Your Opinions On Various Video Game Developers

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just like with my thread about opinions on various popular game series, here you can post your opinions on various development studios for games and what you like or don't like about them. Here are the ones that I'll do for now (but you guys can naturally add more to talk about):

Bungie- I never really got into their pre-Halo stuff, but obviously they struck a goldmine with Halo and milked the franchise for years. To their credit, I never played a downright bad Halo game, but my problem is that they slacked off way too much on the single-player gameplay for Halo 2 and 3, and while those are among the only multiplayer games that were good enough for me to legitimately get into, I still prefer a good single player experience to any of that. What I like about their FPS design, though, is that they actually make big open environments that you can capitalize on for strategy, and never seemed to succumb to the "cinematic experience" that most games got watered down to last gen. I haven't played Destiny, but despite its mixed reception, even that game clearly doesn't fall into that trap, either, which if nothing else shows you that Bungie is always good when it comes to level design. I've also always appreciated their enemy AI, as most developers ignore this feature, but it's actually a big deal in making games feel more challenging and engaging.

Remedy- Severely underrated. I consider them to be the best developers of TPS games in the market. They are also among the VERY few developers that can deliver legitimately good stories in games. I find it laughable when critics claim that the stories in games like Gears of War are good. As someone who's played every GOW game to date, I can tell you that they are only good for their unintentional comedy with their horrendously bad dialogue. When it comes to storytelling, though, Remedy actually knows what they're doing. They approach their game stories with the right about of actual serious plot, mixed in with a healthy dose of tounge-in-cheek humor and purposefully hammy dialogue. And in terms of gameplay mechanics, they are unrivaled from any games in the genre, with the lone exception of Vanquish. To this day, the controls for the first 2 Max Payne games remain as precise and responsive as you are likely to find any game in the genre, and Alan Wake is no different in that regard. Easily one of my favorite developers in the medium, and if I ever do buy an XBOX ONE, Quantum Break will be one of the main reasons why (even more so than Scalebound).

Rare:

Nintendo Era- Brilliant. I'd go as far as to argue that they easily rivaled Nintendo's in-house development teams, and even occasionally surpassed them in quality when it came to iconic Nintendo franchises. The DKC games could stand toe-to-toe with any great Mario game (and I say this as someone who is generally a bigger fan of Mario, in the whole, DKC2 aside). While I was never a huge fan of their FPS output, I can still respect Goldeneye and Perfect Dark as great console FPS games for their time, and arguably as important (if not more so) than Halo, in that regard. As for their 3D output, I'm not as well versed, but I like Banjo-Kazooie and have yet to try Tooie. Same with DK64 and CBFD. I did really like the underrated Jet Force Gemini, though. On a side note, Free Radical, which was founded by ex-Rare employees, did an excellent job with their TimeSplitters FPS series, which I personally consider to be better versions of Goldeneye's style of gameplay.

Microsoft Era- Yeah....I feel bad for Rare....way to suck all of the creative talent out of the studio, Microsoft; if they were smarter, they could've used a Rare to create new IPs in the platformer genre to directly complete with Nintendo, but it's Microsoft, so they naturally don't know shit about what gamers would actually care about.

Platinum Games- I never played any of their Clover Studios releases either than a bit of Okami, but as PG, I consider them to be the greatest developer of modern action games in the business. They understand the importance of precise controls and extremely fine-tuned and refined gameplay in a way that most other developers don't. Essentially, this developer is the very embodiment of good game design when it comes to designing mechanically excellent games. Sure, not everything that they put out is gold, but it doesn't have to be, since thanks to the effort they put into each release, every game they make is at least a lot of fun and highly replayable, which is more than you can say for many AAA game from last gen.

Team Ninja:

Itagaki Era- Arguably as good as PG when it came to action games. NGB, NGDS, and NG2 were all excellent games that, despite being in the same series, were all completely different from each other in approach and design, yet also were all mechanically excellent on the same level as any DMC or Bayonetta game. And yes, I enjoyed the DOA series a good deal. No, they weren't perfectly balanced and weren't hardcore fighting games, and that's WHY I liked them so much. More than any other game series, these were always the best for people like me who could only casually get into fighting games and utterly sucked at pulling off insanely hard combos and who didn't have pinpoint timing down to such a high level. Honestly, they were my favorite development team for quite some time.

Hayashi Era- Let's see, not counting re-releases of Itagaki-era games, here's what they've put out so far: Metroid: Other M, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, Ninja Gaiden 3/Razor's Edge, Dead or Alive 5; essentially 2 of those games were utterly despised by longtime fans of each respective franchise, and the 2 DOA games received mixed to like-warm reception at best. Sales-wise, except for Metroid which had a good amount of support from Nintendo fans, every other game that they have made have sold significantly less than most Itagaki-era games. Current Team Ninja blows, and there is just no way around this as long as Hayashi is managing the team.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Bungie: Halo deserved the reception it got. Clever usage of level design, weapon management, and a surprisingly engaging story lead it to be an out of left field classic. Unfortunately they coasted on Halo 2 and 3. The multiplayer in Halo 2 was a remarkable improvement, but the single player fell way short of the original, Halo 3 had potential, until the level design and story fell apart the second the flood showed up, anyway. ODST and Reach, however, showed that there is still a spark of creativity in them that disappointed me that they never took full advantage of. Destiny doesn't interest me at all, so no comment.

Remedy: I've never played a game from them I didn't like. One crucial issue with them-- they don't make enough games. Alan Wake was a lot of fun, but it took nearly the whole generation to come out and didn't have enough meat on it to last much afterwards. That said, they are a talented TPS studio that stands out among so many generic ones.

Rare: Rare is dead. I don't care what a certain Microsoft fanboy from another site says, Microsoft completely mismanaged and killed them. Why Microsoft? Because the games they made after the takeover were not bad games. They just showed no direction from a publishing standpoint. Viva Pinata? Who's the target audience? Grabbed By the Ghoulies? Half-cooked. Perfect Dark Zero? Free Radical must have taken all their FPS devs because this game makes so many mistakes a company with two genre classics shouldn't be making. Nuts & Bolts? This is a niche game in a series that at one time was a million seller, whoever thought making this over a platformer was a good idea is not very good at brand management. The thing is, none of those are bad games (PDZ's single player is, though) proving that the company still had talent, but they lost complete focus. So, yes. Microsoft killed them because they are bad at managing studios. It isn't like this is a new revelation.

Platinum Games: They're not all gold, but maybe a more richer substance? The Wonderful 101 is the type of game Rare would have made back on the N64 if Hideki Kamiya was a director there. Their action games are some of the most intense out there. Their Clover output was more varied, though. Call me when they make a 2D brawler, an arcade influenced deep 3D beat em up or a sprawling adventure game. Third person action games are fun, but they have talent to do more.

Team Ninja: I've only really liked the first two Ninja Gaiden games by them. DOA isn't my thing and the stuff they've done in recent years is pretty embarrassing.

[Foggle]

Uh, Platinum has only made one shooting game.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Uh, Platinum has only made one shooting game.

I meant hack n slash games. It's late.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Here's some more:

Epic Games- The Gears of War series is solid, and I've never really been able to get into the Unreal Tournament franchise, but I know that it's a well respected multiplayer shooter series. That said, they really need to get into something more innovative, rather than churning out the same game with minor upgrades with each new GOW installment. To be fair, they aren't developing those anymore, but still, they are a talented enough team where I'd probably play another game made by them.

Sonic Team- You know, with all of the flak that these guys have gotten over the years, I really be, I really believe that they aren't as bad as people say. Let's get this out of the way: all of the Genesis Sonic games were great. Then they fumbled around with 3D Sonic on the Saturn and arcade with games like Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R, and Sonic the Fighters. They finally got it right with Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, but understandably they couldn't coast on the success of those games for long and had to innovate. Then we got a dark age of really bad Sonic games, but I don't actually hate Sonic Team for this. They had the insanely hard task of having to develop 3D games for a franchise that was honestly never conceived with 3D in mind, and quite frankly doesn't translate that well into 3D (which makes it a miracle that the SA games were as good as they were, to begin with). And then they finally hit a good balance of 3D gameplay mixed in with some classic 2D style design with Sonic Colors, and did the same again with Generations (I have my faults with that game, but if is still well-made, overall). Then they stumbled again with the Wii U Sonic game, but to be fair, they were just trying to innovate rather than rinsing and repeating what they'd already done. They may have a shaky track record, but I still have much more respect for a team that has fewer hits than misses, but really makes each hit count by doing something new and fresh, than a team that plays it safe and does the same thing every time with each new game. Sonic Team honestly deserves more respect and credit than they get, IMO.

Id- I still have more DOOM games to play, but I love the first DOOM and DOOM 3, and Wolfenstein 3D was a good game for its time. I haven't played Rage, but I've heard mixed opinions about it, so it's safe to consider that a fumble. Still, I believe that the team is talented enough to produce more great content.

Valve- I love all of the Half-Life games. I wasn't a big fan of the first Left 4 Dead, but the 2nd game won me over, though I'm still more of a fan of their HL output. Portal was a fun idea, but doesn't have much replay value to it, so it's ultimately kind of forgettable for me, outside of the excellent humor. I never cared for their multiplayer output, as Counterstrike and Team Fortress 2 just aren't my thing. Overall, a really strong development team for single player games, but just make HL3 already.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Uh, Platinum has only made one shooting game.

I meant hack n slash games. It's late.

They are the ONLY company currently making excellent hack n' slash games, and we barely have enough of those (seriously, they've only made 3 in their entire line-up, and that's counting Bayonetta 2). Even so, they still do plenty of creative and original things, as evidenced by games like Mad World, Anarchy Reigns, The Legend of Korra, and The Wonderful 101, so you're still getting the output that you like. So as long as you have that, why would you want them to stop making what they're good at? That'd be a huge blow to people like myself who love that genre.

[Foggle]

Even so, they still do plenty of creative and original things, as evidenced by games like Mad World, Anarchy Reigns, The Legend of Korra, and The Wonderful 101

Don't forget Infinite Space. Also, Metal Gear Rising plays pretty differently from Bayonetta, so even when working within the hack 'n slash genre, they still try to produce something different every time.

I think Id has really gone downhill in recent years. Rage and Doom 3: BFG Edition were both pretty mediocre IMO, and Id Tech 5 is one of my least favorite game engines of all time. While they were an amazing studio back in the day, I have no hope for Doom 4, honestly.

I think Sonic Team is a good development studio that keeps receiving the short end of the stick from their publisher. It's pretty well known at this point that Sonic 06 was completely fucked over by Sega due to egregious budgetary and release scheduling issues, and every game they've made since has been at least competent, though only Generations feels at all polished. Knowing the way Sega treated Platinum over the years (for instance, they refused to give P* any money to develop Anarchy Reigns, so they had to fund it out of pocket), I wouldn't be surprised if Sonic's recent mediocre outings were the result of executive meddling more than anything else.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think Id has really gone downhill in recent years. Rage and Doom 3: BFG Edition were both pretty mediocre IMO, and Id Tech 5 is one of my least favorite game engines of all time. While they were an amazing studio back in the day, I have no hope for Doom 4, honestly.

Well, DOOM 3 BFG edition isn't a new game. It's just a re-release of an older game with a bunch of changes that ultimately made the game worse. I still think that the original version of DOOM 3 was great, personally. Rage is really the only mediocre game that they made, from what I can tell of the game.

[Daxdiv]

Valve- They're one of the few companies that knows how to do Free to Play right. Team Fortress 2 and DOTA 2 are good examples of such F2P, mostly DOTA 2 since it's easier for me to compare it to another games of it's genre like League of Legends. With LoL you only get to play 10 different champions a week and if you want to play someone else, you better have spent money or influence points on them before cause those 10 heroes are your playthings for the entire week. While with DOTA 2, you see all 108 heroes currently in the game? Guess what? You can play as any of these heroes any damn time you want no matter how much you suck at them and the only thing that cost money in this is their hat shop where you can buy clothing and tickets to pro-gaming events you can watch in-game. That and their customization allows for a nice set of good looking heroes, unlike LoL or HoN or that DC MOBA where you only gets skins. That and their humor in the games is pretty smart/clever.

[Foggle]

Well, DOOM 3 BFG edition isn't a new game. It's just a re-release of an older game with a bunch of changes that ultimately made the game worse. I still think that the original version of DOOM 3 was great, personally. Rage is really the only mediocre game that they made, from what I can tell of the game.

Yeah, I love the original Doom 3. BFG Edition is a total hatchet job IMO, and since they haven't released any games at all since 2005 aside from that and Rage, it doesn't give me much hope for the future. Also, seriously, Id Tech 5 is garbage.

[Rynnec]

Arc System Works - Their fighting games are some of the best out there, and they pretty much started/refined the whole "anime fighter" sub-genre. Hard Corps. Uprising was a really great and showed they're more than capable of making solid 2D side-scrolling action games. Why Capcom didn't let them develop the new Strider game I'll never know (not that Double Helix did a bad job, mind you).

Id- Hexen and the DOOM games are awesome, haven't got around to playing any of the Quake games but I'm sure they're good too

I think Id has really gone downhill in recent years. Rage and Doom 3: BFG Edition were both pretty mediocre IMO, and Id Tech 5 is one of my least favorite game engines of all time. While they were an amazing studio back in the day, I have no hope for Doom 4, honestly.

I'd wait til we see some gameplay footage of Doom 4 before abandoning hope. The description that was given from Quakecon makes it sound a lot like Brutal Doom, and that can only be a good thing, IMO.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Team Ninja is the greatest studio still making hack n slash games. I thought that was obvious. 

Valve is in a tough spot right now. They either have to finally make a game with a 3 in the title or make a new series. Both are things they'd most likely rather close than do. 

[Foggle]

Valve makes excellent games, but they're also perfectionists. Couple that with the fact that many of their resources are currently being allocated to the Steam software, OS, and console, and their commitment to supporting their F2P titles, and it makes sense why we haven't seen Source 2 or Half-Life 3 yet. And why they're probably still at least five years from release.

[gunswordfist]

i agree with rynnec, doom 4 sounds awesome. this thread also reminds me that i need to catch up on some fpses. i played a bad xbox port of a quake game and just demoes for portal, doom 3 and half-life 2.