I am open to creativity and customization, N&B just didn't do it in a way that was fun or engaging to me, more annoying and dull. It's good that you enjoyed it, but I could not.

And even design is open to interpretation, people often disagree as to whether a game has good level design for instance.

What ever your opinion the general view of the series is that they're good games and even after they joined Crytek they worked on Crysis 2 and 3 all games which are a step above PDZ in the view of many, FR at least kept up with the crowd around it Rare didn't, Rare's problem is that they had vision but their execution was still stuck in their 90s heyday and they were inefficient as a studio this is why Nintendo never bought them and went with the Turok team instead.

lol :D that's a good one.

Battletoads isn't being made by Rare though, it's being made by Dlala Studios. 

That could be said about all the Rare 3D platformers though, they're all kinda dull by modern standards. Most of the N64 games aged horribly.

N&B tried something unique and I enjoyed it. People act like it was a critical disaster as well, but it did well critically and with great praise from notable websites. Not a single "negative" review on Metacritic.

On the contrary I still find Banjo Kazooie/Tooie to be engaging to this day. I didn't even play Conker's Bad Fur Day until last gen and even in the cold light of the early 2010s I liked it. Those games had a sense of discovery, exploring and finding new things was just so much more fun than anything in N&B. Obviously, enjoyment is subjective, which is why I also place zero stock in what Metacritic says.

MS could have easily helped them get back on track and we cannot say they didn't try. They brought a dying horse. The team was splitting up during the making of Perfect Dark on the N64. You had the two founders and Development Legends retire, the ones that convinced Nintendo to make games on there NES. A lot has changed and unfortunately Nintendo saw this coming. Both brands are smart with this, Nintendo made good money on selling Rare at there high point and MS gained IPs for there newly Xbox brand. Rare hasn't been the same but id much rather Rare under MS than any other brand especially Activison. MS can afford to hold onto the studio while under someone else, Rare might of closed its doors long ago. 

There aren't excuses here, just what a lot of people seem to bypass with Rare falling and saying its MS's fault. They spent $375m on a studio where MS gave them creative freedom and faith and Rare simply struggled. Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Perfect Dark Zero, Banjo Nuts n Bolts were all Rare's ideas and efforts. One thing Rare has always done right is they make beautiful looking games and Sea of Thieves today is no exception to Rare's history. But after those efforts from Rare and Rare not making the money MS forecast, you can see why MS shuffled them around.

Lets be honest, Rare did make the best Kinect games which did bring in the money that probably gave Rare back some of its life blood. Kinect is probably the reason why Rare is still a thing today. I don't like Kinect games and never played them but we need to start seeing things on the other side of the fence.

Rare only made a single FPS after being purchased by MS. Hard to say what they would have accomplished if they stayed on that genre.

The Xbox already had plenty of shooters so I'm sure they were encouraged to focus on other genres.

Between Viva Pinata, Banjo N&B, Kinect Sports, and Sea of Thieves, I would argue they weren't stuck in their 90s heyday. If anything, maybe their games haven't felt ambitious compared to other major studios.

Nintendo had great timing and sold their share high. People had already begun to leave Rare, despite the Stampers still being there. I never thought it was fair to blame Microsoft entirely for the perceived drop off.

They had a great run, and I'll always love that golden age of theirs from the mid 90's-early 2000's.

I wouldn't say Timesplitters was better than Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. That would be subjective. They did make a couple decent games.. but better I wouldn't agree with.

In terms of critical acclaim, they weren't even rated in the same league as what RareWare were dishing out in there Prime.

First Person Shooters Comparisons

Post Rare

Timesplitters 1 - 81

Timesplitters 2 - 90

Timesplitters Future Perfect - 84

RareWare

Goldeneye N64 - 96 

Perfect Dark N64 - 97 

Platformers Comparisons

Post Rare

Yakoo Layee - 73

RareWare

Banjo Kazooie - 92

Banjo Tooie - 90

Conkers BFD - 92

Donkey Kong 64 - 90