Ubisoft is a developer that is never afraid to make games. In fact, just about every year they make at least a handful of titles that cover multiple genres and settings. So trying to do a list of “best and worst” games is hard, because they have a massive collection of titles between developing and publishing! I’m going to cherry pick some that players didn’t enjoy, while also picking some of the truly best games they’ve made. Of course, no list is perfect, and your opinion will likely heavily differ from ours in some ways. Just to note, these games aren’t ranked or categorized in any way.
Call of Juarez: The Cartel
I’m starting off with the worst games so that you can feel better once we get into the best games section, and I’ll begin with Call of Juarez: The Cartel. A game that’s apparently so bad you can’t even get it on Steam anymore! That’s…rather troubling, wouldn’t you say? Especially since two other games in the franchise are still on Steam, just saying. So why is this gunslinging FPS “cowboy title” so bad? Well…
First and foremost…it actually wasn’t a cowboy title. They moved the time period from the wild west to the modern day! Why? Because, as the name states, they decided to make a game where you would go after the cartels in real-life Juarez. That’s something you’d expect from OTHER FPS titles…not Call of Juarez. It drew such ire even governments, including the US and Mexican governments, were calling for this game not to come out.
Then, when it DID release, the game was poorly received, found to be buggy as heck, the story didn’t warrant the jump in theme and time period. We also can’t forget to mention that this game was called out for being cliched and using numerous stereotypes. Overall, it just wasn’t that fun to play. Many people feel that Ubisoft was trying to chase the recent Call of Duty Modern Warfare titles, and they failed miserably.
Charlie’s Angels
Look, if you’ve been in the gaming space long enough, you know that movie adaptation video games are notoriously bad. Like, I mean, REALLY bad, and Charlie’s Angels is one such example of this in the worst way. This was one of the titles that Ubisoft published back in 2003, and you have to wonder how they let something like this through. At its core, it’s an action-style beat’em up game that we’ve seen many times over, which can be easy to make. But when the result is something that certain sites called “one of the worst video games of all time?” Yeah, you have problems.
As per games of this nature, the titular “Angels” would go into various places and beat up bad guys and enemies and have their paths blocked until they cleared the area. You could switch between Angels at times, and that meant you could play as Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz or Drew Barrymore.
But again, the quality was so low that it was frankly laughable! Some people even said that the game was worse than the movie! The movie was honestly kind of bad, I’ll admit, but at least you could enjoy parts of it! In contrast, the game got a 23% on Metacritic…so not much to enjoy there.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Anyone’s who’s seen the movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker knows that it’s one of the best animated films of all time. The voice acting, the storyline, the visuals, everything was on point with that movie. There’s even a director’s cut version that’s even darker than the main version that was released! So now imagine a video game that basically spits on everything that the movie did and came out just to be a cash grab. That’s what Ubisoft did in 2000.
This was another side-scrolling beat’em up game, which had been the Batman series M.O. for many titles, especially for movie adaptations like with Batman Forever. The problem was obvious from the start via its E3 reveal, and things didn’t get better from there.
For example, while Terry McGinnis had multiple bat suits he could wear, they didn’t really do anything! Furthermore, the graphics were NOT up to snuff, nor was the game fun to listen to. When you add that to terrible A.I., uneven difficulty, and the fact that you could beat it within a few hours, it was basically a waste of a game. Just do what I do, and watch the movie instead. You’ll feel better after.
Hooters Road Trip
There’s so much I can say about this game and the development process behind it. But I just want to make this clear. There WAS a game called Hooters Road Trip, and it was indeed published by Ubisoft in 2002 for the PC and the original PlayStation. In fact, it was one of the last games that the PS1 ever got, and it probably wishes it didn’t have that “honor” attached to it. Yes, it really is that bad, and not solely for the reasons you’re thinking. It’s actually far more hilarious and worse.
You see, when the game came out on PC, it wasn’t called Hooters Road Trip, it was called Free Wheelin’ USA. Confused? Well, apparently, the game was first meant to be called that, then, somehow, the team at Ubisoft got the license to bring Hooters into this, and so they slapped the license on and changed some things.
Those “things” included various 3D models of the “Hooters Girls,” alongside some pics and videos of some real ones back during that period. The phrase “gratuitous” comes to mind.
The game was so bad that it’s been labeled one of the worst video games ever by two different publications. And, to my knowledge, no other Hooters video games have been made…thank goodness.
The Expendables 2 videogame
Here’s a fun fact for you, The Expendables 2 video game was apparently so bad, and something that people didn’t want to talk about, that it doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page! The other terrible games we’ve talked about so far, yes, even the Hooters one, have a Wiki page, but this game doesn’t! And the movie honestly wasn’t that bad…the game apparently was, though!
In the game, you would play as one of four members of the Expendables squad, mainly the characters played by Sly Stallone, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Jet Li. They even did a decent job putting their likenesses onto their characters.
The twin-stick shooter should’ve been an easy thing to replicate, but instead, it was a buggy mess that just about no one enjoyed. It got no positive reviews on Metacritic and was overwhelmingly called negative by fan votes. Why did they feel the need to make this game? The world may never know.
And again, given the nature of the films with their over-the-top action, it would’ve been SO EASY to make a fun shooter that you could do co-op with…but they didn’t go the distance, and the game was trash as a result.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Okay, shall I start going into the BEST games, now? How about I start with a title from a series that MANY of you are hoping Ubisoft brings back soon? Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was made all the way back in 2005! Yet it still holds up today as one of the best stealth games ever created. It was the third entry in the franchise and the first to go for the M-rating, which helped both its story and gameplay. In fact, the Xbox version of the game got a 91% on Metacritic! It even got “Game of the Year” awards from certain publications, including Xbox Magazine.
But what made this one so great? Simply put, they made the necessary tweaks to make the game fun and engaging, and daring the player to try out various things to not get caught as they moved around as Sam Fisher. This wasn’t a game that was about shooting your way out of a situation. It was about being calm, seeing the angles, and then pushing to get the mission complete.
It also didn’t hurt that the legendary Michael Ironside was Sam Fisher once again. He’s one guy you don’t want to mess with, either! Regardless, many are praying for a return to the series that did what Chaos Theory achieved. Hopefully, they’ll get it soon.
Rayman Legends
I’m sure some of you are surprised about this entry, especially considering that this was the last true Rayman title unless you count the Mario + Rabbids DLC. But there’s a reason why Rayman Legends is so beloved by those who played it: it’s a wonderful co-op platforming title that feels like the platforming titles of old while making things fresh and special. Now, sure, it had a turbulent launch history, but once it came out, people couldn’t get enough of it.
The title was praised for its visuals, the way the levels were done, how co-op was handled, etc. Plus, the game was DEEP! It had over 120 levels, including ones that were remade from Rayman Origins! When you add that to the characters you and your friends could play as, the fun almost never stops once you start. The irony is that while the game did meet sales expectations, including selling millions of units overall, Ubisoft dubbed it a “failure” in certain respects, and that’s why we haven’t gotten a fresh sequel to it.
That’s a freaking crime, especially considering some of the more recent games Ubisoft has done that aren’t even close to the level of Rayman Legends.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Easily one of the greatest and most impactful video games of all time, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is so great that Ubisoft has been trying for YEARS to remake it for the modern day…and we’re still waiting on it. Jokes aside, the 2003 action-adventure platformer was a hit from the word go. You played the titular Prince, who accidentally caused problems for his kingdom. Thankfully, he had the legendary dagger with the Sands of Time which could allow him to redo events and attempt to stop the vile Vizer’s plans!
What really separated the game was how it used platforming and the dagger to its advantage. Things like wall running weren’t really a part of platforming adventures at the time, but they made the game stand out further. Plus, when you made a mistake, the dagger would let you rewind time so that you could try again.
Critics couldn’t get enough of the title, and it even got Game of the Year awards.
Beyond Good & Evil
Now, here’s a title that’s both interesting and ironic at the same time for multiple reasons. For example, while Beyond Good & Evil was an action-adventure game that was released in 2003 and got Game of the Year nominations and a cult following…it wasn’t exactly a success. In fact, it was dubbed a commercial failure. Furthermore, while the game did get love from critics and fans, it took some massive changes to make that happen because in 2002, the game wasn’t well-received when it was shown off at E3.
Furthermore, if you look at the critical reception of the game, while it is good, they all still have complaints, including about the main character of Jade, the camera, the gameplay elements at times, and so on. So it says something about how Beyond Good & Evil has such love despite everything that happened to it. It might simply be because the man behind it, Michael Ancel, who also made Rayman, was willing to make the changes needed to make the game, and even Jade.
Fast forward to now, and many people are STILL waiting for Beyond Good & Evil 2. If it’s coming…I can’t say what it will be like or when it’ll actually arrive.
Assassin’s Creed 2
Given the LARGE amount of titles within the Assassin’s Creed franchise, it’s hard to pick one that truly stands out from the pack as the “peak” of the litter. For us we’re going to give it to Assassin’s Creed 2 which came out in 2009. Don’t get me wrong, the original game was a revelation and helped advance games forward in many ways. But the sequel took everything the first title did and then proceeded to make it even better.
For example, this was the game that brought fan-favorite character Ezio to the mix, and fans instantly fell for him. Plus, we got to see things during the Italian Renaissance, which opened up new areas and possibilities for players to have fun in.
They also bolstered the gameplay through new combat moves and options, including taking the opponent’s weapon and delivering some fun killing blows. When you add that to new kinds of missions, meeting numerous historical figures and so on, it’s easy to point to why this game stands out so easily. Still Ubisoft did have some incredibly successful installments afterward within this franchise. So we can see how others might have picked a different Assassin’s Creed title to feature in this list.
