Top 10 Worst Mobile Games of the Decade

  • 8 months ago
When it comes to the worst of what mobile games can offer, there's no beating these. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the worst, most despised, and most underwhelming mobile phone games that were released in the last 10 years, from 2014 until today.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down
00:09 our picks for the worst, most despised,
00:12 and most underwhelming mobile phone games
00:14 that were released in the last 10 years,
00:17 from 2014 until today.
00:20 Number 10, A3, Still Alive.
00:29 - Perfect opportunity to arrest her.
00:32 I'm disappointed.
00:34 - If you were looking for a top quality mobile game
00:36 that was an MMORPG and a battle royale,
00:39 then 2020's A3, Still Alive isn't for you.
00:43 Created by Netmarble, the developers behind
00:45 Marvel Future Fight and Star Wars Force Arena,
00:48 A3 was praised for its cut scenes and graphics
00:51 that seemingly made it look great.
00:53 However, underneath that shiny and pretty surface
00:56 was a hollow shell with a lacking story.
00:59 Another main criticism was the auto-questing system,
01:02 which essentially turned the game into a viewing experience
01:05 with little need for interaction.
01:07 However, while the system is optional,
01:10 its constant availability made it too tempting to use,
01:13 and thus ruined the experience for players.
01:16 - We need to find a way to counteract this.
01:19 - Number nine, eFootball 2022.
01:23 - Well, if you did just miss it,
01:24 we are up and running already.
01:26 Like the video game equivalent of Pepsi versus Coke,
01:29 back in the day, football fans would argue
01:31 about the superior game of their sport,
01:33 FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer.
01:36 This battle later evolved into the mobile market.
01:39 But in 2021, Konami, the company behind PES,
01:42 released a rebrand with eFootball 2022,
01:46 and it was badly botched for consoles,
01:49 becoming Steam's most hated game at one point.
01:51 The mobile version was heavily delayed to 2022
01:54 due to a litany of performance issues.
01:57 But once it arrived,
01:58 it immediately disappointed loyal players.
02:01 Firstly, the system requirements
02:03 only meant really new devices were supported.
02:06 But the complicated gameplay,
02:08 strange AI decisions during matches,
02:10 and the abundance of microtransactions
02:13 forced long-time supporters to uninstall the game.
02:16 - That is how to respond to adversity.
02:18 Truly deserving winners.
02:20 - Number eight, Forza Street.
02:22 (upbeat music)
02:25 On consoles, the Forza franchise
02:31 is one of the best car racers around.
02:33 But on mobile, it's a vastly different story.
02:37 In 2018, Miami Street was released on PCs
02:41 by publisher Electric Square.
02:43 One year later, the game was rebranded
02:45 as Forza Street for mobiles.
02:47 It wasn't a typical racing experience.
02:49 Instead of spinning a steering wheel,
02:52 making last minute directional changes,
02:54 and knocking against your opponent
02:55 for an advantage and carnage thrills,
02:57 players pressed buttons in a far more hands-off affair
03:01 than was expected.
03:02 The free-to-play venture was praised for its visuals.
03:05 Yet, the lack of gameplay made it a dull experience
03:08 while encouraging players
03:09 to splash out for microtransactions.
03:11 Only a few years into its release,
03:13 Forza Street had its servers switched off.
03:16 (upbeat music)
03:21 Number seven, Mario Kart Tour.
03:24 (train rumbling)
03:25 (Mario shouting)
03:27 Playing Mario Kart on the go, through your phone,
03:34 sounds like a fun way to spend
03:35 the soul-destroying commute to work.
03:38 Many people felt the same
03:39 when 2019's Mario Kart Tour came out,
03:43 as it broke Nintendo records
03:45 for their most downloadable mobile games.
03:47 However, even with that,
03:50 it was still seen as very underwhelming.
03:52 Players did enjoy the simple control system
03:54 and the good performance,
03:56 but the bombardment of microtransactions
03:58 made the experience feel cheap and tacky.
04:00 Another Nintendo cash grab was 2016's Super Mario Run.
04:05 Upon its release on the Apple Store,
04:07 it was seen as too easy,
04:08 until it demanded money for the complete experience.
04:11 This negative reaction reportedly caused
04:13 the company's shared price to drop by 11%.
04:16 - Mario number one!
04:18 (Mario cheering)
04:21 - Number six, Family Guy, The Quest for Stuff.
04:25 - That's right, I'm horizontal.
04:27 I've spent all those years as a vertical fraud.
04:30 (dramatic music)
04:33 - Taking inspiration from EA's The Simpsons' Tapped Out,
04:36 developer TinyCo put out their own freemium mobile game
04:39 based on an animated sitcom
04:41 with 2014's Family Guy, The Quest for Stuff.
04:44 While the Quahog building game
04:46 featured a dabble of the actual voice actors
04:49 for the characters and was written by the show's writers,
04:51 the gameplay itself wasn't well received.
04:54 The quest and creating buildings
04:56 took a lifetime to complete.
04:58 If you got bored enough,
04:59 TinyCo tempted you with speeding it up
05:01 by splashing actual money.
05:03 While players gave in from time to time,
05:06 the cost quickly got expensive
05:08 and turned them off from the experience.
05:10 (screaming)
05:11 Loud and clear.
05:13 (punching)
05:14 Number five, Tom Clancy's Elite Squad.
05:18 - Air strike.
05:19 (dramatic music)
05:22 - On the surface, a tactical mobile game
05:27 that featured beloved characters
05:29 from Tom Clancy's gaming universe sounds like a good idea.
05:33 After all, who doesn't want to see Sam Fisher
05:35 take on the Rainbow Six gang?
05:37 But in reality, it turned out to be a disaster in 2020.
05:42 For starters, the villainous organization
05:44 in the Ubisoft project had a raised fist logo
05:47 that resembled the Black Lives Matter movement,
05:49 forcing the company to publicly apologize.
05:52 Mixing regular crashing, repetitive 5v5 battles,
05:56 and the gotcha system meant Tom Clancy's Elite Squad
05:59 had a very short life on cell phones.
06:03 In 2021, Ubisoft announced the game's servers
06:06 were to be shut down.
06:08 (explosion)
06:11 - Air strike's over, finish them.
06:13 - Number four, Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery.
06:16 (dramatic music)
06:19 The Harry Potter franchise has had a rough time
06:24 in the mobile world.
06:25 On top of the short run of Niantic's
06:27 Harry Potter's Wizards Unite,
06:29 there was 2018's Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery.
06:33 Made by Jam City, it excited nostalgic fans
06:37 with the lore of living their fantasy
06:39 of being a magical student and meeting characters
06:41 voiced by some of the film's actors.
06:43 Yet, when it was released, it was heavily criticized
06:47 for its aggressive pursuit of microtransactions.
06:49 After your avatar is freed from Devil's snare
06:52 in the early story, you can either wait ages
06:54 for the energy to recharge,
06:56 or splash the cash to get it done immediately.
06:59 To make it worse, it worked as Hogwarts Mystery
07:02 grossed $55 million in almost three months.
07:07 (dramatic music)
07:11 (roaring)
07:13 Number three, Pokemon Rumble Rush.
07:16 (upbeat music)
07:18 As big and as long lasting a franchise as Pokemon is,
07:25 there are bound to be a few flops
07:27 in the company's vast library.
07:30 But boy, nothing has come close to the overwhelming hatred
07:34 that 2019's Pokemon Rumble Rush produced.
07:37 Developed by Umbrella, who had created
07:39 the Rumble spinoff since 2009,
07:42 Rumble Rush had players controlling toy Pokemon
07:45 battling other monsters through island.
07:47 Yet, the dull grinding progression, the many bugs,
07:50 and the poor controls made the experience horrible.
07:54 Not even the thrill of battle
07:55 was fun enough to make up for it.
07:57 A year into its life, Rumble Rush was shut down.
08:01 Then Creatures, one of the companies that owns Pokemon,
08:04 bought and disbanded Umbrella shortly after.
08:07 (dramatic music)
08:10 Number two, Dungeon Keeper.
08:15 (crashing)
08:17 Fans of the 90s cult classic Dungeon Keeper
08:24 were excited to play the 2014 revamped mobile game.
08:27 Instead of fans excitedly managing
08:30 and building their dark dungeons,
08:31 this version went in a vastly different direction
08:35 with a tower defense approach.
08:36 The players were livid.
08:38 But to make it worse was the very aggressive approach
08:41 towards microtransaction
08:43 in this apparent free-to-play experience.
08:45 So much so that in the UK,
08:47 original commercials for the 2014 version
08:50 were banned for being misleading.
08:52 This hyper fixation of squeezing every drop of cash
08:55 from players ruined any chance it had of being good or fun.
08:59 Instead, the rebooted Dungeon Keeper
09:02 was described as an anti-game.
09:04 In 2022, Dungeon Keeper left with a whimper
09:07 as Electronic Arts closed it down.
09:10 (crashing)
09:11 - Impressive.
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09:29 Number one, Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 Mobile.
09:34 (swooshing)
09:36 Many people have fun yet disturbing memories
09:42 of playing Roller Coaster Tycoon
09:43 and flinging virtual guests into the air.
09:46 So when Atari announced Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 Mobile,
09:49 nostalgic fans were ready to relive that experience
09:52 as they built the park of their dreams slash nightmares.
09:55 Instead, many of the franchise's features
09:58 were stripped away.
09:59 And the roller coasters were pre-made.
10:01 To make it worse, long build waiting times,
10:05 dull objective following,
10:06 and the overuse of the classic villainous microtransactions
10:10 took all the joy away.
10:12 The game was already premium,
10:14 yet it requested more finances from players.
10:17 After being slandered everywhere by everyone,
10:20 Atari quickly shifted Tycoon 4 to a free-to-play system,
10:24 which made it slightly less hated.
10:26 (chimes)
10:29 (whistling)
10:31 What's the best mobile video game port you've played?
10:34 Titan Quest, Knights of the Old Republic,
10:36 Death Road to Canada, or something else?
10:39 Let us know in the comments down below.
10:41 And don't forget to like and subscribe
10:43 for more WatchMojo videos.
10:44 - Mario number one!
10:46 Woohoo!
10:47 - Did you enjoy this video?
10:51 Check out these other clips from WatchMojo
10:53 and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
10:55 to be notified about our latest videos.
10:57 (upbeat music)
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