Metroid Prime games "suck", says Blackgate director

News by Brenna Hillier Contributor

Published on April 23, 2013

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is being touted as a Metroid-like affair, but its director doesn't think much of some of the most popular games in the franchise's history.

Before you start flaming, check out Mark Pacini's recent history: he left Retro Studios in 2008, founding Blackgate developer Armature Studio, and hiring some of the team who worked on the Metroid Prime games.

Speaking to GameInformer, former Retro Studios director and founder of said he's hopes the team won't let down Metroid fans, because his previous work wasn't up to snuff.

"I hope we don’t disappoint them. That’s always my fear, because I think everything we do sucks," he said.

"But that’s just me because I thought all the Prime games suck. At the end of the day all I see are all the bad things.

"Prime 2 was a blur to me. It was so quick, it was so fast. That thing just went out the door and it was a very divisive game. People either liked it or thought it sucked, and I can completely agree because I couldn’t tell you what that game was because it happened so quickly.

"Prime 1 was the best designed game. Prime 3 I feel is the most fun one to play. Prime 2 is divisive. You either like it or you don’t. That’s kind of the way I look at it."

After this brutal self-assessment, Pacini admitted he feels fairly despondent about Blackgate at the moment, too.

"We’re in the woods right now in development, and all I see is all the crap that’s wrong with it," he said.

"In my gut I feel like, yeah, it’s going to be cool. I’m excited for it. But at the same time, I hope we don’t disappoint people and I hope that they like it. We’re trying our hardest. I would like to play a game like this, so hopefully everyone else will, too."

Well, we're always our own worst critics, and if Blackgate "sucks" the way Metroid Prime did, it's probably going to make a lot of people pretty happy.

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is headed to 3DS and Vita in october, alongside Batman: Arkham Origins on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Thanks, Gamespot.