10 Video Game Sequels That Pointlessly Took Away Things Fans Loved
If it ain't broke... remove it?
More often than not, sequels are a reason to be excited. Though it’s easy to look at Hollywood pumping out superhero movie after superhero movie, the spectacle of Avengers: Infinity War proved that when done right, sequels can feel epic, sweeping everyone up in years worth of heroics coming together at last.
Gaming is no different. While new IPs Spider-Man and Celeste are decent also rans in the battle for Game Of The Year, both heavyweights (Red Dead Redemption 2 and God Of War) build on their predecessors. In fact, the majority of Game Of The Year winners do just that, with Breath Of The Wild, Dragon Age Inquisition, Skyrim and GTA V taking home the gong in recent years.
That’s because sequels have the ability to iron out kinks from the first offering. Spider-Man 2, for example, will probably feature fewer stealth crawls. However, sometimes sequels tinker too much. Either because of rushed deadlines, cut budgets or just misunderstanding what fans want, they drop brilliant elements from the first game.
Not all of the games listed here are necessarily bad, but they each lost a sense of charm that previous titles in the series provided.
10. Skins, Moves - Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Kicking the list off with one that is such an odd and seemingly illogical decision considering the first MUA was a resounding success. "More of the same" would've likely made fans happy, but instead, Ultimate Alliance 2 made everything objectively worse.
Firstly, in the original game, each character came with a set of four or five unlockable suits; in the sequel they only get a couple. It’s not a big deal in terms of how the game is played, but it can have a much bigger impact on a player’s experience. Second, we had less combat moves as character-specific grapples disappeared, as well as a much shallower pool of RPG features in terms of how you specced your hero out. Combined we had an immediate aesthetic downgrade that only extended to watered down gameplay mechanics, too.
A huge part of these superhero games is feeling like you actually are the heroes. In PS4’s Spider-Man for example, you get an endless array of suits. Just recently, two new Fantastic Four themed suits have added extra enjoyment to the game despite the suits coming with no additional content.
The first Marvel Ultimate Alliance really made you feel like you were a superhero, with all the possiblities that entailed. The sequel just reminded you that you were playing a (very limited) video game.