Lord of the Rings: Gollum was released to almost universally damning reviews, but there have been many games with even worse ratings over the years. Gollum has been criticized for clunky controls, unintelligent NPCs, boring quests, bad graphics, and constant crashes. Essentially an indie developer, Daedalic Entertainment is known for point-and-click adventures and appears to have been out of its depth with this big-name IP.
As it stands, the PC version of Gollum is rated at just 40 on Metacritic, but even big AAA games are not immune from poor ratings. While there’s a certain expectation for AAA developers and publishers to hit it out of the park with every game, there have been some serious missteps over the years, despite having the budget, resources, and experience to succeed. Some are even repeat offenders, with the EA and Activision logos each appearing on several of the most maligned titles in gaming history.
10 The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (38)
Developed by Terminal Reality and published by Activision, 2013’s The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct was a tie-in to the super popular TV series, but lacked any of the suspense or emotional weight of the source material. Instead of the tactical survival horror of a game like The Last Of Us or the Resident Evil franchise, most missions in The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct can be cleared by simply running past the walkers, who will give up the chase after a certain distance, and then just unloading some ammo into the last few.
9 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (37)
Released in 2010 to coincide with the movie of the same name, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was slammed mostly for its boring gameplay, but also for several game design and quality issues. This title, developed and published by EA, is essentially a third-person shooter with wands, but the enemies are so one-dimensional that the game can be beaten just by spamming stupefy from beginning to end. Bad lip-syncing, weird difficulty spikes, and awkward camera angles all contribute to the poor experience that earned it 37 on Metacritic.
8 NBA Live ’14 (36)
One of EA’s many annual sports titles, NBA Live ’14 felt awkward and sluggish and had graphics that looked more apt for a PS3 or Xbox 360 game than one that was released on PS4 and Xbox One, while its competitor NBA 2K14 looked stunning, and played fluidly. To make matters worse, the AI would often stand around and do nothing, yet had a freakish ability to block jump shots.
7 Fast & Furious Crossroads (35)
The interminable Fast & Furious movie franchise seems like the perfect candidate for a video game, given that there have been great video games about action driving and heists since the PS2 era. Sadly, this PS4 game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Bandai Namco boasts graphical textures that would look at home on the PS2, but none of the polished gameplay that made that console such a classic for driving games. With boring missions, one-dimensional characters and no sense of challenge or accomplishment, the game’s biggest feature is that it’s all over in about four hours.
6 Iron Man (32)
Yet another movie tie-in, this 2008 title published by Sega allows players to fly around and blast enemies to pieces, and that’s about it. Missions are overloaded with seemingly endless waves of enemies for Iron Man to shoot down, but the whole exercise feels pointless, not to mention the graphics look muddy and pixelated. The cutscenes before every mission were widely considered to be awful, with phoned-in voice-acting performances. The worst indictment against Iron Man, however, is that players never actually feel like the titular character.
5 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 (32)
Around the turn of the century, Tony Hawk thrust skateboarding into the wider public consciousness, partly for his sporting feats, but mostly for the classic video games that bore his name. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and 3 are both the highest-rated games ever made for their respective consoles, but eventually, the series branched out and experimented with open worlds and new mechanics. 2015’s THPS5 was an attempt to return to the original formula but sadly was a step back in almost every way. Poor graphics, technical glitches, and levels so simple they could have been made in THPS2‘s level editor, were some of the biggest complaints about this flop.
4 Kung Fu Panda 2 (31)
Kung Fu Panda 2 was not a good game on any platform, but it received its worst reviews on the PS3, mostly because the Xbox 360 version at least used the Kinect, getting players up off the couch. The problem with movie and TV tie-ins is that they’re almost always rushed to market to capitalize on the hype surrounding the IP. The short development cycle means games come out unfinished, and Kung Fu Panda 2 was plagued with performance issues and one-dimensional enemies that could never hit the player if they simply spammed Po’s light attack. The performance and frame rate issues only compounded the poor reviews, considering the graphics were nothing special either.
3 Ghostbusters (30)
It’s a stretch to even call 2016’s Ghostbusters a tie-in. There are zero characters from any Ghostbusters movie and very little connection to the source material at all. The players take control of some no-name ghostbusters with no personality or interpersonal relationships, and shoot their way through big, boring levels with no variation from one to the next. Ghostbusters has never been about blasting away at phantasms, but, for some reason, this game is a generic isometric shooter with a very, very thin Ghostbusters veil pulled over the top of it. Published by Activision, the game was such a failure that developer FireForge filed for bankruptcy three days after its release.
eFootball is the continuation of the venerable Pro Evolution Soccer franchise, and it has had a rocky start to life. Released as a free-to-play by Konami, the first version was very unfinished, to the point of basically being a demo. Players would not retrieve any ball that was not passed directly to them, and the AI was so predictable that players could score the same goal over and over again. Other criticisms were limited game modes and matchmaking that wouldn’t even find an opponent. eFootball is a noble attempt to move away from the yearly sports game release cycle, but it remains to be seen whether it can overcome its bad start.
1 NBA Unrivaled (24)
Described by one reviewer as an “unmitigated disaster”, this overpriced game published by Tecmo of Ninja Gaiden fame is stuck in an awkward limbo between being an arcade game and a simulator. The end result is slow, unengaging gameplay, and the AI shows almost no prerogative or tactical sense, moving up and down the court as a unit and often taking shots from behind the backboard. It’s also very difficult to control the players due to the jerky animations which don’t clearly display what is going on.
For every classic game, there are just as many disappointments, if not more. While it’s disheartening to see highly anticipated titles fall short, it serves as a reminder that even established developers and publishers can miss the mark. The gaming industry is a complex landscape where expectation and execution don’t always align and unfortunately, Lord of the Rings: Gollum is the latest addition to that list.