So I've been thinking lately about gaming franchises and IPs that have been sorely mishandled. IPs that have either started great and fallen from grace, or just generally had good potential that was never realized. So, without further ado, my nominees:
First, and most notably:
Sonic the Hedgehog
This one almost goes without saying, but I'll talk about it all the same. After a great start on the Genesis with the initial "the Hedgehog" series, the game went through several lesser known titles in the following years, but rose to prominence again with the Sonic Adventure series, originally on Dreamcast, then on the Gamecube. While I personally enjoyed the Sonic Adventure games, they got mixed reviews overall. And since then, Sonic has suffered a near-tragic slew of games that have hovered somewhere between bad and awful. Games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Unleashed were maligned for their abandonment of the traditional Sonic formula, ie Speed. While other games such as Secret Rings and Black Knight were criticized for terrible Wii control schemes. And all throughout this process has been a lingering criticism of the ever-expanding cast of obnoxiously cute and colorful characters that no one cares about.
More Recently, Sonic Colors, Generations, and Hedgehog 4 have received better reviews and acceptance from fans, but that doesn't change the fact that since the initial success of the franchise in the early 90s, the few games in the series that really did showcase Sonic as a fun, speed-based platformer have been buried under a pile of bad ideas and missed executions, which, sadly, has led to Sonic's most successful recent outing being not one of his own games, but a mash-up fighter hosted by his long-time nemesis, Mario.
Kingdom Hearts
Bear with me here. Kingdom Hearts is a series that I dearly loved, from the first time I sat down to play the first title, until the tear-jerking (if slightly cheesy) final sequences in KH2. So what's the problem? The problem is the mountain of repetitive (not to mention ridiculously-named) side-story games that have all been exclusive to various handheld platforms that I don't own. The first game was great, a wonderful mix of action/RPG with a surprisingly (given the level Disney-ness) deep and fun story. It's only downside was a cliffhanger ending that left fans rabid for more. And what was the first response? Chain of Memories, a Game Boy Advance-exclusive title that advanced the story just enough to irritate fans who didn't own/want a GBA, and/or didn't care for the obnoxious card-based battle system.
Then, finally, after a few years of waiting, we got a proper sequel in the form of KH2, and what did that deliver? Well, the first EIGHT hours of the game were devoted to a story that just BARELY made sense to someone who didn't play CoM, and was literally so boring (running around doing errands in a generic town) that I fell asleep while playing (not even kidding). Now, once Roxas went away, and we got to play with Sora again, the game was wonderful. It revisited many of the popular worlds (let's just forget about Atlantis, ok?), added some excellent new ones, and introduced some great new mechanics that freshened up the experience. The story was great, if a little convoluted, but delivered the great, happy ending we were all waiting for. BUT THEN...in addition to all the backstory universe-building regarding Organization XIII and all of that, the game has the BALLS to end on ANOTHER, if a bit vague, CLIFFHANGER.
That was in 2006, and in the intervening six years, we've had, count em, 4 handheld-exclusive games that have a) been unavailable for those who don't like handhelds, and b) have been absolutely uninteresting side stories about characters who aren't the one we want to play as. Now you may think, well if you don't care then what difference does it make if it's handheld only. The difference is that this is all effort that could be spent on making the proper third installment. But hey, let's cut them a break, Squeenix is too busy making Final Fantasy...Ver...sus...Oh wait...
Duke Nukem
Talk about going for the low-hanging fruit, but I just cannot put together this list without including this. Its difficult to pinpoint exactly where this whole thing went wrong. First of all, it was a decidedly mediocre series to begin with. Secondly, the only reason the series was big was because it served a niche demographic (sweaty, hormone-fueled horny boys) in the 90s, when gaming was still in its infancy. Third, there was the constant delays, revisions, more delays, etc. eventually lasting roughly 15 years. Lastly, there were the fans who somehow still expected the final product of Duke Nukem Forever to be something good. About the only party I don't blame is Gearbox, who are obviously good gamemakers, having put out the successful Borderlands franchise, but given the mess they waded into, I applaud their attempt to make something good and to stand by it, whether it was actually good or not.
Shenmue
I'm unsure as to whether I should actually include this in the list, because I'm not certain that it was really "mishandled" in any way. The developers, and particularly its progenitor Yu Suzuki, set out to make a game that they wanted, and they did, results be damned. The truth is, Shenmue was waaaaay ahead of its time in more ways than one. And, to be honest, even today it would probably be ahead of its time in some ways.
Shenmue was one of the first "open-world" games, allowing its player an unprecedented freedom in creating a world, letting the player explore it, and to approach the story on their own pace and leisure. But Shenmue didn't simply allow players to explore the world, they actually put stuff there to find, something that had never been done before, and rarely done since. Was it all useful? Of course not. Some of it was downright pointless, but you can't really argue that the game was unprecedented in its level of world-building. Shenmue is one of the only games that really feels like a real world, inhabited by people, and with real stuff in it.
The main problem that Shenmue faced, was that it basically spat in the face of the gaming industry when it came to defining interactivity. Interactivity is the major unique factor of gaming, but we still haven't really figured out what to do with it. The default of basically every game for interactivity is "action": shooting, fighting, driving, etc. Shenmue, basically, was not trying to fit into the mold. It sacrificed high-stakes, high-intensity action-heavy gameplay in favor of building a world and weaving a story, though it did include a good deal of a basic fighting game. But in between those fights were long periods where you walked around town, questioned citizens, looked for collectibles, played arcade games, and yes, got a job driving a forklift that was boring as all hell. It was, in my opinion, a great idea, eschewing the "endless henchmen" fights of action-heavy games, but it didn't catch on.
If it was mishandled in any way, it was that they opted to split it up as they did, ending both games on major cliffhangers with no guarantee in sight of a followup or conclusion.
So, that's my collection of ideas. Does anyone else have any examples of series of great potential squandered, or series that started great but have gone way downhill?
First, and most notably:
Sonic the Hedgehog
This one almost goes without saying, but I'll talk about it all the same. After a great start on the Genesis with the initial "the Hedgehog" series, the game went through several lesser known titles in the following years, but rose to prominence again with the Sonic Adventure series, originally on Dreamcast, then on the Gamecube. While I personally enjoyed the Sonic Adventure games, they got mixed reviews overall. And since then, Sonic has suffered a near-tragic slew of games that have hovered somewhere between bad and awful. Games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Unleashed were maligned for their abandonment of the traditional Sonic formula, ie Speed. While other games such as Secret Rings and Black Knight were criticized for terrible Wii control schemes. And all throughout this process has been a lingering criticism of the ever-expanding cast of obnoxiously cute and colorful characters that no one cares about.
More Recently, Sonic Colors, Generations, and Hedgehog 4 have received better reviews and acceptance from fans, but that doesn't change the fact that since the initial success of the franchise in the early 90s, the few games in the series that really did showcase Sonic as a fun, speed-based platformer have been buried under a pile of bad ideas and missed executions, which, sadly, has led to Sonic's most successful recent outing being not one of his own games, but a mash-up fighter hosted by his long-time nemesis, Mario.
Kingdom Hearts
Bear with me here. Kingdom Hearts is a series that I dearly loved, from the first time I sat down to play the first title, until the tear-jerking (if slightly cheesy) final sequences in KH2. So what's the problem? The problem is the mountain of repetitive (not to mention ridiculously-named) side-story games that have all been exclusive to various handheld platforms that I don't own. The first game was great, a wonderful mix of action/RPG with a surprisingly (given the level Disney-ness) deep and fun story. It's only downside was a cliffhanger ending that left fans rabid for more. And what was the first response? Chain of Memories, a Game Boy Advance-exclusive title that advanced the story just enough to irritate fans who didn't own/want a GBA, and/or didn't care for the obnoxious card-based battle system.
Then, finally, after a few years of waiting, we got a proper sequel in the form of KH2, and what did that deliver? Well, the first EIGHT hours of the game were devoted to a story that just BARELY made sense to someone who didn't play CoM, and was literally so boring (running around doing errands in a generic town) that I fell asleep while playing (not even kidding). Now, once Roxas went away, and we got to play with Sora again, the game was wonderful. It revisited many of the popular worlds (let's just forget about Atlantis, ok?), added some excellent new ones, and introduced some great new mechanics that freshened up the experience. The story was great, if a little convoluted, but delivered the great, happy ending we were all waiting for. BUT THEN...in addition to all the backstory universe-building regarding Organization XIII and all of that, the game has the BALLS to end on ANOTHER, if a bit vague, CLIFFHANGER.
That was in 2006, and in the intervening six years, we've had, count em, 4 handheld-exclusive games that have a) been unavailable for those who don't like handhelds, and b) have been absolutely uninteresting side stories about characters who aren't the one we want to play as. Now you may think, well if you don't care then what difference does it make if it's handheld only. The difference is that this is all effort that could be spent on making the proper third installment. But hey, let's cut them a break, Squeenix is too busy making Final Fantasy...Ver...sus...Oh wait...
Duke Nukem
Talk about going for the low-hanging fruit, but I just cannot put together this list without including this. Its difficult to pinpoint exactly where this whole thing went wrong. First of all, it was a decidedly mediocre series to begin with. Secondly, the only reason the series was big was because it served a niche demographic (sweaty, hormone-fueled horny boys) in the 90s, when gaming was still in its infancy. Third, there was the constant delays, revisions, more delays, etc. eventually lasting roughly 15 years. Lastly, there were the fans who somehow still expected the final product of Duke Nukem Forever to be something good. About the only party I don't blame is Gearbox, who are obviously good gamemakers, having put out the successful Borderlands franchise, but given the mess they waded into, I applaud their attempt to make something good and to stand by it, whether it was actually good or not.
Shenmue
I'm unsure as to whether I should actually include this in the list, because I'm not certain that it was really "mishandled" in any way. The developers, and particularly its progenitor Yu Suzuki, set out to make a game that they wanted, and they did, results be damned. The truth is, Shenmue was waaaaay ahead of its time in more ways than one. And, to be honest, even today it would probably be ahead of its time in some ways.
Shenmue was one of the first "open-world" games, allowing its player an unprecedented freedom in creating a world, letting the player explore it, and to approach the story on their own pace and leisure. But Shenmue didn't simply allow players to explore the world, they actually put stuff there to find, something that had never been done before, and rarely done since. Was it all useful? Of course not. Some of it was downright pointless, but you can't really argue that the game was unprecedented in its level of world-building. Shenmue is one of the only games that really feels like a real world, inhabited by people, and with real stuff in it.
The main problem that Shenmue faced, was that it basically spat in the face of the gaming industry when it came to defining interactivity. Interactivity is the major unique factor of gaming, but we still haven't really figured out what to do with it. The default of basically every game for interactivity is "action": shooting, fighting, driving, etc. Shenmue, basically, was not trying to fit into the mold. It sacrificed high-stakes, high-intensity action-heavy gameplay in favor of building a world and weaving a story, though it did include a good deal of a basic fighting game. But in between those fights were long periods where you walked around town, questioned citizens, looked for collectibles, played arcade games, and yes, got a job driving a forklift that was boring as all hell. It was, in my opinion, a great idea, eschewing the "endless henchmen" fights of action-heavy games, but it didn't catch on.
If it was mishandled in any way, it was that they opted to split it up as they did, ending both games on major cliffhangers with no guarantee in sight of a followup or conclusion.
So, that's my collection of ideas. Does anyone else have any examples of series of great potential squandered, or series that started great but have gone way downhill?