This is less a hall of shame then a single horrid example of when a developer's attempt to make the world realistic via use of physics goes horribly wrong. Trespasser, a game using the Jurassic Park license, is notorious for being nearly unplayable because of its simulated physics.

The hype on the internet for the game was extremely high. Touted as the first 3D game to make extensive use of realistic physics, and featuring what were at the time pretty amazing graphics, the game was a severe disappointment.

The biggest problem is that the physics GET IN THE WAY OF HAVING FUN. Rule #1 about videogames is that anything you add should be done for same of fun. If better physics make the game more immersive and therefore more fun, then so be it. But if they make the game tedious and horrible, as in the case of Trespasser, it doesn't matter how revolutionary or how accurate they are. Mario wouldn't have been more fun if Mario could only jump a realistic distance and could not change the trajectory of his jump in flight.

This quote from GameSpot's Trespasser Review sums things up pretty well: "Trespasser boasts a realistic and powerful physics-based engine. Knock a barrel over and it will roll and tumble according to the direction and strength of your push. But the designers went overboard with the physics. Everything is governed meticulously by the physics engine, and that complicates even the simplest puzzles needlessly. Even the most basic puzzles, such as stacking boxes to get from low to high ground, take more than a fair share of minutes to complete, as you have to be careful not to touch a box the wrong way lest you topple your carefully constructed box staircase. If you do end up inadvertently messing up your puzzle in progress, you will have to spend even more time rearranging all the boxes. Pretty soon, a puzzle that should only take half a minute has absorbed five minutes of your time. Now multiply that by the ridiculous number of box-stacking puzzles, and you arrive at hours of tedious box pushing and pulling. In many instances, you will wish that Dreamworks had abstracted portions of the game's physics."

What's worse is that the game attempts to make you simulate the movements of your own in-game arms with the mouse and keys. This was so incredibly frusterating. Anoter entertaining quote from the same GameSpot review: "Well, the arm looks ridiculous, and you can get it to bend in sickening ways that no human would be able to bear. It's also absolutely ludicrous the lengths the designers force you to go through to pick up an object. Yes, it's realistic, but it sure as hell isn't fun having to jut out your hand at every object and then hit two keys while maneuvering your arm to the precise point to pick it up. Half the time, I ended up pushing the object around like some drooling idiot instead of picking it up."

Perhaps the designers of Trespasser should have boned up skeleton restraints, as discussed in the Ragdoll Physics page. Or perhaps they should have just realized that the most amazing programming in the world can't save a game that just plain sucks.