12 Terrible Video Games That Actually Had Great Ideas
1. Pokémon GO - Like [Insert Favourite Franchise], BUT IN THE REAL WORLD
Yep, the cataclysmically-successful Pokemon GO may seem a little out of place on a list filled mainly with commercial failures and disappointments, but let's take a step back from the hysteria and the fact that even your grandma's playing it, and talk about it as a game.
It's crap.
There is absolutely no challenge to actually catching Pokemon in GO (which surely runs counter to the classic adage: "To catch them is my real test. To train them is my cause"). Yes, you walk around a lot, which some of the more sedentary gamers may find challenging, but the game itself offers little of it.
The next big Pokemon mechanic - combat - is also weak, with much fewer moves to learn than normal Pokemon games, less strategy, and no option to actually have battles against your friends. And that dodge mechanic is, well, dodgy.
But the premise of Pokemon GO is what's really taken the world by storm. Even though it's crude and basic, the fact is that Pokemon GO is a wonderfully inventive fusion of video games with reality. It single-handedly revived the dormant Augmented Reality genre, and its success can hopefully inspire developers to make more of these kinds of games.
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Which other terrible games had great mechanics at their core? Let us know in the comments!