Rare Hints at Natal-powered Killer Instinct
Do we really want air karate?
Remember Killer Instinct? The mid-‘90s SNES beat-em-up was a personal favourite of mine at the time, for the most part because of its cast of wacko characters. Pitting a tomahawk-wielding Native American against a velociraptor or a Ray Harryhausen skeleton warrior was always going to be fun, especially in an era when the cast of most fighting games was invariably drawn from kung-fu movie stereotypes.
Killer Instinct was a big hit for Rare, who’d been developing games since the days of the Spectrum and are now best known for their N64 hits such as Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie and child-friendly 360 series Viva Pinata. Now, it seems like Rare might be resurrecting the Killer Instinct franchise as an early title for Microsoft’s Project Natal.
Studio boss Mark Betteridge dropped some serious hints about the project in an interview with GamesTM this week, saying: “It’s about timing, and it’s about the opportunity creatively and gameplay-wise that it would offer. Street Fighter IV looked great and they’ve done a great job, and I’m a big fan of those products, but with KI we want to do something different rather than go back into that arena.”
“I think it’s about doing something different than with a conventional controller.”
The ‘90s were a great time for Rare, with the studio seemingly unable to put a foot wrong. But since signing an exclusivity deal with Microsoft, the studio seems to have lost its way a little. Certainly, the huge commercial successes of yore haven’t been quite as forthcoming as they were a decade ago. Resurrecting the popular Killer Instinct series might be a good idea, then, but is Natal the best way to go about it?
I couldn’t agree more with Rare having lost their way. I’dgo even further to say they’re completely clueless now. About the time they pledged their love for MS, I remember sitting down with some of their N64 games, and thinking “God, these have dated quickly”, with a couple of notable exceptions of course.
Aside for Viva Pinata, which was good (it still could have been better executed, thanks to motivation-breaking pop-ups tips, etc), the rest of the 360′s stuff has been diabolical.
Looking at back at Kameo, proves it was absolutely dire and soulless. This group lost their way an age ago. I’d even go as far as to say they ought to have a huge shake-up throughout the company or just put it (and us) out of it’s misery.
Of course, I won’t forget that it’s the same company that gave us Goldeneye. But, the sad truth there is that the majority of that team cleared off to form Free Radical Entertainment (who disappeared a short while ago). So, I would say there’s not much left at Rare anyway.
But, leaving Rare aside for a moment, am I the only one who has grave reservations for Project Natal?
Let’s start by looking at the Eye Toy and the early days of the Wii, particularly. Both sensational, and ground-breaking … but in many ways limited. I’m not saying in the sense of technology, but limited in sales and marketing force.
Even Nintendo have had some serious concerns about where the motion-control function has steered the path of video gaming. The reality is that, at present, motion control doesn’t sit well with “hard core” games.
Also, consider this. Taking the UK population alone, how many of the UK population are disabled in some way? It’s around 22-25% (depending on who’s statistics you believe). In any case, that’s about a quarter. I’m a member of a couple of disabled gaming groups, and many members would love to play the Wii, but can’t for some reason.
What has astonished me about some members of these groups, is the huge lengths some (make that most) will go to to play a particular game – custom-made controllers and interface devives abound. And all these made by people who have difficulty enough HOLDING a controller. It’s an inspiration if nothing else.
Now taking into the account the number of disabled who actually play games (and it is the majority), that’s roughly a fifth of our population out of contention straight away. I can’t see MS being too great at allowing custom devices to be accomodated on the 360, as so far, they’ve been a bit of a nightmare compared to the rest.
I predict a huge flop for Natal, which is nothing but a gimmick. The only way you’d get any sort of success is the same way Nintendo have done – appeal to a new market.
And don’t even get me started on the games which won’t accomodate the new controls very well. I can already picture seeing some red-faced gamer, flapping his arms for all he’s worth, whilst mouthing choice phrases at the screen…