Top 10 Worst Games of 2022 (So Far)

On the surface, “Sonic Origins” is a somewhat decent collection of classic Sonic games. Enjoy “Sonic the Hedgehog”, “Sonic 2”, “CD”, “3”, and “Knuckles” as well as a plethora of extra modes that give each game more replayability. However, it’s a somewhat different story when playing on PC. “Sonic Origins” is plagued with bugs, bugs, bugs, and more bugs, making the classics look more ancient than they did before. The games are still playable, yes, but for forty bucks, confusing marketing in its paywalled content, and the delisting of significantly better ports, “Sonic Origins” should have turned out better.

Speaking of games that failed to live up to their potential, “Nintendo Switch Sports” was another title that dropped the ball quick. Though we were happy to finally be playing bowling and Chambara with friends again, the game is severely lean in content. For comparison, 2009’s “Wii Sports Resort” came with a whopping thirteen sports, some of which included different variants of said sports. Again, the six included in “Switch Sports” are solid, yet why are we having to wait roughly half a year for just GOLF to be added? Much like “1-2-Switch”, this was another overpriced package that should have been included at the Switch’s launch.

Ubisoft has been struggling these last few years in finding their own big bang in the live service market, and “Roller Champions” is another failed attempt to add to the conglomerate’s already extensive graveyard. We’ll admit that there is potential in the game. The mechanics and controls are refined, and the level design is up to par. Unfortunately, the gameplay gets monotonous rather quickly, and the character customization fails to leave any room for player expression. Those are pretty significant problems for an online multiplayer game to have, and with competitors like “Fortnite”, “Knockout City”, and “Call of Duty: Warzone” going above and beyond with their offerings, we’re not so sure if there’s any room for “Roller Champions”.

Over the last several years, 3D platformers have seen a massive resurgence thanks to games like “A Hat in Time”, “New Super Lucky’s Tale”, and of course, “Super Mario Odyssey”. One would hope that “Kao the Kangaroo” would make a surprising leap forward with the modern age and pick up on the innovations made today. Alas, no. In addition to technical problems, “Kao the Kangaroo” came with an extremely short campaign, awful writing and voice acting, and failed to implement anything interesting in its level design. And it’s pretty upsetting to see a game about a boxing kangaroo come up with such a barebones combat system.

Nightdive Studios usually knocks it out of the park with their remasters, but in the case of “Blade Runner”, “rough” doesn’t even begin to describe it. “Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition” attempts to refine and modernize the 1997 PC game with updated visuals, increased framerates, and such. Problem is that for every “improvement” it makes, it worsens another portion of the game. Audio bugs, occasionally broken controls, and horrendous UI severely hamper the experience. Our advice? Just play the classic version. Or save your ten bucks for something else because this ain’t it.

We are no stranger to lazy games with lazy titles that flaunt anime girls in their lazy, skimpy attire. Somehow, “Waifu Impact” takes that laziness to a level we haven’t seen since the days of Digital Homicide. Run around an empty island as an anime girl in a bikini spraying water at other anime girls in bikinis while collecting gold stars and unlocking lewd pictures of your anime girl in a bikini. And that’s really all there is. There is no endgame. There is no real reward. There isn’t even a story. You are just plopped onto a generic island and forced to collect awful artwork while listening to painfully monotonous music. Take it from the writer of this video, who suffered through the entire game TWICE just for the Platinum trophy. It was not worth it.

You know, normally, we’d put a manipulative game like “Diablo Immortal” at number one for the simple fact of its sleazy monetization and exploitative design. Free-to-play players are punished with imposing caps on how often high-level gear will be given, and many found themselves getting matched with players who spent money for high-level gear. In other words, the game quickly enforces a “pay-to-win” model, and Blizzard Entertainment’s deception has caused the game to become the lowest user-rated game on Metacritic, beating out 2020’s “Warcraft III: Reforged”, also developed by Blizzard Entertainment. So, why is “Diablo Immortal” this low? Well, it’s generating a million bucks per day. So, folks clearly aren’t that mad, right?
Diablo Immortal is making more than $1 million per day, despite criticism | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

Despite its criticisms of significant time spent in menus, “Gran Turismo 7” earned much praise for its visual fidelity and gameplay. So, why is it so high on the list? Well, for starters, Sony and Polyphony Digital threw in microtransactions AFTER review scores were given out, AND they deliberately lowered rewards, increasing the amount of time players needed to grind to unlock their favorite cars. According to director Kazunori Yamauchi, the high prices for the cars’ was to “convey their value and rarity”. While payouts have increased since launch, the prices have increased as well, and the playerbase has taken to using a scripted AI to play the game for them and reduce the grind.

“Babylon’s Fall” already had an abysmal showing when it launched a beta test in late 2021. With a handful of months left to iron things out before launch, one would hope Platinum Games figured out how to make “Babylon’s Fall” a tad better. One couldn’t be further from the truth. “Babylon’s Fall” truly lacked any passion for itself, reusing the same few assets over and over again as well as failing to provide any variety in its enemies. Couple that with miscommunication over the game’s mechanics and progression, and you have yourself a giant trainwreck that was being played by only ONE person at one point.

The absolute worst thing you can do to your game is aim for sheer mediocrity. That is what “CrossfireX” can be described as - “mediocre”. While it attempts to copy “Counter-Strike” in terms of gameplay and format, it forgets to copy everything that made Valve’s tactical shooter so great. The controls are abysmal, the characters and story are utterly forgettable, the game runs worse than a potato, and the overall presentation screams “generic”. With the single-player developed by Remedy Entertainment, we were hoping there would be SOME redeeming qualities here. And yet here we are. We’re curious to see if something else will overthrow it come the end of the year.