A good game is a pretty common thing, but a great game is hard to come by. Problem is, a great sequel can be even harder to come by, especially when the bar is set high with the first game. Unfortunately, many times a game comes up with a sequel that is completely terrible and ruins the premise of the whole series. Here are five sequels that really didn’t do their predecessors justice.
5. Diablo 3
Diablo 3 was one of the most hyped games of 2012. We had all been waiting so long for a sequel to the wonderful Diablo 2, we felt it would never come. When it finally did, the fanfare was enormous, everyone celebrated… Until they started up the game and realized that it ruined everything Diablo 2 stood for. Diablo 3 was repetitive, had little dungeon variety, and had a poor story; these were all major flaws.
However, it truly messed up when it ruined the loot system that was all of what made Diablo 2 great. Diablo 3 introduced an auction house, where players could trade either in-game or real currency for gear, making farming and looting foes pointless and ruining everyone’s favorite part of the series. The only reason this isn’t further down on the list is that Blizzard is dropping the auction house and working on some stuff to make the game better, though it is rather late at this point. The folks at Blizzard do not work quickly.
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Brawl is a tricky one, because it isn’t inherently a bad game. However, while it’s a fun party game, it has several mechanics that make it a poor competitive fighter. This is in stark contrast to its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee, which was an excellent (if somewhat poorly balanced) competitive fighting game. In fact, in many cases, Melee is still preferred in tournaments today over Brawl.
Where Brawl screwed up is in the addition of a tripping mechanic, which causes your character to fall over completely at random. Taking any aspect of control away from the player is a huge no-no in fighters, especially competitive ones. Brawl also fudged the balance even worse, creating huge gaps between character tiers and making one character (Meta Knight) who can and will win any matchup in the hands of even a moderately skilled player.
3. Star Wars: the Force Unleashed 2
The original Force Unleashed wasn’t exactly an instant classic; it was a flawed but fun action game with a great story set in the Star Wars Universe. It had some nice environments, each level had different foes and challenges, there was an atmosphere in the game and it had plot development.
The sequel, unfortunately, took all that and said “let’s get rid of all of it.”
The sequel, unfortunately, took all that and said “let’s get rid of all of it.”
Force Unleashed 2 did one thing right: it tweaked the gameplay in order to become a much smoother version of the first game. Unfortunately, it also dropped character development (there is none), environmental variety (you go through three levels, then go through those SAME three levels AGAIN), and story (as far as I can tell, there isn’t any real story at all).
Worst of all, the game is a paltry 5 hours long, and that’s if you take your time with it. It can be completed with every single Achievement and Trophy in this amount of time if you are quick about it. That amount of gameplay is effectively an insult to anyone who dropped $60 on the game. The only reason this isn’t higher on the list is because its predecessor isn’t quite a super classic.
2. Resident Evil 5
While Resident Evil 6 was a worse game than 5, the drop in quality between RE5 and RE4 was much more significant. RE4 was one of the best games of its generation; it combined good action and a creepy and terrifying atmosphere with excellent character development to make an instant classic.
Resident Evil 5 decided to take one of those aspects and refine it to its peak, but in doing so it got rid of the other elements entirely. There’s almost no character development in RE5 at all, the main characters are stone slabs, and the villain, while very evil, is still a very static character. There is also one single moment in RE5 that is scary, when you’re wading through a crocodile infested swamp trying not to get eaten. The rest of the game might as well be a Michael Bay film, it’s all meathead action and explosions. It would have been better as a Duke Nukem game.
1. World of Warcraft
That’s right, the former #1 game in the world is also #1 on this list of disappointments. It’s also Blizzard’s second title on this list. So how is such a hugely popular game a series ruiner? Simply put, it took the single best fantasy RTS series and smashed it.
Fantasy RTS games are few and far between nowadays. We get a lot of MOBAs, which are similar (and are all based on a single Warcraft 3 mod), but they aren’t fantasy RTS. World of Warcraft’s huge popularity also ensures we won’t be seeing a Warcraft 4 or anything of the like anytime soon.
Instead, we get WoW spinoffs like Hearthstone, which looks good, but isn’t a new fantasy RTS. I can’t say that WoW was a bad game, it defined the entire MMORPG genre. Only a year or two ago did MMORPGs stop ripping off WoW‘s formula to become more original, because WoW‘s formula worked so well. However, while WoW did continue the series and lore, it also basically ensured that we wouldn’t be seeing the beloved RTS series again. There’s still Starcraft, but it just isn’t the same.
Published: Sep 17, 2013 09:42 pm