Remember Rebellion? They were a UK based studio that put out some great games, not perfect, but still fun titles over several years. And at the end of the day, what more could you really ask for?
But that’s all changed in recent years, as the developer has released several consecutive turkeys as of late, titles that should have gone straight to the bargain bin. One such game that came out from their studio this year was Neverdead, a title of missed opportunities that skewered my anticipation harder than a Metallica concert.
But it’s not as if Rebellion set out to make a bad game, is it?
“Nobody sets out to make a bad game, but you set out to make the best game you can in constrained circumstances,” Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley told Gamerzines. “The output has not been as good as I’d like it to be.”
Kingsley admitted to critics being correct about their recent output of titles that had failed to set the charts on fire as of late, but also explained that the studio hadn’t exactly been free to create games that lived up to their own standards lately either.
“You have people who go, ‘there’s no excuse, you should never make a crap game’. They have a valid argument, I guess,” Kinglsey said.
You never aim to make a bad game, but sometimes you don’t have the time to make things in the way you’d like. “Other times the game comes out earlier than you were expecting and there’s not a lot you can do about it if you’re a ‘work for hire’ developer. That’s how the job goes.
While previous titles such as Shellshock 2 and Aliens vs Predator received some mixed reviews from critics, it was games such as Rogue Warrior and Neverdead which really hit home just how terrible their work had become as of late, and in an industry that expects consistently high efforts from all studios, it’s amazing that Rebellion is still in business right now.
Currently, the studio is working on finishing Sniper V2 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, which is due in May, a game that has the pre-order bonus of allowing you to kill Hitler if you choose to do so.
“Hopefully we can put the past behind us and talk about our difficult years when we’re doing a retrospective, and move on and talk about the future,” Kingsley said. W
hile I can understand a game studio not being able to develop a title in the direction that they want, there should be some gameplay elements that they are free to improve upon, basic things such as movement, action and being able to play through an entire session without boomeranging your controller out the window.
Essentially, gameplay components that certain Rebellion games have been lacking as of late.
Last Updated: March 26, 2012
