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There are certain companies in the video game industry who receive much
more credit and critical acclaim than they deserve. Over the years, I have
become increasingly sick and tired of hearing these companies praised by
other video game web sites and magazines, despite the fact that they suck.
So, without further ado, let's take a look at who these over-rated game
developers are.
LucasArts
Just about every video game magazine from coast to coast praises
LucasArts. These magazines certainly don't praise LucasArts because their
games are released in a timely fashion and are of high quality, they praise
LucasArts because they are hardcore Star Wars geeks who would never bash
anything Star Wars-related. LucasArts has released some good games in the
past, like Jedi Knight. But it seems that for every Jedi Knight LucasArts
release, there are several mediocre or just plain crappy games (like
Rebellion, Masters of Teras Kasi, Shadows of the Empire, and Rebel Assault).
Plus, LucasArts almost never releases their products on time, which is
OK if the product that is finally delivered is awesome, but it shouldn't
take them years to produce mediocre games with the Star Wars license
slapped on them.
Psygnosis
Yes, Psygnosis sucks. I repeat: Psygnosis sucks. Psygnosis was
immediately thrust into the 32-bit limelight after the release of
Destruction Derby and Wipeout for the PlayStation in 1995. While Wipeout's
control was way too jerky for my liking (Wipeout XL was much better), I
loved Destruction Derby as much as the next guy. After that, everything
seemed to go downhill for Psygnosis.
Make no mistake about it, Psygnosis knows how to make some good-looking
games, both on the PlayStation and the PC. But all too often, there isn't
enough fun to back up the graphics, and without fun, what's the point of
playing the game? Games like Shadow Master, and to a lesser extent,
G-Police, looked fine and dandy, but just weren't that fun to play.
Destruction Derby 2 was not as well-received by the press as the original
game, and rightfully so.
And then there is festering piece of crap after festering piece of crap
that Psygnosis has been slipping on the market in the past year. How many
of you would like to sit down for a day and play nothing but Chronicles of
the Sword, Rascal, Rosco McQueen and Spice World? I'm guessing not many of
you, because all of these games suck in a big way, and all of them are
published by Psygnosis. It's time that Psygnosis be bashed for what it is-
a shell of its former self.
Core Design/Eidos Interactive
As you can tell by reading my Tomb Raider 2 Review, I hate Tomb Raider.
I've hated Tomb Raider since it was first released in 1996, and the
mainstream magazines and web sites are just starting to partake in a little
Tomb Raider bashing now that it is being shamefully re-hashed for a second
time with TR3.
I would be willing to forgive Core and Eidos if their non-TR franchises
were any good, but most of them stink. Fighting Force is a decent game
because it is incredibly fun at first, but the gameplay is so repetitive
that before too long it will put you to sleep. Deathtrap Dungeon is an
embarassment to video games, a game that Eidos finally released after
delaying for months. Ninja is a game that has also been delayed endlessly,
and it's even worse than Deathtrap Dungeon. After all the previews,
all the press releases, all the interviews about Ninja being different than
everyone expected, about how the extra year of development would make it
such a great game, it just makes it all the more frustrating that the game
still sucks.
Acclaim
Everyone agreed that Acclaim sucked back in the 16-bit days, but all
this talk of a "new Acclaim" that only releases high-quality games is
making me sick. Even if you're willing to forgive Acclaim for such 16-bit
disasters as Batman Forever and countless others, can you ignore the fact
that Acclaim still slips the occasional stinker onto the unsuspecting
public? The PlayStation conversion of X-Men: Children of the Atom ran so
slow that Acclaim should be ashamed of itself. The Artificial Intelligence
in NFL Quarterback Club '98 would be put to shame by a slow-witted chimp.
And we all know what a quality product Fantastic Four was. All of this BS
about a "new Acclaim" is pure drivel. It's still the same old evil Acclaim.
Nintendo
Nintendo definitely doesn't suck, but they take too long to release
games, and they have released some poor games recently (like Yoshi's Story).
Most of Nintendo's games rock when they are eventually released (even if
most of them seem to be targeted towards six-year-olds), but are they worth
an extra year or two wait? Usually, the answer is no.
Capcom
Capcom doesn't suck either, but they have released way too many
re-hashes over the years for it not to mentioned here. It would be an
understatement to say that the people at Capcom are the masters of the
re-hash. It's a shame, too, because Capcom has shown that they can produce
hot and fresh games at will, games like Street Fighter 2 and Resident Evil.
But rather than further innovating game genres which they helped create,
they choose to re-release pre-established hits with a few minor
enhancements, and they do it time and time again.
Mega Man has suffered through years of un-interesting re-hashes before
finally being given a polygonal face-lift this year. Street Fighter 2 was
great, but the Street Fighter franchise could have done without SF2 Turbo,
SF2 Championship Edition, Super SF2, Super SF2 Turbo, SF Alpha, SF Alpha 2,
SF Alpha 3, and so on. The gaming public wanted Street Fighter 3, and they
wanted it to take the next big step and be fully polygonal. Instead, years
after the demand for it peaked, Street Fighter 3 was finally released in
the same old 2D form (a new sub-series called Street Fighter EX is the only
place to find 3D Street Fighter action).
And what the heck is going on with the Resident Evil franchise? I could
tolerate Resident Evil: Director's Cut to tide me over in the gap between
RE1 and RE2, but enough is enough. Now Capcom is re-hashing both RE1 and
RE2 (again) with special Dual Shock-compatible versions. Whoop-de-freakin-
do! When will Capcom give the public want they want? We want a whole new
game, not re-hashes of old games. The sooner Capcom realizes this, the
better off we will all be.
Midway
Midway is the master of mediocre games and horrible re-hashes. Midway
always manages to take a decent series and ruin it with re-hash after
re-hash. Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2 were great fun when they first
came out, but the series is as good as dead from a quality standpoint after
MK3, UMK3, MK Trilogy, MK4, and the biggest piece of crap of them all, MK
Mythologies: Sub Zero.
It's bad enough to re-hash a series that started out as entertaining,
but re-hashing a series that started out mediocre is another crime entirely.
Wayne Gretzky Hockey (or whatever the heck it is officially called) for the
N64 wasn't a bad hockey game, but it wasn't a very good one, either. Still,
Midway could have significantly improved it and it could have been a series
to be reckoned with. Instead, Gretzky '98 was virtually identical to the
original. And then Midway even had the nerve to release the same game for
the third time, this time with the Winter Olympics license.
Most of Midway's games are unspectacular, unoriginal, uninspiring games
like Off Road Challenge, making Midway one of the first companies I thought
of for this list.
989 Studios (formerly Sony Interactive Studios America or SISA)
I have always refrained from bashing 989 in the past due to the fact
that I love the original NFL GameDay, GameDay '97, and GameDay '98 so very,
very much. Now, after 989 somehow screwed up a classic game and released
it as GameDay '99 (read my review here), there's nothing holding me back
from giving this company the bashing it now deserves.
Even when GameDay was on top of the football game market (which it no
longer is in terms of both quality and sales), EA still always had the best
sports lineup overall. 989's NHL Face Off was never that good, especially
after they screwed it up with the Icon gimmick. NBA Shoot Out could never
lace NBA Live's boots, especially after they screwed it up with the Icon
gimmick. And MLB has never done anything to separate itself from the
hordes of boring baseball games on the market. Unless NFL GameDay 2000
restores the series to its former glory, I have lost all respect for 989
Studios.
The way to stop these game developers is to simply not buy their
products. You certainly shouldn't avoid buying a good game just because it
happens to be from Acclaim or Midway, but the last thing we, the game-
buying public, should do is reward these companies by buying millions of
copies of their latest mediocre Star Wars game or Mortal Kombat re-hash.
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com