Playing the Sequel Game
Posted: 2009-01-16
The game industry is a big ocean of title after title, everyone's vying for the Game of the Year these days and it seems that somewhere along the way the big publishers and developers are forgetting simple things like gameplay and storytelling. So far sequel after sequel to various games have appeared on consoles and now there's a disturbing trend to only market games that have 'sequel' potential. This kind of thinking is dangerous is a market that is as picky as it is ruthless. Gamers are constantly bickering over their favourite franchise and console; hardcore gamers shun anything that's not vaguely related to their #1 franchise, Halo for instance.
Take a look at Tomb Raider, now Tomb Raider 1 and 2 were highly successful but pretty much every sequel that's come out of that franchise has been a pale imitation of the previous games. Tomb Raider Underworld is decent enough but it's not quite the game everyone was expecting. I still enjoyed it on some level, just as I enjoyed Ubisoft's latest Prince of Persia outing. In a way I'm glad that Ubisoft left the Sands of Time series at 3 games, it means that it remains a golden example of a trilogy that ended just when the time was right.
The same can't be said regarding Splinter Cell, however. Double Agent was a brave and bold step to try and take the series into a new darker direction, with a lack of coop however I soon found myself bored with the Spy vs. Mercenary game mode since I blew through the single-player fairly quickly. Now I am pleased that ConViction has been taken back to the drawing board but Ubisoft have kind of written themselves into a corner concerning Sam Fisher. I really miss the old spec-ops ninja who snuck around in the dark and had all those cool gadgets.
Again though it's all about sequels and true interesting, innovative/fun projects often get a nail in the coffin because the publisher can't see 'sequel' potential. Here's an open statement to the industry as a whole:
There is going to come a day when people are going to be sick of buying Tony Hawks sequels, Band Game sequels and FPS sequels - just like people eventually got sick of TSR in the old days of Dungeons and Dragons since they flooded the market with remakes/sequels and splatbooks galore. Original thinking is the way forwards and games like Brutal Legend should never have been canned. Tim Schaeffer is a guy who can't seem to catch a break and on the off chance that Tim's reading this or hears about it, hang in there Tim, we really loved Psychonauts.
Brutal Legend was cancelled by Activision because it had no sequel potential. It later found a new home at Electronic Arts (I can hear boos and hisses from here) who seem to see potential of some kind in Tim's work. Double Fine seem to have landed on their feet. Unlike Pandemic AU who were shut down recently along with developer Free Radical. Free Radical were working on a sequel to Star Wars Battlefront 2, the rumour is that particular game has now found its way to Rebellion (Aliens vs. Predator and Rogue Trooper).
Leaked Star Wars Battlefront 3 footage
The game looked as though it was shaping up nicely and whilst the running animations seem a little forced, the actual space combat sequences look extremely fun. Taking off and flying over the planet, into space and landing on a massive ship. The sense of scale in Battlefront 3 looks much bigger than Battlefront 2 and hopefully like Brutal Legend this game will also land on its feet.
Another game that faced the axe of Activision was of course Ghostbusters, yes; there was apparently no potential in that title either. They'd rather stick with Banjo and Kazooie (and we all know how well that did)
Gamespot ran this story at the time:
"Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, more dropped by Activision
Publisher passes on a slew of Vivendi Games' in-development titles; 50 Cent, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, Wet also affected.
Earlier today, Activision Publishing announced a streamlining of its Vivendi Games operations, saying it would be bringing into the fold five of that company's franchises: Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ice Age, Prototype, and one unannounced game.
An Activision representative later confirmed for GameSpot that those would be the only Vivendi Games franchises coming out of the publisher. That leaves a number of high-profile projects in limbo, including Double Fine Productions' Brutal Legend, as well as Wet, Ghostbusters, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, World at Conflict: Soviet Assault, 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, Zombie Wranglers, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, as well as several Xbox Live Arcade titles."
Take a look at Tomb Raider, now Tomb Raider 1 and 2 were highly successful but pretty much every sequel that's come out of that franchise has been a pale imitation of the previous games. Tomb Raider Underworld is decent enough but it's not quite the game everyone was expecting. I still enjoyed it on some level, just as I enjoyed Ubisoft's latest Prince of Persia outing. In a way I'm glad that Ubisoft left the Sands of Time series at 3 games, it means that it remains a golden example of a trilogy that ended just when the time was right.
The same can't be said regarding Splinter Cell, however. Double Agent was a brave and bold step to try and take the series into a new darker direction, with a lack of coop however I soon found myself bored with the Spy vs. Mercenary game mode since I blew through the single-player fairly quickly. Now I am pleased that ConViction has been taken back to the drawing board but Ubisoft have kind of written themselves into a corner concerning Sam Fisher. I really miss the old spec-ops ninja who snuck around in the dark and had all those cool gadgets.
Again though it's all about sequels and true interesting, innovative/fun projects often get a nail in the coffin because the publisher can't see 'sequel' potential. Here's an open statement to the industry as a whole:
There is going to come a day when people are going to be sick of buying Tony Hawks sequels, Band Game sequels and FPS sequels - just like people eventually got sick of TSR in the old days of Dungeons and Dragons since they flooded the market with remakes/sequels and splatbooks galore. Original thinking is the way forwards and games like Brutal Legend should never have been canned. Tim Schaeffer is a guy who can't seem to catch a break and on the off chance that Tim's reading this or hears about it, hang in there Tim, we really loved Psychonauts.
Brutal Legend was cancelled by Activision because it had no sequel potential. It later found a new home at Electronic Arts (I can hear boos and hisses from here) who seem to see potential of some kind in Tim's work. Double Fine seem to have landed on their feet. Unlike Pandemic AU who were shut down recently along with developer Free Radical. Free Radical were working on a sequel to Star Wars Battlefront 2, the rumour is that particular game has now found its way to Rebellion (Aliens vs. Predator and Rogue Trooper).
Leaked Star Wars Battlefront 3 footage
The game looked as though it was shaping up nicely and whilst the running animations seem a little forced, the actual space combat sequences look extremely fun. Taking off and flying over the planet, into space and landing on a massive ship. The sense of scale in Battlefront 3 looks much bigger than Battlefront 2 and hopefully like Brutal Legend this game will also land on its feet.
Another game that faced the axe of Activision was of course Ghostbusters, yes; there was apparently no potential in that title either. They'd rather stick with Banjo and Kazooie (and we all know how well that did)
Gamespot ran this story at the time:
"Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, more dropped by Activision
Publisher passes on a slew of Vivendi Games' in-development titles; 50 Cent, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, Wet also affected.
Earlier today, Activision Publishing announced a streamlining of its Vivendi Games operations, saying it would be bringing into the fold five of that company's franchises: Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ice Age, Prototype, and one unannounced game.
An Activision representative later confirmed for GameSpot that those would be the only Vivendi Games franchises coming out of the publisher. That leaves a number of high-profile projects in limbo, including Double Fine Productions' Brutal Legend, as well as Wet, Ghostbusters, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, World at Conflict: Soviet Assault, 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, Zombie Wranglers, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, as well as several Xbox Live Arcade titles."
