
gave ''Lula 3D'' a 2 out of 10, jokingly declaring that its low quality and immature humor (such as the " Bouncin' Boobs Technology" advertised on its packaging) made the game feel like it was developed by and intended for 12-year-old boys.
PC Zone ''PC Zone'', founded in 1993, was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as '' PC Leisure'', '' PC Format'' and ''PC Plus'' had covered games bu ...
gave the game a 3.1 out of 10, believing that it was "oddly compelling", but "so inexorably, mindbogglingly ignorant of how either real games or real sex works that it spread-eagles itself a fair way into the 'so-bad-it's good' category."


''Ninjabread Man'' (2005)

''
Ninjabread Man ''Ninjabread Man'' is a 2005 platform video game by developer and publisher Data Design Interactive. The game was released on the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows in Europe in July 2005. A port for the Wii was released in September 2007 in Euro ...
'', a budget game released by Data Design Interactive and published by Conspiracy Entertainment, was criticized for its poor camera, controls, graphics, and its short length; critics noted that the game could be completed in half an hour. IGN gave ''Ninjabread Man'' a 1.5 out of 10, deriding the game for being a "broken mess" and having "just enough character design and gameplay to cover the bullet points on the back of the box", but felt that ''Ninjabread Man'' still had a "hilarious concept", and jokingly praised the game for having the best box art of any Wii game. Thunderbolt similarly gave ''Ninjabread Man'' a 1 out of 10, also noting that the premise itself had potential, but that the game itself did not have any "glimmer of innovation" and "couldn't be a more of a generic platformer if it tried." Data Design Interactive was further criticized by both Eurogamer and IGN for releasing several other games, including ''
Anubis II ''Anubis II'' is an 2005 action game from UK based developer Data Design Interactive. The game was published by Conspiracy Entertainment in the United States. Gameplay Set in ancient Egypt, the player controls Anubis, the guardian of the Underwo ...
'', '' Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland'' and '' Rock 'n' Roll Adventures'', that shared the same overall engine, gameplay, and soundtrack as ''Ninjabread Man'', but with different settings and characters. This, in turn, caused the games to exhibit exactly the same issues as ''Ninjabread Man''. IGN felt that the games were "
shovelware Shovelware is a term for individual video games or software bundles known more for the quantity of what is included than for the quality or usefulness. The metaphor implies that the creators showed little care for the quality of the original sof ...
at a science" and representative of a bulk, quantity-over-quality approach to video game development. However, IGN still felt that ''Ninjabread Man'' had more "appealing" thematics out of the three. Eurogamer gave all four games, including ''Ninjabread Man'', a 1 out of 10, concluding that the games were "dross of the highest order. Rip offs at budget price. We deserve more than this. I've heard people perking up at ''Ninjabread Man'' because of its punny name. Don't be fooled." On Metacritic, ''Ninjabread Man'' has an aggregate score of 20 out of 100 from six critic reviews.


''Bomberman: Act Zero'' (2006)

A
reimagining A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of the '' Bomberman'' series, '' Bomberman: Act Zero'' received negative reception from critics for its long loading times, bad collision detection, forgettable soundtrack, use of the same textures and graphics for every stage, tedious and repetitive gameplay, lack of a save feature, unbalanced A.I. and the series' unwelcome shift to a darker and more futuristic setting. The "First-Person Bomberman" mode was criticized for its bad camera angles and the fact that it is played in a third-person perspective. It holds an average score of 34 from
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. Yahoo! Games' Mike Smith felt that the designers did not understand what made ''Bomberman'' great. He criticized its "generic, gritty brushed-metal-and-armor heroes". ''
GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally ...
'' Patrick Shaw felt that it should not be used to introduce players to the series, while fans of the games should skip it.
Cracked.com Cracked.com is a website based on the humorous ''Cracked'' magazine, which dates back to 1958. It was founded in 2005 by Jack O'Brien.Axon, SamuelStreamy Awards 2010: Here Are the Winners ''Mashable''. April 11, 2010. In 2007, Cracked had a coup ...
named the game among their "6 Most Baffling Video Game Spinoffs" in 2013, commenting that the developers "took everything fun about ''Bomberman'' and made it crazy and depressing."


''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (2006)

Produced to celebrate the ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...
''s franchise 15th anniversary and relaunch the brand for the next generation, ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...
'' (referred to as ''Sonic '06'') was released in late 2006 for the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
and
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
; in the midst of production, publisher
Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
pushed the deadline forward to meet the forthcoming holiday season, and split the development team in half, with one half assigned to ''Sonic '06'', and the other developing '' Sonic and the Secret Rings'' for the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...
. ''Sonic '06'' received unfavorable reviews from critics and casual gamers alike for its sensitive controls, poor camera angles, numerous glitches, poor storyline riddled with plot holes, voice acting, extremely lengthy loading times, and level design, while its visuals and audio received a more mixed reception. IGN stated that "it offers a few good ideas, and a handful of exciting moments, but none of this helps the game recover from a catastrophic loss in control", while
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
lamented the gameplay, the number of glitches, camera problems and the supporting cast, stating "only the most blindly reverent ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' fan could possibly squeeze any enjoyment out of Sega's latest adventure".
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
criticized the story as well, by saying that "you might actually be better off reading internet
fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, setti ...
." The game was ultimately listed as part of its "Top Ten Disappointments of the Decade" list. The game has a Metacritic average of 46% for the Xbox 360 version and 43% for the PlayStation 3 version. In 2015,
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
named ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' the 43rd worst game of all time, noting its "terrible" camera and "downright creepy" story. ''
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
'' and ''GamesRadar'' considered ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' one of the most disappointing games of 2006. ''GamesTM'' singled out the game when it ranked the ''Sonic'' franchise at the top of their list of "Video Game Franchises That Lost Their Way". ''The A.V. Club'', ''Kotaku'', ''Game Informer'', and '' USgamer'' called the game the worst in the ''Sonic'' series, and the staff of ''GamesRadar'' named it among the worst video games of all time. The game remains popular for "
Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strat ...
" walkthroughs, with players showing off its glitches. The official ''Sonic''
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account also mocks the game. The failure of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' led to the direction of the series being rethought. The next main ''Sonic'' game, 2008's '' Sonic Unleashed'', ignored the gritty and realistic tone of its predecessor. With ''Unleashed''s sequel ''
Sonic Colors (known as ''Sonic Colours'' in the PAL region) is a 2010 platform game published by Sega. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic's quest to stop his nemesis Doctor Eggman from enslaving an alien race and taking over the world. The ga ...
'' (2010), ''The A.V. Club'' wrote, "the series rediscovered its strength for whimsical tales with light tones."


''Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust'' (2009)

'' Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust'', the eighth installment in the '' Leisure Suit Larry'' adult-oriented adventure game franchise, was developed by Team17, and published by Codemasters—who acquired the franchise's intellectual property from Activision Blizzard. ''Box Office Bust'' was criticized for its poor gameplay and dated graphics, incoherent story, audio and technical issues, voice acting, and poor attempts at adult humor. On Metacritic, the game's PC version holds an aggregate score of 20/100 from 17 critic reviews; its PlayStation 3 port scored lower, with 17/100 based on 11 critic reviews. IGN declared ''Box Office Bust'' to be "frustratingly unpolished, devoid of any kind of wit or charm, and packed with tiring, at times infuriating challenges", also featuring "uncomfortably unfunny dialogue spewed from the lips of entirely unlikable characters". In conclusion, it was explained that "the lowest rating numbers here at IGN are reserved for games with nearly no redeeming qualities or interesting ideas, with next to nothing enjoyable to offer players, and which under no circumstances should be purchased by anyone. ''Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust'' is, without a doubt, one of those games." ScrewAttack, Giant Bomb, and Australian television show '' Good Game'' named ''Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust'' the worst game of 2009. Al Lowe, creator of ''Leisure Suit Larry'', publicly thanked VU Games on his website for keeping him away from what he called "the latest disaster".


''Stalin vs. Martians'' (2009)

'' Stalin vs. Martians'' is a
parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
real-time strategy video game developed by Black Wing Foundation, Dreamlore and N-Game, released on April 29, 2009. Described as "trashy and over-the-top" by its creators, the game mocks
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
strategy games and utilizes Pythonesque humor. The developers state that ''Stalin vs. Martians'' is "obviously a parody, which sometimes gets close to being a
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...
" and is "halfway to becoming a trash icon of gaming industry for years". In some interviews the lead designer of the game compares ''Stalin vs. Martians'' to the ''
Troma Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them p ...
'' films. ''Stalin vs. Martians'' received scathing reviews from critics. It has an average score of 23.41% on
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
as well as 25% on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' named it 2009's "Flat-Out Worst Game", awarding it a rating of 1.5/10 and calling it "perhaps the worst
RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...
game ever created." IGN, which rated the game a 2/10, noted the game's total lack of any RTS-related elements and asked whether it was 'made in 1994 and sealed into a vault until 2009' given how dated the visuals looked. ''Resolution'', awarding the game 35%, warned readers not to purchase the game, but conceded that it is occasionally "incredibly amusing".


''Rogue Warrior'' (2009)

'' Rogue Warrior'' was initially developed by
Zombie Studios Zombie Studios was an American independent video game developer. It was formed in 1994 as Zombie, LLC by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, formerly of the Sarnoff Research Center. Alexander and Long founded Zombie after they completed the design of ...
under the title ''Rogue Warrior: Black Razor'', and would have been an Unreal Engine 3-based game with drop-in four-player cooperative play, and 24-player competitive multiplayer using randomly generated maps based on a unique tiling system. However, its publisher
Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In ...
was unsatisfied with the direction Zombie Studios was taking with the game, among other issues, citing the lack of emphasis on the personality of its protagonist Richard Marcinko. Bethesda rebooted the project with
Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford, England. Founded by Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for its ''Sniper Elite'' series and multiple games in the ''Alien vs. P ...
taking over development. The game was re-built from the ground up, scrapping Zombie Studios' work. Upon its release, ''Rogue Warrior'' was panned by critics for its poor controls, outdated graphics, frequent use of
profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...
, short length, very limited multiplayer, and broken combat techniques.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's Kevin VanOrd awarded ''Rogue Warrior'' a 2.0 out of 10, calling it "an absolute rip-off" and finding that Richard Marcinko "doesn't just drop an F-bomb—he drops an entire nuclear warhead of repulsive language." IGN's Jeff Hayes stated that "players should stay far away from this title at all costs" and rated it a 1.4 out of 10, criticizing its "laughable and barely existent" plot.
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
's Richard Leadbetter called it "the worst game I've played on layStation 3 or Xbox 360for a long, long time." In 2019, ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ...
'' listed ''Rogue Warrior'' as being among "the worst PC games of all time", considering it "truly one of the worst first-person shooters in living memory", and akin to "one of those straight-to-video action movies you'd see on a DVD rack in a garage, but somehow dumber."


2010s


''Final Fantasy XIV'' (2010)

'' Final Fantasy XIV'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in Square Enix's ''
Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...
'' series, developed as a
spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product ...
to ''
Final Fantasy XI also known as ''Final Fantasy XI Online'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), originally developed and published by Squaresoft and then published by Square Enix as the eleventh main installment of the ''Final Fantas ...
''. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on September 30, 2010, with plans for a PlayStation 3 port. However, the initial release of the game was met with poor reviews, with critics describing grind-heavy gameplay, poor controls, and a confusing user interface. The game holds a
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
score of 49/100. According to
Naoki Yoshida , also known by the nickname Yoshi-P'','' is a Japanese video game producer, director and designer working for Square Enix. He is best known for his work on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), mainly as director and produce ...
, who took on overseeing the game's remake, the original version of ''Final Fantasy XIV'' suffered in production as there had been too much focus on the graphics quality, and little understanding of the fundamentals of a good MMORPG with the expectation that problems could be fixed with updates and patches later. Shortly after release, then-CEO of Square Enix Yoichi Wada issued an official apology for the quality of the game at the 2011
Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. T ...
in December 2011, saying that "the ''Final Fantasy'' brand adbeen greatly damaged". The PlayStation 3 port was cancelled, and Square Enix eventually shut off the game's servers on November 11, 2012, as to redevelop the game from scratch into '' Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn''. Yoshida stated that they felt it was necessary to rebuild the game from the ground up to regain the trust that they lost from fans of the series for the original game, and not strictly as a business decision. The new version was released in August 2013, and was received much more positively, with an 83/100 score for the PC version on Metacritic. As of October 2022, the game continues to be supported with expansions and new content for players.


''Power Gig: Rise of the SixString'' (2010)

Released in a market that had already been saturated by
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
-oriented music video games simulating
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
and
drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s, '' Power Gig: Rise of the SixString''—developed by Seven45 Studios, a subsidiary of mass-market instrument manufacturer First Act—attempted to differentiate itself from competitors such as the ''
Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...
'' and '' Guitar Hero'' franchises by shipping with an actual
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
that could be used in-game, rather than a simplified plastic analog (although existing guitar and drum controllers designed for the franchises could still be used with the game). As opposed to an electronic drum set with physical pads, the game offered an "AirStrike" drum controller, which utilized motion sensors placed on the ground. Upon its release, ''Power Gig'' received negative reviews from critics. The game's guitar was considered low-quality—not performing well as either a controller or standalone instrument, while the AirStrike drum controller was criticized for its poor hit detection, a reliance on proprietary, sensor-equipped drum sticks, and the lack of physical feedback contradicting the game's promoted focus on realism. The gameplay of ''Power Gig'' was criticized for being nearly identical to its competitors, even with its dedicated guitar (which only enabled the addition of basic, two-note power chords to songs), and for making little effort in providing any education on the instrument's fundamentals (in contrast to the similar "Pro Guitar" modes of its launch competitor '' Rock Band 3''). Griffin McElroy of Joystiq pointed out that, ironically, despite " enteringitself around a peripheral which is a real guitar", ''Power Gig'' " ettledfor using a new toy to manipulate an old game—but still manages to categorically fail at both." The game was also criticized for its storyline—which IGN declared to be "laughably bad", the exclusion of
bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
modes, and poor-quality graphics and character animations. ''Power Gig'' holds an aggregate score of 36/100 on Metacritic, and was named the worst game of 2010 by ''Giant Bomb''.


''Postal III'' (2011)

Development of '' Postal III'' was subcontracted by Running with Scissors to
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
n publisher
Akella Akella (russian: Акелла) was a Russian software company specializing in the development, publishing and distribution of video games and multimedia products. The founders of Akella met in 1993 and decided to start a company together, and ...
, who hired the developer Trashmasters. They did not have the resources to develop the game to the design that the series' creators intended and thought they were able to deliver. The game ultimately received poor reviews from critics, scoring an average review score on Metacritic of 24/100. Running with Scissors pulled ''Postal III'' from its own online store, calling it an "unfinished mess" and recommending earlier installments of the franchise instead. PC Gamer gave ''Postal III'' a 21/100, joking that "suck and blow" were "two things that ''Postal III'' will continue to do for some hours", criticizing its lack of an open world design like ''
Postal 2 ''Postal 2'' is a 2003 first-person shooter developed by Running with Scissors. It is the sequel to the 1997 game '' Postal'' and was released for Microsoft Windows in April 2003, macOS in April 2004 and Linux in April 2005. ''Postal 2'', as wel ...
'', poor AI, and poor attempts at being offensive (drawing comparisons to the quality of Uwe Boll's
film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
). IGN felt that the game's technical and gameplay issues (including long loading times) were more offensive than the game's content, and criticized the lack of variety or openness in its missions. However, the game's humor, wide variety of weapons (despite most of the unique weapons not being as useful in-game as their conventional counterparts), and relatively better graphical quality than ''Postal 2'' were regarded as positive aspects, but not enough to save the game from a 5.5/10 rating. Game Informer gave the game a 1/10, criticizing its "barely cobbled-together series of mostly linear levels", lazily using
self-awareness In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifest ...
to point out bugs that should have been fixed before release (such as a warning that an escort would "frustratingly disappear" if left behind), and concluding that there was "nothing redeeming about ''Postal III''s frustrating, buggy gameplay." In 2013,
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website w ...
deemed it one of the 12 worst video games of all time.


''FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction'' (2011)

'' FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction'' is a sequel of the ''
FlatOut Flat Out may refer to: * Flat Out (horse), a racehorse * ''Flat Out'' (Buck Dharma album), 1982 * ''Flat Out'' (John Scofield album), 1989 *Flatout, a brand of Flatbreads owned by T. Marzetti Company *Flat Out, a term coined in reference to the ...
'' franchise, a vehicular combat series originally developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by Empire Interactive, that features realistic destruction of cars and track obstacles. After releasing '' FlatOut 2'', Bugbear had been tapped by Bandai Namco to develop ''
Ridge Racer Unbounded is a racing video game developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by Namco Bandai Games (under the Namco brand) for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. It is the eighth installment of the ''Ridge Racer'' franchise, and ...
'', and for the third ''FlatOut'' game, publisher Strategy First gave development duties to
Team6 Game Studios Team6 Game Studios B.V. is a privately-owned Dutch video game developer based in Assen, Netherlands. Founded in 2001 under a different name, the creative team developed several games. However, in 2003, the founders decided to change the name ...
. While Team6 had done numerous racing games prior, their approach to ''FlatOut 3'' was significantly different from how Bugbear approached the title, and ''FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction'' was universally panned by critics and fans alike. The game received generally unfavorable reviews according to the review aggregation website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. with a score of 23/100. Metacritic lists the game as the lowest scoring game of 2011. ''FlatOut 3'' is one of the two games '' Edge'' has ever given a score of one out of ten to in its history (the other being '' Kabuki Warriors'').
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
also gave it a one out of ten score and criticised all aspects of the game, especially the controls and the AI. It also lamented the fall from grace of the ''
FlatOut Flat Out may refer to: * Flat Out (horse), a racehorse * ''Flat Out'' (Buck Dharma album), 1982 * ''Flat Out'' (John Scofield album), 1989 *Flatout, a brand of Flatbreads owned by T. Marzetti Company *Flat Out, a term coined in reference to the ...
'' series as a whole and summed up the review by saying, "You could go mad trying to rationalise ''Flatout 3''. It is not bad in the way that a game like ''
Boiling Point The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor. The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding env ...
'' is bad, where things coalesce into a kind of awful greatness. This is a tacky and technically incompetent production with no redeeming features whatsoever, devoid of fun and an insult to the name it bears. ''Flatout'' once burned bright, but now is gone – and if there is a driving hell, this is surely it." ''
GamesMaster ''GamesMaster'' is a British television programme which originally aired on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998. In 2021, it returned for a new series on YouTube and E4. It was the first UK television programme dedicated to video games. Dominik Diam ...
'' also gave the game one out of ten and said, "Some games are so bad they're good (for a laugh, at least). ''FlatOut 3'' is just plain bad."
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
gave the game its highest score by giving it five out of ten, praising the Demolition mode and the wide range of game modes, but like in other reviews the AI, controls and the bad collision detection were criticised.


''Infestation: Survivor Stories'' (2012)

'' Infestation: Survivor Stories'', an open world
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
survival horror game, was publicly released as a "foundation release" in December 2012 under the name ''The War Z''. The game received negative reception from various publications for its poor gameplay experience, and for its use of microtransactions for purchasing items and reviving characters without waiting four hours, despite the game not being a
freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ...
" free-to-play" game. GameSpy gave ''The War Z'' a half-star out of five and considered it "a bad game that deserves all the controversy it's drawn", criticizing the broken state of the game and its use of microtransactions, but complimenting its overall atmosphere and far draw distance. IGN gave the game a 3.0 out of 10, citing that "the high spawn rate of weapons, as well as fear of hackers, makes the majority of player interaction in ''The War Z'' overly punishing and one-dimensional", and further criticized its missing features, the ability to lose purchased items, and its lack of a balance between ranged and melee weaponry. Its developer, Hammerpoint Interactive, was also accused of
false advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
by players; since the game's promotional material on
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
at the time highlighted certain features that were not yet present in the game, such as multiple large game worlds varying in size (only one was available), a skill point-based leveling system (which was not yet implemented), servers supporting up to 100 players (that were actually capped at 50), and private servers. Despite this information being corrected to consider them "upcoming" features, the flood of criticism prompted
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
to pull the game from sale on Steam and offer refunds, stating that the game was accidentally made available for purchase prematurely. In an interview with
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ...
, executive producer Sergey Titov (who was also listed as a producer for '' Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing'') claimed that its servers were temporarily capped at 50 due to player feedback and that its marketing team had misinterpreted information about the current state of the game. Due to its similar themes, gameplay, and title, some also felt that ''The War Z'' was a clone of the popular '' ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead'' mod '' DayZ'' (of which a standalone version was in development); on June 20, 2013, Hammerpoint announced that the game would be renamed ''Infestation: Survivor Stories'', "primarily as a result of some confusion and trademark issues with a similarly titled property" (a statement which also factored in a conflict with the film '' World War Z'').


''SimCity'' (2013)

'' SimCity'', developed by Maxis and
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
(EA), was aimed to augment the normally single-player
city-building game A city-building game, or town-building game, is a genre of simulation video game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city or town, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management strategy. ...
with online features that would allow players' cities to interact with one another, building a software platform rather than a single game. The game was released in March 2013, but there was no offline mode, and the servers for online connectivity were over capacity, requiring players to wait upwards of thirty minutes to play for several weeks following launch. EA and Maxis eventually resolved server issues by expanding capacity and disabling certain "non-critical" features. Users also found that promised improvements to the artificial intelligence were not present, and that the available land for city building was much more restrictive than previous iterations. Users were further critical when it was found that the game could be run in an offline mode using special debugging commands, to which Maxis responded saying that they opted against an offline mode as "it didn't fit with our vision". By October 2013, EA and Maxis were discussing the possibility of adding an offline mode, and a year after release, the game was updated to support this. The game received lukewarm reviews from critics, with an aggregate score of 64/100 from Metacritic, but was hit hard with many negative user reviews. The initial server issues created enough negative user reviews at retailer Amazon.com that the retailer temporarily halted sales of the game for a few days. While some users that purchased retail editions of the game were able to get refunds, those that had purchased it digitally through EA's
Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...
service could not get refunds, and instead EA offered users a choice of one free game from eight offerings as to make up for the server issues. EA was named as the "Worst Company in America" in a 2013 ''
Consumerist ''Consumerist'' (also known as ''The Consumerist'') was a non-profit consumer affairs website owned by Consumer Media LLC, a subsidiary of ''Consumer Reports'', with content created by a team of full-time reporters and editors. The site's foc ...
'' user-voted poll, with the debacle over ''SimCity'' service launch as part of the reason some voted this way. As a result of the poor reception to the game, Electronic Arts had shuttered Maxis' main Emeryville, California studio by 2015, transferring Maxis' other franchises like '' The Sims'' to other EA studios. Separately,
Colossal Order In classical architecture, a giant order, also known as colossal order, is an order whose columns or pilasters span two (or more) storeys. At the same time, smaller orders may feature in arcades or window and door framings within the storeys th ...
, a studio under Paradox Interactive, had been wanting to make a city simulator for some time, but Paradox had been hesitant of ''SimCity'' influence on the market. Following the failure of ''SimCity'', Paradox greenlit Colossal Order's '' Cities: Skylines'', which was released in 2015. By contrast, ''Cities: Skylines'' was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, with some outlets considering the game to have succeeded ''SimCity'' as the game most representative of the genre.


''Aliens: Colonial Marines'' (2013)

'' Aliens: Colonial Marines'', a
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...
developed by Gearbox Software and set in the universe of the ''Alien'' franchise, was criticized at launch for containing bugs, poorly-implemented
A.I. Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech rec ...
, unbalanced gameplay, low-quality graphics, and a poorly-implemented co-op mode. A couple of said issues have since been adjusted or fixed to a certain degree. The game's story also drew criticism for its lack of a consistent continuity with the ''Alien'' films, despite claims from the developers that the events of the game were supposed to be canon to the film series. Particular criticism was directed towards discrepancies in the game's quality between pre-release builds demonstrated at events and in promotional materials—the former purporting to feature "actual gameplay", and the final product, including lower graphics quality, missing levels, and other regressions. Shortly after the game's release and the discovery of these regressions, Gearbox CEO
Randy Pitchford Randy Pitchford is an American businessman. He co-founded the video game development studio Gearbox Software in 1999 and was president and CEO for the company until 2021, upon which he became CEO and president of Gearbox's parent company, The ...
acknowledged the issues and stated that the studio would look into them. It was reported that, as is common practice, the demo was optimized for high-end PC hardware, and that after the game was returned from its subcontractor
TimeGate Studios TimeGate Studios was an American video game developer based in Sugar Land, Texas. The company, which was founded in 1998, released eight titles before closing in 2013. History TimeGate Studios was founded in 1998 by Alan and Adel Chaveleh, who re ...
to Gearbox, the studio made changes to optimize the game's performance for consoles. In April 2013, a class action lawsuit was filed against Gearbox Software and the game's publisher,
Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
. The suit argued that these differences, along with a press embargo on publishing reviews of the final product until its release date, deceived those who pre-ordered the game based on the pre-release promotional materials, amounting to
false advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
. In September 2014, Sega agreed to pay a tentative settlement of $1.25 million. Gearbox, as a result of the fallout from ''Aliens: Colonial Marines'', made it a company policy to avoid talking in depth about any future game until it was in the late stages of development (such as not announcing ''
Borderlands 3 ''Borderlands 3'' is an Action role-playing video game, action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is a sequel to 2012's ''Borderlands 2'', and the fourth entry in the ...
'' until it had reached the beta testing stage) to avoid a similar misstep. In July 2018, a mod developer reviewing the game's code found that a typo in its configuration files resulted in the poor artificial intelligence shown by the game's enemies observed at its original release; manually correcting the error led to the enemies having more consistent behavior with press material as well as the Aliens from the film franchise.


''Ride to Hell: Retribution'' (2013)

Announced in 2008 as a ''Grand Theft Auto''-styled game set during the late 1960s, the eventual release of '' Ride to Hell: Retribution'' in June 2013 was universally panned by critics. In particular, ''Ride to Hell'' was criticized for its largely broken gameplay, poorly-implemented controls, poor voice acting and story, its negative portrayal of women, and for dropping the originally announced open-world format in favor of a linear structure. Daniel Starkey of
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
considered ''Ride to Hell: Retribution'' to be "painfully insubstantial" and broken all-around, criticizing its plot for showing a "pathetic, out-of-touch approach to sex, violence, and masculinity", and believing that its developers were showing a lack of respect towards players due to the game's abysmal quality. Describing it as the newest candidate for "Worst Game of All Time", Starkey gave ''Ride to Hell'' a 1.0 out of 10, making it only the second game (behind ''Big Rigs'') to receive GameSpot's lowest possible rating. EGM described ''Ride to Hell'' as being "a linear, insultingly underdeveloped mess" with "endlessly clunky gameplay" and numerous bugs and glitches, concluding that "other games may have offered less content for more money or come up shorter in specific, individual areas, but I don't think there's ever been a game that does so many things so universally poorly", giving the game 0.5 out of 10. As part of his 2013 year-end retrospective, Yahtzee Croshaw of Zero Punctuation pointedly did not award ''Ride to Hell'' the title of "worst game of the year" on the basis that it does not qualify as a "game" but as "congealed failure"; he instead awarded it the "lifetime achievement award for total abhorrence". The game has a
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
score of 19 out of 100, based on 14 reviews of the Xbox 360 version. It is the third lowest scoring game on the Xbox 360, and the lowest scoring retail Xbox 360 game. It received a 13 out of 100 score from Metacritic for the PS3 version, making it the lowest-scoring PS3 game.


''Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons'' (2013)

'' Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons'' is a 3D beat 'em up game loosely based on the arcade version of '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge'', developed by Korean game studio
GRAVITY In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
and published by Barunson Creative Co. Ltd. The title was first announced in 2011, but was shelved for release for two years. It was eventually released on April 5, 2013, as a digital download for the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade service. It received extremely negative reviews, holding a score of 15.83% on
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
(making it the third-worst reviewed game on the site only behind ''Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing'' and ''Ride to Hell: Retribution'') and a score of 17 on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, indicating "overwhelming dislike". ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'' ranked it as the 42nd worst game ever made, comparing it unfavorably to the previous ''
Double Dragon Neon ''Double Dragon Neon'' is a 2012 beat 'em up video game in the ''Double Dragon'' series. It was developed by WayForward Technologies and published by Majesco Entertainment, and is a reboot of the ''Double Dragon'' series. It was the first game ...
.'' '' Metro'' gave it a 1/10 score and called it the "worst game ever".


''Fighter Within'' (2013)

''
Fighter Within ''Fighter Within'' is a Kinect-based fighting game developed by Belgian studio Daoka and published by Ubisoft. It was released on November 22, 2013 as an exclusive launch title for the Xbox One and a sequel to ''Fighters Uncaged'' (2010). It was p ...
'' is a
Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of fli ...
-based
fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining atta ...
published by
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...
in 2013 and sequel to the similarly Kinect-based ''
Fighters Uncaged ''Fighters Uncaged'' is a fighting video game for the Xbox 360 Kinect system. It was developed by AMA Studios and published by Ubisoft in November 2010. ''Fighters Uncaged'' was one of the first twelve games released for the Kinect. The game ha ...
''. It was an
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
launch title, with Kinect bundled with new systems, and the only Kinect-required exclusive title at its launch. The game promised as "the most immersive total-body combat experience ever" however was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from both users and reviewers and had an aggregate score of 23% on Metacritic. One of the game's main criticisms was its inability to comprehend motion control and how movement is limited to the person playing, making said player uncomfortable and embarrassed. Another criticism towards the game was the cast of characters mocked for having racist stereotypes, frustratingly similar fighting styles, stiff dialogue and boring character design. However, it was noted as having slightly better motion control than ''Fighters Uncaged'' but it was still said that "you can't do anything you want to". While not the sole reason, ''Fighter Within'' did not make a strong showing of Kinect on the Xbox One, and coupled with other factors, soon led to Microsoft removing Kinect from Xbox One bundles and slowly deprecating the hardware for gaming purposes.


''Dungeon Keeper'' (2014)

'' Dungeon Keeper'' is a
freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ...
MMO strategy video game developed by
Mythic Entertainment Mythic Entertainment (formerly BioWare Mythic, EA Mythic, Inc., and Interworld Productions) was a video game developer in Fairfax, Virginia that was most widely recognized for developing the 2001 massively multiplayer online role-playing game ...
and published by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
for the iOS and Android platforms. It was intended to serve as a reboot of the '' Dungeon Keeper'' series directed and designed by Peter Molyneux. The game was heavily panned due to its monetization practices. For example, critics condemned the time the Gem Veins take to dig, which forces players to either wait for varying amounts of time or purchase Gems with real money, practices that were not present in the original ''Dungeon Keeper'' games. The
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
score for the iOS version is a 42/100. IGN rewarded the game a 3/10, ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
'' rewarded the game a 1/10, and '' Metro'' rewarded the game a 0/10. The game was deemed "unplayable" by some critics. Molyneux criticized the game's monetization implementations as well, describing them as "ridiculous". The criticisms of the game were exacerbated when Electronic Arts was accused of censoring in-game user ratings lower than five stars by making those players fill out a "feedback form" instead of directly completing a Google Play review. The British Advertising Standards Authority soon ruled that Electronic Arts' advertising of the "free" nature of the game misled customers, ordered the creation of
fine print Fine print, small print, or mouseprint is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service. The larger print that is us ...
explaining the in-app purchases, and banned the original adverts.


''Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric'' (2014)

'' Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric'' is a 2014 spin-off from the ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...
'' franchise developed by Big Red Button Entertainment—a studio co-founded by Naughty Dog alumni E. Daniel Arey and
Bob Rafei Babak "Bob" Rafei ( fa, بابک رافعی) is an Iranian video game art director, character animator and concept artist. He is the CEO of Big Red Button Entertainment, a video game development studio he co-founded with Jeff Lander in 2009. Ra ...
—and published by
Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
for the
Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. ...
. The game was released alongside a tie-in game titled '' Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal'' developed by Sanzaru Games for the Nintendo 3DS. Although both games received generally negative reviews from critics, ''Rise of Lyric'' was especially derided for its numerous bugs and glitches, poor graphics and level design, over-simplistic gameplay, and bad writing. On Metacritic, the game holds an aggregate score of 32/100 from 28 critic reviews. Don Saas of ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' noted that "through a combination of unwieldy controls, a broken camera system, and a total lack of responsiveness, the platforming and exploration elements of ''Rise of Lyric'' are totally unworkable." '' Metro GameCentral'' considered ''Rise of Lyric'' to be "definitely the worst game of 2014", citing "a terrible camera, awful controls, unspeakably dull combat, insipid level design, ugly character art, broken graphics, serious bugs, and the terrible feeling that Sega hates both you and ''Sonic''." Both ''Metro'' and Nintendo World Report referred to it as potentially the worst ''Sonic'' game of all time. Both games were commercial failures. In February 2015, Sega announced that ''Rise of Lyric'' and ''Shattered Crystal'' had moved 490,000 units combined, indicating that ''Rise of Lyric'' sold less copies than any other major entry into the franchise.


''Alone in the Dark: Illumination'' (2015)

The sixth installment in the '' Alone in the Dark'' franchise was published by
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, Ca ...
in 2015 centering around a team of four cooperative characters investigating a mysterious figure in a haunted house. '' Alone in the Dark: Illumination'' received universally negative reviews. It received an aggregated score of 19% on
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
based on five reviews and 19% on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
based on 12 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike", and was ranked as the worst game of 2015. Jim Sterling stated that ''Illumination'' was "ugly in every sense of the word, not just visually – though it is about as attractive as an anus in an eye socket", while criticizing its cooperative play and the mechanic of using light sources to defeat enemies.


''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' (2015)

A revival of the ''Tony Hawk's'' franchise developed by
Robomodo Robomodo was an American independent video game developer based in Chicago, Illinois. Robomodo was formed in early 2008 by former employees of Midway Games and EA Chicago. They are best known for being the developer of several post-Neversoft gam ...
, ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' is a 2015 skateboarding video game developed in collaboration between Robomodo and Disruptive Games, and published by Activision. The tenth main installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, the game is the first ne ...
'' was panned for its poor quality, especially in comparison to its predecessors, with reviews citing various performance issues, environmental clipping, and physics issues. The game's environments were criticized for their poor aesthetics, unmemorable level themes, small size, dull challenge tasks, lack of
NPCs A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...
, and for not containing as many hidden secrets as those in previous ''Tony Hawk'' games. Before the game was released, the licensing deal between Activision and Tony Hawk was set to expire. As a result, the game was hastily developed within a few months and released unfinished with little promotion. The nature of the game's online modes were criticized for providing little incentive to players and exacerbating the game's performance issues. ''Pro Skater 5'' would be the last major game in the series until the release of '' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2'', a remaster of the first two games, in 2020. ''IGN'' gave the game a 3.5 out of 10, concluding that "''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' rare moments of nostalgic joy are drowned out by its abundance of poorly thought out levels, control problems, bugs, and its glaring lack of attitude. It boggles the mind that a $60 game in 2015 can be riddled with so many technical issues." Giving ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' a 3 out of 10, ''GameSpot'' argued that "within ''THPS5'' lies a basic skating game that's difficult to enjoy, because you have to jump over numerous hoops and ignore a plethora of obvious issues to find the smallest amount of fun." ''Polygon'' named ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' one of the worst games of 2015, stating that it was "so broken, so garish and so grim that reformed ''Tony Hawk'' lovers rue the day they first laid eyes on the franchise. Sometimes, it's better to leave what's past in the past."


''Umbrella Corps'' (2016)

''
Umbrella Corps ''Umbrella Corps'' is a 2016 tactical shooter game developed and published by Capcom. Released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4, it is a spin-off of the ''Resident Evil'' series and was released worldwide in June 2016. The game received ...
'' is a tactical shooter spinoff of the '' Resident Evil'' franchise released for the PlayStation 4 and PC, and has been panned for its poor gameplay mechanics. IGN's Brian Albert rated the game 3.8 out of 10: " hebalance is absurd, controls are clumsy, and it fails to pull anything meaningful from the ''Resident Evil'' universe". Peter Brown of ''GameSpot'' rated it 3/10: "''Umbrella Corps'' is a forgettable game dominated by bland action and half-baked mechanics." Zach Furniss of ''
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ...
'' lambasted the game as "a broken sludgy mess that fails in just about every way." ''Game Rant''s John Jacques wrote in his review, "The game doesn't know what it wants to be, and as a result, this is another lackluster spinoff from Capcom—one we're eager to forget." Ben Reeves of ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 ...
'' commented, "Thanks to all of its flaws, ''Umbrella Corps'' feels like a grotesque online oddity that everyone should just ignore—which everyone is already doing." Cade Onder of ''GameZone'' labeled the game "the worst entry in the ''Resident Evil'' franchise since '' 6''," citing its "clumsy and even confusing" gameplay. Russ Frushtick of ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...
'' remarked that "the controls feel like you're walking on ice skates. It's abysmal." In 2017, ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' Olivia White rated it the worst game in the ''Resident Evil'' series, while ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ...
'' ranked it the second-worst game in the franchise for its "straight up broken" controls, which they deemed "unforgivable". ''Umbrella Corps'' holds a rating of 38 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 55 reviews.


''No Man's Sky'' (2016)

'' No Man's Sky'' was announced in 2013 as a space exploration game that features over 18 quintillion planets in its virtual universe each with its own set of flora and fauna, all formed in-game through procedural generation. The game, developed by a small team from Hello Games, quickly gained significant attention and media hype across the gaming media due to its expansive goals, which was boosted further when Sony announced it would help to publish the game for the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
alongside a Microsoft Windows version. Sean Murray, a co-founder of Hello Games and the lead developer for ''No Man's Sky'', gave numerous interviews over the following years during development, explaining features they had planned for the game including multiplayer. Just prior to ''No Man's Sky'' August 2016 release, early-released copies revealed that some of the expected gameplay features did not appear present in the game, and were still missing following a day-zero patch. Specifically, there appeared to be no multiplayer, and other features demonstrated in promotional videos and Murray's interviews were absent. Atop this, players found the game lacked a quality of procedural uniqueness (in that there was little overall variation in the planets relative to the scale of the game), and the gameplay elements necessary to explore were tedious. Though Murray had tried to set expectations prior to release, the game received a wide range of reviews and generally negative reviews from players. Negative player reception was compounded by the apparent lack of communication from Hello Games towards these issues, with the team only reporting on bug fixes and performance improvements that they released. Murray later admitted that their initial silence post-release had come about due to drastically underestimating the player size they had to support at the start. Hello Games has since released several major updates to the game in the five years after release to incorporate most of these missing features, including multiplayer modes, as well as other significant additions which have been met with praise, bringing the game up to and beyond the state expected prior to its launch. By the time of its five-year anniversary, ''No Man's Sky'' user reviews on Steam had swung to "mostly positive" after initially starting at "overwhelming negative" at the time of its release. The game is considered a key reminder of what to avoid in marketing a game, with many commentators discussing the proper means to generate interest in games "in a post-''No Man's Sky'' world".


''Star Wars Battlefront II'' (2017)

'' Star Wars Battlefront II'', primarily an online multiplayer shooter, was developed by
EA DICE EA Digital Illusions CE AB (trade name: DICE) is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The company was founded in 1992 and has been a subsidiary of Electronic Arts since 2006. Its releases include the ''Battlefield (video game serie ...
as a sequel to the 2015 game. One element that EA had sought to change was how microtransactions would be handled; the first game offered additional characters and settings through
downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...
, but EA found that this segmented the player community between those who had purchased the additional content and those who had not. Instead, EA opted to use loot box mechanics (called Star Crates in-game) believing this would help maintain its player community; players could earn Star Crates, containing a random collection of in-game items distributed by rarity, over time by playing the game, but could also spend real-world funds to acquire these. While such loot crates were an established mechanism in video games, the approach used by ''Battlefront II'' during its pre-launch beta period was found to be problematic to players. Star Crates not only contained gameplay-altering elements, thus seen as " pay-to-win", but also was the fastest way to unlock the more popular ''Star Wars'' characters rather than acquiring them through hours of gameplay. Players and some journalists were vocal about these concerns, which were coupled with general negative attention drawn to loot box mechanics in 2017 from other video games. Just prior to the game's planned launch in November 2017,
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
(who owned the rights to ''Star Wars'') contacted EA over the situation, leading EA to disable all of the game's microtransaction processes indefinitely until they could work out a solution. The new system was put in place by March 2018, addressing both key concerns. While ''Battlefront II'' received mixed reviews from critics, the negative perception of the game by the player base troubled EA's stockholders, and within a week of its November 2017 release, EA's stock market value dropped by  billion, attributed to the ''Battlefront II'' loot box backlash. In its Q4 2017 quarterly financials, EA stated that ''Battlefront II'' had missed their sales expectation by at least 10%, which EA's CFO Blake Jorgensen attributed to the player base reaction to how EA had implemented and handled the loot box issue. The attention generated by ''Battlefront II''s loot crates also drew worldwide government and industry responses in late 2017 and beyond to evaluate whether loot box mechanics in video games were a form of gambling particularly to minors and the potential need for regulations.


''Fallout 76'' (2018)

'' Fallout 76'' is an online action role-playing game in the ''
Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'' series. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios, ''Fallout 76'' represented the studio's first foray for a fully online game, as well as the first time multiplayer is included in a ''Fallout'' game developed by Bethesda Studios. ''Fallout 76''s initial
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
scores across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms had an average of about 51/100, with user reviews being even more critical of the game. A 2022 report from ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. Histor ...
'' based on interviews with former developers and QA testers on the game asserted that a number of issues in management led to the game having a problematic start, even with added crunch time to make it ready for the scheduled launch. The game shipped with a large number of bugs and glitches, and Bethesda's early patches to fix these were large and at times, reintroduced bugs that had previously been fixed. Other complaints from players focused on the expensive pricing of in-game cosmetics, as well as introducing items that gave gameplay advantages which could similarly be bought with real money. Additionally, there was criticism for Bethesda's attitude towards players using mods, regardless of whether their intentions were harmful or not, as well as the game's lack of sufficient anti-cheat protection due to large-scale examples of hacking. Like ''No Man's Sky'', Bethesda had not been as communicative of its efforts to improve the game following release, leading to further consternation within the player base. Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda, said in 2021 "When 'Fallout 76''launched, the litany of issues we had, we let a lot of people down. There was very little we didn't screw up, honestly." The choice to include a premium subscription service in October 2019 was met with criticism as players had expected some of the exclusive features to have been provided for free. The service was also hampered by bugs upon release, including one that deleted all items from the Scrapbox, an item "''Fallout'' 1st" players receive that allows unlimited storage of building materials. Bethesda has since addressed those bugs and gave any players thought to be affected by the Scrapbox bug free in-game materials as an apology. Several promotional facets of ''Fallout 76'' failed to meet original expectations. As part of the game's premium physical content, the promotional canvas bag and an alcoholic beverage bottle were found to not match the original products' descriptions as shipped, while thousands of ''Fallout''-themed helmets were recalled due to containing dangerous levels of mold. By 2020, Bethesda's work to improve the game has garnered praise from its users. On its release to Steam in April of that year, its users worked to fight a review bomb by posting positive reviews and experiences of the game since release. As of December 2022, ''Fallout 76'' had achieved over 13.5 million players and considered to have turned around from its initial poor launch.


''WWE 2K20'' (2019)

'' WWE 2K20'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports in 2019, part of the ongoing '' WWE'' series of video games based on the WWE sporting franchise. The series had traditionally been developed by
Yuke's Yuke's Co. Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. It was established on 26 February 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi. The company is best known for developing the '' WWE'' video game series, based on the professional wrestling promo ...
and published by THQ. THQ went bankrupt in 2012, and 2K acquired the ''WWE'' property then. 2K kept Yuke's on as the lead developer and had assigned Visual Concepts, an internal studio with several years of experience in sports simulation games, to assist. Yuke's role in development was gradually diminished over the years, and they were removed as the lead developers for ''WWE 2K20'', though affirmed they would provide Visual Concepts and 2K with support for the game's engine while they pursued a new wrestling IP (which in 2020 would be revealed to be an All Elite Wrestling game). Visual Concepts considered this gave them freedom to explore new options for the game that they felt Yuke's had been holding them back on. The game received "generally unfavorable" reviews on all platforms according to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. Reviewers and players alike found numerous glitches resulting from the game engine which were attributed to the removal of Yuke's from the development of the title, and the hashtag #FixWWE2K20 began trending across social media. At the start of 2020, the game was rendered almost unplayable due to a " Y2k20" bug. As a result, plans for a ''WWE 2K21'' game were cancelled in March 2020 according to WWE. Justin Leeper, a former writer for the series, stated that a combination of development problems with Visual Studios without Yuke's and poor sales, in addition to issues from the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, led 2K to put the series on hold, but in favor of a different style of WWE game as a replacement from a different studio. 2K announced the spin-off title, ''
WWE 2K Battlegrounds ''WWE 2K Battlegrounds'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by 2K Sports on September 18, 2020. A spin-off to the ''WWE 2K'' series, ''Battlegrounds'' is a fast-paced, arcade-style fighting game; ...
'', which was developed by
Saber Interactive Saber Interactive Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded in 2001 with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Saber was acquired by Embracer Group in February 2020, making the studio a direct subsidiary. The company ...
, as an arcade-action, "over-the-top" game. The game was released in September 2020 to mixed reviews. '' WWE 2K22'' was officially announced through a teaser trailer which aired before the main event of WrestleMania 37 in Tampa,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
. ''WWE 2K22'' received "generally favorable reviews" for the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
,
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 202 ...
versions and "mixed or average reviews" for the
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
version according to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
based on five, 58, 27, and 11 reviews respectively.


2020s


''Warcraft III: Reforged'' (2020)

'' Warcraft III: Reforged'' is a remastered edition of the 2002 real-time strategy video game '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' and its expansion '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'', and was developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment and released on January 28, 2020. The game was released as an update to the existing ''Warcraft III'' product on Battle.net; this provided new character models and other improved graphic features, but most other engine changes were patched over the original ''Warcraft III'' for all owners of this product. The game received aggregated mixed reviews from critics and as of 2021 is the lowest rated ''Blizzard'' game on Metacritic. Additionally, the game received a very negative reaction from players; it is "overwhelmingly disliked" according to user reviews on
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, and received the lowest user score of any video game on the site shortly after its launch. Users complained of the lack of promised features as well as losing features that were in the current ''Warcraft III'' product, lack of updated cutscenes with the updated character models, and other issues related to the confusion whether the product was to be a remaster or a
remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...
. The game has also been compared unfavorably to EA Games' '' Command & Conquer Remastered Collection'', which was better received for its improvements over the source material. According to a report from ''
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
'', the remaster had a troubled history from the start due to Activision pressuring Blizzard to move away from these remasters and staying to new games, along with internal management problems that hampered development. The game was only decided to be released to fulfill pre-orders and avoid having to refund those orders. Additionally, Blizzard's internal Classic Games team was disbanded about eight months after release, making resolving issues with the game difficult. By February 2020, Blizzard offered a no-questions-asked refund policy for users disappointed with the updates and promised that they would work to address player issues. Sam Machkovech from ''Ars Technica'' stated in January 2021 that ''Warcraft III: Reforged'' stood out as the "most staggering and baffling disappointment" of 2020 in video games, and argued that unlike other games released in the same year, it had a "full 12 months of opportunity to right its own ship" without any forthcoming improvements. In addition to committing to continued updates to ''Reforged'' as part of an announcement in February 2021, Blizzard's president J. Allen Brack said they learned several lessons in how they developed ''Reforged'' that they will avoid in their next remaster, '' Diablo II: Resurrected''.


''Cyberpunk 2077'' (2020)

'' Cyberpunk 2077'' is an action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt, based on the ''
Cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and ...
'' tabletop role-playing game. The game was first announced to be in development in 2012, and following a major showcase for the game at E3 2019, won many awards prior to release. At the presentation, the game was scheduled for release in April 2020. At the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, CD Projekt announced the game was being delayed until December 10, 2020, shortly after the launch of the latest
home consoles A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...
– the
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
and the Xbox Series X and Series S. The game was also set for release on
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
, Google Stadia and the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
consoles. Critical scores were favorable upon release based on the Windows version; later reports indicated that the console versions of the game had been withheld from journalists. In response, CD Projekt CEO Marcin Iwiński apologized and explained that they had hoped to be able to fix them ahead of the game's launch. Twelve days after release, the
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
score for the Windows version was at 86 out of 100, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were scored at 55 and 54, respectively. Numerous glitches and game-breaking software bugs were documented. Players began asking for refunds for the game through retailers and digital storefronts. Both Sony and Microsoft eventually agreed to allow refunds. After a discussion with CD Projekt, Sony also recalled ''Cyberpunk 2077'' from their online store for about six months while CD Projekt worked to remove bugs and improve performance to Sony's standards, with the game returning to sale in June 2021. According to CD Projekt developers, management was aware that the game was not ready for release but refused to listen to their warnings. The game's launch has been described as "a shambles", and the company's stock fell by 9.4%. CD Projekt has also been subject to at least one lawsuit for fraudulent claims made to investors related to the state of the game. In a January 2021 open message outlining the company's plans to patch and improve the game, CD Projekt's co-CEO Marcin Iwiński stated that they had "underestimated the task" of taking a game that was optimized for personal computers to work well on the older consoles, and their testing had not revealed the problems that players had seen on release; he further affirmed it was the management's decision to release the game and not the developers' fault. As CD Projekt began releasing major patches for the game in March 2021, the company stated that in future games, they will avoid announcing any new titles until they are "much closer" to a launch state. CD Projekt continued to patch and improve the game through 2022, and in partnership with
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
released a limited anime series, '' Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'' in September 2022. The series was well-received, and the game itself saw a resurgence in players and new purchases; its concurrent player count on Steam exceeded one million users within weeks of the series' launch, and surpassed records set by ''
The Witcher 3 ''The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed and published by CD Projekt. It is the sequel to the 2011 game '' The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings'' and the third game in ''The Witcher'' video game series, played in ...
'', another CD Projekt title. One developer, who had intended to quit after the initial launch of the game due to the poor reception, said in light of the ''Edgerunners'' boost, "So to have this moment, of people liking something that we did, it's really feeling a bit unreal. That finally people are appreciating it."


''Balan Wonderworld'' (2021)

'' Balan Wonderworld'' is a platform game co-developed by Balan Company (a subsidiary of Square Enix) and Arzest, and published by Square Enix, released in March 2021 for
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...
,
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
,
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
,
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 202 ...
. The development was led by veteran
Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
developers
Yuji Naka , credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series on the Sega Mega ...
and
Naoto Ohshima (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese artist and video game designer, best known for designing Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman characters from Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Although Yuji Naka created the original tech demo around wh ...
, who co-created the ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...
'' franchise and worked on other critically acclaimed games like '' Nights into Dreams'' (1996) at
Sonic Team is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights int ...
in the 1990s. Prior to the game's release, Naka stated it was his "one chance" to make a platform game at Square Enix. Initial impressions of ''Balan Wonderworld'' at its announcement in July 2020 were positive and led to anticipation. Reception turned negative when a demo was released in January 2021, with critics considering the themes weird and unclear, and the gameplay as lacking any depth. Square Enix created a day-one patch that attempted to address some complaints, though producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto stated it was too late to make major adjustments. Square Enix did not provide advance copies for critics, generally taken as a sign by the gaming press that the publisher has concerns about the state of the game. ''Balan Wonderworld'' received strongly negative reviews. Critics panned the presentation, story, gameplay, controls, level design, and technical issues. An aspect of particular criticism was the decision to use a one-button control scheme, which reviewers decried as limiting and foolish, with some power-ups preventing the player character from being able to jump. Critics called the game outdated, with Chris Scullion of '' Video Games Chronicle'' likening it to an early 2000s
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...
platformer. ''Balan Wonderworld'' also attracted controversy as it shipped with a bug in the final boss that contained flashing lights, raising concerns about epileptic seizures; this caused Square Enix to warn players to install the patch before playing. ''Balan Wonderworld'' was a commercial failure: it sold fewer than 2,100 copies in its opening week in Japan, and failed to make multiple sales charts. In April 2021, shortly after the game's release, Square Enix delisted the demo and Naka departed from Square Enix, announcing two months later that he was considering retirement. Kieran Harris of '' Gamereactor'' characterized ''Balan Wonderworld'' as a disastrous launch and "a pretty sad end to aka'sotherwise legendary career." Chris Carter of ''
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ...
'' wrote that the game's failure was sad, as he felt there was a lack of mascot platformers in the video game industry and that a high-profile one like ''Balan Wonderworld'' failing "can deter others from creating more". In 2022, Naka revealed that he filed a lawsuit against Square Enix after it fired him six months before ''Balan Wonderworld'' release and published the game in an unfinished state. He criticized Square Enix and Arzest's decisions during the development and apologized to disappointed fans.


''eFootball'' (2021)

''
eFootball ''eFootball'' is an association football simulation video game developed and published by Konami. It is a free-to-play game after being completely rebranded from the original ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' (known as ''Winning Eleven'' in Japan) ser ...
'' is a football simulation video game developed and published by
Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has ca ...
. It is a free-to-play rebranding of the long-running ''
Pro Evolution Soccer ''eFootball'', formerly known as ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' (''PES'') internationally and in Japan and North America, is a series of association football simulation video games developed and published by Konami since 1995. The series consists ...
series.'' At launch, ''eFootball'' was panned by critics and players, who criticized the "atrocious" graphics, lack of content, laggy performance and finicky controls. With 92% negative reviews, it became the worst-rated game on
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
a day after launch, and the lowest-rated game of 2021 on the review aggregator
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. Konami later apologised for the game's many issues and said they would work on improving it. Ahead of planned improvement patches in April 2022, Konami stated the game had been "incomplete" on release which they attributed to "a result of multiple factors including the transition to a new football game engine, the support of next generation consoles such as PS5 and Xbox Series X, S, the change of play style to free to play and furthermore, we tried to deliver new ''eFootball 2022'' for players as soon as possible." Konami said they took of the negative criticism of ''eFootball'' "very seriously" with regards to its planned upcoming improvements for the game.


''Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition'' (2021)

'' Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition'' is a compilation of three
action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...
s in the '' Grand Theft Auto'' series: ''
Grand Theft Auto III ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 1999's ''Grand Theft Auto 2'', and the fifth instalment o ...
'' (2001), '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' (2002), and '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' (2004). It was developed by
Grove Street Games War Drum Studios LLC, doing business as Grove Street Games since 2020, is an American video game developer based in Gainesville, Florida. The company was founded as War Drum Studios in October 2007 by Thomas Williamson and Michael Owen. It is k ...
and published by Rockstar Games. All three games are remastered, with visual enhancements and gameplay upgrades supporting modern computers and consoles. Beside intended visual improvements, Grove Street Games also converted the games to use Unreal Engine 4 instead of the original RenderWare when the games were first released. Prior to release, Rockstar removed the three individual games and the original compilation from sale on digital storefronts, intending the remaster to be the replacement for these titles. This was criticized by audiences and journalists, citing concerns with
video game preservation Video game preservation is a form of preservation applied to the video game industry that includes, but is not limited to, digital preservation. Such preservation efforts include archiving development source code and art assets, digital copies ...
, a lack of choice between versions, and the potential removal of music due to expired licences, which had occurred with previous re-releases. At release, the game had various visual and technical flaws, and while some improvements made to gameplay were appreciated, critics were generally disappointed with the treatment of these influential games by the remaster. ''The Definitive Edition'' received "mixed or average reviews" for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, based on forty-four and eleven reviews, respectively, and "generally unfavorable reviews" for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch based on eight and twelve critics, according to review aggregator
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. It was the sixth lowest-scoring game on Metacritic in 2021, specifically the Switch version received the lowest score among the platforms with 47/100. Further troubling its launch, the Rockstar Games Launcher went offline for a period of roughly 28 hours for "maintenance" following the game's launch, rendering the game unplayable and unpurchaseable on Windows; the game remained unavailable after the launcher was restored, while Rockstar "remove files unintentionally included" in the game. Based on information discovered by data miners, it was suggested that those files included the removed radio station songs, hidden notes from the developers, and ''San Andreas''s controversial Hot Coffee minigame. Following three days of unavailability, the Windows version was restored on November 14. The game was the subject of review bombing on Metacritic, resulting in a user review score of 0.4/10 at its nadir, among the lowest on the site. Reporters noted that some user reviews cited a dislike of the game's art style and the lack of advance copies sent to press, with several demanding refunds. Journalists noted a general backlash from players due to the unusual look of some updated character models, textual errors on in-game surfaces, issues related to draw distance increase, and model and physics glitches. On November 19, 2021, Rockstar apologized for the technical problems, admitting that the games "did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect" and said it would work to fix and improve the game through updates. The same day, they announced that the original versions of the games would be released as a bundle on the Rockstar Store; they were delivered for free to owners of ''The Definitive Edition'' on December 3, and remained available with all purchases of the game until June 30, 2022. Additionally, customers who bought ''The Definitive Edition'' through the Rockstar Games Launcher were eligible to receive one free Rockstar game.


''Battlefield 2042'' (2021)

'' Battlefield 2042'' is a first-person shooter game and the twelfth main installment in the '' Battlefield'' series. It was developed by
DICE Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing ...
and published by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
. Initial impressions of ''Battlefield 2042'' were positive since its announcement on June 9, 2021, and anticipation was high to the point that the player count for previous ''Battlefield'' titles jumped. However, opinions began to sour over the coming months when DICE announced multiple changes from the standard '' Battlefield'' formula, including the removal of a single-player campaign, and replacing the series staple class system with a "Specialist" system more akin to currently existing games. Concerns continued to mount when the open beta began on October 6, 2021, citing multiple bugs, glitches, and connectivity issues. The game received negative reviews from players at launch. Criticism focused on bugs, certain changes to gameplay, and a removal of features included in older ''Battlefield'' games. It became one of the worst reviewed games on
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
, with player numbers rapidly decreasing over time. Online harassment and abuse from players ensued after EA's global director of integrated communications, Andy McNamara, called their expectations "brutal", leading to moderators threatening to close the game's official subreddit. A Change.org petition advocating for all buyers of ''Battlefield 2042'' to be refunded reached more than 200,000 signatures in a month. In April 2022, DICE released an update which brought over 400 changes to the game, including bug fixes and improvements to game balancing. The following month, DICE announced ''Battlefield 2042''s first season of content, which would introduce various changes to the game, new items, and a focus on smaller player-counts.


See also

* List of commercial failures in video games * List of best-selling video games * List of video games considered the best * List of video games notable for development hell *
List of controversial video games This is a list of video games considered controversial. The list includes games that have earned controversies for violence, sexual content, LGBT themes, racism, and review bombing from fans. Some of the video games on this list have been ba ...


References


External links


"All Time Worst" video games
at
MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
*Top Ten Worst Video Games of All Time
at
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
-->
Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time.
by Seanbaby {{Worst works
Video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...
negative reception