Can 'Bad' Games Be Good?

By Mark

With games there are those that are objectively good and others objectively bad and with certain titles there’s just no denying that the actual ‘game’ component of the title is dismal regardless of whether you enjoyed it or not. But then that’s what I’m considering in this musing, can a game be bad yet still be an entertaining experience overall? Of course they can.

So bad it's good?

The most recent example of this is possibly the title Deadly Premonition which was developed by Access Games and released to incredibly mixed reviews but the rallying cry from most was that it was ‘so bad it’s good’. While only having played the title myself for a short while it was clear that the game was an example of a title where one had to almost ignore the gameplay itself and push on in hope that the narrative experience continues to deliver. I won’t say that the gameplay itself was truly awful but the action sequences where heavy handed as were the controls and it’s clear the production values simply aren’t there with weak looking presentation, although that may have helped its case.

So why then do people claim the title to be a good ride if not for the gameplay which is what all games should primarily nail down? The reason is that games can offer us that which other entertainment forms don’t do all that well and that’s interactive experiences. Deadly Premonition offered players a  strange and enticing land that was filled with weird and peculiar characters right from the word go with little information or explanation given to us as players and it’s occurrences such as these that have the ability to make you overlook the bad and focus on the enjoyment to be had. 

Another example of a game that was labelled as ‘bad’ by many was the RPG title developed by Obsidian ‘Alpha Protocol’. Now if you’ve been reading my work for a while now you may have seen my review on the title last year where I praised it for being rather enjoyable as a role-playing title despite having somewhat lacklustre gameplay. I can talk more comfortably about Alpha Protocol as I recently got through with a second play through just to see if I could find the same enjoyment I experienced when I was first exposed to the title and surprisingly I did. 

Sure, it was a title that if you lined up a perfect head shot you could miss just because the ‘dice’ say so and yes it should have played more like a third person shooter with its RPG elements infused but as it was I still enjoyed it greatly. This was purely based on some of the characters and role-playing elements as the game did indeed do it’s best to make you feel like an espionage agent albeit with bad shooting, laughable crouch animations and bland visuals. 

They are just two examples from myself so what about you folks? What games have you played that are objectively bad but you found yourself loving? Games like NIER spring to mind but I’d love to hear your thoughts.