Though 2024 was a quieter yr for giant releases, it nonetheless had some implausible video games. However, on the different finish of the spectrum, it had its justifiable share of stinkers too. After all, opinions are and at all times have been goal critiques and no matter you would possibly consider a sport is your individual opinion. You may need even performed and loved a few of the video games on this listing – all of us have responsible pleasures, proper? However actually, there have been some actually unhealthy video games launched in 2024 that we undoubtedly advocate you keep away from…
5 – Mediocre
Taking a look at IGN’s official assessment scale, fives are thought-about ‘Mediocre’ video games – the “form of bland, unremarkable video games we’ve largely forgotten a few day after we end enjoying.” They’re removed from the worst video games on the listing and aren’t even essentially “unhealthy” (that’s 4s and decrease), however you’re going to need to work laborious to get any actual enjoyable out of them..
As probably the most populous rating on this listing, you’ll discover quite a lot of totally different video games. There are video games like Slitterhead, an absurd action-horror sport from a workforce of ex-Silent Hill veterans the place people should fend off parasitic monsters. Sounds enjoyable however sadly it’s simply boring. Equally, Terminator: Darkish Destiny – Defiance takes the conflict towards Skynet (nice!) and turns it right into a mediocre RTS (not so nice).
There was additionally a string of bland technique video games like Millennia, which our reviewer known as “Civilization at house” after the McDonald’s at house meme; Sins of a Photo voltaic Empire 2, which is a lacklustre sequel to the 2008 4x sport in area; and Homeworld: Huge Reaches. To not be confused with Homeworld 3, Huge Reaches is as a substitute a technique sport constructed for VR, however feels extra like a tech demo than a full sport.
There have been additionally a number of disappointments that obtained a 5. Video games many people have been eagerly wanting ahead to solely to be let down by the ultimate product. The First Descendant is a gorgeous-looking live-service shooter that sadly is extra appears to be like than substance, and the Till Daybreak remake barely justified its existence over the superb choose-your-own-adventure horror sport unique.
Developer Supermassive Video games didn’t have higher luck on The Casting of Frank Stone, a Useless by Daylight spinoff primarily based round one of many killers from the favored on-line horror sport. The sub-six-hour horror journey is hardly scary and provides nothing to the lore of Useless by Daylight based on our reviewer.
The viral hit Bodycam – which captivated audiences because of a trailer that includes super-realistic graphics that seemed like footage from a police bodycam – was additionally extra sizzle than steak because the precise sport was nothing near what we noticed within the trailer.
Maybe most noteworthy is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which was additionally one of many first 5s IGN handed out this yr. We waited virtually a decade for a brand new sport from Batman Arkham builders Rocksteady, and sadly the wait was not price it. Many have been already bummed to listen to Rocksteady was not creating a brand new Batman sport however fairly a Suicide Squad sport, however that might have had potential given how enjoyable and zany these characters are. It may have been Rocksteady’s probability to unfold its wings and transfer away from the grimdark Arkham-verse and go for a extra colourful route. However in the end what we acquired was form of a letdown, let’s be trustworthy.
Forgoing the single-player goodness of the Batman video games, Rocksteady ventured into the world of live-service with a squad-based looter-shooter by which gamers and pals workforce up as members of the Suicide Squad like Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark. Sadly there simply wasn’t sufficient of something to makeSuicide Squad satisfying. The beloved fight from the Arkham video games was fully absent, swapping crunchy melee for running-flying-shooting gameplay that felt okay, nothing extra. Even looter-shooter followers would discover the missions in Suicide Squad repetitive and bland. A forgettable expertise from the adorned builders at Rocksteady.
One other massive miss was Mario & Luigi: Brothership. The most recent entry into the Mario & Luigi sequence developed particularly for the Nintendo Change “misunderstands what made the Mario & Luigi sequence nice,” based on IGN’s reviewer. The primary unique Mario RPG to be launched this yr alongside remakes of Tremendous Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-12 months Door, Brothership has none of their appeal and loads of drawbacks such because the “ridiculously chatty dialogue, overbearing hand-holding, and boring, runtime padding fetch quests.” Bummer.
Rounding out the remainder of the 5s is Check Drive Limitless Photo voltaic Crown, whose unique spearheaded the idea of on-line MMO racing video games, however this sequel fully ignores any single-player content material in favor of an annoying online-only technique. There’s additionally a brand new SpongeBob Squarepants: The Patrick Star Sport, which tries to revive the traditional mascot platformer to middling impact, whereas Unknown 9: Awakening was a “routine motion journey sport that most likely wouldn’t blow me away even when it was properly executed,” based on our assessment. And let’s not neglect Kong: Survivor Intuition, a bizarre Metroidvania-style sport by which you play as a human attempting to outlive in a metropolis that Kong is destroying
One sport that was a private disappointment was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed, a brand new sport primarily based on the animated movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Given the standard of previous TMNT video games and the standard of the animated movie that is primarily based on, the ensuing sport was sadly far wanting both.
4 – Unhealthy
With the 5s out of the best way, let’s make our strategy to the genuinely unhealthy video games. Actually, our assessment scale qualifies video games that obtain a 4 as “unhealthy.” There are solely three that obtained this distinction this yr so let’s spend our time going by means of every of them.
Damaged Roads was the primary sport in 2024 to obtain a 4. This turn-based RPG set in post-apocalyptic Australia tried to ship a extra severe RPG expertise full with an bold morality system the place gamers determine who lives and who dies. Moderately than selecting one of many regular ethical alignments like lawful good or impartial evil, Damaged Roads provides gamers a full questionnaire that determines your beliefs in extremely particular methods. However the issue is, exterior of the questionnaire the system hardly issues.
Per our assessment, “There are only a few conversations involving an ethical alternative within the first place, and also you’re locked out of just about all different conversations when you’ve began down a given alignment path, leaving no alternatives to attempt one thing drastically totally different later.”
As fascinating as a extremely particular morality system is, what good is it if the sport doesn’t put it to any use? Even worse, the extra you play the sooner you notice that Damaged Roads is usually stuffed with a bunch of fetch quests interrupted by exhausting dialogue. No thanks.
One other sport that obtained a 4 is Limitless Ocean Luminous, a remake of the unique Limitless Ocean first launched on the Nintendo Wii. It’s a scuba diving journey sport by which every mission entails diving right into a procedurally generated space of the ocean, to catalogue its numerous sea creatures and landmarks. Sadly, all of this turns into repetitive and, frankly, boring actual quick.
The procedurally generated maps start to look strikingly related to one another virtually instantly, and with out an enormous number of missions or aims, you’re successfully going from one a part of the ocean to the following, cataloguing creatures till you hit your purpose and transfer on to the following map. Then you definately repeat for hours. Our reviewer performed about 26 hours of the sport and have been nonetheless not near beating it – perhaps that’s why it’s known as Limitless Ocean – and the kicker is that it was boring for many of that point..
The ultimate sport to obtain a 4 was one you little question noticed trailers for. I’m speaking about Funko Fusion, an journey sport the place you journey by means of some of popular culture’s largest films and TV reveals, the twist being you’re enjoying because the Funko Pops from these numerous worlds.
Funko Fusion is greatest in comparison with the LEGO video games, that are easy however pleasurable 3D platformers primarily based on fashionable bricks. However Funkos don’t have the identical appeal as LEGO and Funko Fusion is nowhere close to pretty much as good as even a few of the worst LEGO video games. The story is all however meaningless, the mission design is repetitive, and you’ll’t overlook the game-breaking bugs that may cease your progress as an alternative.
Three – Terrible
The excellent news is that IGN didn’t award any 2s or 1s this yr. Really, we haven’t given a sport a 1 since 2009, however that’s neither right here nor there. The unhealthy information is there are three video games we gave a 3 to, which in our scale means they’re “Terrible.”
The primary is Atomic Coronary heart’s Trapped in Limbo DLC. It’s the second of Atomic Coronary heart’s two DLCs and takes place after the occasions of the primary sport, and is tormented by two godawful gameplay mechanics.
The primary requires gamers to slip for actually lengthy stretches of time, avoiding obstacles and leaping when required. Our reviewer described this explicit section “like enjoying Tony Hawk with a damaged ollie button, and the half-pipe is mined.”
Subsequent, the DLC launched first-person platform segments however sadly Atomic Coronary heart simply wasn’t designed for exact, first-person leaping, making them a painful slog proper up till the top, which doesn’t take lengthy to get to contemplating how brief this DLC is.
Do you keep in mind there was a brand new South Park sport this yr? Me neither, nevertheless it’s most likely for the perfect. South Park: Snow Day is the third South Park sport in a sequence that includes Obsidian’s wonderful South Park: The Stick of Fact, and the equally good South Park: The Fractured however Entire, each of which have been enjoyable RPGs primarily based on the favored cartoon.
Snow Day ditches the RPG style and is as a substitute a 3D hack-and-slash, which wouldn’t be a lot of a problem if it weren’t for the way awkward and clumsy the controls are. Worse nonetheless, Snow Day additionally ditches the one factor the animated sequence is cherished for: the humor.
Per our assessment, South Park: Snow Day options “appallingly flat writing [that] makes an already unhealthy sport not even price pushing by means of for just a few laughs.”
Our ultimate 3 of the yr was handed out to Empire of the Ants’ single-player marketing campaign. An actual-time technique sport the place gamers management a colony of ants, this 12-hour journey is sadly a far cry from its potential.
Whereas the trailer showcased hyper-realistic ants transferring in real-time, it’s apparent much more time was spent on the way it appears to be like fairly than the way it feels to play. With a problem curve that goes from straightforward to unimaginable within the blink of an eye fixed, the marketing campaign is an train in ache tolerance as one second you’re mind-numbingly bored preventing straightforward enemies, earlier than out of the blue discovering your self defending your nest towards a seemingly unimaginable wave of enemy ants. And with out the flexibility to avoid wasting mid-mission, failure means you’re ranging from the start. No thanks.
And there you’ve got it –these are the worst reviewed video games of the yr in accordance. Make sure you take a look at our Greatest Reviewed Video games listing right here as a palette cleanser, and tell us for those who performed any of the video games on this listing and the way you are feeling about them.
Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You may attain him @lawoftd.
