G-pinions

I cannot believe that Jetpac Refueled came out three weeks ago and I have not yet written about it on this website. The original Jetpac was released twenty four years ago, back when Rare was still going by the unwieldy name Ultimate Play The Game. Though the game took place on a single screen and could not even display five colors at a time, it still offered the first hint that Rare would go on to become one of the most prestigious developers in the industry. It is incredible to play the original Jetpac and realize how far beyond most of the industry Rare was in just their first year of existence. It is even more incredible to play the remake, Jetpac Refueled. While most developers are content dishing out old games with slight graphical upgrades, Rare has given us a completely revamped experience that ranks among the best games available on the service.

My incredibly short review of JR will have to suffice. I have much more important issues to discuss in this post. Some quick details before I move on to the real meat: one of the Achievements in Jetpac Refueled is called Infection. Basically, if you play against someone who is already infected, you become a carrier as well. To help fuel this binary pandemic, Rare recently held a contest. Simply email them your Gamertag and, if you are one of the lucky few chosen, you can play a short match with one of the developers of this game. Obviously, the only reason I'm writing about this at all is because I was one of the chosen few. That's right, at 8am this morning, I was playing Jetpac Refueled with the Lead Software Designer of the game.

I feel obliged to put this momentous occasion in perspective. Rare is my favorite developer in the industry by quite a wide margin. To play a match with someone from that company, someone that has given me hours upon hours of pure entertainment, is an honor I cannot talk about rationally. It is akin to playing catch with Steve Young or singing the chorus of Rearviewmirror with Eddie Vedder. Playing a round with someone from Rare would be like talking about Just Before the War with the Eskimos with J.D. Salinger. Or disarming a nuclear bomb with Jack Bauer by my side. In other words: Objectivity be damned!

Sadly, the entirety of Rare is cursed with having incredibly tight lips. I was not able to gleam any concrete information from this employee, although I did not pester him about things I knew he would not be able to reveal. I only had five minutes with the man. I saw no reason to ask when Banjo Kazooie 3 would be released or if Perfect Dark 2 is really in development. But I did poke a little bit.

First of all, I did ask if he could give any hint about what game he was currently working on. Obviously, he could not tell me what it was. But he did say it is far enough along to announce, but he would be in quite a bit of trouble with their PR department if word leaked out early. He said that Rare is actually much less secretive than they used to be, as evidence by how early they announced Banjo 3 last year. We both kind of laughed at this, though. I mentioned that they were still one of the most secretive companies in the industries. They are one of the most prominent developers in the world, have at least five games in development, but the public only knows of one. He said, "That sounds about right."

He grew up in the same position as I am right now. He was a huge fan of Rare and was always waiting for a hint of what they were working on next. He says it has been pretty nice being on the inside now. Then he cruelly laughed again.

He was hired by Rare nine years ago. His first game was Dinosaur Planet, which became Star Fox Adventures in its move from the N64 to the Gamecube. I have always had a theory about this game. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay, graphics and music, the game was just too bloated for its good. I asked him how he felt about the forced delay (Nintendo wanted it as a GC title rather than an end of life release for the N64) and the inclusion of the Star Fox license. He admitted that some of the added material, such as the flying portions and the battle with Andross at the end, didn't really fit, but as a whole the two games merged surprisingly well. This game has always been a huge question mark for me. It was really interesting to hear a few thoughts from someone who had actually worked on the game.

Sadly, our match ended shortly after we started to talk talking about Kameo, the other Rare game he had worked on. Five minutes can go by really quickly when you're talking about your favorite topic. Unfortunately, The G did not exactly hold its own in the actual match. I lost by almost 100,000 points. I swear I would fair much better in a rematch.

I really want to thank Rare for giving me this amazing opportunity. This was only the second time I was able to talk to a Rare employee, the other was last May when I got Gregg Mayles to autograph my copy of It's Mr. Pants, and I would have to rank both experiences towards the top of my All Time Great Gaming Moments list. It truly is an honor playing with someone whose products I have played and admired for two decades. I just hope I have a chance to have a more respectable showing some day. I was really quite pitiful this morning.

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