Working Title 02.21.08: Working Rant - If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

Posted by Jordan Williams on 02.21.2008

In my mind this is the golden rule of gaming, it's a shame others don't follow it too well...

Welcome back to the #1 Column to be sad that American Gladiators is over with for this season, WORKING TITLE. I'm glad you all decided to come back because if you didn't, I was going to have to end up killing a poor baby duckling if you didn't.

Any who, this week is the GDC '08 and so far...nothing really has been revealed. Damn it, I was going to base my column off of some ZOMG BREAKING NEWZ from the event but nothing happened so far that warrants it. So you know what that means...

Yep, folks. It's another Working Rant. Oh stop whining, it'll be a short one.

Working Rant: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

That rule above is one of my favorite rules when it comes to anything, but I especially love it when it comes to gaming. In the system works, the game is fun, and the story is engaging, you don't need to muck it all up by trying to fix what isn't broken. Sadly, not a lot of developers follow this approach and it ends up ruining otherwise good franchises because they are so focused on innovating everything that they forget what made the game great in the first place.

Today we are going to look at two prime offenders of this rule, and examine just how the hell they went wrong and why they decided to try (and fail) to fix a well-oiled machine.

First up is a game series that I hold in pretty high regard because of the first two installments. When you think of Hip-Hop and Wrestling you usually think a match made in hell, but somehow it turned out to be not only one, but TWO great games...but then this came along...

Def Jam Icon


Console(s): Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Release Date: March 2007
Rating: M for Mature (Violence, Drug Reference, and Lyrics)

This was the third installment in the pretty successful Def Jam Vendetta series, which was a wrestling game blended with famous rappers/hip-hop artists. The first two games seemingly came out of nowhere and were surprisingly good. They had a very good story, great voice acting considering that everyone was doing thier own voice work, and the game was actually fun despite its premise. In the first two games, the plot and gameplay were pretty solid. You beat the hell out of your opponent and win. Period. Fight for New York did away with most of the wrestling aspects such as rings and pins and favored more of a "No Holds Barred" type feel to it. They introduced more fighting styles and crowd interactions. All in all the entire first two games of the series were wonderful surprises.

But then EA decided to fix what wasn't broken.

Def Jam Icon was announced and fans of the series were already turned on by the admittedly GREAT graphics and character models. The first two Def Jam games had more of an exaggerated/cartoony look to them that was welcomed, but after seeing what EA was capable of with Fight Night, fans wanted to see their favorite rappers look a bit more realistic. Secondly, all of the music in the game was confirmed to be uncensored, that really didn't matter to me but apparently it was one of the biggest complaints about the original two games. But then things took a turn for the worse.



Due to the producer's feeling that Hip-Hop and wrestling didn't go hand in hand, they completely retooled Def Jam's fighting engine to closely resemble that of Fight Night, they also removed the over the top finishing moves and instead shifted the focus to environmental damage and timing your hits to the beat of the song playing in the background. They ended up turning it into a glorified rhythm game.

If that wasn't enough, they also tried to add in a GM Mode of sorts throughout the story mode. Speaking of which, the story itself was still decent for what it was given, but nowhere near as epic or...well...good as the first two games. Why did they do this? I honestly have no idea.

What was 'Fixed':According to the Executive Producer of the game, Kudo Tsunoda, he didn't like the link between wrestling and Hip-Hop that was present in the first two installments and opted to change up the style. Who the HELL cares what he thinks on it? The over the top wackiness and the wrestling-inspired moves were the main selling point behind this game. Most of the people who even played DJV1 or 2 probably didn't care much for the hip-hop, but more for the arcade-y action of the title itself.


Sorry Busta Rhymes, you don't get to bash poor House over the head with a sledgehammer. Apparently Kudo thinks only Triple H should have that right.

Even though Def Jam Icon DOES have wrestling moves, they've become so far understated that you never have to use them to win a match, the game, as stated above, focuses so much on environmental damage and timing that it just ends up not fun. Why did they think they had to overhaul a successful series like this?

What they learned:The first two DJV games sold fairly well and got respectable scores. DJI got decent scores across the board, but was such a financial failure that it actually led to EA Chicago getting shut down. It goes to show you that pumping up the hip-hop at the sake of gameplay didn't really entice the fans as much as they thought it would. Now due to this we have a studio closed and will quite possibly not see another Def Jam Vendetta game.

Bomerman Act Zero


Console(s): Xbox 360
Release Date: August 2006
Rating: T for Teen (Violence)

I am a HUGE fan of Bomberman. I really do love this game series, so when I heard that there was going to be a legit next gen Bomberman title for the Xbox 360 I was overjoyed.

And then I saw screenshots.

I'm not one of those people who base enjoyment of a pre-release game solely on the screenshots, if so I'd hate Street Fighter IV already. But when it comes to Bomberman, there's really only one style of graphics and art that's excusable...what we got...was NOT Bomberman. It was a very VERY bad attempt to make a game hip and edgy to appeal to the futuristic sci-fi crowd that's gaining more and more ground in gaming.

First off, how the FUCK can you mess up a game with such a simple premise as BOMBERMAN. You are a BOMBERMAN. You blow up other BOMBERMEN and occasional save planet BOMBER. But apparently according to Act Zero you are an experimental killing machine who must ironically kill the other killing machines so you can be released to kill people.

Right.

So, not only did they fuck up the art style and plot of the game, they also managed to 'fix' the gameplay. Oh sure, you still ran around and blew stuff up, that didn't change...what DID change is that there were 99 levels...and you only had ONE. FUCKING. LIFE. Yes, you heard me. You had 99 levels to beat in ONE SITTING.



Let us not forget that multiplayer, arguably the heart and soul of Bomberman, was only over Xbox Live. That means that you had to convince some other poor soul to buy this game if they wanted to play it with you. This is one of the classic cases of someone trying way too hard to appeal to the new generation. I'm all for giving characters upgrades to bring them to the new age when it's done right. Zero( Megaman Zero), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even Mortal Kombat all have done this right...Bomberman AZ is one of the worst upgrades in history, and is also going down as one of the worst games ever made. Damn, Hudsonsoft. How did you fuck this up so badly!?

What they 'fixed': Apparently they thought being cute was some sort of illness that must be eradicated on sight, because they definitely made sure there wasn't an ounce of 'aww' factor in this game. Rusted metal? Check. Spikes? Check. Scantily clad female robots? Check Plus Plus. They also wanted to fix that whole...playability feature. Being able to save your game or try again after a defeat is obviously only for pussies. No one has to do that shit in the post-apocalyptic future. Also, no one visits their friends and all multiplayer gaming is done online or NOT AT ALL.


In the future, a robot's killing power is related to the lack of robot-thong it has.

What they learned: Hell, what DIDN'T they learn? Right after this game was made Hudson completely washed their hands of it. Every Bomberman title since as reverted back to it's roots and has gotten better reviews. Hudson, the creators of the franchise, even openly called the game a piece of shit in a feature for Bomberman LIVE. When a developer and creator calls one of it's creations a piece of shit, there's just no saving it. It's like your mother calling you a failed abortion on your 18th birthday in front of your girlfriend.

Working Question: Surprise Surprise

Since last week's question worked so well, I think I'm going to make this a bit of a regular feature here. This week's question is brought to you by Def Jam Vendetta: Fight for New York.

Have you ever bet surprised by how good and unexpected a game was? I mean did you ever have little-to-no expectations going into a game and left being surprised beyond belief? That happened to me with DJV2. I hadn't expected anything but a glorified commercial to sell records, but then I played it and the game was GOOD. The gameplay was great, the voice acting was great, and despite how it looked it actually had a very good storyline to it. DJV2(and DJV1 at that) go down as some of my biggest gaming surprises. What are some of your surprises? I don't mean in the plot-sense of plot twists of boss battles. I mean things like Viva Piñata actually being a good game.

Go ahead and post 'em.

Next time...

**BREAKING NEWS**

As I was typing this column, Gears of War 2 was confirmed at GDC and announced to be released in November.

**END BREAKING NEWS**

Well, then. Looks like GDC is kicking into gear now. Next week I might look at the fallout of GDC and look ahead to what we could expect at the other cons this year. It depends on how this week pans out. If that doesn't work out, I do have a back up plan...so don't you worry your pretty little heads.

Until next time, I'm Jordan Williams...and Stranglehold is one of the best angry games ever.