Five Most Disappointing 3DS Games
What could have been...
While visiting a GameStop this past weekend (to pre-order Rage and Dark Souls, no less), we were disappointed at the sheer number of horrible games available for Nintendo's 3DS.
Although the system doesn't have the biggest amount of shelf space, it was genuinely difficult picking out gems like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Star Fox 64 3D amongst the garbage.
Even worse are the games that could have been must haves, but failed to live up to the potential, shovel ware that continues to attract consumers hoping for a fun experience, only to have their wallets emptied and hearts crushed.
On that note, these five 3DS busts were the most disappointing.
Steel Diver
Despite receiving some positive reviews, there's no question that Steel Diver came up short, simply in lieu of it being a first party launch game from Nintendo, a company we demand excellence from.
Instead of taking the time to do the 3DS proud, the big N took a DS submarine game and shoehorned 3D graphics onto it. The result was a shallow third and first person shooter that provided some cool effects (gyroscope support), but didn't achieve triple A status.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D
If there were video game police, Ubisoft would probably get arrested for being a public nuisance. The company flooded the 3DS launch with a handful of stinkers, and Splinter Cell 3D was one of the biggest duds.
What we received was a watered-down port of the critically acclaimed Splinter: Cell Chaos Theory, but without the multiplayer modes and auto save system. Not even the stylish visual cues from Splinter Cell: Conviction could save this stinker. A shame, since there was great potential.
Dream Trigger 3D
At first glance, Dream Trigger 3D appeared to offer a Rez like experience on 3DS, with swarms of enemies and players zapping the suckers to the beat of some whacked out music.
So much for that idea. This title was a disaster, as players hopelessly searched for critters with sonar while staring at some of the worst graphics we've seen on 3DS. It's hard to imagine that even the minimal amount of effort went into this game's visuals. Wrestling with the hardware? More like cracked over the head with a steel chair and thrown 20 feet off the cage into a burning table.
Madden NFL
Electronic Arts' pigskin franchise has declined steadily over the years, but the company hit a new low with the abysmal 3DS version.
To be fair, it plays an OK game of football. Just don't expect multiplayer, or a franchise mode, or smart computer opponents or even stat tracking for Season mode. It's the epitome of minimalism, to the point that we still cannot believe EA had the nerve to shove this in our faces after releasing a feature packed iPhone and iPad Madden less than a year before.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon- Stealth Force Edition
We have to give Activision credit for righting the ship when it comes to Transformers games, at least when it comes to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, where players blast robots to pieces as their favorite heroes and villains while enjoying plenty of eye candy.
Then we have this 3DS abomination. Rather than create a thrilling third person shooter featuring epic transformations and combat, the publisher elected to design a game where gamers can't transform whatsoever. It's 100 percent vehicle based, ala Twisted Metal, where instead of taking Optimus Prime from truck to robot and back, you only control the big rig.
Not sure who made that decision, or whether it was the result of not spending enough time with the 3DS hardware. Regardless, it is without question one of the worst Transformers games in history.