Six Games That Truly Need A Sequel
I have a very odd relationship with sequels (see what I did there^). Well, all my relationships are odd, so I guess in that sense, I have a fairly normal relationship with sequels, by my world’s strange standards. What I mean by that is, for the most part, I feel like sequels are unnecessary cash cows that vacuum out the ideals of good stories in gaming. Companies that just add lore to lore, on top of more lore, with it all feeling like loose twine, trying to hold a whole, disjointed series together, just doesn’t work for me. And sequels are usually just used to further push a game mechanic made famous by the first game.
A perfect example of this is the Gears of War series. A great series, no doubt, but by the most recent installment, I just felt like I had done it all to death, Duck behind walls, kill some guys, ride some kind of machine, kill some more guys, over and over. But there are games that I enjoyed so much, that I want to go back into the worlds, desperately, and have been eagerly awaiting news as to when I might be able to. Some of these seem hopeless, some of these have some faint prospects, but none of that will keep me from dreaming about these six games I feel truly deserve the sequel treatment. You’ll notice I don’t go any older than Playstation (1) here, and that is because I already did an older games I wish would get rebooted list, and this is kind of an unofficial follow up.
Beyond Good and Evil
This is how Tim Burton sees everything.
Alright, so this one is on everyone’s list already, but I am getting the cliche out of the way immediately Beyond Good and Evil was an amazing game, with what may very well count as my favorite portrayal of a female heroine in a game. She is strong, brilliant, driven, and fully clothed. I wish all game designers would follow Michel Ancel’s lead and make more female leads as nuanced and wonderful as Jade was from this game.
On top of that, you had great game design, great game mechanics, AWESOME characters, and a world that is TRULY deserved of some more exploration. I know a sequel has been promised, and I know there has been a teaser of it floating around for years, but it is ALMOST safe to call this game vaporware at this point, which breaks my heart. How about giving it some love on next gen systems? Oh wait, no one wants those.
Shit. We’ve reached an impasse.
Bulletstorm
A game so manly, it teabags you in your sleep. Joking, sexual assault isn’t manly.
How weird is it of me to follow up a preachy entry on the list about how woman need more respect in games with a game that is so driven by frat-boy testosterone that the package practically has balls? Well, it may be weird, but Bulletstorm was mindless, addictive fun, and I will stand by that until the day I die.
Bulletstorm is a lot like the movie Shoot ‘Em Up in the sense that it is sort of making fun of itself, while also having fun with itself. It is the machismo of Gears of War, minus the tedium of cover shooting and the unneeded seriousness. And also, it has the energy leash, which is easily one of my favorite weapons in gaming. A weapon so awesome, and so open-ended, it led to handful of achievements I will never forget.
Like, um..this one:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYs7-igS-rk
Grab them with the leash, flip them, and shoot them in the butt hole. Yup. Really.
The thing no one can deny is that Bulletstorm was fun as Hell, and there is NO reason there should not be some sequel, with more giant enemies, and more childishly awesome achievements, and more time with that f*cking energy leash. Is that so wrong? Also, in a time when the most recent Duke Nukem failed for being misogynistic and stupid, Bulletstorm shined, and took the mantle of “testosterone madness” from that title with a quickness, in my opinion.
The Condemned Series
Every “horror” game has a variation on the oil-slicked zombie, and I thank Return of the Living Dead for this trope.
Please tell me I am not the only person who adored this series?
Condemned 1 and 2 were a survival horror/melee combat FPS mashup that really was unlike any game I had ever played. First thing, they were genuinely terrifying games at times, with two scares that will always stand out to me. The locker scene and the mannequin scene. I also STILL have nightmares about mall Santas because of this game.
The basic story was you were a SCU investigator who was tasked with figuring out why the city’s homeless population were turning into a pack of murdering psychos, all while dealing with your own demons (liquor and a sordid past, per usual) and in a really cool twist, you had some forensic tools and could actually analyze crime scenes and follow prints and clues, well before you were doing it in L.A Noir (though Condemned is also a much more shallow, simplified version of said tasks). The second game got even darker, with you HAVING to find bottles of booze or else you would get the shakes and not be able to fight properly. How is that for gritty?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWet783dh3g
Those who did not shit their pants during this scene are more man than I.
Also, a f*cking grizzly bear chases you through a cabin in one of my favorite game scenes EVAR. I know I said I hate chase levels before, but this did it early on and did it right (aka, over the top). Give me a Condemned 3 soon or else I will beat someone’s head in with a steel pipe, while smelling of my own filth. Aka typical Wednesday.
I agree with the Oddworld suggestion. I loved the first two Abe games for PC. The problem is that everything after that wasn’t released for PC. They didn’t want my money. Nor to expand their brand apparently. And the series died out shortly after that. Funny what limiting your game to a smaller market can do.
They did release a compilation for PC much later. But it was so outdated for the current operating systems. It ran horribly and wasn’t optimized or updated in the least.
I’ll probably never get to play Red Dead Redemption for the same reason. I simply won’t play enough console games to justify the expense. Speaking of which, can you write a Playstation or Xbox off your taxes as a business expense if you write about them for your blog?
Yes to Condemned 3! One of the scariest levels from the first game was the one where you were at the mall and you were fighting those mannequins. It was so funny I was walking and I passed a mannequin, I come back and it’s gone!!! Shit just got real…
Yes! Onimusha is awesome, and 3 was much better than 2, so they clearly were headed in the right direction. And then? A “Smash Bros” type game. Yea-…er, what? Who wanted that? Then you have “Beyond Good and Evil” which had a cliffhanger ending, even!
I also think that “Psychonauts” could have had a great sequel. And where’s my “Zak and Wiki 2”?!
@Postal, I’m not even kidding when I say that with prices now, RDR is totally worth the price of admission.
Oddworld!!! Kinda makes you wonder what Lorne Lanning is up to these days. I’ve always been concerned that we may never see another game in that series due to the EA acquisition. Only time will tell I guess.
So, you guys know we’re doing a full HD remake of Abe’s Oddysee, right? http://www.oddworld.com/games/abes-oddysee-new-n-tasty/
We have a HUGE list of games to get through, as Lorne shut down the company for a while after Stranger’s Wrath. We’re slowly rebuilding the company to be able to sustain ourselves, financially.
Cool!!
Only ‘Aquaria’ is missing
waist side?
Bulletstorm was fine, but not every game needs a sequel and Bulletstorm is one of those games. It did what it wanted to do, playing it was a good time, and it can end there.
I wish to add Legend of Dragoon to this list.
Where did the reverence for Legend of Dragoon come from, Frank? One of my least-favorite RPG’s ever, but people goddamn love it.
I absolutely LOVED Overrun in the new Gears, and it was a great game overall with lightning-fast matchmaking. My only big complaint is nobody was ever playing it. I’ve never seen a AAA franchise take such a sudden dip. Gears 3 was always stocked with players, but Judgement had trouble stocking a 5 man team in Survival within weeks and many games of Overrun would end up with you and a team of bots versus one other player and a team of bots. Only a triple-digit number of people in any given game mode of an exclusive AAA gaming title a few weeks after launch? Madness.
Well, trashcanman, it’s hard to say… I wouldn’t say I have reverence for it. But I did enjoy it quite a lot. Bear in mind I was pretty new to RPGs at that point but I just liked it nonetheless. Might be rose colored glasses but I want a sequel anyway, dammit.
Did the guys from Oddworld just respond to this article?
And there is a HD remake coming out, with the company slowly rebuilding itself?
I won’t lie, that is incredibly awesome and makes my soul very. very happy.
I am kinda stuck on that right now. Wow!
Metal Arms Glitch in The System Really really needs a sequel ^_^
Square needs to make another Vagrant Story.
I was in Japan recently and I kept on seeing posters for Onimusha, I kept on thinking how is there a new game with out me knowing about, turns out it was just advertising a new slot machine based on Onimusha.
@Remy
Yup 🙂
We are ever-watchful.
Devil’s deception!! Holy fuck I had forgotten about that weird little game. I had it for my ps1. I spent a lot of time with that game. It had a very surreal and David Lynch’ian feel to it and it was very satisfactory in a sadistic way. I’m gonna see if I can find it somewhere in the basement. And yes.. Remake please!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oddworld:_Abe%27s_Oddysee_New_N%27_Tasty!
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System and Legend of Dragoon are missing from this list. Therefore it is incomplete.
are u fucking stupid or something do you not know that they came out with like 2-3 more games after oddworld munch’s oddysee
Psychonauts. A thousand times, Psychonauts.
MGmasterG: they only came out with 1 after Munch’s oddysee, Strangers Wrath.
what about OGRE BATTLE?? that game was excellnt.. i still play it on my ps2:)
You forgot Metal Arms, Dr. Muto, and Vanquish. For shame.