Five spin-offs that are better than originals
Not the most brilliant reputation historically entrenched in the spin-offs of well-known series. The developers often either make them through their sleeves or give them to third parties to save resources – and the audience, ultimately, receives a game that is inferior to the original in everything. Well, why is she needed then, if it was obviously done, only to make money on fans?
However, in this rule there are exceptions – rare, but extremely pleasant. Going out today Persona 5 Strikers I did not reach this bar a little, but I threw us a good reason to remember the stories of the most successful spin-offs of recent years. Those whose authors really burned their own business, and not just tried to curry up in front of investors.
Apex Legends
Time goes on, but pain from premature oblivion of the franchise Titanfall Does not subside. Wheelled mechanics, unique gameplay, a team of developers over the years of experience behind them-everything went to dust because of the inept business of the publisher. The first part Electronic Arts released in the spring, besides exclusively for PC And Xbox One , the console losing race. And the second – exactly to the release Battlefield 1 , thereby creating rivalry between own products and putting a relatively new IP in an uncomfortable position. As a result, even a sequel with an unexpectedly sensible plot campaign turned into a commercial failure, and conversations about the development of the series were smoothly calmed down.
At one time, this trailer alerted many, but, as it turned out, in vain – the game overnight became a hit
In this regard, it was not very clear how to react to a sudden output at all Apex Legends. It turns out that Titanfall is still alive, and you can wait for the next license plate? Or, on the contrary, Electronic Arts decided to squeeze out of it at least some profit using the next Royal Battle? There is still no clarity on the first point, but according to the second, all doubts were dispelled a few days after the release – Apex Legends turned out to be any, but not “another”. Studio Respawn Entertainment The established canons of the genre were thoroughly shook, and perhaps one of the most recognizable projects in the network of network shooters was the result. The dynamics and pace of Titanfall integrated into the framework of Battle Royale as entered: thanks to them, the usual rules of the game were revealed in a completely new way. It is not surprising that the authors pushed competitors on the niche so decisively, as if there were no financial failures.
It was worth releasing a good game at the right moment.
Persona
Looking at Persona 5, It is difficult to imagine that the franchise, which set the new quality standard in the JRPG genre, was once only a spin-off another, widely known in narrow circles of the series- Shin Megami Tensei. In the past, a studio Atlus Praised by her hardcore "Dungen Croilers", which are now considered cult, but then they did not enjoy transcendental popularity. Just in an attempt to attract a new audience, the developers and launched two branches of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner in 1995 and Revelations: Persona -In 1996. There, the scene was transferred to the School setting, and the main characters were adolescents fighting their internal conflicts.
Under the new creative beginning of Persona, such a credit of trust deserved that even the first teaser of the fifth with mysterious chairs made a lot of noise
Three years later, the game received as many as two continuations – Innocent sin And Eternal Punishment (be sure to play, if not yet)-however, Persona still did not get along with mass popularity. The developers could not get rid of the “hardcore” label, which repelled a more casual audience: the conservative leadership of the studio understood the problem, but did not want to go to experiments. The series was already at a dead end, but the situation has changed dramatically when to work on Persona 3 attracted producer Katsuru Khasino. Instead of making another sequel and slip in one place, he gathered a team from young employees of ATLUS, with whom he had a series of almost zero from scratch.
As a result, thanks to Khasino and his like -minded people, Persona became the game that we know and love. Having simplified the confusing combat system and connecting it with the elements of the visual novel, the authors finally found a way to please the mass audience. Hardcores could still bother with the pumping of a person, and the casual audience enjoyed the simulation of school life and spoke with the characters for hours, “pumping” social branches. Spin-off, whose fate hung in the balance, not only known one of https://lord-of-the-spins-casino.co.uk/ the best games for PlayStation 2 , but also laid the foundation of the formula, which in the future became Persona's hallmark: other such games simply cannot be found, no matter how you try.
Metal Gear Riding: Revengeance
There are games that speak for themselves completely without words. One look at Metal Gear Rising You can accurately guess that Hideo Kojima again forgot to accept his pills … But Kodzima himself did not work on this project. More precisely, I could not bring it to the end.
The development has advanced a little further than this trailer, but the mechanics of dismemberment (Zan-Datsu) remained in the final game
The game designer decided to throw a bridge between the second and fourth parts Metal Gear Solid , Having told the story of how Rainen turned from a lubricated spy into a harsh cyberninja. The genre was replaced by stealth to slasher, and the central gameplay mechanics should have been the opportunity to aimed at enemies and other objects into small pieces. In words, all this sounded good, but in reality the Kojima Production team hardly imagined how to build a whole game based on this idea on the basis of this idea. Kojima decided to take a minimum participation in development to give his young team a chance to gain experience – and she clearly could not cope with the task. At first the project fell into production hell, and then, when Kojima decided that he could no longer save him, he was completely closed.
But instead of finally surrendering, the “genius” found a strikingly successful way out of the situation: he entrusted the developments on an unfinished game in his hands Platinumgames and asked her to resurrect the project. Needless to say, the authors Bayonetta Not let down? Having received the Metal Gear universe at their disposal and a creative carte blanche from its creator, they did what they can best: high-speed, stylish, absolutely faded action. With nanomashins (son), giant robots, cyborgs, pathos, philosophy and vigorous geopolitical schizophazia – in a word, with everything that we are tenderly loved by Metal Gear Solid.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
In the context of the gaming industry, nostalgia is a stick about the two -edges. In inept or stared with her hands, she does not cause anything except awkward silence and disgust, but if people with burning eyes take up business, then nostalgia turns into a real art. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon definitely belongs to the second category: it is still hard to believe that Ubisoft approved its production. The creative director of the project Dean Evans proposed the idea of a parody of fantastic militants of the eighties for the sake of the eighties, but, as usual, the joke went too far – they took for the development of an independent DLC for half a year.
Interview with Michael Bin speaks of the quality of Blood Dragon everything you need to know
Evans, being a fan of retro, clung to this chance of all his might. To work on the soundtrack, he dragged Australian electronic workers Power Glove , Writing music for "Bum with a shotgun" , and even convinced Michael Bin (Corporal Hicks from "Aliens" , Kyle Reese from "Terminator" ) play the main character – after Fiasco with Aliens: Colonial Marines The actor did not want to meddle again into video games. But in Blood Dragon, everything shouts about how much its authors loved their work and films that the game is amazing. Cybersolds Rex Colt erases the hearts of the murdered enemies, wet vanliners to the right and left, hunts for fur-dinosaurs and is constantly bickering with an annoying II assistant who distributes stupid tips. Everything, including the weapon of the protagonist, shoves neon as a Christmas tree, and against the background, Retrovyive and the Embipant in the Spirit of Carpenter certainly play.
In the end, idiocy is also an art, and in this specific type of idiocy, Blood Dragon has no equal. Well, with the exception of the short film Kung Fury.
Fortnite: Battle Royale
About Epic Games You can respond differently, but you can’t refuse one in one thing: the company can adapt to any market situation. Take at least Fortnite. In 2011, when she was just announced, no talk about any Battle Royale. Then the developers were engaged in a cooperative shooter, which, according to the initial idea, was to become a hybrid Minecraft , Terraria And GEARS of WAR. And although the idea had a chance of success, work on the project quickly stalled due to technical and bureaucratic delays. Engineers used the game as a test site for the future Unreal Engine 4 , And a major deal with Tencent forced the studio to conduct serious personnel permutations.
You would predict this video, which will be released Fortnite: Battle Royale?
All this was so slowed down by progress that Fortnite managed to become obsolete even before the release and reached only the early access as six years later, when many were safely forgotten about it. But he burned too much a hole in the company's budget to take and abandon the living service in the bud. Actually, Epic Games did not throw anything: she simply replaced obsolete trends with modern. Looking back at the excitement around PUBG, which was just released in March 2017, the team literally on the knee, in two months, without shame and conscience sketched its “royal battle” based on Fortnite. Only free and cartoon.
It is difficult to say what causes more emotions: how enterprising this move was, or the fact that it really worked. Yes, even how it worked. I think even the studio itself was unlikely to expect that Fortnite: Battle Royale will become the largest online project in history. She brings Epic Games fabulous profit, musicians use it as concert venues, streams collect millions of spectators – even Thor in "Avengers" He cut into Fortnite. Battle Royale left behind Pubg and all other network shooters, and even more so the original game, which only a handful of convinced fans now recalls – even the authors themselves are now pretending that it has never been.
And these are only those stories that come to mind right away. And what similar projects do you remember? Is it worth it to write about any of them in more detail?
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