Sure, 2023 wasn’t as good a year for video games as 2022 (few years are, especially lately). But there were a bunch of really fun games, as you can see from my “Best Video Games Of 2023” list.
But it was just as bad, as you can see from the following list of my least favorite games of the year (which I present in the order I played them).
Atomic Heart
Developer: Mundfish
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Systems: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PC
While this should’ve been a rather interesting mix of BioShock and Metro, it instead ended up being a mix of disappointment and frustration thanks to stifled, jerky movement that made it feel like you had stepped in some industrial-strength adhesive and now one of your shoes was constantly getting stuck to the floor.
SCORE: 6.0/10 (Click here to read my full review.)
Ace Racer
Developer / Publisher: Netease
Systems: iOS, Android
You know a game is bad when the worst thing about it isn’t the needless nudity / scantily clad women. No, in what I immediately started calling Ass Racer, the worst thing is how, when a race starts, you can easily get a jump on the competition by hitting a button, while also not worrying if you hit anyone (collision detection is off for the first few seconds), because this results in you taking the lead of every race…and keeping it since your competition is terrible or doesn’t care or maybe they’re distracted by the scantily clad women.
Protodroid DeLTA
Developer: Adam Kareem
Publisher: Humble Games
Systems: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC
You also know a game is bad when you feel like quitting before you’ve even finished the tutorial. Because playing more of this third-person solarpunk sci-fi shooter / platformer didn’t make the wonky controls work better, didn’t make the pedestrian action or obvious story any more interesting, or make the terrible music — which you can’t turn down or off — any more tolerable.
Dead Island 2
Developer: Dambuster Studios
Publisher: Deep Silver
Systems: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
I love the good Dead Island games. But they’re not all good, and when they’re not, they’re extra annoying for messing up something that should’ve been good. Which is how I felt playing this awkward and frustrating installment, which annoyed me to no end by pairing ineffective weapons with enemies whose strength wildy (and I’d argue, unfairly) varied.
The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment / Nacom
Systems: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
As I’ve said before, and will say again, it’s one thing to make a bad game out of a bad idea, but it’s worse when your bad game starts with a good idea. Kernels of which you can see when you start playing this stealth action game, in which Frodo’s frenemy has to use climbing and jumping to avoid being detected. But then, half an hour later, when you realize there’s not much more, and what there is doesn’t work right…
SCORE: 6.0/10 (Click here to read my full review.)
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance Of The Slayer
Developer: Big Z Studios
Publisher: No More Robots
Systems: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
I can’t tell if this was trying to be a first-person shooter in the vein of Duke Nukem and the original Quake, or a parody of those games, but I found its clunky controls, idiotic enemies, and immaturity to be neither fun nor funny, but instead rather dull.
Gotham Knights
Developer: WB Games Montreal
Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
Systems: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Like Gollum, Gotham Knights squanders what should’ve been a good idea: a Batman game in which the Caped Crusader is dead, and his protégés have to fill in for him. But in many ways, this was actually worse than Gollum because it’s just so laborious and slow and boring, was rather samey, and has slightly wonky controls. Even the combat was bad, which you’d think would be the least of its worries given how this was made by the same studio as the vastly superior (in combat and every other way) Batman: Arkham Origins. Which is why, unlike with Gollum, I didn’t even make it half an hour before wanting to give up.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Systems: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC
I don’t like the Avatar movies, but I like open world shooters, and since I’ve liked video games based on movies I disliked (I’m looking at you, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), I decided to give this a try…and found it lacking. Mostly in the getting around parts, which were frustrating, and the dominant action. Sure, the combat was fun, especially since you tower over people and have arrows big enough to destroy mechs, but not fun enough to compensate for the bad travel.
(Click here to read my full review.)
Dishonorable Mention:
RoboCop: Rogue City (Nacon; PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC)
While I actually liked this game enough to include it in my “Best Video Games Of 2023” piece, I felt it belonged here as well because if you come into it as a fan of shooters, and not the movies, you’ll quickly become annoyed at how slow you move and how the bad guys act like they’re bulletproof so they just stand there.
SCORE: 8.0/10 (Click here to read my full review.)
And that, thankfully, is a wrap on 2023. What were your least favorite games? Tell me in the comments below.
