TYOA: 8 Video Games That Got It PERFECT On The First Try
These franchises NAILED IT right out of the gate.
Unlike the world of movies, where sequels rarely improve upon the original, it's incredibly common for video game sequels to massively surpass what came before.
While the first game might be a fun, flawed rough sketch, it's often the second entry where a franchise finds its stride as the developers iterate on what worked the first time.
Take Uncharted, Mass Effect, Halo, and Resident Evil as just a few strong examples of series that shot for the moon with their brilliant second games.
But sometimes a franchise just hits right out of the gate, enough that all the sequels really have to do is offer up minor tweaks and revisions while maintaining the same style, tone, and gameplay loop.
And that's absolutely true of these franchises, which knocked it out of the park on their first try with a confidence, panache, and level of polish typically expected of the second or third game in any series.
They're the outliers of course, because few video game franchises can get so much so right the very first time, but they're nevertheless proof perfect that it does happen every now and then...
8. Max Payne
Let's kick things off with one of the single most influential action games of the last 25 years - Remedy's brilliant Max Payne.
Though widely lauded for its gritty, film noir-infused storytelling, Max Payne's lasting legacy lies in its innovative shooter gameplay, being one of the first video games to feature the now-commonplace "bullet time" slow-motion mechanic, as was popularised by hit movie The Matrix a few years prior.
And while Max Payne 2 and 3 offered refinements on the original game's physics and gunplay, everything that made the series hit was present from the very first game.
The style, tone, and most of all the absurdly addictive combat are all exceptionally crafted in the original Max Payne, and so the sequels really didn't need to do all that much beyond beef up the action.
Needless to say, many are excited to see Remedy's in-development remake of the first two games, because as mostly well-aged as Max Payne is, it'll surely turn some heads when rebuilt in the developer's incredible Northlight Engine.