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September 2002 witnessed the controversial sale of British developer Rare to Nintendo's industry rivals Microsoft in a deal worth around $370 million. The sale came as a shock to Nintendo fans everywhere, yet the events of the next three years perhaps revealed why Nintendo relinquished Rare. Is Rare the force it once was? Despite unenthusiastic reviews, Rare has somehow maintained its near flawless reputation, reliant on its former glory as a maverick developer, while fans try to explain away the poor design and technical flaws apparent in their current and next-generation offerings.

In order to answer these points I will take a two-part retrospective look � yet this feature will not deal with Rare's early years, when the company was working through the 1980s as Ultimate: Play the Game. Important early games included Jetpack and Sabre Wulf (later updated for Game Boy Advance). Into the NES era, Rare released Battletoads, and Killer Instinct soon made its way to arcades, while the Donkey Kong Country series on SNES secured Rare's reputation as a talented developer. However, these articles are concerned more with the N64 and beyond.

Golden era

Arguably the company's greatest achievement is classic James Bond first-person shooter GoldenEye. The game was one of the reasons to buy an N64 � a triumph of level design, seamlessly combining stealth and all-out action, and featuring a perfectly balanced multiplayer mode. Also in 1997, Rare released Blast Corps, an inspired gem of a game, featuring wholesale destruction provided by an array of powerful vehicles and massive robots. During this early stage of the N64 Rare consolidated its position as the perfect complement to Nintendo through the release of platform adventure Banjo-Kazooie and kart 'em up Diddy Kong Racing � and this is where it all becomes contentious.

Both games received rave reviews, and Banjo-Kazooie is often mentioned as a N64 highlight. Yet even at the time such praise seemed unwarranted � neither title was of the quality of Nintendo's own efforts, the seminal Super Mario 64 and enjoyable Mario Kart 64. The former title was, and is, a true classic. The latter had its faults, yet delivered a kart racer that was accessible � the same could not be said for Diddy Kong Racing, which failed to stitch together racing and a flat story mode. At a basic level, Rare had pushed the N64 beyond its graphical limit � the full 3D character models were technically more advanced than Mario Kart 64's sprites, but this came at the cost of often-choppy frame rates, rendering much of the game unplayable. More than that, these games pointed to a major problem at Rare � that the British developer is at its weakest when emulating Nintendo.

Attack of the Clones

This can be demonstrated through Banjo-Tooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong 64 and Jet Force Gemini � all replicas of Nintendo's platform adventures. Super Mario 64 set the standard for 3D platformers, and in many respects remains the standard. During the N64 years Rare's titles were well received by gamers, yet in retrospect those games are unexceptional � and seem merely ordinary in comparison with Super Mario 64. Unlike the Mario series, these Rare titles are saddled with undeniable design flaws � consider the difficult controls of Jet Force Gemini (not to mention the awkward boss battles, which changed the controls from those used in open play). The open-ended, hub-centre design of Super Mario 64 has rarely (not a pun) been copied successfully.

Far from perfect

The "sequel" to GoldenEye was released during summer 2000, amid much hype that soon fizzled out. Perfect Dark featured an excellent multiplayer mode, crammed with options, weapons and settings, as well as "scenarios" that challenged players to work together. It is telling, however, that Perfect Dark's best multiplayer levels are direct ports of "Temple" and "Facility" from GoldenEye. Of more concern to some was the fact that improved visuals (which made use of the N64 expansion pack) resulted in at-times dreadful frame rates. This was compounded by an embarrassingly bad sci-fi story mode that disastrously tried to fuse a sub-Blade Runner future, Area 51 and Air Force One. "Elvis the alien" marked the nadir of Perfect Dark, and the inclusion of this "comedy" extraterrestrial was jarring to the game's tone.

The greatest frustration was the tedious level design, which often reduced Perfect Dark to a jaded corridor shooter. Absent were GoldenEye's varied and challenging levels, which ranged from tightly designed stealth-based missions to sniping and trigger-finger action. In its place were empty surface levels, poorly designed, confusing alien-based worlds and a generic final boss battle. To use one example, the token "on a ship" section featured none of the tense action of GoldenEye's frigate assault; "Pelagic II" forced the player to literally inch down narrow corridors packed with overly-protected guards � not a test of skill, but of endurance. Given its lack of imagination and chronic design flaws, how Perfect Dark (in single player at least) can be regarded as a classic is beyond the understanding of this writer.

Endgame?

To put this disappointment into context, it was before the release of Perfect Dark that staff members began to leave Rare, including the founder of Free Radical, David Doak (the company is responsible for the TimeSplitters series, clear descendents of GoldenEye) and Martin Hollis (now of Zoonami). Also, StarFox Adventures � which had a tortuous development, beginning life as 'Dinosaur Planet' and originally intended for N64 � was finally released in 2002 for GameCube, and was a lacklustre Zelda imitation. Large staff walkouts were a feature of Rare, both before and after the acquisition by Microsoft.

And so where does this leave Nintendo gamers? In retrospect, they can consider what might have been � since many fans expected games such as Perfect Dark Zero to have been released on a Nintendo system, tomorrow's concluding part will follow the fall-out from the $370 million buy-out.

The $370 million question

From GoldenEye to Perfect Dark, from Nintendo to Microsoft, the history of Rare is fascinating. In the months following the 2002 buy-out it seemed like Microsoft had pulled off a remarkable industry coup � stealing a respected developer away from a rival. Yet industry analysts and journalists have often missed one key question: exactly what can Microsoft do with Rare?

Canned comedy

For the Microsoft Xbox, the answer appeared to be Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Conker: Live and Reloaded. The first Rare game for Xbox, originally planned for GameCube, was released in 2003 and met with lukewarm reviews and poor sales. Perhaps most inexplicable was Rare's decision to utilize a colourful design reminiscent of disappointing Nintendo launch title, Luigi's Mansion, which also featured a haunted house setting. Asides from the simplistic gameplay and bland artistic style Grabbed by the Ghoulies pointed to another long-standing Rare weakness � that of its fruitless efforts at humour. "Ghoulies", as any Brit can tell you, is a slang term for testicles � but, as any Brit can tell you, the term is seldom used over the age of eight years old. Though doubtless intended to be "ironic", the game's title met only with bemused looks, especially among American gamers.

Equally curious was Rare's decision to remake N64 platformer (quote-unquote "classic") Conker's Bad Fur Day for Xbox. The original game was fairly pedestrian, with crude jokes about bodily functions and stale movie parodies in the place of real gameplay. And there was something faintly depressing about seeing the original cute Conker degenerate via misplaced pub-inspired student irony into a foul-mouthed, gun-toting parody. The Xbox remake features a third-person shooter multiplayer mode, yet has the same "sense of humour" as the original. Sales, unsurprisingly, were not impressive.

Over the last few years Rare continued its association with Nintendo and released a number of Game Boy Advance titles. Their GBA output is unremarkable, and extends to updates of Donkey Kong Country. As for last year's Banjo-Pilot, respected UK teletext games magazine GameCentral panned the game for being unplayable, and slated obscure puzzler It's Mr. Pants for being "absolutely no fun".

A minority of one

At this point it is vital to note that this article was largely inspired by British-based new games journalism website Eurogamer.net and its review of Kameo: Elements of Power. In opposition to countless other games websites, Eurogamer handed down a 5/10 score to Kameo, noting: "The world of Kameo certainly asks of the console hardware what past games could not, but it doesn't ask any new questions of the player."

More specifically, I began thinking of this article after reading the shrill fanboy denouncement of Eurogamer's review, with one forum-user actively calling for the writer to be replaced for the next Rare article. What was it exactly that wounded them? In spite of the fact that Kameo had not yet been released in Europe, clearly the apologists believed they knew better. This is related to another point � that of mainstream gaming industry websites handing out inflated scores to deeply average titles, which I will return to later.

For my part, I played Kameo extensively here in the US and was struck by how little imagination was on display. One section of the game seemed to be an unashamed copy, with gameplay torn straight out of Metroid Prime. Kameo has the ability to roll into a ball and speed away from a stationary position, exactly like Samus Aran's morph ball capability. This allows the player to fire up a half-pipe section. No, Samus is not the only videogame character with this skill � Sonic could do so in the early Sega games. But Kameo: Elements of Power betrays lazy design, content only to mimic other (better) games. "Elements of Nintendo" would have been a more accurate title, given the game's reliance on a central gameplay hook � the ability to adopt different forms � that was better achieved in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

As for the much-anticipated Perfect Dark Zero, it appears that overly armoured enemies and a slack single player conjure up memories of its predecessor (or at least this would be the case, had the gaming industry not suffered collective amnesia when hyping up the sequel). More undeserved scores abound: consider GameSpy's closing words: "Perfect Dark Zero is a lot of fun and does a lot of things very well, but it's just not the killer-app that we'd all hoped for. Rare is to be commended for the technical prowess on show here, but get it for the co-op and multiplayer experience rather than the diluted story mode." The final score? 4/5. Other websites followed suit.

Finally, coherent artistic style has long been a stranger to Rare, particularly in its Xbox 360 launch games. Both games look as though they have been coated in plastic; Kameo is colourful, undoubtedly, but completely without direction (contrast this with the unique Blast Corps, which appears to be set in the American Midwest).

Write off

Can it really be eight years since GoldenEye? Whatever the failings of Rare's N64 titles � and I believe there were many � the developer had a reputation for well-designed games and innovative ideas. Over the last five years, it has been much more difficult for the company's hardcore fan base to explain the major disappointments and mistakes � yet they have tried.

In essence, much of the industry and Rare's fans have sought to explain away the developer's failure to release any above-average titles across GameCube, Xbox and Xbox 360. Inexplicably, they cling to the belief that another classic is just around the corner � first it was going to be the Conker remake, then Kameo, then the Perfect Dark sequel. They point to the fact that Rare had to adapt to different companies and different hardware, yet every developer over the last five years had to deal with this also � and do so without the substantial financial backing of first Nintendo, and then Microsoft. In desperation they refer everyone back to GoldenEye, a game pushing toward its tenth anniversary. Take away the golden Rare logo from StarFox Adventures or Perfect Dark Zero and those titles would simply not register on the gaming map. The bottom line � how absurd is it that the Rare mediocrities of the last five years do not speak for themselves?

Is there a market for Rare titles? On an Xbox system, the answer is probably no, as evidenced by consistently poor sales. Also, as hinted at in my article on maturity, Nintendo games are perceived in a certain way: they are seen as childish and immature. Rare's long association with Nintendo, and its tendency to release colourful game worlds and characters (the foul-mouthed antics of Conker notwithstanding), means that it will struggle to find a niche for its titles among Xbox gamers. In short, the hardcore Xbox fanatics (note: I am not saying all Xbox owners are) cannot have it both ways: simultaneously knocking Nintendo while plugging Nintendo-lite games in the form of Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

It gives me no satisfaction to write this article, as GoldenEye and Blast Corps are among some of my favourite games � games that I still play to this day � and Rare is a developer that has a long and often distinguished history. Yet the gaming industry and a hardcore band of fans are perpetrating the myth that Rare is on the verge of video game brilliance again. Like the emperor in the fable, Rare is in danger of believing itself to be wearing a cloak of gaming greatness, when in reality there is nothing there at all.

Nick Bennett
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