There’s been a real push this generation to improve game stories. That’s not to say that good stories are unique to recent games, the likes of Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy titles have made attempts to tell grand stories in the past, but it seems like the story has been increasingly pushed to the front of many games. From huge titles like Mass Effect and the recent Tomb Raider, to the smaller ones like Thomas Was Alone, the story has been central to success. As someone who loves a good story I can only hope for more of them.
However this push has, in my opinion, had a bit of an adverse affect on some titles which have forgettable or shallow plots, receiving less favourable reactions than they would have in the past. I recently played through Army Of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, a game that wasn’t met with much fanfare and won’t any win awards for its story telling, but offered something that seems to be a bit of on a decline – silly, over the top fun.
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!
I Just can't buy games like this
Sell these games at a lower price and you've got a winner. I absolutely love Army of Two games, best for co op. But I wait till they get cheap before I buy though :)
Gaming doesn't need this "dumb" game. It sucks ass, just another piece of EA shovelware. Stupid bro dude game that you would have to be high to spend $60 on. EA can keep their trash.
Army of Two was good, paid full retail. Army of Two 40th Day I waited till price drop, and in regards to Devil's Cartel i'll wait again, and while talking about STORY TELLING if you follow the story of the first two games you can get a idea of where its going, and the story of the third game actually is good. It opens it for a fourth.
However I do agree. games like these should retail for 49.99 or 39.99 and they will push more copies on release day, if not from fans of either: the series, couch co-op, but from gamers who want a new game but don't have, or want to drop 60.00 plus dollars on a new release.
What sucks the most about the Army of Two series is that these games have HUGE potential. I love the 2 on 2 concept but it just doesn't feel like the game has been totally realized as of yet.