Electronic Gaming Monthly's Worst Reviewed Games of 1992

Defenders of Dynatron City

#5

By 1992, Electronic Gaming Monthly was starting to lose interest in last generation. With 16-bit systems taking up all the oxygen and CD-ROM add-ons just around the corner, critics were having a hard time finding the enthusiasm to revisit the old school Nintendo Entertainment System. They had officially turned the page, and your standard 2D action games weren't going to cut it. Not even the ones made by Gary Winnick, the co-creator of Maniac Mansion and Thimbleweed Park.

"If this cart were released 3 years ago it would of been considered substandard," explains Martin. "The game just doesn't have any cool features unless you like being a hammerhead." Sushi X wanted Defenders of Dynatron City to go back to the drawing board. "This game is truly bad in all respects. The graphics are substandard, the music is shoddy, and the game play is non-existent."

Both Steve Harris and Ed Semrad liked the game a bit more, as they each gave it a 4 out of 10. "This game does possess many of the features you find in the best action games, but the execution and overall composition of the title come up short." It sounds like Gary Winnick was out of his element with this one. With 3s and 4s, Defenders of Dynatron City averages out to just 3.5 out of 10.

F-15 Strike Eagle

#4

You have to hand it to those NES developers. Despite knowing that they were working on outdated hardware that lacked even simple things like scaling and rotation, they kept making terrible 3D flight simulators. We've already talked about a few of the lesser attempts in previous episodes, F-15 Strike Eagle is no exception. This type of 8-bit game wasn't even convincing in a pre-Pilotwings world, so don't expect the critics in 1992 to give it a pass.

"An 8-bit flight simulator, need I say more?" Martin continued, "Graphically, this cart is uneventful. The first person graphics are choppy and offer very little realism." Ed seems to finally come to a conclusion we all figured out a long time ago: "I guess that there are things that an 8-bit system just isn't capable of doing." Oh, his innocence is so adorable. That's just a darling quote.

In my opinion, Sushi-X sums it up best when he says, "Goodbye 8-bit." This perfectly embodies how the editors felt at the time. With Genesis and Super NES games to play, nobody wanted to go back to the limitations of 8-bit. I'm not psychic or anything, but expect this frustration to rear its ugly head again in future episodes. F-15 Strike Eagle averaged a terrible 3.5 out of 10.

Darkwing Duck

#3

As those of us who have played through The Disney Afternoon Collection, Capcom had a good thing going with games like Duck Tales and Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers. Unfortunately, Interactive Designs wasn't having the same luck. Their first effort was the poorly-received version of TaleSpin, which nobody liked and even fewer people remember. They outdid themselves one year later with Darkwing Duck, a HuCard so bad that it managed to rank as the third worst game of 1992. Let's get dangerous.

"Darkwing Duck brings together most of the elements we've seen before in popular action/adventures like Mario and Sonic," starts Steve, who sounds like he almost likes the game. "But instead of creating an atmosphere of intensity and building upon the options to enhance the play mechanics, Darkwing Duck put me to sleep with a lack of interaction and challenge." Sushi-X was a little more direct when he said that "Darkwing Duck should stick to cartoons."

This game would have ranked lower on the list if not for Ed, who gave it a 4 out of 10. "Perhaps the younger age group might like this game but it is unlikely because the player control is not precise and leads to a lot of mistakes that should have not happened." That's the guy at his most charitable. With that 4 added to the mix, Duckwing Duck averages out to a low 3.25 out of 10.

Back to the Future Part III

#2

Between Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and now Back to the Future Part III, I'm starting to get the feeling that Acclaim's subsidiaries may not be especially good at making time travel fun. It's as if they go out of their way to avoid everything people actually liked about the movies, choosing instead to focus on everything that doesn't matter. That's certainly the case with Back to the Future Part III, a miserable mini-game collection that veers wildly between being completely unplayable and the worst experience you'll ever have.

"Back to the Future 3 should go back to the programmers," explains Martin. "This is one cart which is missing the boat entirely. There was no fun at all when I played through it." In fact, the game is so bad that it had Sushi-X offering free suggestions. "What I really want is a role-playing game encompassing all three movies, including cool driving sequences where you travel in time." I've got bad news for you, Sush, the game you want will never come out.

As far as I'm concerned, all of these critics are being too kind. Back to the Future Part III is a mess. It's the kind of game that's easier to play when the controller is unplugged. The kind of game that makes you want to unplug the Genesis and throw it in the trash. It has no redeeming qualities and those 3s are way too kind. With an average of 3.25 out of 10, this truly is one of the worst reviewed games on the Sega Genesis.

Battle Master

#1

Say what you will about Back to the Future Part III, but at least the critics knew what the developers were going for. That was definitely not the case when it came to Battle Master, which Electronic Gaming Monthly described as a "fantasy arcade adventure set in a world of myth and feudal strife." This game was so baffling that the critics didn't even know if they were playing it right. "I guess I'm out of touch with whatever this cart is trying to be," explains Steve. "When I think it is a strategy-oriented RPG, the overwhelming number of tasks that must be attended to does little more than slow the pace of the 'action' to a crawl." Ed argued that while it's true that role-playing games tend to move slower and that's the way the die-hard fans like it, this one moves slower than the rest and is not worth playing. I think Martin put it best when he said, "If I had actually bought this cart with hard-earned money, I would really feel disappointed."

With an average of 3 out of 10, Battle Master has the honor of being the worst reviewed Genesis game to date. In fact, that score is so low that it managed to keep that title until 1996. What could possibly be worse than Battle Master? Oh, we'll cross that bridge soon enough.