GIMMICK A BREAK

What's the best game with the worst gimmick? The Best Games Ever Show episode 59

Video games are full of gimmicks, and the bad ones are usually found in bad games. But not always...

Article by Jim Trinca Former Video Producer

Published on July 7, 2023

Welcome to The Best Games Ever Show episode 59: The best game with the worst gimmick.

There are plenty of crap games with bad gimmicks. Tony Hawk: RIDE, for example, which was built around a terrible skateboard-shaped controller peripheral and was basically a terrible game as a result. Or Crime Boss: Rockay City, which is a painfully bottom tier heist game which boasts “Vanilla Ice is in this” as its entire USP. Then, of course, there’s the Kinect library. The entire Kinect library.

But still, look, just because something has a bad gimmick, doesn’t mean it isn’t otherwise great. Wade Barrett was weighed down with the Bad News Barrett gimmick for ages, but he was talented enough to somehow make it work. Alfred Hitchcock had a rubbish gimmick of always giving himself a cameo in his films, depriving legitimate actors of vital cameo appearances.

But what of video games? What are the otherwise superb video games that are saddled with rubbish gimmicks, and of them, which is the best? To find out what our esteemed panel thinks, you’ll have to watch or listen right here. Right here!

Watch the video version here:

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Listen to the audio version here:

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You could also simply read the summary below, if you're the sort of person who skips to the last page of a book (a wrongun, a reprobate, a Bad Seed).

Tom

Tom picked Football Manager because he doesn't like being normal.

Sherif

Sherif picked Nioh 2 because he doesn't like the loot system.

Billcliffe

James picked Tony Hawk's Underground because he doesn't like his own face.

“What is the Best Games Ever Show?” you ask? Well, it is essentially a 30-minute panel show where people (Jim Trinca and associates) decide on the best game in a specific category. That's it. It's good. Listen to it.

Come back in a week for another exciting instalment of the Best Games Ever Show.