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Worst Games Of the Year
Thanks to Bryan Gurney who pointed out the sharky list of ten worst games of 2000. Now, granted, there's still some time left, but what a list of games you never want to see. Any ones you think they missed? And I think we can all guess the worst game of 2000 *coughdaikatanacough*
Come on guys, get over it!
Daikatana was a really late game, and it wasn't that great (it might have been great, at least technologically, if it came out at the same time as Quake 2 like it was supposed to). But it wasn't terrible, just untimely. Most of us couldn't sit down and code that game engine, draw the graphics, animate the models, program the AI, make the maps, etc.
The real 10 worst games of the year are probably written in Visual Basic and distributed as shareware.
I decided to reinstall FF7 on my laptop, and on the back I noticed a few ads... including Tomb Raider II and Daikatana.
The catch phrase, under the Daikatana logo?
"Beleive the hype"
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ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
Thankfully Black Isle seems to be picking up the single-player CRPG game where Origin left it beaten and for dead in the filth of Ultima 8 and 9. Even after making the proper incantations and getting U9 to run at a barely tolerable speed, I just didn't like the game. The first couple areas were insultingly basic (not to mention they completely broke the continuity, considering U8 had the guardian taunting you about his successful invasion, and you became a demigod and gave it all up just to return home ... to earth?) The ubiquitous gypsy gives the most ham-handed delivery, lord british sends you on your quest like you were picking up a pack of salami from the 7-11, and nowhere in the game does it ever truly feel dramatic. Contrast to Baldurs Gate 2, which has lengthy intra-party dialogue (though not quite as interesting as Torment's -- also by Black Isle), numerous side plots, lots of color text (every item has a detailed description, from daggers to gems to unique magical items), and a main plot that doesn't reveal itself within the first hour of gameplay. The more than competent voice acting doesn't hurt either.
... who was that anyway?
Interplay (parent of Black Isle) has a very long history of CRPG's, and even this Ultima fanatic will gladly hand them the crown. Origin will be as forgotten as the name of the company that made Wizardry
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
As you can see from this review by the NY Times tecnology section, they pretty much all do.
Oh, if you don't like registration, try this link instead.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
I looked through that list and, man - they missed quite a bit. So here you have it, from the gaming gods of PC Gamer (if you must look at their website that is a shadow of its former self after being swallowed by IGN, a despicable Gen-whatever site, go to www.pcgamer.com)
:)
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(as reported by the venerable PC Gamer magaizine, October 2000, not restricted to this year, although quite a few were. Not all of the text is reproduced, just choice quotes
10. Curse You, Red Baron - "A half-hearted attempt at budget software from our sardonic 'friends' at Sierra"
9. Evel Knievel 3D Stunt Game - "I don't know what's more incredible - the fact that Evel can still walk... or that HeadGames can ship utter crap like this"
8. Test Drive 8 - "the series fell from grace even quicker than MC Hammer"
7. Beatdown - "...and AI code that's suffered from one too many malt liquor forties"
6. Mode - "Also known as Annoying Performance Artist Interactive"
5. Nations - "as far as I know, this is the only time the phrase 'wet fart of a game' has been used in PC Gamer's history [in a review]"
4. Swamp Buggy Racing - "catering to a demographic that does not actually own computers"
3. Extreme Paintbrawl - "As it stands, Paintbrawl's lead designer confessed that the game shipped without any AI" - that is not a joke, it actually happened...
2. Extreme Watersports (not what you're thinking) - "not even the programmers' mothers would buy this"
1. Skydive - "It's as if Satan himself got his hands on a DirectX SDK, and decided to share the incomparablepain and suffering of the inferno with the PC gaming market"
Well, there you have it. Be careful, though - just as you shouldn't post without reading the article, don't bash Dakitana without playing it. It's a really sucky game but is not as bad as most ignoramuses think it is.
Did I just defend Dakitana? Oh my...
Daikatana is the worst game of the year not because it sucked itself down, not because the sidekick AI was slightly smarter than a watermelon...
Daikatana sucked because of Romero's endless spending and Eidos's decision to back them financially. This (helped) cause the demise of Looking Glass Entertainment Maker of such incredible games as Thief 1 and 2, and System Shock 2.
Its really Ironic that a division of Ion Storm managed to produce one of the best games of the year, Deus Ex. It is even more Ironic that Warren Spector, Producer of Thief 1 works for Ion Storm. And now, Warren Spector has the rights to Thief 3 (damn good thing he does too!) and it looks like Ion Storm will be releasing it.
That is a strange cycle of events...
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
If your hands had to go up to play with your nuts, I'd be worried.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
From the movie "Wargames" with Matthew Broderick. If it is based on a movie, free feel to let me know.
"Don't mind me cutting myself on Occam's Razor"
I swore zdnet or some similar news service had an article just like this, and it listed South Park Rally and that Star Wars RTS game as well.
wouldn't daikatana count as the worst for the last four years?
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Global Thermonuclear Warfare Definitely a lose-lose game. In fact, I'd say the only way to win is not to play at all.
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I always play this game called laugh at the nerd. In this game a bunch of people sit around and laugh at the nerdy looking guy. One day, i'll be laughing, but so far that game has sucked.
I think we can all agree that this flop of a game barely deserves mention. It's horrible "graphics" consist of a few icons and a green logo. The gameplay is horrible at best; trying to get First Post is not my idea of adventure. And what's with the giant flame-spitting Katz at the end of level 4?
Ive played that damn game about a thousand times and have never cracked the top 20...
The monkey forces an ISP to install Windows NT in New York, NY. The monkey is wanted for crimes against God in New York.
The ivory tower has never had to reach so h
I dono't wy. D'you?
sgis ddo ekil t'nod i
The only one on this list I had the unfortunate pleasure of buying and playing was Force Commander. Problem is, the idea seems so damn cool. Star Wars Starcraft! Of course it was awful for all the reasons pointed out in the article and more. I still can't believe someone thought that camera system was a good idea.
After playing through the first 2 missons of Force Commander, I realized that this game wasn't getting any better and shelved it. The plot was half-way interesting: lowly Imperial officer rises through the ranks, and presumably ends up switching to the rebellion (didn't get that far). But between stupid AI on units and a camera angle that makes things look like a Picasso painting...One has to wonder how this can be from the same publisher that gave us Tie Fighter and Jedi Knight. LucasArts needs to find some better game companies to farm their license out too.
I forgot to mention that for two months after I bought it, I couldn't even RUN Daikatana. I had Windows 2000, and the game had a slew of serious problems while running under Win2K. Not until I got DSL did I download the 44.3 MB (!) patch and experience the load of crap as it was meant to be seen.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
M$FT is up to their old tricks:
preemptive announcements, vaporware, FUD, etc, etc.
okay, I'm behind the times, but this review is much more funny:
http://seanbaby.com/nes/w20-1.htm
I cannot find WinME in the list. I tried to play with them, but they are so terribly borring. I have to say that its absolutelly no improvement from the previous version of this point&click game.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Really? For me, this one works way better... Strange.
main(O){10<putchar(4^--O?77-(15&5128 >>4*O):10)&&main(2+O);}
Guess that brings me out ahead, though I don't buy a lot of games these days. Too interesting trying to wreck my body on a mountain bike. (Got a HUGE sting from something this weekend, swelled up on my arm like a walnut! =)
Most of these that allegedly suck are reminiscent of games which sucked 10 years ago. Guess it's a winning formula with the suits. ("But it was *HOT* on the Apple ][ in 1981!" "Yeah, but there were only 9 games out for it then!")
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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You are a fucking moron.
The games industry has sunk to a new low.
Almost makes me ashamed that I work in the [games] industry.
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"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." -- Thomas Jefferson
Really weak? In what terms? Experience? Well I saw/worked on all windowzes from Win 1.0beta to Windows 2000. Linux I have a far worser experience only a few years since 0.99...
The point of my comment? Well ten worst games? Well it is interesting. But I think that 10 worst OSes will be more interesting.
Why it wasn't marked offtopic? Well I don't eat with Taco or work with Hemos or sleep with Rob. So if it wasn't marked offtopic is not my fault...
Though we'll probably never know the real story as to why this game shipped so unfinished and with the rudest tech support of all time; what really galls is that no one who worked at OSI at the time seemed to remember what a legacy this game series was. It's where Warren Spector cut some of his teeth on computer gaming.
For me, as a player, it was - and perhaps now in hindsight rather silly, but for someone young - a moral experience. The Ultima series with it's continual history and small scale ethical conflicts taught me over the space of a few years that ethics and morals were never easy, and there was no simple solution to any large conflict. In their own crude way they reminded me of similar games in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game or the book in The Diamond Age.
It's what makes it so infuriating, that a game that taught me so many principles sacrificed them at the last minute to the nastiness of today's game's industry.
** http://www.nkhumanrights.or.kr/ ** Human rights in North Korea. 1 million estimated dead from starvation.