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Games They'd Like Us To Forget
Games Radar has a short piece up talking about some games that otherwise very accomplished developers would probably like us to forget. They call them "Secret Shame" games, and run the gamut from cheesy cash grabs (Shaq Fu and Justice League: Task Force) to notable flops (the Miyamoto-produced Stunt Race FX). From their discussion of Justice League: "Originally, this game was to be published by Sunsoft, but was picked up by Acclaim after Sunsoft went under bankruptcy reorganization. We'd almost say they should have known better than to put this out, but this is notorious sh**-peddler Acclaim we're talking about. Thankfully, the game was rightfully ignored, and due to its relative obscurity, Blizzard is almost never subject to mockery for it. Up until now, at least."
As the article mentions, 18 Wheeler wasn't that bad of a game in the arcade. It was more or less a novelty
"truck-driving simulator". Which I personally think it didn't do too bad at. The only real problem there was that it was ported to home consoles. I mean, I know Sega was desparate for Dreamcast games, but seriously! Novelty games don't translate. Period.
Even Hydro Thunder (which *wasn't* a novelty game) lost a LOT in its transition to the Dreamcast. The final game was very similar to the arcade, but felt lame without the engine rumble and bass feedback. All the rush of the arcade was lost through that, and Sega made very little attempt to find a replacement for that feedback.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
No Daikatana?
If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.
--Kurt Vonnegut
No mention of Atari's ET?
Stretch Panic wasn't that bad. It had issues, yes, but at least it was different, which is more than I can say for a lot of games out there.
ShaqFu had nothing to do with Delphine's demise. They made Fade to Black(which I remember as being pretty successful) well after that and Wikipedia says they didn't actually die until 2004, officially anyway.
"Trespasser", the Jurassic Park game produced by DreamWorks. Now there was an embarrassment. Big budget, great franchise, years of development (1995-1998), botched physics engine. Seamus Blackley tried to write a rigid body physics engine and totally underestimated the problem. Reviews had comments like "worst game I ever played". The disaster was so great that DreamWorks sold the remains of their interactive division to EA.
I'll admit that I picked it up mostly out of good memories from other Treasure titles, as well as for the fact that it sounded and looked quirky and interestingly odd - and, in my own defense, I think I got it for $5-10 used, if I remember correctly - but I don't know that I'd toss it up there with the other terrible titles listed. I _do_ recall thinking at some point that it felt more like a tech demo than a game, one that got bundled and marketed when it was really just an interesting experiment. As such, I'm not surprised the list comments ran along the same lines.
Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
If anyone remembers this game, it is by far the worst that I've ever played. I think I got it free with a sound card. Basically, you race semis. Only thing is, your opponent never leaves the finish line, and you go right through bridges and other things you're supposed to race over.
I couldn't believe how much it felt like an alpha build so I went online thinking it was just my PC. Unfortunately, I found out everyone else experienced the same stuff :)
4 of these games are nothing to be ashamed of. Ninety-Nine Nights and Stretch Panic were pretty good games, granted they both had a few play control issues but no show stoppers. 18 Wheeler did very good in the arcade, so no shame there, it just never translated to the home market. The inclusion of Stunt Race FX really blows me away. This game sold very well, and was a damn good game, it had a great sense of speed. Great play control. A really well done game. If there was one thing I would say bad about it, is the graphics have not held up with age and now it's a very difficult game to try and watch. If I was trying to play it now on the Wii for the first time, I might slam it. But having played it when it was released originally on the SNES, that game was hot shit at the time, and put to shame Virtual Racing on the Genesis (it's competition at the time).
Played that game to death it was a worthy Miyamoto Game
That was a fun game. A little bit awkward to play, but the bouncy mechanics made it a lot of fun. If you compare it racing games of today, Burnout and so on, Stunt Race fx comes off feeling really slow. If you compare it to the racing games of the mid 90s when it came out, 4d Stunts, Mario Kart, maybe not f-zero, it was pretty normal. The motorcycle was pretty fast too. :)
but just about the only way to play it unless you were a rich kid with connections at toys r us, was to rent a cartridge and you better believe it would be missing the instruction book with the $1 replacement fee. that. was. never. replaced.
You needed the instruction book or it was impossible to solve.
It was impossible to get a copy after the first release, so I had to wait AGES until I got a walkthru on a BBS and found a cartridge in a thrift store bin for $1.
Anyway, if you think ET is frustrating (WITH the instruction book), you never played Atari Force: EarthWorld
Excuses, excuses. It wasn't THAT bad? Bad is bad. E.T. was crap. Compare it to other games of its day. I feel game reviews are usually shit but this thing would get maybe 2 stars, 30-40%... unless it's IGN, they who perpetuate sympathy points.
You can say "If they'd just done..." till you're blue in the face for all I care. All that jabbering and the game is still shit.
If I'm a little ranty, sorry, but I get tired of sympathy votes.
No sig for you!!
I, for one, thought it was well worth a rent. That's more than I can say for the much acclaimed "Virtual Racer". The only problem with the game is that the SNES simply isn't up to handling that level of graphics. The end result is an occasional slide show, but the game is still fun.
Presumably, Gabe picked up the Dreamcast version: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/05/25
In 3010, the potatoes triumphed
...am I the only person that liked that game? I mean sure, it was no Street Fighter, but I found it pretty fun, and there were plenty of hidden bits to keep you going...
If Gears of War seriously is the worst game you've ever played, I think you're damn lucky.
I think Gears of War is one of the best FPSes. I can't really testify to the multiplayer, but having played it single player and co-operative with friends, it really is a fantastic game.
But considering you've gone AC, you're probably just trolling for flames.
no custer's revenge?
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Ah, don't take it too seriously. These days everyone has to throw together some smack talking "top X worst Y", just to show that they're hip and irreverent like that, and you better believe them that when, by contrast, they give 95% to EA's latest game they really mean it.
There are a ton of games who were worse, or did worse for other reasons. Daikatana, ET, etc.
The reasoning starts to get dubious right on the first page linked from the summary. So a console fighting game is bad because by the 90's everyone was sick and tired of fighting game clones? Well, gee, I guess they never heard that fighting games _still_ sell on consoles, a decade later.
Second page... from what I understand, so that game was bad because it was a button-mashing Diablo clone. Well, gee, someone tell that to the people _still_ selling button-mashing Diablo clones.
Etc.
As I was saying, just another "top X worst Y", and not even well thought out at that.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Star Control 4 should really get a prize for being the most disappointing sequel/continuation ever made. Additionally, because it did so poorly, the real developers never got a chance to make a worthy successor to the incredible game that Star Control 2 was. If you haven played it yet, and dont mind the only slightly outdated graphics, SC2 was released under the name The Ur-Quan Masters under the GPL.
I'm sure they'd like us to forget they once promised us this title.
gears of war isn't an fps...
Stunt Race FX was a great game. It does not belong anywhere near the garbage on that list.
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
So basically, if I understand it right, it could have been a great game if only:
1. it had been better tested, _and_
2. they had fixed the bugs and gameplay problems, _and_
3. they had judged their market better, _and_
4. had better marketting.
I'm sorry, but, by the same token, any game ever could have been great if only they did those 4 steps. Daikatana would have been a great hit if it did all 4 of those.
Heck, especially #4 was what created the massive anti-Daikatana backlash. ("John Romero will make you his bitch.")
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
It was suppose to be a RPG made with the Descent engine...but was just a terrible, bug-filled game that was released WAY too early. It was 3D before 3D cards became popular, so the engine was software based.
It was just horrible.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Worst. Game. EVER. If you've played it, you'd agree. I can't believe I was given that as a present when I was a kid, and that I actually spent HOURS trying to play it.
Outpost for one. It was superhyped up Sierra title, it came out as a horribly buggy, mangled mess. Mad Dog McCree, came out on PCCD and 3DO, it was the poster child for bad FMV titles, along with Night Trap. Pretty much anything from the mid-90's FMV boom belongs on a worst games of all time list. With the sole exception of Phantasmagoria, which possibly manages to rise to the heights of mediocrity.
...without mention of Kokuto Chojin, the fighter from Microsoft for the original Xbox that was meant to revolutionize fighting games with characters who looked like they were covered in some type of lube, sounds that seemed to have been modified versions of various pillows hitting each other, combat that took the broken and painful system from Mortal Kombat and removed what little it did right (FATALITY!), and managed to have a soundtrack that was offensive to Muslims (they used verses from the Koran in one of the songs).
Bought a new video card so that I could enjoy the fantastic graphic experience of Doom 3. Which I'm sure would have been truly fantastic if any of the levels actually had lighting. And don't get me started on futuristic flashlight tech.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Hydlide was horrible. I wanted to tear my eyes out; there didn't seem to be any story, the play control was odd, the screen was fairly static and the scrolling was sub-par for the time...
Karnal
The article claims that cargo truck driving has never been done justice in a game, so I think the author must have missed Truckin' on the Intellivision. You had to manage your loadouts, gas, and the routes you took (which included many of the major U.S. interstates), and you could carry multiple loads simultaneously, even if they were slated for different destinations. And the best part -- split-screen 2-player competitive mode, where you raced to make the most money in the least amount of time. You'd even see the opposing truck drive by you if you passed on the interstate.
An awesome game for its time -- and it was all about cargo trucks.
Seems alot of people here are missing the point of the article. It's not about bad games in general, it's about bad games made by some of the more well respected development teams out there.
.. made by companies I never thought could produce such crap.
I was surprised to see some games on the list
Or is that something they have already forgotten, and want us to as well?
Game shames you!
You are reading a sig. Cancel or allow?
How can this topic even be discussed without bringing up the greatest "bad" game of all time - Battlecruiser 2000.
Granted, the most enjoyable aspect of this "game" was watching the programmer, and self-proclaimed PhD, make such an spectacle of himself on usenet. Highlights include the Coke Machine Incident, and threatening to track down one poster, and "bend back each rib until it snaps"
The threads went on for the better part of 10 years, from his early bragging about how awesome his game was going to be, coining the phrase "The last game you'll ever want", through his falling out with Take Two, and the continual thrashing he tried dishing out to his critics and customers.
"Bought a new video card so that I could enjoy the fantastic graphic experience of Doom 3. "
It was OK. Prey was better and built on the same engine.
I've seen that post before, usually it goes on to sing the praises of one of the other FPS's out there. Not sure which because I don't play a lot of them. Definitely trolling, however.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Technically, Gears of War isn't a FPS, but a "TPS" (Third-Person Shooter), since it utilizes an over-the-shoulder camera. But I'm jst being picky. Parent makes all good points.
How can they not mention the multiplatform fiasco that was Rise of the Robots?
Or as previously mentioned here Daikatana..
I loved Stunt Race FX.