That I can remember in recent times:

- Hitman: Absolution. I actually tried to buy it at midnight when it was released, the store in my area didn't have a PC copy, and six months later when I got it for $10 on Steam on-sale I'm very happy the store didn't have a copy. The entire game is just walking from cutscene to cutscene with no real strategy, which by itself wouldn't be the end of the world (a lot of FPS games are like that, and since the combat in Absolution almost always degrades into FPS, I could've lived with that), but it judges how well you walk from cutscene to cutscene too. There's none of the freeform play of the previous four games. Oh, and it runs like junk on most any PC. Despite all of those problems, I also beat the entire thing in like 6 hours, and it has essentially no replay value.

- Assassin's Creed: Black Flag is almost as bad as the above, except I didn't pay for it (it came in a bundle), and it's much prettier to look at and seems to run more fluidly (I have it on Xbox so I have no idea what actual frame-rates are like, but it doesn't look laggy).

- Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2. Absolutely wonderful idea, very stable, good graphics, etc completely annihilated by one of the worst online communities of any multiplayer I've tried.

- BioShock 2. Completely strangled by DRM; have never really been able to play it, and that will probably never change.

I played both L4Ds with friends only, and still didn't enjoy it that much. It seemed too frenetic, and it was very hard to tell if you were hitting anything because of the animations. The second was much better, but still not quite my kind of game.

AidanExamineer wrote:

I played both L4Ds with friends only, and still didn't enjoy it that much. It seemed too frenetic, and it was very hard to tell if you were hitting anything because of the animations. The second was much better, but still not quite my kind of game.

It's certainly a unique gameplay experience - if you're expecting Halo, Counter-Strike, Battlefield, whatever you will probably be disappointed (and I think this is where most of the bad online players come from - they buy it expecting yet another mindless tacticool shooter or CoD Zombie Mode, and when it fails to deliver they go nuts). However it's essentially impossible to play online anymore, because of griefers, trolls, etc who simply destroy the experience for all involved. And Valve either doesn't care or hasn't figured out a way to fully fix the problem - there were changes to 2 that seemed to be a step in the right direction, so maybe in the future they'll improve things even more.

Duke3D... the newer one. 🙁

Davros wrote:

I loved TFX, I also thought Power F1 was ok...

I liked TFX too, but Power F1 [1997] well, was like the proverbial slap in the face. Remember what it was supposedly improving upon: Grand Prix II [1995] which is still a wonderfull driving experience, World Circuit [aka Grand Prix I, 1991] still a decent simulator, Indycar Racing/Cart Racing 1 & 2 were awesome [1993/96 - especially if you had a Rendition Verite graphics card - I enjoy it today], and the NASCAR franchise was well on it's way; NR 2 [1996] even had a Glide/3dfx patch which reset the graphics bar for driving games.

The trouble with Power F1 was that in spite of an attempt at being a serious driving simulator it looked worse, drove worse, had very poor controller implementation, and suffered from assorted technical bugs and general "fit and finish" issues. It was not an inviting or reqarding experience.

I know I'm being harsh but I could not find anything to redeem the game. As a comparison take CART Precision Racing which came out shortly afterwards. While it was flawed in many respects [some questionable physics modeling & AI, quite low-res even for the time, difficult controller setup], it none the less possessed a charm and intensity that I still find appealing. Or the Psygnosis F1 games - great arcade racers that even lacking realism still capture plenty of F1 aura and excitement... I guess it's because I like racing game so much that Power F1 felt like such a "low blow" at the time.

vmunix wrote:

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

Well...... I still have my CD, User and Tech Guides, FWIW:

I guess I still keep them around to remind me that impulse buys don't always pay off 😊

Flight Sim Toolkit by Domark. It was so broken that it was almost impossible to get anything done. Random crashes, object explosion kept repeating until the PC froze etc. If I recall, it required several patches to keep it stable. Unfortunately I only had the game for a few days as I traded it for Empire Deluxe, which wasn't much better. Worst Christmas ever.

Artex wrote:

Duke3D... the newer one. 🙁

Which "newer one"? One of the console ports? Or is there something else? 😊 😕

obobskivich wrote:

Artex wrote:

Duke3D... the newer one. 🙁

Which "newer one"? One of the console ports? Or is there something else? 😊 😕

Should have said "Duke Nukem Forever." Didn't have my AM coffee yet when I posted earlier. 😀

Duke Nukem "True 3D" we'll call it.

I thought it was decent. 😀

dead space [on pc]
myst on psp

Leisure Suite Larry Magna Cum Laude. It's not just very bad, it was also a very big disappointment.

tayyare wrote:

Leisure Suite Larry Magna Cum Laude. It's not just very bad, it was also a very big disappointment.

Even Al Lowe is apologetic about that one, and he had nothing to do with it!!

Anything LSL after Love for Sail is garbage, except for Reloaded which is radblasters.

ROTT'13

Without doubts, Battlefield 4

Hmm I remember Car & Driver from the early 90s being pretty poor - pestered my dad to get it from the Eggheads stand at a PC show. While the cars were pretty cool, the tracks were quite Spartan and overall it wasn't fun, and didn't hold a candle to Test Drive III.

Also paid full price for Ultima Underworld and found it a bit dreary and hard so never progressed past the first level. In my collection at that time it was up against Eye of the Beholder, which was brighter, easier and more engaging. Have recently bought UU again for another shot.

Finally, Rally Trophy - impossible with the keyboard and it didn't support my ACT Labs wheel, it has been mostly unplayed and awaits a compatible wheel setup...

Rally Trophy - you'll like it when you finally get a wheel for it. All my old Thrustmasters worked as does my current Logitech Momo FBB battle horse. Pity the ACT didn't work because RT would never have sniffed this thread!

Hmmm that's a tough one. I mean with so many crap games on the market now you just become accustomed to it. 🤣

There were a few that really pissed me off though:

Skyrim (2011) - A horrible console port to PC, the game is all browns and greys, filled with HORRIBLE voice acting and ever dungeon is EXACTLY the same. It's basically talk to person, go fetch thing - rinse repeat.
Mafia 2 (2010) - I loved the original Mafia so when I heard another was coming out I was so stoked! This was dissapointing though, there are too many gripes to list, main among them would be murdering the main char from the last game and the ending is a huge set up for a sequel that we will never see because 2k pulled the plug on that particular studio. 🙁
The Godfather (2006) - Bad, just... bad.
Neverwinter Nights (2002) - Annoying voice acting, horrible perspective and click and wait combat makes this dull and frustrating to play.
Command and Conquer Generals (2003) - At the time I loathed this one because it really deviated from the play style of Command and Conquer Red Alert and Tiberian Sun. The story is dumb and the graphics are worse, there are some nice mods for it though.
Command and Conquer 3 (2007) - Yay! They brought back live acting! The graphics were impressive when I first played it but as a NOD fan I was kind of pissed at how nerfed their units were when compared with GDI or those HORRIBLE aliens! Seriously who thought the aliens were a good idea? The story line is kind of BS also, it really strays from what Command and Conquer was to us all. 🙁
Civilization 3 (2001) - They changed so much of the mechanics of the game from Civ 2 and added an annoying 3d aspect to it. Also the interface had suddenly gone fischer price. Overall I hated it, and the fact that the cpu beat me every time really didn't add anything to it.
G.I. Combat (2002) - After playing the Close Combat: A bridge too far demo in the 90's I finally got own a game made by those same guys! aaaand it sucked... the unit AI is appalling, the CPU players cheat their asses off and the camera controls are horrible. 🙁
GTA IV (2008) - Oh my gawd the story puts me to sleep... I still have yet to finish it. The game is boring and grey and the only saving grace is the awesome physics and driving.
Warcraft 3 (2002) - After playing and loving Warcraft 2 and it's expansion pack this game felt quite limited. For one there are no ships! NO SHIPS! I mean what were they thinking? Still, that isn't really my biggest gripe. My biggest problem is the fact that most of the gameplay revolves around buffing out heroes and not on the usual RTS elements. Also for some odd reason they put a unit limit on the game that is extremely low, gone were the massive armies and battles that could rage across maps and instead you had these tiny little skirmishes that were greatly effected by these hero characters. Ugh... so disappointing...
Driver: Parallel Lines (2006) - Ugh I was such a huge fan of the Driver games up until this point... The prospect of it returning to where it started with the 1970's theme was amazing but a huge let down when I eventually played it. The game was basically a GTA knock off where you ran around collecting cars and customizing them, unfortunately all the cars are butt ugly and the character is annoying. Another thing is you cannot swim in this game for some reason! Oh and the PC version sucks because of the camera controls and chopped music selection when compared to the PS2 console version.
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (2006) - Remember ghost recon? The Awesome squad based tactical shooter where you could approach your goals from any angle and get the job done your way? The central theme of the original game was stealth and realism. Welp... basically take away the stealth and realism, squad based combat and any kind of tactical choice and you have Advanced war fighter. It's a shiny COD knockoff that cashes in on the success of the last original game. There are so many action sequences and explosions you would think it was directed by Micheal Bay. Basically you play one character and run down rabbit trails while getting interrupted by cut scenes all the time. It's horrible, believe me.
Battlefield Vietnam (2004) - Graphics are meh and the AI is horribly broken. Overall it sucks in comparison to BF 1942.
War Inc. (1997) - I bought this just recently at a thrift store because I had played another game published by I-magic and since they were kind of known for publishing bizarre games I thought I'd give this a try. Oh my god I had no idea an RTS game could be this bad! The music is horrible loud and annoying metal, the 2d graphics are god awful and I still have no idea how to play it. It's also kind of a pain to get running properly.
Quake II (1997) - This was a weird one. I love the original quake and it's dark atmosphere, the weapons are great the game looks great and runs on everything. Quake 2 on the other hand looks terrible and plays like a bland FPS, the enemies are nothing like the original quake and the overall sci-fi feel is just cheesy. I guess if there is anything to take away from this it's: "Sequels of good games usually suck".

I'm sure there are more but these are all the ones that massively ruined my day when I bought them. 🤣

Hot wheels for the Wii. Buggiest damn game ever.

I remember buying State of Emergency for XBox and almost immediately thinking how horrible it is. All you do is run around a shopping mall shooting, stabbing, or bashing people over the head with whatever you are able to pick up. It was a good thing I decided to hold off on buying that one until it had depreciated to $4.99 and it didn't take very long for it to get there, it was so bad. I would have been really upset if I had paid $59.99 for it.