Topic: Team [404 - Team Name Not Found] Deliberation Station

303 Team Name not found
@Jaz007 @themcnoisy @Th3solution @RogerRoger @Frigate @TowaHerschel7

Prototype Radical Entertainment
Prototype 2 Radical Entertainment
Puppeteer SCE Japan Studio
Pure Black Rock Studios
Pure Football Ubisoft Vancouver
Puss in Boots Blitz Games
Putty Squad System 3
Quantum Theory Team Tachyon
R.U.S.E. Eugen Systems
Ra.One: The Game Trine Games
Race Driver: GRID Codemasters
Race Driver: GRID 2 Codemasters
Racquet Sports Asobo Studio
Rage id Software
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE Game Arts
Rango id Software
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 FUN Labs
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing Activision
Ratatouille Heavy Iron Studios
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Insomniac Games

This is our list of games for this week. I can actually make a start on this in the next comment.

My initial thoughts

Prototype Radical Entertainment - Existing
Prototype 2 Radical Entertainment - Important
Puppeteer SCE Japan Studio - Important
Pure Black Rock Studios - Important
Pure Football Ubisoft Vancouver - Pointless
Puss in Boots Blitz Games - Existing
Putty Squad System 3 - Not Important
Quantum Theory Team Tachyon - Pointless
R.U.S.E. Eugen Systems - Existing
Ra.One: The Game Trine Games - Not Important
Race Driver: GRID Code masters - Important
Race Driver: GRID 2 Code masters - Existing
Racquet Sports Asobo Studio - Pointless
Rage id Software - Important
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE Game Arts - Existing
Rango id Software - Existing
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 FUN Labs - Existing
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing Activision - Important
Ratatouille Heavy Iron Studios - Not Important
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Insomniac Games - Very Important

Not too much experience with this list but I really liked R&C A Crack in Time. Artistically very beautiful, technically sound and smooth, and an overall enjoyable game. The gameplay was inventive and fresh, despite having that platformer / shooter at its core. I would agree with Very Important.

The only game I’ve played here is Ratatouille, and that was on the Wii but should be the same. It was not important. I mean it worked and I don’t remember total suckage. But it was a movie tie in all the same. Completely unremarkable. Back then it was a rental and something to play as a kid.

I forgot, I also played Puppeteer, or at least the first few hours of it. It was a late gen first party exclusive game as I recall and a very interesting title. Graphically and artistically it was quite good, with a presentation that was based on side scrolling platforming across a puppet stage. This resulted in a unique appearance and feel to the characters and movement. The game had a high amount of polish and charm. Unfortunately it was plagued by the limitations of the action being on a stage, so after a while the gameplay felt a touch repetitive, and so I never finished the game. It also was released on PS3 right as the PS4 came out in late 2013 and for some reason Sony didn’t make the game cross-gen. So it became trapped on last gen when many people were clamoring to the PS4 and so the game was not marketed well and was largely forgotten. As a result, I get the feeling the game’s sales underperformed greatly. As such, it’s influence on gaming culture was negligible. So I would have to say somewhere between Existing to Important.

Edit: actually ... as I’m thinking about it, the game was developed by SIE Japan who made Ape Escape, Gravity Rush, Loco Rock, Patapon, the three Ueda games Ico, SotC, TLG ... and also made ... Knack! I think I can definitely see inspiration from Puppeteer in Knacks art style and play. And it makes sense why the marketing would abandon Puppeteer and focus on pushing Knack on the PS4. Considering this, I think I’ll lean toward ‘Important’ for Puppeteer then. (Not that Knack was a world breaker or anything, but still)

@Frigate I have gone with Important. Mainly due to the fact we have a very recent sequel and it's unique take on the formula.

@Th3solution I have gone with Important due to its art style and the fact a bunch of indies took inspiration from its look. Existing may be a tad harsh but completely understandable.

@Jaz007 thank you. I have updated my initial impressions with your score.

@themcnoisy Wow, you've played a lot of this crop!

I haven't played any, but that's okay. Was very interested in Prototype for a while, but never pulled the trigger on it. Otherwise, many of those games are news to me.

Which is actually cool, because I can research those without rankings tomorrow.

@RogerRoger I've only played a handful. The rest I looked into like Rango and grid 2, with Ratatouille I'm using Jaz007 rating. Out of the lot Ruse was the toughest to score unique but flawed - worth a shot however until I seen it listed haven't thought about it in 6/7 years lol.

Okay, let's take a peek at the games missing a ranking thusfar...

Pure is an off-road quad-bike game from Disney Interactive developer Black Rock Studios, the same folks behind Split/Second: Velocity and so, as you'd expect, it was very well-received by critics for being a gorgeous, fast-paced, exciting trick-based experience... and it sold about six copies. Heck, it was even nominated for a BAFTA. History will repeat itself when we get around to the letter S but, for now, the tsunami of positive reviews from both critics and fans has me leaning heavily towards Important (because there are some comments about it lacking depth, and also because it sold about six copies).

Puss in Boots landed right around the time of Kinect and PS Move, and so apparently feels more like an interactive movie for kids than a traditional "game" game. This might make some recoil immediately, but the reviews are pretty solid for what it is, and some of the gameplay footage I've just watched on YouTube made me smile (and I've never even seen the film). Tempted to push for Existing rather than be cruel, especially on the weight of that surprisingly-strong Metacritic average.

Quantum Theory sounds promising; a cover-based shooter in which two heroes must fight their way through a constantly-shifting, living tower. Unfortunately it falls victim to the "all shooters must be grey or beige" plague of the PS3 era, and tacks on a poorly-conveyed and badly-written story to try and drag you through its bland, ugly levels. Eek. Looks like we've got another Pointless on our hands. I'll get the spade.

Ra.One: The Game is a tie-in to the Indian Hindi-language superhero film, Ra.One. The film was a huge success story for Bollywood and a big deal internationally (I even remember seeing banner ads and posters for it in 2011) but I can find very little information about the game. Nobody seems to have reviewed it, at least not here in the UK. There are a handful of clips on YouTube, revealing it to be a brawler which do not look good at all (it also came out on PS2, given the huge pre-existing install base for the console in India at the time, and it shows). Despite this, it apparently topped the Indian PSN downloads list for a long while, and demonstrated that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe was willing to back Bollywood's ever-growing influence. Despite the obviously poor quality of the game itself, I'm tempted to step it up to Not Important for the cultural impact it so clearly had for Indian gamers, and for getting SCEE to think about other markets.

Racquet Sports is the kinda game I just shake my head at when I type it into Google because I knew that, as soon as I hit "search", I'd be met with a hideous assemblage of Pixar people playing PS Move minigames... and guess what? I was right. Our very own PushSquare gave this a 3/10 and everybody else seems to agree with them. What's worse is that it was originally called Racquet Sports Party and released on the Nintendo Wii; this is a port, and a terrible one at that. Drop-shot it my way and I'll backhand it into the Pointless pile for you.

Ragnarok Odyssey ACE is an upgraded version of a PS Vita JRPG which saw enough average-to-good reviews to warrant the expansion. Many praised the tweaks to the original game's mechanics, but lamented that it retained an on-the-go "play in bursts" pacing which didn't translate well to a home console. Fans liked it better than critics, but I'm not seeing anything to elevate it above the wealth of other JRPGs available on the system. I wonder if @TowaHerschel7 might be able to help us here? Because otherwise I'm tempted to say Existing and call it a day.

Hope this helps!

@RogerRoger and with that we have cracked the list. I have updated my initial thoughts with the results. If everyone's happy we can lock in now and have a boss Weekend!

Yep, here we go... tagging our Vice-Captain @Th3solution and saying that I'll be around Sunday evening / Monday morning if you require any assistance...

***

Prototype - Existing
Prototype 2 - Important
Puppeteer - Important
Pure - Important
Pure Football - Pointless
Puss in Boots - Existing
Putty Squad - Not Important
Quantum Theory - Pointless
R.U.S.E. - Existing
Ra.One: The Game - Not Important
Race Driver: GRID - Important
Race Driver: GRID 2 - Existing
Racquet Sports - Pointless
Rage - Important
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE - Existing
Rango - Existing
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 - Existing
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing - Important
Ratatouille - Not Important
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - Very Important

***

Confirming that I've tagged none with a little controller icon, as I've played none of the above.

@Jaz007 @themcnoisy @TowaHerschel7 @RogerRoger @Frigate

Thanks Noisy and Rog for the early votes. For Towa and Frig (and Jaz if you’re out there and not still trapped in the airport) if you have votes to cast then I’ll take those into consideration, or if you want to agree with the two early posted votes which are pretty much in line with one another, then that’s fine too. For me I think I agree with the consensus that Noisy and Rog have so far. My only question is the fishing games - namely the Pro Bass which has been deemed ‘important’. Seems a tad generous, but I’m not a fan of the genre so hard for me to say.

@Frigate Gracias, mi compadre.

@Th3solution my final votes

Prototype Radical Entertainment - Existing
Prototype 2 Radical Entertainment - Important
Puppeteer SCE Japan Studio - Important
🎮 Pure Black Rock Studios - Important
🎮 Pure Football Ubisoft Vancouver - Pointless
Puss in Boots Blitz Games - Existing
🎮 Putty Squad System 3 - Not Important
Quantum Theory Team Tachyon - Pointless
🎮 R.U.S.E. Eugen Systems - Important
Ra.One: The Game Trine Games - Not Important
Race Driver: GRID Code masters - Important
Race Driver: GRID 2 Code masters - Existing
Racquet Sports Asobo Studio - Pointless
Rage id Software - Important
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE Game Arts - Existing
Rango id Software - Existing
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 FUN Labs - Existing
🎮 Rapala Pro Bass Fishing Activision - Important
Ratatouille Heavy Iron Studios - Not Important
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Insomniac Games - Very Important

@Frigate I have changed my vote for Ruse to important. Why the heck not, I would love a similar game to play today but there isn't any.

I’m just gonna have to cast one vote for Ratatouille as not important. Played it.
Thanks @th3solution for taking care of this week.

@TowaHerschel7 Let me know if you have any votes to add. I’ll be trying to make a tally today for submission.

In full disclosure, here are my votes:

Prototype - Existing
Prototype 2 - Existing
🎮Puppeteer - Important
Pure - Existing
Pure Football - Pointless
Puss in Boots - Existing
Putty Squad - Not Important
Quantum Theory - Pointless
R.U.S.E. - Existing
Ra.One: The Game - Not Important
Race Driver: GRID - Important
Race Driver: GRID 2 - Existing
Racquet Sports - Pointless
Rage - Important
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE - Existing
Rango - Existing
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 - Existing
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing - Existing
Ratatouille - Not Important
🎮Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - Very Important

Last call ...
I’ll make the final tally in a few hours.

@Jaz007 @themcnoisy @RogerRoger @Frigate @TowaHerschel7

Ok, since no new votes or information has come forth, this is the final tally:

Prototype Radical Entertainment - Existing
Prototype 2 Radical Entertainment - Existing
Puppeteer SCE Japan Studio - Important
Pure Black Rock Studios - Important
Pure Football Ubisoft Vancouver- Pointless
Puss in Boots Blitz Games- Existing
Putty Squad System 3 - Not Important
Quantum Theory Team Tachyon - Pointless
R.U.S.E. Eugen Systems - Important
Ra.One: The Game Trine Games - Not Important
Race Driver: GRID Codemasters - Important
Race Driver: GRID 2 Codemasters - Existing
Racquet Sports Asobo Studio - Pointless
Rage id Software - Important
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE Game Arts - Existing
Rango id Software - Existing
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 FUN Labs - Existing
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing Activision - Important
Ratatouille Heavy Iron Studios - Not Important
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - Very Important

>>>>>>

Or, formatted in a different way, if you’d like:

Very Important -
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

Important -
Puppeteer
Pure
R.U.S.E
Race Driver: GRID
Rage
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing

Existing -
Prototype
Prototype 2
Puss in Boots
Race Driver: GRID 2
Ragnarok Odyssey
Rango
Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009

Not Important -
Putty Squad
Ra.One: The Game
Ratatouille

Pointless -
Pure Football
Quantum Theory
Racquet Sports