Terrible Games That Stained Great Franchises

To be fair: "Mass Effect 3" isn't a bad game. In fact, there's a strong argument to be made that roughly 99% of it is a complete masterpiece. However, as anyone who has ever played the "Mass Effect" trilogy will tell you, there is one thing about the game that left a sour taste in almost every player's mouth: the ending.

The game's final act effectively requires the player to make one of four choices — two of which have even really properly been set up as possibilities during the game — and all they really amount to is a differently-colored explosion. If you happen to be playing the "Extended Cut" DLC, you also get a different ending monologue, depending on your choice. The "Extended Cut" was only even released as an attempt to calm player criticisms about the original ending, as it felt even more vague and meaningless.

For a series of games that lean so heavily on changing based on the choices the player made, and on those choices having consequences, the ending feels like a punch in the gut. Everything Shepard has done, every person they've rescued or killed, every civilization they've saved or destroyed, every political or personal relationship they've forged — it all feels pointless. It's been over a decade and "Mass Effect" fans still aren't entirely over it. Some hoped that the remastered "Legendary Edition" might make some changes to the ending, but that did not materialize. Others are hoping that the fifth "Mass Effect" game might finally provide the closure that "Mass Effect 3" didn't. Until then, fans of the franchise will likely continue to stew in their disappointment over how the beloved trilogy ended.

It's no secret that the "Pokémon" games have been on a downward trajectory for a while now (at least, according to many longtime fans), but "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Violet" have widely been seen a new low for the beloved franchise. While "Sword" and "Shield" were considered to be a little disappointing in their scope and difficulty level, "Scarlet" and "Violet" were the first mainline "Pokémon" games to get some truly savage reviews. The reasons players and critics have for disliking the games are myriad, but by far the biggest one is probably the bugs. The two "Pokémon" games were released as glitchy messes. Players encountered constant crashes, weird graphical pop-ins, sudden increases in movement speed, and an inability to pick up items.

Eurogamer called "Scarlet" and "Violet" "comprehensive technical failures," even outside of the bugs. The outlet cited things like a lack of shadows and reduced animation rates for distant objects as some of the biggest and most frequent issues. These sorts of problems make the games look awkward, stilted, and sometimes downright ugly, even for a series that was never big on pushing technical boundaries or looking all that visually stunning. It's hard to imagine how such a well-respected series with such a great reputation got here. Gamers can only hope that whatever Game Freak decides to do next with "Pokémon, it will be a return to form.

"Assassin's Creed Rogue" definitely isn't the worst game on this list, but it holds a place of infamy among "Assassin's Creed" fans nonetheless. It offered nothing new to the franchise and left players wanting so much more. Many fans complained that it felt too similar to "Black Flag," which was still a relatively recent release at the time. Others complained that it just didn't have enough story to justify its existence as a standalone adventure, which may help explain why it's largely been forgotten by all but the most hardcore completists. 

The real reason fans of the franchise remember "Assassin's Creed Rogue" is that it was also the herald of a downward trend for the franchise. Subsequent entries, particularly "Assassin's Creed Unity" and "Assassin's Creed Syndicate," were also the recipients of mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. It took a full three years for the franchise to recover, with "Assassin's Creed Origins" finally seeing a positive reception similar to what the best games in the series got prior to 2014.

"Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness," the 2003 PS2-era entry in the iconic action series, might be the worst of the bunch. The story of "Angel of Darkness" actually doesn't receive too much criticism these days, but rather it's the gameplay that falls short. Critics mostly panned the game for its clunky controls and camera. The controls have been seen as cumbersome, unwieldy, and unintuitive, while the camera is occasionally an outright impediment to the player. Players and critics also cited some truly baffling and frustrating game mechanics, which often left the player pointlessly grinding to hit hidden statistical breakpoints before they could advance in the story.

The game, like many others on this list, was also criticized upon release for having a myriad of bugs and glitches, some of which were serious enough to cause the game to completely crash. While "Angel of Darkness" has mostly been forgotten about now, it had an immense impact on the franchise at the time, for both ill and good. It helped lead to a change of both developer and direction for "Tomb Raider," which ultimately brought the series into a new golden age.

Among gamers, "Battlefield" is generally known as the slightly less popular (but often slightly better) cousin to "Call of Duty." Sadly, "Battlefield 2042" is a definite exception to this rule. It was the franchise's first attempt to return to the futuristic warfare seen in 2006's "Battlefield 2142" in 2006, situating the action in a slightly closer future time. The result was a game that didn't live up to expectations, to say the least. Reviewers did see promise in the game, but most acknowledged that this promise went unfulfilled. The general sentiment was that the game would need lots of content updates and DLCs to reach the heights expected of it.

In addition to numerous bugs, players complained about the removal of popular features that existed in previous games. The most glaring of these is the omission of a single-player campaign. Some players were so disappointed with the game that they even started a petition, which received over 160,000 signatures, asking for their money back. Some petitioners even threatened legal action if they weren't refunded. The game's overall player count quickly dwindled, dropping by 80% in its first month. The "Battlefield" series has not received another entry since "Battlefield 2042," but hopefully it can get back on its feet when it does get one.

"Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite" is the most recent entry in a series that goes all the way back to the late 90s. Despite that longevity, it's pretty easy to understand why this series has been stalled for several years, especially when one looks at the reception "Infinite" got.

While the core gameplay mechanics are still relatively tight, the changes made to the series' winning formula were seen as unforgivable. Critics pointed to the game's weak story and equally poor character designs as major issues, with IGN describing the characters as looking "like they were deliberately designed to spawn a million derpy memes." A bad story is one thing, but awkward character design is maybe the second worst flaw you could have in a fighting game. Bad-looking characters take away from the power fantasy innate to fighting games. It makes them feel silly and quirky rather than badass and cool. Without those feelings, it's hard for a fighting game to stick around for too long.

Hardcore Gamer said that the game as a whole "[does] little to help justify the full-price tag." This sentiment wasn't helped by the fact that "Infinite" did away with the 3v3 combat from previous "Marvel vs. Capcom" installments, which some fans thought of as their favorite part of the series. All in all, "Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite" was a total misfire.