7 Games Designed To Ruin Friendships

Video games have always had a strong multiplayer component. While everyone loves a great singleplayer campaign, the most memorable games are those that you can play with your friends. It doesn’t matter whether they are co-operatives titles or competitive experiences, playing with your closest buddies is the most fun.

Yet, despite all the great times that games can create, some undoubtedly leave you frustrated with your friends. It can even seem like some developers have designed their games specifically to cause arguments between those playing.

Plenty of video games cause disagreements among players. But the very worst offenders can put friendships at risk of breaking up completely.

Here are seven video games that seem designed to ruin friendships. Play them at your own risk. You might walk away the winner but with one less friend.

Mario Kart

Racing games, in general, give players plenty of opportunities to mess with other competitors. However, few of them give users the chance to completely wreck a race quite like Mario Kart. That’s because the series gives you the chance to throw and drop all kinds of items during gameplay. A well-placed banana skin or fireball can do a lot of damage.

Of course, the most dangerous item is the blue shell. Once fired, it tracks down and attacks the person in first place. If timed correctly, it is possible to send somebody from first to last right as they were about to cross the finish line. All kinds of curse words will be shouted out from the rage that such a move induces.

Playing as Oddjob is one of the worst things a friend can do

GoldenEye 007

Rare’s GoldenEye 007 was one of the first true first-person shooter games. When it released in 1997, it became an instant hit and was a hugely popular multiplayer title. This was largely due to the split-screen four-player deathmatch modes. There was only one problem. Somebody would always choose to play as Oddjob.

Anyone picking Oddjob would have a huge advantage as the character was so much shorter than the others. As a result, it was far harder to shoot Oddjob, requiring players to manually aim. Even the developers themselves acknowledged that using this character was akin to cheating. A friend who chose Oddjob would immediately attract criticism from everyone else in the match.

Rock Band

Despite the fact that rhythm games are not as popular as they once were, they can still ruin friendships. The likes of Rock Band and Guitar Hero are made for multiplayer sessions. Jamming out with your friends to your favorite songs is hard to beat.

Yet, what is no fun is when one person is letting the side down. Having to continually restart a track as one player just cannot hit the notes is infuriating. Even more so when you are playing on a lower difficulty setting to give the troublesome friend a better chance.

No one wants to see these words appear on screen when they are losing

Mortal Kombat

Out of all genres, fighting games probably have the longest history in terms of causing arguments. It is not uncommon to see pals argue when one of them spams a particular move or uses powerful combos.

The fast-paced nature of fighting games like Mortal Kombat also means it is possible for a round to end in just a few seconds, thoroughly embarrassing the loser. Even worse, though, is when the opponent uses a gruesome execution move to finish you off. The humiliation has almost certainly led to the end of many friendships.