| (Images property of Square Enix, Arkane Studios, Daedelic Entertainment and GameMill Entertainment) In each of the above cases, there have been various offending issues that have courted the piercing gaze of widespread scrutiny. Bad writing, messy AI or outright bad concepts to build a game around have all been highlighted as pervasive themes. However, across this smorgasbord of mediocrity, there is one particular issue that these games have in common which I want to highlight. Namely, I want to talk about bad graphics and how, all too often, the difference between a 'bad' game and the 'WORST GAME EVER' is made by how a game looks above all else. The Stunt Treadmill In the comic book industry there is a phenomenon known as the 'Stunt Treadmill'. It represents the cycle that comics got themselves into in the 80s and 90s where they would write stories with massive cultural impacts like The Death of Superman which would sell gangbusters. The reason why it is a treadmill though is that it never stops and once you are on it, you can't get off. In order to keep up with those high sales, you need to keep creating these enormous events until you've written so many that they are effectively meaningless.  | | (Image property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Discovery) To my mind, this is a metaphorical situation that can be just as easily applied to the video game review cycle. The most clicks go to whoever is angriest and most willing to put their monetisation on the line to viciously tear a game to shreds and/or set the disc on fire in their microwave. The problem is though, that once this precedent is set, everyone has to follow suit in order to compete for internet traffic. The result is the aforementioned 'WORST GAME EVER' phenomenon where new, admittedly terrible, games are painted with that brush in order to garner attention and traffic. Rise of Kong is just the most recent example of a game receiving this punishment for its sins.  | | (Image property of IguanaBee and GameMill Entertainment) As a result of this process, plenty of bad games are lambasted perhaps beyond what they are guilty of. Take Forspoken as a prime example. It's a poorly written game with some interesting enough ideas sprinkled onto a fairly mediocre package. I'd be surprised if everyone who crucified the game as one of the worst ever actually believes that it deserves that title. So why does this happen? Well, to quote the Joker, 'It's not about money... It's about sending a message.' You see, in Forspoken's case, while the game did function effectively, the problem was more about what the game represented. It was a next gen, $70, PS5 exclusive and, with all that baggage attached, it was expected that a quality product would be delivered. As a result, when people saw the dodgy writing and uninspiring gameplay, they were disappointed and wanted to make their disappointment known by smacking the game with the 'Worst Ever' hammer of justice. The problem was not the game, but rather the hubris that it represented from the publisher putting it out.  | | (Image property of Luminous Productions and Square Enix) In principle, this could be enough for some to explain the 'WORST GAME EVER' phenomenon but for this obscure video game complainer, things don't quite add up. If it's principle that makes people call a game the worst ever, then why don't some transparently awful games get the treatment? Soulless cash grabs exploiting good will towards IPs like Marvel's Avengers that are designed to sting you for micro-transactions and pre-order bonuses above being a fun game were criticised, yes, but were often just described as being underwhelming rather than the 'Worst Game Ever'.  | | (Image property of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal) |
If it's about the principle, then things don't add up. The inverse applies to Gollum and Rise of Kong. Did anyone unironically say that these games would be good? Small studios pumping out licensed games in sub-par development windows? No, if we want to establish what causes the internet hive mind to declare something the 'Worst Game Ever', we need to look elsewhere, and I know just where to start. The Shiniest Dog Turd in the Parking Lot If I was asked to differentiate between a game like Marvel's Avengers and the bad barbershop quartet of Forspoken, Redfall, Gollum and Rise of Kong, the place I would start is graphics. All four of the above games were torn apart on launch for looking like fried cat sick on a dirty skillet. By contrast, Marvel's Avengers, while criticised for other issues like character likenesses, was broadly considered to look pretty good at the end of the day.  | | (Image property of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal) This explanation for the 'WORST GAME EVER' phenomenon also aligns with what we've already established about the social media cycle. If you're spreading the word about a new worst game ever, it is much easier to get your point across when a game looks visually unpleasant due to facial animation, textures or bugs, than it is when a game is made for underlying nefarious purposes like stinging children for micro-payments. Cases of the former make it immediately obvious that a game is of a low quality whereas the first impression given by a visually appealing bad game helps to build it some benefit of the doubt.  | | (Image property of Arkane Studios and Bethesda) |
Years of media training from new consoles marketing themselves on lighting, textures and animations have taught us that good graphics are a sign of a quality product when, in practice, they can often be the boot polish designed to make a dog turd look more presentable. This is a problem with this pattern, however, because often this can mean that we heap our criticism on the wrong things as consumers. Do you really think that anyone on the Rise of Kong development team was proud of what they created? No, they were a fairly unknown studio given an IP, a shoestring budget and a year to make the thing. The game was never going to be good and expecting otherwise would be outright stupidity. The same has also been documented of the Gollum development team. Prior to Gollum, they had never worked on a project so large and they wanted to give it their best go. The final product didn't work out but at least the developers were trying. So often, we get too easily distracted by a bad graphical first impression and we get caught up with kicking a game that, honestly, was never going to be very good. What we got, while bad, was the developers trying their best under trying circumstances.  | | (Image property of Daedelic Entertainment) To my mind, if you really want to help the video game industry to improve, these aren't the right targets for your frustration. For me, the far more deserving targets are the developers and publishers that are barely trying. The ones that make their games pretty and full of particle effects to wow at first impressions and get the social media wheel turning with the usual 'This looks SO good!' reaction clips before turning around and filling their games with the same generic garbage as always to turn a quick buck.  | | (Image property of IguanaBee and GameMill Entertainment) |
So, is there a moral to the story? Well, there's plenty of bad video games out there so you can take that cheque to the bank and cash it. Beyond that though, while it is all in good fun to mock janky and terrible games when they release, let's not pretend that they're what's choking the life out of the industry. Sure, they aren't good but sometimes the odd bad game adds character. If it was up to me, I'd suggest that we take aim against the lazy games and the mediocre cash grabs. After all, if we got rid of games like Gollum and Rise of Kong then who would we laugh at?
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