The 20 WORST PlayStation Games of The Century

“Knack” (2013)

It’s tough to introduce a platformer into an already overdone genre, especially when platformers are already filled with quality titles, and trust me, Knack was NOT Crash Bandicoot. Ultimately it fell short, receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews. Its failure was even more disappointing given its status as a PS4 launch title. While the developers made an effort to showcase the console’s new features, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the uninspired gameplay. If Astro Bot for the PS5 was a 10, Knack for the PS4 was probably a 3. Sometimes, sticking to traditional formulas works best, but Knack abandoned that approach in favor of a mix of brawling action and platforming. Spoiler alert: It didn’t work.

“Ridge Racer” (2011)

Ridge Racer on the PS Vita feels less like a game and more like a skeleton of a tech demo. At launch, its lack of content was shocking, essentially pushing players to buy DLC just to access more than a few tracks and cars, which BY THE WAY is a real scumbag move. DLC at launch? F*** you Ridge Racer. With no progression system and poorly balanced online racing, there was little to keep players engaged, making its existence feel entirely unnecessary. I unfortunately fell into this game, and I’m still recovering from the road rash.

“Last Rebellion” (2010)

I hate to be hyperbolic, and make statements that are clear cut, or even mean… That being said, Last Rebellion was a disaster, failing on every level; damn I did it. Its story was laughably bad, the combat was painfully dull, progression was barely progression, and the game was plagued by unfair difficulty spikes. It was so poorly received that even the president of NIS (the game’s publisher) openly apologized, admitting, in no uncertain terms, that they regretted releasing it. Ooft.

“Catwoman” (2004)

I’ve made it my mission to include this game in as many sh*t talking lists as I possibly can, because it single handedly ruined my 10th birthday. The best thing I can say about Catwoman the game is that it stays true to the film. Unfortunately, the film was absolute dog sh*t. The graphics are barely better than a PS1 game, you’ll spend more time fighting the controls than actual enemies, and the voice acting is somehow even worse than the movie it’s based on. In terms of cat-based entertainment, it’s on par with Cats the musical film.

“The Simpsons Skateboarding” (2002)

Let’s play a quick game. Shout out the first game that comes to mind when I say “cash grab”… I guarantee a good chunk of you said The Simpsons Skateboarding. Capitalizing on the Tony Hawk craze of the early 2000s, Fox Interactive and EA slapped The Simpsons brand onto a clunky, poorly designed skateboarding engine and called it a day. Any other franchise could have been swapped in, and the result would have been exactly the same, and just as forgettable. And the true shame is, it probably did make a good amount of money, because it would have cost peanuts to develop.

“Women’s Volleyball Championship” (2008)

Shovelware is a term people use for video games when they reek of “quantity” over “quality”. Women’s Volleyball Championship has all the telltale signs of shovelware: a late release in its console’s lifecycle, a painfully generic name, and a bargain-bin cover featuring a stock photo… For real, take a look at it. There’s absolutely nothing redeeming here. The character models look like cheap knockoff toys and move just as stiffly. The announcers have maybe ten awful lines of commentary that they repeat endlessly. And the gameplay? I’d rather try and peel a banana with my feet.

“Bravo Team” (2018)

If Bravo Team had been nothing more than a tech demo showcasing the potential of VR in gaming, it would have been passable... forgettable, but passable. And in many ways, that’s exactly what it felt like, except it was released as a full-priced game, so now I’m going to tear it to shreds. Outdated visuals. A story barely worth mentioning. Level design that felt like a 9 year old made it in Dreams. Gameplay that was bad when it was loud, and awful when it was stealthy. That was Bravo Team in a nutshell. A very expensive nutshell.

“McFarlane’s Evil Prophecy” (2004)

McFarlane’s Evil Prophecy was just an excuse to push their toys, but somehow this isn’t the worst thing about the experience. The real problem is that everything else about McFarlane’s Evil Prophecy is a disaster. The beat ‘em up gameplay is a tedious drag, made worse by frustrating, poorly designed objectives. Even the signature McFarlane creature designs, which should have been a highlight, suffer from a low budget that turns them into ugly looking messes.

“The Inpatient” (2018)

Remember when Telltale Games was at their peak? This opened the door for a plethora of choice-based games that felt like movies, and Until Dawn stood out as a peak of the genre with its multiple characters and branching endings, so a follow-up was inevitable. But did you know that there was an Until Dawn prequel? Probably not! It was so bad, it’s been buried and forgotten. The Inpatient is supposed to be a prequel to this phenomenal horror, but the only frightening thing is how much of a waste of money it is. As a PS VR title, it takes a first-person approach, but its biggest flaw is its sluggish pacing. Wandering around with little to no action quickly becomes dull, and the scares aren’t substantial enough to justify the quiet times.

“The Shield: The Game” (2007)

The Shield was an excellent crime drama TV show from the 2000s. If you haven’t heard of it, ask your dad. But then ask him if it needed a video game version. To its credit, the game does try its hardest to emulate the gritty world of the show, but everything about the gameplay is a chore, between short, janky shooting sections, annoying stealth levels, and a broken evidence searching mini game. But what’s really bizarre is that we were almost spared this crap heap. The game’s original publisher went bankrupt while it was still in development, but the publisher believed in the project enough to release it anyway, for whatever reason. I always say “Believe in yourself, and pursue your dreams”, but if your dreams are this bad, maybe wake up.

“Charlie’s Angels” (2003)

Nothing annoys gamers more than feeling like they’re being pandered to. It’s very obvious when a marketing team gets behind the development of a game and tries to create it for a demographic they have no connection with, and this is painfully clear with the half naked Charlie’s Angels flip flopping all over the place. You know what gamers like more than half naked oblong shaped protagonists? Good gameplay. Shocker.

“Celebrity Deathmatch” (2003)

We can encapsulate everything that’s wrong with the majority of the games discussed today by taking a look at Celebrity Deathmatch. The game is based on the MTV stop motion cartoon of the same name. Bad start. While the show was able to change week to week to stay fresh, the game leaves the players stuck in time with a product that focuses less on gameplay and more on gimmicks, gimmicks that get old after you’ve played them once. Basically, it’s boring. It gives you an out the nose laugh occasionally when you aren’t trying to add up the maths of whether snapping the controller is worth the cash loss.

“Hardware: Rivals” (2016)

Nothing makes me laugh more than when a game has a colon in their title, and sucks. It’s a slam on the ego of assuming you’ll have another entry coming. The PlayStation 2 era was a time of innovation, with developers experimenting across all kinds of genres. One of these was with Hardware: Online Arena. But times have changed, and vehicular combat just doesn’t hold the same appeal anymore. Hardware: Rivals might have had a chance if it adapted to modern gaming trends, but instead, it felt like a relic from the PS2 days, feeling too close to its 2002 counterpart. Critics weren’t impressed by its overly cutesy style, and whatever nostalgia it aimed for faded fast, because most players had never played the original.

“Shadow of The Beast” (2016)

One of the most common criticisms of video game remakes is when they adhere too closely to the original without introducing anything fresh. A remake SOMETIMES falls short when it simply recycles the same experience, and Shadow of the Beast suffers from staying too loyal to its 1989 version. Truly, we shouldn’t stay loyal to anything from 1989. Many found it disappointing for retreading familiar ground, with some even dismissing it as a carbon copy. And those who had never played the original were left confused by what this game was tonally and lore-wise. While the graphics saw a significant upgrade, the gameplay lagged far behind genre standouts like God of War.

“Mortal Kombat: Special Forces” (2000)

Who would have thought that a PS1 game released in the year 2000 would feel outdated, but I guess that’s what happens when you take a universally praised fighting game, and strip away everything that makes it great and turn it into something completely unrecognizable… Maybe. Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was an absolute disaster, so bad that Midway had to temporarily put the entire series on ice. Think about that, a time when people thought “I dunno if this whole ‘Mortal Kombat’ thing is gonna work out.”

“Gravity Games Bike: Street Virt Dirt” (2002)

Say what you will about modern gaming, but at least when a buggy, unfinished game launches, developers have the ability, and often the willingness to fix it. Cyberpunk, Final Fantasy 14, those two are free, do your own research for the rest. This post-release fixing wasn’t as easy back in 2002 when most PS2 games lacked online connectivity. Such was the case for Gravity Games Bike: Street Virt Dirt, the worst named game of all time. Nothing in this game functions properly. Getting your rider to perform even basic actions is a gamble. Press a button, and maybe you’ll land a trick. Grinding is just as unreliable, and you'll frequently find yourself stuck on random objects in each level. Spend a few minutes in this game and you’ll know exactly why even in 2002, players were like, “Is this a scam?”

“Basement Crawl” (2014)

Basement Crawl sucks, and I say this adamantly because I got tricked into wasting my money on it, and it ruined a night of gaming with friends. The only positive thing that can be said about this game is that it isn’t outright broken, but that’s hardly an achievement when your game is worse than crawling through an actual basement. This is as barebones and uninspired as a game can get. It’s like the game developer overheard the idea of Bomberman in the next room, and missed the majority of the pitch.

“Little Britain: The Video Game” (2007)

The fans of this game, although few, chalk the public reception of this game up to PC culture gone mad, but in reality, Little Britain's most crass and vile features come from the gameplay itself. The whole thing is made up of a bunch of minigames based around the sketches of the show. Unfortunately, with both input lag and an uninspired developer, they’re all barely playable. Crass comedy and video games actually blend together perfectly, look at South Park and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. If you’re gonna use PC culture gone mad as a defence, do your research.

“Bad Boys Miami Takedown” (2002)

Don’t get me wrong, the gameplay in Bad Boys Miami Takedown is awful, and the perfect cop/bad boy bar still makes me cringe so bad I get a migraine. But, it’s the writing, voice acting, and story that almost makes this game SO bad that it’s good again... Think Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room”, but without any charm or cult following. Without even a whiff of irony, Bad Boys takes on some of the worst tropes of action cinema without realizing it stands against everything that made the source material so great. The only bad boys in this game are the developers... bad, bad boys.

“Beverly Hills Cop” (2006)

Make no mistake, this European exclusive game (I won’t even bother unpacking that) is easily one of the worst FPS games ever made. The AI is so poorly programmed that enemies can’t even aim up or down, meaning you can breeze through by simply crouching. That is, unless you randomly fail one of the vague and poorly explained stealth sections. If the box didn’t say Beverly Hills Cop, you’d never even guess this had anything to do with the franchise. This isn’t just a bad licensed game, it’s one of the laziest, most uninspired pieces of software ever slapped onto a disc.