Old school PC gamer here. Let me paint you a picture: 1996. Activision publishes MechWarrior 2 and it is awesome. It has the depth of a simulator but is set in a hellish future where giant mechanical beasts rule the battlefield. It is released to both public and critical acclaim. It sells lots and lots of copies.
But Microsoft swoops in and buys the rights to the entire MechWarrior universe out from under Activision.
What to do? MechWarrior 2 is printing money for Activision but they cannot make MechWarrior 3. Activision decides to buy the rights to a tabletop game called Heavy Gear, a kind of MechWarrior knockoff. Actually, they don't buy just the video game rights, they buy the whole company. Now they can create a giant robot franchise that will never be stolen from them.
Activison promises that Heavy Gear will be even better than MechWarrior 2. The gaming public awaits.
1997. Heavy Gear by Activision is released. The gaming magazines give it poor reviews. People on Usenet tear it to shreds. The game seems amateurish, as if it were done on the cheap.The engine is dated, even by 1997 standards. The landscapes are oddly lifeless.Even the publicity shots provided by Activision look bad. The voice over work is atrocious. It sounds like random people from the developer's office were used instead professional voice talent. The game is bad.
A month or so after the game is released I am at Comp USA. I pick up a copy of Heavy Gear. I know this game is bad. The magazines have told me it is bad. The internet has told me it is bad. Everyone who has commented on this game said it is bad.
But I open up the front cover of the box. It is is glorious. Beautiful screenshots of lumbering metal beasts. Lots of well-written blurbs describing the exciting gameplay and features. Lots of glowing reviews from magazines I've never heard of. Even the quality of the box itself was something to behold. This box, surely, must contain something special. I hesitate. I then buy the game for fifty dollars.
At home, I install the game on my computer and launch it. I play it for 15 minutes. I would not call this game bad. I would call this game garbage. I tried to convince myself that it is merely mediocre. But, no, the more I play it, the more I hate this game. I put the game away. Maybe I will like it better tomorrow. I never touch the game again.
My roommate, who is also a gamer and had also read the bad reviews, sees what is happening. He asks me why I would buy such a game. I cannot look him in the eyes. "It was the box," I said, staring down at my keyboard, "The box."
But Microsoft swoops in and buys the rights to the entire MechWarrior universe out from under Activision.
What to do? MechWarrior 2 is printing money for Activision but they cannot make MechWarrior 3. Activision decides to buy the rights to a tabletop game called Heavy Gear, a kind of MechWarrior knockoff. Actually, they don't buy just the video game rights, they buy the whole company. Now they can create a giant robot franchise that will never be stolen from them.
Activison promises that Heavy Gear will be even better than MechWarrior 2. The gaming public awaits.
1997. Heavy Gear by Activision is released. The gaming magazines give it poor reviews. People on Usenet tear it to shreds. The game seems amateurish, as if it were done on the cheap.The engine is dated, even by 1997 standards. The landscapes are oddly lifeless.Even the publicity shots provided by Activision look bad. The voice over work is atrocious. It sounds like random people from the developer's office were used instead professional voice talent. The game is bad.
A month or so after the game is released I am at Comp USA. I pick up a copy of Heavy Gear. I know this game is bad. The magazines have told me it is bad. The internet has told me it is bad. Everyone who has commented on this game said it is bad.
But I open up the front cover of the box. It is is glorious. Beautiful screenshots of lumbering metal beasts. Lots of well-written blurbs describing the exciting gameplay and features. Lots of glowing reviews from magazines I've never heard of. Even the quality of the box itself was something to behold. This box, surely, must contain something special. I hesitate. I then buy the game for fifty dollars.
At home, I install the game on my computer and launch it. I play it for 15 minutes. I would not call this game bad. I would call this game garbage. I tried to convince myself that it is merely mediocre. But, no, the more I play it, the more I hate this game. I put the game away. Maybe I will like it better tomorrow. I never touch the game again.
My roommate, who is also a gamer and had also read the bad reviews, sees what is happening. He asks me why I would buy such a game. I cannot look him in the eyes. "It was the box," I said, staring down at my keyboard, "The box."
