We continue our lists with the worst games we’ve reviewed this year. This year featured a few surprises.
2023 is a year marked with plenty of somewhat newer titles. We focused heavily on the Playstation 2 and found some interesting titles. Unfortunately, not all games on that system are the greatest out there. In fact, some of these titles are from very well known franchises. As a result, it this list wound up having a few surprises. Of course, the worst game all year is probably not really a surprise to some long term gamers out there. Here is this years top 10 list:
10. L.A. Rush (Playstation 2)
The series featured so many great games. It makes it all the more a shame that it had to end on this note. With almost every trademark feature from the previous Rush games removed and repetitive gameplay, this game winds up being a hollowed out husk of what could have been. With such a huge missed opportunity, this game makes it onto this years list.
Score: 52%
9. Fear Factor Unleashed (Game Boy Advance)
3 women, 3 men, $50,000, 1 winner. An exciting start and premise to a game that, well, falls apart shortly after. With short gameplay and limited variety, this game simply disappoints. It didn’t help that the stunts are incredibly unrealistic and the sounds just fall flat to boot. Definitely a game that can be skipped over.
Score: 52%
8. Gran Turismo 4 (Playstation 2)
You’d think that a name like this would stay off of lists like this considering what a great start this series has had. Unfortunately, that is not the case. With long drawn out races, confusing menu’s, and pointless 24 hour races (literally, you need to race a full 24 hours to complete them), this game winds up being a huge disappointment.
Score: 50%
7. Review: Dragon Quest VI: Realm of Revelation (Nintendo DS)
The series was starting to turn things around for us until we hit this game. It wound up being an example of why bigger isn’t always better. While it boasts of many hours worth of gameplay, it might not have hurt if those hours were actually enjoyable. With a random assortment of small storylines that just don’t connect combined with barely even a clue of what you should do next, this game gradually loses all entertainment value.
Score: 50%
6. Call of Duty: World at War – Final Fronts (Playstation 2)
Definitely not a way to finish a PS2 series, that’s for sure. With design problems that plagued the previous games in the series being present, this game also shortens gameplay and abbreviates features found in previous games. With PS3 also on the market at this point for some time, issues only get further compounded from there.
Score: 50%
5. Turok: Evolution (Playstation 2)
This is another game where the series was quite good before this game. Then, getting to this game, it winds up being a huge disappointment. The best thing about this game is probably the cover art. After that, you get a game with horrible writing. Adding to this are the features that made previous games so great being completely stripped out. With a bad difficulty curve, barely passable graphics and less than stellar audio, this game winds up being a fail for us.
Score: 46%
4. Final Fantasy VIII (Playstation)
We tried to like this series while it was on the original Playstation. We really did. We couldn’t. This game wound up being particularly noteworthy for how far this series fell at the time. While we can applaud experimentation in gaming, it doesn’t always mean the experimentation is going to be successful. This is a case in point example. This game tried to re-imagine progressing and building up your characters in an RPG. It wound up being a game that challenges you to break it’s system more than anything else. With repetitive and boring battle sequences to boot, this game winds up being a swing and a miss for us.
Score: 46%
3. Call of Duty 3 (Playstation 2)
Yet another Call of Duty game. This time, it’s the third game in the series. This game takes a game which features stripped down features and, well strips those features down even further. Bland level design and plain storylines just doesn’t work for this game. As a result, this one winds up being a flop worthy of the top 3 for this year.
Score: 46%
2. Dragon Warrior VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (Playstation)
This years runner up is definitely contrary to some of the lists out there. The game is intentionally slowed down just for the sake of racking up time needed to complete the game. You even spend over 2 hours in the beginning without even seeing a single battle. With money balancing thrown way off into the expensive end of things and almost nothing really novel introduced in this game, this one winds up being pretty unplayable. Piling on top of it is bad writing and sound and visual effects that are practically two generations old at this point. For us, this is definitely a game to avoid.
Score: 38%
1. Superman (N64)
We warned year this years winner for worst game we’ve played all year was obvious. Some even go so far as to call it the worst game of all time (a claim we actually disagree with, but we’re not saying this is a good game by any means). This game features bad controls and a steep learning curve for the never-ending ring flying levels. With very little in the way of variety in enemies and a pitiful number of missions to add variety, this game is already in the basement for quality. Combine really bad graphics and plain audio, there’s no question that this game is just a brutal game to play. An unquestionably bad game all around.
Score: 28%
Honourable Mentions
This year featured a full roster of games for the list. Truth be told, we only barely got a full roster, but still, we did get our fair share of lacklustre games.
Medal of Honor – Vanguard (Playstation 2):
Another game in the series that simply failed to disappoint. Nothing interesting has really been added to this game. What winds up being in here is an extremely dumbed down FPS game with barely anything to enjoy in it.
Score: 56%
Final Fantasy IX (Playstation):
Like we said, we really tried to like this game on the original Playstation. It didn’t work. Supposedly, this game is meant to be a nod to the older games in the series. In reality, it’s passing references mixed with plain boring gameplay.
Score: 56%
World Series of Poker 2008 – Battle for the Bracelets (Nintendo DS):
To be fair, if you are already into Poker, this is not a bad game. Unfortunately, this game only features a few variations of Hold ’em and that’s it. With lacklustre endings, this game can only be barely passable in the end.
Score: 54%
Top Gear Rally 2 (N64):
To be fair, there are some interesting concepts and ideas found in this game. Unfortunately, the execution makes this game almost bad enough to make the list. At first, this game doesn’t play too bad, but with bad parts and almost no durability in the vehicles you race, this game is one to simply pass on. A shame considering there are some good games in this series as well.
Score: 54%
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (Game Boy Advance):
This years game that just missed out on the cut is this title. We thought the previous Playstation port was bad, but decided to give this port a try to see if it’s any better. While it may be a bit better, it’s not better by much. While the racing isn’t terrible, the menu’s and concepts that surround the racing makes this game play more like a tech demo then an actual game.
Score: 54%
That’s this years top 10 worst games we’ve reviewed this year list. Join us tomorrow where we celebrate the top 10 best games we’ve reviewed this year!
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
