While I try to be civil and maintain respectful professional relationships, I’m not afraid to call game companies on their BS when they mess up. While I don’t take joy in crapping on someone else’s hard work, I believe it’s important to point out when a developer or publisher does poorly, in hopes that they can improve in their future efforts. Here are the games that failed spectacularly in one area or another this year.
- Worst Microtransactions
- Most Overrated
- Worst Asset Flip
- Laziest Copycat
- Worst Port/Remake
- Most Overpriced
- The “Why is this taking so much space on my memory card!?” Award
- Most Disappointing
- Worst Game
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Worst Microtransactions
Pokemon Unite – Nintendo Switch seemed to be mostly free of nasty microtransactions in 2021, but there were still a few games that featured sleazy monetization, and by far the worst of them (that I played, anyway) was Pokemon Unite. Yes, I know it got adjusted to be not quite as bad shortly after launch, and I honestly don’t care – it’s still a ghoulish and exploitative game targeting children with numerous mechanics designed to coerce players out of their money. From significant pay-to-win mechanics, numerous currencies to hide what you’re paying, hidden lootboxes, and content that would take months to unlock without opening up your wallet… again, in a game meant for children. Games in this category are often disgusting, but Pokemon Unite is outright despicable.
Runners-Up:
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Most Overrated
Saviors of Sapphire Wings / Stranger of Sword City Revisited (80) – The recipients of this award go to games that Metacritic rated highly, a rating I strongly disagree with. This year’s winner is a Compilation of two First-Person Dungeon Crawlers that are not only horribly uninspired, but absolutely dreadful to play. Saviors of Sapphire Wings is as generic, basic, and boring of an entry in the genre as you could expect to find, and Stranger of Sword City Revisited is absurdly difficult to the point of just not being fun. Both games have molasses-slow progression, and while I would very much like to play a truly great First-Person Dungeon Crawler on Nintendo Switch, it is astonishing to me that anyone thought that the games in this package fit that description.
Runners-Up:
Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection (74)
Sumire (86)
Fez (88)
Knockout City (83)
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Worst Asset Flip
Fly the Bird – While there were a lot of terrible asset flips on Nintendo Switch in 2021 (and there shouldn’t be any!), the worst one had to be Fly the Bird. While I strongly considered granting this award to Retro Fighter, a game that you can play by holding down a button and turning away from your TV screen, I ultimately had to admit that Fly the Bird was worse, as this game becomes literally unplayable after just a few seconds of play.
Runners-Up:
Retro Fighter – Dragon’s Revenge
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Laziest Copycat
Sound Waves – This is actually a good game (I gave it a B- in my review). But it is also about as close as you can get to outright thievery in the game industry without actually stealing anything. This game takes its concept, aesthetic, and virtually everything good it does directly from the PC game Dark Echo. Normally I make it a point to say I think copycats are okay as long as they’re a good copycat, but here we have a game that does so very little to build on the game it’s copying, and it’s not like it’s stealing from a major game company that can just brush this off, but from a small indie creator. Not cool, dude.
Runners-Up:
Space Blast Zom A Matching Game
Picross S Genesis & Master System Edition
Travel Mosaics 7: Fantastic Berlin
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Worst Port/Remake
Skyforge – While not quite as major or noteworthy as some of the other ports on this list, Skyforge has the distinction of being outright broken on the Nintendo Switch, to the point of being almost unplayable. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to release the game in this state, with framerates that fluctuate wildly, sound that cuts in and out, and the game overall feeling like a buggy mess? And then of course, there’s the massive 21.8GB file size, making you wonder just what the heck all that file space is being used for. Don’t waste your limited memory card space for this trash. If you need to play this, play it on another platform.
Runners-Up:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV: Diplomacy and Strategy Pack Bundle
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Most Overpriced
The Last Survey ($15) – The Last Survey is not a horrible game, although it is a soul-crushing experience with a narrative that’s as depressing as it is pretentious. However, none of that is why this game wins this award. Rather, The Last Survey takes home his prize for being a $15 game that players can easily finish within 30-60 minutes, depending on their reading speed. Players have a few meaningless choices they can make along the way, but largely, you’re paying $15 to read a depressing story about… er… I’m still not entirely clear if this is about a resource shortage or environmental problems. In any case, this is way too high a price for an experience this short, even if you want to be depressed.
Runners-Up:
Steam Prison ($65.50)
Travel Mosaics 7: Fantastic Berlin ($9)
Rock ‘N Racing Bundle Off-Road & Grand Prix ($20)
Speedway Bundle Stock & Truck ($20)
Power Racing Bundle 2 ($17)
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The “Why is this taking so much space on my memory card!?” Award
The Last Survey (1.19GB) – While The Last Survey is one of the smallest games on this list, its file size of over 1.19GB strikes me as the most egregious. The game’s subdued, droning soundtrack and poorly-animated, crudely-drawn monochrome visuals don’t seem to present any reason why this game should be as large as it is. Each of these games feels like it’s being wasteful with the space it requires, but The Last Survey feels particularly pointless in its use of space.
Runners-Up:
Skyforge (21.8GB)
BraveMatch (1.04GB)
Dirt Bike Insanity (2.18GB)
Monster Harvest (1.6GB)
Team Troopers (2.79GB)
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Most Disappointing
Diablo II: Resurrected – I consider Diablo III to be a top-tier Nintendo Switch game, and Diablo II is often celebrated as the high point in the series. So imagine my disappointment when I find that Diablo II is not only horrendously dated, but that its port to Nintendo Switch is woefully inadequate, featuring terrible controls, making zero use of the Nintendo Switch’s touchscreen, and not including local multiplayer. Why would anyone play this game when Diablo III is sitting right there? “Nostalgia” seems the only answer that will suffice, but even nostalgia can only go so far.
Runners-Up:
Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection
Saviors of Sapphire Wings / Stranger of Sword City Revisited
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Worst Game
Fly the Bird – I do not automatically think that just because a game is an asset flip that it is bad. A few asset flips have been genuinely decent… or at least playable. But Fly the Bird is neither decent nor playable – your entire gameplay experience with this game will be starting the game, maneuvering through rings, and then a few seconds later dying because the game’s speed became so fast so quickly that it was no longer humanly possible to maneuver. Take that few seconds and repeat it for however many times it takes you to get so sick of this game you delete it off of your Nintendo Switch. Do yourself a favor and simply do not buy it in the first place.
Runners-Up:
Retro Fighter – Dragon’s Revenge
Timothy and the Mysterious Forest
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For commentary on today’s awards, please check out the eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 3: Dubious Honors Podcast!
That’s all for today! to keep up with all of the eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards, be sure to check back at the Awards’ Start Page, which I’ll be updating throughout the week!
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