Game sequels that either impressed or disappointed. Please list them and why.

[dud]

I am older now and don't play as much as I used to. I use RTS games as mental tools to keep my mind as sharp as possible ... as I decline. My favorite game of all time is Homeworld and I just installed and started playing a copy of Homeworld 2 that I've had since 2003.

Such disappoint. I was hoping for so much ... but alas I was let down. For too many reasons to list I was disappointed.

My reason for starting this thread is to allow people to post their most impressed or disappointed moments of video gaming. You've heard mine ... what about yours?

Thanks ...

 

[rpanic]

MOO3, it just sucked all around.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Lands of Lore 3. The first one was a classic adventure game / RPG, and the second one was pure gold (aside from the 4 CDs and constantly needing to swap). The third one had a few nice features, but ultimately sucked - ESPECIALLY since they tried to tie one section of it to Command & Conquer...

Asheron's Call 2. The original came out in 1999 and is still alive today. AC2 came out in 2002 and was shut down only 3 years later. It had stunning graphics for the time and a lot of really cool game play mechanics, but it deviated far too much from the original game and ultimately didn't appeal to most of the AC1 crowd. That, combined with somewhat poor advertising and a number of early launch bugs and latency keep the population very low.

 

[TheVrolok]

<obligatory>Baldur's Gate II was a fantastic sequel to an already near perfect RPG in BG I. As opposed to DX2 which was just a total letdown after DX1.</obligatory>

 

[Barfo]

Impressed by Starcraft 2, it was well worth the wait for me.

 

[Elcs]

I have tried to add a few here with more of general consensus opinions or my own opinons. Can't think of any more for now.

Good:

Diablo 2 - Built upon a solid game with extra goodies and a secure server which reduced hacking and nasty stuff which plagued Diablo 1 (well, it worked for a little while anyway)

Mechwarrior 3 - Mech 2 was legendary, Meach 3 brought along a good story, great narration and the best Mech experience to date.

Bad:

Mechwarrior 4 - They took a look at a successful Mech 2 and Mech 3 then decided not to follow their formula for a good game.

Need For Speed Underground 2 - From what I gather, most people will disagree with this but I found NFSU2 to be pretty crap compared to NFSU1. Didn't enjoy it one bit... mind you, I didn't really play much NFSU once I picked up Most Wanted

Aliens Vs. Predator 2010 - Take a great game, lose some of the atmosphere, give it certain features which means that console players can play and have a cinematic experience... They removed the heart and soul of the game and ripped out the essence of being a Colonial Marine. A Marine has firepower and can take down an Alien with a mere 1 or 2 bullets from a pulse rifle... yet is so fragile, that the merest blip of his motion detector registering causes panic.

Mixed Opinions:

Dawn of War 2 - Whilst I think Relic are at the forefront of cutting edge ideas in the RTS market and unmistakably the best creators of RTS games over the past decade (and slightly beyond), Dawn of War 2 has received mixed opinions as to how good it really is. I love the RTS/RPG system ever since I found a rather crap game called Rage of Mages. The second iteration of this lost some of it's epicness through a reduction in model numbers, specifically Space Marines, to try and bring it a little more in line with WH40k fluff aka. Imperial Propaganda

Fallout 3 - Taking a classic 3D isometric game with real time movement and turn based combat and transforming it into a first/third person shooter with stats and an optional turn based combat element was never going to be easy. Personally I enjoyed Fallout 3 for what it was, a good and solid game which was only let down by a completely pants story element.

 

[pwnagesarus]

+1 for Starcraft 2

SC2 delivered in almost every aspect, except for one. It didn't introduce any radical changes and was basically more of the same. The first time I loaded the game up, it felt as if I was playing SC1. To some, that may not be worth years of wait and $60, but it was exactly what I wanted.

I was disappointed at the script for the campaign though. The dialogue was noticeably worse than SC1 or any other Blizzard game. At times, it was wandering into Resident Evil territory haha.

As mentioned before, Diablo 2. There were some significant changes (good changes!) to the game, but did retain that familiar feeling.

Oblivion did not deliver. At first it was awesome, but then you realized it was just pretty and still bugged up like Morrowind.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Excellent:
Doom 2 - super shotgun!
Fallout 2 - great area design, quests, main quest.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - such great art direction, music, atmosphere; good voice acting, good story. Katana stealth kills. The soundscape of the Hotel.
Mass Effect 2 - assembling your Magnificent Seven Samurai was a lot of fun and the main story was decent too.

Flawed but still very good:
Star Wars: KotOR II - much better light vs. dark side choices and story, despite the weak ending
Fallout 3 - despite the weak main quest with its stupid ending

 

[NoSoup4You]

Sequels are always tough to guage. You bring baggage with you when you load up the sequel to one of your favorite games, it has to live up to your sometimes unrealistic expectations.

Metal Gear Solid 2 - As the sequel to one of my favorite games of all-time, this game was poised to be just flat-out amazing. I remember buying some game (Zone of Enders I think?) just to get my hands on the demo of MGS2. Man, was that demo awesome. Probably beat it 6 times trying out funny stuff.

And then the full game hit and I picked it up on a Friday after work, and my roomate was out of town for the weekend so I knew I had some mega gaming marathon sessions in store. And then, 20 minutes in Raiden shows up. Oh boy, this is bad. This is really bad. I kept holding out hope for a return of Snake but nope, it never happens. And wow did MGS2 have some disturbing moments - Otacon revealing that he was having sex with his step-mother instead of watching his little sister swimming in the pool, and as a result she almost drowned and he blamed himself. WOW. Really? This is the sequel to my favorite game ever? I have to play as Raiden and listen to this crap? And that chick Rose or Rosemary or whatever, ugh. Truly awful stuff, not to mention the wholly non-sensical and whimsically convoluted storyline. Just bad.

I was so shell-shocked that I never bothered playing MGS3 until many years after it's release, and even then I played half of it and quit. The stink of MGS2 was still all over the series for me...

I might pickup a PS3 someday and I'll probably get MGS4, but I've heard enough about it to figure it's a lot of non-sensical mumbo-jumbo just like MGS2.

Ugh.

 

[Maximilian]

Good:

Starcraft 2
Fallout 3
The Sims 3
Diablo 2
Warcraft 3
Red alert/Red alert 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Half life 2
GTA III/VC/SA


Bad:

Red alert 3
Earth 2160
Max Payne 2
C&C3
Simcity Societies
Halo 2
Supcom 2
Farcry 2

 

[McWatt]

Good:
System Shock 2
BG2
Warcraft 3
ME2
Half Life 2
Civ 2
MOO2
Final Fantasy 7
TIE Fighter
King's Quest 2, 3, 5, 6
Space Quest Everything
X-Com 2
Morrowind
Fallout 2

So-so:
Ultima Underworld 2
Final Fantasy not 7
KOTOR2 (I liked much of it, but the worst ending in any game I've ever seen spoiled it for me)
Civ 3
Oblivion
Fallout 3

Bad:
MOO3
Wind Commander Prophecy
Starcraft 2
Red Alert 3

 

[Regs]

Good:

I will actually stick up for C&C Generals. I loved the use of real-time war weapons.
Civ 2& 3
Silent Hill 2
Mortal Kombat 2
Medieval 2 Total War


Bad:

Modern Warfare 2. Obvious reasons include: it's a console game on PC.

Will list more later

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Yeah, Homeworld 2 campaign was disappointing compared to Homeworld 1. Multiplayer was better though.

Starcraft 2- Story, characters (except Tychus), dialogue were terrible.
Final Fantasy XIII- Damn, what a huge piece of crap.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Resistance 2.

After R1, they came out with this Halo/COD'ized game with full regenerating health and just overall messed up the atmosphere of the game.

 

[Borealis7]

i mostly remember good ones:

i liked Icewind Dale 2 more than the first. both were good, but 2 was epic.

Heroes of might and magic: III - the best TBS of all time following II which was a perfect game in my opinion, both are fantastically great. IV on the other hand was baaadddddd, veeeerrrryyyy baaaaadddd. V was good.

Imperium Galactica II was great as well.

Civilization series keeps improving over the years. (aside form 3 which was kinda bad technically) and 5 is about to come out in a month. (i think i just came)

 

[EvilComputer92]

Good:

Mass Effect 2
Command and Conquer 3
Halo 2
Oblivion
Simcity 4
Earth 2150
Freespace 2



Bad:

Starcraft 2
Red Alert 3
Farcry 2
Supreme Commander(assuming its a sequel to TA)
Unreal 2
Neverwinter Nights 2

 

[KMFJD]

I'm gonna get raged upon but i absolutly hated FF7

 

[KeithTalent]

Hitman 2 was far, far superior to the original.

KT

 

[dfuze]

For me it's Diablo II

I spent countless hours (adding up to years) on Diablo 1 single player. By the time I realized there was even an online component to it, I already moved on to Diablo II. Part of me is glad they didn't have a way to count the time you spent on that game. Even more immersive than 1 was, more characters to choose from, and they got rid of that snot Wert

 

[Balt]

For unimpressive sequels, I'd have to go with Doom 3. It was boring and predictable. More than half of the game just seemed to be going down the same hallways with the same random piece of armor or ammo that triggers a door somewhere for you to get ambushed.

I'm not really sure it should even be counted as a "sequel" though. It didn't really have anything to do with Doom 1 or 2.

 

[BladeVenom]

MOO3, it just sucked all around.

Worst gaming disappointment in the galaxy.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

MOO3, it just sucked all around.

This was probably THE most disappointed by a game I've ever been in my life.


For some good, Civ 4 was of course an absolutely fantastic sequel. Even more bizarre, BTS has got to be one of the best expansion packs ever created.

 

[OCNewbie]

What is MOO? Google says it's Master of Orion? Never heard of it.

 

[BladeVenom]

What is MOO? Google says it's Master of Orion? Never heard of it.

Are you serious? Yes, it's Master of Orion. It's one of the all time most popular PC games. It or MOO2 are on most people's top 10 list for PC games.

 

[Glitchny]

Good:

Warcraft 3
Diablo 2
Starcaft2
Civ4 + BTS
Oblivion

Bad

MOO3 - omg what did they do
HOMM 4
Red Alert 3
C&C4
Unreal
Doom3