Farewell to THQ: gallery

As the game studio is divided and conquered in the wake of its final collapse, we look at some of the hits (and misses) that THQ gave us over the years.

Vale, THQ. It's always sad when a game publisher or studio goes under, but THQ's tale seems particularly tragic, given its 23-year history.

In fact, THQ — which was still very much the Toy Head Quarters it began life as — published its first game back in January 1991 after it acquired Broderbund.

So, let's raise a glass to the dear, departed THQ and look back on some of its sizeable back catalogue.

Back in 1991, this was the first game published by THQ — or T*HQ, as it was known back then. The game was based on the animated series of the same name and available on NES.

Back in 1993, John K's Ren & Stimpy was a hot animated property, and THQ was ready to help the popularity, with a Super NES game based on four different episodes of the show.

Released in 1998 for the original PlayStation, the game was praised and kicked off a long and lucrative affair for THQ and wrestling titles.

Volition Studios and THQ had a long history, and Volition was quickly snapped up in the sell-off by Deep Silver's owner, Koch Media. Red Faction, of course, ended up a popular franchise for THQ. This original title was made for PS2, PC and Mac, with an N-Gage version developed as well.

Another Volition/THQ partnership, this sequel to the popular PC/PS2 original was made for PS2 and GameCube.

THQ and Relic had great success with this take on the world of Warhammer 40K in 2004, with a number of supplements developed, before a sequel finally arrived in 2009.

Back in 2005, Pandemic still had its office in Brisbane when this enjoyable cartoony parody of 1950s America came out on PS2 and Xbox.

While the sequel would prove ultimately more popular, it was 2006 when this Xbox 360 exclusive arrived, spawning a trilogy of games that proved a real asset for THQ, snapped up by Koch Media as part of its Volition purchase.

This RTS was showered with accolades and top reviews back in 2006.

Clever parody or so po-faced that it just veers into being completely ludicrous? No one knew what to think in 2009 when Curtis Jackson stormed onto PS3 and 360, desperately trying to get his jewel-encrusted skull back from terrorists.

Big scene, high-octane action was combined with fun back story and great combat mechanics when gamers took on the role of War in the Apocalypse gone wrong that was the Original Darksiders.

Regarded by some as the final nail in THQ's coffin, Homefront promised much but arrived to mixed reviews from people who felt that it fell short--literally, in terms of the single-player campaign length.