The lights are on
As gamers, we've all made purchases we regret. Whether it's a much-hyped game that failed to meet expectations or a peripheral that didn't receive much support, there's always something in our gaming histories that led to us searching for a receipt. Read on to hear about some of the worst purchases made by the Game Informer staff.
State of Emergency
In the early days of the Playstation 2, Rockstar firmly established itself as a triple-A developer with the trailblazing Grand Theft Auto III. As a high school student that spent hundreds of hours in Liberty City, I couldn't wait to see whatever Rockstar had up their sleeves next. While State of Emergency wasn't developed by Rockstar (it was handled by Vis Entertainment), all I cared about was that R* logo on the box. I read tons of previews and hyped myself up for what would surely be a controversial, action-packed title that would do the Rockstar name proud. The publisher pushed impressive numbers - 185 missions, 250 characters on screen at once, etc. Unfortunately, the missions were bland and repetitive, and those 250 characters did little more than run around mindlessly. I tried to return it within a couple of days, but was unsuccessful since I had already opened it. -- Dan Ryckert
The Wii Zapper
When Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles hit the Wii in 2007, I was excited. Three years had passed since Resident Evil 4 and I was hungry for something new from the series. Additionally, the Wii was being touted as the perfect console for an FPS thanks to it’s lightgun-like Wii remote. With that in mind, I wanted to have the best experience possible with Umbrella Chronicles’ on-rails shooting. Supposedly that meant buying the Wii Zapper. The piece of molded plastic allows players to dock their Wii remote and nunchuk and hold it like an SMG. Using the contraption was as stupid as it looked. I used the worthless hunk of plastic for one round of Umbrella Chronicles before ditching it and never looking back. Oh yeah, it was also packaged with Link’s Crossbow Training, which had all the imagination and beauty of a Wii Sports mini-game. -- Tim Turi
Winter Games
When you're a dumb kid, you don't yet have a firm grasp of universal truths like "gravity always wins" and "never buy an Olympics themed video game because they are complete garbage." During the hype of the XV Winter Olympics in 1988, my brother and I foolishly chose Winter Games among the dozens of titles available at Toys 'R' Us. It only took us one playthrough of the game's four events to realize we made a horrible, irreversible decision. After selecting a country to represent, the relatively fun freestyle skiing event started things off in the right direction. But the following speed skating, figure skating, and bobsled events were each horrible, unplayable messes that should have been classified as crimes against entertainment. A disaster of gameplay, graphics, and user interface, Winter Games is still the worst game I've ever purchased. As we approach yet another season of Olympic sporting events, remember to try before you buy. Don’t make the same bone-headed decision I made. To watch myself, Reiner, Dan, and Tim suffer through this travesty of a video game, check out our "lost" Replay I posted on my blog a couple years back. -- Matt Bertz
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When you spoke of that giant Arkham case I laughed my ass off. My closet was once plagued by that same box. It took me year to finally pitch it. I do however enjoy the hardbound art books that occasionally get packaged with special editions. Bioshock 2's is still sitting proudly on my bookshelf among my trade paperbacks. In response to the article, my most regrettable purchase was the Virtual Boy. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, jerks.
Mine would have to be Metroid Other M. i had beat Super Metroid on Virtual console the year before Other M was announced. I was still new to the series so i went out and bought Fusion, Zero Mission, Hunters, the Trilogy, and even managed to find Return of Samus for the Game boy. I blew through these games just in time to pick up my pre-order (my first pre-order ever i might add). Ecstatic I fed the Wii, sat down and watched as my one of my favorite characters was stripped of all badassery i had learned about the months before. It is honestly one of the biggest letdowns of my gaming experience.....
So, I had always been somewhat familiar with the Final Fantasy series since I was too young to even pay attention to them. The first Final Fantasy I played was FF: Mystic Quest on SNES. I loved it. The second I played was FF: Tactics on PS1. The first "real" FF I played was FF VIII. I loved it, dearly. I still play through it at least once every few months to a year. This also lead me to FF IX, and FF X... Both of which I loved. I then played FF XII and hated it, regretted buying it. I decided to see what the hype was about with FF VII, it was severely overhyped in my opinion. I regretted that purchase less than XII.
When FF XIII was being advertised, I was excited. I preordered the game and everything. I played it for several hours hoping it would get better but it never delivered. When I think of that game, I think of it as me sitting there mindlessly wasting my life away.
Most of my gaming regrets are getting games at launch and not waiting for a price drop. As far as collectors editions go, I do get them but only on one condition. If it gives me something I can use in the real world (like the GTA IV lock box which I keep my PS3 Controllers in) then I consider getting it. It also has to be for a game I like.
Mine would be Pokemon Snap. Wasn't even close (and am still not) to being a big pokemon fan, yet I shelled out $60 for it. Got home (after a 2 hour ride, lived in a small town) and immediately said "What the hell was I thinking?" Have been convinced that there is some kind of mind control element to that franchise ever since.
Possibly not a popular thing to say, but I regret purchasing both the DS & then later the 3DS. Not because thay are bad systems, oh no far from it. It just turns out I don't have the lifestyle that allows much gaming opportunity when Im away from home. Guess I was trying to recapture some of the magic from my youth playing GameBoy. Anyways, for me, they were regrettable purchases.
DOAX 2, that is all.
Hmm... so many bad memories to choose from... I think one that encompasses everything from barely played it, took up too much space, cost too much and nobody else wanted to play would have to be...
Samba de Amigo.
I was so guilty of Sega fanboyism when I first had my own money to spend on stuff. I thought I could actually help Sega by buying all it's odd crap.
I'd have to say buying a PSP was the worst thing I've bought. I played God of War: chains of olympia for an hour then forgot i had it for 2 years then traded in to gamestop.
drake......
I regret buying the PSP, Original Nintendo DS, PS3, and so many Guitar Hero Games.
Well, I'd say Kinect, but that was a gift so I can't say I regret "buying" it. I regret receiving it, that's for sure. So my most regrettable "purchase" would have to be "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" for the NES. I even regret admitting that I bought this, but then again I was 11. What the hell did I know?
I spent so much time with the network adapter! I seriously played battlefront 2 online for like a year straight.
Top Gear Dare Devil. Enough said.