The cynical among us might say that all the games we played this year were 'awful.' Fewer titles reached a score of at least 90 or higher in 2012 than in 2011, after all.
"We have never encountered such a low total number of great games in a single year," Metacritic stated on a post detailing the best games of 2012. This post also included the worst reviewed games in 2012—which, frankly, is the more interesting list to me. Let's take a look.
Here are the results: rank, game, publisher, and score, in that order.
Xbox 360
209. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse | Activision | 39
210. Battleship | Activision | 38
211. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor | Capcom | 38
212. The Expendables 2 Videogame | Ubisoft | 32
213. AMY | Lexis Numerique | 25
No Activision games in the top 30, two Activision games in the worst of. Insert your gripes with Activision and the industry dying (again) here.
The Xbox 360 also wins the honor of having the lowest scored game out of all of the platforms, with Amy scoring a 25.
PS3
173. 007 Legends | Activision | 41
174. Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock | BBC Worldwide | 39
175. The Expendables 2 Videogame |Ubisoft | 34
176. AMY |Lexis Numerique| 33
177. Smash 'N' Survive | Version2Games Limited | 31
PS3 gamers know what's up, given that the horrid 007 Legends is included. God, that game was awful.
Wii U
25. SiNG Party | Nintendo | 58
26. Rabbids Land | Ubisoft | 53
27. Funky Barn | 505 Games | 51
28. Tank! Tank! Tank! | Namco Bandai |45
29. ESPN Sports Connection | Ubisoft | 30
Aww, but Tank! Tank! Tank! made that one little kid cry out of happiness on Christmas!
PC
177. Deep Black: Reloaded | Just A Game | 39
178. Realms of Ancient War | Focus Home Interactive | 39
179. Legends of Pegasus | Kalypso | 35
180. Hoodwink | E-One Studio | 29
181. Fray | Brain Candy | 27
The PC list, perhaps unsurprisingly, is much unlike the worst-of list of consoles/handhelds. Not as many (readily apparent) shovelware.
3DS
51. One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP 2 | Namco Bandai | 49
52. One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP | Namco Bandai | 46
53. Johnny Kung Fu | UFO Interactive | 44
54. Block Factory | Enjoy Gaming | 42
55. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D | Atari | 39
You do not want to play One Piece, folks.
PS Vita
61. Spy Hunter | Warner Bros. Interactive | 50
62. Dungeon Hunter: Alliance | Ubisoft | 49
63. Asphalt: Injection | Ubisoft | 49
64. Ridge Racer | Namco Bandai | 44
65. Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified | Activision | 33
I had no idea a game named "Asphalt: Injection" existed, but I am not surprised it's (apparently) not good. Also, ouch, Black Ops. And that crud probably sold better than the fantastic Persona 4: Golden? Sigh.
You can check out their best-of list too, here. Though really what you should care about is our Game of the Year nominees.
And if you played any of these awful titles? I'm so, so sorry. Though I'm curious if some of you disagree with this list—might some of you, perhaps, have loved one of the games listed here?
The Best Videogames of 2012 [Metacritic]