Games that Need Comebacks: Disruptor - News
by Jake Weston , posted on 31 October 2011 / 7,399 Views
With the October releases of Resistance 3 and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Insomniac Games certainly seems to be on a roll. Though Insomniac appears to be leaving the Resistance series behind, their penchant for crafting great first-person shooters seems to be continuing, judging from what we've seen of Overstrike. However, many forget the title that first helped Insomniac break into the gaming business, and that game is the subject of this week's Games that Need Comebacks.
Disruptor (1996)
Before making their name with series such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance, up-and-coming developer Insomniac Studios got their start with a little known Doom-clone called "Disruptor", releasing exclusively for the PlayStation in 1996. Coming out before GoldenEye 007 revolutionized console first-person shooters, Disruptor followed the standard, id-style of pseudo-3D first-person gameplay, established by titles such as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake.
Not much separated Disruptor from the pack, other than an inventive sci-fi-meets-steampunk design, combining anachronistic aesthetics that Insomniac would later explore in their Resistance series. What also differentiated Disruptor from its contemporaries was the inclusion of psionics: Similar to BioShock's plasmids, Disruptor gave the player varying special abilities, such as healing, a shield, an electric shock, and draining.
While this may not seem like much now, this was at a time when basically every first-person shooter featured nothing more than a pistol, machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, and maybe some other special weapon and called it good. It wasn't until the release of Deus Ex four years later that shooters began incorporating more special abilities into the mix, so Disruptor was actually quite innovative in that regard.
How it could work today:
With Resistance behind them, Overstrike on the horizon, and no forseeable end for Ratchet & Clank in sight, Insomniac definitely has a lot on their plate. However, with first-person shooters now more popular than they've ever been, now seems like just as good of time as any to revisit their first title. Insomniac is at their very best when focusing on sci-fi settings with creative weaponry, and Disruptor seems like an IP that could get much more mileage out of it.
Of course, the core thing to focus on would be the psionics. This is where Insomniac could flex their creative muscle the hardest. Imagine using something similar to BioShock's plasmids, combined with the fast paced and innovative gunplay Insomniac brought in from Resistance.
At the very least, at least release the original on PSN to gauge the title's popularity with prospective fans. Insomniac has a long history with Sony; the fact that Disruptor is unavailable in some sort of downloadable capacity is disappointing for fans, especially in today's age of digital distribution.
Unfortunately, the only thing keeping Disruptor from a modern release or remake is the rights issue. Originally published by Universal Interactive Studios (now Vivendi Games), the company has since been purchased by Activision, which means they probably own the rights to the IP. However, even if that is true, there is no reason why they would not be able to re-release the game or commission a remake (besides the fact Activision seems to base its entire business model off of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft).
Even if Activision could not get Insomniac to make a new Disruptor game, they have been known to get outside developers to handle established series, having already done so with previous PlayStation exclusives Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon.
Given the right direction from whoever does hold the rights to the series, Disruptor could easily become a new triple-A franchise, be it for Sony, Activision, or any other game company who would like to give the title a shot. In today's over-saturated shooter market, Disruptor's potential for inventive design and gameplay could provide a welcome reprieve from the market's current monotony.
