Electronic Gaming Monthly's Worst Reviewed Games of 1995

VR Troopers

#5

No, VR Troopers is not the sarcastic name you give your grandparents when they try virtual reality for the first time. It was actually a TV show back in the 1990s that cynically assumed that a Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers rip-off with a virtual reality component would be a big hit. It was every bit as derivative as it sounds, so it probably won't surprise you that the VR Troopers video game made by Sega yet another me-too brawler that brings nothing new to the table. Or, as Mike puts it: "Another example of a cheesy fighting game with absolutely terrible sound, grainy 16-color graphics and horrible controls."

Resident fake ninja Sushi-X had no love for this licensed atrocity. "This title is an example of how the popularity of fighting games can also hurt the quality of new releases by lowering the standards of game mechanics just to make a fast sale." He's sadly right, and that's a problem we saw a lot of in the mid-1990s.

For what it's worth, Andrew thought VR Troopers was bad, but not that bad. He gave it a 5 out of 10 and said the moves were hard to pull off, saying that it was "only remedied by the fact that you can defeat most opponents with repeated low kicks." With his 5 and Mark's 4, VR Troopers averages out to a terrible 3.75 out of 10.

Exosquad

#4

It's hard to believe there was a time when TV networks assumed that American kids wouldn't be into Japanese anime, but that was the reality for those of us who grew up in the 1980s and 90s. Instead of getting the real thing, we got Americanized rip-offs like Exosquad. And while I'm sure this short-lived Robotech knock-off still has its fans, I think we can all agree that the Genesis game developed by Novotrade is garbage.

"Uh ... NO!" starts Al Manuel. "I wasn't pleased with this game at all." Sushi-X agreed, calling it "frustrating to play and simply not enjoyable." He adds that "there are tons of mandatory hits where you don't feel like you are in total control." On the bright side, everybody seemed to like the cinema that kicks the game off. Unfortunately, they hated everything else. Exosquad comes in with an average of 3.75 out of 10.

Air Cars

#3

As somebody with a reputation for being a Jaguar apologist, even I can't defend Air Cars. When people mock Atari for their dumb "Do the Math" campaign, I get it. If the idea was to convince everybody that 64-bit gaming was the wave of the future, they probably should have added a few more textures to the flat polygons. But instead of waiting until the game was good (or even playable), Midnight Entertainment rushed Air Cars to the market and suffered the consequences.

"Uh ... what is this?!" asks Al. "Somebody please tell me this isn't a Jaguar game!" It is, and it's a bad one. Danyon echoed this opinion, saying that "in an age where visuals can help a bad game out, Air Cars doesn't even have this crutch." And then there's Sushi-X, who may have liked the multiplayer link-up feature, but ultimately concluded that he just isn't that into flight sims. Is Air Cars a flight sim? When your car is floating a foot off the ground, is that really considered flying? That's like calling this a hoverboard. Either way, Air Cars earns a pitiful average of 3.5 out of 10.

Rise of the Robots

#2

1995 was the year when Absolute Entertainment decided to shut down for good. If this horrendous 3DO port of Rise of the Robots is any indication, then maybe that was a smart decision. Don't get me wrong, this terrible fighting game was bad on every console, but it was especially difficult to control using the 3DO's awful game pad. Ed Semrad wasn't alone when he said that "this is by far the worst fighting game I've ever seen."

Al literally started his review by pulling his hair out his head in disgust and asking, "What in the world is this supposed to be?" Don't look to fighting game expert Sushi-X for answers, because he spends most of his review talking about the cinemas. No, seriously. "Well I have to admit that the cinemas are done well. They sure are lengthy and quite abundant in this fighting game. Yet, I don't think it really needs that many. It seems that too much time and resources went into the good cinemas but it's overdone way too much." Anything to not talk about the awful fight mechanics, I guess. Rise of the Robot averages a horrible 3.5 out of 10.

Blue Lightning CD

#1

Remember a few moments ago when I said that I am a bit of a Jaguar apologist? Well, that doesn't extend to Atari's ill-fated Jaguar CD. This terrible add-on started bad and never got better. Blue Lightning CD wasn't simply a terrible pack-in game, but ended up being the worst reviewed game of the year. And not just 1995, but of most years. With an average of 2.25 out of 10, this is the lowest score we've seen from Electronic Gaming Monthly since it launched in 1989.

Mark perfectly sums up everybody's frustration: "If the Jag CD's job is to improve the quality of the next generation of games that will be released for this new unit, then there is a definite problem here." Yeah, the problem is that Blue Lightning CD isn't as awesome as the 1989 Lynx game. And you better believe that every critic had to point this out. "The Lynx version offered a great game that was fun to play, while the Jag version just made me long for the handheld release of old." And it wasn't just that it was a bad reboot, but a terrible looking console game. As Andrew points out, "Blue Lightning looks and plays like a bad Commodore 64 game." Harsh, but accurate.