I was deeply engaged in a conversation around what games people would like to forget within particular franchises, brought about by Ubisoft’s announcement this week that the next Prince of Persia entry will be more inline with the first re-imagination of the series, ie Sands of Time, than the critically well regarded PoP 2008.
You can find the article here.
It’s almost inevitable, should a franchise run long enough, that you will come in to be in possession of a title that really doesn’t live up to those that preceded it, souring the brand in the process.
This is true of me for Medal of Honour, having enjoyed the PS1 games and being engaged with European Assault. The following console entries were disastrous enough to have the franchise go cold for a while, at least on main stage consoles, before a 2007 reboot in Medal of Honour : Airborne, which admittedly I didn’t play.
Another is Battlefield 2142, honestly what were they thinking?
I could go on, lord knows we have all seen our fair share of terrible games, but I’ll now throw some choice words from those who left comments on the Screen-Play article.
Symon, December 02, 2009 09:14 AM
“Guitar Hero 3. The versus mode in that destroyed any love I had for the game and any iteration after.”
Cutter December 02, 2009 10:20 AM
“The last two Leisure Suit Larry games – Magna Cum Lauda and Box Office Bust. Don’t believe the titles, they ain’t Larry games.”
Pylades December 02, 2009 10:39 AM
“Devil May Cry 2. Capcom have deleted it from the DMC canon, enough said. They sucked all the personality out of Dante and killed the Devil Trigger system.
Final Fantasy X2. Final Fantasy Charlie’s Angels. Fanservice and Jpop does not a game make, much less a good one.”
Barrymoves December 02, 2009 11:18 AM
“Any of the 3D Worms games. They didn’t quite make the most of the transition like GTA did.”
Alex December 02, 2009 02:52 PM
“Dirge of Cerberus was one of them on PS2. A clunky 3rd person shooter with a main character you may not have even had from FFVII.
Every Crash Bandicoot since CTR has been pretty damn ordinary I reckon.”
Another Alex December 03, 2009 06:45 PM
“Wolfenstein (2009) PC
So obviously a console port it wasn’t funny:
- Aiming done in set increments to allow for the clumsiness of the game pad
- Weapon select arranged for game pad rather than standard keyboard 1,2,3,etc.
- Nade aiming again configured to clumsy game pad rather than precision keyboard.
Didn’t even come close to Return To Castle Wolfenstein.”
Dan December 03, 2009 10:42 PM
“Tribes: Vengeance
Destroyed a great franchise. Perfect example of when forum fanboys are given too much influence over game design.”
Stratu December 04, 2009 02:12 PM
“Also, I’m with you on Turok: Evolution. I bought that for $15.00 one day at EB and thought I’d scored a total bargain. It was a piece of sh!t.”
Carl December 04, 2009 02:20 PM
“Red Alert 3 was an absolute shocker. Even worse because RA2 was the best RTS game for the time it was released (around Y2K).”
Thanks to Jason Hill, Sydney Morning Herald & other Fairfax properties and finally the wonderful community of Screen-Play for their contributions.
