Not to break your heart, but many of the worst licensed games ever based on books, TV series and movies are among the poorest in the industry. Somehow, some titles just don't get the fundamentals of good game mechanics. Both the fans and the franchises they were based on were let down by these games, demonstrating the significance of high-quality game production.
In today's world, the line between quantity and quality continually narrows, and this has led to poorly executed game projects; some of which have made the list of the worst selling video games. Some of these games were so terrible that players felt pity for the developers and even mocked them. Okay, enough of the sad tales. Now, let’s dive into the list!
The Walking Dead: Destinies
The Walking Dead: Destinies was a major disappointment. Due to its terrible plot, the emotional complexity and character growth that made the series captivating were missing from the game. The characters were also poorly depicted, in that they lacked the nuance and uniqueness viewers looked forward to, and as for the gameplay and plot, they were totally devoid of imagination.
The Walking Dead universe's signature drama and suspense were sapped from the game by its clumsy combat mechanisms and sluggish development. In addition to its hasty development and many technical faults, the game's antiquated visuals made it seem less like an investment in the Walking Dead franchise, and more like a money grab.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Many were hoping that the talented developers behind the smash hit Batman: Arkham series would provide another thrilling installment with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Unfortunately, it was a huge letdown. The end result was far worse than anticipated. Not only did the narrative underemphasize the characters, the gameplay would betray an annoying dullness and boredom just within the first fifteen minutes.
This is another terrible game made for no good purpose other than commercial greed, without the presence of even one redeeming quality. This 2024 video game is an alarming indication that sometimes, even the most anticipated video games bomb miserably.
Fast & Furious Crossroads
Fast & Furious Crossroads fell short of expectations despite being a long-awaited installment in the popular series. The gameplay fails miserably in delivering the exhilarating sensations shown in the movie. Even while there are a ton of collectibles and cars to unlock from the franchise's past in the game, it still doesn't live up to the visual thrills.
Despite being one of the most successful film franchises of all time, Fast & Furious has failed to become a video game phenomenon. Crossroads was a colossal failure. All the problems with the worst licensed games ever and contemporary gaming were encapsulated in Crossroads, which was bad enough for even a racing game!
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
The game was plagued with errors and malfunctions upon its debut, rendering it almost unplayable, and it had many delays before its release. It has awful controls, grainy visuals, and a nonsensical plot. As if things weren't already funny enough, Daedalic Entertainment, the makers of Gollum, hurriedly released an apology riddled with typos and promised a sequel.
Despite many delays, the game was launched with lots of problems and malfunctions, rendering it almost unplayable, even after receiving further modifications. Due to the very disastrous reception to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the game studio decided to cease making video games.
Conclusion
If the worst licensed video games tell us anything, it is that rushed development and poor design can mess up amazing franchises. These games are instructive warnings to future developers of the importance of quality in video game adaptations.