"Failed" sequels.

[Amondren]

Leaf green and fire red i just feel that failed quite a bit

 

[Amondren]

Super Paper Mario.
Okay game. Nothing compared to the other two paper marios.

this also

 

[Blue Musician]

Sequels. One of the most divisive topics in the gaming community. Some people think sequels are automatically signs of unoriginality and cheap cashing in, others merely relish the opportunity to play a new and improved version of a beloved older game. Even Yahtzee, our community's very own game-reviewing pirahna, has mixed feelings- while he loudly denounces sequels to all and sundry, his all-time favourite games include Silent Hill 2, Spider-Man 2, Half-Life 2 and Portal... which is getting a sequel that Valve say will be their best game ever. This may lead you to determine that sequels can be divided into "good sequels" and "bad sequels", but I hold out there is a third subdivision- "failed sequels".

A good sequel is supposed to do one of two things. 1: It's supposed to do pretty much the same things as the previous game, but with enough improvements and interesting features to make you want to play it and enjoy it more than the original- in other words, the same but better (examples include Civilization II, Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Dynasty Warriors 3). 2: It's supposed to technically be a sequel, but does things radically differently to the extent that it can be assessed on its own merits, rather than automatically compared to its predecessor (examples include Half-Life 2, Street Fighter III and pretty much ANY Final Fantasy game).

In light of this, a "failed sequel" is a type 1 sequel which is basically the same as its predecessor but when you play it you cannot say that it is better than the original. If you have ANY reason to go back and play the original again when you own the sequel other than to reexperience the story or specific levels for nostalgia value, then the sequel has failed. I coined this term when playing what I consider one of the most blatant failed sequels I have ever owned- Super Smash Bros Brawl. Now I may be pilloried for this, but although it has new characters, new content (Subspace Emissary et al) and a bunch of other new stuff, it simply doesn't PLAY as well as Melee. The action was slowed down, all the characters' jumps are too floaty, the character balance was utterly shot to hell and I'll NEVER forgive the idiot who introduced the "randomly slipping-and-falling-on-your-face" mechanic. Melee came out two years after the original Super Smash Bros and absolutely blew it out of the water, being one of the best sequels ever. Brawl came out seven years after Melee, but I simply don't think it's as good. That is what makes it, in my mind, a "failed sequel".

Other failed sequels include Modern Warfare 2, Devil May Cry 2, Supreme Commander 2 and if Yahtzee is to be believed (I haven't played it) Bioshock 2. Yahtzee in fact went into quite some depth about this phenomenon in his Bioshock 2 review when he noted that Bioshock 2 wouldn't even appeal to fans of the original since it brought nothing really good to the table and instead actually degraded the first game by its existence.

Note that a "failed sequel" is not necessarily a "bad game" (although it can be). Brawl is a good game. I'd even go so far as to say that it's a great game. But it still "fails" as a sequel because it's not as good as the absolutely stellar Melee. Also please note that the following are not "failed sequels": type 2 sequels that try something radically different which isn't as fun as the original (like Dawn of War 2 or Xenosaga II) or expansion packs (of COURSE Half-Life: Blue Shift isn't as good as Half-Life- it's an expansion!)

What are YOUR failed sequels?

I would say DMC 2, BioShock (as a spiritual sequel to System Shock 2 it COMPLETELY fails), Halo 2, Fallout 3 (it's not Fallout, it feels more like Oblivion which was nuked in acid), Serious Sam 2 (not referring to Second Encounter; Serious Sam 2 is not as good as the other games), Thief 3 (no a bad game, I actually enjoyed it, but it made many steps backwards from Thief 2).

 

[Composer]

kh2 was kind of a fail...

 

[sagacious]

Anyone who posts Mass Effect 2 as a bad sequel will have every post they have ever made ever being reported because they are obviously a troll.

jk, but seriously, Mass effect 2 has to be one of my personal shining examples of a sequel, one which is not just a long expansion pack a la Gears of War 2, which was good, but a sequel that Took the series in an incredible new direction with improved tech.

The only sequel that did more improving on its predecessor was Half-life 2, cause, lets face it, HL2 was amazing, and Half Life 1, was not, at all. I can still bear to play Ocarina of time, but Half-life is eye-gougingly awful to my current-gen standards.

 

[KidOblivion]

There are many failed sequels but one of them for me was Jak 2, Jak 3 was alright but 2 was basically like GTA (Grand Theft Auto) just with a blonde haired guy and his pet pal who could wield dark powers.

 

[Fidelias]

Anyone who mentions KOTOR 2 gets their throat slit by me.

Sadly someone will still say it, and I will just sit here and keep enjoying KOTOR 2 regardless.

Seriously it may be people's opinion, but I don't understand how people keep praising only the first one when the second one had far better and improved gameplay as well as a much deeper story and universe.

YES! Kotor 2 was awesome!!!

Anyways, I thought that Modern Warfare 2 was a completely failed sequel. It seems to me to be only Modern Warfare 1 with better graphics and worse gameplay. I'm so dissappointed with it because Modern Warfare 1 actually made me fall in love with COD all over again, and then MW2 just destroyed my hopes....

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

I would say that Civilization 4 was a failed sequel. It just couldn't match up to Civilization 3.

 

[MalevolentStaircase]

Im not sure if anyone said this but crash of the titans cut the nuts off my childhood. Also am i the only one who thinks crash twinsanity was the greatest crash game ever?

 

[TerranReaper]

Might've been said already, but Dawn of War 2.

 

[ConstantJoe]

Every Monkey Island game after the 2nd

It's pretty funny the way you can see that they really tried to make sure no more would be made, but then someone went along and made them anyway.

Though I really enjoyed Monkey Island 3, is that so wrong?

 

[Mr. Bojangles]

I don't like the games after THUG 2 as much as the previous. I mean, I still like them but their not as good.

 

[Giggsy]

Every Monkey Island game after the 2nd

It's pretty funny the way you can see that they really tried to make sure no more would be made, but then someone went along and made them anyway.

Though I really enjoyed Monkey Island 3, is that so wrong?

It wasn't bad by any means,but it wasn't as good as the previous ones

 

[Richard Hannay]

Deus Ex: Invisible War is, by the developer's own admission, a failed sequel.

Also, Civilization III. Spears defeating tanks, huh? Yeah, okay. *Reinstalls Civilization II.*

 

[Iwata]

Mercenaries 2 destroyed the franchise, they have some serious fixing to do.

Considering that the studio went the way of the Dodo, I don't think they'll be doing much fixing of anything.

But it's alright, they gave us The Saboteur before going bust, and it's everything Mercs 2 should've been and more.

 

[Rewold]

Dawn of War 2
Where are the big mass armies and bases? Gone with the wind. Single player campaign felt good enough though. Better than Soulstorm at least.

Guitar Hero 5
I tried my friend's GH2 and loved it, later bought GH3 and loved it even more(so did my friend), passed GH4 and tried GH5. Playing only guitar all I can say is terrible songs and almost all through with 4 starts on hard. Maybe got one or two 4 stars in GH3 on hard. Didn't even beat the last four songs.

 

[AyaReiko]

I would say that Civilization 4 was a failed sequel. It just couldn't match up to Civilization II.

Corrected.

 

[SovietSecrets]

All the Need for Speeds after Most Wanted were terrible (Carbon, Prostreet, Undercover), but Shift has restored my faith in the series.

 

[Noone From Nowhere]

All of them.

Even Half Life 2, Uncharted 2, and the possible Starcraft 2?

No sequel will be as good as the original game. Half-life 2 especially, that games enviroment came outta nowwhere, took you through nowhere, and then dumped you there. The whole coast part with the buggy was ridiculus, they should have left Half-life in a facility where it belongs.

But I may have mispoken about one series, Timesplitters got better as it went on.

I think that you may have over looked Street Fighter 2(or 3 or 4),a sequel which didn't so much improve on the original as fix everything which was broken in the foundations then built over them with a superior structure.