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What is the best game Rare developed under Microsoft?

Best Rare game under Microsoft?

  • Grabbed by the Ghoulies

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Conker: Live & Reloaded

    Votes: 19 8.3%
  • Kameo: Elements of Power

    Votes: 32 13.9%
  • Perfect Dark Zero

    Votes: 9 3.9%
  • Viva Piñata

    Votes: 35 15.2%
  • Jetpac Refuelled

    Votes: 2 0.9%
  • Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise

    Votes: 8 3.5%
  • Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

    Votes: 16 7.0%
  • Kinect Sports

    Votes: 5 2.2%
  • Kinect Sports: Season 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kinect Sports Rivals

    Votes: 3 1.3%
  • Sea of Thieves

    Votes: 101 43.9%

  • Total voters
    230

Riky

$MSFT
Some pretty great and underrated games there, even stuff like Grabbed By The Ghoulies and Nuts and Bolts were good games, enjoyed all of them apart from the Kinect stuff.
Even a b tier Rare game is still better than most other developers.
Bring on Everwild.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Sea of Thieves doesnt need any more votes.

So voted Kameo because I want a frikken sequel.
Even from Rares b team.
 

RayBoy

Member
Kameo

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Alx

Member
I liked everything they released from Nuts & Bolts onwards, including all the Kinect Games. Sea of Thieves was the one that took most of my time though (and that was when the game was mostly about sailing around, digging for chests and delivering chicken).
Their previous productions didn't really click with me.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
their microsoft games get overhated a lot.

Nuts & Bolts only gets hate because it was different. Kameo and Viva Piñata would be seen as classics under Nintendo. Live & Reloaded is better than the original in every conceivable way other than being censored. And sea of thieves is a hit.
 
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legacy24

Member
I know this is unrelated but I hope Bethesda doesn't end up like Rare after the buyout. After the shitshow that was f76, I hope they learned from it and go back to their roots with Starfield
 

Havoc2049

Member
Off topic, was gun valkyrie a good game or do you just rock the avatar for the hot chick?
I personally think Gunvalkyrie is a great game. If you enjoyed Sega game design back during the Saturn, Dreamcast and early Xbox days, then you might enjoy it. Gunvalkyrie had a difficult but rewarding control scheme to master at the time, but as modern twin stick controls have advanced, the controls in Gunvalkyrie don't seem that complicated. I do like the art design and setting of Gunvalkyrie's steam punk sci-fi world and Kelly O'Lenmey is an Eurasian hottie.
 
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fatmarco

Member
Kameo is deeply underrated. A bit too clumsy control wise to call it an absolute classic, but it's graphics, music, general vibe were all top notch.

Now that you can play it at 4k 60fps you can appreciate it even more.
 

SirTerry-T

Member
Sea of Thieves is the sort of title Rare would have made back in their glorious 8-bit home computer days if the tech had been up to it, therefore Microsoft Rare is best Rare.
 
I know this is unrelated but I hope Bethesda doesn't end up like Rare after the buyout. After the shitshow that was f76, I hope they learned from it and go back to their roots with Starfield

1. 2022 Microsoft is not the same as early 2000 (or even early 2010) Microsoft, if Bethesda falls it won't be because of the reasons Rare "failed"
2. Bethesda is bigger now than Rare was at the time of acquisition, so it will be harder for Bethesda to fail relative to Rare
3. Fallout 76 was made by the Bethesda B team, there shouldn't be any reason to expect that to be the level of quality (and type of game) that Bethesda will make going forward



EDIT: As for the topic, I'd probably say Viva Pinata, I don't know if it was just "right place, right time" or whatever but I absolutely loved playing Viva Pinata on Rare Replay, and while Sea of Thieves is much better than launch and quite popular, I don't view it as a fun experience by myself, and I don't like conflating "fun with friends" with how fun a game itself is
 
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daTRUballin

Member
I am just amazed they never tried to revive any of their nes hits like wizards and warriors, rc pro am , cobra triangle.. etc.
I guess they finally did make a battle toads.
Diddy Kong Racing actually started out as an RC-Pro Am game originally.

But yeah, their NES IPs being totally ignored is kinda weird, but I guess they're too old at this point and not as popular as their N64 stuff.
 

Unk Adams

Banned
Rare's 360 games (before Kinect happened) are underrated. They were very unique compared to the mainstream titles on the platform. Perfect Dark Zero was even unfairly hated and a great game overall. It felt amazing playing that on the upgraded XBL at launch.
 
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Roberts

Member
Sea of Thieves, duh. Played the new stuff yesterday with a friend and the game is unlike anything on the market.
 
Rare's 360 games (before Kinect happened) are underrated. They were very unique compared to the mainstream titles on the platform. Perfect Dark Zero was even unfairly hated and a great game overall. It felt amazing playing that on the upgraded XBL at launch.
The controls, spotty level design, and mediocre A.I. are what hindered PDZ in my eyes. It controlled really stiff, like a high res N64 game, during an era where everything else already felt smoother to control. It's a shame because it had so much potential after the first one.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
The controls, spotty level design, and mediocre A.I. are what hindered PDZ in my eyes. It controlled really stiff, like a high res N64 game, during an era where everything else already felt smoother to control. It's a shame because it had so much potential after the first one.
I agree that controls (and movement) are PDZ's biggest flaw, but it didn't control like a n64 game at all. Shooters on the n64 either went for Turok style controls (which in theory are nearly identical to two stick controls except the lack of a second second stick, so movement was done on the c-buttons or dpad, while aiming was done with the stick) or goldeneye style controls, where precise aiming didn't matter to much and you had a dedicated button for precise aiming, that brought up a crosshair. In PDZ you had the same controls that Halo popularized, but with aiming and movement that was super slow and stiff. PD64 on the other hand had very fast movement and goldeneye's style of aiming.
look up TimeSplitters 1. its kinda an evolution of PD's and goldeneye's control scheme, meaning you could move the camera with the right stick now, but still had a dedicated button for precise aiming, that brought up a crosshair.
PDZ's problem is how slow it is. even if you crank the turning speed up to 11 it still feels slow and clunky.
 
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I agree that controls (and movement) are PDZ's biggest flaw, but it didn't control like a n64 game at all. Shooters on the n64 either went for Turok style controls (which in theory are nearly identical to two stick controls except the lack of a second second stick, so movement was done on the c-buttons or dpad, while aiming was done with the stick) or goldeneye style controls, where precise aiming didn't matter to much and you had a dedicated button for precise aiming, that brought up a crosshair. In PDZ you had the same controls that Halo popularized, but with aiming and movement that was super slow and stiff. PD64 on the other hand had very fast movement and goldeneye's style of aiming.
look up TimeSplitters 1. its kinda an evolution of PD's and goldeneye's control scheme, meaning you could move the camera with the right stick now, but still had a dedicated button for precise aiming, that brought up a crosshair.
PDZ's problem is how slow it is. even if you crank the turning speed up to 11 it still feels slow and clunky.
Sorry I should have explained better. By 'control like an N64 game' I didn't mean a 1 to 1 comparison in terms of buttons and sticks. I merely was speaking in terms of how stiff, mechanical, and slow it felt. It felt like they had designed the game for a C-button layout even though they had the advantage of twin sticks. Even though Timesplitters suffered from a similar issue, I actually felt Timesplitters controlled somewhat better than PDZ because of the aiming and turning speeds simply being better.
 

HAYA8U5A

Member
Kinect Sports followed by Viva Pinata. The Kinect got buried under shovelware but there were some genuinely good bright spots like Kinect Sports and Dance Central.
 

daTRUballin

Member
There were apparently rumors back in the day that Grabbed by the Ghoulies possibly started out as a Harry Potter game. I don't know if this rumor was just bullshit or not as nothing was ever confirmed, but it's a very oddly specific thing to say about a game like GbtG, so I suspect there may be some truth there. I also think there are some things in the game that are possible references to HP which fuel my suspicions even more.

As a huge fan of both Rare and HP, the possibility that this might've been a thing always upsets me to know it didn't happen. Seriously, a Harry Potter game developed by Rare back during the GCN/Xbox days? Man, the potential......

The game has always been a punching bag, but I think had it been a Potter game, it may have turned out better for the game. The gameplay probably would've been different.

I know I'm like the only person that cares about this, but it's one of the most intriguing mysteries to me.
 

SantaC

Member
There were apparently rumors back in the day that Grabbed by the Ghoulies possibly started out as a Harry Potter game. I don't know if this rumor was just bullshit or not as nothing was ever confirmed, but it's a very oddly specific thing to say about a game like GbtG, so I suspect there may be some truth there. I also think there are some things in the game that are possible references to HP which fuel my suspicions even more.

As a huge fan of both Rare and HP, the possibility that this might've been a thing always upsets me to know it didn't happen. Seriously, a Harry Potter game developed by Rare back during the GCN/Xbox days? Man, the potential......

The game has always been a punching bag, but I think had it been a Potter game, it may have turned out better for the game. The gameplay probably would've been different.

I know I'm like the only person that cares about this, but it's one of the most intriguing mysteries to me.
Could anyone develop HP games back then? Nobody owned the license?
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
Even though I hate the PvP (!), objectively it has to be Sea of Thieves for me. Disregarding my subjective feelings it's still an exceptionally high quality game at this stage, good visuals with plenty of content.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Seeing that track records, they've fallen rather hard. Considering its also a list of 20 years of development or so.

But Sea of Thieves is their best. If you have a bunch of friends, its great fun. Kameo was also kinda fun. Conker was a port ofcourse and Viva Pinata was sort of nice.

You gonna tell me Starfox was the best Rare game since the Ps2 generation onward? Isn't it ironic.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
You gonna tell me Starfox was the best Rare game since the Ps2 generation onward? Isn't it ironic.
I would say nope, Starfox Adventures is a mediocre game with great graphics, that had no business being a Starfox game in the first place and should've stayed Dinosaur Planet.
 
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daTRUballin

Member
Could anyone develop HP games back then? Nobody owned the license?
It's been reported that before Warner Bros. got the rights to make the movies, Nintendo tried getting the rights to HP to make video games for the IP, but Rowling decided to go with WB. They even had NST pitch a prototype for the game, but they obviously couldn't continue with it.

Then WB gave EA the license to make HP games while WB handled the movies, but there's also a possibility that Nintendo tried getting the rights to make HP video games a second time, but lost yet again to EA. This was around the time Ghoulies had started development on the GameCube, so a lot of things add up here. Maybe Rare was working on a Potter game but then had to change it to a new IP once it was clear Nintendo wasn't going to win the bid?
 
Sea of Thieves is Rare recast into its modern online multiplayer mould. It's fun solo and super fun with mates. Seeing my son and his friends make their pirates ass drunk and puke everywhere while they're laughing and going down with their ship being attacked was too good. Next voyage kicks in and the social dynamic of one kid taking it too far by keeping that going only to get locked in the hole by his mates was just hilarious. One of many voyages and stories I've seen unfold or been a part of with them, heaps of fun.

You could sit these kids around a campfire and they'd tell story after story about their high seas shenanigans.
I remember one time my crew and I bullied the entire server into one massive alliance, then we all popped reaper flags, and farmed Athena quests. The entire server made an absurd amount of gold and doubloons since nobody had to worry about griefing, and everyone got half the reward for each individual ship.

I really don't think Rare intended a bunch of randos to actually do that.
 
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