After our special on bad video games that we really liked for various reasons, we want to focus on them 5 period titles that are nothing short of terrible, which you probably don’t know. We refer to “gaming pearls” such as Hercules The Legendary Journeys, Godai Elemental Force, 25 to Life and other not exactly brilliant productions, to put it mildly. Ready to discover them? Then we go.
Hercules The Legendary Journeys
While watching TV, perhaps bedridden by a horse fever, how many of you have stumbled upon it in some episode of the Hercules TV series? Yes, the American one starring the legendary hero and his trusted friend Iolaus. Not everyone knows that in 2000 a game was released based on the show for the small screen, developed by Player 1 for Nintendo 64.
It was necessary to undertake a journey to save Zeus, to travel in the shoes of Hercules, but also of his companions Iolaus and Serena. Each protagonist had unique abilities, with the hero able to lift rocks and throw objects and Iolaus able to reach otherwise inaccessible places. Between fights, quests and banal puzzles, Titus’ title offered 12 locations and five arenas.
The problem is that the maps, although large, they were terribly empty and also uninspired, not exactly the best to convey the idea of being facing an epic adventure. Furthermore, the battles were full of problems, with the protagonists poorly animated and difficult to position correctly during the offensive and enemies who were not very reactive.
At the time, Nintendo Power colleagues defined the title as a pale imitation of Zelda, with players who on Nintendo 64 they had experienced Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask (released practically at the same time as The Legendary Journeys). In short, it is not surprising that Player 1’s game has been forgotten by most.
Xena Warrior Princess (PlayStation)
We just talked about the Hercules game, and our second example is no different. After all, the TV series Xena Warrior Princess was born as a spin-off of The Legendary Journeys and gave rise to a video game by Universal Studios Digital Arts, in which the warrior To do this, clearly, the protagonist had to fight against numerous enemies, thanks to the combinations of her and her attacks of the iconic battle cry that we loved in the TV series. Through upgrades it was possible to increase Xena’s skill pool, improve her armor and in general the woman used weapons such as the sword and, needless to say, the chakram seen on TV.
This second instrument of death was also used to cut chains, activate devices and was controlled “in flight” by the player, who in this way had a better chance of completing the attack. The problem is that by using the chakram Xena remained exposed to the offensive attacks of nearby opponents. They thought they would make the situation enormously worse the serious uncertainties of the camera, which made battles and platforming more difficult. The graphics were certainly not the best, and the use of the faces of the actresses of Xena and Gabrielle failed to improve the situation.
Godai Elemental Force
By far the worst game on this list, Godai Elemental Force was defined by GameSpot as one of the worst released on PS2 in 2002 and the Metacritic average, of just 27 out of 100, says a lot about how it was received by the press era. “Godai sucks in ways humanity wasn’t meant to know“, this is how Electric Playground spoke about this 3D action game by The 3DO Company, which called players to take on the role of a ninja called Hirowho in addition to his fists fought his opponents with weapons typical of the Asian tradition, but also magical blows such as fireballs.
The icing on the cake, after a jump Hiro glided thanks to the power of thought alone, so he could reach distant surfaces and overcome obstacles. So what were the problems with the game? In a word, everything. The character design of the protagonist and his enemies was horrendous, the camera system gave me a headache and the animations of any character on the screen were spartan to say the least, just think of Hiro’s glide. In short, if you didn’t know Godai Elemental Force, don’t be surprised.
25 to Life
25 to Life is another pearl of rare ugliness, created by Ritual Entertainment and Avalanche Software, a collective that achieved great success just last year with Hogwarts Legacy (here is the review of Hogwarts Legacy). Unfortunately there was just nothing magical about 25 to Life, a third person shooter with a modern setting that allowed us to control both a criminal and a policeman, in very linear scenarios of various kinds. A bank robbery, an escape from prison, shootouts in bad alleys or at the casino: the missions enjoyed a certain thematic variety, but the problem was to be found in the horrid gunplaythe beating heart of the experience.
Using an AK-47, a silenced MP5-like machine gun or a shotgun gave very little satisfaction, due to the wooden animations of the controlled character and enemies. The aiming reticle added to the confusion in clashes marked by a control system that is at times problematic, in an experience with rather poor graphics. In other words, very little was saved in 25 to Life, let’s think of a soundtrack with hip hop songs which however sometimes appeared out of context compared to what was happening on screen.
Damnation
To end on a high note, so to speak, Damnation is a third-person shooter in a steampunk style and to start talking about it we quote the words of the Xbox World review “one of the worst shooters of this generation. The clue is in the name“. The game co-developed by Blue Omega Entertainment and Point of View was set in an alternate version of the United States, with the American Civil War lasting much longer than it should have.
With the desire to oppose the dictatorship that governed the country, a group of rebels led by an unlikely cowboy took part in high-risk missions, plagued by acting that is at times unlistenable, by repetitive platforming sections and made worse by wooden animations. This last front also had an impact on the gunplay, which was simply tremendous, just like the graphics sector.
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