Grabbed By The Ghoulies - Grasped

Thanks to GameSpot for their updated impressions of Rare's Grabbed By The Ghoulies, following the Xbox title's mixed reception at E3. The article suggests: "While the game features a pretty basic old-school beat-'em-up mechanic that's easy to pick up, there's a bit more to it", and goes on to conclude: "We're a bit disappointed to see that it doesn't have any multiplayer support, but any game that has a level featuring vampire chickens is clearly doing something right." Will this title go any further towards answering the eternal 'Have Rare lost it?' conundrum?

Comments

Re:Rare never had it

[Mike Mentalist]

What, apart from the fact that they were the darlings of the Spectrum back when they were called Ultimate Play the Game you mean?

People who say that Rare have lost it aren't looking at the whole picture. When they first went from developing for the Spectrum to the NES they had lots of employees leave and everyone said the same thing about them back then.

Rare have been making quality games for YEARS, and many of their titles for the N64 were superb - Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64.

Every developer releases 'bad eggs', but that doesn't mean they are going down the pan at all.

Re:Rare never had it

[mausmalone]

Well, Rare had "it," but sadly, that was during the N64 era. DKC was sweet, and Battletoads, but Goldeneye is what really made them. Banjo Kazooie was a lot of fun (until you realized it was all about collecting puzzle pieces... snooze). Conker BFD was amazing. Perfect Dark was extremely cool. Heck, even Jet Force Gemini was a good-yet-ugly game. Star Fox Adventures was even reasonable (but again, once you realized you were just collecting stuff, it was pretty pointless). Both Killer Instinct games still hold up today (at least the arcade versions).

So Rare definitely had "it," but they have a very distinct style, and not all people like it. Even if they make good games, there's a portion of the gaming public who looks at their stuff and goes "well, it's just not for me." Still, like Nintendo said when they ended the partnership... huge investment, little return. Mostly due to extremely long development cycles.