Game developers are no more immune to the realities of business than any other commercial operation. For one reason or another, sometimes even some of the best simply can't survive. There's something to be said about going out on a high, however. Here are five studios who managed a last hurrah worth a round of applause.
God Hand, directed by renowned Resident Evil designer Shinji Mikami, is a wacky cocktail of hardcore beat ’em up sensibilities, surf rock, and oddball slapstick comedy that remains a cult hit to this day. The only thing that could’ve made this game more Japanese is if it was only available in vending machines.
Players step up to the plate as Gene, a drifter who awakens one day to find one of the two legendary God Hands attached to his arm in place of his own. Gene must use the power of the God Hand to prevent a posse of demons called The Four Devas from successfully resummoning a demon lord who enslaved mankind centuries ago. It’s probably worth pointing out everyone’s dressed like they’re apocalypse survivors and the only clothing they could find left on the planet was from the wreckage of a horrible head-on crash between a bus full of glam rockers and a bus full of S&M sex fiends.
Oh, and it has chihuahua racing.
Clover Studio, officially founded in 2004, was designed to be a semi-autonomous operation focusing on creating and developing new IPs. Clover developed Viewtiful Joe 2, Okami, and God Hand.
Unfortunately, while Okami became a critical darling it did not meet sales expectations. God Hand, which was also largely well-received, was a commercial fizzer too. Capcom subsequently attempted to merge the studio back into their internal R&D but, after a series of high-profile resignations in late 2006, Capcom instead decided to dissolve the studio.
In the face of the kind of franchise fatigue beginning to set in on Assassin’s Creed, The Saboteur arguably stands up even better today than it did upon release. Part GTA: Occupied Paris, part Assassin’s Creed: WWII, The Saboteur is an open-world, stealth/action game that remains surprisingly unique, even more than three years on.
Players become hard-drinking, chain-smoking, dynamite-toting, fist-flinging Irishman Sean Devlin. Devlin, who lives in a hidden room in the back of a Parisian strip club and must jog through a gauntlet of exposed breasts every time he leaves, has a beef with the Nazis and is committed to leaving a trail of dead ones all over the French capital.
The hook with The Saboteur was its fantastic art direction which saw colour become a key component of the gameplay. The heavily-stylised areas of Paris were black-and-white (with splashes of red) until Devlin weakened the Nazis in each area sufficiently enough to inspire the civilians to push back against the invaders.
Fun was more important than historical accuracy here; the fortified Paris (patrolled from above by Nazi airships) looked like it had been inspired more by old Commando comic books than textbooks.
Unfortunately it was Pandemic Studios’ final title. An Australian/American developer with offices in Brisbane, Australia and Los Angeles, California, Pandemic was founded back in 1998. It became an EA-owned developer in 2008. Sadly, the Brisbane office was shuttered in February 2009 and later that year Pandemic was closed down entirely.
Described as Mario Kart meets The Running Man, Split/Second is a racing game hinged around a fictional reality television show where racers compete on highly-destructible circuits.
In this case, the destructible circuits were the ace up Split/Second’s oil-soaked sleeve. Players could trigger shortcuts and obstacles ahead of themselves that would not only wreck opponents, but also open up entirely new segments of track. This meant, depending on what “powerplays” were remotely triggered, no two races on the same circuit would necessarily have to be the same.
On paper, Black Rock Studio only officially developed two games: Pure and Split/Second. However, the UK studio was actually founded in 1998 as Pixel Planet before being acquired by Climax Group in 1999 and renamed Climax Brighton. It was renamed again in 2004 (Climax Racing) before being acquired by Buena Vista Games in 2006 and later rechristened Black Rock Studio.
Despite positive reviews for both the excellent Pure and Split/Second, neither found a huge audience. Plans for sequels were scuttled and the studio was shut in 2011.
Blue Tongue’s de Blob 2 may not have hit the same peaks and the excellent original but it was still a charming, all-ages platformer that retained the humour, addictive gameplay and adorable art direction of its forebear.
As before, the INKT Corporation has drained all colour from the city and has turned its inhabitants into soulless drones. Once again it’s up to Blob and the members of the Colour Underground to paint the whole place back to normal.
Blue Tongue, a Melbourne, Australia developer founded in 1995, was acquired by THQ in November 2004. In August 2011 it was one of several studios shut down by THQ as the publisher’s financial strife worsened.
Darksiders II, like its predecessor, has been accused of being derivative. However, like the original Darksiders this sequel wears its influences with respect and successfully fuses quality combat with deep RPG elements.
Darksiders focused on War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Darksiders II sees his brother Death at the helm, who is on a quest to erase the crime War is being accused of: unleashing the apocalypse on humanity.
Vigil Games, based in Austin, Texas, was founded in part by comic artist Joe Madureira and owned by THQ. When things went pear-shaped for THQ, the bulk of THQ studios were auctioned off as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Sadly, Vigil itself received no bids and failed to find a new owner.
Can you think of any other suitable epitaphs from your favourite former studios? Let us know below.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can find him on IGN here or on Twitter @MrLukeReilly, or chat with him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.
Source : ign[dot]com
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