It wasn't a good time for it to be released in my opinion. The Haywire was already out which covered the heavier oil in the HP3 line and then they had the Eternal Cell to go under that (at factory finish/intended use). So the Critical was supposed to slot in between those two, which wasn't a very big hole. Then the Hy-Wire came out soon after for a cleaner/sharper look. And the Wreck-It a few months ago which is/was pretty much just as strong although by that point the Critical was probably on it's way out anyways.

I like Roto Grip, but they screwed up on this one in the release schedule.

I think CoorZero pointed out the biggest factor for the Critical being overlooked. It wasn't because of the No Rules as that was released 6 months or so after the Critical.

The Critical got overlooked because of the Eternal Cell. Those balls covered essentially the same conditions, there was a little variance but the Cell name is just bigger