The Quiet Corners of the Rockstar Catalogue

Rockstar Games is defined in the public mind by a small number of enormous series. But the catalogue is wider than the headline names, and some of its more interesting corners are the games that rarely come up in conversation. This is a short tour, limited to what is straightforward to verify, of a few of them.

Smuggler’s Run

Smuggler’s Run was developed by Angel Studios and published by Rockstar Games as a launch title for the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2000. You drive a range of off-road and military vehicles through three large levels, smuggling cargo past the authorities. It is a reminder that the label’s early years were as much about racing and vehicles as crime. Angel Studios is worth remembering for another reason: the studio’s technology is documented as the ancestor of the engine Rockstar would later develop as RAGE.

State of Emergency

State of Emergency was a riot-themed beat-’em-up developed by VIS Entertainment and published by Rockstar for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, with a Windows version handled by another publisher. It is set in a dystopian near future and was built around crowds of people fighting on city streets, an idea that was ambitious for its time. Its reputation is mixed, but as a curiosity it is the sort of project a major label could take a chance on in the early 2000s.

Oni

Oni is a third-person action game from Bungie West, the only game the studio made. It was released for Windows and Mac in 2001 through Gathering of Developers, and a PlayStation 2 port developed by Rockstar Canada followed the same year. The publishing story is muddled: the original PC release came from Gathering, not from Rockstar, and the console version is the one that carries the Rockstar name. It is an anime-inflected game with martial-arts combat and still has a devoted following.

Manhunt

Manhunt, from Rockstar North in 2003, is much better known, but it belongs in any survey of the quieter corners because it shows how differently the studio could work. It is a stealth-driven game with a very different tone from the Grand Theft Auto games and it was a controversial title, though we will leave specifics of that debate to contemporary coverage.

Table Tennis

Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis arrived in 2006 on the Xbox 360 and is the first game to use RAGE. It is a small, precise sports game, a strange thing for a company known for crime sagas. Its role as the debut of the engine that later powered Grand Theft Auto IV and V gives it a historical importance well beyond its size.

Midnight Club and Bully

Midnight Club began as a street-racing series associated with Angel Studios and the label, and Bully, released in 2006, is a school-set open-world game from Rockstar Vancouver. Neither is obscure, but both tend to be spoken of as sidebars to the crime games. Bully in particular has a devoted fan following that would like it to be a bigger part of the story.

Why this matters

We are wary of the idea that Rockstar somehow avoids talking about these games. We do not know that, and we would not claim it. What is clearer is that public attention has concentrated on the biggest series, and the smaller ones rarely get equal billing.

That is a loss, in our opinion. These games show a publisher experimenting, borrowing studios and ideas, and taking swings at genres far from its core. A survey of the catalogue tells you as much about how the company grew as a look at any single hit. If you are exploring the label’s history, they are the best place to start.