I saw this post on Bluesky and was in the middle of quoting it and thought - why not make a blog post out of something like this instead?

Generally speaking, I don’t make much habit of hate playing a game. There was a period of time where I was less discerning and a made it further in games I wasn’t enjoying, and that’s just sunk cost fallacy without realizing in my youth (where I had more free time anyway). But these days, I’m better about turning away a game that I can tell I’m not enjoying. Usually it results in wasted money, but better than wasting money AND time.

Altogether though, I can’t think of many games where I actually rolled credits despite hating it. I do have one in recent memory though, which makes it my first pick for “worst game I ever rolled credits on”, and that is The Sims Bustin’ Out for the Game Boy Advance.

I had this game as a kid and liked it then, but never got very far. Then, at some point, I lost it - one of the few games I ever lost, perhaps even the only one.

Feeling that this was unresolved and because I was nostalgic for it, I bought it a couple years ago and played it on my Analogue Pocket. I was determined to finish it after being mad that I lost it. But the game is grindy and not all that fun. I finished it and tossed it on the shelf, no revisiting that one.

For more details on the specific complaints I had, I posted this on Backloggd back when I finished the game:

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This game is nonsense.

I originally started this game around the time it came out, and enjoyed it, but lost my copy. Fast forward to recently and I was able to grab a new copy and start anew. I was determined to finish this game, having lost it before but still retaining some nostalgia for it. I’d have been better off finishing it back then.

First off, the game is done in an isometric style. I’ve decided I don’t like when I have to play isometric with a d-pad, there’s way too much diagonal running so it always feels like you’re fighting with the directions. But the problems don’t stop there. 

A heavy portion of the game is based on social interactions. This is The Sims after all, but without building, so all you have is: 

• social interactions
• keeping needs satisfied

These 2 things work against each other. The social interactions are limited to 3-4 random options you can choose from at a time, some of which are either good or bad depending on what the person you’re talking to likes or hates. You have to pick these and remember which ones each character appreciates. The responses are generic based on the response type, so you’re not getting anything interesting here. Also, the phrases you pick from are very early 2000s cringe and sometimes even problematic. So none of this is fun (save for some of the Sim vocal sounds which are nostalgic and amusing sometimes) and you have to do a ton of it. 

You’ll spend a lot of time building up relationships, but you’ll be constantly interrupted because you can’t socialize if any of your needs are too low! Of course they decrease while socializing also, so many conversations are halted because you have to pee, or you’re tired of standing, or you haven’t showered. So you have to then run around the map to find where you can refill these needs, but once you get to that point you might as well turn in because if you just fix one and go back to chatting, your next need is soon to follow no doubt.

Adding on top of all that, the game is mission-based, which prompts a lot of this need to socialize, but finding who you need to talk to can be a big chore. Think of Stardew, except the only way you know what day of the week it is is to count up from Monday being Day 1. No weekday indicator (even though the concept is built into the actions of the sims you meet), and no fancy wiki like Stardew has to check which is what. I only made it through this game with the help of ancient gamefaqs forum posts and guides because it’s a whole job to keep track of any of it yourself. And sometimes sims just aren’t on the map, so you can’t even find them. The phone in game is how you can find where people are (if they’re there) but it always says they’ll be at that spot for awhile even if they’re about to leave.

Fortunately, there’s a money cheat you can buy from a secret ninja. You have to meet them in one specific hour on either Friday or Monday, and it’s a different hour and different spot on each of those days, so I had to cross reference a list of days that are either Monday or Friday and check their time. A mess, but it got me $5000 each time so it saved a ton of BS. 

There’re jobs in the game that you can make money doing. They’re subpar minigames at best, but acceptable. Too much grinding for money though, so I was glad to have the cheat and only do the minigames when the missions required a certain level in those jobs.

And then there’s the ending. I won’t even bother explaining it here, check YouTube if you want, but suffice it to say that the ending is basically nothing. Amusing perhaps, but not worth the annoying grind of getting there.

Don’t play this.