Gerstmann, Davis and Shoemaker discuss their final day at E3. Including Rock Band, the Sony booth, the E3 show floor, and more.
While some feel it was the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation movie, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is popularly touted as the lowest point for the franchise – at least in terms of video games. The prototype IP soup tried to do something new with popular characters going head to head, but never really got a good reception.
The biggest issue was that with the introduction of DC and Warner Bros, MK's iconic gore had to be dialed down. Batman, after all, cannot be split into two by Kung Lao's hat. However, while the game itself signaled the fatality of the Mortal Kombat franchise, its core formula is what resurrected it to become NetherRealm Studio and the reboot we've come to adore.
MK vs DC wasn’t awful. If reception for that game made mk9 possible then hopefully the failures of MK11 can make some good changes as well. It’s time to get rid of variations, they had a good run but ended up a mess.
I think MK 9 did.
In fact I remember being bummed that this was a T rated MK game and just dismissed it. MK 9 was when I actually stood back and said, "They're back!". Still think that game is fantastic.
TheGamer Writes "Harmonix has proven plenty of times it can make Rock Band work without instruments."
I mean, yeah, but was anyone saying otherwise? The fact is people liked the plastic instruments rather than pressing buttons on a controller. They enjoyed the simulated experience.
"Work"? No, but to be good? It's absolutely necessary. Not having the accessories is like playing a lightgun shooter with an analog stick sure it works, but one experience is completely unique and fun as hell, and other is torture trying to make do playing in a way it was never meant to be played
"trying to make do in a way it was never meant to be played"
I disagree. The accessories were a fun gimmick (and very marketable) but they were added AFTER the genre had been well established with games like Frequency and Amplitude (both also made by Harmonix).
The gameplay formula is different on a controller - there's a focus on switching lanes and contributing to all of the instruments.
Never played Frequency, but Amplitude and Rock Band Blitz were really good. I would love to get more of that kind of game. It's basically a different part of the genre, and stands on its own.
The insurmountable difference in popularity between Amplitude and Rock Band proves my point
Popularity isn't proof of quality. If it was, then Harmonix wouldn't be making music for Fortnite now. lol. Our disagreement wasn't over which one is more popular. Amplitude and Blitz just aren't "torture" to play.
Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live failed to revive their sub-genre, and Rock Band 4 caused Mad Catz to have to file for bankruptcy. Doesn't mean that instrument-based music games are bad.
It does mean that there's too much overhead and risk for anyone to take a gamble on a big budget game that needs instrument accessories now though.
For the genre to thrive, for now, it needs to do so without the instrument accessories. That's just a fact, unfortunately.
VR games like Beat Sabre (a new sub-genre) and traditional music games make more sense and are more viable right now.
*"If quality is always proved by popularity, then Harmonix wouldn't be making music for Fortnite now."
I think CHEAP plastic instruments is THE reason why the instrument-genre ‘died’.
People invested in buying the game AND the peripherals, so the guitar, the dj-set, the drum, whatever, and the experience was absolutely fantastic. Great fun, great music, etc.
But then the instruments would break. A button would stop working, or your hits wouldn’t register, and that kind of hardware failure would end in you not being able to play the game as intended, and thus you not getting the scores you deserve.
So, now you had a great game, but a broken instrument, and nobody is gonna buy a new plastic instrument every 3-6 months in order to keep playing the game.
A solution would have been to release better quality instruments (obviously), at a slightly higher price, so you could have kept the new games coming and the genre alive, but sadly, that didn’t happen.
The only issue I ever had with any of the hardware was the drum pedal on the original rock band set stared to crack in half. The reason I, and other friends I know who played, lost interest is they weren't putting out new tracks that we were interested in anymore. I think earlier this year I looked through the releases for the last 2 years or so, and there was maybe 3 songs I would have bought.
Yeah I had this happen too with my drum controller, I ended up attaching a metal strip to it which fixed it up nicely.
Bust a Groove, Gitaroo Man and Parrapa the Rappa were such good games. Neither needed any extra peripherals
20th Anniversary Armor Pack arrives today for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart; more games coming to PlayStation Plus Premium November 15.
Man... what i wouldnt give to have a full PS5 UHD of all the R&C games in one collection. i guess streaming them on PS+ is the next best thing (or naturally a PS3)
They couldn’t make PS2 versions of those R&C games like they did with the J&D games?
Kobra
What fan that waited for launch day needs to know? There were 4 ps2 games the rest starting with tools was ps3 only. Quest for booty, a crack in time, nexus, full frontal assault were ps3 games.
You really saying Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Ratchet: Deadlocked weren’t on PS2? 🤨
Even Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank had PS2 versions...
Of course I wasn't talking about the actual ps2 games...why would they need to make ps2 versions of ps2 games? That is why I only included the ps3 games in my comment.
@ no
You must’ve misunderstood what I asked for.
I’m saying they should’ve made PS2 Classic versions of these Ratchet & Clank titles on PS4 so they’d be downloadable just like Jak & Daxter had rather than just streaming the PS3 versions
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is amazing. I really hope Insomniac are working on more. I'm always up for another Ratchet & Clank game.
