8 Video Game Franchises That Made Their Mark With Sequels

8. Uncharted

Released in 2007, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was a solid action title for its time. Its visuals are certainly aging, but they're still more than acceptable compared to most other early seventh generation titles. It was a fairly entertaining albeit clichéd globe-trotting treasure hunting adventure starring a less than noble protagonist voiced by legendary voice actor Nolan North. At a time when the PlayStation 3 had very few games, it wasn't really a hard sell. For its first outing, it was a pretty solid, if average cover shooter. When its sequel hit in 2010 however, Uncharted quickly became one of Sony's biggest properties, making Nathan Drake a mascot and solidifying Naughty Dog as one of the best developers in the industry. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves wasn't just an improvement in every way to its predecessor. It was a technological marvel for console players, and a huge killer app for the PlayStation 3. The game was nigh perfect, featuring tight responsive gameplay and a well-written story with absolutely perfect pacing. It didn't just bring an impeccable story mode to the table, either. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves delivered on multiplayer and co-op experiences that felt just as integral to the game as the main attraction. For a series' first stab at multiplayer, it's mind-boggling that it was not only good, but incredibly well balanced and entertaining to boot. The second installment of the Uncharted series was arguably never surpassed in sheer quality. Critically, the franchise peaked there, though it never really suffered from low scores or black sheep like some other IPs do. It's successor, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, faltered slightly in its raw imitation of its predecessor, but maintained even higher sales nonetheless, though this was no doubt due in large part to the success of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. With the final entry into this PlayStation powerhouse likely to hit sometime next year exclusively on the PS4, it remains very likely that sales will only continue to skyrocket in the wake of this game's massive success.