Making video games is extremely difficult. Only those who have actually done it understand the monumental task involved in making something that will come close to pleasing gamers. Even after all the blood, sweat, and tears, the final product does not always turn out how it was planned for any number of reasons.
The following list proves that even talented developers sometimes put out a stinker. Unforeseen problems, difficulty grasping new technology, unrealistic deadlines, or a combination of the three all resulted in the games below sticking out like sore thumbs in each studio’s respective catalog. At the very best, they are worth playing as a curiosity, but most should move onto better games.
10 SIE Bend: Bubsy 3D
When SIE Bend was still known as Eidetic, they released the abysmal Bubsy 3D, which went down in history as one of the worst PlayStation platformers. Critics weren’t impressed with the titular character, who was deemed annoying. The panned voice acting didn’t help.
The studio quickly rebounded with Syphon Filter, however, a series they would stick with for almost a decade until they made a string of solid PS Vita titles, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Recently they released the apocalyptic open-world PS4 exclusive Days Gone, a promising entry into the AAA gaming space.
9 Bethesda Softworks: The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
3D gaming was a tough transition for many studios, and Bethesda Softworks was no exception. Better they fumble the ball with a spin-off than a mainline Elder Scrolls title, however. Unfortunately for fans, 1998’s Redguard and the prior year’s Battlespire were all they had to play in the six-year interim between Daggerfall and Morrowind. The wait paid off, though, as Morrowind is one of the most celebrated RPGs of all time.
8 Obsidian: Alpha Protocol
It would be unfair to call Alpha Protocol an outright bad or broken game, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the rest of their library. While the gameplay was heavily criticized, the writing and plot still earned plenty of praise. The company has since proven themselves more than capable of knocking it out of the park with modern classics like Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds.
7 Neversoft: Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
While fans’ opinions differ on the quality of Tony Hawk games after Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, all the titles still retained the addictive core gameplay. Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, however, added too many new features and refined almost none of them.
The single-player is also boring and uninspired. The series went into hibernation afterwards, though is set to come back strong soon with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 Remastered.
6 Gearbox: Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Colonial Marines was in development forever before finally hitting shelves. Even with all this time, the game came out a hilariously buggy mess. The iconic xenomorphs often glitch out and the game can crash. Worst of all, though — the game isn’t even scary. The enemies never feel threatening like they do in the films.
5 Free Radical: Haze
A significant portion of the Goldeneye 007 team at Rare left and formed Free Radical, who made the cult classic TimeSplitters Trilogy. Instead of going for a fourth game on the PS3, they opted for a new IP, Haze. While four-player co-op is a nice feature, the campaign is boring and lacks the charm present in the developer’s prior efforts. Unfortunately, its failure spelled doom for Free Radical. The developer’s glory days are sorely missed, though rumors are swirling about the return of TimeSplitters.
4 Howard Scott Warshaw: E.T.
Back when games were regularly developed by one person, Howard Scott Warshaw made a name for himself with Yars’ Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The overly ambitious vision and unrealistic development time caused his adaptation of E.T. to release barely playable on the Atari 2600.
While the game goes down in history as one of the worst video games ever made, one should never place the blame on Howard Scott Warshaw, who clearly proved his talent in the medium beforehand.
3 Blizzard: Warcraft III: Reforged
How does a remake of a classic title made by the same developer end up being significantly worse than the original? It is hard to say how, but this is just what Blizzard did with Warcraft III: Reforged.
The developers promised features pre-release that didn’t show up in the final product, triggering review bombs and prompting the company to issue full refunds to disappointed players.
2 Insomniac: Fuse
Fuse strays from many Insomniac norms, with a super serious story and four-player co-op. While the core gameplay is not broken, the campaign is completely forgettable and repetitive. Fortunately, Insomniac did not make a habit of creating subpar third-person shooters, and recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man, the best-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive of all time.
1 John Romero: Daikatana
After helping revolutionize the first-person shooter with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, John Romero broke off from Id Software to form Ion Storm and work on an ambitious new project, Daikatana. After five years of development and a questionable ad campaign for which Romero later apologized, the game came out in 2000 to abysmal reviews, mostly pointing out severe technical issues. Of particular note were the NPCs accompanying the protagonist throughout the journey.
While a blight on an otherwise impressive career, Romero has since moved on and co-founded Romero Games with his wife, Brenda Romero. They are currently preparing to release Empire of Sin, a strategy game in the vein as XCOM that takes place in America during the Prohibition era.
