With the internet still filled with disappointment about what could have been regardingVisceral Games’Star Warstitle, new information has surfaced that compared the linear story-driven game to theUnchartedseries. The similarities were so great that EA’s executives made the development team change aspects of the game in order to make the differences between the two more distinguished.
Although the Internet was shocked by theclosure of Visceral Gamesearlier this month, many employees who worked for the company saw the event as inevitable. Having been in decline for years, following the disappointing reviews ofDead Space 3andBattlefield Hardline, director of the first threeUnchartedgames Amy Hennig launched a new project - aStar Warstitle by the name ofRagtag.
TheUncharted/Star Warsmashup had three demos prepared to show EA what the team hoped would be enough to save their company. As a brief sample of experiences, Visceral displayed an escape from a pursuing AT-ST walker, a shootout on the planet Tatooine, and a rescue mission in the dungeons of Jabba’s palace. Unfortunately for the team, their example wasn’t enough for EA executives, who decided toclose down Visceral and change the directionthe title was heading in.
Jedi powers were not part of the experience since no members of the crew could use the Force, but sabotage was key and the crew could often manipulate the environment to distract and divert enemies in non-violent ways. The game was action-fueled and varied, with each member of theRagtagteam playable at different points in the story, while the other members of the squad used their unique AI minds and abilities without being commanded.
Having multiple crew members was essential, as it was one of the factors that differentiatedRagtagfromUncharted, and the cast was quite the sight to behold. The lead protagonist was Dodger, a “cracked mirror” version of Han Solo, who battled alongside a band of fellow misfits. There was Robie, the gunslinger, Ooba, daughter of a mob boss, and Buck, the mentor of the crew and a veteran leader. Together, these adventurers would explore a world that had just witnessed the destruction of Alderaan and band together to form an unstoppable team.
At the end,Ragtagwas just too ambitious for its own good and, combined with budget constraints, pressure from EA, and the fact that all decisions had to be approved by Lucasfilm before getting added to the game, theproject was unsustainable. One former Visceral employee described the shut down as a “mercy killing,” yet the Internet was in uproar at the reveal. All things considered, the fact that EA still has a version of theStar Warstitle on the way is something to be glad about and while it won’t beRagtag, the developer hopefully won’t stray too far from the aspects that made the project great.
