Monolith/Blizzard = Most Consistently Good Game Developers?

S

SFLUFAN

Newbie
Joined
May 9, 2004
Messages
1,276
Reaction score
0
Just thinking the other day that it seems to me that these two companies consistently release GREAT games with very few misses.

Monolith Hits: NOLF 1&2, Tron 2.0, Aliens vs Predator 2, Blood
Monolith Misses: Contract Jack, Blood 2

And F.E.A.R. is lookin' pretty darned good too.

Blizzard Hits: All of them
Blizzard Misses: None of them

Though Starcraft Ghost looks somewhat dodgy...

That seems like a pretty darned good record to me - I really can't think of any other developers that come close, if you can feel free to add to the list.

About Valve - I would say that they COULD be included in this group too but as far as I'm concerend, they're released one game (our beloved Half Life) and a few...ummmm...variations of it.
 
It all depends actually, I for one can’t stand Warcraft III and I think they really dropped the ball with that one, because I loved Warcraft II too much (but it’s probably nostalgia anyway). You are right though, these two companies always make good game. Oh and Monolith makes the best FPS out there, you know.

I also would add Through the Looking Glass, each their game was a fantastic one, but too bad they have died. Three years ago I would say Bioware, but with lame ass Throne of Ball expansion and horrible Neverwinter Nights, these guys can go to hell.

P.S. Valve made only one game. ID did nothing interesting, or good to that matter, since Quake I.
 
Not blizzard, Bioware.

Hits: NWN, KOTOR, Baldur's gate (all)
Misses: none

Working on: Jade empire...can't wait!

The most consistent developer has to be ID software.

Hits: Doom, Doom 2, Quake 1,2,3
Misses: none (return to castle wolfenstein doesn't count - technically not made by ID)

Working on: Doom 3 looking great...

Rare could have been here too, but reently too many misses. :(
 
Yep yep...you're right...I should include Bioware too - that way it'll cover FPS,RTS,RPG
 
SFLUFAN said:
Just thinking the other day that it seems to me that these two companies consistently release GREAT games with very few misses.

Monolith Hits: NOLF 1&2, Tron 2.0, Aliens vs Predator 2, Blood
Monolith Misses: Contract Jack, Blood 2

And F.E.A.R. is lookin' pretty darned good too.

Blizzard Hits: All of them
Blizzard Misses: None of them

Though Starcraft Ghost looks somewhat dodgy...

That seems like a pretty darned good record to me - I really can't think of any other developers that come close, if you can feel free to add to the list.

About Valve - I would say that they COULD be included in this group too but as far as I'm concerend, they're released one game (our beloved Half Life) and a few...ummmm...variations of it.
Click to expand...

What I really hate about Monolith is that they like snazzy abbreviations too much - kinda get's annoying.

contract J.A.C.K
F.E.A.R
NOLF 2: A spy in H.A.R.M.'s way

So typical of monolith...
 
Yeah, I agree on Bioware. They're also working on Dragon Age, a humorous RPG... should be interesting!
 
Revolution Software:

Lure Of The Temptress
Beneath A Steel Sky
In Cold Blood (debatable, but I thought it was good)
Broken Sword: The Shadow Of The Templars
Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon

The first two games are available for download off their website. :) One of the only surviving adventure game developers left alive (LucasArts are dead to me).
 
ductonius said:
You think RTCW is a miss?
Click to expand...
i thought it was fantastic tbh :D.

and the MP got me hooked for months. this is before ET. that didnt really appeal to me for some reason. in fact, i might start playing that. i need a good new game :)
 
Blizzard and Bioware are the Pixar's of the gaming industry.

Not so much ID as they have constantly rehased too many material to stand out originality-wise...(doom doom dooom....)
 
how about Shiny? Nearly always great games that didn't get the recognition they deserved.

Messiah, Sacrifice, MDK etc.
 
jonbob said:
how about Shiny? Nearly always great games that didn't get the recognition they deserved.

Messiah, Sacrifice, MDK etc.
Click to expand...
Enter the Matrix ring a bell?
 
ductonius said:
You think RTCW is a miss?
Click to expand...

I personally thought that the singleplayer was extremely dissapointing, with good graphics. The MP is good for a while, but nothing exceptional.
 
bah - none of them can hold a candle to Nintendo, who are without a doubt the most repected developers in the industry (and have been since the very begining).

Don't get me wrong, I've the upmost admiration for Bioware/ID/Valve etc ......... but most of them have only produced a handful of games (albeit great ones :) ) Nintendo have consistently produced large vareity of excellent titles, displaying imense creativity and the kind of dedication to quality that most companies can only dream of matching.

Nintendo still make some of the best video games in the world. They may not be to everyone's taste ....... but that's their loss.

As for this:

lans said:
I personally thought that the singleplayer was extremely dissapointing, with good graphics. The MP is good for a while, but nothing exceptional.
Click to expand...

I agree about the SP, but not the MP. RTCW is the best competition game ever made imo. No other title (certainly not Counter Strike/CoD) can match RTCW in terms of teamplay, tactics and skill required in aiming. It was never about public servers, Wolf is a clan game in its purest form.
 
blizzard made warcraft 3. blizzard made starcraft. blizzard are doing a f**king good job of WOW.

i like blizzard.

go blizzard!! w00!
 
The Great Ones: Blizzard, Bioware, ID, Monolith, Ensemble Studios

The One's Almost There: Epic and Maxis

You can't include Valve in this group, they simple don't have enough experience. Maybe you can include them once they finish Half-Life 3, but not before.
 
Bungie is a great company, most people only know them from Halo - but the Marathon was a great series (atmosphere wise...unparalled), not to mention the Myth series.

Blizzard is a great company, I too am really nostalgic about War2, overall I like War3, but it is a different feeling playing it, completely different atmosphere - sort of like the difference between Fallout 1 and 2. WOW looks great though.

I'm a great fan of Monolith games, it's a shame the NOLF series hasn't got the credit it deserves, NOLF2 contains some great gaming experiences, plus a good plot to boot - the unicycle bit is classic.

iD seem to have dropped the ball since Quake game wise, choosing to make engines to sell onto other companies. 2015 seem like a company who could be picking up from where they left off, but it's too early to say really.
 
spinkitten said:
sort of like the difference between Fallout 1 and 2.
Click to expand...

err.... ive completed both and i didnt really see much difference. one is slightly to the north of the other, and features men in armour as the enimies rather than mutants. Plus you couldnt join the brotherhood in #2 ;( you could get limited acess to one of their facilities, but no-one was in it execpt a computer which upgraded one of your stats. he was also very lonely.

/me dances for no reason

Dplus W3 0wnz0rs. i dont know if its because i havent played W2, but i do know that W3 is a sublime game. plus when you complete it you get to see all the characters in funny comedy sketches :D and in the map editor you can use starcraft units :D and you can edit the units, so i made a space marine army,a chaos army,a hive army and a chaos space marine army, which is playable on a certain map. So if i send you the file you can play as space marines :O
 
spinkitten said:
Bungie is a great company, most people only know them from Halo - but the Marathon was a great series (atmosphere wise...unparalled), not to mention the Myth series.

iD seem to have dropped the ball since Quake game wise, choosing to make engines to sell onto other companies. 2015 seem like a company who could be picking up from where they left off, but it's too early to say really.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Marathon was awesome. Too bad Bungie has gone their console ways.

Didn't 2015 disband? I thought I remember EA taking the MOH license and giving it to EALA for Pacific Assault. Some other members left to form Infinity Ward and the ones who remained are working on Men of Valor. I'd probably put Dice ahead of 2015 anyway.

Parallax was a great developer. Descent, Descent 2. Then the split happened. Volition was good for a while. Freespace 1&2 were awesome. Summoner and Red Faction.. meh. Outrage made Descent 3, but I can't think of anything they have done since.
 
Lucasarts are (or at least were) the Kings or Adventure Games. Especially the Monkey Island series, Sam 'n Max and of course Grim Fandango.
 
VALVe are the most consistent!!!

VALVe Hits: Half-Life
Misses: None.
 
Javert said:
Not so much ID as they have constantly rehased too many material to stand out originality-wise...(doom doom dooom....)
Click to expand...
same can be said for VALVe, HL, HL2...TF, TF2... CS and DOD aren't even orignal VALVe products.

your fanboyism disgust me.
Mr.Reak said:
ID did nothing interesting, or good to that matter, since Quake I.
Click to expand...
Yeah cause HL didnt use a Quake engine, and Quake 3 did nothing to help the PC online MP community ALOT. oh yeah and you can remember that misserable failure that is the Doom franchise.[/sarcasm ends] :rolleyes:

you fanboysm disgust me.
 
Dont know if anyone said it, but Epic Games. I've spent so many hours on the Unreal Series its crazy. (same goes for Half-Life).
Cant say I like ID software though.
I've disliked every game from them every since Quake 1. Quake 2 was so-so, Quake 3 didnt appeal to me at all (I was an Unreal Tornament Fanboy after all) and RTCW just felt silly to me. I'm also Highly skeptical about Doom 3. I, really would like for it to be good though. Its quite sad, because to me, its seems like ID builds Demo engines for the next generation, then slap a game on it to show off the engines capabilities.
 
Pitbul said:
same can be said for VALVe, HL, HL2...TF, TF2... CS and DOD aren't even orignal VALVe products.

your fanboyism disgust me.

Yeah cause HL didnt use a Quake engine, and Quake 3 did nothing to help the PC online MP community ALOT. oh yeah and you can remember that misserable failure that is the Doom franchise.[/sarcasm ends] :rolleyes:

you fanboysm disgust me.
Click to expand...

Oh ah, I am fanboy now? Of what, of hating ID? Yeah right, should I care what engine half-life used? I said, the last ID’s good game was Quake 1, and that’s because it pushed multiplayer side of games much more than any other game. And Quake 3, bahaha, sorry, but Unreal Torment did everything that Quake 3 can do, but better and more. You can debate that because of Quake 3 engine we have a lot of good FPS games, well fine, but it’s an engine, not a game. ID always makes good engines, but sucky games. Sorry, but you can’t ride one horse whole your life, something needs to be changed. We will see how Doom III turns out. That’s the reason I didn’t include Valve either, because they did absolutely nothing since Half-life 1. Sure they helped mod community in big ways, but as game developers they must prove themselves yet, and I hope they will with HL2.

P.S
Also, I wish you could read a bit better, because I said SINCE quake 1, doom series came before you know.
 
I don't think you can include Epic Games. The original Unreal was disappoinint in my opinion; UT was great; UT2K3 was average; and UT2K4 is pretty good. They haven't done an outstanding game yet. Epic Games is more of an engine maker than a game maker.

As for ID software, can't you give Quake 2 some love? After they came out with the first series of DM maps, I was hooked for a long time.

*Dreams of Q2DM1*

[Edit]: RTCW wasn't made my ID, it was made by Gray Matter Studios.
 
I thought the original Unreal was fantastic - the best shooter around in its time (everyone remembers the time when they first stepped from the ship into the outside. Video gaming gold :) )

Alwyas thought Q3 was far better than UT too. The less said about Unreal 2 the better :/
 
LucasArts in terms of adventure games

then Rare for everything else.

Come on, the only game they made that was bad was Donkey Kong Adventure or whatever it was called.
 
lans said:
Rare could have been here too, but reently too many misses. :(
Click to expand...

they're here... just think of them before M$ bought them... didn't you get the memo?
they're making the bad games on purpose, to piss off M$ :naughty:
 
they're making the bad games on purpose, to piss off M$
Click to expand...
if they are i will give them a cookie.

lucasarts makes crappy games.....the jedi knight hoopla just sucked imo. the animations and models were extremely awkward, and the plots were boring and contrived, the puzzles were simple and obvious and redundant. the whole lucasarts feel just doesnt jive withe me i guess.

warcraft 3 is only good if you never played the first two games. 1 and 2 were epic, 3 just ruined the whole experience. Starcraft 2 had better be 2d + high unit cap. other than that i would say blizzard has a perfect record.

bioware is just the kickass rpg developer
 
To me, WC3 is a better game than WC/2. I've played all 3 (although I've never played the WC3 expansion), and I can't say I know what you're on about.

SC, to me, was the perfect game. I haven't played a game that felt so right since
 
Shuzer said:
To me, WC3 is a better game than WC/2. I've played all 3 (although I've never played the WC3 expansion), and I can't say I know what you're on about.

SC, to me, was the perfect game. I haven't played a game that felt so right since
Click to expand...

I know what he is on about :p

So, I guess everybody here likes NWN so much? After BG series, it's a big let down in my opinion.
 
NWN's strength is in multiplayer. I think many people purchaed the NWN expecting a single player experience as involved as it was in BG. Of course, they soon found out this wasn't the case. NWN is excellent played online, or over a LAN, with friends.
 
ID: for making Doom and Quake thus spawning Half-Life and Valve itself. And just about every other 3d game company in existance.

BioWare cuz they made Shattered Steel.
 
beetwen monolith and blizzard
I prefer blizzard
cuz I didnt play so much games of monolith, but I heard that monolith was founded by exworkers of squaresoft soo maybe they will be good
talking about squaresoft.......
the japanese companie's are very good in the game development
of course they hav there misses
but when I see americans and japanese games in the same time
the japanese games hav best graphic development
and about the americans company....
are thousands soo I will not say anything
and about the europeans...
well I know few europeans company
and they are good developers also
for example: hitman, comandos, and many more
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Omnomnick
Examining The Files Of "SteamVR Performance Test" & "Aperture Robot Repair"
Replies
27
Views
91K
MFL
MFL
DEATH eVADER
  • Locked
Monolith regains rights to FEAR franchise name
Replies
1
Views
523
Barnz
B
BabyHeadCrab
A tentative discussion on game innovation and the FPS genre.
2 3
Replies
84
Views
6K
Sparta
Sparta
pomegranate
HL2.net membership's top 100 games - THE RESULTS! (slight 56k warning)
2 3
Replies
105
Views
8K
pomegranate
pomegranate
Evo
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Review
Replies
28
Views
5K
Drackard
Drackard
Back
Top