Frame City Killer cancelled

According to Namco Bandai’s official site, Frame City Killer has been cancelled, for “multiple reasons”. They apologize to everyone who was waiting for it’s release and that they should look forward to a “new RPG” on the Xbox 360.

Now, Frame City Killer had been dodgy affair from the start. It was announced shortly after Microsoft’s Xbox 360, but even once the first screens were released, people remained skeptical. We had great-looking city shots full of neon lights and crowded with people on the one hand, but on the other there were PS2-quality visuals including fog, blurry textures and low-poly models. Add to that a game design which, in theory, sounded promising but more than often hinted at a lack of focus and identity, Frame City Killer always felt a bit like a hurriedly created project just to have a Japanese developer attached to the Xbox 360. With this in mind, Namco’s decision might be more understandable.

The game was delayed again a few weeks ago and not even shown at E3. Namco Bandai must have realized there’s really no way to rescue the game. Provided that Frame City Killer was indeed too crappy (and that’s the crux with canned games: We never know for sure), we should actually give the publisher some credit for pulling out of this, instead of trying to make some cash on a rushed and bugged title.

According to Namco Bandai’s official site, Frame City Killer has been cancelled, for “multiple reasons”. They apologize to everyone who was waiting for it’s release and that they should look forward to a “new RPG” on the Xbox 360.

Now, Frame City Killer had been dodgy affair from the start. It was announced shortly after Microsoft’s Xbox 360, but even once the first screens were released, people remained skeptical. We had great-looking city shots full of neon lights and crowded with people on the one hand, but on the other there were PS2-quality visuals including fog, blurry textures and low-poly models. Add to that a game design which, in theory, sounded promising but more than often hinted at a lack of focus and identity, Frame City Killer always felt a bit like a hurriedly created project just to have a Japanese developer attached to the Xbox 360. With this in mind, Namco’s decision might be more understandable.

The game was delayed again a few weeks ago and not even shown at E3. Namco Bandai must have realized there’s really no way to rescue the game. Provided that Frame City Killer was indeed too crappy (and that’s the crux with canned games: We never know for sure), we should actually give the publisher some credit for pulling out of this, instead of trying to make some cash on a rushed and bugged title.