crappiest game you ever spent money on

[gta_bmx]

Whether it was your money or your poor hard working parents' money. It was about 1987, and I really wanted a fighting game for our Nintendo Control Deck, and instead of wanting Karate Champ, Kung Fu, or Mike Tyson's Punchout, for some reason Urban Champion seemed real cool. I liked the cover art, and it looked gritty and fun.

But it turned out to be a real steaming pile of......... I really took it up the ol' Hershey Highway on that purchase. And worse yet, it discouraged my folks from buying me another game for months. "You don't even play that one I just bought you!"

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w133/justin1138/UrbanChampion.jpg

[az0madman]

I want to say Casper for the PSX. Not entirely sure why I bought it and I'm sure my brother or someone advised me against it (I was young at the time)...Though I strangely have good memories of it. It's one of those games I look back on and think 'did I really like this?'

[thing2]

I'm gonna have to go with 'Seaman' for the Dreamcast.
Tons of people loved that lil' seaward tomagochi, but I couldn't STAND IT. Huge waste of money....for what was essentially the 'Nintendogs' of its day.

Shenmue follows closely behind......yeah......that was garbage too people...AND YOU KNOW IT!! Besides...it spawned Quick Time Events, and for that reason along should hold a tiny bit of hatred in EVERY GAMERS HEART!!

[vidkid7]

I'm gonna have to go with 'Seaman' for the Dreamcast.
Tons of people loved that lil' seaward tomagochi, but I couldn't STAND IT. Huge waste of money....for what was essentially the 'Nintendogs' of its day.

I can understand someone not liking Seaman, it was definitely a very odd niche game, but Nintendogs? Not even. Years later, and no virtual pet sort of game has even held a candle to the interactivity, interesting progression, and (As bizarre as it was, it had one!) plot of Seaman. I really wish we'd have seen the PS2 sequel in the US, or that there had been a DS game, or that the iPhone app hadn't gotten smacked down...

Shenmue follows closely behind......yeah......that was garbage too people...AND YOU KNOW IT!! Besides...it spawned Quick Time Events, and for that reason along should hold a tiny bit of hatred in EVERY GAMERS HEART!!

Dude! Once again, not liking Shenmue is one thing, but it's definitely not a garbage game! Shenmue provided a level of detail that was unheard of at the time, as well as story and gameplay that generally progressed at whatever rate you wanted it to. It was a pretty mind blowing open world game back then, and the second one only got more interesting, as it moved away from a small town and into a couple of LARGE city environments.

It may no longer be a graphical dream, and the english voiceovers seem even worse now than they did then, but the underlying game behind it all is still pretty brilliant. I only wish it had done well enough to warrant the third game, or even a bringing up to date of the first two games...

Additionally, while your point that Shenmue really brought the concept of QTEs to light is accurate, it's also worth considering that those games also used them in pretty appropriate places. The QTEs in Shenmue were used in order to deal with some split second actions, rather than today's standard of "Press the giant flashing button to cut the AT-ST in half! Then press the OTHER flashing button to pull out the Cyclops' eye!"

On Topic: Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the NES was a huge steaming pile, and that was the game that introduced me to the concept of 95% of licensed titles being garbage. That game did have one cool feature though... there was a point in the game where you'd receive a phone number, and the solution of what to do with the phone number was to call it on your real world telephone, where some sort of recording would give you the next bit of information to progress. That right there is probably one of the earliest forms of events in the game crossing over into reality.

[chuckles]

I will have to go with Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi (http://www.gamespot.com/ps/action/starwarsmastersofteraskasi/) and Daikatana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikatana).

-chuckles-

[thing2]

Dude! Once again, not liking Shenmue is one thing, but it's definitely not a garbage game! Shenmue provided a level of detail that was unheard of at the time, as well as story and gameplay that generally progressed at whatever rate you wanted it to. It was a pretty mind blowing open world game back then, and the second one only got more interesting, as it moved away from a small town and into a couple of LARGE city environments.

It may no longer be a graphical dream, and the english voiceovers seem even worse now than they did then, but the underlying game behind it all is still pretty brilliant. I only wish it had done well enough to warrant the third game, or even a bringing up to date of the first two games...

Additionally, while your point that Shenmue really brought the concept of QTEs to light is accurate, it's also worth considering that those games also used them in pretty appropriate places. The QTEs in Shenmue were used in order to deal with some split second actions, rather than today's standard of "Press the giant flashing button to cut the AT-ST in half! Then press the OTHER flashing button to pull out the Cyclops' eye!"


Seaman was an acquired taste - and I never acquired it. No argument there, it was for some people and not for others.

Simply because a game had some defining characteristics and brought some new ideas to the industry does not indeed make it a good game. For instance Shenmue was one of the most beautiful games of its time, but what all was done with that beauty that makes me EVER want to go back and play it again?!?! Walk around and ask about whereabouts for HOURS. "Excuse me do you know of..." - "No?" - "Thank you" - Walk 2 steps - "Excuse me do you know of.." - "No?" - *snore*.The game asked far too much of me and didn't provide nearly as much entertainment as it should have. *AND* after all of that wasted time...it didn't even provide closure.

I also had a different perspective of 'Open World' because at the time I was deeply into PC gaming, which had *True* open world RPG's like fallout, elder Scrolls, and planescape....
Shenmue is practically playing in a bubble compared to those.

So - Shenmue didn't really bring anything into the industry that stayed...except QTE. Which...I abhor. I will grant that they utilized QTE better than most games do now however. Still though....I can't take away its critical acclaim or merits, but it just wasn't for me.

I'm also a guy that doesn't like Metroid - So......Go figure :)

[vidkid7]

I'm also a guy that doesn't like Metroid - So......Go figure :)

Different games for different people, that's all there is. There's no "right" and "wrong" answers, just various counter-points!

[lonelyspacepanda]

Mercenaries 2. It wasn't the worst game ever but considering it cost me $60 for a game I would never play again--and on top of that I couldn't afford a actually good game like Fallout 3 or Fable 2 because of it--it hurts. It's a really lame game. Ugly, boring, and glitchy.

[dolson]

I wasted $10 renting Mirror's Edge (http://www.tawkn.com/index.php?review_id=13). Worst waste of money, ever.

A close, close second would be the $10 I spent on Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. I deleted it the same day I bought it.

And yes, I bought Daikatana, so that's saying something about these two.

[subwayfox]

20 or 30 I spent way back in the day on Extermination for PS2

For some reason I thought it looked good. I realized 10min into it that will regret playing it any more. I still have it though b/c I keep telling my self I need to get my moneys worth out of it so I gotta beat it.

[acey376]

Republic: The Revolution (PC)

This game was rough
I was expecting something more like a Mafia style RTS but it was nothing of the sort. I might as well had been rolling dice with pen and paper. No fun. or at least not my cup of earl grey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_The_Revolution

[bobafettjm]

I think I will have to say Extreme Paintbrawl for the PC. Took me ages just to get it to run, then I found out just how terrible it was.

[radzack]

Phantasy Star Online blah blah - gamecube

[iiarchonii]

its a toss up for me between Back to the Future and TopGun...



AVGN slamming each one did make me feel better though

[retz]

Spore. Bought it at launch without knowing about the DRM. Terrible game too.

[illu45]

Probably Shinobi (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/shinobi?q=shinobi)for the PS2, which I suppose wasn't as awful as Seaman or anything, but is still a pretty poor game.

EDIT: I just browsed through the metacritic page for Shinobi and noticed that G4TV gave it a perfect score... Guess that shows how quickly they went downhill. I mean, the game wasn't *awful* and maybe if I had more nostalgia for classic games or the Shinobi series it would have been bearable, but the terrible camera, subpar graphics and sluggish controls definitely should have kept it from getting 100% on any decent review.

[forbizzle]

The Force Unleashed.

Lucas Arts is not what it once was.

[harryaka]

For christmas one year I recieved Ping Pals for the DS. I almost cried

[dolson]

The Force Unleashed.

Lucas Arts is not what it once was.

:\ did you buy it after playing the demo? Sorry, either way..

[ryanodonnell]

Well, worst game I've EVER spent money on is hard; I've bought a ton of games in my day. But in 2007, my biggest disappointment was Super Paper Mario. In 2008, it was Mercenaries 2. In 2009, I have much less money to spend on games, so I've only bought stuff I've been happy with thus far... but there are still a bunch of months left to fill with disappointing purchases!

[zabusan]

Hmm, good question...

I think I'll have to say it was Mortal Kombat 4 for PSX... God awful game...What a waste...

[alexnz]

Off the top of my head I'll have to say Auto Modellista, Driv3r, and most recently Far Cry 2

[paolorooftop]

Off the top of my head I'll have to say Auto Modellista, Driv3r, and most recently Far Cry 2

I was really disappointed with Far Cry 2 as well.

The crappiest game I ever spent money on would have to be Enter the Matrix. That was a day one purchase for me, and I regret it to this day.

[cybersuchus]

Turok Evolution. The sad thing is that I remember reading reviews ahead of time, about how poor this game was; but the xbox was new and I had a dearth of games at the time.

It was possibly the worst game I ever slogged all the way through.

[scoobydiesel]

I'm that dumbass that buys alot of games...and never plays them more then once.

I have movie tie ins and all that crap that suck. But i bet i have worst crap then that some place....Just tried to forget about em.

[ArmpitOfDeath]

Of late, I'd have to say Mirror's Edge.

As I'm sure others will testify, it's not crap in the traditional scheme of things. It's a great game with a couple of absolutely key pieces missing, which makes it worse than a crap game in many respects.

[sirironpants]

Although it wasn't an individual game but a game system, the TurboGraphx-16 was definitely the crappiest game-related purchase I ever made (well, rather, I forced my parents to make). While I was playing Bonk's Adventure and Splatterhouse, my friends were playing the far superior Sonic and Mario games. Eventually, I whined enough to my parents so they would buy me the SNES, but they made me sell my original NES with all the games at a garage sale. I guess I got what I deserved.

[decepticon]

Back when I bought my original Xbox at, or around launch I ended up getting two games; One was Halo which was awesome, but the other was Azurik which was horrific. Definitely shows the spectrum of the Xbox launch right there.

Other notable mentions would be some Terminator game for the Xbox (can't even remember the rest of the title), and Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter. There are some other gems I've bought over the years, but those are the three biggest WTF? games that came to mind right away. Needless to say I've WAY reigned in my game buying since then, and my stack of 50-60 Xbox games, where only around 15 ended up staying in my collection for more than a year is definitely the main reason for that.

[dolson]

Of late, I'd have to say Mirror's Edge.

As I'm sure others will testify, it's not crap in the traditional scheme of things. It's a great game with a couple of absolutely key pieces missing, which makes it worse than a crap game in many respects.

Yeah, I hear you.

It's missing things like, story, decent controls, reasonable checkpoint system, good level design, fun factor, characters you can identify with, value, length, and such.

It totally nails the boxart, though.

[infinity_man]

Mine would probably be X-Men for the Nintendo. I kept trying to convince myself it was good, as it was the first ever X-Men game, and I had desperately been wanting one. It simply was a bad game. Bad level design, terrible gameplay, frustrating difficulty, and a story and enemies that had nothing to do with the X-Men.
http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/Mrmarrionette/The_Uncanny_X-Men_Coverart.png

God, I was so excited.... and then OH so frustrated!

Damn you 1989!!!!

[infinity_man]

Although it wasn't an individual game but a game system, the TurboGraphx-16 was definitely the crappiest game-related purchase I ever made (well, rather, I forced my parents to make). While I was playing Bonk's Adventure and Splatterhouse, my friends were playing the far superior Sonic and Mario games. Eventually, I whined enough to my parents so they would buy me the SNES, but they made me sell my original NES with all the games at a garage sale. I guess I got what I deserved.

I quite liked Bonk's Adventure and Splatter house back then.. My friend had a TurboGraphix-16.

[infinity_man]

Whether it was your money or your poor hard working parents' money. It was about 1987, and I really wanted a fighting game for our Nintendo Control Deck, and instead of wanting Karate Champ, Kung Fu, or Mike Tyson's Punchout, for some reason Urban Champion seemed real cool. I liked the cover art, and it looked gritty and fun.

But it turned out to be a real steaming pile of......... I really took it up the ol' Hershey Highway on that purchase. And worse yet, it discouraged my folks from buying me another game for months. "You don't even play that one I just bought you!"

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w133/justin1138/UrbanChampion.jpg

I totally had that game, as well as the far superior Kung Fu.

[gta_bmx]

Although it wasn't an individual game but a game system, the TurboGraphx-16 was definitely the crappiest game-related purchase I ever made (well, rather, I forced my parents to make). While I was playing Bonk's Adventure and Splatterhouse, my friends were playing the far superior Sonic and Mario games. Eventually, I whined enough to my parents so they would buy me the SNES, but they made me sell my original NES with all the games at a garage sale. I guess I got what I deserved.

TurboGrafx 16 actually had some nice hardware in it, even compared to the NES/SNES, but couldn't compete with the Nintendo software. If Nintendo would have allowed ports of their first party titles to other consoles, then a lot of other consoles may have done better.

I wonder how game royalties work. If Nintendo ported their games to other systems, I assume Nintendo would still make the lion's share of the profit per game sold? I guess it depends on the licensing agreements. Seems that video game co's don't make much, if any, on hardware, so you'd think a company like Nintendo would have wanted their games to be available on all consoles.

[ryudo]

TurboGrafx 16 actually had some nice hardware in it, even compared to the NES/SNES, but couldn't compete with the Nintendo software. If Nintendo would have allowed ports of their first party titles to other consoles, then a lot of other consoles may have done better.

I wonder how game royalties work. If Nintendo ported their games to other systems, I assume Nintendo would still make the lion's share of the profit per game sold? I guess it depends on the licensing agreements. Seems that video game co's don't make much, if any, on hardware, so you'd think a company like Nintendo would have wanted their games to be available on all consoles.
Nintendo always found a way to make money on hardware even back when it did compete with on par hardware.
Gamecube while it did use a DVD rom it obviously used a drive too small to play DVDs so they didn't have to pay royalties.

NES/SNES (and even up to cube) they always kept the price 200$ or less so they could make up for it with volume and software sales.

Wii while more powerful than last gen but again obviously far less powerful than current gen and turned off DVD playback for the same reasons to not have to pay royalties. So every system they sell they make a lot of profit on hardware as well as software.

They did at one time put software on other hardware with Atari,CDi(ok on CDi it was their IPs but they didn't make it) and PC.


Most hardware makers generally threw bags of money at hardware and marketing and just hoped software sales would make up for the losses.

[-mk-]

I recall saving up for this for a long time and being quite disappointed:

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc11/LipMyReeds/763761-587620_39775_front_large.jpg

[jrklein]

Going "Old Skool" here and saying Silver Surfer for NES, that game pissed me off so much and was utterly "un-beatable!"

[stevebirk]

I would have to say Rush'n Attack on the XBLA was a big was of money.

[cyborger]

Oni (PS2) - I hated the dumb storyline, bad controls and everything else about the game.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2009/06/06/291794_1.jpg

[sembazuru]

Lots of games, lots of years. I would have to say my biggest disappointment was "Top Gun: Combat Zones" for PS2. I got this game after having played a couple of the Ace Combats, and it didn't hold a candle to them at all. Worst of all, I had also bought the flight stick to go with TG:CZ, and didn't like the flight stick as much as the controller. I traded TG:CZ in, but EB (before the merger) wouldn't take the flight stick as a trade in.

[gta_bmx]

Lots of games, lots of years. I would have to say my biggest disappointment was "Top Gun: Combat Zones" for PS2. I got this game after having played a couple of the Ace Combats, and it didn't hold a candle to them at all. Worst of all, I had also bought the flight stick to go with TG:CZ, and didn't like the flight stick as much as the controller. I traded TG:CZ in, but EB (before the merger) wouldn't take the flight stick as a trade in.

But yet they take in all those Donkey Konga GameCube drum sets. They're stacked to the gills with 'em.

[guagloves]

Alone in the Dark (360)

It was only $10, but that money could have gone towards a movie instead. Just thinking about the driving sections in that game makes me cringe.