The worst Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) games

[GrandAmChandler]

Lets make a running list of what the bottom Xbox Live Arcade games are to date. If you know the current price point, it may be a good idea to point that out. Nominate a game for the list with your reasons why.

I will start with the obvious. Yaris - 0pts. This game is one of the worst, horrible controls, just plain not fun. In addition it is just an advertisement that you can "play"

Worst XBLA Titles



Bliss Island - 400pts
Centipede - 400pts
Cloning Clyde - 800pts
Missile Command - 400pts (nominated to be removed, one more vote to agree.)
Novadrome -800pts
Rocketmen -800pts (nominated to be removed, need one more vote to agree.)
Screwjumper - 800pts
Shrek & Roll - 800pts
Spy Glass Boardgames - 400pts
Street Trace NYC -800pts
Totemball - 0pts
Word Puzzle -800pts

Yaris - 0pts


Aegis Wing removed
Gyruss removed
Joust removed
Small Arms removed
Space Giraffe removed
Undertow removed

[esquire]

I'd say Space Giraffe, but I don't think we need Jeff Minter coming in here ranting (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/22/poor-sales-of-space-giraffe-make-jeff-minter-sad/) and telling us how we are all idiots for not "getting" his opus.

[heybtbm]

The worst XBLA game I've ever played is last weeks release: Bliss Island. It's the new "mark of shame" in anyone's achievement list. Maybe kids would like it...I guess. Any adult that downloaded the demo, then purchased the full version instantly looses all credibility in my eyes.

[le geek]

I'd say Space Giraffe, but I don't think we need Jeff Minter coming in here ranting (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/22/poor-sales-of-space-giraffe-make-jeff-minter-sad/) and telling us how we are all idiots for not "getting" his opus.

That seems a little harsh, particularly on a Classic Games forum. That said, I've put a lot of time into Space Giraffe and it got close to "clicking" for me but never quite got there. It's certainly not the worst game on Live though...

[roushimsx]

Word on the street is that Rocketmen is a massive pile of poorly executed ideas, which makes me sad. I was really looking forward to picking it up on PSN but after the negative reviews and word of mouth, I'm just going to funnel that money into some PS1 downloads or something.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[ubersaurus]

I absolutely love Space Giraffe. It took me a little bit of playing, but when things finally clicked for me, I found it to be an amazingly fun experience. Perhaps it isn't the best game on the service, but it is WAY better than a lot of the crap that would get on a "worst" list.

[Amnion-Chorion]

Space Giraffe is awesome.

On the other hand, from what I've played of Screwjumper and Shrek-n-Roll from the demos, I'd definitely have to nominate them.

[TurboGenesis]

When it come to XBLA games… you get what you pay for…

for me, the worst games I play are:

Totomball - price: FREE — This was offer for free back in 11-07 and so I get it and this game require the camara to play. You are to hold your arm high in air and move arm around to move ball. Not for comfort at all. I never play it but 2 time, I had severe shoulder injury when I play basketball and it is cause discomfort for me to play this game…

Yaris - price: FREE — What is the objective to play this game. I move about in circle and to control a car AND its target arm to shoot things… -_-

Undertow - price: FREE — Microsoft offer this game to compensate for poor online service during Christmas time… I would have been happier to pick my game or even give me 400 points to pick a 400 point game or to download some music for Rock Band… I try to play this Undertow game and I am not understand it. I am failure to try to have success in this poor game. Thanks to Microsoft to give me rubbish game to apologize for rubbish online service during holiday…

Ageis Wing - price: FREE — I enjoy shooting game VERY much but this game is bland for the genre. Of all the game for free this is the best one and is playable but for a shoot them up, it is lackluster offering. One good thing is that it is let my casual friends experience the play of real shooting game.

In other note, I absolutly love Space Giraffe. It is one of my top favorite games to play on my 360…

[Gamereviewgod]

Rocketmen - ???pts

It's 800 points, and definitely should not be a candidate on this list. It's a fun Smash TV/Action RPG knock-off. Automatic scrolling sucks, but it's still a blast with four players. Hell, I've played through it three times myself alone.

Many of the retro titles could be on here. Gyruss was almost unplayable, Centipede was a mess, and asking $5 for Joust is robbery.

[GrandAmChandler]

It's 800 points, and definitely should not be a candidate on this list. It's a fun Smash TV/Action RPG knock-off. Automatic scrolling sucks, but it's still a blast with four players. Hell, I've played through it three times myself alone.

Many of the retro titles could be on here. Gyruss was almost unplayable, Centipede was a mess, and asking $5 for Joust is robbery.

If someone disagrees with a nomination and we have a few who feel the same I will remove them for the list, i.e. I am removing Space Giraffe. I will place a note for Rocketmen as well.

[Half Japanese]

It's 800 points, and definitely should not be a candidate on this list. It's a fun Smash TV/Action RPG knock-off. Automatic scrolling sucks, but it's still a blast with four players. Hell, I've played through it three times myself alone.

Many of the retro titles could be on here. Gyruss was almost unplayable, Centipede was a mess, and asking $5 for Joust is robbery.

I could not disagree more when it comes to Rocketmen. It is in no way fun, the story sucks (cheap comic book-style cutscenes are the new lensflare), the animation sucks (why does my guy always run at a half-trot like he has something stuck up his ass?) and it is overly complex control-wise for the genre with no payoff for being so. This has got to be among the worst of the XBLA originals. Smash TV and Robotron are already on XBLA and every other game on XBLA and PSN is a twin stick shooter so there's no excuse for this shit.

Screwjumper is one of the worst demos I played. I think I recall reading an article where the developer was bitching that people don't buy original XBLA titles: yeah, because some of them, like Screwjumper, fucking suck.

Aegis Wing is probably the most bland shmup I've ever played, even if it is a freebie. It has a fun factor on par with picking your nose.

Street Trace:NYC is pretty shitty. It looks like someone really liked the DC game Trickstyle and decided to make a mediocre rip-off for XBLA.

Novadrome is one of the worst Twisted Metal rip-offs in recent memory (though the car combat genre hasn't exactly been filling the shelves at game stores lately). It's like a weird hybrid of Twisted Metal-style gameplay with lame Hot Wheels-styling.


As far as things already on the list, I'd say that for Undertow, while the single player is supremely shitty, the cutscenes trite and poorly rendered and the game itself overpriced (assuming you paid for it), the multiplayer sort of redeems some of its faults.

[exit]

Word on the street is that Rocketmen is a massive pile of poorly executed ideas, which makes me sad. I was really looking forward to picking it up on PSN but after the negative reviews and word of mouth, I'm just going to funnel that money into some PS1 downloads or something.

I played the demo on PSN and it's pretty damn boring, which really is a shame since the game design is great. The fact that you're kind of on rails doesn't make things any better, since you're forced to goto the next area after defeating a wave of enemies, you miss some objectives you can do.

[roushimsx]

It's 800 points, and definitely should not be a candidate on this list.

Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=94025) and PS3 Fanboy (http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/03/12/ps3-fanboy-review-rocketmen-axis-of-evil/) offer some compelling reasons for why it should be included on the list. The meat of both decently lengthy reviews is comprised of listing the array of botched design decisions.

It's really hard to "top" Yaris, though. Good god.

[Gabriel]

My top three worst are the following.

1) Yaris
2) Small Arms
3) Novadrome

Those three are an unholy trinity of gaming filth.

[diskoboy]

-Yaris
-Novadrome
-N+
-Bliss Island
-Totemball
-Missile Command
-Aegis Wing

[Half Japanese]

N+

Denied.

[PapaStu]

OOH Small Arms.

I've tried far too many times to like it, and gone back far more than I should have. If the computer characters EVER attacked each other as well as you, it would be a decent game. Alas thus is not the case.

Yaris, Aegis Wing both belong on there as well. I'm about 95% sure that Undertow sucks to the max as well, but i've not given it the Small Arms route yet.

[diskoboy]

Denied.

Right.... Running, jumping, and collecting coins.... How original.

The only thing good about N+ was the music.

[jcalder8]

I've got to argue with:

Aegis Wing - 0pts
Small Arms - 400pts
Undertow - 800pts (or Free if you got it during the promo)
I think we should take into account the cost of Aegis Wing. I thought it was a fun game for the price and MS didn't try to take people's money for a game that isn't worth much.

Small Arms is a fun party game which the 360 is lacking and taking it online when the game first came out is how I met some of the people on my friend's list(Beware the chicken!)

Undertow is a great balanced game that is easy to pick up and play but some real skill has to go into the later levels.

[jcalder8]

Right.... Running, jumping, and collecting coins.... How original.
You're right, super mario 1-3, 64, NSMB, SMG,Sonic 1-3, Castlevania 1-however many, when will the shit stop!!!

What were they thinking by making a game with running, jumping and collecting coins, the fools!

[Vectorman0]

I agree with pretty much everything here, except I don't understand why people dislike Joust. I know I enjoyed it, though maybe I haven't played the original enough to know better? I also dislike Cloning Clyde quite a bit. I played up to 40 achievement points when it came out, then I just started to hate it all of a sudden and haven't played it since. This is more of a personal rant, than a statement on it being bad in general. I'd have to go back and play it again to see why I didn't like it, but that isn't going to happen.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[consolecrusader]

My worst XBL Arcade game is

Aegis Wing....Can't stand the game, I feel like I am going to have an epileptic
seizure when I play it. Not to mention how confusing it is with 2 players. I can't complain THAT much cause its free.

[norkusa]

I agree with pretty much everything here, except I don't understand why people dislike Joust. I know I enjoyed it, though maybe I haven't played the original enough to know better?

Yeah, I'm confused by that too. Joust is one of my favorite XBLA games and feels fine to me. I'm using the DOA4 stick though, so maybe the complaints are coming from people who only use the 360 controller?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

While I haven't played Centipede or Joust, I've always been an above-average arcade Gyruss player, and I think that the XBLA version looks and sounds good, handles well and has a nice 2-player competitive online mode.

If you want to play a crappy version of Gyruss, play the NES version.

I vote for Aegis Wing as a piss-poor single-player affair ... it's actually pretty fun if you play it with 3 or more players simultaneously, though, it is pretty by the numbers as far as horizontal shooters go.

I'm pretty shocked that nobody has nominated Crystal Quest!

That's easily one of my biggest regrets of XBLA 1st year software purchases.

It's like Robotron or Geometry Wars ... in slow motion ... and not fun.

[diskoboy]

You're right, super mario 1-3, 64, NSMB, SMG,Sonic 1-3, Castlevania 1-however many, when will the shit stop!!!

What were they thinking by making a game with running, jumping and collecting coins, the fools!

yeah - 20 years ago, it was fun.

Not so much now. It's your standard Lode Runner-type platformer, with gfx that would make the Atari 2600 proud. Not to mention the controls suck, and it's very boring.

[Vectorman0]

I'm pretty shocked that nobody has nominated Crystal Quest!

That's easily one of my biggest regrets of XBLA 1st year software purchases.

It's like Robotron or Geometry Wars ... in slow motion ... and not fun.

I disagree. If anything, I would nominate it as one of the best games. It's a great remake of the classic, and even has the classic game included. My only complaint is that the game was original meant for use with a mouse and controlling it with a joystick is frustrating occasionally. Otherwise I thought it does the game justice and is well worth the 400 points.

[KeyserSoze61]

I vote to remove Undertow. Once you get the hang of gameplay, it's quite similar to Domination in the first Unreal Tournament. Solid action/strategy in 2D, and I quite enjoyed it. I was planning on purchasing it until I heard it was going to be the compensation game.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I disagree. If anything, I would nominate it as one of the best games. It's a great remake of the classic, and even has the classic game included. My only complaint is that the game was original meant for use with a mouse and controlling it with a joystick is frustrating occasionally. Otherwise I thought it does the game justice and is well worth the 400 points.

Unfortunately I don't have the benefit of having played the original...I'll take your word for it being a great remake, but without a frame of reference or fondness for the classic version (on it's original hardware), I didn't find much to enjoy. :(

[Gamereviewgod]

I could not disagree more when it comes to Rocketmen. It is in no way fun, the story sucks (cheap comic book-style cutscenes are the new lensflare), the animation sucks (why does my guy always run at a half-trot like he has something stuck up his ass?) and it is overly complex control-wise for the genre with no payoff for being so. This has got to be among the worst of the XBLA originals. Smash TV and Robotron are already on XBLA and every other game on XBLA and PSN is a twin stick shooter so there's no excuse for this shit.

Can't argue with the animation. Hilarious.

It's not complex control wise. It's a dual analog shooter and you switch weapons with the bumpers. That's it.

The story may be done in comic fashion (it's a Live Arcade game, not many even go this far), but it's funny. It's a parody on the genre and games in general. There are a lot of little in-jokes.

Smash TV doesn't offer the leveling up options that Rocketmen does. With four players, the game comes alive. It definitely starts slow, but as you begin levelling, it comes into its own.

[Nesmaster]

Word Puzzle... ugh.

I don't think Yaris will be topped, seriously. I'm a huge achievement addict and have played some bad games for them, but I won't touch Yaris even for those.

Aegis Wing isn't great, but I don't think it's bad enough to be on this list personally.

[Leo_A]

I disagree on Gyruss and Missile Command. Missile Command's evolved mode seems entertaining enough, I've returned to it several times and had fun. The classic mode isn't worth any time since its been poorly implimented.

And I've enjoyed Gyruss. I don't remember it well enough to speak for how accurate the XBLA port is, but on it's own merits, I've enjoyed it.

And I haven't played a lot of it, but Aegis Wing seems okay, its main problem as I see it is just being very plain.

"I agree with pretty much everything here, except I don't understand why people dislike Joust. I know I enjoyed it, though maybe I haven't played the original enough to know better?"

The XBLA version of Joust is terrible, it's very inaccurate compared to the original. I'd like to add my vote for it being terrible, along with Yaris.

I'd like to nominate Marathon: Durandal, the only game ever to make me motion sick (In addition to being bored), and Spyglass Board Games (Very poorly done take on several classic board games such as Chess and Othello).

[Lothars]

I would say by far the worst xbla game is Novadrome but I would take Aegis Wing and Small Arms off the list, they are pretty good games especially Small Arms which I found was pretty fun.

[Nebagram]

One more vote for Bliss Island. It's an f'ing flash game, for god's sake.

Word Puzzle was also a huge disappointment, can't believe I laid down money for that.

My vote would go to Spyglass Boardgames, but that's recently had a renaissance for me, esp. in multiplayer, and it's only 400 points, so vote there to keep it off the 'worst game' list.

And I got Undertow free, and seriously want a refund. Why can't they just release R-Type and show XBLA how it should be done?

[GrandAmChandler]

List updated up until this point. Disagree with the list thus far? Feel free to politely argue your point one way or another.

-GAC-

[s1lence]

Spyglass isn't a bad game. Its just simple board games that play well, so I vote to have that removed.

Bliss Island is terrible, I'm glad to see that one on there.

Small Arms is a terrible game with terrible controls.

Aegis Wing shouldn't be on there, its a great title for multiplayer and it was free.

[unwinddesign]

Space Giraffe. I know a few people "get" it. Most don't. It's horrible, and nearly impossible to see what's going on.

Small Arms. Pitiful. Just pitiful. Not in the least fun, challenging or engaging. Just a weak SSBM clone.

Spyglass Board Games. Why pay $5 for no-frills versions of board games you can't play in local multiplayer?