Worst Game of the Year
It takes tons of effort to make a compelling game, even more so in this day and age of endless sequels and innovative indie titles. It seemingly takes even less effort to flub a major release, but many games released this year are the result of troubled dev cycles, utter lack of polish, gimmicks or simply trying to cash in on a licensed property that other studios handle better. So rest assured that work went into making the Worst Game of the Year – it just wasn’t any of the good kind.
Nominees:
– X: Rebirth
– Fighter Within
– Ride to Hell: Retribution
– Ben 10 Omniverse 2
– The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Winner: The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Consider this for a second – Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr couldn’t kill Terminal Reality. Aeon Flux couldn’t kill it. Even Kinect Star Wars, which was utterly destroyed by controversy and piss-poor gameplay mechanics, couldn’t kill the nearly 10 year old developer. It was after The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, an adaptation of the AMC TV show The Walking Dead which acted as a prequel and featured Daryl Dixon in the leading role, that the developer finally calls it quits. Though there’s no evidence that the game’s poor sales lead to the studio’s demise, it’s mix of PS2-level graphics, clunky shooting mechanics and lazy attempts to embody the show make it simply awful. You may not be fooled into picking up the other games due to their lack of exposure, but The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct attempted to leverage the same for the sake of grabbing your cash and nothing else. Naturally, it failed.
