NationStates Jolt Archive

Note: If you don’t play video games, this rant will have little relevance to you. If you are a fellow gamer, chances are you’ve heard of all or most of the games mentioned.

Lionhead Studios may just irritate me more than any other game developer out there, as they have never failed to over-hype products and ultimately disappoint.

Their first game of consequence, Black and White was pumped up by gaming websites and magazines mercilessly and advertisements were everywhere. The game was good and the creature AI was better than anything else I’d ever seen, but ultimately the game was just boring. That would have been forgivable if not for the sequel, which was pumped up even more that the original. What we got was a few new features and more of the same with better graphics, graphics that fail to run properly on a great many pcs. No to mention that, after examining the game’s files, it appears what we really got was an incomplete platform for an expansion. I wonder if they’ll put any more effort into it than Creature Isle. Knowing Lionhead, they probably won’t.

I will only barely mention The Movies. The title of a review I read of the game sums it up nicely, “Two Half-Asses Don’t Make a Whole.”

Of course, neither of these is greater than the crime of Fable. Not just because the game’s inconsistent time-flow, pointless side quests and countless other flaws, but because it’s over-hype was especially vile. The game claimed to be innovative in that you could choose whether or not to be good or evil based on your choices in the game. They had the nerve to call it “innovative.” There was nothing innovative about it. Bioware had been doing games like that for years. Has Lionhead never heard of Neverwinter Nights or Knights of the Old Republic? I doubt it.

To some up, Lionhead Studios over-hypes, lies, puts on inferior products and casts aside the work of truly great game developers.

Now, see, this is a prime example of Chuck D's lesson to the world: Don't believe the hype.

Don't believe the hype.

Not everything is Black and White.

i loved Fable, but i agree with you on everything else.
they just fail to deliver... fantastic ideas, and would-be truly fantastic games if only they could actually pull off what they offer.

i only hope Spore will be good... (that's lionhead, right?)

Not everything is Black and White.

Prove it! :D

While I loved Black and White (did not read the hype), I was very dissapointed with Black and White 2 (did read the hype)

To some up, Lionhead Studios over-hypes, lies, puts on inferior products and casts aside the work of truly great game developers.


And someone is forcing you to buy these products how, exactly?

i only hope Spore will be good... (that's lionhead, right?)
I don't believe it's possible for Spore to not kick total ass.

Don't believe the hype.Not everything is Black and White.

Are you afraid of the mix of Black and White?*




* Fear Of A Black Planet, Public Enemy, 1990.

I think Lionhead studios is ok. I own both Black & White and Creature Isle, they're good games. But you are right, after about a half hour it is damn boring. You're doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. See my point. The same thing, no matter how beautiful or fun, just gets BORING! A little variety in their gameplay wouldn't hurt any at all.

I know exactly where you're coming from.

I LOVED Fable. Really, great game. But it was over before you could say "Chicken Chaser, eh?". And then, months after you've had your fill, they come out with an expanded version. It pisses me off more than anything else.

The Movies was another game that I had a lot of fun with. But there was just certain aspects of the game that made no sense, most of which had to do with the editing/filming of the movies that you make. For instance, why did you have to go and select all the little details of every scene, when you could just drag and click, and why would they give you multiple static choices for every scene, but not make the variables consistent, such as if someone falls unconscious on the floor, have them wake up in the same position? Just annoying...

I've never played Black and White, but I've heard the complaints.

Ultimately, You're right. Lionhead seems to be a studio with great ideas, that implements them wrong, or reaches too far and doesn't meet expectations.

The game claimed to be innovative in that you could choose whether or not to be good or evil based on your choices in the game. They had the nerve to call it “innovative.” There was nothing innovative about it. Bioware had been doing games like that for years. Has Lionhead never heard of Neverwinter Nights or Knights of the Old Republic? I doubt it.

Neither NWN nor the KOTOR series had satisfying evil though. Basically it involved killing random people/the good guys. Occasionally in KOTOR there would be something creative, but not much. In Fable the evil choices were actually quite good and really funny as well at times. Like the one stone head where you eat a bunch of live chicks to open the door.

Neither NWN nor the KOTOR series had satisfying evil though. Basically it involved killing random people/the good guys. Occasionally in KOTOR there would be something creative, but not much. In Fable the evil choices were actually quite good and really funny as well at times. Like the one stone head where you eat a bunch of live chicks to open the door.
Meh. The whole good and evil thing isn’t a big issue for me besides the fact that Lionhead claims to have invented it.
The big thing for me about a system like that is not that you can be evil, but that you know you could if you wanted to. Generally I take a middle rode, doing what I myself would do in those situations. Surprisingly enough, that generally ends up having my character be slightly good. Perhaps that’s because some of the evil options are so vile, not even I would commit them.
I've played through those games being completly good and completly evil before, both times feeling as if the character wasn't really "mine" but what the developers planned for most people to do.