I’m a huge fan of the Ghostbusters. When I was a kid, I’d watch the first film over and over until the VHS tape wore thin and snapped. I thought Bill Murray was a god among men (I still do, kinda) and the Harold Ramis/ Dan Akroyd-penned script is largely responsible, along with a box of 1970’s editions of MAD Magzine for shaping my sense of humour. As a gamer by then already, you can imagine my excitement when I saw there was a NES game based on the movie.
I saved up for months (by saving my lunch money) – and finally unwrapped the loose packaging that pirate NES/ Golden china carts came in, hastily plugged it in to my mauve and off-white console.
And was greeted by this.
What the? The game had little to do with the movie – and was beset by terrible control problems and was wholly lacking in anything you might call fun – and then there’s the game’s staircase level, so horribly designed and implemented that it had me pulling hair out of places I hadn’t even begun to grow hair. I have a more vivid recollection of the bitter taste left in my mouth than of the game itself. It was probably my first experience of the crushing disappointment of buying a terrible game that I was actually rather looking forward to.
In more recent memory, that unwelcome accolade belongs to games like Crackdown 2, Dragon Age 2, Far Cry 2 and pretty much anything released by Lionhead.
There are hundreds of terrible games released each year, but there’s a certain sting when a game you expect to be good is anything but – so tell us; What’s been your most disappointing game purchase?
Last Updated: May 14, 2012