9 Terrible Video Games With One Incredible Mechanic

1. Scribblenauts - Word Recognition

The Awesome Mechanic: Scribblenauts' fantastic hook is that the player has the ability to conjure up just about any object they can think of by writing its name down on the Nintendo DS' touch screen.

It's a surprisingly intuitive feature which, aside from your most adult desires, can deliver pretty much anything you ask of it on-screen, and has led to a successful series of titles in the years that followed its 2009 release.

The Terrible Game: There's no denying that Scribblenauts is a controversial pick for a terrible game, but remember that outside of its impressive word recognition system, it is a head-smackingly infuriating game to play.

The main culprit is the control system, which was reviled by even those critics who otherwise praised the game. Players are forced to use imprecise touch-screen controls to guide player character Maxwell around, which makes a chore out of performing even basic actions with your newly-created objects.

Like several other entries on this list, the first game is ultimately an ambitious bust, but thankfully the sequel, Super Scribblenauts, fixed these control issues, resulting in a far more satisfying experience.

What are your favourite mechanics from otherwise terrible games? Shout them out in the comments!