Top 20 Worst Xbox Games of All Time

The Bethesda logo usually represents a stamp of approval. That was certainly not the case with 2009’s “Rogue Warrior.” In this first-person shooter you play as Richard Marcinko, a U.S. Navy SEAL who infiltrates North Korea to disrupt their missile program. “Rogue Warrior” proved promising, especially when Bethesda fired Zombie Studios for doing a crappy job and restarted the game from scratch with Rebellion Developments. That, and the involvement of Mickey Rourke. But not even Rourke could save this dumpster fire of a game. The best thing we can say about it is that it’s over in just two hours.

If you watch funny glitch compilations on YouTube, chances are you’ve seen your fair share of “WWE 2K20.” Hopefully that’s the only interaction you’ve had with the game. “WWE 2K20” is the 21st entry in the long-running “WWE” series and the first to not be developed by Yuke’s. Even if you didn’t know anything about the game’s development, the change in developers is more than evident. The game is a complete disaster in every sense of the word, from its horrendous physics to the mind boggling amount of glitches and bugs. The game is woefully underdeveloped, and its laughable reception was a major reason (the other being the coronavirus) for the cancellation of “2K21.”

“The Walking Dead” could do no wrong in 2013. The TV show was the most popular drama in the world (aside from maybe “Game of Thrones”), and everyone was still reeling from the incredible Telltale game. But “Survival Instinct” was like a zombified shell of “The Walking Dead” franchise. It looked and played much like a game from 2004, and it absolutely squandered the neat idea of a Dixon brothers prequel. “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman disowned the game in a Reddit AMA, proving that even the franchise’s most earnest devotees (read, the creator himself) wanted nothing to do with it.

There was actually a lot of promise for “Kinect Sports Rivals.” At least in theory. The Kinect was a good idea, but it was about five years too late. And Rare was a fantastic developer once upon a time. Unfortunately, this game only proved that both were long outdated and no longer relevant. “Kinect Sports Rivals” essentially did what “Wii Sports” did, only seven years later and to a less fun, more broken and unplayable degree. It was not the killer launch title that the Xbox One so desperately needed, and it resulted in an unfortunate round of layoffs at Rare.

“Sonic ‘06” is historic. Just, not in a good way. By this point, everyone knows the story behind the utter failure that was “Sonic ‘06.” It was developed to commemorate the series’ fifteenth anniversary, and it was meant to both honor the series’ legacy and launch it into the future. Unfortunately, development was marred by the resignation of Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka and the team’s split focus on “Sonic and the Secret Rings.” That, combined with the rushed development to secure a holiday release meant that “Sonic ‘06” was both woefully incomplete and incredibly disappointing. Sega has since ignored its very existence, and we can’t say that we blame them.

Back in the mid 2000s, rapper Xzibit hosted a show on MTV called “Pimp My Ride.” It saw West Coast Customs and Galpin Auto Sports restoring and customizing crappy old beaters. Now, did we really need an entire video game centered around customizing vehicles? Not really. That’s why “Pimp My Ride” decided to take a different approach. Rather than customizing cars, the gameplay mostly revolved around silly minigames and street racing. However, the driving mechanics were outrageously bad, and the minigames were shallow and boring. The show was never asking to be translated into a video game, and the fact that this is what we got is somehow even more offensive.

This is the video game equivalent of an aging athlete coming out of retirement to show the new kids how it’s done only to embarrass themselves and prove the virtues of retirement. Once upon a time, the “Tony Hawk” series was the name in gaming. The main series went on hiatus in 2007 following “Proving Ground,” and “Pro Skater 5” looked to reinvigorate the franchise for a new generation. It did the exact opposite. The game was rushed due to the expiring licensing deal between Tony Hawk and Activision, resulting in a truly appalling product. Very few major releases are literally unplayable, but this is about as close as it gets.

This is an arcade title for the Xbox One, but even amongst the cheapest and dullest arcade titles, “Super Night Riders” stands out. The game claims to be a throwback to retro racing games of old, but we’d rather play a twenty-year-old game than this frustrating mess. It’s marred by persistent frame rate issues, and in a game centered around racing and driving really fast, frame rate issues are an absolute deal breaker. The gameplay itself is also super frustrating, and not in a challenging “Dark Souls” kind of way. In a “this game sucks” kind of way.

The Xbox’s launch was an interesting time indeed, especially for its launch titles. On November 15, 2001 the Xbox launched with “Halo: Combat Evolved,” a game that single handedly changed first-person shooters, and maybe even the video game art form, forever. Four days later, “Kabuki Warriors” was released. You don’t remember it for a reason. The game was widely panned by critics, with many highlighting the pitiful graphics and the fact that there is only one attack button. Maybe it would have been a good game on the Nintendo 64. But the fact that it was released as an Xbox launch title is an absolute embarrassment.

“Amy” was doomed from the start. It tasks you with remaining physically close to an immune child during a zombie outbreak, meaning the game is essentially one long escort mission. Think the Ashley sections of “Resident Evil 4,” only it’s a whole game and it’s 50x more frustrating. Even ignoring the game’s bafflingly stupid concept, the confounding gameplay, infuriating controls, and general lack of polish made clear that it was a poorly produced and developed video game. “Amy” was not only boring, but infuriating. And infuriatingly boring. It’s a great example of a horrible premise made even worse by incompetent game design.

Hype was high for “Aliens: Colonial Marines.” It was an official sequel to one of the most popular and acclaimed action movies of all time, and both Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn were reprising their roles as Bishop and Hicks, respectively. Unfortunately, the game suffered a tumultuous development process and turned out uglier than the eponymous aliens themselves. It was marred by technical problems that made playing it a chore, and even when the game was working right, players were forced to contend with atrocious AI and eye-bleeding graphics. It was a disappointment for the ages and a major stain on Gearbox’s reputation.

It’s frankly amazing to us that there hasn’t been a great and widely popular “Rambo” video game. The franchise is practically begging for one. Unfortunately, what we get instead is a rail shooter straight from 1997...that was released in 2014. Light gun rail shooters have their place in history, but the gaming world has long moved on from the genre. And while we wouldn’t say no to a light gun Rambo game, we do say no to the game’s obvious lack of polish and basic game design. It’s a cheap game with horrible mechanics and production values. Let’s blow it up with an explosive arrow and be done with it.

“Act Zero” is not what fans of the cartoony and colorful “Bomberman” series were expecting. Being different is OK, and we respect Hudson Soft for trying something new. But sometimes you veer too far into “new” and lose sight of what made a series so successful in the first place. But it’s not just the massive shift in style that proved to be a problem. The game also contained excruciating load times, dull and repetitive graphics, and abhorrent artificial intelligence. If you undergo a massive stylistic shift, you should at least ensure that the game is, you know, good. “Act Zero” was neither expected, wanted, or good.

“Fast & Furious” is one of those exceptionally rare franchises that gets better as it goes. “Fast Five” was a monumental improvement over “Fast & Furious,” and “Furious 6” ensured that “Five” wasn’t just a fluke. Bridging the gap is “Showdown,” which is arguably one of the worst licensed video games ever released. And that is truly saying something. There is nothing redeeming about this despicable title - it’s ugly, it’s poorly designed, it doesn’t play well, and it had the gall to charge more than $10. It’s an absolute shame that the excellent movie franchise has this as a video game tie-in.

“Dark Tomorrow” promised to be an ambitious “Batman” title unlike any other. It was originally envisioned as a GameCube exclusive that would contain free roaming and open-ended gameplay, “Arkham” style. The result was very much...not that. Rather than open-ended gameplay, the game contained linear stealth-based missions that were severely hampered by nonsensical controls and a frustrating camera. Seriously, is there anything more frustrating in a game than a horrible camera? Combine those flaws with generally lackluster game design and a boring combat system, and you have yourself a game that even the Caped Crusader would want to seal away for eternity.

You have to give Microsoft credit - they really tried with the Kinect. It just wasn’t a piece of technology that anybody wanted. That, and the games were crap. Case in point - “Fighter Within.” Microsoft really messed up by launching the Xbox One with “Fighter Within,” as it is generally thought to be one of the worst video games ever made. It was absolutely tarnished by critics and general Xbox players alike, with most focusing on the game’s unnecessary story, the shallow fighting mechanics, and the atrocious (and often unresponsive) motion controls. The Kinect was one of gaming’s biggest failures, and games like these are a large reason behind its flopping.

Developer Idol FX had big plans for the “Drake of the 99 Dragons” IP. If the game did well, they planned to launch a series of comic books and an animated television series to continue the story of the undead Drake and his 99 Dragons. Unfortunately, the game did not do well. In fact, it was critically reviled. Nearly every aspect of the game’s production was criticized, primarily the obtuse aiming system and uncontrollable camera. But that’s not all! There is also the laughable voice acting, use of stock sound effects, and amateurish production values. It’s the lowest-rated Xbox game on Metacritic, and it’s really not hard to see why.

The Kinect was so bad that it even brought FromSoftware to its knees. “Heavy Armor” was the third installment in the “Steel Battalion” series, the first of which was released in 2002. And while that game received unanimously strong reviews, “Heavy Armor” was widely criticized for its - you guessed it - poor Kinect implementation. While most critics agreed that it was a solidly crafted and produced video game, the uncooperative motion controls were unanimously vilified. A pretty game is a pretty game, but that doesn’t mean much if you literally can’t play it!

“Aquaman” has long remained a laughing stock in the video game industry, and it may in fact be the worst superhero video game ever made. Top two, at least. It’s a prime example of uninspired game design, as every aspect of its production was seemingly handled without care. Or a budget. We don’t know which is worse. It was often compared to the atrocity that is “Superman 64,” and while it might not be that bad, it’s certainly not far off. It also doesn’t help that Aquaman himself has always been seen as a joke of a superhero. Put it all together, and you have a video game that attracted and intrigued absolutely no one.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions.

“Crimson Dragon” (2013)
More Kinect Crapiness (With Microtransactions!)


“Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust” (2009)
Not Funny or Fun

The worst Xbox game of all time has to be “Ride to Hell: Retribution,” AKA 2013’s biggest gaming meme. This game is just offensively bad, and we mean offensively bad. It contains all the cornerstones of a truly horrendous video game, including bad graphics, controls, gameplay, voice acting, AI, glitches - the works. However, it also earned criticism for its negative portrayal of female characters, with some critics even calling the game misogynistic and sexist. It was eventually delisted from Steam, which is probably for the best. The sooner we forget this game ever existed, the sooner we will find true happiness.