Top 10 Bad Games By Good Developers

Top 10 Bad Games by Good Developers

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Nobody’s perfect, not even some of the most talented video game developers. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Bad Gamesby Good Developers. For this list, we will be looking at video games from development houses who are traditionally recognized for producing some top notch gaming experiences but for whatever reason, released the following games which were well below their status quo. Not to be confused Bad Games from Publishers, so while Surfing H30 may have Rockstar’s logo on the cover, they didn’t build the game, so they dodged a bullet here.

Getting our list off to a shaky start is this first person shooter from the former Rare team that brought you the Timesplitters series. In this game, you control a soldier named Shane Carpenter who works for a corporation named Mantel in a dystopian future setting, as they fight off a resistance group named “The Promise Hand”. Before release, Haze was hyped up to be a Halo killer and even to provide an anti-war message in the same vein as the film “Apocalypse Now”. It failed to meet these expectations, as the game was panned for a short campaign, terrible graphics and an abundance of glitches.

Next up on our list is this third person action-platformer from the same guys who rock the Playstation 1 and 2 with their Legacy of Kain and Tomb Raider franchises. With such a strong body of work under their belt, how could they possibly screw this one up? Well, the game itself isn’t entirely terrible per se, just compared to what they have done in the past, it's undoubtedly a step down with ho-hum graphics and average platforming sequences. It also doesn’t help that this game sparked controversy and furthermore a large amount of backlash for its cartoony and goofy depictions of animal cruelty and lab testing. Yikes.

Loosely based on the hit film of the same name, this action beat’ em up doesn’t quite live up to the thrills provided in the movie. Once again, the game as a whole isn’t all that bad; however, it’s so painfully mediocre that we wish Tom Cruise would stop this crime of game development before it ever even happened. Seriously, these are the same guys who brought us the Call of Duty: Black Ops series, not to mention Spider-Man 2, one of the best movie-to-game adaptations ever and all they could come up with was a run of the mill beat ‘em up? Everybody runs...far away from this game. Everybody runs alright...far, far away from this game.

#7: "The Legend of Korra" (2014) Platinum Games

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The abilities of the Avatar and Legend of Korra television series show characters who are able to bend the elements to their will, a concept that would seemingly provide excellent opportunities for great video games. With such action packed potential, who better than to take the reigns of such a project than the masters of over the top insanity; Platinum Games. Responsible for some of the most high octane joyrides in gaming, with hits such as Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising, pairing The Legend of Korra with thisdeveloper seems like a match made in heaven. But hey, dreams don’t always come true as we were instead given dull combat a non existent storyline. At least it was short?

Released one year before their magnum opus adaptation of The Walking Dead, Telltale hadn’t quite hit its stride when this game hit the market, as it received a bevy of average reviews upon release. Frequent criticisms of the game are the cast of uninteresting characters, generally boring story structure as well as some rather unintentionally hilarious death scenes. Whether it’s an ice age, meteor or UFO’s...we doubt anyone would miss this one if it went extinct from our gaming libraries (Big pile of s**t reference here).

#5: "Urban Champion" (1986) Nintendo R&D1

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Are you a fan of senseless button mashing, mind numbingly mundane gameplay and objectives so simplistic that you can practically beat the game with your eyes closed? If so, your friends are hopefully organizing some sort of gaming intervention to get you on a steady diet of Zelda and Mario’s. However, for the true masochists out there, Urban Champion is the perfect gaming experience for you. A fighting game in its most primitive of forms, the only goal is to knock back your opponent until they fall into an open sewer manhole...it’s about as much fun as it looks.

Somebody once told me this game was gonna bore me and you don’t need to be the sharpest tool in the shed to see why. Released one year before they found breakout success with Battlefield 1942, something clearly went wrong with the development of this game based on the incredibly successful film of the same name. The only layers to this game are just mediocrity covering bad, which continues to cover downright horrendous. Poor level design, boring objectives and a Shrek walking animation that is both bonkers to watch and difficult to control; you’d be better off playing the Shrek “Slenderman” simulator.

#3: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1989) Rareware

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Who framed Roger Rabbit? No, no...the better and more important question is how a game so disastrous could even come to fruition. What’s all the more puzzling is how this game was developed by the company that would go on to dominate the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 era’s with critical and commercial hits such as Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie and the Donkey Kong Country series. Until those classics were created, gamers would have to “enjoy” the awful controls, infuriating driving sections and lack of clarity on what the heck you’re even supposed to do. You know Roger Rabbit...you aren’t really helping change opinions on movie based games being seen as anything but trash.

#2: "Way of The Warrior" (1994) Naughty Dog

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“Greatness from small beginnings”; this is a line from Uncharted 3, one of this game company’s most widely praised and beloved works. How ironic, oh how ironic indeed (cut to Way of the Warrior footage). Boasting absolutely no greatness from this company’s small beginnings, Way of the Warrior is a shallow and mindless fighting game that takes one too many cues from another combat centric brawler with a bunch of mortals. Combat? Mortals? It’s a shameless Mortal Kombat clone if you aren’t following along and a ‘poor man’s version’ of said series in every aspect of its design. Clunky combat, bad graphics and adistracting White Zombie soundtrack, wee. Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions… "Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust" (2009) Team 17 "Aliens: Colonial Marines" (2013) Gearbox

From Software is a big name in the industry for having created the punishingly difficult Souls series. However, the only thing harder than those games is how hard you’ll need to think to imagine how it’s possible for such a fantastic developer to release this stinker. Encompassing the Kinect motion sensor, this simulation game attempted to make you feel like you were in control of a large mech. Yeah, that didn’t happen. What plagues this game more than anything is how it is virtually unplayable due to the broken motion controls. We already gave this the titles of Worst Video Game Reboot and the eight worst game of all time. We assume it likes the negative attention. Do you agree with our list? When did you think your favorite video game developers lost their mojo? For more successful Top 10’s published everyday, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com