It's disappointing when a game promises one thing and delivers another. StarCraft doesn't offer the ability to craft astral bodies, Fable contains almost no patronizing insights into ethical conduct, and let's not even start down the well-trodden “Final Fantasy, multiple sequels” path. But one title that does exactly what it says on the tin is 10 Amazingly Awful Games. These games really are shit!
Developer Boddicker Games set out to make a release deserving of the title but unworthy of even 80 MS Points, and they've succeeded. Clearly, effort has been put into making sure these games really are as shoddy as can be: Greedy Worm, for example, is notable for being worse in any conceivable regard than the Commodore 64 version of Tron.
Of course, if “good” describes a game that achieves ambitions intentions – and “bad” describes a game that fails to do what it ought to – then couldn't it be said that 10 Amazingly Awful Games is actually a success, and thus can't actually be faulted? If your game bills itself as “amazingly awful” but isn't actually as psychosis-provokingly unplayable as the Neo Geo abomination Irritating Maze – “irritating,” after all, shouldn't be as bad as “amazingly awful” – have you really done what you set out to do? Yes. Yes you have. 10 Amazingly Awful games really does contain ten games that are amazingly awful. Case closed.
May 13, 2011
