[The Sinclair Spectrum]

Philip Kendall - Surprisingly bad games

As we're well aware, some companies tended to realise good games, whereas other companies tended to release bad games. On occasion though, what was generally a good company would release a surprisingly bad game. Here's a list of the worst games released by good companies:

1. rEdIvIvUs (Cronosoft [2]) -4.93 (2.41 vs 7.34)
2. Race Track (Sinclair Research Ltd) -4.84 (1.82 vs 6.66)
3. Highlander (Ocean Software Ltd) -4.75 (2.33 vs 7.08)
4. World Cup Carnival (US Gold Ltd) -4.74 (2.00 vs 6.74)
5. Embassy Assault (Sinclair Research Ltd) -4.74 (1.92 vs 6.66)
6. Martian KO (Sinclair Research Ltd) -4.66 (2.00 vs 6.66)
7. Track and Field (Ocean Software Ltd) -4.61 (2.47 vs 7.08)
8. Alien Kill (Mastertronic Ltd) -4.61 (1.79 vs 6.40)
9. Voyage into the Unknown (Mastertronic Ltd) -4.58 (1.82 vs 6.40)
10. Pneumatic Hammers (Firebird Software Ltd) -4.44 (2.06 vs 6.50)
11. Handy Andy (CRL Group PLC) -4.36 (2.33 vs 6.69)
12. Flak (US Gold Ltd) -4.32 (2.42 vs 6.74)
13. Pathetic Pablo Bros, The (Your Sinclair) -4.30 (1.89 vs 6.19)
14. Drakmaze (Mikro-Gen Ltd) -4.22 (2.00 vs 6.22)
15. Weasel Willy (Firebird Software Ltd) -4.20 (2.30 vs 6.50)
16. Stick, The (Perspective Group) -4.18 (3.33 vs 7.51)
17. Santa (Artic Computing Ltd) -4.14 (1.75 vs 5.89)
18. Peter Beardsley's International Football (Grandslam Entertainments Ltd) -4.12 (2.33 vs 6.45)
19. One on One (Ariolasoft UK Ltd) -4.08 (2.40 vs 6.48)
20. Fido 2: Puppy Power (Firebird Software Ltd) -4.00 (2.50 vs 6.50)

Conversely, what was generally a bad company would sometimes release a surprisingly good game:

1. Ian Botham's Test Match + Pyjamarama (Tynesoft) 4.61 (8.83 vs 4.22)
2. Wizards Spell (Tynesoft) 4.33 (8.55 vs 4.22)
3. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (Tynesoft) 3.83 (8.05 vs 4.22)
4. Circles [1] (Your Sinclair) 3.67 (9.86 vs 6.19)
5. Lyra II Megademo, The (Sinclair User) 3.52 (9.11 vs 5.59)
6. Mortadelo y Filemon II (Dro Soft) 3.46 (8.24 vs 4.78)
7. Accelerator (Century City Software Ltd) 3.36 (6.79 vs 3.43)
8. Thieves School (World XXI Soft Inc) 3.34 (8.25 vs 4.91)
9. Test Tape (Sinclair Research Ltd) 3.34 (10.00 vs 6.66)
10. Custerd's Quest (Alpha-Omega Software) 3.27 (8.33 vs 5.06)
11. Deus Ex Machina (Automata UK Ltd) 3.24 (8.33 vs 5.09)
12. Deactivators (Reaktor) 3.21 (8.33 vs 5.12)
13. New Wheels John? (Automata UK Ltd) 3.12 (8.21 vs 5.09)
14. Quest, The (Impact Software [1]) 3.11 (7.17 vs 4.06)
15. Up for Grabs (Summit Software [1]) 3.01 (8.58 vs 5.57)
16. Urban Upstart (Richard Shepherd Software Ltd) 2.98 (8.03 vs 5.05)
17. Rebelstar 2 (Silverbird Software Ltd) 2.96 (8.61 vs 5.65)
18. Nether Earth (Argus Press Software Ltd) 2.85 (8.52 vs 5.68)
19. Crazy Cars II (Titus) 2.80 (8.14 vs 5.34)
20. Invincible Island (Richard Shepherd Software Ltd) 2.77 (7.82 vs 5.05)

[With thanks to Mickmog on the WoS forums for his thread which inspired this analysis]