Think Rockstar Games is the most controversial publisher in America? Well, they probably are, but there are plenty of companies clamoring to be just as controversial as the home of Grand Theft Auto. Gather is one such company, a publisher who tried the safe route, but decided that it pays to be a little extreme. This is a company that published family games like Disney's the Haunted Mansion and one of the Jazz Jackrabbit titles, but decided to throw that all away and go with an adult-friendly line-up.
But there's more to making games than just having nude women in your games, you need to have a fun game that the masses want to play. The same applies to their website, which might remind you of their recent titles ... completely without style.
You know this is just leading us to a Korean War game, right?
There's nothing neat or orderly about this website, the Gather's site is completely lacking in style. There's a huge banner promoting such games as the Guy Game, Wings of War, and Vietcong: Purple Haze. But don't worry, if you accidentally forget what games they are promoting in the banner, you can click on the links to the aforementioned games right next to the huge banner! The rest of the page is made up of patch links, news headlines, and demos to games you will never want to play.
Accessibility:
Although Gathering has given you a number of different ways to find a game, many of the traditional paths are not available here. For example, you cannot click on their Games link and expect to find the game; rather you are transported to their Railroad Tycoon 3 page. To surf to the next page you push the small, non-descript arrow next to the title. By doing this you will be assured to see all of their games . it will just take you a long, long time to know what they have. There are no lists under Games, just one page promoting one bad game after another.
Insider Information:
news at the Gathering pretty much fits into two categories, game
With the invent of the Internet, can't you just go looking for porn elsewhere?
announcements and patch announcements. When the Gathering isn't promoting their upcoming titles, they appear to be doing their best to make their older games run better. And that's it. I'm not sure what else you should expect from a company behind the Guy Game, but it seems like a lot of opportunities were missed.
In fact, not to get off on a rant here or anything, but the whole page is really missing something. I can't quite put my finger on what, but the whole notion that there are barely any pictures of women in the Guy Game webpage just underscores the general lack of attention this website has been given. I'm not trying to tell them how to run a website, but if you have gimmicky games like the Guy Game or Vietcong: Purple Haze, it sure makes sense to capitalize on the camp.
Parting Thoughts:
The problem with reviewing a page like the Gathering's is because you never actually know if it's going to work. Of the last seven days, the site has only worked two of the times I tried it . effectively pushing this review back to the second week. I fear even posting the site since I'd hate for you to read the text and not be able to see the site. Still, I feel this is a site that should be reviewed, but I must warn you that if the site doesn't work on the first try, try it again tomorrow.
FINAL GRADE: C-
(Important Note: This review was written in 2004. As is the case with websites things tend to change and get moved around. We've decided to cover major companies who should have a presence on the web for many years to come, but the actual reviews of the layout may not be relevant for more than a month to a year. Having said that, we're hoping this article was still interesting, and if not, at least you go this extra little paragraph of explanation that you wouldn't normally get on the other websites.)
