There are game franchises out there that have tons of sequels. Some of them are good, some are just okay, and still others are downright terrible. But if the first game is any indicator in a potential series, then your decisions are made before the sequels even drop onto shelves. So what we decided to do was take a look at some franchises that have sequels coming out. We’ll give you the intel and let you decide whether or not these games are even worth your while…and your hard-earned cash.
Drakengard 3
Having only ever played the first one and being severely disappointed at the clunky controls and unexploited uses of mounted dragon combat, I couldn’t bring myself to play the second one. Not to mention the fact that there were a hundred other games I wanted to play more than a sequel to a game I didn’t really care for anyway. But having seen what little I have concerning Drakengard 3 , I will be playing this game. And since as long as I can remember, Square Enix and RPG have been kind of synonymous, it looks like they may finally have found a way to create an amazing dragon combat experience at least. At least that’s what fans of the series are hoping for. I’ll admit it, I am too.
Sacred 3
Deep Silver believes in the Sacred franchise. So much so that they bought it outright from Ascheron Studios and are releasing the third installment under the Sacred banner. That fact alone says something. Also, they have expanded the amount of classes and races that will be available to gamers in this title. The plot sounds simple enough. Defeat a dark lord named Zane Asher before he and his demon hordes uncover and use the Heart of Ancaria–a mystical stone of great power. So you party up, level up, and kick some demon ass as you try to prevent an early demise to the land and its people. Deep Silver promises a bug-free game at release time. So we’ll see if their resolve remains unflinching and they actually deliver.
Risen 3
I was one of the few people in my area that was truly excited about Risen 2: Dark Waters . Though truthfully, that excitement had far less to do with the fact that it was a Risen game and much more to do with the fact that I wanted to play a really good pirate game, which Risen 2 , sadly, was not. Actually it was a horrific turd of a game with clunky and cumbersome controls, a vastly large world with no easy way to traverse it and absolutely lame dialogue and voice acting. In Risen 2 , it picks up where the first Risen game left off. This one sounds like it happens after the events of the second installment, and it also sounds like they took the stories from Dragon’s Dogma and Skyrim and melded them together with a few liberties being taken. So we’ll see if this game is actually worth is weight, or if it needs to be sunk along with the last two titles in the series.
Call of Duty (whatever they’ll call it)
We all know that another Call of Duty game will be out by Christmas. We all know it’s going to have a truckload of guns and explosions and mindless obscenity. We all know it’s going to look like a Michael Bay film. So where is the excitement in waiting for a game to release that we’ve already played? I realize that this is the highest grossing gaming franchise that the world has ever seen (and the ONLY reason Activision still even exists), but I just can’t get excited about another gun-and-run online FPS with a lame ass story and campaign mode that are put in solely to say that it is a stand-alone game with online components added for an even bigger experience. Just eliminate the campaign mode altogether and stop trying to fool people into thinking that they are actually buying a game with a plot. Just make it online only and let people blow S*** up. That’s all they want anyway.
EverQuest Next
EverQuest pretty much killed itself when they released EverQuest 2 . The main reason? Everyone who had invested their entire life into playing EQ1 would have to start all over at zero. That was a fate worse than death for the players who had sacrificed their lives, jobs and relationships to EverQuest . Sadly for the EQ franchise, an upstart called World of Warcraft was gaining speed and tearing gamers away from nearly every other online PC title on Earth. So when I heard that there was going to be yet another EverQuest title, I was more than a little skeptical. Is it too little, too late? I kind of feel like it is, but I have to admit that what I have seen so far looks vastly more impressive than the stuff I remember about EQ and EQ2 . Could EQ3 reignite the fire? Or has that last ember already burned out?
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Everyone was more than a little pissed at the fact that you couldn’t really leave the confines of the city in Dragon Age II . While I will admit that I was more than a little disappointed at the lack of gameplay area, when games like Elder Scrolls were huge in scope, I still enjoyed the story very much. So naturally, being a fan of the series, I got excited when I heard there was going to be another entry. Now you’re going to be the leader of the Inquisition. You’ll raise a force to keep the peace and battle a butt-load of demons pouring in from the Fade. I’m in.
Hyrule Warriors
The Dynasty Warriors franchise is one that keeps grinding along year after year by adding some new trinkets to the same game they released a hundred years ago. They’ve tapped into the Gundam franchise and done all sorts of things to try and remain relevant in an ever-changing gaming landscape. But this game, I think, is going to be the perfect marriage for fans of both the Dynasty Warriors series and The Legend Of Zelda fans. You’ll control a new Link and wield the Master Sword with new resolve against armies of enemies. How could that not be cool?
Game of Thrones
While this particular game is not a true sequel to anything, it is the spiritual successor to a horribly imagined and executed game that has already soured many people on this concept as well. It is no secret that I personally love Telltale Games and their episodic style of releasing games. From The Walking Dead to A Wolf Among Us , I am a fan, and I am truly excited about the Borderlands title they will be releasing later this year. But honestly, I just can’t get excited about this. The last attempt at a GoT game was absolutely atrocious and should be stricken from the annals of video game history…along with that last Dead Island game.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
I may be dating myself here but I remember playing the original Wolfenstein game. I was a fan then, and have bought every entry into the franchise since. Most of them were terrible but I played them out of loyalty. So when the trailer for The New Order popped up at E3, I nearly blasted a nose full of Mountain Dew at my computer monitor. I was absolutely blown away by what I saw. It looks like a totally re-imagined game, but with old faces that make it all the more endearing. Will it be as epic as my mind and gamer-heart want it to be? Probably not. But hopefully it won’t hurt me as bad as Aliens: Colonial Marines did.
Aliens: Isolation
Speaking of Colonial Marines , I don’t know what to think about this. I know that they are taking it back to the canonical story of the first film, which I can appreciate. As a fan of both the first two films (the last two were really just hot garbage) as well as being a fan of H.R. Geiger’s work, I really wanted the last game to be great. It picked up where the second film left off and included a lot of cool nods Aliens. But the game just plain sucked. I know Gearbox did what they could with a real stinker, but it was just terrible. So imagine my dismay when I saw that they were going to release yet another attempt to bring the Alien franchise into the next-gen of gaming. Will it work out and actually be worth playing? I genuinely hope so. Am I optimistic? Not in the slightest.