Top 10 Worst Games of 2017

My apologies for this blog running a tad dry on updates my friends! I have been exploring other business ventures, but regular updates will now return! 2017 was a tough year for video games. It was the year we saw the unfortunate rise of ugly microtransactions, once confined to mobile games, now infected our core Triple AAA titles like a virulent virus! So to honor the year's end, here is Splintered Joysticks Top 10 Worst and Best video games of 2017, starting with the cream of the CRAP!

10) Destiny 2

Let's face it; Destiny has had a rocky go from the beginning. The characters are shite compared to Halo. The story is a confusing vapid mess of exposition and worthless dialogue. The expansion passes and shady DLC practices are entirely out of control! Sure Destiny has admittedly incredible graphics, but as we have learned in 2017 that does not alone create a fantastic gaming experience! You need reliable gameplay mechanics to back it up! Destiny's pointless grinding ruins the otherwise solid combat, and its sequel did little to fix this issue even with the Curse of Osiris DLC! Let's hope that Bungie gets the feedback and makes the next Destiny far less repetitive in its execution.

9) The Sims 4

The Sims 4 is a disgrace. Everything about this game is a downgrade from The Sims 3 on every level! The graphics are terrible compared to its predecessor, janky and blocky. The gameplay is a severe downgrade with fewer choices for the player than ever before! Less freedom, fewer options, and barebones customization features! Its as if Axis Studios and EA just said "**** it!" and threw this game together from The Sims 3 in a blender, then removed features from The Sims 3 that didn't need to get fixed or removed! Bottom line, this game is trash and an utter insult to the franchise.

8) Star Wars Battlefront II

Oh, how the mighty DICE has fallen by making a deal with the devil! Star Wars Battlefront II would have been an incredible video game, the best Star Wars game in years if not for the pure evil that is and always will be Electronic Arts! EA's insistence on sinister randomized loot boxes and Pay-To-Win ruins any competitive value this game has. Want to play as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker? Give us your money bitch, or grind for over 40 hours like a moron! Rinse and repeat for every single level and unlockable. Have cash? Win matches. On a budget? You're doomed! Sound like fun? Pre-order now and dump it into a trash can!!!

7) Sonic Forces

Except for Super Mario and Cuphead, 2017 was the year of shitty and disappointing platformers! Sonic Forces isn't the worst game on this list, but it is by FAR my most disappointing entry. I wanted this game to be fantastic so severely! My hopes were dashed. Sure, the custom Sonic avatars are fun to use in the game, and Classic Sonic makes a return. Its too bad the story is a joke, the levels are boring retreads of Sonic Unleashed, Generations, and Colors. 

Worse still, the controls are utter garbage, with characters running either too fast or slow. And this game is WAY TOO EASY!!! It's like an automatic platformer where Sonic rushes from left to right with his boost ability, and you don't need to care if you land on a platform or not. Old Genesis Sonic games required skill to win, now you just spam the boost button and win every time with no challenge. Everything about the experience is underwhelming, and this series is on its last legs. Either Sega learns to copy Sonic Adventure 2's formula, or they abandon the franchise to death with dignity.

6) Super Lucky's Tale

Whereas Sonic Forces was a disappointing game with potential, Super Lucky's Tale is just a mediocre game at best. The characters are forgettable, the worlds bland and uninspired, the platforming subpar and the voice acting cringeworthy! The camera works when it feels like it, the enemy AI is dumb as bricks, and every moment of playing this game feels like a tedious chore. Nothing else to say, this game doesn't deserve any further analysis!

5) Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite

This game demonstrates why Capcom is struggling. Its as if they completely forgot how to make an experience like Marvel VS Capcom 2, even Marvel VS Capcom 3 to an extent! The graphics are worse than MVC3, the gameplay is stale with button masher combos, the character roster is a pitiful display, the DLC options are weak, and the online mode is so laggy that it renders gameplay unplayable! Do yourself a favor, and wait for Capcom to release Marvel VS Capcom 4 and save your money from this trash.

4) ELEX

The only saving grace of the travesty of ELEX's unflinching ineptitude is its above average graphics. Everything else about ELEX is pure shite! The gameplay is stale and formulaic, with zero enemy variety! The story becomes so filled with plot holes you could cook Swiss cheese! The characters are laughably horrible and unlikable; you will want your annoying protagonist to die at every slogfest playing this shite. Expect to fight the same generic waves of enemies over and over again, with uninspired shooting and hack & slash mechanics that have all been done better in older releases. A complete waste of your time, money, and sanity!

3) Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back

What more needs to become said? Can't you realize that this game is ****ing terrible just by looking at it? Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back's gameplay remains unspeakably broken, the graphics are awful, and Bubsy will make you want to hang kittens with his disgustingly terrible voice acting! The platforming is so broken and unplayable that I hesitate even to call this abomination a platformer! The control schemes are laughably horrendous, the level designs are so basic and pathetic that you don't care, and did I mention how much of an obnoxious asshole Bubsy is? At least Sonic Forces contain some semblance of dignity, whereas Bubsy never had any pride and needed to die immediately.

2) Overgrowth

This game redefines barebones. The worlds are open-ended but empty and lifeless. The characters are all forgettable cardboard cutouts! The combat is so stale and dead that you will never care. So dull in its execution, so monotonous in the endless grinding for useless collectibles just to fight the same enemies over and over and over again! Overgrowth involves traversing empty, lifeless landscapes only to engage in a tedium inducing button mash fest before holding your analog stick forward for several hours before more boring and pointless combat. The AI is so brain-dead that you can attack them without them responding. Graphical glitches abound, as textures flash in and out during gameplay. Did I mention how dead this game is? You will spend hours walking without a single enemy combatant finding you sometimes at random! What a disgrace! Overgrowth is a waste of your time on every level.

1) Mass Effect: Andromeda

Words cannot even begin to express my hatred of Mass Effect Andromeda! The story is an abomination that discards every lesson Bioware implanted on its fans with the original masterpiece trilogy (and my favorite game series of all time beforehand). Understand this, I lived and BREATHED the original Mass Effect. Andromeda is NOT Mass Effect; it is a hollow con, a lie. I don't give a fuck how beautiful this game is running at 4k; the glitches are everywhere, the characters are beyond disgustingly ugly. Mass Effect was all about giving players a choice; now the excellent Paragon Renegade system is removed for pure garbage! All the characters are horrible; I hate them all with a burning passion. This universe needs to die Bioware; WE WANT COMMANDER SHEPARD AND CREW FOR MASS EFFECT 4! All the races have become severly downgraded, even the Asari and Krogans are uglier, with worse character designs and questionable motivations!

We fell in love with the original Mass Effect Bioware because of the amazing story and characters. The excellent gameplay and graphics were just icing on the cake but without those core elements its no longer a Mass Effect game, but a travesty. The good news is Manveer Heir (the dickhead responsible for this cancer) became fired from Bioware, so perhaps we will see a true return to form for this once legendary franchise to its true and proper form. Until then, Mass Effect Andromeda is without a doubt in my mind, the worst game of 2017! Bioware needs to go back to the drawing board with Mass Effect, and bring Commander Shepard and crew back from the dead with an all new adventure. Or guess what Bioware and EA? WE AREN'T BUYING YOUR GAME!!!