I'm looking forward to playing Starfield day one and see what it has to offer to us gamers. However, even if Starfield is a masterpiece, my grade for the Series X console won't change. I'll explain why but let me point out that in this blogpost, I'm not going to talk about how and what I feel about Series S console as I don't own it. I'm just focusing on playing and experiencing games on the Series X console. For the record, I believe Series S is an amazing console for people who want to play next-gen games without worrying about next-gen visuals. I certainly care about next-gen visuals.
So yes, the third year is winding down for the Series X and I have played lots of gorgeous-looking games on it. Elden Ring, Resident Evil Village, Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4 & 5, The Medium, and The Witcher 3 (next-gen update) are the games that I believe look the best on Series X. I haven't played the next-gen version of GTA V on my Series X yet, but I'm sure it looks pretty. All those games look beautiful on the all-mighty Xbox Series X, but none of them scream next-gen gaming! Some of those games look visually as good on the Series X as they do on my One X. The rest might slightly look better on Series X as compared to One X but that's about it.
Why do I feel so different about Perfect Dark now? Before I answer that, let me just tell you why I was so excited and confident about this game back in 2020. Just before watching Perfect Dark's trailer that was shown during the Game Awards in 2020, I was reading about all the studios that Xbox had acquired since 2017. Some really talented studios were added to Xbox's portfolio, like Obsidian Entertainment, Ninja Theory, InXile Entertainment, Compulsion Games, and a few more. One of the two studios added to Xbox Portfolio that wasn't an acquisition was The Initiative. I didn't read much about them before the announcement of Perfect Dark, but what I read was that this studio included some all-star developers.
The Initiative is led by Darrell Gallagher (Head of the Studio), who has worked on some blockbuster games like Tomb Raider (2013) and GTA IV. Then you have Christian Cantamessa (Partner Studio Head), who was the lead writer for Red Dead Redemption. Brian Westergaard, who previously worked on God of War in 2018 and Rise of the Tomb Raider in 2015 as a lead producer, is currently Director of Production at The Initiative. The studio also had two incredible gaming veterans, Drew Murray and Dan Neuburger, but they both left in back-to-back years. Drew Murray before joining The Initiative had previously worked with Insomaniac games and helped them release games like Resistance, Ratchet & Clank (2016), and Sunset Overdrive, while Dan Neuburger had spent twelve years with Crystal Dynamics to work on the most recent Tomb Raider trilogy.
To have five guys with impeccable resumes in the same studio working on a project for Xbox is a huge win for Xbox and their fans. However, as I mentioned above, two of them left in back-to-back years. Both Drew Murray and Dan Neuburger were seen in the Perfect Dark Developer Interview, and they both talked about how excited they were to work on such a beloved franchise with a talented group of developers. I find it very concerning that just two months after the Perfect Dark reveal trailer, Drew Murray left the studio. Not only he left the studio, but he went back to Insomniac Games. Initially, Drew said that he was leaving The Initiative because he wanted to focus on life outside of work. We all thought that he was probably having issues in his personal life, but no, that wasn't the case. Why? Because he rejoined Insomniac just a couple of days after his departure from The Initiative.
Obviously, Drew Murray had some sort of issue with The Initiative and Xbox, otherwise, he would have stayed and completed the Perfect Dark project rather than going back to Insomniac Games which is owned by Xbox's competitor, PlayStation. I'm not sure why Dan Neuburger left the studio, but his departure just happened out of nowhere. My guess is that he probably didn't like the direction the studio was heading into with Perfect Dark so he decided to go his separate way. Neuburger finally landed a job this year as a Creative Director at Archetype Entertainment.
Between the departures of Drew Murray and Dan Neuburger, The Initiative was struggling with manpower to work on Perfect Dark, so they partnered up with Crystal Dynamics. When I found out about this partnership, I thought of this as a positive sign. You have an experienced team in Crystal Dynamics working with Xbox's all-star studio in The Initiative. Another thing to account for is that Darrell Gallagher has a good relationship with several people working at Crystal Dynamics as he used to be a Studio Head during his time there. This partnership was definitely going to speed up the process of the game's development, but around that same time, we got the news that Perfect Dark was still in early development stage.
I couldn't believe that nine months after the world premiere of Perfect Dark, the team was still in the early development stages. It was clear at that point (September 2021) that this game was not going to come out until late 2023 or early 2024. So 2023 is here and I am getting excited for the Xbox Showcase in June. I thought there was a strong possibility for Perfect Dark to be featured during the showcase. The show came and went and we didn't see anything about Perfect Dark. Two weeks after the showcase, we got some news that really annoyed us Xbox gamers.
According to IGN's report in June 2023, Perfect Dark is still in the early stages of development. After two and a half years, this game is still years away from its release! After just reading the title of that report, I started yelling questions like, 'How is this even possible? Where is this game? What in the world is going on with The Initiative?' Was I being somewhat dramatic? Yes, I was, but The Initiative and Xbox can't be serious with how they are handling the development of this project. Of course, I don't know anything about game development, but I have seen FromSoftware and Capcom announce games and then just release them within two or three years. Not only do they just release games, they release excellent games that are praised by the critics and enjoyed by the majority of the gamers. Sometimes they release games within a year of their announcement.
I know many developers reveal their games way before their release dates and when they do release, they mostly come out as full-finished product with amazing gameplay and stories. Great, but wouldn't it be better for the developers and publishers to reveal their games after they are like halfway through the development of the game? Like I really don't get the point of showing an amazing CGI trailer or just announcing a brand new game when you haven't even started working on it. Perfect Dark as of July 2023 is still years away. Xbox is also struggling with the development of Everwild by Rare and no one knows when that game is going to come out (if it is going to come out). I will talk more about Everwild sometime in the future after we get some sort of an update on it.
My fellow gamers, I want you all to know that I'm rooting for Perfect Dark, The Initiative, and the Xbox team. I love Xbox and what they have done for the gaming community in the past and in the present with their games and services. I just wish they had handled the Perfect Dark situation much better than they have so far. I still want the game to be amazing and be the best Xbox game ever! The Initiative was formed to create big-budget titles and they have been labeled as a AAAA studio, therefore expectations are high. I am not confident that Perfect Dark is going to be a game-changer as it was supposed to be initially, but I am still hoping for the best.
What am I expecting from Perfect Dark? I want it to have excellent and unique gameplay. The story needs to be a 9/10 at worst. As for the visuals and performance, I want them to be breathtaking and flawless on the Xbox Series X console. I want this game to be the reason why people talk about Xbox Series X for years to come. But this game won't be associated with Series X if it doesn't come out before 2028. The Initiative, you guys can't afford any more hiccups. Step up and get the job done!
Comments
Post a Comment