G4TV: The Most Disappointing Sequels of All Time

X-Play has been thinking about the issue of video game sequels and asking this question, "Why is that they are so often horrible?" It's a question they can't really answer, but they can sit back and reflect on their choices for the worst video game sequels of all time.

[Blaze929]

Red Faction 2
Naruto the Broken Bond
Dragonball Z Budokai 2
Perfect Dark Zero
Goldeneye: Rouge Agent
Halo 2 (story wise)
Gears of War 2 (story wise..meh, multiplayer too)
Devil May Cry 2
The Sims 2 (on consoles..yeah i know)
Blacksite: Area 51
Final Fantasy X-2 (still was a good game just..not what I was expecting)
Genji: Days of The Blade
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Def Jam Icons
Ninja Gaiden II
Resistance 2
Coded Arms Contagion
Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku 2

List can go on and on for days.

[lloyd_wonder]

Yeah. I remember that was hyped as a true sequel and successor to Golden Eye. Should've known it was doomed from the start, since EA was making it.

Man I also hope Insomniac steps it up after Resistance 2. Resistance is a great franchise.

[Close_Second]

...DMC4 and GTAIV to your list. Although both featured HD graphics neither advanced their respective franchise. DMC4 was simply DMC1 with an HD coat of paint and GTAIV's gameplay was more akin to GTAIII and not the brilliant San Adrea's.

[RealityCheck]

I agree with the list of the above posters. I would add Prince of Persia 2 (Warrior Within, following the excellent Sands of Time, I expected more) and Final Fantasy X-2 (again, following FF X, I expected more).

Edit: actually Blaze929 already had FF X-2 :)

Edit 2: just remembered a recent one, Bionic Commando, concept was promising but the execution was poor (controls, boxed in by radiation, etc.)

[Syronicus]

Have to say that they contradict themselves way too much over their at G4. Here they gave up some of their higher rated games to the list of hated sequels. It makes no sense, if the game was one of their top ten worst sequels then maybe the game never deserved a 4 out of 5 stars? It just baffles me.

[GameGambits]

This is why I don't trust any reviews by these guys. Metal Gear Solid 2 was a bad sequel? You got to play snake for a bit, and if you had somehow played through snake that whole game---would you have gave any crap about Raiden in MGS4? No.

It wasn't a bait and switch it was a master piece in every sense. Gameplay, story, and a cast of characters that were made of win. Sorry I'm not here to be a MGS nut hugger, but honestly this game is FAAAAAR from being anything close to a bad sequel from MGS1. FAAAAR from it.

Also...they gave Banjo and Kazooie a 4 out of 5 when they reviewed it? I'd give it 3 out of 5 based on how THEY review games. It wasn't a poor game, but as a sequel it didn't live up to anything that was already well established with #1 and #2 which were N64 classics.

G4 sucks, Morgan is a fake gamer, and the only person on the gaming portion of that round up I'll listen to and consider the words of is Adam Sessler. He's ugly, he knows it, and so he knows the only thing he can do is be a credible source and a credible gamer. Sessler may not get Megan Fox in bed, but he can tell you exactly what makes a good game and a bad one.

[callahan09]

Good list, Blaze. I agree with almost all of it. Some of those didn't disappoint me (name Halo 2 and Resistance 2) but a lot of those I can whole-heartedly agree with.

[jammy_70]

???

[DARK WITNESS]

@Syronicus

i don't really see what the problem is with that. I can totally see how a game would fail as a sequal yet still be very high rated as a game.

halo 2 would be a good example. halo 2 when you look at it purley as a stand alone game compared to other FPS games at the time, it was amazing..
however halo 2 as a sequel to haloCE when you look at the story and some of the gameplay stuff they changed, i hated it with a passion.

halo 2 as an fps compared to other fps games was a 9 + in my book
halo 2 compared to halo CE was like a 6. i was not happy with it as a sequel at all.

and there are many other games that could fall under this.

@ the guy who posted that list, i agree with 100% with that list. it does come down to personal taste as well.

[Beast_Master]

Your right on, then they complained about RE5 being to similar to RE4 then they go on this tangent about how GOW3 should try to keep it's core gameplay in order to win over fans..?? Sorry if you guys hated RE5 but I played through that game 4 times and Uncharted and Infamous are the only other games I have played through more than twice this gen.

Edit: In case you guys didn't catch the show, here is a rundown of the top 5:

5. FF X-2
4. RE5
3. Mario Sunshine
2. DMC 2
1. Chrono Cross

[Elimin8]

I hear you on Devil May Cry 2.. by far the worst sequel for me...

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

What is wrong with DMC2? I still don't understand that. It was freakin' awesome! Despite the lack of storyline, it was extremely fun.

[Blaze929]

Haha how could I forget Warror Within. Prince of Persia Sands of Time was AMAZING, then Warrior Within was...so not. Still enjoyed it but man was it a disappointment.

[vickers500]

F*ck you guys, Resistance 2 kicked ass.

[JoySticksFTW]

wrong reply

[brandonk129]

SOCOM CONFRONTATION aka socrap constapation

[Johnny Cullen]

MGS2 a disssapointing sequel?

BS.

The worst of the MGS titles, compared to the others, but by far means not disapointing in its own right, in my opinion. It was brillant, my first MGS game.

[SpaceSquirrel]

I agree completely. MGS2 was great.

[coolfool]

I personally found 3 the worse. I didn't like the way it relied heavily on CQC but gave you no opportunity to practice it. Instead you had to learn in the games which seems silly when you are playing a CQC expert and annoying when you inevitably get caught and have to wait a number of minutes just to try the one same move again.

MGS 2 was great however.

[Ninji]

I mean they made you play as Raiden and he was a pansy (nothing has changed in MGS4 either as I still see him as the same pansy as he was in MGS2 except now he's wearing makeup). MGS2 was the worst out of the games so far...Well, at least until Rising comes out then that will be worse than MGS2.

[TheBand1t]

MGS3 was actually my favorite MGS, even greater then MGS4 imo.

[starvinbull]

The thing with MGS2 was that Kojima threw too many curve balls and toyed with the player just a bit too much.
When colonel campbell tells you your PS2 is broken and you need to turn the console off that's when it lost me.
In a sense it needed a third act to complement the Big Shell and awesome ship level.

[BattleAxe]

I was laughing when campbell was saying that I was too tired and that I should quit and turn off the PS2.

[mt]

from MGS1 to MGS4 they are best of the best.

[BYE]

I thought it was a nice variation to play as Raiden, I liked him in MGS2.

Matter of fact I was thankful when I found out I didn't have to play as Snake again in the Big Shell episode. He's one of my favorite characters of all time, but sometimes he just needs a break.

[JoySticksFTW]

SPOILER

Did we play the same MGS3? CQC was only relevant for the story; because the Boss and Snake developed it together... in the story

Us gamers NEVER had to use it the whole game except maybe once, and I can't even remember the time -- if there was a time -- that we were made to use it.

You only needed to really use it if you wanted to capture an enemy soldier and have him reveal other enemy locations. But if you play stealth style and go slowly, you found them waaay before they were able to find you.

Even in a couple of boss battles in which they encouraged you to use CQC, you don't have to -- and were usually at a disadvantage if you did use it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I tried CQC against the boss ONCE -- and after she kicked my arse, I got smart and hid in the flower patch to snipe her :)

MGS3 and especially MGS4 let you play the games the way you liked. That's part of the reason (along with perfected epic story-telling) that MGS fans hold those games in such high regard.

[christian hour]

I didnt think mgs2 was disappointing at all. At the time I'd never played anything like it. There was so much detail put into that game I'd never seen before. Shooting sacks of flour or condiments or watermelons... I don't think a MGS game has used its environment like that since. Made fire fights really interesting.

But thats a small stupid reason to like it. My main reason is the same one that made people hate it. Raiden. And I'll tell you why.

Its one thing to play as the legendary snake. But to see why he's known as the legendary snake and to understand that from another persons perspective just helped flesh snake out as a character in a way that could never have been done if you were playing as him.

[xionpunk]

It's pretty lame when people bash MGS2 for Raiden, even if he was the character you played as, he was never the main character. It was Kojima's way of giving a new perspective on solid snake.As far as I'm concerned, MGS2 was a great game with a great story and awesome moments.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is probably the most awesome though (or 4 I can't decide.)

[George Sears]

If you had some common sense then you would understand that playing as Solid Snake on the Plant chapter would make no sense whatsoever. Raiden isn't a pansy either. He had more combat experience than Snake since he was a child soldier and all. Heck, due to his intense knowledge of combat experience, he basically was the one giving himself his own advice on how to react to certain situations since the Colonel was nothing but a digital manifestation of his own knowledge of combat. (Combined with GW)

People say that MGS2 was disappointing because till this day even though the story culminated with MGS4 they still dont know wtf the series is about. I bet people till this day don't understand the ending of 2 even after playing 4.

If it wasn't for 2 then 4 wouldn't exist. Thanks to the complicated yet awesome story that Kojima portrayed in 2 is that the series at whole continued and became one of the most twisted and expanded stories on the video game compendium.

[christian hour]

Every word you spoke is pretty much the truth. Can't disagree with that so here, have a nice little agree. You've earned it! Tell yr friends! Throw a party!

[iWillNotBeIgnored]

MGS2 was great but for me it was disappointing because how great MGS1 was, examples:

MGS1 Bosses back stories > MGS2 Bosses back stories

Solid Snake as main character > Raiden as main character

Fox Hound: > Dead Cell:
Liquid Snake - Solidus Snake
Psycho Mantis - Vamp
Sniper Wolf - Fortune
Vulcan Raven - Fat Man
Revolver Ocelot -

Metal Gear REX battle > Metal Gear RAY battle

The best part of MGS2 was Solid Snake's part on the ship.The Big Shell environments were boring.The only Raiden parts I liked was the Harrier Jet battle & sneaking around Arsenal Gear.

[JoySticksFTW]

When you make a list of comparison's like that, you have a lot of great points

[coolfool]

You have exactly explained my point, the times the gamer is encouraged to use CQC they quickly find that it isn't good enough. I think the game failed slight in this respect. Obviously the epicness and story telling were all there.

[JoySticksFTW]

Ah! That makes sense. I see where you're coming from then

But I still would expect the Boss to kick Snake's rump :)

[crimsonfox]

metal gear solid 2...

are you cereal?...Xplay my balls

[christian hour]

I think they're super Cereal.

At least they made up for it with Chrono Cross at #1. What a load of crop.

[NMC2007]

Wow, and here I am thinking FFX2 was an awesome game, well I still love it.

[starvinbull]

Halo 2 for me.

Final fantasy VIII was a bit of a ball ache for me after the previous entry. I think that it had all the ingredients to be a better game but ultimately it suffered from the CD format and should have been (ideally though not possible I know) on DVD plus I think that it felt unfinished and could have done with a bigger budget to flesh out the game world and gameplay.

On another note Shenmue 2 had me hooked after my disapointment in Shenmue 1. The game was bigger taking in several seperate world locations and had better and more varied gameplay. In a sense the hype for Shenmue 1 was greater and in that respect I had low hopes for the second which helped. They did the opposite of "jump the shark" so to speak.
Shenmue 2 best sequel? What do others think?

[gerol]

i think ff8 is not a sequel

[Syronicus]

Are all individual games with their own story and characters. None are sequels outside of FFX-2. Here's to hoping they never do another sequel to an FF game.

[felidae]

i think MGS2 is the best one in the series.

to each his own i think!

[kenshin22up]

DMC4 is the biggest disappointment I've had thus far this gen in terms of a sequel. Last gen was DMC2. I hope, following this pattern, that DMC5 would be awesome.

[christian hour]

Its almost like the call of duty pattern. Except it was 3 and 5 that sucked (thanks to the wonderful Treyarch), and 2 and 4 kicked ass (never played the first).

I skipped world at war because of the horrible experience I had with treyarch's cod3 :P Cannot wait for modern warfare 2 :D Infinity Ward never disappoint.

[xionpunk]

I never understood why people hated DMC4. It was pretty much exactly like DMC3. The only thing that I can think of that bothered me about it was the lame backtracking, but even that wasn't terrible.

[MichaelD1989]

MGS3 was my personal fav too, it was just like a god of war game, perfect gameplay and perfect story everything was the right proportion/length MGS2 wasn't bad... yes the ending was terrible and raiden wouldn't be the character of my choice, But, it worked well! the gameplay and story were good up until the game started going loopy at the end.

[bjornbear]

Because of raiden? Meh people are so picky, he isn't snake, but he has is part in the story too. I personaly enjoyed MGS2 as a game, even if story wise it was a bit whacky

The rest, yeppeh i agreez =)

[Aaron Greentard]

gaylo and queers of war are the only 2 franchises i know of that did not have bad sequels. other than that all sony franchises sequel turned out pretty bad.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

God of War 2?
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift?
Crash 2 & 3?
Socom II & III?
Twisted Metal 2?
Syphon Filter 2 & 3?
Jak II & 3?

What are you talking about?

Also, yes...Halo 2 & 3 both sucked. They were Halo 1...again.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

...

What?

[Final_Rpg]

MGS2 WAS AWESOME! Screw everyone that thinks otherwise! (with little offence as possible).
That game was E-P-I-C, I love that last boss fight so much.

[kasser]

wow. people still consider MGS2 one of the biggest disappointments just because of Raiden?

OK it is a disappointment but among all video games? come on! MGS2 introduced many new gameplay concept, a story made fans analyze it for YEARS , graphics ahead of its time, wonderful work of soundtrack and great voice acting from japanese developers. The game does not deserve to be in such a list just because you are playing "Raiden".

[AntoineDcoolette]

So they said KOTOR2 wasn't a bad game but didn't bother saying that for MGS2 and cited Raiden as the sole reason for disappointment? Its been 8 years, get over it, I have. I was only bummed in the first place because I was 14 when I first played MGS2 and wanted to be the studly, neck snapping, American badass with seductive facial hair. Not a whiny, blond haired, blue eyed, Aryan who has amnesia about committing mass murder as a kid

First games that come to mind in response to the article title - DMC2, RE5, GTA4

[christian hour]

Ship... I was 14 as well... STOP STEALING MY MEMORIES!

[rukia_chan]

PERFECT DARK... THE WORT SEQUEL SO FAR IMO... RARE IS ONLY GOOD IN NINTENDO HOUSE NOT IN CRAP MS.

[dorron]

MGS2 a bad sequel???? Come on !!!

If they said Metal Gear Acid it would be ok, but MGS 2 ????

[GodGinrai]

I bought the MGS2 bundle . Personally i still rate MGS2 highly. they were wrong for that. I agree with em about PDZ though. that game was awful.looked great at the time though.

[DuneBuggy]

Well..At least im not the only one who thinks RE5 is broken.
That has been the 60 bucks wasted for me this year so far.
Very disapointed.
If your not just talking part II's, Soldier of Fortune: Payback and Twisted Metal III were both horrible.

[KKanjiAnkh]

As a die hard fighting game fan go head and please throw Street Fighter IV on that BBQ, cause it was horrible. Capcom to me has been sucking for a minute, except MM9, and hopefully LP2 will be dynamic.

[callahan09]

MGS2 is one of the BEST sequels of all time. I have no idea what they're talking about. The core gameplay is the best in the series. It introduced just enough extra depth to your abilities without going overboard.

The camoflage in MGS3 was an interesting idea, but when it really comes down to it, it didn't add any strategy to the game, it was just a mindless matter of going into a menu every 5 minutes and picking the camo that had the highest percentage next to it. There was no thinking or strategy involved, it was just kind of an annoyance. Much better in MGS4 how it changes automatically, in my opinion. But MGS4's problem is in the fact that stealth isn't encouraged enough. I mean, it's possible to play through the game stealthily, but it's easier to do it as a run-n-gun, which is not the case with any of the other games in the series.

I think MGS2 took the most risks with its plot, and it paid off with being the most memorable plot in a game I've ever played. I happen to LIKE the odd philosophizing, I happen to LIKE Raiden and how playing as him and seeing Snake work from an observer's perspective rather than a player's perspective really paints that character into something with more depth than we could have gotten if we were just playing as Snake again.

The level design is excellent, the bosses are fun to fight, the new abilities like ledge-hanging and so forth are awesome, and the addition of the tranquilizer gun made the game more laid-back and easier on the lower difficulties, without sacrificing the notion that you still need to be stealthy. It enforced stealth rather than turning the game into a shooter. On the higher difficulties it wasn't a tool you could rely on, and the game was much more akin to MGS1.

I think MGS2 is an absolutely perfect sequel. But I guess that's just my opinion.

[christian hour]

Should've read yr 3rd paragraph before making my post below... Since you pretty much covered waht I wanted to say on the whole raiden fiasco, in better words of course :P Kudos to you sir!

[mdt hunter]

i would remove from this list MGS 2 and chrono cross those 2 are really great games and don't deserve to be in this list

[gamingisnotacrime]

Bought my 360 for this game, so the butt hurt was double!

[christian hour]

Oh god... I'm so... I'm so sorry to hear this. Are you okay? Can I get you anything? Don't worry, life goes on buddy. You'll pull through. DAMN YOU TEAM NINJA! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

Super Mario 2
Legend of Zelda 2
Twighlight Princess
Resistance 2
Gears 2
Team Fortress 2 (TFClassic FTW)

[ultimolu]

MGS2 was no a disappointment. :|

[Unicron]

LOL. Milking the whole "ZOMG I don't get to play as Solid Snack!" argument... you're about 8 years too late. This is what passes for "journalism" today? Pathetic.

And I would like to thank everyone who called out G4 for giving many of these games high reviews. Makes you realize how utterly stupid scoring is, if they are just going to retract it later with a fluff piece like this.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Screw you all! DMC2 was a great game! Dante's attitude was different. That was all! The weapons were cooler, the combo system was more intricate, the music was even cooler, and it was LONGER! Why the complaints?

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

I'm a huge DMC fan...and I have no problem with DMC2. DMC4 was great too...but back-tracking and the storyline falling apart near the end give it a downgrade. I really want to keep that devil-bringer though. I love that thing!

Let's just see what Bayonetta brings to the table. It looks freakin' GREAT!

[jarhead906]

Halo 2 (Campaign/Story)
Halo 3 (Campaign/Story)
Final Fantasy X-2
Kingdom Hearts II (wasn't nearly as good as the first/ Triangle QTE's)
Resident Evil 5 (practically the entire thing, it's like they didn't even try to surpass RE 4 on any characteristic. Note to the wise, I'm the largest RE fan in the world. Don't argue this point with me. You WILL lose.)

Resistance 2 (Horrible. It's like they completely neglected what they established in R:FoM. I mean, what's up with the half-assed visuals? Did they make a new engine from scratch or something? I equate R:FoM to Half-Life, fyi)

Final Fantasy XII (only because of the battle system and that the equipment progression board doesn't hold a chance against X's Sphere Grid)

Golden Sun: The Lost Age (after the last boss fight, it was the most anti-climatic ending/lame ending I've ever witnessed in gaming. The series itself, however, is the best I've played on a handheld)

The list goes on.

[SlaughterMeister]

I used to hate Code Veronica with a passion, but since RE5, CV seems almost good to me.

[Hudahudahuda]

I like the single player more on the first resistance but on the flipside I like the multiplayer on the second one alot more.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

Super Mario Sunshine? Chrono Cross? Seriously? =/

[SlaughterMeister]

I don't even watch G4 anymore. AOTS is pretentious and boring, and X-Play is just terrible anymore. It's not funny, and the reviews are always sub-par.

Anyway, MGS2 was awesome. Maybe it went on too long with some of the cut scenes. Like, on more recent playthroughs, I wished Otacon would just shut the hell up after yammering on about his sister for 10 minutes already. But disappointing? It was a good game, and brought us away from the gruff action hero that Snake was, and gave us an opportunity to see war and conflict from a different perspective.

The fact that it was all put on by The Patriots very effectively serves to illustrate the extent of their power.