The infamous Duke Nukem Forever has tainted this phrase but as the “next generation” continues, I’m starting to miss it. Mostly because releasing a game when it’s finished seems to have gone out of style in the last five years. “When it’s Done” is more a myth than a truth with broken games being released on an ever increasing basis. As a gamer who shells out a hard earned $60 or more on a new game this should piss you off to no end.
Most recently we saw this with Trials Fusion, Red Lynx’s latest entry in its series of motocross platformers. The game is fine and comes packed with many of the same features as its predecessor… except online multiplayer, something that for many people – like me – is the main reason to buy a game like Trials.
Now, the developers have said that online multiplayer will be added in a few months from now but as I’ve learned from previous experience, I’m not getting too hyped for this. Because for all the promises of great things to come, I’m very confident that the multiplayer in Fusion will be exactly the same as Evolution’s.
Will it be enjoyable? Of course, playing original or custom tracks on Evolution was great and there’s no question that won’t be the case with Fusion when it gets this feature. That’s the problem though, there shouldn’t have been any waiting in the first place. If you’re a developer making a sequel to a game and you find yourself removing things rather than adding them, it’s time to head back to the drawing board.
“We know by reviewing the metrics from Trials Evolution that the vast majority of players tried the mode, didn’t return to it and decided to focus their time on other parts of Trials. We even further polished that mode for the PC version, Trials Evolution: Gold Edition, but players still did not engage that feature and online multiplayer was less popular among all players.” –Antii Ilvessuo from RedLynx
There are a couple things in this statement that ring hollow. For one, most multiplayer games drop in popularity after a short time span. Player counts on games like Call of Duty and Halo tell you this every year. There will be 100,000+ for the first week and then after a few months that counter will be lucky if it’s even half that.
As for the statement about the “even further polished” PC version – as any good look on the Steam forums would tell you – Trials Evolution Gold Edition is one of the worst PC ports in computer gaming history. A game that for many is unplayable and – thanks to UPlay – has connections that are as reliable as the Bluetack space-station.
Nobody was playing your “even further polished” game because it was anything but. If someone buys a game and it turns out to be broken, they’re not going to get their friends to come online for a quick game of Supercross!
More and more this has been happening where a rush to retail has resulted in a half-assed product. Konami releasing a game’s prologue section for $30, Titanfall lacking features that Bungie wrote the rule book on ten years ago (not that we aren’t enjoying the game but still) and EA and DICE releasing a game that seemed fine except for the fact that it wasn’t! Battlefied 4’s multiplayer is about as broken as it gets and despite complaints remains so nearly 7 months later.
Dear developers and publishers: when people are calling one of your maps “Gamebreaker”, there is something wrong with your game. If hundreds of threads are created on your forums saying there’s something wrong with your game, there is something wrong with your game. If you release a prologue for half the price of the full game coming out, there’s something wrong with you.
Look, I understand deadlines and needing to get things out the door but when you’re releasing a game for full price that’s supposed to mean that your product is finished… done… no more work needed. You can add “on” but there’s nothing more to add “in”.
If you want to say “Welcome to the Future”, you first need to get there.
