While we’ve had some great games already this year, 2013 has had its fair share of shameful entries into the gaming market.
The following are the lowest rated games based on user score on Metacritic for 2013 (so far).
Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons (user Metascore: 1.7)
Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons was released on XBLA and was immediately hated due to its poor controls, ridiculous dubbing, and broken fighting mechanics.
Metacritic user Samuelhayne shared his agony with Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons:
Everything about [it] is broken, from the clunky controls that make you feel as if your input is travelling to the moon and back before registering on your console, to the music that will make your ears bleed. Honestly, I’ve heard more inspired tunes from my niece on her Casio. I haven’t been this irate, disappointed, and just blatantly confused regarding a downloadable game since ‘Amy’.

Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons
SimCity (User score: 1.9)
SimCity’s launch was as calm as a category 5 hurricane, with gamers screaming for someone to save them from the disaster that EA and Maxis pushed out.
On the surface, the game itself wasn’t that bad, but the incredibly poor support and bugs that the game was plagued with caused gamers to hit Metacritic and tear it apart.
The general Metascore did increase as the reviews improved, but it was too late for the doomed user section.
Metacritic user asy8492 explains how much he loves the game through his message to EA:
“Shame on you EA. If you were a car I’d be smashing you with a baseball bat by now. I expected better services with $80 but what I get is garbage.”
Star Trek: The Video Game (user Metascore: 2.5)
Fans had high hopes for the latest Star Trek game, but it’s turned out to be another shameless movie cash-in.
Metacritic user jordanclark1993 referenced a great analogy with regards to his time with Star Trek:
Just a terrible, terrible game. Like someone said on twitter “I say it now & loud. Those user reviews on MetaCritic for #StarTrek are flat out lies. So far it’s as much fun as jacking off a Klingon.”
Omerta: City of Gangsters (user Metascore: 2.8)
Ometra: City of Gangsters actually looked pretty good, but critics have said that its almost as if the game is unfinished in its released form.
One Metacritic user, Indie_Frank gave a concise review of the game (in order to save time):
I’m tired so let me put this short, if you have an Xbox 360 DO NOT BUY THIS!!!
Aliens Colonial Marines (user Metascore: 3.2)
Gearbox and Sega really screwed the pooch with their launch of Aliens: Colonial Mariens – a game that had supposedly been in development for over seven years.
The post launch debacle saw gamers outraged by a misleading campaign, and Gearbox and Sega dogged by accusations of outsourced developmental mismanagement.
To top it off, fans of the series felt they were dealt a huge disservice.
Metacritic user slartibartfas perfectly sums up much of the sentiment around the game:
Seriously Gearbox? After the excellent Borderlands 2 I thought, it can’t be wrong to pre-order another game produced by Gearbox. I was proven wrong. One thing I have learned for sure after this game release disaster: I will NEVER NEVER NEVER ever pre-order a game anymore!
MLB2K13 (user Metascore: 3.6)
The MLB2K series has some great pedigree behind it, but most critics agreed that the 2013 edition has a misstep for the franchise.
User Mattyice was so angry at MLB2K13 that he even capitalised his response, and also offered some business advice for 2K Games, a multi-million dollar publishing company.
This game is complete GARBAGE. The visuals, gameplay, presentation, and everything else are exactly the same as games past. 2k really needs to get out of the baseball business now to save money and their reputation.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (user Metascore: 4.2)
Despite the hope, the Walking Dead FPS disappointed fans of the show and general zombie fans all around.
Reviewers panned the game for being very short, buggy and delivering repetitive mechanics throughout the experience.
Metacritic user HonestlyTrue sums up the sentiments around The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct:
This game is utterly terrible, everything in this game is half-assed, from the gameplay to the story to the presentation. Why is it, that most film adaptations have to be THIS bad? And it’s also approved by Activision, one of the biggest publishers, this has to be one of the biggest cash in the past few months. This game is a disgrace and absoluitely NO match to the TV-series. It appears this game was made for the uninformed peasants who just buy games after the cover and because of the name. This game is a prime example of today’s idiocracy in the gaming industry. STAY CLEAR, this game is NOT worth the money.
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