We're in awards season, a time of year when the likes of Mass Effect 2 and Read Dead Redemption are praised for being the best the gaming industry had to offer. Of course, the gaming industry also gave their worst last year.
The "first annual" game publisher round-up over at Metacritic makes it easy to see the gems and the lemons from all of gaming's biggest companies.
This is the worst we got, as calculated by the score-crunchers at Metacritic.....
From Konami/Hudson, publisher of Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker: Deca Sports Freedom (average score: 27)
From Ubisoft, creators of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: Fighters Uncaged (average score: 31)
From THQ, publisher of Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Chaos Rising: Truth or Lies (average score: 33)
From EA, publisher of Mass Effect 2: Dead Space Ignition (average score: 35)
From Sony, makers of God of War III: Kung Fu Rider (average score: 36)
From Activision Blizzard, the holding company behind StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty: Blood Drive (average score: 40)
From Namco Bandai, publisher of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX: Clash of the Titans (average score: 41)
From Sega, publisher of Bayonetta: Iron Man 2 (average score: 41)
From Square-Enix, publisher of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Raystorm HD (average score: 46)
From Nintendo, creators of Super Mario Galaxy 2: AquaSpace (average score: 48)
From Microsoft, publisher of Halo Reach: Fable III: Understone Pack (average score: 50)
From Take Two, publisher of Red Dead Redemption: Major League Baseball 2K10 for the Wii (average score: 52)
From Capcom, makers of Super Street Fighter IV: Dark Void (average score: 57)
I can confirm that many of these games are very bad. Be safe, dear reader. You've been warned.
Metacritic's 1st Annual Game Publisher Rankings [Metacritic.com]