10 Times Video Games Found A Way To Be Even Worse
4. Releasing Unfinished - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5
Few video game franchises have divebombed as spectacularly as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, which between 1999 and 2007 released a bevy of well-received entries.
But with the series' sales and general cultural cachet steadily declining, Activision had the lightbulb idea for a bold reinvention - a Guitar Hero-esque make-over, if you will.
2009's Tony Hawk: Ride introduced a plastic skateboard peripheral in an attempt to deliver a uniquely immersive experience, yet the board's mediocre functionality resulted in poor reviews and sales.
Activision released a follow-up the very next year, Tony Hawk: Shred, which while received slightly more positively was still dinged due to the controller's innate lack of responsiveness.
In light of atrocious sales, Activision then put the series on hold, and it truly seemed like things couldn't get any worse for the once-beloved IP, right?
Well, 2015 saw the release of the much-anticipated Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, which ditched the silly skateboard controller and got back to a more traditional gameplay style.
But THPS5 was ultimately released blatantly unfinished, hastily slung together in a matter of months before Activision's licensing agreement with Hawk ended.
The end result was embarrassingly rough, from the PS3-caliber graphics to the wonky feel of the skating, ensuring it scored by far the worst reviews of the series. All in all, it was enough to make you wish you were back standing on a goofy plastic skateboard in your living room.
Thankfully the series eventually rebounded with 2020's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remasters, though due to developer Vicarious Visions being merged with Blizzard the very next year, planned remasters of the third and fourth games were regrettably canned.