The Desert of the Real
It was only a few months ago I was convinced the UK games industry was ready to skyrocket. There was very little else that appeared to be growing as fast, and as successfully. It appears that I have been residing in a land of fiction, for the mirrors that created that image have begun to crack. In just a month five UK development studios have shut up shop, and it’s entirely likely that more will follow.

Attention to Detail (Drome Racers, Ducati World), Silicon Dreams (Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000 Euro Edition, Urban Freestyle Soccer), VIS Entertainment’s Isle of Wight and London studios, and most recently Lost Toys (MoHo, Battle Engine Aquila). The last is particularly stinging, if only because it wasn’t too long ago that I was reading a feature in a 3D graphics magazine covering the team’s tough times in creating Battle Engine Aquila. It’s easy to forget that there are real people with real jobs behind these pieces of entertainment. People that have kids, people that have lives (for the most part), and people that simply love the medium and enjoy contributing towards it. There’s some serious emotion behind the company logo, and many gamers tend to forget about that.

Still, the greatest pain lies in the future of the UK games industry. For every development team that closes its doors, you can rest assured that there are ten more development teams having large chunks of shaved off. The growth of the industry may have been overestimated; certainly the presence of giants such as Microsoft and Sony hasn’t helped control the hype-o-meter. Now is the time to take a step back from the edge, and take in that smell of reality, perhaps that way some jobs can be saved.

Of course, there are a couple of dark areas that I really think should be swept under the rug, before they cause any more heartache.

Tomb Raider
I think most gamers, and I’m talking about the more dedicated and the more immersed in the medium, agree that the original Tomb Raider was fantastic. A superb adventure into long forgotten ruins, when you discovered an impressive statue deep within an endless network of passages, death-defying moments and clever traps, you really felt like no-one had seen that statue in a long, long time. It felt like a discovery, and it was fantastic.

Then came the success. A success that caused such a heavy burden, it practically crushed the spirit of the game and Core Design along with it. By the fourth game in the series, Core had simply had enough. They clearly didn’t want to keep making Tomb Raider games, interviews have suggested this, and certain moves in the series have echoed it, but Eidos rightly wanted to keep making money from the series, so it comes as a blessing that the series was handed to Crystal Dynamics. Core have been freed from the shackles of Lara Croft, now is their chance to get back to doing what they did long ago, and make interesting, playable games.

Galleon
You really have to wonder just how this game has been delayed as long as it has. It’s been so long since the game was originally revealed that the graphics have become something of a joke, and any original ideas have probably been stolen and hacked into another game that we’ve all probably already ignored and forgotten about by now. Surely it’s time for Confounding Factor to close this chapter, and get on with something new and fresh. Releasing Galleon now somewhat resembles a duck waddling out in front of a gun-totting audience, its reputation will precede it. Perhaps the FAQ on Galleon’s website sums things up:

“Q: When will Galleon be Released?
A: Galleon is curretnly on course for a Q4 2003 release?”

Let’s see, a typo on ‘currently’ and a curious question mark at the end of the ‘statement’….


Currently Playing
It’s that time of year when games you actually care about start showing up on the shelves, and there’s some quality stuff on its way. Just avoid some lethal potholes in the road leading to Christmas.

Buy: Soul Calibur 2 (GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation2) 26/09/03
Good lord, is this actually out? Unless you’ve imported the game, the wait has been excruciating. So what on earth has taken so long? Well the difficulty has been upped following complaints from the Japanese gamers that the game was too easy. Unfortunately, it’s been done slightly carelessly, and now the fighters like to play dirty, and constantly block. It’s not all bad news though, fighters Hwang and Lizardman are actually unlockable in the Pal release, which is sure to please fans of the original.

Buy: Advance Wars 2 (GameBoy Advance) 3/10/03
No self-respecting GameBoy Advance owner is without their copy of Advance Wars. In fact Nintendo may be forced to create a new law deeming any person found not clutching a copy of Advance Wars to be escorted to North Korea. So what does Advance Wars 2 do to make you feel you need it in addition to the original? Well, not a lot new really, but its Advance Wars. More Advance Wars, and it happens to be equally excellent. New Commanding Officers, a couple of new units, plenty of new maps, and hey, you can even play Barbie with the characters. What are you waiting for?

Avoid: Fame Academy (PC) 31/10/03
You simply have to leave this one on the shelf out of protest. We’re all quite fed up of instant heard-it-all-before-teeny-bopper-love-thing creator shows, what better way to send the message than by not buying games based off of them? Except for not watching the shows of course. If you need anymore convincing, Ubi Soft saw fit to prevent the media from ever seeing it, by releasing 3Mb screenshots that no one in their right mind could be arsed downloading.

Buy: Worms 3D (GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox) 31/10/03
I’ve personally always been a fan of the Worms series, quite possibly the finest to come out of UK, so it was with great interest when they announced the 3D incarnation. Could they reproduce a gameplay experience as quintessentially 2D as Worms on a 3D plane? Well it appears that for the most part, that’s just what they’ve done. It looks like Worms; it plays like Worms; it even sounds like Worms. There are some minor quibbles, such as missing blowtorch and drill tools, but this is to be expected. After all, how do you create an engine that could handle the players creating little networks of tunnels and at the same time see what is going on above? What’s important is that they’ve provided us with a fully real time destructible environment, and that’s just asking for a kicking. Superb.

Buy: F-Zero GX (GameCube) 31/10/03
Quite simply the slickest, fastest, most beautiful futuristic racer ever crafted. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s the fantastic opportunity to build your own vehicles, replete with stickers featuring all of your favourite Nintendo characters, and some Sega ones thrown in for good measure. Those without a GameCube may want to consider rectifying that upon seeing this little number in action.