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:
- rEdIvIvUs
(Cronosoft [2]) -4.93 (2.41 vs 7.34)
- Race Track
(Sinclair Research Ltd) -4.84 (1.82 vs 6.66)
- Highlander
(Ocean Software Ltd) -4.75 (2.33 vs 7.08)
- World Cup Carnival
(US Gold Ltd) -4.74 (2.00 vs 6.74)
- Embassy Assault
(Sinclair Research Ltd) -4.74 (1.92 vs 6.66)
- Martian KO
(Sinclair Research Ltd) -4.66 (2.00 vs 6.66)
- Track and Field
(Ocean Software Ltd) -4.61 (2.47 vs 7.08)
- Alien Kill
(Mastertronic Ltd) -4.61 (1.79 vs 6.40)
- Voyage into the Unknown
(Mastertronic Ltd) -4.58 (1.82 vs 6.40)
- Pneumatic Hammers
(Firebird Software Ltd) -4.44 (2.06 vs 6.50)
- Handy Andy
(CRL Group PLC) -4.36 (2.33 vs 6.69)
- Flak
(US Gold Ltd) -4.32 (2.42 vs 6.74)
- Pathetic Pablo Bros, The
(Your Sinclair) -4.30 (1.89 vs 6.19)
- Drakmaze
(Mikro-Gen Ltd) -4.22 (2.00 vs 6.22)
- Weasel Willy
(Firebird Software Ltd) -4.20 (2.30 vs 6.50)
- Stick, The
(Perspective Group) -4.18 (3.33 vs 7.51)
- Santa
(Artic Computing Ltd) -4.14 (1.75 vs 5.89)
- Peter Beardsley's International Football
(Grandslam Entertainments Ltd) -4.12 (2.33 vs 6.45)
- One on One
(Ariolasoft UK Ltd) -4.08 (2.40 vs 6.48)
- 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:
- Ian Botham's Test Match + Pyjamarama
(Tynesoft) 4.61 (8.83 vs 4.22)
- Wizards Spell
(Tynesoft) 4.33 (8.55 vs 4.22)
- Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
(Tynesoft) 3.83 (8.05 vs 4.22)
- Circles [1]
(Your Sinclair) 3.67 (9.86 vs 6.19)
- Lyra II Megademo, The
(Sinclair User) 3.52 (9.11 vs 5.59)
- Mortadelo y Filemon II
(Dro Soft) 3.46 (8.24 vs 4.78)
- Accelerator
(Century City Software Ltd) 3.36 (6.79 vs 3.43)
- Thieves School
(World XXI Soft Inc) 3.34 (8.25 vs 4.91)
- Test Tape
(Sinclair Research Ltd) 3.34 (10.00 vs 6.66)
- Custerd's Quest
(Alpha-Omega Software) 3.27 (8.33 vs 5.06)
- Deus Ex Machina
(Automata UK Ltd) 3.24 (8.33 vs 5.09)
- Deactivators
(Reaktor) 3.21 (8.33 vs 5.12)
- New Wheels John?
(Automata UK Ltd) 3.12 (8.21 vs 5.09)
- Quest, The
(Impact Software [1]) 3.11 (7.17 vs 4.06)
- Up for Grabs
(Summit Software [1]) 3.01 (8.58 vs 5.57)
- Urban Upstart
(Richard Shepherd Software Ltd) 2.98 (8.03 vs 5.05)
- Rebelstar 2
(Silverbird Software Ltd) 2.96 (8.61 vs 5.65)
- Nether Earth
(Argus Press Software Ltd) 2.85 (8.52 vs 5.68)
- Crazy Cars II
(Titus) 2.80 (8.14 vs 5.34)
- 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]