God Hand had too much creative freedom?

Resident Evil creator laments over poor sales of cult classic God Hand, won't do it again.

Shinji Mikami, the creator and designer of the Resident Evil series, has claimed that he was "given too much freedom" when designing the utterly brilliant God Hand.

Speaking to Edge magazine (via CVG) he said: "I've released a lot of titles before and I feel that, perhaps specifically with regard to God Hand, I was given too much freedom to make that game just as I liked. It didn't sell too well."

And that for his upcoming game, Vanquish, for Platinum Games and SEGA they will be "definitely going for something a little more mass-market that will appeal to a wide audience. Certainly a bigger one than God Hand had."

He added: "We [Platinum and SEGA] knew that these were points we had to address from the very beginning, and Vanquish is a result of that."

Despite God Hand being a game that was incredibly funny, frustrating and a whole barrel of fun to play, its low sales are preventing the same developer to express his creativity. Sure God Hand seemed a bit unfinished but the core gameplay was so intense as you ducked under enemy's attacks and struck back with your own customisable combos. Add in the fact that it got more difficult the better you did, the special Roulette Wheel attacks, the amazing cast of bizarre enemies, and of course the ending song and dance routine and you end up with a truly unique scrolling beat-em-up.

But it sold poorly and was the last game to come out from Capcom's Clover Studios. Unfortunately does this mean that Platinum Games and other developers will continue down the 'safe' path and release what people are expecting to play? And will following this path have a damaging effect on the more creative games getting released or even put into production?