David Braben, head of Frontier Developments, managed to toot his own horn while also commenting that Halo 3 and Bioshock are not truly next gen caliber, in his remarks made to Eurogamer.
He said Bioshock has great game elements but that the gameplay doesn’t meet true next gen standards. "I loved the 1930s-1950s atmosphere of BioShock: the lovely Art Deco visuals and the audio that worked especially well. Overall the whole game was beautifully executed, but the gameplay itself was not ‘next-gen’."
He then directed his attention to Halo 3 by saying, "I found Halo 3 great fun, too, but also a little disappointing – as although there were a few nice touches and improved graphical fidelity, it hadn’t really moved on much from Halo 2 in terms of the gameplay."
So what game does he think will meet the challenge of a true next-gen title? The Outsider, of course–Frontier Developments’ own action title coming to the PS3.
Braben said, "…if anything I am reassured; I think Outsider more than stands up to them, and I still think Outsider will be one of the first ‘next-gen’ games."
The Outsider is a high tech adventure game about a top CIA agent. His problem? He’s been put on the nation’s public enemy list as the "Number One" most wanted criminal. Your mission? Go for revenge against your former comrades, ground and pound your enemies with your CIA training knowledge or try to clear your name. I sort of like options one and two.
The Outsider is slated for launch sometime at the end of 2008. We’ll see of Braben is just blowing off hot air in his bragging about his game or if The Outsider meets his predictions.
