The Top 7... sequels that improved nothing

Years of development, stacks of new tech, millions of dollars, no discernable improvement

Words: David Houghton on May 24, 2010

Back to Article

69 comments

View as:
Newest first
Oldest first

zanthox - May 24, 2010 6:01 p.m.

I gotta agree on SC4, that game was a pretty big disappointment.
- Reply
- Report
bluscorp - May 24, 2010 6 p.m.

There's three mistake's at Resi5. 1:"but we got got slight pube-trimmings in the shape of better graphics" You typed got got. 2:"With a friend hollering down the mic, Resi 4’s dense atmosphere and immaculate pacing were unceremoniously curb-stomped" You typed resi4 instead of resi5. 3:"The total lack of imagination or design falir" You typed falir instead of flair Great artical though Dave :p
- Reply
- Report
Conman93 - May 24, 2010 5:57 p.m.

Very intresting article, even if I could predict most of the entries. I think that Resi 5 really improved on the mercenaries mini-game, but thats about it.
- Reply
- Report
jpalz - May 24, 2010 5:41 p.m.

I forgot: Rock Band 2. Great game, but nearly identical to Rock Band 1.
- Reply
- Report
jpalz - May 24, 2010 5:38 p.m.

I thought that maybe Guitar Hero 3 could have made the list, or any of their band spinoffs. Sure, they can be pretty fun (specially Metallica), but in the end they're nothing more than glorified track packs. Ditto for Lego Rock Band :P
- Reply
- Report
Ded - May 24, 2010 5:37 p.m.

DMC2.. Hideki Kamiya didn't direct it.. that was asking for trouble from the start. And you're so right about Soul Calibur IV, I got my 360 just for that game, as I was such a fan of the first Dreamcast one.. such a disappointment (the game, not the console). My favourite character Ivy was turned into an abomination :(
- Reply
- Report
junkheep - May 24, 2010 5 p.m.

im gonna say the lego games no matter if its the star wars versons or batmen and the other there all the same id say
- Reply
- Report
IronGuy410 - May 24, 2010 4:49 p.m.

i think just a new story and tighter controls are enough for me. and maybe a few new abilities and some interesting characters, but i'm not really picky as far as sequels go as long as they're just as fun or more fun than the first game. like resident evil 5 or mua2.
- Reply
- Report
ventanger - May 24, 2010 4:31 p.m.

I'm going to get boo'd, but Gears of War 2. It added in many more on-rails events where the objective to not die was impossibly vague (shoot the locust in the cockpit, kill the corpsers FROM RIGHT TO LEFT). It made every attempt to inject some cinematic atmosphere, at the cost of enjoyable gameplay. To top it all off, your AI partner was slightly dumber.
- Reply
- Report
garnsr - May 24, 2010 4:24 p.m.

I liked Samurai Warriors, it had some additions that as far as I know never made it into Dynasty Warriors, like having several different missions you could choose, or miss. Dynasty seems even simpler than that pretty simple game, I don't know how they've produced so many.
- Reply
- Report
Spacegrass - May 24, 2010 4:18 p.m.

I thought the clothes changing in Soul Calibur IV was the worst thing about it; I bought the game to fight, not to play dress-up.
- Reply
- Report
dslayer99 - May 24, 2010 4:08 p.m.

lol i have every dynasty warriors game and the only difference is the graphics!
- Reply
- Report
Chewrocka - May 24, 2010 3:50 p.m.

I think you could argue that all though the options for Soulcal IV's character creations were less the actual depth was much greater. Different gear granted different attributes and abilities, I have like 6 of the same character because each does something different. And I think MarioKart Wii might have been a better choice, they tried to ad TONS of stuff to it and it just ended up a disappointing mess that shames MarioKart64.
- Reply
- Report
Eaxis - May 24, 2010 3:41 p.m.

This is a great top 7.
- Reply
- Report
johngrybos - May 24, 2010 3:41 p.m.

Typo @ RE5: 'falir' rather than 'flair'
- Reply
- Report
TyeTheCzar - May 24, 2010 3:38 p.m.

I seriously hope Sengoku Basara will be a true Dynasty Warriors-killer when it finally comes out over here.
- Reply
- Report
CARDYKEV - May 24, 2010 3:37 p.m.

Wish Splinter cell conviction was on this list
- Reply
- Report
allthegoodnameswheretaken - May 24, 2010 3:34 p.m.

>It's simple if the demand is inelastic, drill that shit, and keep pumping out sequels. Lol economics I have several dynasty warrior games you cannot tell the difference between them And in some cases the get worse
- Reply
- Report
sgloomy - May 24, 2010 2:47 p.m.

I think there shouldn't be any major improvement if the game is working (i.e. God of War III, SSF4) but if there are flaws with the first game, they HAVE to be addressed in the sequel (Assassin Creed 2).
- Reply
- Report
gilgamesh310 - May 24, 2010 2:39 p.m.

Why exactly isn't Halo 2 or 3 on this list. Surely if Resi 5 is there than at least one of the Halo sequels should be. The only improvement that Halo 2 had over the original was duel weilding and absolutely nothing else besides. The story developed into a convoluted mess. I long for the day when the halo sequels are shown up for what they really are.
- Reply
- Report