Certain games have received negative publicity for various reasons, including poor gameplay, exceptionally poor graphics or music, a clichéd or stereotypical premise and storyline, a poor user interface, or an excessive number of bugs that hamper enjoyment or playability. More generally, and despite the natural differences in players' tastes and tolerances, a game attracting the negative reception is usually found to lack fun factor for most players.

Some games, in spite of technical excellence, still receive negative attention due to the hype and audience attention on the product prior to release.

Concept and criticism usually apply only to games commercially released and marketed by major distributors and targeted at well-known gaming systems such as personal computers, consoles and arcade machines, while shareware, freeware, public domain and amateur games are usually not exposed to much criticism.

Video games notable for negative reception

A

• Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis (2003, GameCube/Xbox) This game inspired the Golden Mullet Awards on G4's X-Play (an award it gives out for the worst games to come out that year, the name deriving from the title character), and X-Play also named it the worst GameCube game ever.^[1]

B

• Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing (2003, PC): This game has a truck-racing premise but features nonexistent collision detection (even on bridges), trucks that accelerate infinitely in reverse (to the limits of processing), yet stopping instantly when the key is released, players being able to go up hills at a 90-degree angle, a computer controlled player that does not move, and a complete lack of a boundary preventing the truck from leaving the map. These were some of the many reasons for why this game is considered "massively flawed." GameSpot gave the game a 1.0 out of 10.0, the lowest score ever given by the review site. It was the only time GameSpot ever gave a game a 1.0, and they described it as "one of the most atrocious games ever published."^[2] X-Play, a game reviewing TV show on G4TV, said "hands-down, this is the worst video game ever to be released." and was unable to give it a rating because the TV program's rating scale does not have a zero.^[3] This negative fame has spawned dedicated fans on several gaming forums. As of current, it has a 4% rating on Game Rankings, making it their lowest-rated game. It also has an average score of 8 out of a possible 100 at Metacritic, making it the worst-reviewed game ever on that site. BHMode.com called it "a joke from beginning to end" in its induction of the game.

• Bubsy 3D (1996, PlayStation) Bubsy 3D was panned by critics and fans alike due to its confusing control schemes and poor camera angles.^{[citation needed]} It was featured on Seanbaby's EGM Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Games of All Time list.^[4]

C

• Cassette 50 (1983, Cascade Games Ltd) a compilation of games described as being "so bad it caused physical discomfort"[3], "beyond awful"[4] and "a piece of crap collection"[5]. It inspired an annual 'crap game' competition[6] and a site reviewing bad games[7].

• Count Duckula 2 is a platform game follow-up to the 1989 release Count Duckula in No Sax Please - We're Egyptian. Both are tie-in licenses of the Cosgrove Hall Count Duckula cartoon series. The player advances Duckula from screen to screen shooting soft toys with a ketchup gun. Critically, the game consistently achieved some of the lowest review scores of the 8-bit era and is considered one of the worst games published for these platforms. Sinclair User^[5] reviewed the game, awarding it 64%, concluding: "If you like silent, slow, basic, dated, unresponsive, annoying games, get it!". The Your Sinclair^[6] review was more scathing, awarding 9%: "The whole thing seems to play quite happily by itself, with the player being a sort of novelty bonus." The Amstrad version faired no better, with Amstrad Action awarding the game a mere 3%. In the final issue of Your Sinclair^[7], Count Duckula 2 was voted the Number One Worst Speccy Game Of All Time by the magazine's readers.

• Custer's Revenge (1982, Atari 2600) a highly controversial game, consisting of moving a naked and heavily pixelated General Custer across the screen to rape a Native American girl (tied to a post) while dodging arrows. It is considered by some to have one of the worst premises ever in a game, and was ranked #1 on Gamespy's "Ten Most Shameful Games of All Time"[8], and #3 on PC World's list of "The 10 Worst Games of All Time".

D

• Deadly Towers (1987, NES) is an action-adventure game where the protagonist ventures through a maze-like castle. Deadly Towers was ranked #1 on Seanbaby's list of the 20 worst games for the NES.^[8]

• Drake of the 99 Dragons (more commonly known as simply Drake; 2003, Xbox, PC) is an action game with a comic book style to it. It was universally panned by critics, and GameSpot described it as "one of the most atrociously unplayable games to come along in quite some time." The controls in particular have come under criticism for "not working".^[9] X-Play named Drake of the 99 Dragons the worst Xbox game ever, and have even gone so far as to state it had surpassed Aquaman as the game that they compare all bad games to.

• Don't Buy This (1985, ZX Spectrum) is a compilation comprising, as the publisher Firebird claims in the cassette inlay, "five of the most uninspired games ever to disgrace the 48k Spectrum." Your Spectrum (8/1985) review (two 1/5 verdicts and a 2/5, and three out of three "misses") says "Take a good look at the words printed on the outside of the package before you buy ... the title of the package really does say it all." CRASH review gave it less than 20% on all categories (Use of computer, graphics, playability and getting started) except for addictive qualities (76%) and value for money (700%; the game retailed for £2.50) giving it a total value of 39.333333%.^[10]

E

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Atari 2600), a game based on the film E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, was released for the Atari 2600 in 1982. In a time when the market was being flooded with dozens upon dozens of lackluster games, this game is cited as being a major cause of the Video Game Crash of 1983. Atari, expecting that the E.T. franchise and Christmas season would boost sales, produced millions of copies of the game, which turned out to be a disaster. It had poor controls and gameplay, a fact owed to its hasty development in just five weeks in an attempt to meet the anticipated Christmas rush. Sales were dismal and most copies went unsold -- "nearly all of them came back". The company then secretly crushed and buried the remainder of the cartridges in a landfill site near Alamogordo, New Mexico [9]. The E.T. fiasco cost Atari millions of dollars and contributed to the subsequent collapse of the company.^[11][12] This game topped the PC World list of the 10 worst games of all time.

• Ethnic Cleansing (2002, PC) is a controversial computer game developed by Resistance Records, an underground record label specializing in neo-Nazi and white supremacist bands. In the game, the protagonist (the player can choose either a white power skinhead or a Klansman) runs through a ghetto killing blacks and Latinos, before descending into a subway system to kill Jews. The Anti-Defamation League publicized the existence of the game and unsuccessfully lobbied the developers of Genesis3D to change their licensing conditions to prohibit the use of the engine to develop racist games. ^[13] The game itself was largely ignored by the gaming community and the specialized press, leaving the game with virtually no official reviews.

• Extreme Paintbrawl (1998, PC) was a game based on paintball, published by the defunct Head Games, developed by Creative Carnage, and distributed by Activision. The game had eventually started a series up to a fourth game, despite being subject to many abysmal reviews, though they were considered about as bad as the original game was. It received a 1.7/10 from GameSpot and a 0.7/10 from IGN--the only non-mobile game to receive lower than a 1 from IGN.

K

• Kabuki Warriors (2001, Xbox) was a launch title for the Xbox that was a critical and commercial flop. GameSpot described it as "one of the worst games to be released this year or any year, on the Xbox or any other platform", and it is the only game ever to receive a 1 / 10 score from Edge.^[14] Game Informer gave the game a 0.5 out of 10, one of the lowest scores ever given by the magazine.^[15]

R

• Revolution X (multiplatform, 1994) was, in its original form, a well-received bitmap-based arcade light gun shooting game similar to Beast Busters or Terminator 2: Judgment Day featuring the rock music band Aerosmith. The game was converted for a small number of systems without great success. Due to its paucity of enemies and animation and poorly-digitized, looping music, Electronics Gaming Monthly writer Seanbaby described the SNES port of this game as "worst second of your life repeated forever" and "biblically horrific".^{[16][citation needed]}
• Rise of the Robots (multiplatform, 1994) was one of the worst examples of over hyped marketing. Most of 1994 was filled with previews about the game. When it arrived, it showed that only one move (the flying kick) was needed to complete the game.^[17]

S

• Shaq Fu (1994, SNES,Sega Genesis) has been called the worst game of all time^[18] due in large part to its less than imaginative background story, awkward and unrewarding gameplay, and suspicions that NBA player Shaquille O'Neal’s branding was attached to the game merely to rally up sales for a game that would otherwise be a financial failure. It was co-marketed with a rap CD and there exists a community tasked with purchasing and destroying all used copies available for sale.^[19]

• Spawn: The Eternal (1997, PlayStation) was described by IGN as "one of the worst games ever" and "a disappointing game that sullies the fine Spawn name."^[20] It got a 1.8/10 rating from GameSpot ^[21]

• Super Columbine Massacre RPG! (2005, PC) received negative attention not just for the technical inferiority of the game itself^[22], but due to the perception that the creator of the game was not treating the 1999 Columbine High School massacre with respect.^[23] This game was #2 on PC World's list of the 10 worst games ever. It is worthy to note, however, that this game is considered very controversial and is considered by many as an example of video games as art. SCMRPG was a finalist in the Slamdance video game competition, but was pulled by the organizers due to its controversial nature. In protest, most of the other entrants withdrew their games from the competition. With as many people lauding the game as there are those decrying it, reviews of Super Columbine Massacre are about as controversial as the game itself.

• Superman 64 (1999, Nintendo 64). Reasons for this include the poor graphics, absurd storyline and the gameplay itself, which disappointed many fans of Superman. Electronic Gaming Monthly writer Seanbaby wrote, "Superman looks a lot like a flying log in panties, and the entire world is covered in a dull green fog".^[24]It also earned the number one spot in Nintendo Power's '5 Worst Games Ever' and Spike TV/GameTrailers's 'Top Ten Best and Worst Video Games of All Time' countdown as the #1 worst.

V

• V-Tech Rampage (2007, PC) drew international outrage for its recreation of the Virginia Tech massacre weeks after the event. Rampage is one person's home-made Adobe Flash game, available online, that makes no attempt at the redeeming features or artistic value that SCMRPG has been claimed to have. ^{[neutrality disputed]} The 21-year-old author created the game "because it's funny,"^[25] and when it drew attention added a request of monetary donations to make him take the game down and apologize.^[25] The game consists of three small action levels, plays the killer's favored song in the background and encourages the player for murder or chastises for failing or only wounding.

Z

• Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon (1993, CD-i), though not considered to be a true Zelda game, is widely considered to be the worst Zelda game ever created. As part of the termination of a contract from Nintendo, Philips gained the license to produce three Zelda games (Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure along with Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon). All three received overwhelmingly negative feedback and are referred to in some circles as the "Unholy Triforce." They were notorious for bad gameplay, animation, scripting, and voice acting, but The Wand of Gamelon was roundly condemned by Zelda fans and is #6 on Seanbaby's 20 worst games list.^[26]

See also

• List of commercial failures in video gaming

References

External links

• GameSpy's Top 10 Shameful games of all time
• Worst Games Ever Part One
• Worst Games Ever Part Two
• Seanbaby's EGM'S Crapstravaganza 20 top worst games of all time
• Reader feedback to PC World's list of the 10 worst games of all time
• Interview with the author of PC World's list of the 10 worst games of all time

Donate to Wikimedia