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What 1 developer have left the biggest impression on you this gen?
- Thread starter Andrew2
- Start date
GitarooMan
Member
For me, Ubisoft
- Splinter Cell series
- Prince of Persia series
- Beyond Good and Evil
and many more. I really feel like they stepped up and became a top-tier developer this gen.
- Splinter Cell series
- Prince of Persia series
- Beyond Good and Evil
and many more. I really feel like they stepped up and became a top-tier developer this gen.
Intelligent Systems. I had hardly heard of them in 2001, but I love them now. PM2, FE, and AW are all fantastic games.
Honorable mentions:
Bioware. Never played a single game from them before last year, but MDK2 is awesome, KOTOR is a favorite from this gen, and Jade Empire was.. fun.
Sega. Sort of a double-edged sword. First time owning a system of theirs this gen, and the DC was full of awesome fun games (Skies, Crazy Taxi, JGR). Too bad they crapped out afterwards.
Rockstar. Even though I don't care much for Vice City, GTA III was really revolutionary, and San Andreas was great.
Naughty Dog. For the wrong reasons.
aaaaand
Insomniac. For their turnaround from the shittacular Spyro to R&C in the platformer genre.
Honorable mentions:
Bioware. Never played a single game from them before last year, but MDK2 is awesome, KOTOR is a favorite from this gen, and Jade Empire was.. fun.
Sega. Sort of a double-edged sword. First time owning a system of theirs this gen, and the DC was full of awesome fun games (Skies, Crazy Taxi, JGR). Too bad they crapped out afterwards.
Rockstar. Even though I don't care much for Vice City, GTA III was really revolutionary, and San Andreas was great.
Naughty Dog. For the wrong reasons.
aaaaand
Insomniac. For their turnaround from the shittacular Spyro to R&C in the platformer genre.
Comfort_Eagle
Banned
Sucker Punch! They just kick ass.
Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
How many favorite, top hit developer threads we going to have?
I mean, Rockstar.
I mean, Rockstar.
Basilisco V.
Member
Team ICO
Konami
Rockstar
Capcom
Konami
Rockstar
Capcom
Doom_Bringer
Banned
1! NAMCO Ace Combat 4 pwnz bitches! Hiroyuki Ichiyanagi is awesome!Best game on PS2. Tekken, SoulCalibur, Katmari Damacy!! Namco ownz PS2
Others..
Dice Sweden: I just fucking love the Battlefield series especially BF1942, pure AAA developer!
Ubisoft Splinter Cell and Beyond Good and Evil are some of my favourite games this gen. Just beat Splinter Cell Chaos Theory a couple of days ago and that was AAA as well.
Sony This gen they weren't as good as they were last gen. Syphon Filter was a great series but SF PS2 totally sucked. But they have made some great series this gen, I loved God of War, Ico , and the Jak series.
Bungie Halo rules
Value HL2 might not have any replay value but its still a great game
Star Breeze Enclave was decent but Chronicles of Riddick was AAA
Bioware KOTOR is the best RPG of this gen.
Team Kojima MGS1, MGS2, MGS3 and ZOE2 all awesome games. I love the MGS series.
Criterion Burnout rules and Black looks awesome.
Io Interactive - Hitman Contract, Hitman Silent Assasin and Freedom Fighter, all kick ass games. Hitman is the best stealth series ever IMO!
Rockstar GTA series rules. Vice City was awesome.
Total disappointing developers
Square Enix! WTF happened? They made many great games last gen
Rockstar- GTA3 is what I expected from GTA2. (gosh, was I dissapointed to find out it was a shitty top-down 2d game)
Polyphony- GT4 is the best racing game I've played this gen, but Polyphony left quite an impression when they pulled online play from GT4. They'll never be held in the same light again.
Polyphony- GT4 is the best racing game I've played this gen, but Polyphony left quite an impression when they pulled online play from GT4. They'll never be held in the same light again.
GitarooMan
Member
Musashi Wins! said:
I see what you saying, but I sort of took this thread to mean developers who sort of surprised you (in a good or bad way) or maybe stepped up their game from last gen, not necessarily the 'best' or "favorite" developer of the gen. But I didn't make the thread, so I am might be taking it wrong...
ironichaos
Member
Retro Studios
Kabuki Waq
Member
i bought alot of ubisoft games last gen.
but they really started to drop the ball with their last couplf of games.
Also Capcom was again a huge factor cause of all teh 2d fighting an GOTG re4.
but they really started to drop the ball with their last couplf of games.
Also Capcom was again a huge factor cause of all teh 2d fighting an GOTG re4.
single development team: Rockstar North. They weren't necessarily my favorite but they left the biggest mark on this generation.
Publisher overall: I guess SCEA. Ico/SotC, God of War, the platform games, Gran Turismo, etc. had a lot of quality across a variety of categories. Too bad about the first party sports games, but I guess EA world domination was inevitable considering how much those games mean to their company.
Publisher overall: I guess SCEA. Ico/SotC, God of War, the platform games, Gran Turismo, etc. had a lot of quality across a variety of categories. Too bad about the first party sports games, but I guess EA world domination was inevitable considering how much those games mean to their company.
Doom_Bringer said:
Although I wouldn't put Sony in the developers I'm most impressed with list, I have to firmly disagree with this. Last gen Sony was nearly uniformly awful. This gen, Sony has created so many high quality gems in so many different genres that it's astonishing the improvement imo.
Bungie - Halo series is my most played game this generation, such awesome gameplay and great replay value..
Criterion - Burnout is awesome, and Black is looking great.
Starbreeze - Haven't played their games before, but Chronicles of Riddick was an amazing game, I am looking forward to The Darkness now.
Ubisoft - I thought they were a pretty average developer before this gen (I only really like Rayman) but they are really stepped up. SC, PoP, BG&E, Far Cry, BiA, King Kong...
Criterion - Burnout is awesome, and Black is looking great.
Starbreeze - Haven't played their games before, but Chronicles of Riddick was an amazing game, I am looking forward to The Darkness now.
Ubisoft - I thought they were a pretty average developer before this gen (I only really like Rayman) but they are really stepped up. SC, PoP, BG&E, Far Cry, BiA, King Kong...
Doom_Bringer
Banned
Amir0x said:
But I loved Syphon Filter and they killed Syphon Filter this gen. And I don't care if you would put them on your list or not.
Bauer Action Hour
Member
ItÂ’s pretty hard for me to narrow it down to one.
Insomniac for making R&C. I didn't think I'd ever like a mascot/platformer again after the debacles Mario and Sonic turned out to be in 3D (IMO, don't bitch). I'm so glad I listened to the praise GAF heaped on R&C:GC, since it's one of my favorite games this gen, along w/ the series.
Bioware for Kotor (and JE to a lesser extent). Kotor changed the way I look at RPGs, w/ its branching dialog trees and morality choices (excellent voice acting too).
Rockstar North. GTA. Enough said.
Sega for some great DC games. Skies of Arcadia I particularly enjoyed since it had one of my favorite settings in a game ever, along w/ a lot of charm. PSO was as addictive as any game IÂ’ve played before it or since. Those were great games in their time, too bad Sega's been a disaster since.
Insomniac for making R&C. I didn't think I'd ever like a mascot/platformer again after the debacles Mario and Sonic turned out to be in 3D (IMO, don't bitch). I'm so glad I listened to the praise GAF heaped on R&C:GC, since it's one of my favorite games this gen, along w/ the series.
Bioware for Kotor (and JE to a lesser extent). Kotor changed the way I look at RPGs, w/ its branching dialog trees and morality choices (excellent voice acting too).
Rockstar North. GTA. Enough said.
Sega for some great DC games. Skies of Arcadia I particularly enjoyed since it had one of my favorite settings in a game ever, along w/ a lot of charm. PSO was as addictive as any game IÂ’ve played before it or since. Those were great games in their time, too bad Sega's been a disaster since.
SonicMegaDrive
Member
Hmm.
I guess UbiSoft and Midway.
I used to think they were pretty subpar companies(for the most part), but they've both drastically improved.
Props to both.
I guess UbiSoft and Midway.
I used to think they were pretty subpar companies(for the most part), but they've both drastically improved.
Props to both.
Alcibiades
Member
Retro studios...
They did justice to a series very hard to live up to and created, despite drastic change to 3-d, a masterpiece on their first published project.
It's amazing that this team came out of nowhere and somehow through all the trouble and layoffs and shaky start, that they accomplished this is amazing...
of course it was co-produced with Nintendo developers in Japan, but even so it was no doubt a surprise to many gamers who grumbled about the change to 3-d and worried about Nintendo entrusting the franchise to a start-up US company...
They did justice to a series very hard to live up to and created, despite drastic change to 3-d, a masterpiece on their first published project.
It's amazing that this team came out of nowhere and somehow through all the trouble and layoffs and shaky start, that they accomplished this is amazing...
of course it was co-produced with Nintendo developers in Japan, but even so it was no doubt a surprise to many gamers who grumbled about the change to 3-d and worried about Nintendo entrusting the franchise to a start-up US company...
SCEI Production Studio 1 (aka Team ICO), hands down. Ueda is a motherfuckin' genius, and now that I've experienced the utter brilliance of SotC, I can say with confidence he now rivals Kojima as the greatest developer working today.
Others that I've been extremely impressed with this gen:
Kojima Productions - No explanation needed; MGS2 and MGS3 are simple perfection, ZOE2 packs a visual bravado yet matched and MGA is a definite underrated gem. MGA2 GET!
Polyphony Digital - Just when I thought GT3 was car-splooging flawlessness, Kaz hits us with GT4, the greatest driving/racing/car game ever made.
Level-5 - Came out of nowhere and blew us away with DC2 and DQVIII; Rogue Galaxy looks to be even better too.
Harmonix - Frequency and especially Amplitude still remain two of the most underrated games released this gen.
Others that I've been extremely impressed with this gen:
Kojima Productions - No explanation needed; MGS2 and MGS3 are simple perfection, ZOE2 packs a visual bravado yet matched and MGA is a definite underrated gem. MGA2 GET!
Polyphony Digital - Just when I thought GT3 was car-splooging flawlessness, Kaz hits us with GT4, the greatest driving/racing/car game ever made.
Level-5 - Came out of nowhere and blew us away with DC2 and DQVIII; Rogue Galaxy looks to be even better too.
Harmonix - Frequency and especially Amplitude still remain two of the most underrated games released this gen.
Sathsquatch
Member
Bungie: I was actually pretty hostile towards the Xbox when it first came out, but I bought one because I knew that a lot of Sega games were coming out for it. I heard Halo was good, so I bought it (I didn't even know Bungie made Halo until well after I had started the game).
When I first played the game with my brother, we said that we both thought it was okay but nothing special because we were both Nintendo fanboys at the time. Two days later, we talked about the game again and we both admitted that we thought the game was unbelieveably good.
I play through Halo on Legendary about three times every year, and I never get tired of it. I learn new tactics and combat techniques each and every time I go through the campaign. Halo on Legendary in Co-op mode is about as good as gaming gets. I love this game far, far more than any other game this generation.
Ion Storm (whichever one Warren Spector worked at): I don't know if Deus Ex counts as a current generation game, but they made a PS2 version so I'm counting it as part of this generation.
Deus Ex blows my mind. The gameplay options open to the player, the incredibly rich mythology that combines various conspiracy theories into a coherent fictional world, and the fact that so many of the player's actions had geniune and broad reaching consequences. This game is easily amongst the best PC games ever created.
What really impresses me about this game is how it really makes the case of how video games can be an artform and not a mere diversion. The game is politically relevant, and it makes many insightful points about Globalization, politics, and technology. Players could have a discussion on political systems with a bartender in Hong Kong and a discussion on human nature with a computer AI in a secret lab in France. The game provided so many valid points of view on its themes that each view can be seen as perfectly valid. The game how games can be artistically expressive in ways other mediums cannot by asking the player to make a decision based on the arguments that the player has been hearing throughout the game.
Retro Studios: I don't know how Metroid Prime is possible. Say whatever you like about the controls, the game world is simply amazing. Each single room is so masterfully crafted and unique. Each area is extremely functional in that its really fun to play around in, but each area is also visually stunning. I don't know how they made such a large game world and packed in so much detail.
Metroid Prime's boss fights rock hard. A number of games this generation have had amazing boss battles, but none of them impress me quite as much as the MP bosses.
Capcom: VJ, DMC 1 & 3, and RE4 are all incredible.
When I first played the game with my brother, we said that we both thought it was okay but nothing special because we were both Nintendo fanboys at the time. Two days later, we talked about the game again and we both admitted that we thought the game was unbelieveably good.
I play through Halo on Legendary about three times every year, and I never get tired of it. I learn new tactics and combat techniques each and every time I go through the campaign. Halo on Legendary in Co-op mode is about as good as gaming gets. I love this game far, far more than any other game this generation.
Ion Storm (whichever one Warren Spector worked at): I don't know if Deus Ex counts as a current generation game, but they made a PS2 version so I'm counting it as part of this generation.
Deus Ex blows my mind. The gameplay options open to the player, the incredibly rich mythology that combines various conspiracy theories into a coherent fictional world, and the fact that so many of the player's actions had geniune and broad reaching consequences. This game is easily amongst the best PC games ever created.
What really impresses me about this game is how it really makes the case of how video games can be an artform and not a mere diversion. The game is politically relevant, and it makes many insightful points about Globalization, politics, and technology. Players could have a discussion on political systems with a bartender in Hong Kong and a discussion on human nature with a computer AI in a secret lab in France. The game provided so many valid points of view on its themes that each view can be seen as perfectly valid. The game how games can be artistically expressive in ways other mediums cannot by asking the player to make a decision based on the arguments that the player has been hearing throughout the game.
Retro Studios: I don't know how Metroid Prime is possible. Say whatever you like about the controls, the game world is simply amazing. Each single room is so masterfully crafted and unique. Each area is extremely functional in that its really fun to play around in, but each area is also visually stunning. I don't know how they made such a large game world and packed in so much detail.
Metroid Prime's boss fights rock hard. A number of games this generation have had amazing boss battles, but none of them impress me quite as much as the MP bosses.
Capcom: VJ, DMC 1 & 3, and RE4 are all incredible.
Metal Gear Solid 2 - the demo at least, the actual game didn't live up to my expectations.
Metal Gear Solid 3 - exact opposite, far surpassed my initial expectations.
Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven series - really come along leaps and bounds on the PS2.
Silent Hill 2/3 - two of the most intense story-driven survival horror games I've played. Gameplay's somewhat lacking but puzzles and atmosphere make up for that.
Yep, you guessed it: KONAMI
Metal Gear Solid 3 - exact opposite, far surpassed my initial expectations.
Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven series - really come along leaps and bounds on the PS2.
Silent Hill 2/3 - two of the most intense story-driven survival horror games I've played. Gameplay's somewhat lacking but puzzles and atmosphere make up for that.
Yep, you guessed it: KONAMI
