Capcom is one of the most beloved studios in gaming, with many hit franchises under its belt, including Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Mega Man, and Devil May Cry. Despite developing some of the greatest games of all time, Capcom has been known to release its share of blunders, with some being so bad they killed off an entire franchise. Here are the five worst Capcom games of all time.
5. Dino Crisis 3
Dino Crisis 3 is such a bad game it ended the franchise and 20 years later it still hasn’t been revised. Following the beloved Dino Crisis 1, which could be likened to Resident Evil with dinosaurs, and the more action-focused Dino Crisis 2, Capcom decided to take the prehistoric creatures to space. Dino Crisis 3 takes place on a space station as you fight dinosaurs that aren’t dinosaurs, yes this is the plot.
It also suffers from one of the worst cameras in a game, making it very awkward to control the character and see what is going on around you. I will never forget buying this game after getting my first job as a teenager and being excited to play the next entry in one of my favourite franchises only for it to be nothing but a disappointment.
4. Clock Tower 3
While Clock Tower 3 didn’t score terribly with critics, with the game holding a 69/100 score on Metacritic, it was one of the biggest commercial failures seen from an AAA in some time. Despite being a horror game created by the same company behind the Resident Evil series, Clock Tower has always been a niche series.
When it was released in 2002, Capcom estimated that Clock Tower 3 would sell 450,000 copies. However, it would go on to sell just 79,000 copies in its first year, just 17.5% of the estimated sales, and 122,000 copies after two years of being on store shelves. This led to the series being cancelled and another game hasn’t been released in over 20 years.
3. Lost Planet 3
Capcom seems to have a problem when it comes to the third entry in some of their series’ as this is when things go downhill. Lost Planet 3 serves as a prequel to the first game and despite being praised by many for its story, it ended up being the lowest-scored entry in the series with a Metacritic score of just 58/100. The game also fell short of sales expectations which led to the series being cancelled and there seems to be no plans for a reboot any time soon.
2. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor
Steel Battalion was a very unique game that featured a controller with 44 buttons and three-foot pedals. Today, it is one of the most expensive controllers to purchase and regularly sells for £200 on the used market. For the third entry in the series, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, rather than forcing players to purchase an expensive controller, Capcom decided to take advantage of the newly released Kinect to use motion to control the game.
Being a Kinect game, you can guess what happened next. The game was heavily panned by critics, scoring just 38/100 on Metacritic, and flopped in terms of sales due to the Kinect being unable to accurately read the player’s movements, making the game largely unplayable. Like other games on this list, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor ended the franchise and another game hasn’t been developed in over a decade.
1. Umbrella Corps
A game so bad that Capcom didn’t even want to attach the brand name of arguably its most popular franchise to it. However, it does use the Resident Evil name in China and Biohazard in Japan. Umbrella Corps is a tactical first-person shooter game that sees players compete in various locations from the Resident Evil universe while avoiding the undead hordes.
You will likely never experience any of this, not that it is a bad thing, because the game averages less than 10 concurrent players, with it often having zero players logged in. Instead, you will be forced to play the single-player component which sees you fight zombies and other B.O.W. enemies on the same maps as you conduct experiments with new technology created by the Umbrella Corporation.
This is not only the worst game that Capcom has ever released, but one of the worst games ever. I paid $1 for the Deluxe Edition of the game and felt ripped off, I just bought it for collection purposes.
Capcom has been adamant about breaking into the multiplayer world with the Resident Evil franchise for some reason. Its most recent attempt: RE: Verse is a deathmatch-style game that sees players fight each other in a small arena.
The previous attempt, Resident Evil Resistance looked to emulate the Dead By Daylight formula. But, it all began with Umbrella Corps, an esports-style FPS shooter that flopped immediately. Capcom, if you want to give players a multiplayer game that will be successful, give us a new Outbreak game, that is all we want as a community.
For more Insider Gaming, check out the best Xbox 360 games of all time.
