Ben-DutkaThings weren't looking good for Haze developer Free Radical late last year, as the company was forced to enter administration in early December. But Crytek became their knight in shining armor and snapped up the team, saving 40 jobs and giving them a new name: Crytek UK.
So of course, you're probably interested to know: what projects are the former Free Radical guys working on? Well, according to DevelopMag , Crytek founder and CEO Cevat Yerli have given them projects the team "has always dreamed to do." It can be a difficult transition when new ownership and management is in charge, but Yerli says if you're worried about how everyone is adapting, go ahead and ask them. Said Yerli:
"If someone has that concern, they should ask the people that are actually there. We have provided the team at Crytek UK a structure and a future that clearly shows improvement. We are working with Free Radical on things that they always dreamed to do. We are providing the team a roadmap and the chance to grow, which is why we were picked as a partner, and not anyone else."
At the time of the acquisition, we saw leaked media for both TimeSplitters 4 and Star Wars Battlefront 3 , but there's still no knowing if either represents one of the "dream projects" they're currently working on for Crytek. Yerli wouldn't confirm any of the games in the hopper, but at the very least, we know we'll see something at some point. For our part, we're really hoping for TS4…that franchise just plain rules.
I saw the leaked footage for Star Wars Battlefront 3 back in late 2008 it looks better then the first 2, can't wait to play that!
Free Radical are up there with some of the UK's best developers and I was incredibly relieved when they were saved, even if it was by the krouts.
hmph! Timesplitters is far better than anything Crytek have done.
Remember that Crytek did Far Cry and Crysis. and Crysis is better then most games today looks better to.
If Crysis didn't have the graphics than it would be worthless and no one would talk about it.
lol Crysis is fail in every aspect except Graphics and Physics. Anyone who played the game and finished it would know that.
I played it and liked it very much.
Last edited by MadKatBebop on 5/5/2009 7:12:20 PM
I disagree with that, but instead of arant ill leave it to 'each to his own.'
I just read Star Wars Battlefront as Butterfront.
I just had to let someone know.
I like buttered toast…mmmm, buttered toast.
a girl gamer, very nice 🙂 second one i've seen in a year on a ps3 site, just don't get many of ya on here, which is a shame
Good work.
Last edited by Banky A on 5/6/2009 1:43:57 AM
I'm pretty sure FreeRadical lost the Battlefront 3 development and it went to Rebellion did it not? Since LucasArts pulled their funding for it and that was one of the big reasons FR went under, no?
I hope FR (or should I say CUK) get BF3 back as rebellion are terrible developers.
i still cant believe that has is as bad as people say
Believe me it really is…
Good news, I mean sure Haze didn't live up to the hype but it wasn't THAT bad.
So you want a Haze sequel?
lol haze was bad
SLIM! Do we REALLY need to argue about this again!?!? Where's Jason! GET HIM IN HERE! LMAO xD
no, but what I'm saying is they are capable of making a decent game, and Haze failed for a number of reasons but it wasn't the colossal horsesh*t game that everyone made it out to be.
Nice new avatar World 😛
Oh but World it was THAT bad.
P.S. Squall FTW
Last edited by King James on 5/5/2009 8:53:26 PM
I am the Squall King, when VIII came out I already had the hair 😉
The acquisition of FRD by Crytek, means only good things for the industry, and PS3 owners moreso than any others. Give their previous experience on the System (yes, I'm fully aware of the complaints on Haze), this should give FRD a leg-up, when pushing the envelope for the CryEngine 3, and whatever they're going to be bringing forth on that engine. Hopefully more developers license the CryEngine 3, as it's the hands down one of the hottest looking engines the consoles have going for them, currently.
As a PC owner who's played the ever-lovin dogsmack out of Crysis/Crysis Wars and Farcry, I can tell you that while you may not appreciate the aforementioned games, they are, without a doubt (Crysis anyway), the best looking games currently available to anyone, on any system. They're just brilliant in almost every regard. The biggest failing was really their advertising and hype building. They put to much emphasis on what the engine COULD do, provided the appropriate hardware (and it's truly breathtaking on a GTX260), and not enough time emphasizing that the game actually can play on 7 series GPU's. (My brother conquered Crysis on a 7 series).
And while I appreciate some people's complaints regarding what Crysis was…I dunno, I liked it, getting good at switching in between suit functionality was great, switching from cloak to armor to snipe then back to cloak all w/in a span of a second. Watching the soldiers running around shouting fearfully…wondering who/what the heck is picking them off one by one. It's pretty sweet.
Morne
i could barely play on my 9250
in order to play smooth i had to make the whole thing look badd
crysis had good gameplay, graphics, and physics. but there was nothing for story, cutscenes, anything good like that.
Last edited by Jian2069 on 5/5/2009 6:12:23 PM
My brother beat it on a 7600GT. He said it wasn't pretty and that he did get frame loss, but that he loved the hell out of it, and that it was worth every penny.
Personally, I looked at the story, like I look at an 80's propaganda movie…North Korea was the enemy (I groaned audibly the first time I heard that, same as with the setting/enemy in Mercs 2). The plot wasn't terrible, and to be honest, I thought the plot was pretty decent…sure, it's far-fetched, but meh, no moreso than any other Human vs Alien FPS.
I disagree on the cutscenes though, the cutscenes in Crysis were amazing. The first time the alien ship comes out of the mountain…freekin fantastic.
Morne
If Timesplitters 4 isn't made I will cry
same lol one of my fav games on ps2 was the ts series
I haven't played the console version of TS, but it doesn't seem like it would be fun for more than 10 minutes.
stupidly i thought i'd buy haze and have a go as it was only 10pounds and i thought it might help them with a cheeky sale
wish i hadn't now, thinking about it, it wouldn't have helped them one bit
and the game is worse than people said it was, i was amazed that they released it, what drugs they were on beats me
I just want Battlefront 3. That video was so dope. The character went from on the ground to air to space battles seamlessly. THAT IS IMPRESSIVE!
I have never even tried Haze, so I won't know if it's really that bad…. Couldn't have sucked more than Kane & Lynch thou…Or did it?
Either way it's a shame cause both of those titles had a lot of potential… I just hope their next title will redeem them. Think they have it in them to create something really really good….
Well, I'm probably the only person here who had Haze preordered for over a year, so I guess I can say with pretty good confidence that while it wasn't terrible, it just didn't do much that was new for the genre, the graphics weren't top notch or ground breaking, and the environment just didn't react in the fashion that people were led to believe. They did however, make it fairly interesting when you swapped skillsets halfway through the game. I still think that was pretty cool. It wasn't worth preordering, but it was worth playing imo.
Morne
Last edited by MornelitheVT on 5/6/2009 8:48:37 AM
Guess I'm in the minority again but I thought Haze was OK.
And at only $7.99, at least I got it real cheap to add to my collection).