10 Worst Reviewed Games of 2016

2016 was home to many great video games, but you'd be wrong to think it was all fun and good times. Unfortunately every year sees many more terrible games get released than it does great ones, and 2016 saw some serious stinkers.

I guess one upside to this year's list is that it doesn't feature a single game as bad as the worst from 2015 -- Alone In The Dark: Illumination. Nor does this list of games feature many recognizable franchises, whereas last year had big-hitters like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Afro Samurai, and more.

Alas, that's about as good of a spin as I can put on this list. The upcoming games you're about to read about are the very worst of the worst, be they completely broken or just downright terrible. Two things worth mentioning though. The scores from these games (and therefore their listing) comes from Metacritic. Also this is a list of bad games, not disappointing, so don't expect No Man's Sky to make an appearance!

So, without further ado, your eyes on the very worst that 2016 had to offer!

10. Ace Banana

Metacritic Score: 38 (User Score: 4.8)

You'd be forgiven for thinking that a VR game in which you play as a banana with a knack for archery couldn't be anything but amazing. Sadly, Ace Banana for PSVR is anything but ace. Sorry.

Ace Banana sees waves of monkeys trying to steal your banana friends, forcing you to pull out your bow and ward them off -- using the Move controllers. The actual act of shooting the arrows is OK, but not as accurate or responsive as one would hope, and the visuals are like that of a PS2 (or Wii U) game.

Ace Banana isn't a broken game, but it's a PSVR launch title that Sony will be hoping you forget sooner rather than later.

9. Coffin Dodgers

Metacritic Score: 36 (User Score: 4.4)

On the face of it, Coffin Dodgers is a pretty great idea for a game. The grim reaper comes to take the lives of the residents of a retirement home, so they hop on their mobility scooters and try to outrun him. Kart racers are usually great -- they're hard to screw up -- but Coffin Dodgers did just that.

The mechanics are everything in a kart racer, which is partially why Mario Kart is so fantastic, and Coffin Dodgers definitely needed some more time in the oven to balance out the gameplay. You'll find yourself braking with frustrating regularity -- and should you find yourself in 1st place, you'd have to throw the race away to actually lose.

It's a shame how this one turned out because the visuals are nice, the idea fun, and the soundtrack lively. Alas, Coffin Dodgers is one better left in the grave.

8. Alekhine's Gun

Metacritic Score: 36 (User Score: 3.7)

Cold war games are extremely rare, despite it being a fascinating period in history. So when one comes around you want it to be good. Well, want all you like -- Alekhine's Gun is not the game you've been waiting for.

Although it borrows from great stealth games like Hitman and Splinter Cell, Alekhine's Gun never quite managed the level of polish or design ingenuity of those titles. It's even been said that the game outright rips off some levels from early Hitman games, and still couldn't match the quality of the almost-two-decade-old series.

Although it features a great premise, and time period, Alekhine's Gun fails to hit the mark.

7. Umbrella Corps

Metacritic Score: 36 (User Score: 2.3)

Ahh, the last straw for the Resident Evil series...as we knew it. After the mega-success of Resident Evil 4, developer Capcom seemingly misunderstood what we loved about the series. In the follow-ups to the masterpiece, Capcom chose to focus on big-budget action (as opposed to survival horror), and the series took a serious downturn as a result.

Just when you thought the series couldn't get any worse, Capcom followed-up Resident Evil 6 with Umbrella Corps - a multiplayer shooter. Clearly Capcom was attempting to capitalise on the success of the FPS genre but it didn't believe enough in Umbrella Corps to give it the RE branding. Well, that turned out to be a smart decision; Corps is a clumsy, ugly, un-fun mess that should have been aborted.

While Umbrella Corps was undoubtedly the ultimate low-point for the Resident Evil series, it's great to know that Resident Evil 7 is about to release and looks like a genuine return to form.

6. Langrisser Re:Incarnation - TENSEI

Metacritic Score: 35 (User Score:6.3)

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you've never even heard of Langrisser Re:Incarnation - TENSEI, well don't worry, you're better off not knowing it.

A 3DS game from developer Masaya, Langrisser is a strategy-simulation RPG in the same vein as Fire Emblem, minus all of the charm and quality. Amazingly, the Langrisser series has been around since 1991 but this might be the worst installment yet.

The action is lackluster and downright boring, while the visuals leave a lot to be desired -- even on the 3DS. The biggest problem with this title is that it's so close to the competition that its flaws are glaring in comparison.

5. 7 Days To Die

Metacritic Score: 35 (User Score: 5.2)

7 Days To Die is an open-world, sandbox zombie game, that is much more H1Z1 than it is State of Decay.

First and foremost, it's startling that a game can look this awful in 2016. I mean, it reaffirms the concerns that the Xbox and PlayStation stores are seriously lacking in quality control. This level of crappiness is to be expected in the deep depths of Steam, or all over the App Store, but you don't expect to find it on consoles.

And yet, Telltale Games actually published this series. I'm not sure what Telltale saw in 7 Days To Die that made the developer want to publish the game. But is an ugly, glitchy mess that no-one should waste their time on.

4. Weeping Doll

Metacritic Score: 34 (User Score:3.8)

Without doubt, Weeping Doll is far and away the prettiest game on this entire list. But as we all know, looks are far from everything.

Weeping Doll is a VR horror game that only lasts around an hour, and offers very little in the way of interactivity. The narrative is delivered via voice-over, which robs the game of much of its eerieness -- and the VR isn't offensively bad but up-close the objects are very blurry, which could cause a headache.

All in all, Weeping Doll isn't the worst game on this list, especially as a proof-of-concept VR title. But it fails to deliver in most regards, and clocking in at the hour mark makes this one very hard to recommend.

3. Soda Drinker Pro

Metacritic Score: 31 (User Score: 4.7)

Now, here we have the worst visuals imaginable. (Seriously, how freakin' bad can a video game look?) This looks like it was made in Microsoft Paint, and would make the list for simply looking this bad.

Soda Drinker Pro is a soda-drinking simulator...whatever the heck that means. Allegedly akin to a flight simulator, the objective is to -- you guessed it -- drink from a cup. You traverse levels and drink until the cup is empty. That's all there is. It might not be as basic and insane as My Name Is Mayo, but Soda Drinker Pro really is asking a lot for anyone to spend money on it.

Even in a world where farming simulators and a goat simulator can be big successes, I don't think anyone was asking for this.

2. Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival

Metacritic Score: 31 (User Score: 4.5)

The Kick Off series dates all the way back to 1989, and back then it was a critically adored smash hit. Well, jump forward almost 30 years and the formula just ain't popular anymore.

Importantly, Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is seemingly less of a game than the 1989 original. It features shoddy graphics, cheesy music, and (literally) one or two sound effects. Just like its predecessor, Kick-Off Revival has only 3 modes and uses only one button to kick/head/tackle the ball.

Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is proof that some things are just better left in the past, where nostalgia can gloss over impurities.

1. Ghostbusters

Metacritic Score: 30 (User Score: 0.6)

You know what happens when you take a franchise like Ghostbusters and make an atrocious video game? Hmm? Activision, you just made the list!

Wrestling references aside, you would think it would be fairly easy by now to make a fun 4-player game that utilizes the Ghostbusters license, and yet here we are. Activision and FireForge Games clearly wanted to copy the Helldivers/Alienation formula, but they missed the key component of those titles: fun gameplay.

You could maybe forgive the bad sound design, bad script, bad story, and sheer repetitiveness if the game was fun to play, but it's far from it. Sadly this is just another example of a terrible game made to service a movie deadline.

Well there you have it -- the awful, the bad, and the ugly. Some titles on this list were disappointing because they had potential to be great games (i.e. Alekhine's Gun, Weeping Doll), while a few others were laughably bad, (like Soda Drinker Pro).

Like I said at the beginning of this list, if there is a positive to be taken, it's the fact that none of the games on this list were downright unplayable -- at least not the way Afro Samuari or World Cup Rugby were last year. Heck, not every game on this list would be a complete waste of your time and money, but there are definitely better things to spend it on.

2016 boasted many great video games like those pictured above. In fact, we'll be doing a Best of 2016 list really soon, so be sure to check back here for that rundown!

Did any of you actually play any of these titles? Are they as bad as we think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned to GameSkinny!