Gaming Memoirs

Hi guys, a guest post today from the lovely guys at Music Magpie – they decided to share their opinion on the 5 worst video games ever – Thankfully, I have never experienced any of them. You might want to check if you have any terrible games worth selling.

A look back at the worst video games of all time won’t exactly have you grabbing at your modern consoles, eager to sell psp and other devices in order to switch back to some older platforms. There have been some real stinkers, here are the top 5.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

These days, almost every other film release has a computer game to go with, however, back in the 80s, this trend was in its infancy. So it was a brave move move by Warner Communications to release E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, an Atari developed spin off game to accompany the Steven Spielberg motion picture of the same name. Ultimately the experiment didn’t pay off, with the the entertainment giants losing a net total of $100 million after shifting just 1.5 millions copies of the 5 million ordered. However, that spin off video games were a new concept to consumers wasn’t completely to blame for E.T.’s failure, more significant was the fact that the title was lazily produced, hideous to look at and incredibly boring to play.

Custer’s Revenge

Developed by the now defunct Mystique, the 1982 release Custer’s Revenge was not so much a computer game as a case study in causing offence. The object was to maneuver the pixelated representation of a clearly excited General George Armstrong Custer, naked, save for his hat, cowboy boots and neckerchief, from one end of the screen to the other, while avoiding projectiles in the shape of arrows launched off screen, presumably by a gang of unhappy Native Americans. On arrival at his destination, the honourable General would then exact revenge for his death at the Battle of Little Bighorn by raping a Native American woman bound to a totem pole.

Pac-Man (Atari 2600)

The home release of the arcade favourite Pac-Man highly anticipated, however, when it was finally launched in 1981 on the Atari 2600, thousands of gamers were left hugely disappointed. The disk shaped hero had not only had the classic action of his chomping mouth changed to a simple open close motion, his iconic crunching sound bites had gone, replaced by a brittle metallic boing. Even the ghosts were a pale imitation of their once colourful selves. Atari tried to make amends with a much improved version on both the 400 and 800 systems, however, let down fans felt that it was too little too late.

Super Columbine Massacre RPG

One of the most unpleasant titles ever created is Super Columbine Massacre RPG for the PC. The idea of the game, devised by developer Danny Ledonne, was to recreate the horrific Columbine School murders carried out by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. As well as trivialising a tragedy, Super Columbine Massacre featured a terrible plot, appalling gameplay and cartoony graphics at odds with the serious theme professed by the game’s creator.

Club Drive

The object of the Atari developed game Club Drive was to zoom around a nondescript landscape collecting power balls along the way. For extra excitement, the game included objects that you were supposed to be avoided, however, the developer’s grasp of physics was so loose that if you did run into these untextured polygons, nothing would happen anyway, making them as redundant as the game itself.