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Crytek Buys TimeSplitters Dev. Free Radical
by Chris Faylor, Feb 04, 2009 9:58am PSTUpdate: Crytek today confirmed last night's news, announcing it indeed purchasing the assets and business of Free Radical Design. The forty-some people still left at the company following December's layoffs and bankruptcy will be retained. The studio will now be known as Crytek UK.
Original: Though an official announcement on the fate of TimeSplitters developer Free Radical isn't due until tomorrow, staffer Rob Yescombe has already spilled the beans.
Crysis developer Crytek is now the proud owner of the bankrupt development studio, Yescombe, a script writer, told 1UP. "It's the smoothest deal we've ever done. It all went through quickly, efficiently, fantastically," he said.
At present, it's unclear if Crytek will enable Free Radical to regain some of the 140 employees it lost last December, or if work will continue on TimeSplitters 4.
Comments
Sorry, I really couldn't resist. =\
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Crysis was one of the best first person shooters I have played in the past 5 years. This is coming from a person who, at the time of my initial play through, played it on the lowest possible graphical settings. That said, the game was still gorgeous even on those settings, and while it obviously wasn't as pretty as it could have been - only comparing it to other games on the market at that time it was still extremely pretty.
Graphics aside, the subtleties in Crysis' design and the care that went into the gameplay itself via the suit powers, level designs, and weapon loadouts is noteworthy. Sure, the story itself was stupid but so are most other shooters' stories and it was no worse than those. Your enjoyment of the gameplay itself is almost entirely dependent on you as the player, as the game allows for so many possibilities in each encounter that it's up to the player to come up with their own ways to entertain themselves in those situations.
This methodology may not be for everyone, clearly, as heavily scripted games like COD4 are rated and sell extremely well. Personally those types of games do not entertain me these days as I feel like I've played them many times before. This isn't to say they're bad, just that I personally am growing weary of the point-and-shoot mechanics of old. I thoroughly enjoy games that give me some freedom and allow me to be create/experiment.
I have played through Crysis' campaign multiple times now and each time I like to mix my play time between encountering situations in different ways and refining my old methods. The methodologies don't necessarily have to be the most optimal way to win (which I think is a way many people look at it which may be the problem) but the way that is going to entertain me the most at that moment. I have had so many "holy shit" moments while playing the campaign, that prior to this game, were often only achieved through scripted events. It's shit like that which makes Crysis a great game.
One last thought, as far as Warhead goes - it was still a fun game but it lost a little bit of that spark that Crysis had by taking a more linear path in my opinion.
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