Worst video game of all time?

[ThePest179]

Alright, I think I found the next contender for "worst game of all time".

 

"Ethnic Cleansing", a poorly made, very buggy eyesore of a game where you're a skinhead murdering racial minorities and Jews. The graphics, hit detection, sound quality, and general message of the game are all terrible beyond human comprehension. It's like making "The Turner Diaries" into a game and giving the development to the person(s) who made "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing".

[Seattleite]

If moral repugnance factors in, I nominate ZOG's Nightmare for the title of worst game ever.

 

See, I'm used to games coming out that are just racist power fantasies glorifying the organized mass murder of various ethnic groups. I hate it, but I also accept that games like Call of Duty and Battlefield aren't going away as long as there's enough dim witted, racist, jingoistic douchebags ready to buy them. And if there's anything america has in abundamce, it's dim-witted, racist, jingoistic douchebags, so they'll always have a market.

 

This game is different. Worse. I don't want to believe this game has a market in my country, but I know it does. It's neo-nazi propaganda, hence "ZOG". As repulsive as that is, I gave it a look, though I never got as far as playing it. What made its racism so disturbing wasn't that it was so over the top, rather that it wasn't over the top enough. It was actually fairly tempered compared to the neo-nazi party line, and in an obviously deliberate way. That disturbed me.

 

I gave it a look in the first place for a laugh. I have a strange sense of humour, you see. I expected to laugh at the insanity being pushed the way I laugh at real people who believe in ZOG, or similarly insane things like the Illuminati or Reptile Government. But it being delibrately tempered meant that these people knew how crazy they sound, and were tuning down their beliefs to appeal to more mild racists and radicalize them later.

 

That means they are, to an extent, rational actors. And I find the reminder that people smart enough to realize "NOBODY is going to take us seriously unless we tone our racism down" can buy into such insane and obviously destructive things, and strongly enough to not question their beliefs even when they have to tune them down to convince others. That makes it dangerous. That is enough for it to be, morally, the worst game I've ever seen.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I've never even heard of ZOG's Nightmare...

[Seattleite]

I heard about it through Extra Credits, in the episode on propaganda games.

 

 

UP4_bMhZ4gA

 

[Alyxx Thorne]

Personally I don't take Call of Duty that seriously. It's a game to me so I don't read that deeply into it. Hasn't inspired me to become a soldier or anything so I dunno how much of a propaganda effect it has had on me... I just play the games because they are fun and solid and see them as playable action movies.

[Meelis13]

world war 2: time of wrath. basically numbed down Hearts of Iron 2 or even 1.

Ideally its supposed to have more options and graphical action to show, but no tutorial or instructions makes it near impossible to get started, plus its buggy and its sloooow as hell.

[DonRadkos]

Hands down Ultima IX Ascension

Consult Spoony's hour and a half long review to find out why.

Basically it boils down to this - The game looks like shit, it crashes all the time, the story contradicts EVERY SINGLE THING YOU'VE SEEN IN THE SERIES SO FAR, the voice acting sucks, the plot sucks...

To sum up - BETRAYAL

[Psychotic Ninja]

Spider-Man 2. Now before you take out your pitchforks, torches, and mob starting kits, hear me out. I'm talking about the PC version of the game. This, this has far less to do with the movie than the console version, it's a huge jumbled mess of a story, if you can call it a story. It's more like 5-6 mini-stories, with the movie story is barely in it at the start, and at the end. You know how 2 (console) boasted how your webbing actually attached to things, and future installments (with the exception of ultimate and 3) pretended to stick to things, and how people complained about that? Well PC version of Spider-Man 2 is even worse. Hell, it's worse than the webbing going straight up into space, like with Spider-man 1 and previous titles. See, in the "open world" there's these webbing prompts, web icons that float in the sky, some even near buildings and other objects, like a crane. You aim with the mouse (and trust me, there's no controller input, even though previous PC Spider-Man games allowed you to use a controller), until the courser says "swing", then you press the left mouse button to swing back and forth indefinitely.

 

Oh, and you use the mouse for everything, except movement. Left click for swinging, attacking, zipping, web shots, etc. Hell, if you have side buttons on the mouse, like I do, you can have it so those let you move forward and backwards, and there's no need to strafe, like at all. So yes, it is possible to play (and beat) the entire game without touching the keyboard. Oh and the game tells you exactly how to defeat every. single. boss. in. the. game. It's so bad, it's laughably good, which is why, if you can get it, you should play it.

[chappified]

Of the games I own, my least favorite is probably Halo 4.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Hands down Ultima IX Ascension

Consult Spoony's hour and a half long review to find out why.

Basically it boils down to this - The game looks like shit, it crashes all the time, the story contradicts EVERY SINGLE THING YOU'VE SEEN IN THE SERIES SO FAR, the voice acting sucks, the plot sucks...

To sum up - BETRAYAL

Yeah good god what a clusterfuck that game was... though I have no real relationship with it myself so I'd never really list it.

[ScottD.Betson]

Ride To Hell Retribution

[Selfsurprise]

For me personally, it has to be the third and fourth installments of the Broken Sword series. I love the first and second BS games. Yes, by today's standards the original games aren't exactly pixelated masterpieces (although the location illustrations are gorgeous) and both contain a handful of potentially game breaking bugs that will have you stuck in game save purgatory with no solution other than to start again - it's not a problem! The characters are amusing and often likeable enough (even when they aren't supposed to be) to make you want to talk to them, and they usually have a lot to say and the script-writing and dialogue is both well written and well voiced. Plus who doesn't like plots involving The Knights Templar, Aztec god summoning mirrors, a chisel-jawed investigative protaganist and his French girlfriend, and an easter egg involving a talking goat who hates marzipan? :3

Three and four had all of the things that made the first two games great, the awesome plots drawing from mythological folklore and conspiratorial secrets, the crazy and talkative national stereotypes, the barmy ambitious villains, and of course the playful tête-à-tête of George and Nico. How could they possibly spoil such a box-ticking brain-teasing formula for point n' click success?

 

 

They turned them into 3D games. You're probably thinking "I hate to tell you this Selfsurprise me ol' mucker, but games with three-dimensional graphics have sort of become the norm on planet Earth". Believe it or not I'm well aware of this fact, yet Broken Sword 3 and 4 seemed to have purposefully engineered with the most awkward, least intuitive and downright unplayable 3D engines I've come across in a game. Both games have a habit of shifting haphazardly between wonky survival horror angles with all the attendant directional button horror you would expect, including some chase/trap scenes that require split second input, all whilst the camera does all it can to halt your character in their tracks. Also it seems someone decided that neither of the previous Broken Sword titles were TOMB RAIDER CROFT enough, featuring some of the most unwelcome block pushing, pseudo-platforming, "walk around and stand here because reasons" puzzle sections you might ever come across. They tried to retain some of cartoonish charm of the previous games, but the glitchy graphics and facial animations make the characters look like malfunctioning Westworld humanoids out-of-step with their surroundings and even their own dialogue. It's ugly.

 

 

I knuckled under and completed both games purely because I love the series and I actually care about the setting and the characters, but man did they make it a chore! I might be able to forgive Revolution Software for going off on a new tangent if this had been released in the late 90's PS1 era, and in all honesty I would less better examples of 3D gaming to compare it to. But the third game came out in 2003! How on God's green planet did they mess it up this badly?! I think both games are an abject moral lesson in the dangers of trying to change a games paradigm when it isn't called for. In Revolution Game's defence both titles were released roughly within the timeframe of the point n' click dark ages, when the gaming industry and in-bed media seemed to be doing their utmost to ignore and forget that the genre even existed. Thank goodness the fifth game was a welcome return to the games older format, only with much nicer cel-shaded 3D characters and the illustrated evocative locations. And the sixth game promises to be similarly true to the tried and tested recipe.

 

Edited January 23, 2016 by Guest (see edit history)

[ScottD.Betson]

the leisure suit larry series after al lowe stopped working on it

[Alyxx Thorne]

the leisure suit larry series after al lowe stopped working on it

Need Al's touch... if you know what I mean...

[ScottD.Betson]

Spider-Man 2. Now before you take out your pitchforks, torches, and mob starting kits, hear me out. I'm talking about the PC version of the game. This, this has far less to do with the movie than the console version, it's a huge jumbled mess of a story, if you can call it a story. It's more like 5-6 mini-stories, with the movie story is barely in it at the start, and at the end. You know how 2 (console) boasted how your webbing actually attached to things, and future installments (with the exception of ultimate and 3) pretended to stick to things, and how people complained about that? Well PC version of Spider-Man 2 is even worse. Hell, it's worse than the webbing going straight up into space, like with Spider-man 1 and previous titles. See, in the "open world" there's these webbing prompts, web icons that float in the sky, some even near buildings and other objects, like a crane. You aim with the mouse (and trust me, there's no controller input, even though previous PC Spider-Man games allowed you to use a controller), until the courser says "swing", then you press the left mouse button to swing back and forth indefinitely.

 

Oh, and you use the mouse for everything, except movement. Left click for swinging, attacking, zipping, web shots, etc. Hell, if you have side buttons on the mouse, like I do, you can have it so those let you move forward and backwards, and there's no need to strafe, like at all. So yes, it is possible to play (and beat) the entire game without touching the keyboard. Oh and the game tells you exactly how to defeat every. single. boss. in. the. game. It's so bad, it's laughably good, which is why, if you can get it, you should play it.

The PC version was bad, but please tell me did we have Bruce Campbell in the PC version like we did in the Console version for the game based on the movie?

If not then Im going to go play my PSX ones with Stan Lee (Spider Man and Spider Man 2: Enter Electro)

[sheridanm962]

Day One Garry's Incident

 

KjTa_x3rbJE

 

The absolute worst. KILL ME NOW!

[Netwalkthroughs]

Daikatana (the PC version) holds a special place in my heart for being in the "so bad it's good" category. I never finished it, but man did I have fun when I played it. My two favorite weapons are the a laser weapon that ricochets off of walls and can bounce of a wall back at you and damage you, and the equivalent of a revolver that fires six times every time you click once. A game over screen that reads: Hiro Miyamoto (your character) failed at life. A save system where you had to find a limited number of in game crystals to save, in an era where almost every single first person shooter ever made had a quicksave feature and unlimited saves. And of course the only african american character in the game with the sensible name SUPERFLY JOHNSON. Leading to my all time favorite quote of the game: "I can't leave without my new pal Superfly." It's a trainwreck through and through, but the kind that that's fun to pull over and get out of the car to look at for a while. Oh, and also the whole ruining Jon Romero's public image and nearly bankrupting Ion Storm thing.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Daikatana (the PC version) holds a special place in my heart for being in the "so bad it's good" category. I never finished it, but man did I have fun when I played it. My two favorite weapons are the a laser weapon that ricochets off of walls and can bounce of a wall back at you and damage you, and the equivalent of a revolver that fires six times every time you click once. A game over screen that reads: Hiro Miyamoto (your character) failed at life. A save system where you had to find a limited number of in game crystals to save, in an era where almost every single first person shooter ever made had a quicksave feature and unlimited saves. And of course the only african american character in the game with the sensible name SUPERFLY JOHNSON. Leading to my all time favorite quote of the game: "I can't leave without my new pal Superfly." It's a trainwreck through and through, but the kind that that's fun to pull over and get out of the car to look at for a while. Oh, and also the whole ruining Jon Romero's public image and nearly bankrupting Ion Storm thing.

I think it's a really good game with huge flaws that, once you get used to them and can play with them, don't really get in the way that much.

[Binky The Rabbit]

They turned them into 3D games.

If I'm not mistaken, the same thing happened to Team 17 concerning the Worms games. Legendary in 2D, panned in 3D. In response, they return to 2D , and everyone is happy again.

 

----

 

Many years ago, when I was...12? One of my PS2 demodiscs featured the game 'Amplitude'. This essentially was the precursor to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. You move down a track, zapping notes at the right time to gain points. You 'build' the song by doing this across many different tracks (vox, drums, bass, keys etc), and it's a challenge to keep everything playing. I aced the four playable tracks, and really enjoyed it.

 

Now, fast forward to the time when I bought Robot Wars (see page 1 on this thread), and also bought the full game for peanuts. In the intervening years I've become a much better musician with a keen ear for rhythm. And the result?

 

I can't play Amplitude. At all. This is due to latency between pressing a button and the game processing the command. This is something I notice all the time in games. Click-pause-gunshot. I press these buttons in time with the song playing, but the game doesn't register it until after the beat I responded to has moved on. I need to preemptively press the button before I feel I should. Now, I can adapt to that in games such as shooters, but rhythm games? When you've been training your body to follow a beat spot-on, it feels wrong to ditch your senses. I got my sister - also a musician - to try it too, with the exact same results. Perhaps this is good training to become more fluid with rhythm, but I'm not convinced.

 

What makes me wonder is *why* the latency, and why was I so good at Amplitude when I was younger? Either my hardware is old and failing (we're talking about 14 year old gear now), or I've become accustomed to more advanced technology with low-latency. Or maybe I just wasn't as tuned in to rhythm back then as I am now.

 

Either way, I could give Amplitude one more stab and focus on what I'm seeing instead of what I'm hearing. But I reckon it's a lost cause.