10 Worst Licensed Video Games Of The Generation (So Far)

Somehow, The Lord of the Rings - one of the richest, most detailed fictional worlds ever created - was handed to a studio, and what we got was… this. A game so bad, it immediately earned a place in the Mount Doom of disastrous licensed releases.

Gollum attempts to deliver a stealth platformer about Middle-earth’s most pitiful creature, but the only thing it really nails is the pitiful part. Movement feels like Gollum’s wearing ankle weights, with platforming so imprecise you’ll miss jumps that look impossible to fail. Stealth amounts to crouching in grass and waiting for AI dumber than an orc on pipe-weed to walk past. And the moral choice system - Gollum versus Sméagol - has about as much weight as a soggy lembas biscuit.

Visually, it’s not much better. Middle-earth here looks like it’s been through a power cut. Environments are flat and lifeless, character models uncanny, and Gollum himself looks, well... you've seen the pictures. 

Add a healthy dose of bugs, performance issues, frame drops, and broken animations, and you’ve got the full package. The developer even had to apologise post-launch, never a great sign - and got caught out for using AI on its text.

Gollum could’ve offered a fresh, character-driven story in Tolkien’s world. Instead, it was a tedious, broken mess that did for The Lord of the Rings what lava did for Isildur’s sword.