The success of The Getaway validates the U.K. gaming industry. Courtesy of Sony Computer Ent.

The last 18 months have been predictably turbulent for the U.K. gaming industry. In response to the worldwide trend of consolidation, many of the independent developers have either been bought out, closed shop or simply tried to hang on for dear life. Yet for every sob story, such as the demise of Rage and Kaboom!, there’s been an equal or greater success. From Microsoft’s spectacular acquisition of Rare, to the successes of product such as The Getaway and Project Gotham Racing 2, there’s been ample validation of the U.K. industry as a whole.

Now leaner, keener, and unquestionably more professionally minded, there’s a sense that U.K. developers have an understanding of how to create globally desirable product. Idiosyncrasy, that legacy from the days of the industrious bedroom coder, may have been sacrificed. But then, as the U.K. film industry has proven, selling Britishness is a somewhat limited endeavor.

Nowhere is this new approach more evident than in the art content of the major titles in development right now. Sudeki from Climax is a case in point. Undoubtedly a flagship title for a developer now majoring in original product, it looks like something Squaresoft or another Japanese developer might have originated. Drawing on Manga, anime and Eastern RPGs, it couldn’t look any less British.

“I’m not sure Climax is attempting to mask the fact that Sudeki is a British game, so much as adopt the convention of the genre,” says Owain Bennallack, editor of the U.K.’s leading industry trade magazine, Develop. “Why should they not try to play with the big boys on a visual level? Production values of this caliber have too often been lacking in U.K. titles over the past few years, so I’m all for it.”

Rare is another studio adept at producing product boasting polish and stylized art that suggests non-U.K. development. Although not obviously Manga-indebted, Rare’s recent Xbox release Grabbed by the Ghoulies and upcoming Kameo: Elements of Power bear the visual hallmarks of Japanese-produced titles. This should come as no surprise. Sure, it’s now part of Microsoft, but Rare was previously part owned by Nintendo. It’s an association that has colored the graphical output of numerous past Rare titles, and indeed gave it a clear edge over other U.K. studios for a number of years.

Peter Molyneux of Lionshead Studio leads the U.K. charge into gaming. His Black & White 2 features technical breakthroughs. © Black & White Studios 2003.

Perhaps the most celebrated British studio is Lionhead, home to the games guru Peter Molyneux. His games have always been groundbreaking in design terms, but never quite so visually accomplished. Tellingly, forthcoming titles The Movies and Black & White 2 take a new approach. The former features art assets to rival anything emerging from the U.S. studios, while the latter is a technical marvel -- blessed with complex physics and cutting edge realtime 3D techniques such as fur simulation.

“I think Molyneux has realized that everything counts nowadays, the graphics, game design, the physics, the AI, the Internet, the lot,” says Bennallack. “You're marked on your lowest score, your weakest link. Think back to his Dungeon Keeper game. A great game with a muddy if innovative engine, it was maligned for not looking like cut glass.”