Redfall

Arkane has cemented itself as one of the top names when it comes to creating highly dynamic sandboxes with the likes of Dishonored and Prey, and the studio is definitely one of the crown jewels of the Xbox Game Studios roster post the Zenimax acquisition. Fans were understandably excited about Arkane’s Xbox exclusive project Redfall, a co-op game that blends the developer’s signature ability-based gameplay into the core gameplay loop of looting and shooting that had the potential to be a smash hit.

But in actuality, Redfall is anything but. It’s a painfully generic looter shooter that’s subject to a bevy of gameplay and technical problems. Repetitive content, dull gameplay, and an uninteresting story are just some of Redfall’s issues that get compounded with a wide variety of technical issues to make for a consistently frustrating experience. It’s obviously a big shock for fans of Arkane’s works, and there’s no doubt the developer has heavily fumbled with this project.

In this feature, we’ll be listing what we feel are fifteen of the most disappointing games on the PS4- but disappointing, we should remind you, does not mean bad. Many of these games are a lot of fun, some have improved vastly since launch and managed to turn things around from initial disappointment. Being mentioned in this list simply means that these games, when we played them first, failed to live up to the standard of quality we expected them to hit.

Also note that for the purposes of these list, we’ll only be looking at PS4 exclusives- barring a couple entries that were either only console exclusives at launch, or remain console exclusives to this day.

With all that out of the way, let’s get into it.

DRIVECLUB

When Driveclub first launched, it’s fair to say that it ended up disappointing a whole lot of people. Though it was stunning to look at and hit technical heights that console games rarely do even to this day, there were many who felt that the game was, all said and done, a bit too dull, a bit too uninspired. Developers Evolution Studios would go on to provide excellent support for the game following its release, and arguably pretty much managed to turn things around, turning a disappointing launch into what was a legitimately great driving sim. Their subsequent closure, even in light of said recovery, proved to be a shockingly premature and abrupt one.

Those of you that are fans of Basement Crawl, rejoice! Because Bloober Team will rebuild the game right from scratch on a new engine, and not only that, Team Bloober will release it for  free to people that previously owned the game.

The game’s developer Marc Colhoun stated in an interview that, “Usually, what you will see at this point is a lot of marketing talk and maybe a patch,” Colhoun said in an interview with Gamespot.

“Rather than accepting defeat on this and issuing a patch that kinda fixes this or kinda improves that, we have decided to just come out and explain to you where we are right now and what we plan to do. We have been rebuilding the game, completely from scratch and on a new engine.”

“I know that this isn’t really the way things are usually done in the industry, but I think that if you have put a bad product out to people it is your job to do what you can to fix that,” he added. “Even if it means going back to the drawing board on a game that has already been released.”

The team will work efficiently make the new version of Basement Crawl much better, will reach out to people who have played the original game and will hear their experience and feedback into account.

Basement Crawl was released on Feb. 25 on PlayStation 4 in North America and Feb. 26 in Europe. It was nothing short of a disaster and was the lowest rated game on the PlayStation 4.

After being delayed from its initial release date, Bloober Team has announced that Basement Crawl will be releasing on the PlayStation 4 on February 25th in North America and February 26th in Europe. It will retail $9.99/€9.99/£7.99.

Bloober CEO Pitor Babieno stated that, “There really is no other game like Basement Crawl, a game that both revives the classic fun of crushing your friends face-to-face while also allowing international battles for supremacy.”

We’d ask Bomberman what he has to say about that but we’re not sure he can talk.

Basement Crawl does give a slight horror twist to the proceedings as you play as a crazy clown, a possessed bear with his disturbed little human master, and many more. We’re interested in just how different it is from the Bomberman franchise but for the most part, the zany horror aspect could be worth the price of admission.

What do you make of Basement Crawl? Let us know below.

According to Gematsu, Bloober Team’s Basement Crawl has been delayed from its release this week into the first quarter of the year. It is a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

This isn’t because the game is incomplete though. CEO Piotr Babieno stated that, “While the completed version of Basement Crawl was prepped for launch during the last week, several exciting opportunities to partner with major industry players to enhance, refine and add-to the game arose.

“Although a difficult decision, we decided that the best choice for us, as a team, was to delay Basement Crawl so that we could take full advantage of these opportunities. We will be able leverage those new partnerships to further grow and improve the game while still providing an amazingly fun multiplayer experience for PS4 owners. We’ll be able to announce more details in the days and weeks to come.”

Were you looking forward to Basement Crawl? Let us know your thoughts on the delay in the comments.

Basement Crawl, the Bomberman style multiplayer game being developed by independent developer Bloober Team, will be releasing exclusively on PlayStation 4 over the PlayStation Network on January 29 in Europe, with a release date for North America to follow shortly afterwards.

“Basement Crawl finally gives PlayStation 4 owners a reason to invite their friends over to show off their systems – our amazing local multiplayer that is as addictive as it is competitive,” said Piotr Babieno, CEO, Bloober Team.  “Basement Crawl rewards skill and practice, which means a good player will never get cheated out of a win by someone who grinds with better gear.  For any PS4 owner out there who is still looking for a really fun, truly unique multiplayer game for their new system, Basement Crawl is it.”

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for further coverage of this classic nostalgia fueling title, including our extensive review of the game.

Rashid Sayed: First of all, can you please introduce yourself and the company you work for?

Aron Cender: We are Bloober Team – Polish indie developer. You might know us from A-Men series for PS3 and PS Vita, we are also guys responsible for Basement Crawl and some cool new projects, that we can’t really talk about right now 😉

Rashid Sayed: There is not a whole lot of information about Basement Crawl available out there. Can you please tell our readers about the game?

Aron Cender: Basement Crawl is a classic maze-style multiplayer title coming exclusively to Playstation 4. The game was inspired by well-known, retro game – Bomberman. We wanted to combine classic, but improved gameplay with the intense feeling of creepy and thrilling horrors like “Saw”. Our main goal was to make Basement Crawl a unique experience, when it comes to atmosphere and feeling.

"The gameplay is very similar to classic Bomberman, however we added some additional features to make it more fun and challenging."

Rashid Sayed: So your announcement said you were inspired by classic NES maze action games like Bomberman. How did the entire concept for this game come about?

Aron Cender: We wanted to do something cool and different from other launch titles. We knew there’ll be a lot of AAA games available, so the idea of a classic game seemed pretty good. You know, Assassin’s Creed and Killzone are cool, but you might also want to play something with your friends, when they come to see your shiny, new Playstation 4. We always wanted to do a game in a horror-like setting and it was quite suitable for a title like Basement Crawl. We also felt like there haven’t been a game like this a long time – Bomberman is a bit forgotten and we thought players might like a very polished and improved version of it.

Rashid Sayed: The core gameplay revolves around setting up traps and and is basically focussed on multiplayer. Can you please let us know how this will work in-game?

Aron Cender: The gameplay is very similar to classic Bomberman, however we added some additional features to make it more fun and challenging. There are two main game modes – Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch and you can play either locally (4 players) or online (up to 8 players). Most of the new stuff comes from characters and their abilities.

Rashid Sayed: With most multiplayer games based on respective player levels, Basement Crawl will instead focus on skills. What was the reason behind this decision?

Aron Cender: Aron Cender: Focus on player levels benefits people, who have spent more time playing the game. We wanted Basement Crawl to be rewarding for players with the best skills, not level. If you’re good enough you can jump fresh into the game and destroy people, who have played it for hours. Our games are for hardcore players and we want them to feel that their skill is being rewarded.

"Meeting a deadline was a big challenge for us. The game is a completely new project on a brand new platform, that we have never worked on before. We had to put a lot of effort to make sure everything was done correctly and it took a lot of very precious time."

Rashid Sayed: You also announced that there will be a single player component in the game. What can you tell about it and will this tie in with the multiplayer?

Aron Cender: The single player mode will be more of a practice for multiplayer, than the actual game mode. It’ll allow players to play against AI on the same stages and get to know the game better, before they start competing. At this point we aren’t sure if we have enough time to squeeze it in before the release, so it might be added in a patch later.

Rashid Sayed: Basement Crawl is going to be a launch title for the PlayStation 4. Given that many big name publishers have missed the launch window, and there have been several high profile delays, was it difficult for you to make the deadline?

Aron Cender: Meeting a deadline was a big challenge for us. The game is a completely new project on a brand new platform, that we have never worked on before. We had to put a lot of effort to make sure everything was done correctly and it took a lot of very precious time. However, Playstation 4 has some new features, like cross-game chat, that allowed us to save some of that time. But it was very intense, so we are very proud that our game will come out in the launch window.

Rashid Sayed: I have to ask this question! The artwork released for some of the characters are pretty spooky. Why did you guys went for that kind of design?

Aron Cender: We want our games to stand out from the crowd in two areas. The first one is difficulty – we target hardcore players, that want to be challenged by a game. The second one is unique atmosphere. Basement Crawl is meant to be a spooky, scary and unforgettable experience. If someone plays our game at night and goes to bed right after – we want him to have nightmares with the characters from Basement Crawl. It’s not just a game you play, you should feel it.

"Xbox One is more of a family entertainment system, with all the TV features and Kinect, than a gaming console. And Wii U was never meant for hardcore players, so that’s not our target, even though we have a lot of love and respect for Nintendo."

Rashid Sayed: Furthermore, it seems that there will be different classes in the game. Can you please talk a bit about it and how they will differ from each other?

Aron Cender: There are four classes and each of them have some unique abilities like for example faster regeneration or more health points. We tried our best to balance them as well as possible to make sure none of them is overpowered. I think we did a pretty good job. Choosing the right hero for your playstyle will be the key to success in Basement Crawl.

Rashid Sayed: The game announcement explicitly said you are a ‘developer focused on Sony’s platforms.’ Given the tough market conditions, why is it that Sony drew you over the other two console manufactures [Xbox One and Wii U], or even over PC, which is a haven for the indie game development scene?

Aron Cender: Our goal is to make games for hardcore gamers and we feel that Playstation is the go-to platform. Xbox One is more of a family entertainment system, with all the TV features and Kinect, than a gaming console. And Wii U was never meant for hardcore players, so that’s not our target, even though we have a lot of love and respect for Nintendo. PC is pretty similar to Playstation, when it comes to hardcore players, but you can’t forget about Sony’s support for indie developers, which has really been amazing, as well as PSN which is one of the best places to sell your games. Also Basement Crawl is a very “console” game with local multiplayer, that wouldn’t be possible on PC.

Rashid Sayed: Any chance we will see Basement Crawl on the Vita?

Aron Cender: As for right now Basement Crawl is a Playstation 4 exclusive.

"The new controller is definitely better than the DualShock 3. It’s pretty hard to explain why, it just feels much better and it might be the best one ever."

Rashid Sayed: What is working on the PS4 like? What about its hardware immediately stands out to you, as a developer?

Aron Cender: Playstation 4 is a very powerful machine. Even though Basement Crawl is an indie title, nowhere near to AAA scale, we still have a lot of respect for Sony – they created an amazing piece of technology. During the production of Basement Crawl Playstation 4 was still being developed, so we had to adapt all the time and change a lot of things. But without any doubt it’s a very powerful tool for developers.

Rashid Sayed: What do you think of the PS4 controller? Some developers say it is one of the best controller ever made. What are your thoughts on the same? Furthermore, Do you plan to use the touchpad to further enhance the gameplay?

Aron Cender: The new controller is definitely better than the DualShock 3. It’s pretty hard to explain why, it just feels much better and it might be the best one ever. New DualShock is a huge step forward and we can’t honestly think how it could be any better.

Rashid Sayed: The PS4 obviously has some pretty incredible social and sharing features. How can we expect Basement Crawl to utilize these?

Aron Cender: Basement Crawl will have the standard Playstation 4 features, we haven’t added anything special. We decided to focus on the game itself, rather than spending time on additional social elements.

"There are really no excuses for developers not to make games at that standard and gamers the right to expect it. I’m really sad that some of new titles will be 720P@30FPS. But I hope soon we’ll see more 1080P and 60 FPS titles on all platforms."

Rashid Sayed: From a development perspective, several gameplay developers have claimed that the PS4 is 50% more powerful than the Xbox One. What are your thoughts on the same and does that kind of power really matter in game development?

Aron Cender: We didn’t have any contact with Xbox One, so it’s hard to compare both consoles. However, if you look at pure numbers it seems that Playstation 4 is more powerful. Most games run better on PS4, with higher resolutions and FPS, so I’m pretty sure Sony did a better job at making a gaming console. Pure computing power is for sure an important factor for developers, but we should also remember how easy it is to access this power. Overall Playstation 4 is a great and powerful tool. Our games are not that demanding on hardware as AAA titles, but we can see how well-engineered the PS4 is.

Rashid Sayed: One last question, with the next generation of gaming right around the corner, more and more gamers want the games to run at a full 1080P @ 60FPS. I have two questions regarding this: Will Basement Crawl support that resolution and fps and do you think in the future games on the PS4 will run at that golden stanard?

Aron Cender: Basement Crawl will be for sure 1080P and hopefully 60 FPS, it’s still work in progress and we want to reach that value. I believe all future games should be 1080P@60FPS, it’s almost 2014 and we are moving to the next generation. There are really no excuses for developers not to make games at that standard and gamers the right to expect it. I’m really sad that some of new titles will be 720P@30FPS. But I hope soon we’ll see more 1080P and 60 FPS titles on all platforms.

Basement Crawl is expected to release by Q4 2013 on the PlayStation 4. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Basement Crawl is a classic maze-style multiplayer title by Bloober Team which is coming exclusively to PlayStation 4. We recently caught up with Bloober Team’s Aron Cender to ask about his thoughts about the golden standard in video games: 1080P/60FPS.

With the next generation of gaming right around the corner, more and more gamers want the games to run at a full 1080P @ 60FPS, we asked Aron whether Basement Crawl  will support that resolution and fps and whether he thinks in the future, games on the PS4 will run at that golden standard.

Aron believes it’s high time that game developers should stop giving excuses but rather implement that standard in their games. He is also saddened by some of the launch titles that will be running at 720p/30fps. However he hopes things will change in the future.

“Basement Crawl will be for sure 1080P and hopefully 60 FPS, it’s still work in progress and we want to reach that value. I believe all future games should be 1080P@60FPS, it’s almost 2014 and we are moving to the next generation. There are really no excuses for developers not to make games at that standard and gamers the right to expect it. I’m really sad that some of new titles will be 720P@30FPS. But I hope soon we’ll see more 1080P and 60 FPS titles on all platforms,” he said to us.

One very good example of such a scenario is Dead Rising 3 on the Xbox One. It consistently drops below 30 fps while running at 720p resolution.

What are your thoughts on the issue? Let us know in the comments section below.

Continuing our coverage of Basement Crawl, Aron Cender, who is the Marketing Manager at Bloober Team revealed to us why they were inspired by Bomberman.

The original announcement Basement Crawl said that the development team was inspired by classic NES maze action games like Bomberman. We asked Aron the reasoning behind this concept.

We wanted to do something cool and different from other launch titles. We knew there’ll be a lot of AAA games available, so the idea of a classic game seemed pretty good. You know, Assassin’s Creed and Killzone are cool, but you might also want to play something with your friends, when they come to see your shiny, new PlayStation 4. We always wanted to do a game in a horror-like setting and it was quite suitable for a title like Basement Crawl. We also felt like there haven’t been a game like this a long time – Bomberman is a bit forgotten and we thought players might like a very polished and improved version of it.

But he assures gamers that eventhough the gameplay is similar to Bomberman it will have its own set of unique features that will make Basement Crawl unique.

The gameplay is very similar to classic Bomberman, however we added some additional features to make it more fun and challenging. There are two main game modes – Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch and you can play either locally (4 players) or online (up to 8 players). Most of the new stuff comes from characters and their abilities.

We will have more for this upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive. Stay tuned.