What People Said About the Terrible Game the NRA Made Six Years Ago

Welcome back to “Backhanded Box Quotes,” a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere on the Internet.

Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s No. 1 mouthpiece, emerged from Oz’s curtain this morning to condemn the worst video games of American culture. Funny, the NRA made one itself: NRA Gun Club, released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2. Here’s what people said at the time.

https://lastchance.cc/the-nras-absolutely-unhinged-response-to-newtown-condem-5970484%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

NRA Gun Club

Critic: Brian (Metacritic)

• “I’ll give it an overwhelming thumbs down.”

Score: 2.

Critic: GamesRadar

• “The feeling you get from holding an actual weapon in your hand might grant some intoxicating sense of power, putting as it does the power to end a life in your hands. Of course, the same could be said of a hammer.”

• “NRA Gun Club may be useful for demystifying gun ownership for wannabe weekend warriors, but it sure as hell doesn’t qualify as much of a game.”

Score: 2.

Critic: Ian Nelson (Amazon)

• “Perhaps one of the single most horrendous games to ever come from a third-rate game creator.”

• “NRA Gun Club could very well be the single worst game in the history of games.”

• “This game is pure garbage, and Crave Entertainment should be as ashamed of itself as I am.”

Score: 1 star.

Critic: Jeff Gerstmann (then of GameSpot)

• “Absolutely pure in its devotion to awfulness.” (Note: This was the lone bullet point under the heading “The Good.”)

• “This is the sort of hastily slapped-together game that should have been a free bonus for subscribing to the NRA newsletter or something.”

• “Most textbooks are more entertaining.”

• “This game promotes violence—you’re bound to rip the disc out of your PlayStation 2 and fling it across the room almost immediately after putting it in.”

• “Since the game doesn’t let you reload the weapons or press the safety, you don’t learn much.”

• “NRA Gun Club’s awful gameplay and presentation make it an effective though unintended antigun message: Guns are boring.”

Score: 1.6

Critic: GarrisonO. (Metacritic)

• “This game completely sucks!!!”

Score: 2

Backhanded Box Quotes will be an occasional feature of Kotaku’s Anger Management, unless it isn’t.