Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath Review

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Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath

Review by DavoApril 2005

It’s an Oddworld After All

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath for the Xbox is not your typical first-person shooter. Rather than emulate the military (Medal of Honor), science fiction (Halo 2) or hellish (Doom 3) settings common to most first-person shooters, Oddworld Inhabitants, the developer of Stranger’s Wrath, chose to set the game in an environment that invokes images of the Old West as filtered through Alice in Wonderland. Stranger’s Wrath embraces its unusual nature and delivers an exhilarating, story-driven, action-oriented game experience that kept me enthralled throughout the approximately 22 hours it took me to reach the end. There was always something refreshing and compelling to do, whether it was exploring a new town, admiring a new vista or experiencing a new story twist. The game has a few flaws, especially during some brutally difficult and repetitive boss battles in the middle of the game. Its numerous strengths, however, easily outweigh its few weaknesses. This is a great game that should appeal to anyone who loves a well-presented story.

You Got Your Third-Person Platformer in My First-Person Shooter

Stranger’s Wrath is a hybrid first-person shooter/third-person action platformer with most of the emphasis on the FPS side. You can switch between third- and first-person mode at any time, but there are clearly moments when one mode is better than the other.

Third-person mode is ideal for traveling between towns or boss encounters and traversing the game’s occasional forays into platform play. Fortunately, the third-person controls are smooth and responsive.  The Stranger can turn on the proverbial dime while running and perform jumps at the touch of a button. The Stranger always did what I wanted when I wanted. If I got killed or injured, it was usually because of my own sloppiness. There is also an easily executed third-person spin attack, but it becomes mostly ineffective a few hours into the game when stronger enemies appear.

Third-person mode is also useful when the Stranger encounters one of the game’s rare jumping puzzles. Mercifully, they’re fairly easy and rarely end in death. If you fall, you usually deplete your endurance bar, which allows you to heal, but not your life bar. You can just get up and try again, which I found to be an enormous improvement over the frustrating fall-to-your-death-and-restart-the-level approach used in most platform games’ levels. I only died once from falling, and that was because of an intentional leap into the void to see if I would survive.

Most of the game is spent in first-person mode with the player viewing events over the top of the Stranger’s wrist-mounted crossbow.  In addition to his crossbow, the Stranger has a device that he uses to shrink and suck enemies into a holding pouch that he wears. The device will remind players quite a bit of the ghost-sucking vacuum cleaners used in the movie Ghostbusters.

Like the third-person controls, the first-person controls are excellent.  The left stick controls the Stranger’s movement, and the right stick controls his aiming. The controls are intuitive and responsive.  I was never confused about how to aim the Stranger’s crossbow or control his movement. If you’ve played Halo, then you’ll be instantly comfortable with the control scheme.

Howdy, Stranger!

The game tells the story of the Stranger, a lean and mean loner obviously meant to evoke images of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. The Stranger stands a little crooked, clothed in a poncho, thick cowboy boots and a hat that covers most of his face in shadow; occasionally he peers out from under the brim of his hat through slit green eyes. The Stranger was so innately menacing that I felt like I was role-playing the Man with No Name. I sat in front of the television playing through squinted eyelids like I was Clint Eastwood or Lee Van Cleef in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly until my wife asked me if there was something wrong with my eyes.

You spend the initial stages of the game hunting for outlaws and collecting bounties as your reward. About 90 minutes into the game, however, you learn that the Stranger is collecting all of those bounties to fund an expensive operation that he needs “to survive.”  The nature of his medical condition remains a mystery for the first half of the game. At about the halfway point, the Stranger’s medical condition is revealed in a rather surprising and poignant turn of events. I won’t spoil the story, but there are enough subtle clues for sharp players to get an idea for what ails the Stranger. This is a reserved and personal story that, thankfully, doesn’t trot out that old console warhorse about saving the world. After the Stranger’s medical condition is revealed, the game shifts focus and casts things in a more heroic light. It’s almost like you’re playing a different game or a sequel after the story shift.

The story is revealed primarily through some of the best CG movies I’ve seen in any game, on consoles or computers. The characters look compellingly alive in the movies. The dialogue is excellent, with nary a word wasted.

It’s hard not to like the characters in the game, even the ones working against the Stranger. The nonplayer characters follow their own agendas and add life and color to the story. They talk about you behind your back, whisper about how scary you are, make fun of you, attack you, or, in some cases, worship you. The Clakkerz, who are big talking chickens, will help you, but only reluctantly.  They’re mostly wary of you, and they can get downright ugly if you start whacking them around. At one point, after a tough boss battle, a Clakker insulted me just enough to tick me off. I whacked him three times in a row, pleasantly surprised that some much-needed money flew out of his pockets. Imagine my surprise when every Clakker in town ran into their houses and started sniping at me with machine guns. I treated them with a lot more respect after that. It also highlights one of the game’s strengths. Nothing is free in the game, and every action has a consequence.

Unlike the Clakkerz, the Native Grubbs worship you like a hero in the most endearing manner. They follow behind you, giving childlike advice with squeaky voices, forgetting the point of whatever they’re trying to say, and then trailing off in midsentence. I’m amazed at how much fun I had just hanging out with the Native Grubbs, even after I had exhausted all the dialogue choices. You’d have to be inhuman not to love them with their big watery eyes and hero-worshiping tendencies.

Oddly enough, the enemies were the most fun characters in the game.  The character artists list Jim Henson’s movie The Dark Crystal as an inspiration, and the influence of the film is most apparent in the enemy character designs. Many of the enemies, especially the bosses, resemble characters from another Jim Henson creation, “The Land of Nod,” which aired on Saturday Night Live during the first year or two of the show. They’re mostly big, green, fleshy, warty and scaly, yet individually unique.

Enemies only come in three or four types, but within each type there is a wide variety. Outlaws, for example, lope around with hunched backs, Mad Hatter hats and huge rubbery mouths. The basic outlaw variety carries rifles, but other versions wore hand knives or wielded sniper rifles. My favorite was the explosive outlaw, who had a big keg of dynamite strapped to his back. Upon sighting me, the explosive outlaws would race across the terrain, pumping up and down like pistons, moving three times faster than you’d think possible, and screaming, “Oh yeah, we gonna find your guts all over the place, yeeeaaahhh!” Only they would speak so fast that it would come out as one long string of words. I laughed every time I came across an exploding outlaw. I would let them attack me just so I could hear them scream about my flying guts. It was a small pleasure but one that I embraced fully. I also got a hoot out of the obese wrestler boss who kept launching himself into me from across a distant field, arms and legs flailing wildly, like a hippopotamus shot from a cannon.

The game is mostly linear, with the Stranger traveling from one boss encounter to the next and then back to town in conveniently located tunnels. The Gamespeak feature, which allows the Stranger to talk to nonplayer characters or himself, usually provides information about the location of the next encounter. There are opportunities to explore the prairies and plains between encounters. These explorations allow you to find ammunition and money while admiring the beautifully rendered landscapes.

Those Are Real Purdy Pictures

The artwork and graphics in the game are beautiful and do an outstanding job conveying the warped Old West setting. The buildings and landscapes are rendered in washed-out browns, reds, greens and yellows. Everything has the kind of faded look you would imagine in an Old West setting.  Debris and dust blow through the sparsely populated towns.

The artists also put a lot of thought into the look of each town.  Buzzarton is a dusty, wind-swept town with oil derricks and industrial pipes riding over the rooftops of the huge clapboard buildings.  The hulking remains of old steam trains power mysterious machines that serve some unknown purpose. New Yoke City is newer looking, befitting its status as a future location of commerce and population growth. Outside the towns, you encounter long stretches of faded grassland. All of the landscapes look great and feel realistic and organic.

The only noticeable problems with the graphics occurred when the game engine was rendering ground-level vegetation while the Stranger was running; the grass would suddenly pop up in front of the Stranger as he was running. Also, some of the cacti appeared curiously flat, almost like something that belonged in Paper Mario. There were also one or two very brief instances of screen-tearing that occurred only when traveling in heavy brush. These graphical glitches were extremely rare and never detracted from the game. By the time I noticed them, they were gone.

How’zat?

The voice work in the game is uniformly well done. Although only a few actors provided voice work, the characters still feel unique and speak in voices appropriate to their physical appearance. The Clakkerz speak in a nasal Western twang that seems to fit giant chickens. The Native Grubbs speak in a clipped back-of-the throat voice that reminded me of a slightly deeper version of Marvin the Martian. Enemies and bosses roar in deep, guttural voices. The Western music and sound effects are appropriate to the game, although they are a little difficult to hear at times.

Lock and Load

The Stranger uses only one weapon throughout the game: a powerful wrist-mounted crossbow. Most first-person shooters rely heavily on weapon variety. Permitting only one type of firearm seems an unusual choice until you get to use the Stranger’s ammunition. Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath substitutes ammunition variety for weapon choice, and it ends up being one of the best parts of the game.

The Stranger uses “live ammunition” in the truest sense of the phrase. Ammunition comes in the form of living creatures that you capture and load into the Stranger’s crossbow. The creatures sit in your crossbow looking like psychotic Beanie Babies; they’re little balls of fur with sharp teeth and crazed expressions. They growl, writhe, buzz, and chatter. Chippunks, for example, look like fat little squirrels who jive-talk while sitting on your wrist, uttering clever little phrases like, “Hey brother, you got someone who needs some talking to?” or “Do I look fat in this thing?” The Chippunks were so much fun that I would sometimes load them into my crossbow just to see what they had to say to me. Chippunks distract outlaws. If you fire one at the ground, an outlaw will charge over and try to stomp on it, leaving you positioned for a quick takedown.

The Stranger can use eight different types of ammunition. Thudslugs are hard-shelled beetles that act like plastic riot bullets, knocking enemies to the ground or stunning them. Fuzzles are round balls of teeth and hair that latch onto enemies and gnaw off chunks of flesh. Bolomites are spiders that incapacitate enemies by wrapping them in a thick web. Other types of ammunition have functions that range from explosive (Boombats) to rapid fire (Sting Bees) to noxious (Stunkz). A bit later in the game, you get to upgrade all your ammunition and the experience becomes new all over again. Thudslugs, for example, become Riotslugs, causing enemies to explode into pieces after two or three shots.

Experimenting with the ammunition was my favorite part of the game.  There were usually several ways to capture enemies. You could knock down an enemy with a Thudslug or two and wrap him up with a Bolomite.  Alternatively, you could fire 20 or 30 Stingbees at an opponent, stunning him and moving in for an easy capture. I was relieved not to have to spend too much time backtracking because I ran out of the one type of ammunition I needed; there was always an alternative method for taking out enemies that were not bosses.

The Good …

One of the most welcome features of the game is the Stranger’s ability to heal himself as long as his stamina bar is not depleted.  There is nothing I hate more than hunting through a game for scarce health packs while enemies are bearing down on me. The Stranger shakes his body violently to heal himself. It’s a little odd, but it fits the tone of the game. He continues healing until his stamina bar depletes. After depletion, the stamina bar slowly replenishes.  Even during tough battles, there was usually a place to take cover and allow the stamina bar to replenish. It would be nice to see more developers adopt a similar approach to character healing.

Another welcome feature is the aforementioned ability to save anywhere.  I would not have been able to grind my way past several of the game’s bosses without the ability to save every 30 seconds as I fought past overwhelming enemy odds.

The Bad …

You have the option of capturing the enemies dead or alive, although live captures yield much larger bounties than dead ones. Capturing enemies alive, especially bosses, highlights the game’s chief weakness.  It’s just too dang difficult to capture some of the bosses alive.  Capturing an enemy alive requires you to deplete his endurance meter without exhausting his life bar. Easier said than done! Oh, I tried.  I tried until I wanted to snap my controller in half. I tried saving in the middle of boss battles. I tried switching ammunition. I tried varying my tactics. I tried alternating between third- and first-person attacks. I spent more than two hours on one boss, ultimately concluding that I just couldn’t do it, and I wanted to get on with the game anyway. Maybe there’s a way to capture the tougher bosses alive, but I never figured it out. It was frustrating, especially when I learned (by the end of the game) that capturing the bosses alive has little true importance in the outcome of the game. You can do it for bragging rights, I suppose, but I’m way past finding any pleasure in that. Also, it seems silly that you can’t capture the bosses in the middle of the game alive, yet the bosses in the later stages yield easily to a live take-down.

… And the Ugly

A few of the midgame boss battles also descended into the grinding repetitiveness typical of third-person, end-of-level encounters.  As in many platformers, you have to fight some bosses in three forms, each form growing progressively more difficult, before claiming victory. Oddworld Inhabitants clearly made some effort to make these battles more interesting. In one battle, the boss is on a mine cart circling around you on a three-tiered track. You have to hit an electrical switch at just the right moment to drop him to the next level. Unfortunately, each time you hit a switch, a slew of doors would open and a wave of enemies would begin attacking you. The multi-tiered track was clever, but the endless wave of enemies was irritating and surprisingly mundane in such a creative game.

Fortunately, the game redeems itself later just prior to the final boss with a creatively brutal battle against two giant octopus-like creatures with knives on the end of their tentacles. These creatures would chase me around a tight room, trapping me in a corner and whirling their knives like blades in a food processor. All I can say is thank the heavens for Riot Slugs and the save-anywhere feature. 

High Noon

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is an example of what a company can do when it takes an existing genre and reshapes it into something refreshing. I doubt that first-person purists will like the game’s cartoonish graphics. If you don’t like first-person shooters, you probably won’t find anything here that will attract you to the genre.  If you’re primarily into platformers, you’ll likely find the game too heavy on the FPS side. If, however, you want to experience a game with a great story, you like FPS games, and you have an open mind, then I highly recommend this game. Even with its linear design, I find myself longing to revisit the Stranger’s world, load up one of my old saves, and see whether I can capture one of those durn difficult bosses alive. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Oddworld Inhabitants Publisher: Electronic Arts Release Date: January 2005

Available for: Xbox

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33 Responses to Goons Loom at Infinity Ward

  • Meho

    So, you make your company a billion in profits in two months. Next thing you know, you’re investigated for insubordination, sued and sacked. Also, your team members are threatened by men looking like thugs yet not wearing uniforms. I guess Pandemic studios are now happy they were acquired by EA and not Activision. They just lost their jobs after making two moderatly successful games.

    Seriously, breaches of contract and stuff, yeah, I can get behind that but having people threatened and reporting “insubordination” sounds like some proper gestapo shit. One would think that after making the fastest selling entertainment product in history, Infinity Ward would be given SOME credit by their Activision Overlords, but I guess Bobby Kottick was serious about the air of fear and uncertainty he wanted to prevail in the Activision cubicle farms. A fascinating story, can’t wait to hear the rest!!

  • Andrew

    Harsh.

    I’m a little wary calling out anything too early but Activision isn’t exactly know for it’s good closure policy of studios, and removal of staff in the past.

    What transgressions they’ve done as publisher-owned, slightly-more-independent-perhaps CO’s – who knows? Will we ever know? 🙁

  • ajax19

    Now that is how you handle insubordination.  Send in security and throw their asses into the brig (i.e., fire them).  I reckon this will be a long and ugly process as most HR-related matters are.  As an attorney, I have had the (dis)plesure of reviewing various HR complaints and matters in my day.  Needless to say the things people do at work simply boggle the mind.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    It is awfully shocking that Infinity Ward, of all studios, would be made an example of with goons and firings. They’re kind of a golden-egg-laying goose.

    Unless of course West and Zampella were actually doing something wrong/unethical/illegal, in which case I’d have to side with Activision. But if some of the tweets are true, and A/B is just trying to bring a rogue studio to heel, there are gentler ways to do it.

  • Meho

    The plot, apparently thickens:

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/activision-holding-back-mw2-royalties

    “Website BingeGamer (via VG247) was told by a collection of unnamed sources that not a single penny of the $1bn generated by MW2 has been seen by Infinity Ward. ”

    This is still filed strictly under rumours and speculation but, if it’s true, then it’s fucking bizarre. I mean, I know IW are part of Activision, yet you’d expect their contracts to involve some bonuses on top of the salary should their games do well..

    “The report also states that the “insubordination” IW bosses Jason West and Frank Zampella appear to have been sacked for was caused by secret discussions with rival publishers.”

    Because in corporate America the only secret discussions allowed are those between the senior staff at your company.

    OK, some more linkage:

    http://www.bingegamer.net/2010/infinity-ward-has-not-received-royalties-for-modern-warfare-2/

    Also, just for completion’s sake, a now legendary tweet by Tim Schafer regarding this situation:

    “Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It’s just how the beast communicates.”

  • Meho

    So, what do we know after one day?

    Activision has indeed sacked West and Zampella. Infinity Ward is supposed to be working on DLC for Modern Warfare 2 as we speak. There will be a Call of Duty title in 2010, made by Treyarch. There will be another Call of Duty title in 2011 although it is not yet clear who is going to be the developer. Infinity Ward is now temporarily headed by Activision’s employees Steve Pearce and Steve Ackrich but Activision also announced that a newly formed studio, Sledgehammer Games will be handling future Call of Duty games and will be “extend(ing) the franchise into the action-adventure genre”. Sledgehammer is headed by former Visceral Games executives Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey, which, upon playing Dante’s Inferno, I am not sure is the greatest idea ever…

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    1UP says: “In addition, they have formed a new business unit dedicated to publishing an annual Call of Duty game.”

    Isn’t that just so Activision?

  • Andrew

    Oh! Oh! I can name them! Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: 2010 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: 2011! 😀

    Oooh, wait, but we need other genres, wow! so much chance to have the “Call of Duty: ” namers busy for ages 😀

    Sigh.

  • Mat

    That’s abit unfair, Andrew.

    Aren’t you forgetting “Call of Duty: Modern MMO” and “Call of Duty: Panzer Tankz Mini Kartz Racer!”?

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Kotaku’s really trying to help Activision out: new titles and box art.

  • Toger

    I’d play the Wolveriiiiiiiiines version! 😀

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Hey, the Keeping The Peace version has my childhood neighbors on the cover!

  • Meho

    Modern Gwarfare has practically infinite potential for cross marketing!!!

  • lakerz1

    Call of Duty: Corporate Clusterfuck

    LOL

  • Mat

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/infinity-ward-bosses-suing-activision

    This isn’t looking like a story that will go away anytime soon.

  • Meho

    No, it won’t. More info:

    http://pc.ign.com/articles/107/1074524p1.html

    and

    http://pc.ign.com/articles/107/1074657p1.html

    Choice quotes:

    “The lawsuit states that in the wake of Modern Warfare 2’s success, Activision refused to honor the MOU or the Emplyoment Agreement with West and Zampella, and instead launched a “pre-textual investigation against West and Zampella to create a basis to fire the two co-heads of Infinity Ward before the first Modern Warfare 2 royalty payment.”

    “”West and Zampella were interrogated for over six hours in a windowless conference room; Activision investigators brought other Infinity Ward employees to tears in their questioning and accusations and threatened West and Zampella with ‘insubordination’ if they attempted to console them.”
    ”

    Anyway, after reading the court document, I’d say it’s ironic that West and Zampella are fighting to retain control over Modern Warfare brand even though I imagine they are sick to death of it by now…

  • ajax19

    It’s not so much ironic that they are fighting to retain control over Modern Warfare brand even though they are likely sick to death of it by now, but rather very tactical.

    According to the court papers and West and Zampella’s side of the story, this MOU gives them control over “Modern Wafare” and rights to certain royalties that were due in the next few weeks based on the sales of MW2.  Control over MW is their biggest bargaining chip here.  They file a law suit asking for that and the money and then when it comes to time for settlement talks they use their (alleged) leverage over one leg of Activision’s admitted three-legged stool as a way to get more money from them. 

    They are suing for $36 million worth of damages, if they “agree” to give unfettered control of the MW series to Activision, they stand a better chance to see more of that $36 million.

    Complains in law suits are often like this.  They ask very everything and anything, because it’s much easier to amend and pare things down than to amend and try to add things be it damages or additional claims.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I honestly wouldn’t have expected THIS level of greed, even from Activision. I mean seriously, the game made TWO BILLION DOLLARS, people. There’s enough to go around.

    Infinity Ward is wholly owned by Activision, but I imagine all of its employees will probably quit in the next several months. I also wouldn’t be surprised if West and Zampella start a new studio and hire them all back. Doubtless all employees are bound by non-competes, but those are notoriously difficult to enforce, especially in the games industry.

  • Mat

    The overriding feeling I get from this is is that, not for the first time, Activision are just swinging around their weight like some 500lb Gorilla, and whoever gets caught out by it.. well, tough luck.

    This whole situation just smacks of arrogance. Arrogance that they’ve become no strangers to in recent times.. such as slapping a £55 RRP on Modern Warfare 2 in the UK (that thankfully few if any retailers actually stuck with).

    With all this re-structuring (read: milking) I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s afew concerned faces at Treyarch, too.

  • Bowbe

    Ok…aside from all the nerd rage that the “awesome” management of Infinity Ward got fired by their owner corporation lets analyze a few facts.

    Infinity Ward was successful at creating a pretty good fairly engaging and scary single player game. That grossed an estimated 1.5-2.0 billion dollars in the first two months of release. About the third month we realize that the monolithic statue that is Infinity Ward has feet made of clay (about January 2010) when their various patches for the multi player FAIL to stop all sorts of hacks/cracks/cheats that absolutely ruined the game.

    In November 2009 the entire games industry is hailing them as the 2nd coming (again). Their reviews are 9.5+ on every site.

    Now its March 2010 and metacritic fan ratings push the game to a 5.5.

    This same management everyone has hailed were also grossly negligent in releasing multiplayer that was hacked/cracked/and full of about as many horrible cheats as I have ever seen in more than a decade of online gaming. The managment that allowed their code to be accessed by hackers to “look for bugs”. The same hackers who have destroyed the multiplayer experience. I’d fire them too. They really aint worth that much $ in the grand scheme of things and if they broke contract or NDA with another company/entities they DESERVE what they get.

    As for that billion plus it is just a gross. As someone who works in games publishing let me clarify how this works. 60msrp. Retailer keeps $30.00 of that to keep the lights on in their store. Microsoft and Sony have licensing agreements for their perspective consoles that pay them around 1/3rd of the profit up till a game makes “platinum” status then the rate goes down. Its like a movie studio. So of the $30.00 left over after Walmart, Microsoft/Sony get $10.00. Uncle Sam/the Queen/your National Tax Collector gets $10.00 in varied corporate tax, leaving Activision/Blizzard $10 to divvy up as they chose to the creative studio (Infinity Ward). So a big chunk of change but not a Billion dollars. More like $167 million. A very decent chunk of change for sure. But when you consider blizzard/activision gets to keep about $32 million a MONTH from World of Warcraft, its not that impressive.

  • Bowbe

    Likewise since West and Zampella were dumb enough to allow their code to be distributed onthe net I wouldn’t trust them to put out another game that wouldnt be just as messed up as this one was. There were high school kids playing MW2 two weeks before it came out for peets sake. Whent hey logged in after “buying a copy” all their perks were still there. All their points were still there. Now invariably when you play you will see hundreds of players with prestige 10, earned through boosting. The boosting service is SOLD FREELY for about 2000 microsoft points or 3 months live subscriptions.
    My point is, Activision’s strongest case is that someone willingly let a flagship game of their Christmas lineup be hacked and passed about for free diminishing its value and that its value continues to diminish. Someone has to staunch the gouts of blood because quite honestly, folks who prefer a clean multiplayer game will never trust Infinity Ward again. If West and Zampella couldnt or wouldnt find the person(S) responsible for all that out and destruction of their lucrative multiplayer IP then Activision has every right to punish them financially and legally for ruining their good name. You notice the hacking and cracking is very difficult on WOW, it is strictly enforced and checks and balances are put in place to protect the fans. Infinity ward didnt do this or has thus far failed in its obligation ot the fans. Someone has to pay. Simple as that.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    We’ve all seen that pie chart, Bowbe, but I doubt the studio leadership was fired for shipping an exploitable game.

    Are you actually suggesting that Activision fired senior management because of problems with free DLC? Or that Activision cares that there is cheating in the game? Activision sees no revenue from online play. They could care less whether or not it works.

    You’re free to be an apologist for Activision if you like, but your analysis of WHY Zampelli and West were fired doesn’t seem very plausible.

  • Bowbe

    What isn’t plausible about shopping your parent companies Itellectual Property to hacker sites to look for bugs? Thats pretty cut and dried and thats what they did. That would be me posting up chapters of a book for WOTC/Hasbro on a torrent account while also submitting it for publication. You do that in any job you get fired. I’m not apologizing for Activision, I’m pointing out issues of corporate and leadership related negligence that will get you fired.

    Gay bashing. Infinity Ward had two instances of that with this game, once with the youtube vid, 2nd with the in game “joke” about don’t ask don’t tell. Did I think they were funny? Sure because I have a sense of humor. If you work for a big ass company (Bank of America being one) and make a similar joke even on your facebook page outside of work guess what? Fired. Thats corporate culture now like it or not. Unless your a rapper that is.

    Activision may not “make” the dough off the online play as you say but lets call an apple an apple shall we. How many people actually bought the game PURELY to play the 10 hour single player game? 1/10th of the sales maybe? You buy COD games for the online experience. Their negligence ruined the online experience and tell me it hasn’t been ruined after you’ve been buried in three dozen care package strikes. COD MW1 didnt have those issues. This one is rife with them. If your sitting with friends and 8 out of 10 of them agree the online blows and you were on the fence about buying it for yourself are you still going to buy it for full price? No, you’ll pick it up used and Activision certainly doesnt get any $$ off a resale. Check your worship of Zampelli and West at the door please.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Please. I didn’t know Zampelli and West existed until last week. As for the grammatical wasteland that are your comments, if you worked in game publishing then you would know that once a game is bought it’s bought, that its tail is going to be about six weeks, shorter for a game like this because door busters see around 85% of the profit on Day Zero and Day One. You’d also know that as consumers, gamers are mind-bogglingly stupid, and will cheerfully buy games despite warnings of issues just because they’d always planned to.

    Given that Zampelli and West are now suing, insisting that Modern Warfare is their IP, I’m guessing that they probably didn’t knowingly damage it. But who knows? Maybe Activision, a company that has spent the last five years exploiting franchises, closing studios, firing people without reason, arbitrarily raising prices, making stated company policy that an atmosphere of skepticism, pessimism, and fear was desirable at their wholly owned subsidiaries really is the affronted party here. Time will tell.

  • ajax19

    I don’t think anything is “cut and dry” here.  I don’t think anyone is worshipping either of these guys either.

    The only thing we’ve seen to date are Zampelli and West’s allegations set forth in their complaint and the brief, vague comments by Activision about “insubordination”.  That term is incredibly vague and can mean just about anything in the corporate/HR world. 

    Given that this is now in litigation, rumor and speculation is all you’re going to get until more papers are filed.

    As for their claim for damages, the $36 million they allege includes far, far more than just the royalties they think they are owned.  It’s a combination of things.

    As for the value of MW2 and the money Activision made off it, Activision has already announced that the game was incredibly successful and one of the main reasons behind its success last year.  Regardless of the exact total revenue Activision saw as a result of sales (I’m sure it’s easily found in their public filings) it was a significant portion of their overall revenues.

  • Bowbe

    Haha Steerspike. The only point I was trying to make is that if a parent company wanted to axe these guys they have ample reasons to use as their excuses for termination, most of which would stick.

    Thats ALL I pointed out.

    Leaked versions of the game two weeks before release showing you have no control over your own in studio employees or you willingly leaked the game (Check).

    Inability to control the rampant cheating on multiplayer with 2 patches that did not work resulting in dillution of your IP(Check).

    Use of illigitimate 3rd party hacker sites as “sub contractors” to your IP (Check).

    If this was done without the knowledge of the parent company that (Also) could result in a clause for breach of contract.

    Negotiation in private with a rival entity (Allegedly in this case EA?) for re-entry into the EA fold? Didn’t these bozos pull a similar stunt with EA to break from EA and go to Activision in the first place? Thats the big stinker here according to a lot of other sites that are just as informed as the rest of us.

    The rest of us meaning… people who were not in the meeting. I cherish every time someone allegedly or directly affiliated with the “fired side” tries to win the court of public opinion with their lame twitter and facebook updates.

    Is Activision trying to get out of paying their 10% to Infinity Ward? Probably. In this economy anything is possible, especially where stock splits and shareholders are concerned. Certainly not painting them as good guys here, just pointing out several “grounds for termination”.

    You say cool stuff like “Do you honestly believe Activision cares about cheating” Maybe “Activision” doesn’t but the Blizzard wing sure seems to when it comes to cheating in their flagship product.

    You also swing around big numbers like 2 billion dollars and then when I point out the number they recieve is much smaller you go in with the “We’ve all seen that pie chart…” and “Doorbuster specials”. So which is it? They made 2 billion or they suddenly lost their ass on the first two days of sales while Walmart and Uncle Sam reap the reward of Infinity Ward’s valliant effort? Maybe everyone hasn’t seen that pie chart.

    Sorry dude but I’m not trying to sell a bunch of conflicting stories to win an internet argument with you. Note that when combing through my “gramatical wasteland” I again only point out reasons Activision could use to get rid of anyone affiliated with Infinity Ward that they wanted to, and all would be good and legitimate reasons in my book.

    Infinity Ward started with great IP and the potential of a great product with this one. Single player was amazing, but I buy COD games for the online play. So do a lot of other people. I ain’t the greatest at the game but I finish in the top 5 on most rounds and thats good enough for me. CODMW (the first) played for about 6 months solid, had few errors, but bad lag during certain times of the day. There were almost no cheats except for a few wierd places on a couple maps where you could walk the sky and the game was frequently patched and regulated. That was in the day of “good Infinity Ward” They were unshackled by those evil opressive bastards at EA and they were out to make a good name for themselves right?

    This new game was a mess from the get-go that benefitted from lots of hype, fat reviewer scores and millions of dollars in advertising. My friends and I played for about two months almost nightly till all the care package nonsense and the modded guns started showing up everywhere.

    Even in the beginning there were the “turn invisible cheat” in the Afgan map and “unlimited ammo cheats” and “hide down the smokestack and rack up a million kills cheats to get all your nuke patches and what not. Allowing prestige points in private matches? Wow, a booster’s paradise. Thats horrible game design right there. All that is on Infinity Ward and not Activision. They are the studio they designed it, put it out flaws and all as a finished product.

    Too cheap for dedicated servers with that “2 billion dollars” your talking about? Way to piss off the PC gamers and console gamers alike. I should have known something was up when the “online agreement” page flashes by faster than a booster on crack with all run/sprint/knife/akimbo shotgun choices selected. Is that crap Activisions fault or Infinity Wards? Probably a combo of blame in that reguard.

    We waited and checked status of updates/patches and all that came up was “oh we’re working on it,” all the hack tools were available for it before it even launched. Youtube has had daily exploits posted up. People send you messages to you in game wanting 2000 microsoft points or 3 months subscription to LIVE in exchange for 10th prestige.

    All the bells and whistles that should have made the game great are meaningless now thanks to the cheating. All that stuff you strive for as a gamer went up in smoke almost overnight once the non-stop care package exploits were in full swing. I don’t blame Activision for that. I blame Infinity Ward for allowing that to happen on ALL platforms of the game and will likely never buy a game from them or another entity run by Zampelli and West again. IW ruined its reputation with this gamer for sure. I can buy $60 worth of real bullets and have an awesome afternoon at my local gun club instead.

    You are right about one thing though. Gamers are dumb and will knowingly buy a game that is going to break their heart because they “hope” that all the bs will be fixed the next time they play, or when the next version comes out but just like Madden, it never is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Now THAT’S a good response, Bowbe! I don’t agree, but I respect the use of logic and the lack of bile.

    Allow me to rebut…

    Blizzard can care about cheating until the universe dries up; the position on one game (where cheating might impact PAYING customers) doesn’t dictate company policy. I didn’t intend to imply that Activision doesn’t care about cheating regardless of game, only that they don’t care when it comes to MW2.

    Never argued that Activision couldn’t produce reasons to fire West and Zampelli. Particularly if they were talking to other publishers – which wouldn’t surprise me. Total breach of contract. I never said Activision was acting illegally. The only point I wanted to make was that if I were Activision, and I was faced with losing a studio that just made me *coughcoughcough*illion dollars (no need to incite you further), I might have approached with a different tone…

    along the lines of…

    “Hey, guys, I know you’re looking and I don’t want you to leave us.  How can we work this out?”

    Instead of sending thugs to the office and firing the leads.

    As for the litany of exploits you list, yeah, it’s a broken game. Most games that ship are broken. But the industry doesn’t care about quality – on account of the gamers are stupid thing. All they care about is dollars, and MW2 made a zillion of them. They’re not selling Toyotas, you know. No one dies if a game is shitty.

  • Mat

    The bug issue with MW2 is an interesting one for sure, particularly when you consider what the reaction to so many glitches and cheats would have been if this was Treyarch’s year on the job. I was late onto the World at War scene so barely experienced much of the multiplayer myself, but I noticed the game received one hell of a tough ride from the community about the bugs in the multiplayer. I can’t recall many if any of them being as high profile or consistent as some of the floods of MW2 glitches that have appeared.

    Infinity Ward didn’t come up with anything like Nazi zombies either, and if COD4 is any indication, are nowhere near as supportive of their products with DLC either as Treyarch.

    Still, I don’t really think this is about calling Infinity Ward “awesome” or siding with them against Activision for the sake of it.. or “nerd rage”. IW might have published a buggy as hell game (serves them right for being arrogant over not releasing a beta) but this is just one in an increasingly large number of PR balls up’s by Activision. As Steerpike says, there are surely other ways of dealing with stuff like this other than sending the heavies in and coming out with comments about “subordination” and the like. This is video games development, not an episode of 24.

    Just as an aside, I’ve pretty much called time on Modern Warfare 2 myself now, although that is less to do with the games bugs than it is to do with the simply awful “community” that follows that game around..

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