It’s that time of year and instead of covering the best games of 2019 like everyone else, instead, we are going to look at the worst of the worst. But we have set some rules for ourselves lest this list be full of Steam Green Light games, mobile titles, and digital-only trash.
The only rules are that the game needed to have a physical release sometime in 2019 to qualify and have been reviewed by enough gaming outlets to let us build an average. If it was reviewed and came in a box you can keep on the shelf then it’s good enough to make the list. In this day and age publishers don’t go all out with stamping discs or sending out review copies if a game is lined up to fair.
So, without further ado, let’s get this party started and find out the worst games of 2019.
#10 – Contra: Rogue Corps (52% average)
Imagine living in a world where a Contra game makes its way on a worst games of the year list. Well, here we are, mostly because Konami doesn’t give a toss about any of their games outside of sticking them in slot/pachinko machines or releasing titles designed as a service to steal money from kids.
I suppose no we’ll end up in Konami’s black book of press outlets but we aren’t all that worried as they stopped releasing games anyone gives a shit about years ago. As for Contra: Rogue Corps, the game is now a twin-stick shooter that taints a legacy of mostly incredible titles.
A boring game that lacks modes from titles released decades ago, Contra: Rogue Corps is an ugly game that was released in a piss-poor state to try and make a quick buck off of its nostalgia factor. Contra is dead and Konami killed it with Rogue Corps.
#9 – Monster Jam Steel Titans (49% Average)
Taking the number nine spot on our list is Monster Jam Steel Titans, a game I reviewed for this very site and quite enjoyed. Sure, maybe I enjoyed it because it was a little wonky, floaty, and a little glitchy, but sometimes we need good bad games.
Reviews noted that the game’s massive trucks felt super light, which to be fair, they totally do. The game sort of feels like you are flying about in slow motion at times. The open-world nature of the game just left players driving around an empty world and even the odd discovery of an alien spacecraft was enough to set this one apart for most Monster Truck games ever released.
The game is repetitive while feeling limited but what can you really expect from a “sport” that features big trucks bouncing around your local arena. This one might make number ten but if you find it on sale or love you some big trucks, then this one might make for a fun weekend.
#8 – R.B.I. Baseball 19 (48% average)
The R.B.I. series of baseball games go back to the early days of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and while I was more a Bases Loaded sort of kid, the series left its mark in the sports game world at the time. Unfortunately, the series has fallen on hard times and is nowhere close to where other baseball games currently are.
Critics noted that the play mechanics were pretty basic and left much to be desired. R.B.I. Baseball relies on a timing-based batting system that offers little in the way of substance or strategy. This is made worse since the game is marketed as a baseball simulation when its far more an arcade sort of affair.
The game isn’t a winner on the visual front either as it doesn’t seem much (if any) motion capture was done with players’ bodies contorting into nightmarish forms after a swing. The best thing that can be said about R.B.I. Baseball 19 is that it was at least better than R.B.I. Baseball 18.
#7 – AeternoBlade II (42% average)
AeternoBlade II left critics and gamers asking how hard one needs to mess up to make an action-platformer into a tedious and boring affair. A game that gets itself bogged down in overly-complex mechanics, laughable voice work, dated visuals, and a story pulled from the book of generic and tired plots, AeternoBlade II is a mess from beginning to end.
The worst part of it all is that the Metroidvania experience is alive and well in 2019 with so many other better and cheaper games to play through. The best description given of AternoBlade II is that it’s the sort of PS2-era game that your weird friend adores but you can’t figure out why.
Some video games get overlooked and later become cult-classics. AternoBlade II will forever be relegated to the bargain bin years after the console it was on has lost favor, the sort of game you buy simply to bolster your games collection and never get around to.
#6 – FIFA 20 Legacy Edition (40% average)
EA is not a company that will miss a chance to squeeze a buck out of player and FIFA 20 Legacy Edition is a prime example of this. The sub-heading of Legacy Edition should tip you off that this isn’t going to be the version of FIFA 20 that PS4 and Xbox One owners got.
Instead, FIFA 20 Legacy Edition for the Nintendo Switch is simply FIFA 19 and is a way for EA to make money off Switch owners while also ending support for the platform at the same time. Any way you look at it FIFA 20 Legacy Edition is an update to FIFA 19 and lacks any of the gameplay enhancements made by FIFA 20 on the other consoles.
It’s the same game as FIFA 19 but with updated rosters and kits. It’s also priced as a full AAA release because EA (probably but we can’t verify this -Ed) loves to spit on children who saved their money to buy this for their Switch. This game never deserves a purchase and EA should be ashamed for releasing it.
#5 – WWE 2K20 (39% average)
2019 was not a good year for sports titles if this list is to be believed. There are a lot of stinkers this year, but even in a year of crap, the team over at 2K managed to take the cake with WWE 2K20. To call it a disaster would be an understatement. Remember the nightmare that was WWE 2K18 on the Switch? Well, now everyone can enjoy the misery with WWE 2K20.
Sure, most issues with the game come from a new developer taking over and a rush to make a deadline, but whatever the case maybe it might have been better to take an extra year and craft something, you know, playable. The game is essentially a horror that even after months of patches refuses to work as intended.
There was even a patch released this very January, in the year 2020 mind you, that made it so PS4 owners couldn’t even play the game. Imagine screwing up so bad that a game with 2020 in the title didn’t work in 2020. And this after Sony felt so bad about the launch that it issued refunds to people for 2K’s screwup.
#4 – Left Alive (38% average)
I think one of the most striking things about all the terrible games released in 2019 is just how many of them came from AAA publishers. Well, Square Enix didn’t want to be left out of the crap party because they decided to release Left Alive, a game that sold only because people mistook it for a Metal Gear game thanks to the box art and poorly cloned style.
It has nothing to do with Metal Gear but instead with another famed series as Left Alive is a Front Mission spinoff. You know, the series where you pilot giant mechs and blow stuff up. Well, now you sneak about while wondering to yourself why you aren’t playing Front Mission instead, a series that probably is now truly dead thanks to this game.
Left Alive features stealth mechanics that could almost be considered broken, wickedly unbalanced action, bland visuals, and an AI that feels more at home on the PS2 than PS4. Add in the fact that checkpoints are few and far between, sometimes not even working and you have a dreadful game. The only saving grace is that the game doesn’t feature the Front Mission sub-heading anywhere on the cover.
#3 Zombieland: Double Tap (37% average)
We thought the era of movie tie-in games getting physical releases were long behind us. Consider us shocked when a Zombieland video game dropped around the time of the second film, a film that left the popular consciousness as fast as it entered. So we suppose it only makes sense that the game was total crap, total crap that should have been limited to a digital release, but crap nonetheless.
Zombieland: Double Tap takes everything that made the movies(s?) work by stripping away all the humor and charm. It has some random dialogue sprinkled in over dull gameplay and its sub-two-hour gaming experience. Critics best described it as an overpriced promo for the film and served only to, at the very least, make the film seem better.
The gameplay works but everything about this experience is a blad one. It’s a bad game that you can’t even play to make fun of. And if you have any sort of gaming experience chances are you won’t even die once in your entire tun. I can’t believe I’m saying this but if you want a better twin-stick shooter just play Contra: Rogue Corps. Sure, it’s also crap but cheaper crap.
#2 Spike Volleyball (37% average)
There are games on a list like this that make you question why a publisher like BigBen would even consider spending the time and money to stamp discs, print covers, ship across the globe, and ask retailers to stock a game at full price that’s as bad and with such a niche market as Spike Volleyball. I mean, can you remember the last time a Volleyball game every broke into the sales charts?
Well, Spike Volleyball at least managed to make one list, although it’s probably not the one the publisher intended. The game is an utter garbage simulation of real-world volleyball. Ugly animations that have you floating in the air and the poor visuals don’t help the matter as everything about this feels shallow and underdeveloped.
Things are so broken that you’ll often fly up into the air to block a shot with your stomach and chances are you won’t ever finish a match without some form of glitch. Lacking options and featuring a poor career mode, the best thing people said about Spike Volleyball was that while it did stink up the joint it’s your only option for a volleyball game on the current consoles.
#1 – Jumanji: The Video Game ( 27% average)
There is no reason for this game to exist. It’s a game nobody was asking for and one that is only a cheap Fortnite knock off. Just think about that for a second. Jumanji: The Video Game is a game that will cost you $40 but is nothing but a cheap copy of a free game. It also features cheap voice actors that don’t even sound like the starts from this film series.
The game is also dull and unimaginative. You simply shoot some bad guys and hit some targets. And to keep with the Fortnite clone, the aiming is garbage, so it’s a coin-flip if you’ll land a shot. The whole thing also looks like a free game released on the Xbox 360, but only barely.
Even worse is that the game launched without online multiplayer. That’s right: this was a Fortnite clone that you couldn’t even play online with your friends. Jumanji: The Video Game is garbage; garbage that costs $40.
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