Gamma

The gaming industry craves sequels more than any other, perhaps to its detriment. Instead of highlighting new IPs, developers stick to tried-and-true franchises that already have a fanbase. For some series like Mario, Halo and Metal Gear, new titles manage to offer up innovations and improvements that trump previous hits. The following 21 games were sequelized for all the wrong reasons.
Some were poor titles that inexplicably sold well and begat bad followups. Others were so finely tuned that sequels had nothing to upgrade. All of them were a waste, particularly when so many great games never got a second chance. Read up on these 21 titles, but heed no further attention to any. Let each franchise die today:

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21- Guitar Hero

Nothing bad can be said about Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 2, or even Guitar Hero 3. In fact you probably couldn't say anything bad about Guitar Hero 4,5,6,7,8,9 or 10. Catch our drift?
They should have just kept Guitar Hero the same, ported it to the next-gen and released songs as downloadable content. But that would have been too easy. With Rock Band looming, the series' stagnation is becoming painfully apparent. Enjoy spending sixty bucks for another set of songs!
20- Syphon Filter

Nancy Drew and Tom Clancy walk into a bar. After a series of shouting matches and drunken apologies, the two leave the bar to consummate their new found, um, companionship. The result is the bastard child, Syphonn Fliter. Syphon Filter and it's pseudo-saga should have been AFI (Aborted on First Inception), but the series perpetuates and the impending release of Logan's Shadow threatens to eradicate all jobs at Sony Bend.
19- Juiced

Juiced should have died a lonely death when Acclaim went bankrupt. Unfortunately THQ, the company most likely to be the next megapublisher to end up broke, ended up resurrecting it, which would be like re-animating Anna Nicole Smith. Yeah, it's nice that you revived the dead, but couldn't you have found something more interesting to bring back?
Juiced apparently touched on the untapped ride-pimping genre, since the game received a sequel; Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. Gamers, if you buy a game with the subtitle Hot Import Nights, you need to stop reading the reviews in Maxim.

18- Ty the Tasmanian Tiger

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger was a paint-by-numbers platformer that offered up an nonsensical mascot with a patently offensive Australian accent. Somehow, it became a trilogy that came out for all three last-gen consoles, despite each game playing in the same, C-grade platforming manner.
Even more bizarre is that both EA and Activision have published Ty titles. Apparently good decisions aren't necessary to rule the third-party game publishing world.
17- Pokemon Stadium

The Pokemon series itself is a strong candidate for this list, but since it's evolved ever so slightly, we'll give it a pass. What we won't stand for is the Pokemon Stadium/Colosseum/Battle Revolution trilogy of error.
For some reason, gamers continue to support these titles that let you battle your handheld Pokemon on the big screen, with little else to add to the equation. Hey Nintendo, here's a novel idea... make an original Pokemon game for a console! And not a sucky one like Pokemon XD.

16- Shenmue

Like the upcoming Too Human and Mass Effect seem to be blissfully unaware of, stretching out a narrative over sequels before the first one's success is confirmed is a bad move. Case in point: Shenmue. With 16 chapters planned, Sega obviously wanted to slowly draw out the story. Look back at the original, and really concentrate on how much Ryo accomplished, outside of finding some sailors.
Turns out Sega couldn't recoup the kabillions of dollars it spent developing the first title, so the company crammed a bunch of chapters into an even poorer-performing sequel. Some heavy story editing would have gone a long way here. Either just have Ryo randomly run into fLan Di at a random bus stop and shiv him. Hey, it could happen!

15- Destroy All Humans

Didn't we Destroy all the humans the first time? Apparently not. We've given Crypto three shots to eradicate our race, but he's still dragging his feet. It sucks to say that a sandbox game featuring an alien with odd weapons could be generic, but this sandbox game featuring an alien with odd weapons is pretty god____ generic.
14- Far Cry

You play as Jack Carver as he rescues Valerie Constantine from a cheap island of Dr. Moreau. In Far Cry: Instincts you play as Jack Carver as he saves Valerie Cortez from the same island, only this time Carver has some generic genetic powers. In Far Cry Instincts: Evolution you play as Jack Carver as he calls all his ex-girlfriends to tell them he has feral abilities. Actually, that's a lie, but we're pretty sure it involved an island, supernatural abilities, and a complete lack of innovation.

13- Viewtiful Joe

The first Viewtiful Joe was an excellent title that brought about a 2D platforming renaissance. Then came a sequel that had absolutely nothing to add to the formula, followed by a fighter that pretty much dug the series a shallow grave. When the first one perfects a genre, retreading and retrying is pretty much a failed proposition. We don't know where Joe'll go, but his prospects don't look promising.
12- The Getaway

The Getaway attempted to take a different route in the crime-sim sandbox genre by focusing on realism and the British. What Sony Computer Entertainment Europe failed to realize was that people don't enjoy realism or English people in their games. The series still tolls on, despite the fact that people stopped caring about British gangster movies a good half-decade ago.

Outclassed during the PS2 era, the series faces even more competition with well-designed sandbox titles like Saint's Row and Crackdown filling the time before GTA drops. Up next? A potential PS3 sequel that really has no worth now that GTA has cast off its cartoony roots.
11- Devil May Cry

The original Devil May Cry was a shot in the arm for action titles, arriving on the scene for Capcom when Resident Evil was stagnating. Unfortunately, the second title was abysmal, and by the time the third game hit, Ninja Gaiden and God of War has stolen all of Dante's thunder. Devil May Cry 4 is in the works, but be honest... wouldn't you rather see Capcom release Resident Evil 5 or Dead Rising 2 instead?
10- Serious Sam

In a marketplace that was inundated with over-thought shooters, Serious Sam made his mark by delivering a straight shot of adrenaline. Unfortunately, the thing about adrenaline is that a second dose is rarely needed. Still, Croteam has continued to churn out serious sequels that offer little else besides more ____ to shoot.
9-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

After creating perhaps the best Star Wars game of all time, Bioware handed off development of the second to Obsidian, which delivered a notoriously unfinished sequel that couldn't match up to the original in any regard. Bioware passed up the sequel to create the slightly less underwhelming Jade Empire. This Mass Effect does look good however, but we've heard hide nor hair of a third KOTOR title. Then again, when was the last time anyone cared to ask?
8- Lumines

Lumines essentially perfected its formula the first time around. Go ahead and try to think of one thing that Lumines 2 added to the formula. Go ahead, we'll wait. At least Tetris 2 tried to be a bit different, even if it completely failed. New songs and skins? Great job, Q Entertainment. You managed to make people spend $40 on a weekend worth of work.

7- Metal Gear Ac!d

In Metal Gear Acid, Snake sneaks up behind a guard and stops cold like an idiot because he forgot he ran out of weapon cards. The only thing more insulting than translating Metal Gear's stealth action to a cumbersome card game was Konami's decision to develop Metal Gear Ac!d 2 ahead of an actual PSP Metal Gear.
6- Katamari Damacy

Nothing can be said about We Love Katamari that hasn't already been said about Katamari Damacy, literally. It's the same god____ game with new things to pick up. Wow-freakin-wee. Me and My Katamari, Beautiful Katamari... still nothing new (half-assed online features don't count). It's really sad that one of the greatest ideas in gaming history is being sullied by un-inventive sequels. Stop the rolling, please.
5- Die Hard Trilogy

One part action, one part driving, one part light-gun shooter, Die Hard Trilogy was a total aberration for the gaming industry. It was an aged license that took some creative risks but still ended up turning out pretty god____ good.

Of course, Fox Interactive had to test fate by creating Die Hard Trilogy 2, which attempted to follow up the original trilogy with a single story, keeping the same gameplay formula, albeit with crappier gameplay. Ok, Fox? A- Die Hard Trilogy 2 wasn't a freaking trilogy. 2- The game sucked with a vengeance. It's a good thing you're not making games any more, you morons.
4- Area 51

It may not have set the light-gun arcade genre on its head, but Area 51 was pretty freakin fun. Instead of pictures of shooting nondescript dudes with sunglasses and guns, Area 51 had you blasting pictures of deformed creatures. After a wholly unnecessary quasi-sequel, the series laid dormant for a few years.

With the last generation bereft of quality light gun titles, Midway decided to resurrect the franchise... as a first-person shooter. Despite a complete lack of interest from the entire world, Midway is pressing on with yet another sequel, and rumors persist that a movie adaptation is nigh. For Area 51. Sigh.
3- Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

The original Turok was a novel concept--kill dinosaurs with guns--that spoke to gamers of the mid-nineties. Subsequent sequels also spoke to gamers, with the exact same tone, to the point where fans wanted the series to shut the hell up. Unfortunately it still hasn't, as the series has been befouling consoles well into this decade.
2- Resident Evil Outbreak

The idea of taking the Resident Evil series online was appealing, until Capcom thoroughly botched it with Resident Evil Outbreak, a game that featured a thoroughly boring cast and less player communication than Backgammon on Yahoo Games, circa 1998. Of course, Capcom saw fit to make another, which added a half-assed communication system, a bunch of generic new levels, and no new boring characters. Meanwhile, the prospect for an excellent zombie-based MMO still goes unrealized.
1- Fighting Force

Fighting Force was one of the first halfway decent 3D-brawlers. It may not have been the equivalent of Double Dragon or Final Fight, but it laid the groundwork for a potentially amazing franchise. So of course, Eidos made a single-player only stealth-focused sequel, since it was completely obvious nobody bought the original because of the fighting or force.


-games.net

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Xhed

lol...were are the rest!?

but i agree with all of them

at first i was like...wtfhax!? GH?!?!?!...but the writer made a good point

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Gamma

Edited and updated .

Oh, and ya...the GH one was a good point xD.

60 bucks for a new set of songs that could very easily just be DLC. >.<

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Jorgz

Yeah, they should do what Sony did with Singstar.
Now you only need to buy singstar for PS3 (35$ and you can even use the ps2 singstar mics) and the rest you download, and then you can at least sort out what you want.

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Zerrenta

I agree with basically all of them...But not Guitar Hero..I mean, if it's a good game, and it sells great and stuff, why stop making new ones?

Jorgz

Because there is nothing new. Just new songs, and they could be downloaded instead, like in singstarps3.
Then you would atleast pay for what you wanted, and there would be less trouble.

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EMARIAN

Good to see that Knights Of The Old Republic (KoToR) is on there. KoToR FTW. I swear, that game is finally getting some more recognition. It had alot at first, peaked off, and now it's starting up again with yet another sequel and more recognition. xD

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Gamma

Did you read what they said about two?

xD.

They said it was a notoriously unfinished sequel. >.<

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