A bad habit of game designers and publishers since almost the beginning of gaming is to constantly re-release or release sequels to games on an almost yearly basis. Not only does this lead to low expectation, but also to a stagnation of game design and standards. Here are five series I think should take a break and slow things down to deliver quality over quantity.
#5 Sonic the Hedgehog
Let's face it - times have been bleak for sonic. Finally, he is starting to get some semi-fun games after a decade of Sonic Team cashing in on terrible spinoffs in the Sonic universe. Would not poor sonic be better off if Sega took their time and lovingly crafted a sequel to Sonic not just for diehard fans but also for those who enjoyed Sonic in the past. The bloated corpse that is the current Sonic universe needs to be distilled into the elements that are genuinely fun and build from that.
#4 Halo
I include this famous series because the original developer, Bungie, expressed concerns about not wanting to make another sequel. You know that a publisher has problems when, despite this, the Halo franchise keeps cranking out spinoffs. Master Chief will be stuck in an infinite recursion of games about him killing aliens rather than complete his already compelling story and move on. An artist once told me that in art the hardest skill to learn is how to know when a piece is finished. In my opinion, Microsoft should take this advice and finish up Halo and move onto a new IP.
#3 Call of Duty
I have been a fan… or rather was a fan of this series from the beginning. CoD 1 and 2 were some of my favorite shooters for the early 2000's PC lineup. However, Activison is moving the series in a bad direction. Re-packaging old content with a new story does not a new game make. Worse yet, they release the game in parts now rather than as a finished product and it shows in the shoddy quality of content and unneeded yearly sequels. I realize Activison can make more money by releasing maps and content through DLC rather than initially on the disk, but as a gamer why would I defend that policy? I want good games. I do not care about Activision’s shareholders.
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Comments
Your reaaaallly need to be more up to date on things the next time you write this type of stuff on Sonic. Ever heard of Sonic Generations?, Sonic Colors?? Any of those ring a bell? Anyone??
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