• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Worst game of this generation?

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
Well, it's always possible we can manage this one without all the sniggering morons popping up to suggest Nico, Halo or Metroid Prime. No big-budget high-review games deserve a mention in this thread unless they have a clever name with a 3 instead of an E. And maybe not even then.

We're far enough the generation that we've been blessed with some utter dross on all platforms. Titles without polish, without flair, without any redeeming features whatsoever. So which of them is truly the worst of the worst this time around?

I've mostly been exposed to the real dross through demo discs and pods in stores, which gives me a slight bias towards PS2 for this award, so I'm going to have to go with Godai: Elemental Forces. It's the first game I saw this generation where I genuinely felt it could have been done on PSX from a graphical point of view. The vile floaty jumping that tried so badly to evoke CTHD, and tedious enemies appearing one after another to be mown down. This game truly deserves to be singled out for special mention.

Honourable runners up places go to the GC version of Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (which missed out on the winning slot because some bits of it weren't that painfully bad and because a lot of my hatred for the game stems from the fact that the other games in the series were really rather good) and Wreckless on XBox (which missed out for the simple fact that some people seem to like it, so it can't be that bad - I feel that nobody could possibly like Godai, and its 35% average on gamerankings.com kind of backs me up there...)
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I think the award may go to Charlie's Angels...though your choices are almost as rotten. I'm sure there are other good choices here as well...but I can't think of any others off the top of my head.
 

thomaser

Member
There can be only one: Charlie's Angels for all platforms. So bad that I sometimes take it around to show friends in order to get cheap laughs. Yes, I own it, but I collect everything, so don't blame me.
 

Speevy

Banned
According to Gamerankings, it's easily Drake of the 99 Dragons for the Xbox. Another notable is Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure for the Gamecube
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Speevy said:
According to Gamerankings, it's easily Drake of the 99 Dragons for the Xbox. Another notable is Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure for the Gamecube

Ohhhh yeah, those are up there with CA...
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Oni for PC was quite decent, it could better, but it was not a bad game.

Charlie's Angels in the other hand... I remember myself saying "why me?" when I got the copy. Awful, awful game, a true Superman64 challenger.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
MetatronM said:
If I recall correctly, Driving Emotion Type S was damn near unplayable.

Yeah, I could only stand 40 seconds of that game. Literally...I bought it for $5 and after 40 seconds I could feel how crappy the driving was, never played again.
 

Forsete

Member
GoDai Elemental Force

rev-ps2-godai-4.jpg
 

Matlock

Banned
iapetus said:
Well, it's always possible we can manage this one without all the sniggering morons popping up to suggest Nico, Halo or Metroid Prime. No big-budget high-review games deserve a mention in this thread unless they have a clever name with a 3 instead of an E. And maybe not even then.

I'd hate to be lumped in with the sniggering morons, but I'm going to go on a limb here and say that I found Ico to be at least the least enjoyable game this generation. With gameplay and puzzles catered to children, a boring-ass art style, and no real meat to it...well, I played it for a couple of hours and just gave up on it.

Second place goest to PN03, which at first is a decent game. But then you realize that every boss is pretty much the same, with a small twist in their attack patterns. Kind of disappointing.

Bringing up a near third would have to be Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the Xbox. Although it was backed by my lack of knowledge in the game, and the unbearable slowdown...well, I gave it a night before I took it back. Bought the PS2 version a bit later, and played through it and Twin Snakes in order to get the whole MGS experience (finding it enjoyable), but damn if the shoddy Xbox port didn't suck a big one.

Note: these are only out of the ones I've played. :p

Overall for what I've not played, I'd have to say Drake or Max Payne 2, they looked so painful.
 

Matlock

Banned
DJ Demon J said:
Probably Wind Waker.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that lump of crap. Between the graphics that just didn't work after the initial wow faded and the gameplay that was godawful, it turned from an overhyped superstar into...something mediocre. Nice soundtrack, decent first impressions, but when you start on a quest that takes longer than half the game just to get a triforce....Ugh.
 
Xenosaga. Sorry, I consider games that trick me with the promise of quality to be far worse than games that are immediately identifiable as F-tier trash.
 

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
Drinky Crow said:
Xenosaga. Sorry, I consider games that trick me with the promise of quality to be far worse than games that are immediately identifiable as F-tier trash.

Then get out of my goddamn thread. :p

There are plenty of games that annoy me more with their mediocrity than Godai ever did with its badness, because I never spent £40 on Godai. But that's not the point here. This isn't about the games that you didn't like, or that you didn't like as much as you were expecting to (and given your relationship with Xenogears, how much were you honestly expecting to like Xenosaga?) - it's about the games that are truly objectively bad, and that don't have redeeming features that would allow anyone other than the most crack-addled to find them enjoyable.
 

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
Out of the ones I played, Panzer Dragoon Orta or Skies of Arcadia.
 
FortNinety said:
Oni (that Anime-ish Rockstar game).


!?

Oni rocked! I have a lot of friends that liked it too, although we did play the PC version.

What's wrong with it? Best 3D beat 'em up this gen (I dont count games like DMC and Ninja Gaiden as beat 'em ups, obviously).
 

Musashi Wins!

FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
Pirates of the Caribbean on Xbox. Home Run King on GC. The two shittiest games I've actually played.

WW and SMS aren't the worst games, just the most dissapointing this gen.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
My lord, some the games that people claim to be the "worst game of this generation" is shocking...

How the f*ck could someone say MGS2 or Wind Waker. There is a HUGE difference between not liking a game and truly recognizing it as crap. Hell, even if you DO think they are crap...they aren't even remotely close to stuff like Charlie's Angels or Drake. Are you people serious when you nominate stuff like that? I should hope not...
 
dark10x said:
My lord, some the games that people claim to be the "worst game of this generation" is shocking...

How the f*ck could someone say MGS2 or Wind Waker. There is a HUGE difference between not liking a game and truly recognizing it as crap. Hell, even if you DO think they are crap...they aren't even remotely close to stuff like Charlie's Angels or Drake. Are you people serious when you nominate stuff like that? I should hope not...

IAWTP

I'd say that the worst game was, in fact, Charlie's Angels.

I take everybody's word for it, but Drake looks so cool from the videos I've seen.
 
For me it'd be Spawn for the DreamCast. Mainly because it had one of the worst cameras ever,it kept freaking out everytime characters on screen moved around. It was pretty much unplayable for me,returned it to GameStp the next day.
 

Justin Bailey

------ ------
iapetus said:
Well, it's always possible we can manage this one without all the sniggering morons popping up to suggest Nico, Halo or Metroid Prime. No big-budget high-review games deserve a mention in this thread unless they have a clever name with a 3 instead of an E. And maybe not even then.
Well, so much for that.
 
My personal hated worst game would be Zapper. MY GOD WHAT A PIECE OF SHIT.

Just because Infogrammes lost the Frogger license (which was selling on nostalgia alone I think), they make up a horrible horrible clone : Zapper The Wicket Cricket.

MORE LIKE FUCKING HANDICAPPED CRICKET WITH HIT DETECTION STRAIGHT FROM THE BOWELS OF HELL.

I still have nightmares of reviewing it on GBA. The bloody thing FROZE WHILE SAVING. Aghghgh...

The best part is how shitty the control scheme was, and I talked to a programmer (god rest his soul) who was forced to work on the GBA port. The team came up with a solution for a much better control scheme but the higher ups would not hear of it.
 

Blinky

Member
For me, it would probably be "GoDai" because 3DO advritised the shit out of it, and then I rented it. Fucking horrible.

As for the people who said Wind Waker, you've got to be insane. I'm not saying you have to like it, but to call it the worst game this generation? That's just...wrong. Maybe the most overrated, or it turned out to be a dissapointment. If you're looking from a design point of view, as in, graphics/control/sound/ect., then it can't be the worst. But if you're just saying you enjoyed it the least, then whatever. Other than the Tri-Force Piece Quest-dillys I really enjoyed it.
 
There are plenty of games that annoy me more with their mediocrity than Godai ever did with its badness, because I never spent £40 on Godai. But that's not the point here. This isn't about the games that you didn't like, or that you didn't like as much as you were expecting to (and given your relationship with Xenogears, how much were you honestly expecting to like Xenosaga?) - it's about the games that are truly objectively bad, and that don't have redeeming features that would allow anyone other than the most crack-addled to find them enjoyable.

By pretty much the same standards used to declare Godai effectively bad, I can likewise find Xenosaga awful. It's a bad game, with terrible art direction, design, characters, controls, and mechanics. It's truly a bottom-of-the-barrel turd. I refuse to cater to the notion that popular games can't be truly bad -- just because some kids get boners for everything anime or some other ultimately subjective component of the game doesn't mean that the source of their ardor is above serious reproach.

There's people out there who somehow managed to justify liking Godai -- I'm sure you can find a positive note or two on GameFAQs.

Likewise, there's people out there who somehow managed to justify liking Xenosaga.

If you're gonna talk about "objectivity", then I'd be glad to tear into Xenosaga's godawful mechanics and level design. Otherwise, it's all about the art/story/characters, which is largely a matter of subjective experience, but I'd also be glad to call anyone an idiot for finding Xenosaga appealing in that regard as well.

Unless, of course, you mean buggiest/glitchiest game this generation, but then that would put perennial fave Morrowind below Eternal Eyes, and how would THAT make you feel?
 

AniHawk

Member
Out of all the games I've played this gen, Dark Cloud was the absolute least favorite. I even struggled through that game for a good 8 hours hoping it might get better before selling it. What a waste of time.
 
Ok, serious answer... the worst game that I actually paid money for this generation would have to be Billy Hatcher. It's not totally hopeless, and actually had some nice gameplay ideas, but it was just so annoyingly childish that I just couldn't play it.
 

Alex

Member
The Xeno series isn't a TOTAL waste, 'cept for maybe the new one. After all, Gears had a great OST, and Saga had Xenocard. ..That's about it though.

I liked Xenocard a lot for some odd reason, at least as far as I got in it. (I quit Xenosaga as soon as progressing would've required me to play the actual game more instead of Xenocard).

Moreso than Triple Triad or Tetra Master, as far as card based mini-games go.

Providing there weren't game breaking features later on, I probably would've bought a budget release of it as a sole game.

Speaking of card games, what the hell is Culdcept? I occasional hear it mentioned, and I think I've seen it laying around? Some sort of card/strategy boardgame...thingy?

To be on topic: Probably Shenmue, or Star Fox Adventures to be original, cuz otherwise I'd probably just say Xenosaga too. I honestly have kept my purchases fairly tight this gen.

Although, I am sure there are some crusty Dreamcast games I've probably forgotten about.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Well, if we are looking at "worst game purchased" this gen, my vote goes straight to Blood Omen 2 or Kingdom Hearts. I hate them both so much that I can't help but shiver a bit when I think of them. I was excited for both, yet they were both so terrible.

There are obviously worse games this gen, as noted above, but those are the worst games that I have purchased and the two that I hate the most.
 
Top Bottom