List of video games notable for negative reception

The list is not comprehensive, but represents the most visible examples of games principally recognized for their enduring negative reception, or in the case of titles such as Final Fantasy XIV, No Man's Sky, and Cyberpunk 2077, at their original launch before they were reworked with content updates through patches.

The list mostly omits licensed tie-in games for films or television shows, which are generally accepted by the industry as shovelware and not expected to have high production values as they are typically produced by non-AAA development studios.

[54] PC Gamer dubbed Plumbers Don't Wear Ties a "shallow, hateful waste of a game, [that] may very well be responsible for having killed the 3DO, interactive fiction, and the whale", naming it number one on its "Must NOT Buy" list in May 2007.

According to Castle, "what [Zelda's Adventure] lacked in hideous toons it made up for with live-action FMV-visits from a beardy wizard (not a professional actor, but the game's music composer) whose shambolic preamble makes Knightmare look like The Lord of the Rings."

[61][65] Beyond the cutscenes (which soon became popular Internet memes alongside Hotel Mario),[66] reviewers at GameTrailers have also ascribed modern negative criticism to "barely functional controls, lackluster gameplay, and numerous bugs".

White stated that while the game's darker story was an improvement compared to its predecessors, it never "[managed] to build to a captivating crescendo",[114] while the reviewer for GamesRadar called it "bountiful but confusing and ultimately of GCSE-standard creative writing.

Paramount Pictures faulted Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life's lackluster box office performance on the poor critical reception the video game received from reviewers and fans.

[72][140] The adult adventure game Lula 3D was criticized for its monotonous gameplay, poor puzzle designs, low-quality graphics (including animations, an inconsistent frame rate, and re-use of character models), its voice acting, the quality of its English translation, and low-brow humor that was too childish for its target audience.

"[141] Eurogamer gave Lula 3D a 2 out of 10, jokingly declaring that its low quality and immature humor (such as the "Bouncin' Boobs Technology" advertised on its packaging) made the game feel like it was developed by and intended for 12-year-old boys.

"[148][149] Data Design Interactive was further criticized by both Eurogamer and IGN for releasing several other games, including Anubis II, Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland and Rock 'n' Roll Adventures, that shared the same overall engine, gameplay, and soundtrack as Ninjabread Man, but with different settings and characters.

[170][171] IGN declared Box Office Bust to be "frustratingly unpolished, devoid of any kind of wit or charm, and packed with tiring, at times infuriating challenges", also featuring "uncomfortably unfunny dialogue spewed from the lips of entirely unlikable characters".

[191] According to Naoki Yoshida, who took on overseeing the game's remake, the original version of Final Fantasy XIV suffered in production as there had been too much focus on the graphics quality, and little understanding of the fundamentals of a good MMORPG with the expectation that problems could be fixed with updates and patches later.

[218] IGN gave the game a 3.0 out of 10, citing that "the high spawn rate of weapons, as well as fear of hackers, makes the majority of player interaction in The War Z overly punishing and one-dimensional", and further criticized its missing features, the ability to lose purchased items, and its lack of a balance between ranged and melee weaponry.

[224] The game was released in March 2013, but there was no offline mode, and the servers for online connectivity were over capacity, requiring players to wait upwards of thirty minutes to play for several weeks following launch.

The suit argued that these differences, along with a press embargo on publishing reviews of the final product until its release date, deceived those who pre-ordered the game based on the pre-release promotional materials, amounting to false advertising.

In particular, Ride to Hell was criticized for its largely broken gameplay, poorly-implemented controls, poor voice acting and story, negative portrayal of women, and dropping the originally announced open-world format in favor of a linear structure.

[266][267][268][269] Ubisoft did provide extensive patches to correct the bugs,[270] but the complaints from players prompted the company to issue an apology and offer compensation in the form of a free expansion, Dead Kings, which acts as an epilogue to the base game's story.

[280][281] The criticisms of the game were exacerbated when Electronic Arts was accused of censoring in-game user ratings lower than five stars by making those players fill out a "feedback form" instead of directly completing a Google Play review.

Although both games received generally negative reviews from critics, Rise of Lyric was especially derided for its numerous bugs and glitches, poor graphics and level design, over-simplistic gameplay, and bad writing.

[296][297] Jim Sterling stated that Illumination was "ugly in every sense of the word, not just visually – though it is about as attractive as an anus in an eye socket", while criticizing its cooperative play and the mechanic of using light sources to defeat enemies.

IGN gave the game a 3.5 out of 10, concluding that "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5's rare moments of nostalgic joy are drowned out by its abundance of poorly thought out levels, control problems, bugs, and its glaring lack of attitude.

"[301] Giving Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 a 3 out of 10, GameSpot argued that "within THPS5 lies a basic skating game that's difficult to enjoy, because you have to jump over numerous hoops and ignore a plethora of obvious issues to find the smallest amount of fun.

[313] No Man's Sky was announced in 2013 as a space exploration game that features over 18 quintillion planets in its virtual universe each with its own set of flora and fauna, all formed in-game through procedural generation.

As part of the game's premium physical content, the promotional canvas bag and an alcoholic beverage bottle were found to not match the original products' descriptions as shipped,[366][367] while thousands of Fallout-themed helmets were recalled due to containing dangerous levels of mold.

[376][377][378] Reviewers and players alike found numerous glitches resulting from the game engine which were attributed to the removal of Yuke's from the development of the title,[379] and the hashtag #FixWWE2K20 began trending across social media.

"[418][419] In September 2023, CD Projekt released a major free update, known as Cyberpunk 2.0, which reconfigured several of the game's mechanics in a favorable way,[420] as well as the paid expansion Phantom Liberty, which received "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic.

[437] Balan Wonderworld also attracted controversy as it shipped with a bug in the final boss that contained flashing lights, raising concerns about epileptic seizures; this caused Square Enix to warn players to install the patch before playing.

This was criticized by audiences and journalists, citing concerns with video game preservation, a lack of choice between versions, and the potential removal of music due to expired licences, which had occurred with previous re-releases.

[454] Based on information discovered by data miners, it was suggested that those files included the removed radio station songs, hidden notes from the developers, and San Andreas's controversial Hot Coffee minigame.

[495][496] Online harassment and abuse from players ensued after EA's global director of integrated communications, Andy McNamara, called their expectations "brutal", leading to moderators threatening to close the game's official subreddit.