Top 10 GOOD Games with BAD Graphics

Nothing speaks to the heart more than causing widespread destruction with giant vehicles all for a good cause! As a nuclear carrier passes through fifty seven levels all over the globe, it’s down to you to destroy various buildings and bridge gaps to ensure the carrier passes through without obstacle. While part of its charm does stem from its simplicity, the textures of the vehicles and the overall layout can’t exactly be considered appealing, almost mucky in appearance. Even though it was one of the earlier N64 releases, there are launch titles like Shadows of the Empire that fared better than what we have here.

If you’d rather break people rather than buildings then this death-dealing tournament is the one for you! You can’t help but admire the balls to the wall madness of driving around various arenas and trying to shoot down a cast of characters that are as crazy as they come. Serving as the springboard for its legendary sequels, and even having a comic-book style to it, the chaos its presents is unfortunately lacking sheen. The battle arena’s have very little detail to them, with most areas built with simple geometry, this was the year we the far better looking Destruction Derby 2! Sorry to say, but that game majorly stalled itself on that front.

We know, we know, the pixelated graphics are used on purpose to invoke the style of past JRPGs, and while the charm and substance of Toby Fox’s magnum opus still shines on through, it also takes on the burden those it’s trying to mimic. No one is arguing that its choice system is possibly one of the best in recent memory, but we still can’t help but wonder what the game would look like with a bigger budget and more powerful game engine, it’s clear that the narrative and gameplay are the heroes here as oppose to the look of the world itself. Please don’t dunk on us Sans.

We may still be a ways off from getting that remake we’ve been dying for, so fans of Cloud, Tifa and the rest of Avalanche will just have to put up with the original JRPG title that made such a colossal impact, with iconic moments such Aerith’s death scene and the battle against Safer Sephiroth still retaining their splendour to this day. That being said, those blocky caricatures called character models get especially distracting after a while, especially when we’re spending so many hours with them. No matter how investing the story, it’s still obvious that the characters don’t blend in with the static environments all that well.

Based on the Variant Comic series, this action-adventure classic threw players into the role of a voodoo warrior who must protect the world of the living from the twisted souls of the dead, including the likes of Jack the Ripper. All throughout, the game is definitely not a pretty picture to behold, and that’s not even due to the morbid landscape of Deadside. Sure, the sting of its cringe-worthy character models may be dampened due to its gameplay elements with some pretty impressive voice-acting, but alas such mangled looking characters pale when compared to the likes other titles of the time such as Soul Reaver.

Bringing philosophically complex questions to the likes of a neo-noir sci-fi game earned this title endless praise to the point that that all future instalments could never really live up to it, so much so that even modern hits like Human Revolution and Mankind Divided had to be set prior to its narrative. While its FPS and RPG elements are certainly top quality, you just need to take one look at the lack of depth in its surroundings and the plain features of JC Denton to see that despite its bleak setting there’s really no excuse for graphics like these at the turn of the century.

As it turns out not only was this game the foundation for what would become the monstrous success that would be GTA V, but is actually a bundle of fun by itself. Sure, you can’t practise yoga or engage in aeroplane acrobatics, but the fast-pace of the driving and shooter elements still hold up quite well. However the lack of bells and whistles doesn’t mean that its overall look is anything to applaud. In fact in some areas the already low res textures aren’t even mapped properly, giving the world an odd grid like display, At least they made up for it later on!

The strength of its RPG elements have garnered such a following that upon re-release just under two decades later there is still plenty of enjoyment to be found. The spiritual predecessor to games like Fallout, players are forced to roam a post-apocalyptic wasteland, encountering mutated creatures and survivors along the way. However, it can’t be deny that even for the eighties its graphics were bordering on ancient, with the overworld being the worst offender. And it’s not like games of that era struggled with top down views either, when you have games like The Legend of Zelda or Phantasy Star coming out around the same time.

Another example of purposely using low-res graphics in order to further immerse the player in its respective environment, the procedurally generated world may be made up of cubes but is hardly rigid in its gameplay. Given utter freedom to explore, craft various items as well as build basically anything players’ imagination allows them to, it’s no wonder it blew up like it did. Saying that, its only due to the massive influx of mods from others that caused the vast improvements to locations, game mechanics and even visuals. Strip away Minecraft to its most basic form and the innovation most certainly remains, but that island seems a tad more barren now by comparison.

Before the likes of the new Battlefront dominated the scene, we had this little gem. With a plethora of Force abilities at your disposal as well as the option to wield a lightsaber from a first person perspective, you do truly feel like a Jedi. Unfortunately, there’s the case of the less than optimal graphics that fiercely stand out even as you try to slice your way through Stormtroopers. They obviously tried to compensate for it by intercutting it live-action cutscenes in the hope of recreating some of the magic we saw with the likes of Luke. To say it looks jarring and out of place would be a laughable understatement.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the best game with bad graphics? With new top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.