Is Insomniac The New Rare?

[By Anthony]

This article started life as a rant about Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts being a Ratchet rip off. Look what you’ve got now. An article that does speak about said games, but says more about the two companies behind them. I think it’s better for it too. Hit the jump for the monster of a thing.

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about the new Banjo Kazooie game for the Xbox 360 and although it sounds good, it seems like people are avoiding the fact that on paper it sounds a lot like Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank games. Of course, Rare made Banjo before Insomniac had probably even thought about their Lombax mascot and his tin can sidekick but something about the latest Banjo game makes me think of Insomniac and Ratchet & Clank.

It might seem unfair to compare the two games side by side. Sure, like all platformers they do share certain similarities (like platforms, maybe?) but even just seeing the name of Rare’s latest on paper makes me think they we’re highly influenced by Insomniac when creating their game. The subtitle, ‘Nuts & Bolts’ is what you collect in the Ratchet & Clank series and it is this not so subtle difference which lead me to write this piece.

Pretty much all my gaming life has been spent with Sony consoles, and not once (well maybe when Dead Rising came out) did it cross my mind that I should buy a 360. This might seem biased, and a little unfair but there’s logic behind it. The 360 did not have many original ideas. There I said it, Microsoft’s console did not appeal to me because I could get what I needed elsewhere. There might have been a few games that made me stop and think, but seriously most of the ideas were rehashes of something that had already been successfully achieved on the PS2. It seems to me Microsoft like to remake things, or re-imagine them if you will. Rare is a Microsoft owned developer and I think that part of the reason behind the changes made to Banjo are because of Sony and Insomniac’s success with the Ratchet franchise. Microsoft want to emulate that success and get those gamers. In my honest opinion they will never achieve that because to do this they would have to choose between hardcore and casual. They have tried and failed numerous times to balance the two but have never seemed to do it right. You can’t blame them for trying though.

The concept behind ‘N&B’ sounds quite cool actually, the idea of making your own vehicles allowing you to solve things within levels does intrigue me, but will it work? From all accounts it works well but has a rather steep learning curve. Something which Ratchet, for the most part, doesn’t have. Surely platformers are there to cater for the masses? They are meant to appeal to kids and adults alike, something Insomniac can pull off very successfully. It’s simple and effective and keeps people playing for ages. I don’t see the same thing happening with Banjo.

Rare have apparently remedied the fact that some users may not want or be able to create their own vehicles and have supplied sample ones. Something that the majority of players won’t want to do. They’ll want to make their own cool stuff and use that, but if the learning curve is too steep then they won’t want to, which will cause frustration and ultimately said player will stop playing the game. This type of frustration is usually not seen whilst playing Ratchet (or any other platformer) as it is simple and effective. It gives the player what they want and does not complicate the situation, something that usually arises when customization gets thrown in to an already great game. As a wise man once said, don’t fix what’s not broken.

Banjo Kazooie was one of the first 3D platformers and the game soon became one of the classics for N64 fans. Ratchet is the game that seems to have filled the void of Banjo since it’s last outing, not only that I think Insomniac have bettered Rare. Of course Insomniac have been influenced, like every other developer, by similar games in the same genre. Banjo must have been an influence on many a platformer, but now it looks like the tables have turned. Rare are not as good as they used to be and they are now taking notes from the rest of the platformers on the market.

It’s a shame really that Rare seem to have run out of ideas and are stuck making hats for Pinata’s. As David Reeves, when quoting Bob Dylan, said: “The times they are a changing”. That is something that Rare have obviously had to deal with. I think that being influenced is something that happens to everyone (even me) but to seemingly copy and paste ideas from a competitor seems unethical and arrogant.

Thankyou.

I can feel the angry mobs’ torches getting closer but I do believe when they read the text and understand my ideas they might not agree but hopefully will be respectful of my opinion.

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