So I've seen at least one thread where people talk about what game series need to be cut off. This is a subject that's come up before, but how 'bout one that has been touched on a bit less: which game series NEED a new title. Now, the reasons can be varied, so I'll try giving a few examples...
1) Half-Life. This one falls into the category of "game series that have another chapter on the way, but it's taking a long time for it to come out." Everybody's waiting with bated breath for Half-Life 3 and while it's nowhere near DNF territory in its length of coming out, people are getting tired of waiting.
2) Dead Space. This series falls is in the "Needs a wrap-up" category. Now people can, and will, debate how good the series overall is. Some people enjoy it, some people don't. But the last game ended on a bit of a cliffhanger (don't so many of them?) and could stand to have at least one last chapter to tie things up and leave us with a concrete conclusion.
3) Left 4 Dead. Multiplayer games are a bit different than single-player, and so their longevity is determined not so much by things like story, but more by gameplay appeal. That said, Left 4 Dead falls into the "Don't want it to get stale" category. The game remains fun to play, but while other multiplayers like Team Fortress 2 have no story directly tied to their in-game content, L4D's content does have a certain amount of framing narrative and more personality to its characters. Because of this, new characters or at least new situations need to be introduced or it loses appeal due to what's expected when you play it. When you play TF2, you're just looking for two teams of trigger happy psychos shooting, stabbing, burning, blowing up and bludgeoning each other, and that's what you get. With L4D, you go in to shoot zombies/infected, but also to enjoy the survival horror situation in several different settings and listen to the dialogue between characters. That can't last forever without updates or sequels.
4) Alone in The Dark. Now I know a lot of people's initial reaction is to say "Oh GOD NO!" to this, but just give me a chance to explain. The last AiTD game was, admittedly, horrendous flawed. I'm a long-time AiTD fan and to date I haven't been able to bring myself to finish it, despite my devotion to the series as a whole. Which is why I think this game series falls into the "I'm not dead yet!/They can do better/This needs another chance" category. This is when a series, to date, has put out games that have been enjoyable, but who have had one or two chapters that let everyone down. The original three AiTD games were great for their time and were some of the first survival horror games ever created. The fourth game was a departure from the first three, but was functional and had an original story. The FIFTH game was just awful by all accounts. But I still have hope for the series and think it deserves at least one more chance to come out with a game that successfully brings the series into the current generation of gaming. Since the last two games we a retcon and a badly done direct sequel, I'd like to see those two games dropped from the series canon and a return to the late 1920's - early 1930's era the original trilogy was set in, using modern graphics and gameplay technology with the previous games' tendency towards Lovecraftian storylines.
1) Half-Life. This one falls into the category of "game series that have another chapter on the way, but it's taking a long time for it to come out." Everybody's waiting with bated breath for Half-Life 3 and while it's nowhere near DNF territory in its length of coming out, people are getting tired of waiting.
2) Dead Space. This series falls is in the "Needs a wrap-up" category. Now people can, and will, debate how good the series overall is. Some people enjoy it, some people don't. But the last game ended on a bit of a cliffhanger (don't so many of them?) and could stand to have at least one last chapter to tie things up and leave us with a concrete conclusion.
3) Left 4 Dead. Multiplayer games are a bit different than single-player, and so their longevity is determined not so much by things like story, but more by gameplay appeal. That said, Left 4 Dead falls into the "Don't want it to get stale" category. The game remains fun to play, but while other multiplayers like Team Fortress 2 have no story directly tied to their in-game content, L4D's content does have a certain amount of framing narrative and more personality to its characters. Because of this, new characters or at least new situations need to be introduced or it loses appeal due to what's expected when you play it. When you play TF2, you're just looking for two teams of trigger happy psychos shooting, stabbing, burning, blowing up and bludgeoning each other, and that's what you get. With L4D, you go in to shoot zombies/infected, but also to enjoy the survival horror situation in several different settings and listen to the dialogue between characters. That can't last forever without updates or sequels.
4) Alone in The Dark. Now I know a lot of people's initial reaction is to say "Oh GOD NO!" to this, but just give me a chance to explain. The last AiTD game was, admittedly, horrendous flawed. I'm a long-time AiTD fan and to date I haven't been able to bring myself to finish it, despite my devotion to the series as a whole. Which is why I think this game series falls into the "I'm not dead yet!/They can do better/This needs another chance" category. This is when a series, to date, has put out games that have been enjoyable, but who have had one or two chapters that let everyone down. The original three AiTD games were great for their time and were some of the first survival horror games ever created. The fourth game was a departure from the first three, but was functional and had an original story. The FIFTH game was just awful by all accounts. But I still have hope for the series and think it deserves at least one more chance to come out with a game that successfully brings the series into the current generation of gaming. Since the last two games we a retcon and a badly done direct sequel, I'd like to see those two games dropped from the series canon and a return to the late 1920's - early 1930's era the original trilogy was set in, using modern graphics and gameplay technology with the previous games' tendency towards Lovecraftian storylines.
