I liked Opposing Force but that was over thirteen years ago. Wasn't impressed with Borderlands and when combined with the seemingly sleazy nature of the Aliens fiasco I've developed a dim view of them as a company. Voted Bad!
Poll: Views on Gearbox?
- Thread starter Sizzle Montyjing
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They made the Half-Life expansions way back when...which I guess makes them alright...but I'm looking at their list of games, and all of them are pretty much junk besides Borderlands, (though I don't like Borderlands, so that doesn't really help shift my opinion)...
I think they are okay. Duke Nukem isn't really their fault since they were just the guys hired to salvage it they didn't create that decade long mess. Aliens is bad but I'm not going to let one fiasco ruin my opinion of them.
Careful, you might get warned for that post. Not to mention lose your job.Chemical Alia said:
I've liked Gearbox ever since Borderlands. BL 1 & 2 are the only games by them I've played, but they're some of my favorites. DNF was already a clusterfuck a decade before they got their hands on it, and A:CM seems like a similar situation. So, I would say they are an above average developer, but unlucky in that recently they have failed at trying to save some franchises that were already dead.
Captcha: It's Super Delicious. I agree.
Borderlands is their only game I can bring myself to enjoy, and even then, I think it's average overall and greatly overrated.
I'll cut them a bit of slack on Duke Nukem because that went through hell before they even got it. Aliens less so, because the final product looks shittier than the old E3 footage.
Overall, I'd say they're average at best, most likely below average.
Also, Randy Pitchford is currently one of the most annoying people in the gaming industry.
I'll cut them a bit of slack on Duke Nukem because that went through hell before they even got it. Aliens less so, because the final product looks shittier than the old E3 footage.
Overall, I'd say they're average at best, most likely below average.
Also, Randy Pitchford is currently one of the most annoying people in the gaming industry.
I love Borderlands 1 and 2.
I dont care for DNF/A:CM.
So they are great in my book. They made those two FAIL GAMES, yes, but I never cared for thos ein the first place, so in my eyes they are great anyway. Besides the fact than aparently they barely had any kind of input in those two games...
I dont care for DNF/A:CM.
So they are great in my book. They made those two FAIL GAMES, yes, but I never cared for thos ein the first place, so in my eyes they are great anyway. Besides the fact than aparently they barely had any kind of input in those two games...
I got a good chuckle from that.Chemical Alia said:
OT: I'm not sure what's going on in Gearbox land, but every game I've played from them has ranged from really good to fucking awesome. The only exception was DNF, and I saw little reason to blame Gearbox for that mess. As it was, the DLC actually was really good, and I can pat GB on the back for having some part in that one. This A:CM debacle is saddening because it looks like it's had more of a opportunity for a guiding hand from GB than DNF ever did (I mean, come on, you're putting your name on it with pride. Make sure it lives up to your standards!). To make matters worse, Randy hasn't been the coolest in the conversations I've read. At the very least, promising patches for the moonwalking aliens, and throwing console limitations as well as the other developer's talent under the bus would have been a preferable response than the ones I read. I certainly dodged a bullet by having no interest in CM, but from now on, I'm going to be more cautious if a Gearbox game wasn't developed by Gearbox.
I don't know what happened with Aliens: Colonial Marines, but it's definitely going to be on people's minds the next time a Gearbox game comes out.
I enjoyed Borderlands and Borderlands 2, and thought Gearbox did a pretty good job with Half Life: Opposing Force. It seems to me that they can make a good game (though I still think someone needs to take a long hard look at what this thing called a "map" is for if there's a Borderlands 3.) Maybe they just don't work well with certain kinds of external pressure- long-awaited game considered vaporware, much-beloved license being developed across several studios under time constraints.
I'm beginning to think Randy Pitchford needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut. It kind of pains me to say it; he's always been such a seemingly open and enthusiastic advocate for his company's games. But between A:CM and DNF, I'm really beginning to feel he simply has no frame of reference for how things will actually be received in the real world.
I enjoyed Borderlands and Borderlands 2, and thought Gearbox did a pretty good job with Half Life: Opposing Force. It seems to me that they can make a good game (though I still think someone needs to take a long hard look at what this thing called a "map" is for if there's a Borderlands 3.) Maybe they just don't work well with certain kinds of external pressure- long-awaited game considered vaporware, much-beloved license being developed across several studios under time constraints.
I'm beginning to think Randy Pitchford needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut. It kind of pains me to say it; he's always been such a seemingly open and enthusiastic advocate for his company's games. But between A:CM and DNF, I'm really beginning to feel he simply has no frame of reference for how things will actually be received in the real world.
I said "other" right now Gearbox seems to be being called a quality developer largely because of "Borderlands" which was kind of clever and well put together. That said, they have basically failed with two out of three of their releases, and "Borderlands 2" shows some really incompetant programming, as the developers themselves said they boxed themselves in by creating a game they couldn't expand the level cap of, or add new levels of loot to, meaning that most of the DLC they are pimping doesn't even really advance the game.Sizzle Montyjing said:
Right now it seems to me that Gearbox is rapidly beginning to be revealed as a crap developer that got lucky once, and couldn't even think far enough ahead to expand their own sequel despite the $$$ hungry DLC pimping, with their other releases being garbage, one of which they lied and used their reputation and good will from their major success to sell.
As I see things right now Gearbox isn't yet in the terrible department, but you can't call them good or even average overall. A lot depends on whether they ever do another release, and how good it is. Right now I kind of suspect they will be "The Borderlands Company" and even that probably won't last because I already see cracks forming in it's success since they have shown the inabillity plan ahead and manage their own products. I mean seriously, it takes a "special" kind of company to plan to release a supertanker full of planned DLC, and yet develop a core game for it that they simply cannot fundementally expand beyond the basic product without breaking it due to balancing it without any foresight as to how that would go over with their DLC plans.
The odd thing is that I can actually see a group of lazy devs who dialed in DNF, and lied to try and sell a game using 5 year old graphic tech as new and state of the art, making that kind of mistake. Getting greedy with the DLC gold rush without actually thinking ahead on how they were actually going to justify it with the product.
I voted average.
Although that's not really the term I'd use for them. I feel like inconsistent is a better description. Some of their games feel like they had genuine effort put into them, even if it didn't alway pan out well, while other games feel uninspired and lazy. Even their best games have areas that lack the polish you'd find in a great game, leaving them standed at just 'good'.
Although that's not really the term I'd use for them. I feel like inconsistent is a better description. Some of their games feel like they had genuine effort put into them, even if it didn't alway pan out well, while other games feel uninspired and lazy. Even their best games have areas that lack the polish you'd find in a great game, leaving them standed at just 'good'.
This really hard.kommando367 said:
They've made two bad games, and both of them seem to have been at the point where they should've been scrapped and rebuilt, but someone (probably whoever's money was riding on them) wanted to get them out anyway.
They're obviously a really good developer, they just need to be working on what they want to.
EDIT: It's also really fascinating to see people turn from "FUCK YEAH BORDERLANDS 2 IS AWESOME" to "RRAGH GEARBOX HAS ALWAYS SUCKED THEY JUST GOT LUCKY".
I think that Gearbox are good; Borderlands 1 & 2 were both enjoyable almost en masse, and the Brothers in Arms series of games are also brilliant.
Two flops would not make me lose faith in a developer, and even then, at least they tried to make something interesting/put themselves forward to pick up the pieces(less so regarding A:CM).
I always respect passion and attempts of greatness over constant mediocrity.
Two flops would not make me lose faith in a developer, and even then, at least they tried to make something interesting/put themselves forward to pick up the pieces(less so regarding A:CM).
I always respect passion and attempts of greatness over constant mediocrity.
well seeing as I never spent the full $60 on duke nukem forever and bought balls of steel edition for only $22 (hey $20 for the bust of duke nukem and extra stuff and $2 for the game is pretty good deal)
I honestly don't chalk duke nukem forever a bust for them but it's not a plus for them either so I still like them myself
although learning somethings cut out of the game or things in the comic book that would have been cool in the game (female duke nukem as a sidekick, frickin mutant sharks with frickin laser beams, dr proton(I know I know dlc but I haven't made it to the dlc yet) hell if it was 4 guns, ego meter fix(less duck and cover more like drinking beer heals you or doing something manly like doing a finsher on an enemy), animation fixing, and finally making duke man up more (12 years shouldn't make duke last five seconds in a glory hole and get drunk off one beer) if they fixed those things I would have liked it more
They're great with games that aren't in development hell. So if they avoided that, and maybe somebody managed to keep Randy's mouth shut every once in a while (although I confess that would be a gargantuan task), they'd be fantastic.
This...this right here, is how I feel about Gearbox. With only a few minor differences.Jandau said:
For one, I'll admit that I have enjoyed a few of their older games. Both of the Half-Life expansions and Brothers in Arms, for example, were really enjoyable. And, I am a firm "fan" of Borderlands 1. (But only after fixing the PC version with community made patches. Which kinda pissed me off, I must add. And almost made me hate the game.)
However, beyond those, most of what I've played from them has been, to me, anything from moderately decent to just awful. More over, they brag incessantly about how "awesome" they are.
Well, okay. Randy Pitchford does. And, he likes to outright lie to people. Someone should tell him to "clap his trap" once in a while. <.<
It probably doesn't help that I'm still pissed off that I wasted sixty bucks on Borderlands 2. Haven't even finished my first play-through and can't bring myself to go back to it. The writing, story, characters, and dialog are so incredibly juvenile that every time someone starts talking in the game it grates on my nerves. The first games story and characters were bland and juvenile, but at least tolerably so. And the fun of the gameplay and intricacy of the world designs made up for it in spades. The sequel? Not so much. Not to me. Perhaps it gets better later on? I don't know.
(That, and they made their DLC practices even more obnoxious. But whatever, that's more an industry trend then something that's exclusive to Gearbox.)
I liked Gearbox in the past. I want to like them now. I know for a fact they have some really talented people over there. I just think, at a corporate level, they keep screwing up lately. Here's hoping that trend doesn't continue. We really, REALLY don't need another Duke Nukem Forever nor another Aliens: Colonial Marines.
They should stick to their own IP's, imo still a good company. I like DNF, but ACM should've never be released.
I voted bad.
I didn't really like Borderlands 2 and how it felt like a grindfest, how you were supposed to play co-op in order to get better loot and overall the level cap annoyed me and after the story the whole game just felt like it was all about the guns and nothing else really.
Then they were given the contract by Sega to make ACM happen 6 years ago and they went and pilfered their money into what made BL1+2 so great so you could say Borderlands was born out of lack of respect and care for Aliens and that disgusts me along with Randy being an obnoxious asshole with the sheer gall to lie through his teeth and not own up to fucking the game over and not really caring about it but his own personal project despite the improtant franchise contract he was given.
So really I'd say gearbox are Bad and lazy, especially since I've seen much better from Platinum and Konami than gearbox will ever hope to achieve.
And after what happened with my favourite franchise (being Aliens) I don't think I'll ever buy a Gearbox game ever again.
I didn't really like Borderlands 2 and how it felt like a grindfest, how you were supposed to play co-op in order to get better loot and overall the level cap annoyed me and after the story the whole game just felt like it was all about the guns and nothing else really.
Then they were given the contract by Sega to make ACM happen 6 years ago and they went and pilfered their money into what made BL1+2 so great so you could say Borderlands was born out of lack of respect and care for Aliens and that disgusts me along with Randy being an obnoxious asshole with the sheer gall to lie through his teeth and not own up to fucking the game over and not really caring about it but his own personal project despite the improtant franchise contract he was given.
So really I'd say gearbox are Bad and lazy, especially since I've seen much better from Platinum and Konami than gearbox will ever hope to achieve.
And after what happened with my favourite franchise (being Aliens) I don't think I'll ever buy a Gearbox game ever again.