What is the worst computer game purchase you ever made?

Dis · October 31, 2001, 05:26

I say purchase since there is no harm getting a game illegally if it sucks. but shelling out $50 for a crappy game is a serious blow to a cheap person such as myself

. I rarely take my dates to anything more expensive than taco bell.

My personal criteria is least amount of hours spent playing the game. For me it is star wars rebellion. I spent about 20 minutes reading the manual. And about 10 minutes playing. I set it aside intending on playing it later, but never did. I hated the interface, and did not like the way the game played.

General Ludd · October 31, 2001, 08:43

Soooo much to choose from... but in recent memeroy, atleast, I'd have to say either WW2online or Black & White.

Ribannah · October 31, 2001, 13:27

Must be Survival. Luckily I could trade it in.
Next to that, it's a toss-up between Space Bucks, Caesar and Outpost.

DinoDoc · October 31, 2001, 14:52

Shogun:Total War

Juggler · October 31, 2001, 15:10

Something I learned in the past 3 years: Play DEMOS before deciding whether to buy games or not. I made some pretty stupid decisions and bought games such as Civ:CTP1, Ring and Dark reign

Rex Little · October 31, 2001, 22:42

I don't think I've ever paid full price for a game I didn't enjoy. (I very rarely pay full price for any game; I wait for them to hit the bargain bins or flea market tables at game conventions. By doing so, I often find out from the grapevine that a tantalizing-looking game actually sucks, and avoid paying even the bargain-bin price.) Of those I got cheap, I guess the worst was Outpost.

I don't quite agree with Dissident's way of evaluating how bad a game is. If I spend several hours on a game before realizing that it leads you inevitably to a dead-end situation, or that there's no way to actually get to the cool parts, that's worse than finding out it's unplayable in the first 30 minutes. That's why Outpost rates worse than, say, Outpost II.

November Adam · October 31, 2001, 23:07

I would have to say the worst purchase would be Ultima 9... it was so bug ridden I could not get into it.

Then just for least amount of time played would be F-18 Simulator. It was a rather complicated piece of work, but then I really haven't given it a fair shot.

Dino Doc, you really should give Shogun a chance I didn't like it at first but after a while it was fun routing pikemen with my archers on a hill top. But it is all a matter of taste.

DinoDoc · October 31, 2001, 23:31

Quote:

Originally posted by November Adam
Dino Doc, you really should give Shogun a chance I didn't like it at first but after a while it was fun routing pikemen with my archers on a hill top. But it is all a matter of taste.

I would love too give it a chance if I could get the #@&!$ game to run. EA, in its infinate wisdom, has provided me with only its "extremely helpful" automated tech support.

November Adam · October 31, 2001, 23:51

Right I remember... couldn't get it to work yet?

Have you tried the video drivers? (may have to downgrade them) No luck on the Shogun forums? That's gotta suck when the damn game won't even work.

DinoDoc · November 1, 2001, 00:52

Quote:

Originally posted by November Adam
No luck on the Shogun forums?

Shogun forums?

November Adam · November 1, 2001, 00:55

Quote:

Originally posted by DinoDoc

Shogun forums?

here's a link to the forums:

http://www.totalwar.com/community/forumrules.htm

good luck to ya.

ColdWizard · November 1, 2001, 01:03

smac, played about 5 hours. it only cost me $10 or so
starcraft is second, 25 hours, $25

War4ever · November 1, 2001, 01:23

ctp and tot......over 100$ for two coasters

what was i thinking

Garth Vader · November 1, 2001, 10:48

East Front 2, for some reason I couldn't get into it. Although I didn't try for very long.

Grumbold · November 1, 2001, 11:10

Hmm, the list of not very interesting games could go on for several pages

The recent truly dire ones whose programmers should have been quietly put down or wheeled into institutions:

Squad Leader
101 Airbourne

Rex Little · November 1, 2001, 14:44

Quote:

I would have to say the worst purchase would be Ultima 9... it was so bug ridden I could not get into it.

A perfect example of what I was talking about before. I loved the Ultima series through 7, and would have bought 8 as soon as it came out if not for my policy of buying only from bargain bins. By the time Ultima 8 hit the bins, I'd heard enough about it to know it wasn't for me. Haven't seen a bargain on 9 yet, but I already know I don't want it either.

Case · November 1, 2001, 21:27

ToT sucked - luckily I only spent $7.50 on it (it came on the front of a magazine), and I have been able to convert it to MGE.

X-Com Apocalypse was very frustrating - it had the makings of a great game, but was astonishingly dull.

I was also disapointed by Simcity 3000 - it had too few new features, and was full of bugs and petty frustrations (like having to watch the f**king parades every single time!)

Venom · November 2, 2001, 00:16

Big Bird Teaches Reading was the worst one I bought.

Stupid thing was supposed to teach my how to read.

Zkribbler · November 2, 2001, 23:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Ribannah
Next to that, it's a toss-up between Space Bucks, Caesar and Outpost.

Wow. I never played Caesar, but I liked Space Bucks and Outpost.

The worst purchase I ever made was the sequel to one of the greatest games ever: Wing Commander: Privateer. Privateer II was not only based upon a totally different premise, it was alos unplayable. And I paid full price too, probably $50 or so.

rexer · November 3, 2001, 11:14

Father Beast · November 3, 2001, 11:18

Reader Rabbit.

got it from the school when my kid brought home an ad for summer.

even the kids think it sucks big time.

St Leo · November 3, 2001, 13:16

Caesar III

November Adam · November 4, 2001, 01:10

Caesar 3

that was a good game

Ecthy · November 4, 2001, 07:55

I have never made a purchase that I later regretted... once I paid a big amount for a game, namely about $60, but that was pretty usual back then... nowadays, games don't cost more than $50 here, and that is usually the maximum I pay... and I have never bought a game that I don't like anymore nowadays, so I really have no answer to that question...

that expensive game was Caesar II, BTW

Rasputin · November 4, 2001, 08:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Father Beast
Reader Rabbit.

got it from the school when my kid brought home an ad for summer.

even the kids think it sucks big time.

hey my 5 yr old loves it !!!!!

Urban Ranger · November 4, 2001, 10:42

Biggest let down: Starfleet Command, with Tropico as a dishonourable mention.

Least gameplay for the buck: Majesty.

Worst hyped game: The Sims.

Other not so good games: Caesar III, Reach for the Stars, Birth of the Federation, Magic: the Gathering, etc.

There are a lot more bad games than good games out there. *sigh*

Case · November 4, 2001, 18:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Worst hyped game: The Sims.

True. The Sims was great for a while, but once you've bought everything, and worked your way through a few carrer paths, it got very boring. Still, IMHO it was worth the $A 80 it cost

Jeje2 · November 5, 2001, 02:11

Loved first two parts, but hate magicians in any form...
They totally unbalanced the game - A good game destroyed

August Borms · November 5, 2001, 09:15

Quake 3, SMAC and CTP2

The Rusty Gamer · November 5, 2001, 21:30

I don't agree with the criteria given either. I've bought a lot of good games that I haven't played very much, but it's because I've got so many I have to divide my time up and a few of the better games obviously tend to grab my attention more. Working out value-for-money by dividing the number of hours into the price paid is not the same as saying that a game is bad. I've got some good games that I've hardly ever played or have yet to get into, I may have a game on the shelf for months before I get round to have a good go at it.

Perhaps a better way of categorising the following games would be Buyer's Regret.

The Third Millenium. Is it a game? A simulation? Just what is it? It looks really pretty but - what do you actually do with it?

Gene Wars. Fortunately I got it relatively cheaply. Still not worth the money. Notable, at least, for the corny dialogue.
"The aliens have landed".
"The aliens have left now".

There was one RTS I bought at full price that was so confusing that I sold it again to a second-hand shop after about a week at a big loss of course. I can't even remember the name of it, it was in the days when C&C was at a high, and all these clones were starting to appear.

Forumla 1 97. Thought it might be a bit like NFS. I was wrong.

Toca. Thought it might be a bit like NFS. I was wrong.

Mankind. An online space game that I played for maybe a couple of hours and didn't really enjoy it. Bought it at full price too. Damn!