Worst Adventure - Gord@k
Sometimes it’s hard to see what motivated design decisions during production of a game. Gord@k is a case in point: fail to win the final puzzle against the titular computer virus, and the one and only save game you’re allowed is immediately deleted. You are forced, in other words, to return to the very start of the game and play through it all over again.
Stupidest Fault - Rise of the Robots
This game cost literally thousands of dollars to develop. This is almost as shocking as the graphics, which were shiny in a way we’d never seen before. You have to understand, it looked beautiful, and the buzz around the game was huge. Unfortunately, in the age of floppy disks, high-resolution images and animations didn’t leave much room for a game. Or animations. The entire travesty could be completed by pushing up, right and kick, and all because there wasn’t enough memory to let characters jump. It sold millions.
Most Disappointing - Daikatana
Disappointment rarely has much to do with the actual quality of a game. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, for example, is often named both last year’s best and most disappointing game. With that in mind, it’s important to realize that Daikatana isn’t as bad as you think it is. Fighting green frogs in green swamps wasn’t the greatest design decision ever made, but no. Daikatana is the most disappointing game ever because for one bright, shiny moment we believed that design was law and that John Romero would make us his bitch. We believed it could be brilliant. It wasn’t.
