Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, some games are just not great visually, but it does not mean that they are garbage and not worth playing. Here are seven of the best PlayStation Portable (PSP) games that are worst in the graphics department.
Best psp games with worst graphics
7. Exit
Mr. ESC isn't a typical superhero; he's just an ordinary person, and the same can be said for Exit's graphics and art style. It doesn't boast the world-shattering cutting-edge graphics of its time. Many were initially put off by its appearance, but since it's a puzzle game, it doesn't necessarily require Crysis-level graphics.
Exit bears resemblance to Lemmings, featuring 100 levels that gradually unlock as players make progress. It's a game that demands strategic planning, tasking players with saving a varying number of people in each level. Gameplay involves activities like setting up rope ladders, unlocking doors, and rescuing injured individuals, growing more complex as players advance.
The controls are intricate, making extensive use of the PSP's buttons. The L and R buttons issue commands, the D-pad maneuvers Mr. ESC, and the analog nub assists with giving commands and micromanagement. Each stage is time-limited, underscoring the importance of efficient actions to attain a better score.
Exit's standout quality is its extensive content, delivering a vast 200 stages and providing substantial gameplay. Its appeal lies with puzzle enthusiasts who relish overcoming challenging stages. While it was not backed up by AAA budget, the game is as great as it is simple in appearance.
6. World Tour Soccer
There are a number of soccer games on the PSP, and a majority of them are great. World Tour Soccer is the worst of the bunch, only in terms of graphics. It is also a different game, opting for a fast-paced football arcade instead of the prodding simulation of the sport.
World Tour Soccer, is a PSP launch title hence the not-so-endearing graphics. It offers the expected elements of a football game but lacks a season mode. Instead, there is the challenge mode, rewarding players based on performance in various matches, which offers a new twist but feels limited due to the small number of available challenges.
Despite incomplete licensing for real teams and players, the gameplay remains largely unaffected, and the game compensates with unlockable historical teams, enhancing replay value. World Tour Soccer presents simple controls and ample unlockable content. It plays differently, is different, and variety is sometimes what we need.
5. What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 2
What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 2, an atypical game in the good vs. evil trope, casts players as a God of Destruction protecting the comically useless and evil warlord, Badman. To safeguard Badman, players construct intricate dungeons to confound heroes and maintain a self-sustaining monster ecosystem to repel invaders. The game tasks players with digging dungeons using a limited dig-power and strategically nurturing creatures within the soil blocks.
Initially, players dig through soil blocks to generate basic slime-moss monsters, gradually nurturing more powerful creatures like Omnoms and Lizardmen by amassing nutrients. These creatures can mutate into 239 different forms depending on in-game conditions. The gameplay also involves managing dig-power during battles and manipulating mutations, presenting three game modes: Tutorial, Story mode with challenging stages, and Badman's Chamber for free-form gameplay.
What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 offers an engaging strategy/puzzle experience with unique gameplay but comes with high difficulty that might discourage some players. Of course, the graphics but more on the art direction is on the ugly side.
4. Alien Syndrome
Alien Syndrome's official sequel captivates by evolving the original game's core gameplay while maintaining its action and intensity. The game introduces a daunting threat called the Alien Syndrome, a plague capable of transforming creatures into terrifying monsters, and follows Lieutenant Aileen Harding on an exploratory journey to uncover this menace.
Character development and RPG elements contribute depth and customization to the game. Players can select class-based specialists with diverse attributes and weapons, adding to the replay value and uniqueness of each character's gameplay.
The game features a varied and formidable array of alien creatures, deviating from typical humanoid shapes found in mainstream shooters and providing a fresh challenge. Visually, Alien Syndrome boasts blocky and clunky models, with underwhelming effects. Yet, it is one of the few action-RPGs on the PSP that has action and RPG elements on point.
3. Fired Up
The gameplay mechanics of Fired Up is crazy good, offering two control settings – Simple and Advanced Controls – typical of vehicular combat games. While the gameplay doesn’t particularly innovate within the genre, it manages to provide more than a satisfactory experience for those accustomed to vehicular combat games.
On the storyline front, it follows a rather standard narrative involving the attempts of an evil emperor named The Iron Lady to seize control of various areas. Despite incorporating realistic area names, the story lacks originality and unique plot elements that would set it apart from other games in the genre.
In terms of replay value, the game offers limited post-main campaign content and activities, focusing primarily on improving mission scores and collecting hidden bonuses. Its art direction may not be to everyone's liking, but the gameplay should be more than satisfactory for anyone looking for an action game on the PSP.
2. Puzzle Quest
This game seamlessly blends puzzle elements with RPG gameplay, where battles occur within an 8x8 grid featuring various symbols. Matching these symbols in rows generates effects – from attacking opponents to earning experience or currency. Spellcasting, a core battle aspect, allows for strategic moves beyond symbol matching, enabling diverse tactical options to gain an advantage. The game extends beyond battles, offering side quests, enemy capture, learning spells, training mounts, collecting runes, obtaining equipment, and town sieges, presenting diverse and engaging activities.
The game has very simple graphics and that might be the reason there are detractors of this game. Still, everything else is great, even though the core gameplay ramps up into the stratosphere in terms of difficulty.
The addictive nature of the game is one of its enticing features. Puzzle Quest offers an engaging mix of puzzle-based combat and RPG elements that have not been emulated even until now.
1. Space Invaders Extreme
Space Invaders is not to blame for having really archaic graphics. It is just a product of its own time. The remake did change the art style, and hence the graphics, but it is still not appealing enough to entice gamers to play the game. It is still Space Invaders, so it has all the good things about it.
Space Invaders Extreme is fast-paced and fun. There are a variety of stages, enemies, and bosses. However, it is worth warning those players who want to play this game that this one is very challenging.
It may be difficult, but it is rewarding. It depends on the player to improve their skills and strategies, as well as to endure its not-so-pleasant graphics, even at the time of its release, let alone in the 2020s.