[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. Race Track (Sinclair Research Ltd) -5.42 (1.57 vs 6.99)
2. Lunar Landing (Durell Software Ltd) -5.32 (2.17 vs 7.49)
3. rEdIvIvUs (Cronosoft) -5.27 (2.21 vs 7.48)
4. Embassy Assault (Sinclair Research Ltd) -5.13 (1.86 vs 6.99)
5. Highlander (Ocean Software Ltd) -5.07 (2.14 vs 7.21)
6. Uchi Mata (Martech Games Ltd) -4.92 (1.62 vs 6.54)
7. World Cup Carnival (US Gold Ltd) -4.91 (1.89 vs 6.80)
8. Handy Andy (CRL Group PLC) -4.90 (2.00 vs 6.90)
9. Flak (US Gold Ltd) -4.80 (2.00 vs 6.80)
10. Zaraks (CRL Group PLC) -4.47 (2.43 vs 6.90)
11. Pneumatic Hammers (Firebird Software Ltd) -4.42 (2.08 vs 6.50)
12. One on One (Ariolasoft UK Ltd) -4.20 (2.36 vs 6.56)
13. Track and Field (Ocean Software Ltd) -4.14 (3.07 vs 7.21)
14. Pathetic Pablo Bros, The (Your Sinclair) -4.11 (1.88 vs 5.99)
15. Delfox (Dinamic Software) -4.06 (2.88 vs 6.94)
16. Alien Kill (Mastertronic Ltd) -4.05 (2.20 vs 6.25)
17. Street Hawk - Subscribers Edition (Ocean Software Ltd) -4.04 (3.17 vs 7.21)
18. Voyage into the Unknown (Mastertronic Ltd) -4.01 (2.24 vs 6.25)
19. Superman: The Game (Firebird Software Ltd) -4.00 (2.50 vs 6.50)
20. S.T.U.N. Runner (Domark Ltd) -3.98 (2.62 vs 6.60)

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

1. Ian Botham's Test Match + Pyjamarama (Tynesoft) 4.73 (8.83 vs 4.10)
2. Custerd's Quest (The Power House) 4.68 (8.38 vs 3.70)
3. Deus Ex Machina (Automata UK Ltd) 3.80 (8.44 vs 4.64)
4. Infection (unpublished) 3.69 (7.78 vs 4.09)
5. CIRC (Outlet) 3.66 (9.83 vs 6.16)
6. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (Tynesoft) 3.47 (7.57 vs 4.10)
7. Mortadelo y Filemon II (Dro Soft) 3.46 (8.13 vs 4.67)
8. Arc of Yesod, The (Thor Computer Software) 3.44 (8.15 vs 4.71)
9. Ring of Dreams, The (Central Solutions) 3.26 (7.62 vs 4.36)
10. Bargain Basement!!! (Sparklers) 3.20 (7.88 vs 4.68)
11. Deactivators (Reaktor) 3.09 (8.25 vs 5.16)
12. Bullseye (Macsen Software) 3.09 (7.38 vs 4.29)
13. Lyra II Megademo, The (Sinclair User) 3.07 (9.00 vs 5.93)
14. Urban Upstart (Richard Shepherd Software Ltd) 3.05 (8.25 vs 5.20)
15. Test Tape (Sinclair Research Ltd) 3.01 (10.00 vs 6.99)
16. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (K-Tel Productions) 3.00 (8.35 vs 5.35)
17. Rebelstar 2 (Silverbird Software Ltd) 2.95 (8.41 vs 5.46)
18. Crazy Cars II (Titus) 2.86 (7.63 vs 4.77)
19. Pi-In-'Ere (Automata UK Ltd) 2.76 (7.40 vs 4.64)
20. Rockfall II (Crash) 2.72 (8.45 vs 5.73)

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