Pass the Controller | Latest news, reviews and reviews in video games
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Community
  • About
    • Contact
    • Meet the Team
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Community
  • About
    • Contact
    • Meet the Team
>

Team Talk | What's the best "bad" game you've ever played?

11/7/2020

 
Team Talk | What's the best

The release of Deadly Premonition 2 prompted Sam to suggest this week's topic. Let's celebrate the flawed gems, the less-than-perfects, the games that are objectively bad but have captured our hearts regardless.

Picture
by Chris Brand
Picture

@SuperCrisco

Picture
by Team PTC
Picture

@pass_controller

Chris | Crackdown 3

I once cooked some chilli that was like Crackdown 3. It had all the necessary ingredients to be something special, but turned out to be flavourless and unsatisfying. As an eternal optimist, I'd made the mistake of thinking this would be a meal fit for a king, so concocting a gut-busting amount seemed appropriate. I was also drunk, which may be worth noting.

With everything added to the cauldron, the bubbling mass looked incredible. "This is the benchmark which all future chillies will be measured against!" I proclaimed loudly to an empty kitchen. But, upon tasting my creation, that feeling subsided. It wasn't incredible; it was red. That's the only descriptor to come to mind. I had made a giant pot of red.

I attempted to salvage what I could from this disappointing sludge by turning up the heat, adding a(nother) large handful of crushed peppers. Though the taste changed little, that added spiciness saved it from the bin.

Crackdown 3 is that chilli. The minced beef, tomatoes, beans, herbs and spices were all present, yet the overall dish was lacking... something.

Crackdown 3's Keys to the City mode is a handful of crushed peppers. Having free reign of the city with overpowered cheats is perfect for enjoying the mindless action, even though there's not much substance.
Team Talk | What's the best
Check it out if you've a thing for unbridled chaos and nothing else.

Liam | Fallout 76

Fallout 76 had a notoriously bad launch, but when a Black Friday deal saw its price significantly reduced not long after the initial release, I couldn’t resist picking it up, despite its dodgy reputation.

Knowing it got a terrible reception from both fans and media alike probably helped me to enjoy the game more than I should have, as I went in with very low expectations. But I found I kept coming back for more even after my initial “let’s just see how bad it is” phase was up.

Yes, there were loads of bugs (it is a Bethesda game, after all) including a very frustrating encounter with invisible enemies. Yes, the visuals are a bit dated and the fast travel system is severely hampered by the need to spend caps in order to use it, but, despite these and other flaws - including a lack of human NPCs - I had fun with it.

The shooting was the kind of wonky, post-apocalyptic rustiness I expected from a Fallout game, and the addition of online players were not the army of ever present griefers everyone feared they would be, but rather an occasional source of assistance for new players.
Team Talk | What's the best
There should be new players aplenty, now that Fallout 76 has hit Xbox Game Pass.

Sam | Deadly Premonition

It’s no secret that Deadly Premonition is objectively awful in many, many ways. Despite all of its flaws, the game manages to capture a special something that cements it in “so-bad-it’s-good” territory.

While being comparable to cult classic films like Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, what Deadly Premonition achieves is even more impressive; as a videogame, it has a lot more to overcome. Combat and driving are indefensibly bad and only serve to drag the experience down, but the sheer weirdness of Deadly Premonition’s story and characters won me (and many others) over.

You eat breakfast with doddering old Polly Oxford while sitting at opposite ends of her enormous dining table, yelling at one another in an effort to be heard. The “Sinner’s Sandwich” is intended as punishment to atone for past sins, though protagonist Francis York Morgan happily wolfs them down as treats. If enjoying turkey, jam and cereal sandwiches isn’t enough indication that York is insane, he often talks to an invisible companion about real-world mundanities at the most inopportune times.

A decade later, the sequel is due out this Friday exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise actually has a lower Metacritic average than the original, which, in fittingly bizarro fashion, has me all kinds of excited to discover the hot mess that’s currently making its way to me via Royal Mail.
Team Talk | What's the best
Enjoy your awful sequel, Sam!

James | Red Faction: Armageddon

The excitement of a new Red Faction game after the outstanding Red Faction: Guerilla had my hopes high.

What crazy, fun and unique multiplayer modes would we get? How much better would distribution be this time? Will we discover another tinge of red as we explore the surface?

As it turned out, Armageddon wasn't quite what I expected it to be. The sequel swapped free-roaming for linear, underground shooting and the multiplayer? All but gone.

Nonetheless, the focused up single player campaign was strangely charming, as we learned how the nano rifle came to be and saw it transition into a borderline game-breakingly good weapon.

There's less destruction on show and it changes a lot about what made the first one good, and yet I still managed to enjoy it. Perhaps I'm secretly part Martian?
Team Talk | What's the best
James being a Martian is the only possible explanation.

Which terrible games do you have a soft spot for?
2 Comments
filetly
3/12/2023 08:18:52 pm

Your post offers practical advice for negotiating and setting appropriate prices for products or services. It's an often overlooked aspect of making money. To delve deeper, <a href="https://www.toprevenuegate.com/r080ngsgw6?key=b9543d5fddb00a5703d8dcdcdae31cee" target="_blank">click here</a>.

Reply
Carry
27/2/2024 02:58:52 am

Thank you for sharing your expertise and experiences through your blog post. Your personal anecdotes added a relatable touch to the content, making it more engaging and impactful. To delve deeper into this subject, <a href="https://1cfd04q536e-9pbby7r7lfy3rv.hop.clickbank.net" target="_blank">click here</a>.

Reply



Leave a Reply.



    Read More

    News
    Reviews
    Videos

    Comment Here

    Categories

    All
    A Gamer's Guide To Life
    Community
    E3 2018
    Event Coverage
    Feature
    First Impressions/Quick Look
    Head To Head
    Indie
    Interview
    List
    Opinion
    Preview
    Real Life Story
    Team Talk
    Video
    Virtual Reality


    Archives

    June 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    January 2025
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015


    RSS Feed

Pass the Controller

News
Reviews
Features
​
Videos
Community
About

What is PTC

About Us
​Meet the Team
​
Contact Us
Find our reviews on:
  • OpenCritic
  • vrgamecritic
© COPYRIGHT 2014-2022 PTC / JMP.
​ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.