The Quality of Game Sequels 3: Sequel Harder
Posted on Apr 1, 2011 in History and attached to The Quality of Game Sequels: The Sequel
Oops, skipped a week there. I've gotten addicted to Final Fantasy XIII! It is actually relevant to this blog post - however, this is the first Final Fantasy game that I have played, so I cannot really comment on how it improves on previous iterations of the series. Anyway, back to scheduled programming...
Following on from the last two posts on game sequels, we can see that there are plenty of good sequels out there in the game industry. When compared to the movie industry, for example, games seem to have a higher success rate than movies. That said, we have plenty of bad sequels, as well. There's also plenty of sequels that the game world is crying out for, but they have never been made.
Not-So-Good Sequels
These sequels are probably not universally hated, but they are, in my opinion, examples of bad sequels.
Command & Conquer 4
I'm quite a fan of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. It was probably the first (and one of the only) RTS games I have ever purchased and played. Nostalgia definitely plays a role here - and this is one of the driving factors behind the concept of "bad" sequels. A bad sequel is not necessarily a bad game - it merely does not rival it's predecessor(s) in quality.
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars was a step back from Tiberian Sun, but was not all that bad altogether, considering that the game came from EA Los Angeles, rather than Sun's Westwood Studios. It was rather true to the form set by previous C&C games (and was criticised a bit for that; it was released a full 8 years after Sun, and the genre had evolved a bit in that time).
However, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight is the bad sequel in this case. The most recent (and, I suspect, the last) entry in the series, I guess they took the criticism from the third game to heart. The formula of this game is completely different to the previous entries - and fans of any series are usually opposed to such changes. For good reason, in this case. The staples of Command & Conquer - the reasons why fans enjoyed it so much - were no longer present.
Resource gathering is no longer present - yes, Tiberium, the primary plot element of the entire series, is no longer an important gameplay element! Additionally, the size of armies in the game is severely reduced from pretty much unlimited to severely limited. Of all things, some RPG elements were added! Now, some might see these as good changes, but I don't think that many fans would be in that category. It removes everything that made the series unique.
Deus Ex: Invisible War
This one can cause a few debates. While Deus Ex: Invisible War is a good standalone game, it falls down when compared to the original, Deus Ex. This further cements the fact that a bad sequel does not imply a bad game.
Invisible War, while gaining high ratings from reviewers, it is criticised by the Deus Ex fanbase as a very "dumbed down" game. Many things they came to love about Deus Ex were gone - the inventory system was simplified down by several factors. The upgrades were almost entirely removed - leaving only a few choices. Additionally, the game was far shorter than the first.
If Invisible War had been released as a standalone game with the same gameplay, but a different plot - many of the similarities to Deus Ex would have been raised, but I don't think it would have received such harsh criticism from the fan base. Then again, it probably wouldn't have sold as well, either.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Let's finish this list with a genuinely bad game: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Following on from the amazing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Warrior Within proceeds to do everything wrong.
First of all, the unique, witty and charming character - the Prince of Persia himself - is now a generic and violent emo-type character, who, as Penny Arcade put it, is "smouldering with generic rage". Furthermore, the excellent platforming in Sands, while still present in some form, was pushed back in favour of the combat, which is not a desirable change to the series. The game is packed full of violence, blood, revealing clothing and numerous tasteless elements, and is overall not a fun game to play. Not only that, the game is full of bugs and glitches!
Going from such a strong high in Sands to an all-time low in Warrior Within is quite a feat. In a single game, they went from fantastic to...terrible. No only is Warrior Within a bad sequel, it is a bad game. The game can be summed up quite well by a quote from the Wikipedia article:
Personally, I don't think they were to anyone's taste.
Far Cry 2
This is an example of a sequel that is simply ridiculous. I'm not going to get into gameplay of either Far Cry or Far Cry 2 here, because that's not the point I want to stress with this one.
Let's look at similarities between the two games on a higher level. Both games are first person shooters. The differences? Everything else! The entire universe is different in both games - the plot, characters, setting, and gameplay is completely different in Far Cry 2. It's not even the same developer! Crytek went on to develop Crysis, and never so much as touched Far Cry 2.
So why is it even called Far Cry 2? The only reason is as a cash-grab. My bet is that the game was being developed internally by Ubisoft, and some idiot in marketing decided to slap the name of an established franchise on it. This is why the industry needs a good kick in the ass (especially Ubisoft) - how in the world can they get away with this kind of crap? It's ridiculous.
Most Wanted Sequels
Okay, so instead of these not-so-good sequels, what should be being developed? Sequels to my favourite games, that's what! I've excluded games that I know are getting sequels developed, so Half-Life, for example, isn't on there (though I have doubts about Episode 3, Valve!).
Psychonauts
I don't think there's many people who have played Psychonauts and didn't enjoy it. Produced by the 'most excellent' studio Double Fine Productions, founded by Tim Schafer, Psychonauts is by far one of the best games released last decade. With the unique setting, interesting gameplay, superb plot, and excellent humour, it shines the brightest amongst almost any group of good games.
The only problem? It didn't sell too well. Which is a shame, because that means that publishers don't want to jump on the idea of a sequel. We can only hope that someone, somewhere, decides that Psychonauts is worth the cash (because it is) and funds a sequel. If I had a surplus of cash (as if there was ever such a thing!) I'd do it myself!
Beyond Good and Evil
It's hard to have a good feeling about this one. The sequel to Beyond Good and Evil has been in and out of development for quite a while now. Ubisoft have announced several times that the sequel has been cancelled, and then retracted each statement after a few days. What's actually happening? Who knows. Let's hope that actual work is being done, and that the game hasn't been canned.
Ubisoft have been behaving strangely over the last few years. Let's hope that someone in upper management at Ubisoft has their head screwed on. The recent re-release of Beyond Good and Evil on XBLA and PSN is a good sign - it shows that they might be exposing the series to a larger audience in preparation for a sequel marketing campaign. We shall see!
Mirror's Edge
Mirror's Edge is an interesting game. Not only was it unexpected from the developers - EA Digital Illusions CE have a portfolio packed full of Battlefield games - it was unexpected in general. It is a very unique game in terms of both gameplay and graphics.
The focus on bright, primary colours against white backgrounds is visually appealing and a needed change from the "brown" that many games are providing these days. The focus on non-combatant gameplay and the smooth, parkour-style movement is quite refreshing. Mirror's Edge is a unique, enjoyable game, and I want more of it.
Okay, That's It!
At this rate, I'll never get through my list of topics to blog about. Three posts on the one topic? Oh dear. I'll try to keep it to one (maybe two) in the future!
Sequels come in many flavours - good, bad, silly, and in some cases, missing. While we can judge all sequels based on previous games (as most people do, including myself), it's very easy to pick out improvements and faults in the games, as there is something to compare and contrast against.
It's far more difficult to judge a game from an unbiased point of view - and sometimes it's easy to judge a good game too harshly because of high expectations from a previous game in the series. Next time you come across a sequel, try and judge it as if you had not played the game that comes before it. It's interesting how things change when you look at something from a different perspective.
