15. Past Cure (2018)

There’s sordid plot, shoddy action and oddly ilfitting puzzles in a supernatural third person shooter…and then there’s Past Cure. The development team was small and fairly inexperienced, thus resulting in uneven AI and performance. However, that doesn’t excuse the story which was just a meandering mess when it wasn’t outright dull.

RIDE TO HELL: RETRIBUTION

Ride to Hell: Retribution has received no small amount of criticism (to put it mildly), and yet it still doesn’t feel enough. Some games are simply offensively bad, and this is one such game. From crappy writing to repetitive gameplay, from terrible AI to a litany of bugs, ugly visuals to awkward controls, Ride to Hell: Retribution was a game that had critical problems in almost every single area.

The Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation, a first person sci-fi horror game in the tone of Ridley Scott’s original film, has managed to sell more than 2.1 million units worldwide. This is according to its publisher Sega which announced sales for a number of titles in quarter ending on March 31st.

Other game sales include Football Manager which managed to sell 810,000 units on PC – a notable milestone when you consider that Alien: Isolation released on current and previous gen systems to reach its sales mark. Most surprisingly, however, are the sales for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for the Wii U and 3DS respectively. Both games sold a collective 620,000 units worldwide which is shocking considering the abysmal quality of both titles.

Yakuza 0 has meanwhile managed to sell 380,000 units in Japan on PS3 and PS4 while Persona 4: The Ultimate Ultra Suplex Hold only sold 280,000 units worldwide on previous gen consoles.

Thoughts on the success of Alien: Isolation? Let us know in the comments.

We are kicking off our 6th annual Game of the Year awards with the Worst Game of the Year. With each new year, there’s both a new and existing crop of developers that intentionally or unintentionally wake up and think to themselves, “How can I make a mark on this industry?” Some succeed beyond their wildest dreams, some become encumbered by their own hubris (and consequently sweep our most notorious awards) and some just outright fail.

Oddly enough, the over-hyped Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed: Unity netted nominations for the worst games of the year. It’s amazing when you consider that when fully patched and lacking any issues, both games are decent. Since they were marketed to be amazing, however, they automatically become less than great when they fail to live up to expectations. Mix in never-ending heaps of bugs and you’ll likely find them to be the worst games ever made.

Alas, neither is the worst game of 2014 (or any other year). Escape Dead Island was a uniformly horrible exercise, especially when you consider that the events of the game may or may not have happened. There was only one clear winner though and sadly, it’s not the first or second win of his career.

Nominees:

• Assassin’s Creed: Unity
• Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
• Escape Dead Island
• Watch Dogs

Winner: Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric

Where does one begin?

Over the course of his illustrious career, Sonic the Hedgehog has gone from being Mario’s greatest rival to Sega’s biggest running joke. With each new Sonic game after the admittedly solid Sonic Adventure 2, Sega came up with new gimmicks for good ol’ blue. A romantic relationship with a female princess? A talking sword? Colourful little critters? A werehog? An entire reboot of the franchise? It’s telling that Sonic’s greatest success in the past few years has been Sonic Generations which re-captures the magic of the franchise’s highlights.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric unfortunately takes it to brand new lows. From the redesign of the characters to the awful humour and focus on melee combat, Sega was determined to neuter every last bit of the hero we loved with Rise of Lyric. The saddest part? This is par for the course of Sonic and pretty soon, there will be yet another attempt at making him relevant again.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

It’s here! That time I feared is here! Sonic Boom has finally arrived in stores and retailers nationwide meaning you can get your fix of the blue blur on both your Wii U and 3DS. Gotta go fast and get Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric on Wii U and gotta go just as fast to get your hands on Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for Nintendo 3DS.

I may give this game a lot of (very well deserved heat) because of its “western design” which boils down to odd proportions and sports tape, but the games should do enough to fulfil your need for speed as Sonic continues to move forward quickly. The two titles make use of a multi character system that differentiates it from other games in the franchise, but as other Sonic titles have proven before, different doesn’t mean better.

Sonic Boom recently premièred on Cartoon Network by way of a CGI show, so if anything, we know that Sega are throwing piles of money at this venture and hoping for the best.

I thought we were done with this already! Yet it returns to haunt you and I. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has received a TV commercial that is part CG, part live action and all horrible. The premise is this, though fair warning it’s all in the lead up to a joke.

A young girl has unfortunately found out that her cat has got stuck in a tree, obviously rather upset about the problem she totters around feeling useless one would assume. Don’t ask me how, but Sonic and his companions are there, because who needs rationale nowadays.

They proceed to attempt to get the cat out of the tree by way of their unique skills which boil down to inventor, muscles and what I’m going to call stupidity. As you would expect neither are particularly useful and the whole ordeal ends with knuckles uprooting the tree and Sonic dashing to catch the cat before saying, “We’re better at this in our world.”

Now aren’t you glad you wasted 30 seconds of your life?

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd

Hatsune Miku returns to the PS3 and PS Vita with Project Diva F 2nd but it’s the latter version that has us interested. You’ll be able to use the touchscreen for notes while new double scratch notes have been added into the mix along with new songs. More new songs will arrive via DLC and the game will also support cross-save support between the PS3 and PS Vita. It will be out in Q3 2014 in North Americ and Europe.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric/Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

Sigh. For all the retarded redesigns that characters are sporting, including Knuckles the Echidna discovering steroids for the first time, and the new animated cartoon on which this universe is based, at least Sega is doing something different with Sonic Boom. Granted, Sega doesn’t do different very well but at least they’re making an effort. Check out Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for the 3DS below.

Sonic Jump Fever:

Ironically, the one game that is most like past Sonic experiences is Sonic Jump Fever, a sequel to Sonic Jump which will release on iOS this Summer. Unlike other Sonic games, this one focuses on jumping and getting through a vertical course while scoring points. It’s also strange because it looks legitimately fun.