Are your favourite franchises better or worse this generation?

Mario

What this generation brought:

Multi-directional gravity, a little bit of waggle, an orchestral score

How the overall package compares:

There’s a certain impossibility about the core Mario series. We accept that any multi-sequeled property (and is there any other kind now?) will become nose-bothering dump within two to three games, yet after 24 years Mario is still defined by his improvement and evolution with each new release. 

With the Gamecube’s Super Mario Sunshine though, we hit the first blip in the plumber's career. While still undoubtedly better than most 3D platformers, it lacked the freshness, originality and excitement we now expect from a new Mario game and, thanks to FLUDD, at times it didn’t even feel like a Mario game at all. Most displeasing.

Super Mario Galaxy isn’t just an improvement. It’s one of the best games in history. Built around one clever idea explored in all those inventive ways only Nintendo can do, it also brings the best of 2D Mario along for the ride and completely reinvents the platformer in the process. It’s huge. It’s beautiful. It’ll warm your heart like hot mulled wine and blow your mind like a 12-guage. And the power of Koji Kondo’s musical expertise combined with a real orchestra is stunning enough to make mountains weep.

Throw in New Super Mario Bros. on the DS (but maybe not the messy follow-up) and this is one of Mario's best generations yet.

When the Awesometer says Mario is best:

Halo

What this generation brought:

Four-player co-op, real-time map customisation, a noir detective story, excessive hype

How the overall package compares:

Halo popularised slick and accessible FPS on consoles. Halo 2 popularised slick and accessible online gameplay on consoles. Having already broken ground like a kid chewing on pebbles breaks teeth, was there anywhere else for Halo to go on the 360? Yes. But was it all good? No.

While those unconvinced by the ways of Master Chief brushed off Halo 3 as merely Halo 2 with better graphics (and on some level that’s understandable), the third game did a hell of a lot in terms of Bungie’s continued bestowing of hot, sticky love upon its community. Along with uploadable gameplay videos and file sharing, we got real-time multiplayer level editing by way of Bungie’s pioneering Forge tools, and what was already a simmering community exploded.

Although things were beginning to get a little stale by the time of ODST’s arrival, its non-linear, noirish take on Halo’s storytelling – not to mention its amazingly moody score – managed to freshen things up, as did Firefight, Bungie’s take on Gears of War 2’s Horde mode. And then there was Halo Wars, but mercifully we’ve left that ‘til last and are running out of space to discuss it, because it was a load of old…

When the Awesometer says Halo is best: 

Prince of Persia

What this generation brought:

Beautiful, painting-style graphics, more open environments, a total inability to die

How the overall package compares:

The total reboot of a much-loved franchise is a prospect in equal parts terrifying and exciting. When the much-loved franchise is one that revels in hardcore perfection as deeply as the Prince of Persia Sands of Time trilogy? And when the word “accessible” is bandied about? It’s mostly that former emotion.

Over the course of its three games, last-gen’s PoP nailed it all. Complex, do-or-die platforming blended perfectly with deep, flowing, improvisational combat and a damnably clever time manipulation mechanic, and despite each game’s faults there was rightfully much rejoicing.

While the new Prince of Persia did a lot of great new things – the more open world afforded by the Assassin’s Creed engine and the new emphasis on tense, one-on-one combat in particular – it also turned a series you’d once felt proud to master into one that frequently felt like it was playing itself. Although we’re all for accessibility, there’s such a thing as a game being too friendly. And as for the new protagonist’s hateful Jock of Persia persona? Excuuuuse me, Princess…

When the Awesometer says Prince of Persia is best: