Gaming's most forgettable sequels

A look back at the long-awaited sequels we quickly forgot

Words: Matt Bradford on November 25, 2012

Back to Article

87 comments

View as:
Newest first
Oldest first

Salnax - November 25, 2012 10:17 a.m.

Kid Icarus: Uprising's quick trip into obscurity is a shame. It's easily the best handheld shooter I've ever played. Hell, it's one of the better shooters I've played PERIOD.
- Reply
- Report
Lucario995 - November 25, 2012 10:20 a.m.

I can agree with that 100%.
- Reply
- Report
masterjoe123 - November 25, 2012 10:33 a.m.

^this.
- Reply
- Report
fullmetallegend - November 25, 2012 10:35 a.m.

Golden Sun relied way too much on nostalgia. It improved nothing of note from the original games. The dialogue was also very annoying, with everyone you meet never failing to remind you that your wee lads and lasses. Would've enjoyed it a lot more if you could've just been Isaac and friends... a little more...
- Reply
- Report
azureguy - November 25, 2012 10:37 a.m.

Perfect Dark Zero: "More importantly, it had not evolved. After five years of development, Joanna Dark's once trail-blazing assets seemed old hat compared to her FPS competitors." This is pretty much spot on. The story was totally stupid – not British-funny like Conker or Banjo-Kazooie, just outright stupid. Mission design wasn't overly exciting either. Not to mention that there were nowhere as many cool weapons as in the original, which in turn diminished fun in multiplayer as well. The music and graphics were solid though. As for Bionic Commando, I think what really killed the game was that: 1) it came at around the same time as Prototype and a real open-world game was making the wannabee-open world game look bad. I never thought of the game as an open-world game myself, but apparently everyone else did, which is unfair if you ask me. 2) they turned the weapons into pickups instead of permanently unlocked things. Being able to switch between sniper rifle, shotgun and rifle at will would've increased the variety a lot. 3) it had no replay value whatsoever. Aside from the aforementioned missed opportunity with the weapons, there are no cheats or other unlockable content that would reward someone for completing the game. And the secret cave you can unlock by using the codes from Rearmed is a joke. This is pretty much spot on. The game felt
- Reply
- Report
fattoler - November 25, 2012 10:38 a.m.

Wolfenstein will always be one of my favourite FPSs of this current gen. RIP BJ? I hope not...
- Reply
- Report
CrashmanX - November 25, 2012 10:44 a.m.

Twisted Metal, Kid Icarus, NiGHTS, and Okamiden. You're shitting me right? TM and Kid Icarus JUST came out this year. It's kinda hard for them to "Fade into obscurity" when not everyone has them yet. Wait for Christmas to roll around when everyone gets a ton of new games. They'll both be MUCH cheaper and will most likely get bought by relatives and given out. As far as NiGHTS and Okamiden, lack of advertising. Neither one really got that advertised here stateside so very few even knew they existed. However those who do know (Those who are/were fans of these series did know they existed, visit more sites/forums) played them and usually suggested them to friends or told others about them.
- Reply
- Report
ThatGamerDude - November 25, 2012 10:55 a.m.

Deus Ex: Invisible War is one that you definitely forgot.
- Reply
- Report
Zeos - November 25, 2012 11:03 a.m.

I too loved the new Kid Icarus. Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts was really cool too...to bad my 360 got stolen before I got to even get half-way through it. I was pretty into the original Perfect Dark and liked it even more than Goldeneye, mainly because it had bots. Crono Trigger is one of my favorite games of all time so I of course got Crono Cross right away. I gave up on it after putting maybe fifteen hours into it though and did not look back. To finish off my opinions I really need to play Okami still and would pick up Okamiden I'm sure
- Reply
- Report
fullmetallegend - November 25, 2012 11:09 a.m.

I'd say that game is just as memorable as the first one, simply because you can't mention a Deus Ex game without someone complaining about it. ;D
- Reply
- Report
dionnysus - November 25, 2012 11:28 a.m.

shadowrun
- Reply
- Report
Child Of Death - November 25, 2012 11:50 a.m.

That sounds awesome!!! Im going to go get my free virus now!
- Reply
- Report
Sjoeki - November 25, 2012 11:58 a.m.

What about the darkness 2, that game was just a slap in the face if you ask me. The first one created an amazing world and was one of those games that could really shock the gamer and it's world was just impressive. Don't know how many hours I spent searching for phone numbers and stuff like that, crawling as a snake over walls and ceilings till I didn't even know where I was anymore, hanging out with Jenny on the couch, getting sweet sweet revenge in the end. I couldn't put that game down and must have played it from start to finish at least 5 times. Then the second one came out and it was an instant buy for me, 6 hours later I was pretty disgusted by the game. "Let's change the graphics one this one, the fans of the first one will really like that!" "You know all the stuff you could do in the first one? Let's not put that in the second one!" "Let's spend a lot of time in the game talking about the Angelus, fans will really like it if we only show her after the credits!" And correct me if I am wrong as I'm not up to date with everything but doesn't the man who has the darkness die the moment he impregnates a lady? And didn't in the darkness 2 we find out that Jackie's dad lived at least some time after Jackie was born?
- Reply
- Report
ultimatepunchrod - November 25, 2012 12:03 p.m.

I hope DmC doesn't become an addition to this list as the last slide implies.
- Reply
- Report
Redeater - November 25, 2012 12:07 p.m.

"Hey guys, let's make her a 16 year old rave girl with gigantic tits......then we can't possibly screw this one up!!"
- Reply
- Report
nintendo365 - November 25, 2012 12:39 p.m.

I thought that Kid Icarus: Uprising and Warhawk were fucking FANTASTIC. they were both so well made and had perfect blends of gameplay styles. On the other hand, Fuck Perfect Dark Zero. The N64 Perfect Dark is my literal favorite game of all time, Goldeneye gets too much praise. Perfect Dark took everything from Goldeneye and turned it up to 11,000. It had better graphics, better storytelling elements, actual voice acting, better multiplayer modes, better guns, and it even managed to bring back a few maps and guns from Goldeneye for the purists out there. It was the new gold standard, and I dont think any game since has really captured the madness the comes from 4 splitscreen players and 8 SpeedSim Simulants. But when I played PDZ, that game was like a slap in the face. It made the characters seem odd and the gameplay was ridiculous. Now it wasnt all bad, it was fun to see how Joanna and the Carrington Institute evolved over the years and to see the origins, but they tried too hard to link up with the original. The guy at the end was transformed into some skinless thing because of "Maian Powers Left on Earth". DAFUQ IS THAT? Even in PDN64 they barely had contact with the Maians. But I digress. Perfect Dark Zero sucked, and P the original was (Insert complimentary word that describes the awesomeness here). The only issue was the Farsight. Fuck the Farsight.
- Reply
- Report
dcobs123 - November 25, 2012 12:50 p.m.

I was just thinking that, who would think that rebooting an obscure rpg in the form of a generic looking class based shooter would sell to anyone.
- Reply
- Report
7-D - November 25, 2012 1:01 p.m.

Torcher: Arsonist of Evil 2?
- Reply
- Report
ACardAttack - November 25, 2012 1:46 p.m.

Am I the only one who found Chrono Cross to be better than Chrono Trigger? I found the plot and actually dealing with the ramifications of time travel far more interesting than a generic time travel plot? I also really loved Chrono Trigger, but just liked Cross more
- Reply
- Report