Gaming
KnowTechie’s absolutely worst games of 2016
A lot of great games were released in 2016, but with the good, there’s always the bad. And boy, were there some doozies. Here’s our picks of the worst games of 2016.
Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.
A lot of great games were released in 2016, but with the good, there’s always the bad. And boy, were there some doozies. Here’s our picks of the worst games of 2016.
Happy 2017 everyone! As I’m sure you are already aware, we’ve put together a list of our top 15 favorite games from 2016 over here. Well, we wouldn’t be the GameTechie team without putting together a list of those that didn’t do so hot either. As we kicked off the best list, we’re going to kick off the worst list with a console that was an embarrassment in 2016. Be forewarned though, it goes downhill from here!
Worst platform of the year: Nintendo Wii-U
Yeah, when a console’s developer treats their home console with as much apathy as the userbase, there shouldn’t be a surprise when people stop buying it. Of course, they follow up their incredible support with the Wii-U by intentionally under-producing the NES Classic so that there would be a demand for their product, only to be surprised by the initial demand. For a company that seems to be afraid of the internet, making innovative titles or supporting their userbase, I’m not sure what to expect of the Switch in this next year…
Mighty No. 9
We almost gave this award to the Ghostbusters game, because at the end of the day, that game is a piece of crap. Unfortunately for everyone, the highly anticipated Mighty No. 9 was even more of a joke. Ghostbusters was a licensed game that was really bad and overpriced but Mighty No. 9 actually had a blueprint to success. When you are looking to copy Mega Man, the least you can do is copy what makes the game fun and not just the standard aesthetics. Mighty No. 9 was just horrible and poorly developed.
Final Fantasy Explorers
The Final Fantasy pendulum swings back hard here. There is a lot to love about Final Fantasy games, but that love finds itself watered down as you drift further from the original source material. In this case, Final Fantasy Explorers tries its hardest to take Final Fantasy elements and mix them in with Monster Hunter gameplay. The end result is sadly a forgettable experience that ends up being neither a good Monster Hunter game nor a good Final Fantasy one.
Homefront: The Revolution
Oh. My. God. I had such high hopes for this game when I saw it at E3 like two years ago. J didn’t, but I sure as hell did. Then Crytek had its issues, the game changed development teams and then Deep Silver’s release leaked out without much of a whimper, like a bowel movement after binge eating bean burritos with extra sour cream from Taco Bell. The game loves to kill you by sniper fire just because, hit markers didn’t work well at all and gunplay just didn’t feel good.
Battleborn
I actually really liked Battleborn. I’m pretty sure J did too. This award is more for the 2K team than for the game itself. We knew Overwatch was going to be HUGE, people in the alphas and betas were singing its praises. When you are faced with a massive multiplayer shooter, maybe you shouldn’t release your squad-based shooter to go head to head with it. Maybe you should put effort in explaining they are two different types of games. Maybe you should make a bit more content for the game so a few hours isn’t all it takes to do everything. Maybe you shouldn’t make it so characters have aoe attacks that need to be executed with precision but your allies can block your shots. You know what? This game wasn’t all that great. Shame on you, Gearbox.
WWE 2K17
To quote Kevin Sorbo, “DISAPPOINTED!” The 2K series has, up to this point, not really been anything to get overly excited about. This year promised a large roster and a brand-new career/story mode. Something that the folks that create this title need to understand about a wrestling game is that the people that pick this game up are fans of the product. Releasing something that feels outdated based on last year’s game, with corpse-like characters that move like their skeletons don’t even want to be part of this disaster doesn’t help. Throw annoying gameplay, needlessly complex controls and stupid mini-games and we have ourselves the 2006 December to Dismember of video games. Read our full review here.
► WWE 2K17
The Division
Do you know what happens when you divide by zero? The world blows up. That or you get the shell of a game that looked really good but fails to deliver any aspect of the original premise. The Division had a lot of promise but everything within the game felt far too canned and prepackaged. If it wasn’t predictable enemy AI and exploitable PVP then it was glitches and bugs that made the whole game unplayable. The game seemed to have a good story at first but you kind of stop following a story by the end of the game. Then they tried to rebalance everything and made the top tier players much weaker. I heard they fixed it, but I do not ever care to go back — too little, too late. I really was hoping this would be a good one…
Street Fighter V
Guess what you don’t get in these awards, a pass. Street Fighter V released as a broken mess that was devoid of so many features that every other fighter release included. It even lacked the ability to play by yourself. They have added some additional game modes in and added a whole ton of DLC, but the game still works like garbage. I mean, that’s cute that they want me to spend more money on the game but maybe things like matchmaking, playing with your friends and lag-free experiences should be something Capcom should consider as well. If every other fighting game can do it with no problem, that clearly shows ineptitude or just a lack of desire since they can’t charge you for it. Street Fighter V is easily the most improved fighter, but that’s because it was released in the most incomplete state of any fighter ever. Maybe Street Fighter V Season Two will be a different story this time next year. Read our review here.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force
Last year, I was amazed that Metroid Prime: Federation Force was supposed to be our triumphant return to Metroid games. When the game came out this year, I picked it up and played through the campaign. My major takeaways were that the game graphically feels aged in comparison with almost every other 3DS game that has been released. Also, there’s this weightless floatiness that is within the game that makes combat lack any real substance. Many times, there is so much going on that you can’t even pay attention because of how muddled the games presentation is.
► Metroid Prime: Federation Force
Soda Drinker Pro
It seems like a lifetime ago when J and I saw Soda Drinker Pro and Vivian Clark at PAX in 2012. Four years later. the game found a release on Xbox One and reminded the world of the quality of games that used to litter the Xbox Indie Game category on Xbox 360. You customize your soda, walk around levels until your soda is empty and more on to the next level. It’s silly but after about five minutes in, I just can’t fathom how anyone thought it was a good idea. There’s a hidden game within Soda Drinker Pro that is a little more fun, yet the enjoyment factor can’t redeem the game as a purchase.
No Man’s Sky
At E3 this year I swung by the PlayStation booth with one question in mind “What is No Man’s Sky?” They brought some guy over to answer a few questions and when I asked him that very question, he told me “No Man’s Sky is like nothing you’ve ever played before.” I walked away and made the mistake of picking the game up at launch. Hype could be partially to blame for No Man’s Sky being such an absolute garbage-tier release, but anyone involved in the title whatsoever would of had to of known that it was going to be so bad. The game didn’t have features that were touted for the longest times, the worlds and the lifeforms you encounter were based on a silly algorithm that was basically one of those kids games where you can change the head, body and tail of an animal. There were issues erasing your discoveries and it quickly became apparent that there simple wasn’t much to do in the game. No Man’s Sky has gone through some improvements, this is true, but it still deserves the highest dishonor of 2016. Read our disappointing review here.
This game will never come out award: Shenmue 3
It raised over $6 Million on Kickstarter, and has Sony also helping to fund it, but it’s never gonna happen. In fact, it’s probably likely that most of that $6 Million came from people who got caught up in the nostalgia bug, and those who “heard Shenmue was great” but never had a Dreamcast. Personally, Shenmue was boring as fuck despite having a decent story if you could stay awake to see it. Because of the hype and then radio silence, Shenmue 3 is most likely the Half Life 3 of anticipated games.
Josh: Bold choice. I would have gone with Star Citizen, since they just changed the engine but Shenmue 3 is a solid choice.
Follow us on Flipboard, Google News, or Apple News
