Originality versus Repetition is a debate that branches across all forms of media: is it better to watch a film which is original in its premise and ideas or a film that is a multiple sequel but that we’ll watch it because ‘we’re used to it’? Should we listen to music that tries to be innovative and genre-breaking or should we listen to the usual cheesy music that fills up the charts because it is deemed popular? And of course, the same applies to games: is it more fun to play an original game like Ico or play the next Call of Duty or Resident Evil?
The gaming industry (like the film industry) currently has a pretty bad case of sequelitus: try and think about some of the games you’re interesting in buying between now and Christmas, and I’d bet that 90% of those games are sequels or re-launches. The question is, are sequels necessarily always a bad thing?
The answer is fairly simple: not really. Sequels usually represent what was or what has been popular, so it is simply the easier option for a publisher to release an updated version of the previous game rather than potentially lose millions on a new idea. However, during this generation multiple sequels have attracted much-deserved criticism, because certain publishers have realised that they can rather lazily release a sequel without changing or adding much compared with the previous game. This hasn’t always been the case though, as this article will hopefully point out.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed original games and quickly get bored of sequels that fail to innovate or repeat the process over a couple of games. For me, it is always a calculated risk to bring out a new non-sequel game as they can either fail miserably like Lair (even though it was a good ideas) or greatly influence the games industry like Heavy Rain. However, I do enjoy sequels – in fact, some of my favourite games are sequels and this list is meant to show how good some sequels can be.
Of course, games can quickly innovate themselves with changes of technology whilst films and music are very much restricted to set formats and genres. Games therefore have an advantage as a form of media: characters such as Mario can survive for almost thirty years and whilst the type of gamplay has remained the same the way we play the game has changed substantially.
Saying all of this; there are a fair amount of sequels that have become legendary and have greatly influenced the video game industry, perhaps more so than most original games.
Here are ten such examples of sequels proving that originality isn’t always necessary. There will also be some honorable mentions and some lessons to be learned along the way. One or two rules for this list: the franchises still have to be running today on current generation consoles but the sequels mentioned don’t.
Let’s get to it…
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10 Comments
Your going to get eradicated
Wow, trolls!
Raiden did not split the fan-base “down the middle.” That’s like saying Jar Jar Binks split Star Wars fandom “down the middle.” Raiden was nearly universally despised.
Number 2 is inaccurate. GTA Vice City isn’t a sequel. It’s GTA III’s successor, and San Andreas’ predecessor. The only game that’s tied to Vice City’s story is Vice City Stories, and that’s prequel (based on events leading up to VC).
I feel dumber after having read this. I feel sorry for anyone else that wastes their time reading this “10 gaming sequels…” list.
wait.. so your saying games are actually based off other games and then add their own personality to them to make them better????? Is that how it works???? gosh i would never have known that!
I think my brain cells just died. This guy is retarded and full of fanboyism. CoD4 revolutionized? In what way? I’ve played a lot of FPS PC games, and CoD4 is not where near of being in that status. All those people that bought CoD4 and said how innovative the game is, doesn’t mean that it really is, it’s just that most of them never played a game like this before. And maybe if it did, so what? Moron. It’s just in one genre, just like many other games did with other genre. Bite me you pathetic fool. This whole article is a joke.
I will bite on your comment actually. Full of fanboyism? Where exactly?
I love how you picked one game on the list and pretty much failed to acknowledge the main point. Do you just see COD and then jump on the keyboard? You poor person. Also I think you need to look up the meaning of the word retarded.
COD 4 changed the industry, I didn’t say whether it was good or bad. However, it DID change the industry. Most FPS games now have campaigns that are similar to COD4s or took influence from the multi-player. Did games have similar features before hand? Sure but NONE of them had as much of an impact as COD 4 (apart from maybe Half-Life but that is a different kind of FPS).
you need to replay your games, resident evil 4 & 5 are the worst resident evils ever it was a lot better before it turned into some action s**t
I agree that 5 was trash. I loved 4 though but I can see why people didn’t like it. I grew up with the Resident Evil series and it needed a new re-imagining after the failed outbreak series of games.
I recently re-played 3, Code Veronica and Outbreak, whilst it was an enjoyable experience I didn’t really get the same feeling as I did from 2 or 4.