Golden Age Duds
There are many who will call the last 15 years a golden age of video games—with so much excitement, development, technological advancement, and just some of the best games we've ever seen. But, while that might be true, it's also true that there have been some real duds released on the gaming world as well. Here are some of the worst games put out since 2010.
Final Fantasy XIV (2010)
Before you question our sanity, notice we are talking about 2010's Final Fantasy XIV, and not Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. There's a big difference. The Final Fantasy XIV game we're talking about is the one released with poor gameplay, unpleasant controls, and a 49/100 Metacritic score. It's also the one then-CEO of Square Enix Yoichi Wada apologized for and announced that they would do all over from the ground up. Which, a few years later, gave us the much better Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (2015)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 came out in 2002—and with the licensing agreement between Tony Hawk and Activision set to expire in 2015, the company had to get this game out fast. And when it comes to programming video games, fast usually doesn't mean good—an adage that held very true this time. They did put out a big day-one patch that fixed some stuff, but not enough to keep Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 off of Entertainment Weekly's Worst Video Games of 2015 list—where it took top honors.
SimCity (2013)
In a 2013 Consumerist user-voted poll, EA was named as the "Worst Company in America"—and one of the main reasons for that result was 2013's SimCity. It is a beloved franchise, but the company's attempt to reboot it in 2013 was a miserable failure. Prior to its release, there was a lot of positive press surrounding the game. But once it came out—server, technical, and gameplay issues led to poor reviews and angry customers.
The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum (2023)
Another example of how great IP doesn't always equate to a great game. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was developed by Daedalic Entertainment who, prior to this game, were mostly involved in point-and-click adventure games. They just weren't up to the task and it showed in the final product that got panned for its graphics, gameplay, and so many crashes that certain publications couldn't even play enough to review it.
Daedalic Entertainment, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2023)
Power Gig: Rise Of The SixString (2010)
The idea of including a real electric guitar with the game might've seemed like a cool way to differentiate themselves from the Rock Bands and Guitar Heros of the world. But unfortunately, the way they really differentiated themselves was with their "laughably bad" storyline and poor controls. Giant Bomb named Power Gig: Rise of the SixString the worst game of 2010.
Seven45 Studios, Power Gig- Rise Of The Sixstring (2010)
The Day Before (2023)
This MMO action game set in the world of a zombie apocalypse was one of the most wishlisted games on Steam in 2022. However, when it was finally dropped in 2023, most people who played it wished they hadn't—and within four days of its release, over 90% of the players left the game. IGN gave it a 1/10.
Fighters Uncaged (2010)
This was a fighting game designed for the Xbox 360 Kinect system. It was one of the first dozen games ever released for the Kinect and among other things, one of the biggest complaints from players was the poor motion controls. Well, maybe they got it right for the sequel?
AMA Studios, Fighters Uncaged (2010)
Fighter Within (2013)
While the motion controls were a tad better for the sequel, Fighter Within, they weren't anything to write home about. Add in the lame character designs and dialogue and the uncomfortable gameplay, and you can see why it scored a 23% on Metacritic.
Ubisoft, Fighter Within (2013)
Infestation: Survivor Stories (2012)
Maybe you know it better by the name it initially had when it launched: The War Z. Or better yet, you have no knowledge of this awful game at all. Dropped on gamers as a "foundation release," the game had plenty of issues—from poor gameplay to its use of microtransactions. The criticisms got so loud that it was pulled for sale from Steam and refunds were issued.
OP Productions, Infestation: Survivor Stories (2012)
Postal III (2011)
The company behind the Postal game franchise, Running with Scissors, subcontracted the development of Postal III to publisher Akella, who hired the developer Trashmasters—a move they ended up regretting when the game came out. It didn't take long for Running with Scissors to actually pull the game from their online store, deeming it an "unfinished mess". Also, Computer and Video Games magazine didn't just call it one of the worst games of the year—they labeled it one of the 12 worst games ever.
Running with Scissors, Postal III (2011)
FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction (2011)
FlatOut and FlatOut 2 both received pretty decent reviews, so it's fair to say fans of the series were looking forward to what number three would bring. Unfortunately, what it brought was FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction—with its bad AI, unpleasant controls, and bad collision detection (which is an even bigger deal for a game all about auto collisions and such). To quote the Eurogamer review: "This is a tacky and technically incompetent production with no redeeming features whatsoever, devoid of fun and an insult to the name it bears".
Team6 Game Studios, FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction (2011)
Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013)
The pre-release versions of this game looked good and enticed many gamers to pre-order Aliens: Colonial Marines. However, once the actual game was in their hands, the gameplay and lower-quality graphics didn't match up to the "actual gameplay" demos they'd been shown. This led to a class-action lawsuit against Gearbox Software and the game's publisher, Sega.
Gearbox Software, Aliens- Colonial Marines (2013)
Ride To Hell: Retribution (2013)
Ride to Hell: Retribution was supposed to be a GTA-style open world game set in the 1960s. In the end, it was released with linear gameplay that was poorly designed, unpleasant to control, and with subpar voice acting and storylines. GameSpot gave it 1/10 stars (only the second game to receive that low of a score—the first being 2003's Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing).
Eutechnyx, Ride To Hell: Retribution (2013)
Double Dragon II: Wander Of The Dragons (2013)
This 3D fighting game was initially supposed to come out in 2011 but was held back for two years before eventually landing on the Xbox Live Arcade service in 2013. Unlike wine, Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons didn't get better with age. With a 15.83% rating on GameRankings, Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons holds the third lowest score ever, behind: Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing and Ride to Hell: Retribution.
Technōs Japan, Double Dragon II: Wander Of The Dragons (2013)
Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)
It might be more fun to talk about which is the best Assassin's Creed game, but we know it sure ain't Assassin's Creed Unity. The fact that they also released Assassin's Creed Rogue for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that same year could've been a factor in the diminished quality of Unity. But either way, the initial release was replete with bugs and glitches that frustrated players to no end. Patches fixed things a little, but the legacy of Assassin's Creed Unity remains poor.
Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric (2014)
It should have been called Sonic Boom: Rise of A Bad Game With Lots of Bugs, Bad Graphics, and Awful Controls (but that's a little too long to fit on a case). GameCentral called it, "definitely the worst game of 2014".
Alone in the Dark: Illumination (2015)
This was the sixth game in the Alone in the Dark franchise and the sixth time was definitely not the charm. Video game journalist Jim Sterling called it, "ugly in every sense of the word, not just visually".
Atari Inc., Alone In The Dark- Illumination (2015)
Umbrella Corps (2016)
While a spinoff of the Resident Evil franchise sounds like it could be fun, Umbrella Corps was the complete opposite of that. Poor gameplay and an uninteresting story made this one a "lackluster spinoff from Capcom," said Game Rant, "one we're eager to forget". Do you remember this game?
eFootball 2022 (2021)
This football ('soccer' to some of us) simulation game had the honor of becoming the worst-rated game on Steam only one day after it launched. Besides gameplay and control issues, one of the most discussed problems was the truly horrible graphics. You might've seen the screenshot from the game of the Manchester United players Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Scott McTominay that made its way around the internet as an example of just how bad the graphics were.
No Man's Sky (2016)
This one sounded like it was going to be amazing: A space exploration game with more than 18 quintillion planets throughout the explorable universe, each with their own environmental flora and fauna that would develop through gameplay. Wow! Well, as you might imagine—given we're talking about it here—No Man's Sky didn't live up to the hype. Many gameplay features were missing, and the initial patch release didn't make things much better. However...
Hello Games, No Man's Sky (2016)
No Man's Sky (2016)
It's only fair to note that the developers continued to work on the game and release more upgrades and patches, and by the five-year anniversary, reviews had turned to be mostly "mostly positive".
Hello Games, No Man's Sky (2016)
Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)
Star Wars Battlefront wasn't a perfect game by any means, but it was generally well-received and sold more than 14 million copies. Star Wars Battlefront II dropped two years later—and while it wasn't a bad game, it had some big problems that players took issue with. Particularly with microtransactions which provided huge benefits to those who made purchases, causing a major discrepancy between them and those who did not.
Fun fact: A response on Reddit from EA in regards to microtransactions complaints became the most down-voted comment in the site's history—with over 600,000 downvotes.
Stefano Chiacchiarini '74, Shutterstock
Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)
Like with what happened with No Man's Sky, EA continued to update and fix Star Wars Battlefront II, leading to some nice improvements and much better fanfare. In their updated review, two years post-launch, IGN wrote: "After over two years of updates and changes, EA and DICE have redeemed this gorgeous shooter and turned it into one of the best multiplayer adaptations of the Star Wars universe to date".
Fallout 76 (2018)
Yet another game that turned itself around over time was Fallout 76. The online action RPG was the first in the Fallout series to go fully online and included multiplayer—but they just didn't have enough time to get it right before launch. As the developer admits: "When [Fallout 76] launched, the litany of issues we had, we let a lot of people down. There was very little we didn't screw up, honestly". But they didn't give up.
Fallout 76 (2018)
It took a couple years, but by 2020, the game had improved to a level where users were posting good reviews and reviews were praising the turn around in quality and gameplay.
WWE 2K20 (2019)
WWE 2K20 got pile-drived into the mat with bad reviews upon its release in 2019, leading to the trending hashtag #FixWWE2K20 on social media. To make matters worse, a "Y2k20" bug in early 2020 made the game pretty much unplayable.
Visual Concepts, WWE 2K20 (2019)
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021)
When it comes to great video games, three is better than one, right? We mean, who wouldn't rather get Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002), and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) instead of just one of them. You know who? Almost everyone that got Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. You'd think that as a bundle of the three games, nothing could really go wrong. But oh, would you be wrong in thinking that.
Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021)
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021)
Particularly, because this wasn't just a bundle of the three GTA games, but rather an attempt to upgrade the games with improved visuals and a new engine under the hood (Unreal Engine 4 as opposed to RenderWare). While certain improvements were praised, the general consensus was that these remastered versions weren't up to par (including a number of glitched and technical issues).
Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021)
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021)
Rockstar Games had initially pulled the three GTA games from sale as they prepared to launch The Trilogy. However, given all the backlash, the company admitted that they "did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality"—in the end, not only did they bring back the three original games and make them available in a bundle, but they also sent said bundle for free to all the Definitive Edition buyers.
Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021)
