Bioshock. My biggest disappointment. Because it was a System Shock 2 rip-off: Bioshock and System Shock 2. What are the similarities? (contains spoilers).

Hired Team

A crappy Q3/UT rip-off from Russia. Well, at least it wasn't expensive.

GL1zdA wrote:

Bioshock. My biggest disappointment. Because it was a System Shock 2 rip-off: Bioshock and System Shock 2. What are the similarities? (contains spoilers).

OMG this website is blocked by our government! I suppose they like bioshock a lot.

The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki

A really bad Doom clone. I must have been hypnotized when I bought it 😅

RacoonRider wrote:

Can you even believe this is from 2003?

Yes. Intel Extreme 82xxx, GFFX and GF4MX holding back the market y'know. More valid reason than the majority of Unity games today, which technically are the same thing more or less, pushed through a few layers of preset effects shaders artifically bumping requirements to DX11-class hardware.

I bought LEGO Racers for the N64 when it was brand new thinking, "Racing my own self-crafted LEGO vehicles? HELL YES!"

Then I heard the title music and immediately muted my TV and went into the options menu to turn all music off... which wasn't a good sign...

Then I noticed that the controls were super-sensitive. You could either turn really slowly or ridiculously fast. Made actually racing a bit of a chore, though once I found out you could use the D-Pad instead of the analog that helped... but only a little. :/

Then I noticed some of the tracks had areas which were, no joke, PITCH FREAKING BLACK. How you're supposed to navigate such areas without dropping back several positions I have no clue. >_<;

Then when I crossed the finish line at one point I tried pressing Start to speed up exiting the race which normally happens automatically, only for the game to completely lock up. When I tried this again it locked up again. Basically, pressing Start between crossing the finish line and the race being exited automatically is a bad idea. x_x;

Then, because I was just a kid and was trying desperately to gleam some enjoyment out of the game, I SOMEHOW managed to get to the final race, and your opponent just ludicrously out-performs you, making the end of the game about a million times more difficult than the rest of the game. >:(

So I finally said "screw it" and popped in Ocarina of Time instead. I literally only spent about 3 hours with LEGO Racers the day I bought it and NEVER touched it again until about 4 or 5 years later when I traded it in for about half of what I originally paid. :P

When I started buying PC games in the '80s the combination of being young with no access to good information (no WWW and didn't find out about game magazines until a bit later) led to quite a few unfortunate purchases. Sometimes I would buy a game based on the name or just because the cover art looked cool. Needless to say it didn't work out every time...

007: License to Kill

yet another one of these 'impossibly difficult" XT games. No matter how much I tried, I never lasted more 30 seconds before dying

Star Trek: The Rebel Universe

Still trying to figure out what the point of the game is

Heroes of the Lance

playing this, I would always die very quickly and not understand why

Hard Drivin'

Same problem as above

The Last Ninja

I read good things about the game but something must have gone wrong when they made the PC port, because this game was just unplayable

Most games made by Titus

"Crazy Cars" was one of the first games I bought. I really liked it so I thought it would be a good idea to buy other Titus games... boy was I wrong - they were horrid

TFX

the game crashed a lot on my PC, and when it didn't I couldn't really understand how to play it

A4 Networks

Years later, bought this based on good reviews but didn't understand anything about it, and the game quickly went back to its box, never to be touched again

Temple of Elemental Evil. Just an absolutely awful game. After having played Baldur's Gate, ToEE was a shock.

Also horrible was Metalheart. I saw it in the bargain bin for $5 or something, it looked like it used the same engine as the Fallout games and also used the SPECIAL combat system. So buggy I couldn't play it.

Secret Service: Security Breach. The first Secret Service game is awesome, one of the first budget games I ever played. But Security Breach is just humiliating.

I reviewed it. Shameless plug. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhR4Lp6yuQg

Heh. I also bought Heroes of the Lance. But I remember it to have EGA colours.

Can't remember what the worst game I personally bought was, but my brother made the mistake of buying Rise of the Robots...

Thankfully the first disc was virus infected so he was able to return it and get Mortal Kombat instead.

Call Of Duty MW3. Some of my friends I used to play Call of Duty 4 with bought it, so I figured why not. Wow, IDK why I rode that fps bandwagon as far as I did. After a short month I resold it for half the original price, my 360 died and I gave away all 50 games a couple months back. Farther back I bought Shellshock Vietnam '67 and it was very under whelming. Terrible shooting and aim system for a game of the time IMHO along with sub-par graphics and uninspired gameplay. I got through the first 3 or 4 levels and boxed it up never to be played again.

Also bought Metalheart, but it already contained a few patches, as it always happens with localized versions. It did not hang, but the main problem was that the role system was an awful imitation of SMART: though you have the same main stats, even the same perks and skills, you ALWAYS get a level every 1000 XP. That's right, you can keep killing the easiest random encounter mobs forever and level up propperly. That's why I didn't bother playing it to the end - every game that lets me become virtually impossible to beat in no time is boring.

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki

A really bad Doom clone. I must have been hypnotized when I bought it 😅

Radiaki was so bizzare I actually liked it. If I ever come across an original copy I would buy it.

Daikatana and "Jetfighter Full Burn" are my worst buys.

My worst buys? Well half of my Steam library (340 games), most of which is bycatch as bundlefodder. That's not to say sometimes there's actually a game in it that surprises me.
Other than that, too much really, but the damage done is mostly light as I rarely pay full price for games.

MMaximus wrote:

TFX […]
Show full quote

TFX

the game crashed a lot on my PC, and when it didn't I couldn't really understand how to play it

I actually like that simulator, it has certain style which creates a unique atmosphere that I haven't seen in other flightsims.
That I never suffered crashes playing it helps too, I have the CD-ROM version, I think the floppy version got a few patches.

Category 1 - Bought in a store, full price, really hoping for something good:
Power F1. The WORST racing simulator ever. And, my first experience with "we don't accept returns/exchanges for opened software". I still rue the day...

Category 2 - Bargain basket wonder:
Squad Leader [by "Avalon Hill"]. Definitely NOT the squad-based adaption of the legendary boardgame of the same name that probably 90% of purchasers expected. A really, really, really crappy man to man strategy fizzle. One of the worst games period.

By the way, did anyone here ever buy Fork in the Tale?...

Rebel Assault II.

Probably not a bad game in itself. During the times, I was already finished "X-Wing" and "TIE Fighter" games, and was playing Dark Forces. I was in love with al of them (besides being a SW junkie). Then one of my friends came and told me about Rebel Assault, by describing it as "combination of Dark Forces and X-Wing". You can't imagine my disappointment when I fist tried it. 🤣

leileilol wrote:

RacoonRider wrote:

Can you even believe this is from 2003?

Yes. Intel Extreme 82xxx, GFFX and GF4MX holding back the market y'know. More valid reason than the majority of Unity games today, which technically are the same thing more or less, pushed through a few layers of preset effects shaders artifically bumping requirements to DX11-class hardware.

DirectX 7 was supported as late as 2006 in one game that I used to know the title of but can't remember right now.

Here's a list of GF4MX 440 compatible games

http://www.game-requirements.com/?c=nvidia_geforce_4_mx_440

Star Wars Battlefront is on there, and that's a late 2004 game. Not sure of the dates on the rest. I also don't know how accurate the list is, either. Some have a DX 9 recommendation to be playable but also have DX 7 and 8 rendering paths if you don't have a DX 9 card.

I loved TFX, I also thought Power F1 was ok
I bought Scorpion Disfigured that was murky and confusing and very bland
And how can i forget Colin McRae Rally Remastered.
They took Colin McRae Rally 2 ported it to a tablet or phone, Stripped all the complexity, customization and simulation options from it (in other words all the good bits)
and ported it back to the P.C
The more I think about it the more games spring to mind
WARHAMMER 40,000 FIREWARRIOR - Another stinker