Honestly, Rare's games have not aged well. at all. I don't find any of the DKC games fun, I don't like DK64 (COLLECT A BAJILLION THINGS. NOW COLLECT IT 5 MORE TIMES WITH OTHER KONGS), Banjo Kazooie/Tooie was decent and still is tolerable (COLLECT HALF A BAJILLION THINGS!) while PD64 and Goldeneye 007 have not aged well at all. And if you played PC games in 97 - 007 was not at all impressive back then either. I feel that nothing of value was lost.
I disagree. I thought Rare's library from the 90s has aged extremely well. Donkey Kong Country is just as fun as I remembered. Banjo Kazooie wasn't as good as I remember, but Banjo Tooie remains one of my favorite games of all time, and is the perfect example of a sequel done right. I never played Perfect Dark, but I still enjoyed Goldeneye as much as I did the first time I played it. Not sure why so many people are saying the controls and graphics have aged badly, it's still fine to me. It's still better than 90% of FPS' being released today, and leagues above that pathetic Wii "remake". I feel Rare's decline is a clear example of how far the industry has fallen from what it was years ago. EDIT: I'd like to clarify what I meant about Banjo Kazooie. The game is great, at least in my opinion, but Banjo Tooie was such a huge step forward that it made Banjo Kazooie seem like kindergarten by comparison. The levels were larger and far more sophisticated, branching off and connecting to other levels. The music was superb, and one of the reasons why Grant Kirkhope is one of my favorite video game composers of all time (He was also the last remaining member of good Rare, until his departure in mid-2008). The writing and characterization was also much better. Banjo was less of a goofy dumbass and more of an honest adventurer that was easy to relate to. Kazooie was less of a childish brat that resorted to the insults of a 5 year old (Geeky? Worm-breath? I know this game is family friendly, but come on.), and was more sarcastic, witty, and overall just much more funny. Everyone else who returned also improved, and the new characters were amusing, likable, and had a few funny quirks of their own. (Humba Wumba big heap stereotype.) Overall, Banjo Kazooie was a great game, but Banjo Tooie was just far better. It came from a time when sequels actually tried to improve upon the previous game, rather than streamlining it and making it idiot friendly.
Rare made great games in the 90's I nearly owned all their games when I was kid with the Nintendo 64. I haven't liked any of their new games apart from Perfect Dark Zero.
It really irks me that Microsoft didn't just leave them alone to do what they do. With PD:Zero rushed and forever doomed to mediocrity as a result, then the next Perfect Dark and Conker games cancelled in pre-production, you really can't help but wonder why MS even bothered to buy them.
They died when they released Grabbed by the Ghoulies. The Internet furor over Rare, Factor 5 and Silicon Knights leaving Nintendo and Nintendo therefore being doomed is hilarious is retrospect (and it was pretty hilarious even back then to anyone with half a brain since everyone worth a damn had left Rare by that point). Rare released a bunch of games ranging from crap to average, Factor 5 released the shitty Lair and then went away, and Silicon Knights? Too Human. Enough said.
Anybody that thinks Rare's N64 games are crap is out of their tree. As for what will become of them... as far as I'm aware nobody that was with the company in its heyday is still there; so Rare is pretty much irrelevant and it's not as if they're going to make another good game.
DK64 was fun for a single play through. Overall the frame rate and collecting a billion items was annoying to me on their own. Jet Force Gemini's frame rate has issues, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark's frame rates have issues. Though Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are very playable and enjoyable on an overclocked N64.
Ashby Computers & Graphics died when they changed the name from Ultimate Play The Game to Rare, and i dont think they ever topped Underwurlde as there best game
I've seen so many people say they didn't finish Jet Force Gemini because they didn't want to collect all the statues or whatever crap you needed to get.
Rare have made some pretty good games for Microsoft in my opinion. Conker: Live & Reloaded - never played it on the N64 however this was great on the Xbox and had good multiplayer too. Kameo Elements of Power - to me this is an amazing game, and so underrated. I had never played anything like that before and loved every second of it. I really would love to see a sequel to this. Viva Pinata - Despite probably been a kids game i also loved Viva Pinata, that was a pretty unique title and had lots to keep you coming back for. Kinect Sports - great fun too when played with family and friends, i wouldn't go as far to say its amazing, however i do think its one of the best Kinect games i have played. I dont think there N64 games are that great to be honest, (yes i know thats going to upset a lot of people) maybe if i had played them back when i was young i would appreciate them. I think like most Rare have there fair share of good and bad games that will appear to gamers of various ages. I had high hopes for Perfect Dark Zero, however it just bored me to be honest. The only reason i really give it much time was because it's the first game i owned on the 360 and the only one i had until i got Kameo. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts just didnt hold my interest either, just couldn't get in to it.
I'd say that just put them on life support. Kinect Sports is what killed them. Seriously Microsoft, you own a company with a large pool of unique IPs and exclusives, something you've been incredibly lacking the past two years, and you have them making NXE avatar crap and Kinect Sports?
I'm one of them. I was PUMPED for that game. When it came out I LOVED it to death. The multiplayer was fun as hell with friends, the worlds and 3 characters were great...then you get to the last level and the game is like "OH YEAH, REMEMBER THOSE BEARS WE TOLD YOU YOU COULD COLLECT? DID YOU GET THEM ALL? NO? WELL...GO BACK AND GET THEM ALL" I said fuck it. I played Quake online back in 1997 - when Goldeneye came out it was fun but it wasn't ground breaking to me. When PD came out, I enjoyed it with friends and the campaign was interesting but I didn't think it was ground breaking. Banjo Kazooie I replayed through 2 years ago and it's the turning point for how much collecting is too much collecting. Same with Banjo Tooie. I couldn't make it through DK64. It just got too repetitive too quick. Conker is good fun. The remake on Xbox is also good. Killer Instinct/KI Gold? never felt impressed by KI besides the graphics to begin with. Diddy Kong Racing paled in comparison on the fun factor compared to mario Kart. Did I miss any?
I want to see what the new Rare can put out besides Kinect Sports. I know pretty much all of the old guys are gone, but it'll still be interesting. We still haven't seen anything but Kinect since the restructuring, so who knows what else the current team is capable of. But yes, it really pains me to think that we'll probably never get a Banjo-Threeie or Conker's Other Bad Fur Day. We NEED continuation of Conker's story especially....
