The Worst Games of the Worst Year Ever

[Phoenixmgs]

Ok, this is going to get things thrown at me, but seeing as this is the only game I bought this year that I actively dislike...sigh...Ghost of Tsushima.

I've said this over and over but I'll say it one more time before I just stop talking about it. The game is technically fine. Its really pretty, the combat is fun for a while and the story is there. But it is so fucking dull, other than story and the occasional collectable or roaming gang of 5 or 6 guys. What else is there to do, this open world is dead and offers nothing of value outside of missions. Why is this game open world? It doesn't need to be open world when a load of structured levels you could approach either stealthily or aggressively would of worked a hell of a lot better than the open world. But hey, open world is popular right, even if there is nothing in it.

I played until the end of the first chapter, rescued Uncle Dickbag and got a "Sorry Jin, but our Mongolian brute is in another castle" and it was around that point that I was done. I played a bit more, I tried to be enthusiastic about it, I tried to force myself through the story but I just didn't care. I would turn the game on, look at the gorgeous scenery for a minute or two, at the cold dead world, sigh and turn the game off again.

God, even Mad Max, a game I hold up as "the most ok game ever" is better than this game, at least in Mad Max the world feels alive with stuff to do. But hey, those loading times right?

And while I'm rustling jimmies, I'm going to preemptively throw The Last of Us 2 in here too. No, I haven't played it yet, are you insane? But this saves me having to find this thread again when I get bored enough to borrow the game from my friend. Everything in this game looks like everything I hated about the first game with the misery factor turned up to 10 and added dog killing. Seriously, I like dogs more than I like anyone in this game. So fuck every character in this game that isn't a dog.

I've enjoyed pretty much everything else I've played that was released this year.

I personally gave it a 6/10 as Ghost is full of bad game design. Yes, it doesn't need an open world at all. It would've worked great with a world around the size of the new God of War. That 1st act area is way too fucking big. The game feels like a movie stretched out into a TV series basically. The new combat skills/abilities only make the combat worse because just about every one of them are basically "I win" buttons. At the very core, doing parries/dodges strictly, it's a solid system but the stances add nothing sadly.

 

[Agema]

Excluding early access games, I can't remember a single game released this year that I've played except Wasteland 3. Maybe I'm forgetting one or two from the very early year, but...

In other words, what a fucking rubbish year.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I personally gave it a 6/10 as Ghost is full of bad game design.

Ghosts is a 7/10 for me. I disagree it's bad design. It's just boring design, it works and it fits, it's just nothing new. If Ghosts was one of the first open world games ever, it would be incredible but as it stands today? Too many games do what Ghosts is trying but better.

 

[BrawlMan]

@CriticalGaming, Tsushima was more of an 8 out of 10 for I just love the extra tiny details they put in.

Excluding early access games, I can't remember a single game released this year that I've played except Wasteland 3. Maybe I'm forgetting one or two from the very early year, but...

In other words, what a fucking rubbish year.

Did you play Streets of Rage 4? If not, do so...now!

 

[CriticalGaming]

Tsushima was more of an 8 out of 10 for I just love the extra tiny details they put in.

Yeah the deatils are nice, and the world itself is beautiful. But details do not make a game good. The Last of Us 2 is deatiled as fuck, but that don't make it a good game.

Ghosts is WAY better than TLOU2 though, because you can tell that Sucker Punch made Ghosts with LOVE and that's saying something these days.

 

[BrawlMan]

Ghosts is WAY better than TLOU2 though, because you can tell that Sucker Punch made Ghosts with LOVE and that's saying something these days.

Exactly. They put in all those details with love. That is why I'm giving them the eight. Because there was clear passion and attention to detail involved. TLOU2 was just glorifyed torture porn.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Ghosts is a 7/10 for me. I disagree it's bad design. It's just boring design, it works and it fits, it's just nothing new. If Ghosts was one of the first open world games ever, it would be incredible but as it stands today? Too many games do what Ghosts is trying but better.

I say bad game design because pretty much everything added to the very base combat system was poor design. The open world was poor game design because the game didn't merit the open world. It's like Witcher 3 having a loot system is bad design, not because of the loot system itself, but because it had no point being in the game. Even the health system, which I do kinda like, is flawed in the sense that you can't recover health outside of combat (you can't even revisit springs) and that's probably why you can't go more than 30 seconds without bumping into a small group of 4/5 baddies.