7 Rubbish Games That Were An Affront To Their Awesome Series

1. Need for Speed: Undercover

NFS: Undercover wins the worst Need for Speed game after a close call with NFS: Pro Street (in fact, I’d consider them to be tied). In NFS: Undercover, the player goes in as an undercover cop. Okay, this should be fun, right? It’ll be the same type of game from a whole new perspective. Wrong. The graphics were poor, and the environments were drab. There were no major improvements to gameplay, so it felt like going back in time to the original Xbox or the PS2. Even the damage model was frustrating. Once again, damage did nothing to the performance of the car. A simple damage metre filled until the car was considered totalled. EA said this would be the largest NFS map and classified it as an open-world racer, but players could only start an event by selecting it on a map. Not very open, huh?

With each F1 game, we have come to expect great strides in graphics and physics. The 2009 edition did see improvements all around, but they were only minor. The biggest bummer was the lack of convincing physics. The player was given all sorts of controls to adjust the car and could even run with advanced physics settings, but those options didn’t make a big impact on the track. Cars would merely bounce off each other and head on crashes with the wall would only result in a few dented and flying pieces. It was completely possible to finish in the lead in the highest difficulty settings and after sustaining horrific damage that would have cost the race in real life.

3. Gran Turismo 5

Gran Turismo fans waited a long time after GT4 until GT5 was finally released. In the meantime, the Forza games were setting new standards for racers. The graphics in GT5 were sub-par and the online server limits meant slow-to-no-play for thousands of gamers at all times.

GT5 promised 1000 cars, but even that was a let-down. Out of the 1000, 800 Standard cars were PS2 models, and the remaining 200 Premium cars could only be used once they were unlocked. Another feature that had to be unlocked was car damage. The game started with no damage, but it was earned after levelling up. Full damage was not available until level 40. Sony would call it motivation to level up, but players saw it as a frustration.

4. WRC 4: FIA World Rally Championship

The best way to describe WRC is ‘meh’. Instead of progressing, it just mimicked WRC 3 to the point where you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference without the title screen and branding. The thrill of virtual rally racing was killed the day WRC 4 was released. As the game begins, players customise their driver and begin a career that really presents to challenges. Although the courses had varying surfaces, the handling of the cars didn’t reflect it. As the player completes each course, there is not much challenge before them. The difficulty increase is hardly noticeable. Video previews of the course ahead are well prepared with stunning graphics and high action scenes, but they only hype the rather dull experience to come.

Like other early GTA games, GTA Advance was less focused on driving and more about completing missions. This version made for the Game Boy Advance was published, but not developed, by Rockstar Games. The development was handled by Digital Eclipse, and the outcome was quite poor. The pre-release was full of hype, promising exciting new gameplay and cars that could flip over for the first time ever. When the game hit the store, players were sorely disappointed by the poor quality of graphics and the repetitive gameplay. Without any real challenging moments or progression from the previous games, a player could make it through the entire game in little time, wasting their money in the process.

6. Forza Motorsport 5

Some Forza fans are about to go on a rampage, but the truth hurts. Forza 5 is truly a great game by itself. If we never had another Forza game to compare it to, it wouldn’t take as much heat. The problem is that Forza set the bar high, and in doing so, set our expectations of every game in the series accordingly. The graphics and handling were fantastic, but some of the fundamental qualities like tyre wear, qualifying rounds and dynamic weather were missing. The studio claimed they wouldn’t hold back on content to drown players in microtransactions, but the game proved otherwise. Faced with ridiculously high priced premium cars, players had their choice before them: spend hundreds of hours earning virtual currency, or buy the DLC with real money. With limited cars and tracks, the game felt more like a spin-off that was meant to tide us over until the next release.

7. DiRT: Showdown

It’s hard to trash a DiRT game, because the series is one of my favourites. I don’t claim that any DiRT game is outstanding in graphics or has especially realistic gameplay. I just have a blast playing them. The one that I regret, though, is DiRT: Showdown. Everything in this game felt like it was scaled back. The physics didn’t make sense at times and the venues were limited. Most importantly, the good old feeling of rally racing was lost and replaced with a less sophisticated extreme sports feel (which is precisely what the studio wanted). That’s great for people who want that sort of thing, but I just want to feel the spirit of Colin McCrae.

Now it’s your turn. Which racing game instalment you think is the worst? Does anyone have a least favourite GRID, Burnout or Project Gotham Racing game?