When we think of some of the greatest video game series of all time, we tend to think of them as a whole, rather than their individual entries. When we discuss Gears of War, for example, while some may have a favorite game in the series, for the most part, I’d hazard a guess that no one instinctively jumps to any one entry. It enables us to toss aside the weird and objectively terrible entries in otherwise unblemished series and eschew judging an entire series based on the failings of a game that just didn’t quite hit the mark.
Fortunately, most of said incredible video game series have but a handful of middling entries peppered amongst the truly great. However, even among the most significant video game franchises of all time, there remain the occasional black sheep, games that either fail so spectacularly or feel as if they belong in an entirely different series. It is always interesting to dissect exactly what went wrong, why they’re so different, or, in some cases, categorically terrible, and assess whether they hold any value, if only a little.
5. Xenoblade Chronicles X
I absolutely adore Xenoblade Chronicles, so much, in fact, that I believe the second game in the series to be one of the greatest Nintendo Switch titles of all time. Which is why I assumed that Xenoblade Chronicles X would be the perfect game for me. Unfortunately, XBCX isn’t really anything like its predecessors or successors, proving to be an altogether different beast that eschews much of what made the rest of the series so special. If you’re looking for an emotional and epic narrative with huge stakes or a well-defined protagonist, then you’re out of luck.
Xenoblade Chronicles X isn’t a truly awful game, but it is an immensely bloated one, owing to its MMO influences and focus on busy work. While the Definitive Edition remaster on the Nintendo Switch does a lot to remove many of the frustrating elements present in the original Wii U version, it still showcases a game that can often feel like a relic of the past. Had it been released under a different name, then there’s a good chance XBCX would have avoided the criticisms it rightfully deserves when it comes to narrative, quest design, characters, and music. Unfortunately, it is considered a Xenoblade Chronicles game, made canon by XBC3, and, as a result, remains, at least in my opinion, a blemish in an otherwise perfect series.
4. Pokémon Scarlet And Violet
I’m not sure there is a critical word left to be said about the utterly awful Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Not only did they prove to be technical disasters at launch, riddled with nightmarish bugs and poor performance, but they also ushered in a bland and uninspired new vision for what an open-world Pokémon game could look like. They completely bungled the series’s first attempt at a true open world, introduced combat mechanics that not only further simplified an already baby-friendly experience but made it infinitely easier, and offered a completely forgettable narrative.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are easily the worst games in the entire series. It isn’t just the bad technical performance or boring story, but the lacklustre region design, the abandoning of Legends: Arceus’ innovative creature catching method, and the absence of any real style, all but killing the dregs of the remaining visual identity Pokémon had left. Above all else, however, Scarlet and Violet are just filled with endless missed potential and, frankly, that’s their greatest failing. Had it made you care about the legendary, leant into the brilliant heights of its narrative’s concluding moments, or delivered an open-world that felt as alive as the GBA games did two decades ago, we’d have been able to forgive its technical shortcomings. Alas, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are destined to remain a constant reminder of how bad Pokémon has gotten.
3. Fallout 76
Fallout 76 has come a long way since it first launched, and for that, it absolutely must be commended. The ill-fated live service shooter has been bogged down by endless terrible decisions from corporate greed to the abysmally bad choice to not include NPCs until years after it released. Even now, the ghost of 76’s past haunts its broken open-world, remnants of its original and frankly dourly dull storyline coalescing with the slapdash attempts at plastering over all of its many mistakes.
Fallout 76 can, at times, feel like Fallout, but for the most part, it fails to live up to the dream of being a true multiplayer iteration of the once respected franchise. Even at its best, Fallout 76 falters, and while I do have my fair share of genuinely great memories of it as me and my sibling ventured across the occasionally picturesque wastelands long before it recieved any updates, I also remember the sudden wiping of all my data, the terrible onboarding process, the endless glitches, boring quest design, inconsistent world, and the shameless monetization methods. Fallout 76 is not a great game, and it has undeniably tarnished the series’ good name.
2. Sonic: The Hedgehog (2006)
Honestly, I could have picked any number of Sonic games for this list, although that is in no way a slight against the storied and legendarily good Sonic: The Hedgehog series as a whole. Sure, there have been a handful of bad egg-mans, but for the most part, Sonic has largely lived up to its lofty reputation. However, that being said, Sonic: The Hedgehog (2006) is so genuinely terrible that one struggles to comprehend how the series managed to survive beyond it. The infamous Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 travesty was so bad that SEGA delisted it only a few years after launch in an attempt to wipe any evidence of it ever having existed.
Of course, it deserves a little bit of leeway considering the scope of the game was truncated well into development, alongside funding and the size of the staff working on it. Still, Sonic: The Hedgehog was a buggy, inconsistent, nightmarishly bizarre, and generally unfun mess that felt completely at odds with what had come before it. While there was some merit to be found in the series bold transition to 3D, Sonic 2006 left a terrible impression on anyone who played it, including me, someone who unironically loves one of the worst games of all time, Left Alive, and who attempted to beat Sonic: The Hedgehog (2006) at a time when I would have played and enjoyed pretty much anything. If young 8-year-old me couldn’t love it, then I cannot fathom how anyone else could.
1. Halo 5: Guardians
I find it challenging to put into words exactly why Halo 5: Guardians is so terrible, which isn’t great considering it is my job to put into words exactly why Halo 5: Guardians is so terrible. Still, I’ll give it the old college try, especially as this game is filled with so many mind-bogglingly bad decisions that I’m amazed it even got greenlit, let alone made. The choice to sideline the series’ protagonist in favor of an entirely new character, rather than introduce Locke and his team gradually and build up to them becoming staples, is beyond me.
Worse still was the choice to ditch split-screen co-op, something that continues to plague the series to this very day. The story of Guardians is utterly nonsensical, with an endless array of characters being introduced, killed off, and waxed lyrically about as if they’ve been here the whole time and we’re stupid for not knowing who they are or caring. It is a real shame, as for all its flaws, Halo 4 set up some interesting ideas that could have been carried over had 343 cared at all. Guardians is undeniably the worst Halo game of all time, and genuinely may be Xbox’s worst game of all time too. I cannot believe anyone thinks this game ranks anywhere near Reach, Halo 3, or ODST, as there is so little of merit here that one could simply delete it from existence and nothing of value would be lost.
What are some series you think have awful entries in them? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!