Worst Games in Great Franchises

[Hawki]

Okay. Note that when I list the "worst," I don't necessarily mean "bad," just that it's the weakest in its series by a significant margin.

-Advance Wars: Advance Wars (as in, the original)

-Battlefield: Battlefield: Modern Combat (the console version of BF2 in case you're wondering)

-Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight (nah, really?)

-Doom: Doom II (every Doom game I've played has brought something to the table bar Doom 2, which is little more than an expansion to the original)

-Gears of War: Judgement (not bad by any means, but easily my least favourite installment)

-Halo: ODST (for a lot of reasons)

-The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (haven't played every LoZ game, but this is my least favourite, and frankly, I find its popularity baffling)

-Metal Gear: Metal Gear (as in, the very first game)

-Metroid Prime: Hunters (I'm sorry, but there's no way this is worse than Other M, in case you're wondering. Other M didn't cause me physical pain to play at least)

-Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps (I'd list Beginning Hour, but that's a demo rather than a game, so Umbrella Corps it is)

-Sonic the Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog (in case you're wondering, SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter is technically worse (yes, I played it), and I haven't played enough of Sonic 06 to really rank it, so Edgy the Hedgy gets last place)

-Star Fox 2 (they somehow made a game worse than Star Fox Command)

-Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (this is arguably cheating, but like Doom II, this is the one game in the Warcraft franchise that really has nothing left to offer - WC2/3 give different RTS experiences, WoW's an MMO, Hearthstone's a CCG, but there's no real reason to go back to this game)

 

[Hawki]

I hate Sonic Adventures 2. Why tf is it so praised is beyond me. I think the praises come from that first level, and while these speed sections are great, the rest of the game sucks ass. Knuckles/Rouge's treasure hunting is painfully tedious. The voice acting can really suck. The whole idea of "People confusing Sonic with Shadow" is stupid. While the whole hero/villain storyline idea sounds cool, the gameplay for them really isn't any different.

Even if you hate SA2, I'm not sure how it could be considered the worst, though that depends on how many Sonic games you've played. Me, personally, it's my #5 STH game (give or take).

But as for that, every speed section is great, and I find the mech sections enjoyable. The treasure hunting you can take or leave. As for people confusing Shadow for Sonic, I don't really have a problem with it. It's the same logic that Mario Sunshine has, plus, the fact that no other speedster hedgehog has been seen in this world up till now, plus, Shadow is generally seen from a distance. Yes, it's silly, but games like this have the advantage of operating on looser logic than more realistic settings.

Personal franchise gripe? Halo 5 *Puts ear to the ground for Hawki hooves*

343 took ownership of the franchise with Halo 4, did a descent enough job, the gave us the Master Chief Collection (amazing,) then shat out Halo 5 like "fuck all that shit." Basically spit in the collective faces of Halo fans by side-lining the franchise's iconic protagonist, and making him secondary and effectively an antagonist in a nonsense conspiracy plot we all knew was bullshit from the beginning. It's the only [main installment of] Halo I've only played once and will never play again. Then the multiplayer has that insipid "pay to win" aspect which is a huge slight to the game that arguably made multiplayer gaming as huge as it has become.

Anyway, we both know where we stand there. You can hate Halo 5, I can hate ODST (and Halo 4 for that matter), and we can all hate happily together.

 

[BrawlMan]

You mean the first Hyrule Warriors? Or is she unlockable in AoC? Wifey and I haven't progressed the plot beyond like chapter 2-3 at this point. we keep getting sidetracked by side missions and gathering quests.

The first HW.

 

[happyninja42]

The first HW.

Ah, bummer, was hoping to play her in AoC. Ah well, I have Urbosa Lightning Goddess of the Sands! I think I'll be ok "YOU DESERVE NO MERCY!!" *snaps fingers*

 

[Xprimentyl]

Anyway, we both know where we stand there. You can hate Halo 5, I can hate ODST (and Halo 4 for that matter), and we can all hate happily together.

Lol, you do not disappoint, sir.

 

[happyninja42]

Homeworld 2. Honestly, a jarring tonal shift from Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm. I know Cataclysm is sort of like the forgotten child, but it was a fantastic game, and a really good entry in the franchise. So I was very annoyed to learn that HW 2, basically ignored the events of Cataclysm, and wrote a very bland, Prophecy story about some bullshit about finding the 3 Great Engines and using them to whatever whatever. It was incredibly lame, and went way more "mystic hoodoo" than a scifi game about space fleets should ever go. Also they killed the emotional tone of Karen S'Jet. In the first game, she sounded robotic, but only to a point, she still had emotions and tone that came through in her voice. You could still feel the humanity in her. But HW 2, that was gone. It honestly sounded like they just used some voice synth program and ran her script through it. It was entirely devoid of life, and was incredibly boring. It lacked all the feeling and emotion of the prior 2 games.

 

[BrawlMan]

• Sonic 06
• Streets of Rage 3 US/UK/EU version.
• Castlevania 64
• Dead or Alive 1
• Tekken 1
• Vector Man 2 - The game's not bad, but it's more of the same and just not as interesting.
• Final Fight Streetwise
• Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble
• Smash Bros 1
• FEAR 3
• Dead to Rights: Retribution
• Dead Rising 4
• Golden Axe III
• FF 13
• Devil May Cry 2
• Street Fighter The Movie: The Game
• Travis Strikes Again
• Anarchy Reigns - The combat and multiplayer modes are fun, but the single player is really lacking compared to Mad World.
• God of War 1
• Killzone
• Resistance 2
• Crime Fighters 1
• Gravity Rush 2
• Shinobi PS2
• True Crime: Streets of New York
• Wario Land 2
• Strider 1
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• Code Veronica & 0. I am not counting multiplayer spin-offs. This is me talking about the main line entries.

 

[Worgen]

Really? Because I remember when the game was released, people treated as some sort of a godsend, and was salty towards anyone who DARED to criticize its flaws. I think it may had something to do with COD getting a better score, but I an not exactly sure why.

I don't think that was a thing. Unless it was people freaking out before a game released about things, which does happen and is weird. But, that would only have lasted till it released, its on pretty much all the worst of Zelda lists, along with wand of gamalor (whatever) and... the other CDI zelda game.

 

[Hawki]

Killzone

Liberation?

Code Veronica & 0

. I am not counting multiplayer spin-offs. This is me talking about the main line entries.

Even there, I'd nominate 7 if we're confined the main entries. Granted, haven't played 6, so...

 

[BrawlMan]

Liberation?

Did not play it and forgot it existed. I am counting mainline games and not side games or spin-offs.

Even there, I'd nominate 7 if we're confined the main entries. Granted, haven't played 6, so...

7 is not bad, but average and way over praised by critics, certain YT personalities, and Max Dood. RE7 is just a weaker RE1 Remake, but is in first person. Like I said before, Evil Within 1 & 2 are a better RE6 & RE7 respectively.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Even there, I'd nominate 7 if we're confined the main entries. Granted, haven't played 6, so...

I played 6. For just over twenty minutes. I quit when I realized I'd fought more QTEs than zombies.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Did not play it and forgot it existed. I am counting mainline games and not side games or spin-offs.


7 is not bad, but average and way over praised by critics, certain YT personalities, and Max Dood. RE7 is just a weaker RE1 Remake, but is in first person. Like I said before, Evil Within 1 & 2 are a better RE6 & RE7 respectively.

I dunno. I thought 7 was easily the best RE game since 4. I think it got overhyped because it was a return to genuine horror that hasn't been in the series since 2...arguably 3. And it triggered all the things that people originally loved about the games again.

But you know....just imo.

 

[Dalisclock]

Prince of Persia 2: Warrior Within

Took the first game, with an awesomely fun, light hearted, but also dark as hell premise, loveable main characters, killer soundtrack, and just a joy of a game....and turned the protag into an edgy, emo edgelord, complete with deathmetal music during the tutorial, which culminates in a battle against Metal Thong Girl! When you introduce your main antagonist, ASS FIRST, and make a point to slow motion zoom onto her METAL THONG as her cheeks sway back and forth, you've fucking lost me. I refuse to finish that game, I turned it off after that, feeling like they took a shotgun to the entire mood of the first game. PoP: Two Thrones was kind of better, so I just kind of pretended 2 didn't happen. But I didn't really care about what was happening enough to finish that one.

You're not missing much. It's a cool concept for a game and setting but man it does very little with it. The big spooky genric fantasy castle you spend 90% of the game in has no identity or...anything really, in contrast to the Arabian Knights/Middle Eastern feel of the other two games and feels like a massive letdown. Maybe I was hoping for the ISLAND OF TIME to maybe incorporate elements from settings across history or something but I can't help but feel the devs didn't even try.

 

[Dalisclock]

I have a hard time deciding which Metal Gear Solid Game I hate more; MGS3 Pachinko, or Metal Gear Survive. Both are the results of Konami's greedy antics, using a good franchise name to sell themselves. On one hand, we got a remake with AMAZING-LOOKING visuals but is unfortunately restricted to pachinko. On the other hand, we got a shitty survival game with terrible mechanics and PURCHASAGINE SAVE SLOT that doesn't even fit well into MGS universe.

Metal Gear Survive? I'm not aware of any such game. Unless you mean one of those "other" games, like Snakes Revenge which nobody cares about because they're not canon.

But yeah, the Pachnikoslot is a slap in the face with a flaccid willy.

 

[BrawlMan]

I think it got overhyped because it was a return to genuine horror that hasn't been in the series since 2...arguably 3. And it triggered all the things that people originally loved about the games again.

That's the problem. So many people had a big ass backlash towards 6, that they would take and accept anything while nearly ignoring or downplaying the flaws of 7. 7 may have have been a return to "Classic RE horror", but the game has a lots of flaws people tend to ignore or downplay. Bonus modes that would have been unlockable in the past are separated or locked behind DLC. The Gold Edition that later came out made getting the vanilla version even more pointless. For reference, the Gold Edition came out three or four months later. Unskippable scripted sequences that get annoying on repeat playthroughs. Ethan and Mia I find the least interesting RE protagonists outside of the nobody from Gun Survivor. There is not much enemy variety and Ethan is sluggish and too slow for a guy that young. Gaming Brit sums up most of my problems, though I would never go the great lengths to defend RE6 like he did.

​

 

[Drathnoxis]

Glad to see Skyward Sword get a mention right off the bat. It was the worst Zelda game since the Faces of Evil, and at least that one was unintentionally hilarious.

I kind of want to say Super Paper Mario. I was really disappointed in that game when it released since almost all the art was zero effort shape tool garbage and your "partners" weren't even characters. However, in respect to how the Paper Mario series has progressed since, SPM looks a lot better in retrospect.

Really? Because I remember when the game was released, people treated as some sort of a godsend, and was salty towards anyone who DARED to criticize its flaws. I think it may had something to do with COD getting a better score, but I an not exactly sure why.

It definitely was praised to high heaven on release. It has a 93 on Metacritic and the Escapist's Susan Arendt gave it 5/5. It took a few years for the criticism to rise to the surface.

DragonAge: Origins is the worst game of its trilogy. Yes, you read it right. It’s talent system is stupid, the combat is garbage and frankly silent protagonists in massive RPGs like this need to die in a fire. Also the entire colour palette was stolen from a call of duty knock off. And that Fade level can go get fucked.

You and I are enemies from here on out.

 

[Dalisclock]

Metal Gear Solid 4. To be fair, MGS V was a slog too but at least that had the excuse of an obviously very troubled development. See, Kojima games tend to have long cutscenes, outside of V where he literally ran put of time to put them in, and I don't think that the cutscenes in MGS 4 are, categorically, too long. It's just that there's not nearly enough gameplay inbetween them. The whole thing ist just a pacing nightmare. Might have gone easier on it if the story had at least been good but more than anything it felt like Kojima throwing his hands up and coming up with the most contrived plot devices he could think of to finish the series. Maybe one could make a point that MGS 4 is some super ironic meta commentary on unnecessary sequelization and jumping the shark. That would redeem the story in these cutscenes, but I still wish there would have been more of a game between them.

MGS4 and MGSV(why they opted for V instead of 5 I still don't know, other then referencing a one off joke in PW) feel like they make all the wrong mistakes in different ways. MGS4 has way too many cutscenes without saying much at all, while MGSV has arguably too few trying to carry too much of the story load so a lot of the plot is shunted into the audio tapes. Both throw a plot device bandaid over the holes, being Nanomachines in 4(at least Nanomachines was kind of a thing in 1 and 2) and Magical Parasites in V. Both are weirdly obsessed with trying to provide fanservices connections where nobody really asked for them(Why the hell is Volgin even in V? Why is Mantis in either game?). Both feel way too long for their own good and MGSV feels like it doesn't really add anything to the series at all as PW more or less already completed Snakes transformation into Big Boss and established him becoming a big legendary Merc while MGS2 did the "Someone is trying to coopt my identity and turn me into someone else with information manipulation" angle better.

-The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (haven't played every LoZ game, but this is my least favourite, and frankly, I find its popularity baffling)

-Metal Gear: Metal Gear (as in, the very first game)

I just finished playing the LA remake and I enjoyed it as a worthy 2D Zelda and while a bit silly at times, it did basically start as a side project Nintendo gave it's blessing to develop into a mainline game. Maybe the original was clunky but the remake is really nicely done.

Metal Gear 1. Yeah, that one is hard as hell to like. It gets a little bit of slack because it was the first game in the series and one of the first stealth games ever made but that's all the leeway I'm willing to cut it. Everything about it has been done better elsewhere, in particular MG2: Solid Snake which feels like they just remade MG but did it better this time.

 

[Trunkage]

DragonAge: Origins is the worst game of its trilogy. Yes, you read it right. It’s talent system is stupid, the combat is garbage and frankly silent protagonists in massive RPGs like this need to die in a fire. Also the entire colour palette was stolen from a call of duty knock off. And that Fade level can go get fucked.

Warriors and thieves were pretty useless. It’s better going with three mages and a cannon fodder. Deep Roads was stupendously long. Zevran. It’s an even more generic world than Baulders Gate. Dark spawn are just orc and the bad buy is just a dragon. And the stupidity of the ritual of the Warden makes the first few minutes the worst

 

[Dalisclock]

Homeworld 2. Honestly, a jarring tonal shift from Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm. I know Cataclysm is sort of like the forgotten child, but it was a fantastic game, and a really good entry in the franchise. So I was very annoyed to learn that HW 2, basically ignored the events of Cataclysm, and wrote a very bland, Prophecy story about some bullshit about finding the 3 Great Engines and using them to whatever whatever. It was incredibly lame, and went way more "mystic hoodoo" than a scifi game about space fleets should ever go. Also they killed the emotional tone of Karen S'Jet. In the first game, she sounded robotic, but only to a point, she still had emotions and tone that came through in her voice. You could still feel the humanity in her. But HW 2, that was gone. It honestly sounded like they just used some voice synth program and ran her script through it. It was entirely devoid of life, and was incredibly boring. It lacked all the feeling and emotion of the prior 2 games.

I liked what HW did with it's framing the journey almost as a pilgrimage home, of sorts and it fit with the world building. HW2 went heads deep in that but OTOH also wanted to frame it as a military campaign and it didn't work either way. The whole 3 sacred cores or whatever felt like it came out of nowhere and made no sense based on what we've already seen in the previous games.

I also disliked that the Marine ships felt useless(The Salvage Corvettes may have been OP but that was no reason to make their equivalent almost pointless). While I appreciate the game wanted you to feel like you were up against a vastly superior force, having every battle start with a 3X advantage and giving no chance to prep once a battle was done felt unfair regardless.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I have always considered Battlefield to be a superior series when compared to COD. But Hardline felt so... forced.

I too hated it back then. It really should have just been a BF4 expansion or a one-off like a Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon or Bad Company Vietnam. But looking back, I much prefer its gameplay compared to Battlefield 1 and maybe even Battlefield V. The cinematic feel of historical shooters is great for the first few hours but then you just miss the freedom that modern day gives you.

Battlefield: Battlefield: Modern Combat (the console version of BF2 in case you're wondering)

Is this the one where in the singeplayer you could warp between soldiers on the battlefield, and each death actually depleted your reinforcements? What was so bad about it?

OT:
Star Wars Battlefront by EA. Fuck, was I excited for this game. SWBF2 is hands down my favorite game of all time. When this came out, the graphics and sound design just blew me away. Had me lying to myself for a good few months. Eventually the illusion collapsed and I realized what a shit deal this game was. I don't think you can even say it redeemed itself in the end ala SWBF2 by EA, because the core gameplay just isn't there. This game essentially killed any optimism I have for video games, and I haven't bought a game at launch since.

The new Lego Star Wars games (and I suppose all the newer Lego games in general). Fuck the voice acting. That's all I have to say.