The Gamers' Temple: "Devil's Cartel doesn't provide anything new to the series - or improve on it either - but if you are a diehard Army of Two fan and want to keep up with Sam, Rios, and the new recruits' story I don't think you will be disappointed. There are a few plot changes that keep you on your toes, but they can sometimes be predictable. Nonetheless I kept finding myself plowing forward wondering what kind of environment the game would provide for me to lay waste to next. For those of you not familiar with the series it may feel like you are missing a piece of the puzzle, but the fast-paced, non-stop action will at least keep you entertained through to the end. Overall the game is rather short with about a maximum of eight hours to complete the campaign. After the fact you unlock an insane mode; however, other than that there is not much to leave you wanting to come back for more. Rent it and spend an afternoon with a buddy blowing up the Cartel and then move on."
Alongside death, taxes and terrible Adam Sandler movies, video game sequels are just another crushing inevitability of life. Sequels and franchises are the lifeblood of the industry, so you can bet any halfway successful game will be aiming towards at least five more follow-ups and spin-offs in pursuit of more delicious money.
Yet even major franchises tend to run themselves into the ground eventually, where they can either reboot themselves and come back stronger than ever (think the new Tomb Raider games) or stay buried in the past.
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We all have game franchises we love so much that we don't care what others
think. Then there are games that the majority just agree shouldn't exist.
Sometimes it just takes one of these to kill our most beloved series.
It Takes One Game to Kill a Franchise
Street Fighter V and SoulCalibur V come to mind.
^^ i agree .....i also damn totally agree with Halo 2 ...if it wasnt the huge fanbase behind the first one and the huge potential of the franchise would be a dead IP ...HALO CE for me is still an unsurpassed FPS but HALO 2 completely trashed the series to below mediocrity quality levels...i also partly agree with MGS2 ...it had ridiculously convoluted and gibberishy plot considering what masterpiece MGS1 was ...but it narrowly escaped...also RE 4 could be considered such type of game ...RE was doomed after that
Interesting that you would pick Halo 2 over 4 or 5. I have yet to play 5 but as for the other 4, not one of them has disappointed me in terms of story or play mechanics. Halo 1 is a classic and 2 improved on everything while being a cliffhanger and then 3 having the dual story lines was a nice way to bring things to a close (of that trilogy).
4 was an interesting take on trying to create a new story where it had initially ended. The demand of knowing what was going to happen next for MC was what prompted them to come up with the new trilogy. I hope 6 will bring all things to a proper close... for now.
More like it takes one guy or team to kill a franchise. Its not the game fault it's the person behide it. Same with movies.
True, and it depends on what the devs learn from the experience whether or not the franchise can make a comeback. Or even make it's first "comeback". Like with Nier. Nobody cared about the first one, but it's hype all around for the sequel :p
Sometimes a game can kill a franchise even before it starts, if it doesn't perform as well as expected. The Order 1886 is an example of this.
I want to say socom with socom 4 as it was by far the worst but confrontation had its issues also. However compared to socom 4 confrontation was amazing. Still not socom 2 but it worked.
Only in gaming can you engage in multiple planet-clearing world wars or explosive shootouts where one man somehow takes on hundreds of opponents. There's stiff competition as to which game really has the highest body count, so to make it simpler here we're going to generally avoid anything that's too “big picture” in the death department. Check out the top games with the most ridiculous body counts now!
that seems a bit low to me... i just played the demo and i wanted to pick it up seemed like a step in the right direction was really solid IMO... ohh well to each their own i suppose