Worst Sequels (you killed the franchise I liked!)

[RPD]

DA2, you don't even need to compare it to DA1, DA2 by itself is horrible.
Diablo 3 for me personally, didn't like the direction they took the game model.
That same game model is why I haven't purchased SC2.

 

[crunkzilla]

Modern Warfare 2. I enjoyed COD : Modern Warfare, even though it got a little over the top in places... and then the developers apparently huffed all the glue in the office, went completely insane and blew everything completely out of proportion for the next game. "Hey, you know how we killed off our protagonist halfway through the game? New angle; do that every level. Twice every level! In fact, everyone dies all the time always! And one nuke? That's rookie. FORTY SEVEN NUKES. And he's jumping snowmobiles over Mt. Everest while nukes are exploding all around and the bad guys are riding on flaming Pegasi and then Shiva dropkicks your head into space!" And they've just gotten progressively stupider as time has gone on. The plots of the last few would make the writers of 24 say, "I think you're overdoing it." I get that the multiplayer is supposed to be awesome, but they completely destroyed the singleplayer in the process and it's made me hate the series.

Metal Gear Solid 2 earned its spot in hell for what it did to the MGS franchise. I know everyone loved it, but everyone is wrong. Your character is a bumbling moron, the bad guys are asinine, the story is stupid and it ends with the BS deus ex machina "It was all a dream!" nonsense. I've ranted about MGS 2 before, and if anything, I dislike it more as time goes by. What a travesty.

God I remember how awesome MGS 2 was in the begining and thinking the rest was going to be epic. Then all of all sudden i went from playing snake to some female looking blonde dude. bleh.

 

[Keeper]

RUT ROH I just picked up Dragon's Age 2 at BB for 9 bucks.

 

[Red Hawk]

RUT ROH I just picked up Dragon's Age 2 at BB for 9 bucks.

Certainly worth it at that price IMO.

 

[Gunbuster]

Sword of the Stars II - They released an alpha that is still not 100% after over a year. Not to mention they changed from a move your ships where you want to a mission based mechanic and refused to budge on it even though most people thought it was really really stupid.

 

[Red Storm]

RUT ROH I just picked up Dragon's Age 2 at BB for 9 bucks.

After playing it I don't even think it's worth it even if it was free. Aside from being a terrible game it also ruined a very promising Dragon Age franchise.

That's me though. The general consensus seems to be if you loved DA1 you'll hate DA2, and vice versa.

 

[Regs]

Resident Evil 4 and everything afterwards - That had to be one of the saddest days in my gaming life when I found out they went shooter style.
Silent Hill 5 and everything afterwards - I don't even know what the plot is anymore. The hellish nightmare of Silent Hill has turned into a generic horror title for every horror story that a 15 yr old can conjure up.
Command and Conquer 4 - WTF. We want vehicle spam and semi futuristic sci-fi elements. Now we have fantasy fiction and a pop count.
COD MW2 with P2P MatchMaker. No dedicated servers, no friends, no "house", just Finding New Host Disconnects and 90+ ms pings as norms.
Crysis 2 Rail shooter - No exploration, no sense of adventure, no sense of discovering anything. Basically what waits around one city block is just around the other.
Far Cry 2 and 3 - Characters who talk too much sniveling crap and never get anything done but drive around empty spaces all day.

 

[OSULugan]

CyberJudas
I spent so many days playing Shadow President, orchestrating massive take-overs of the world (I actually conquered the entire Northern Hemisphere in one game). CyberJudas was just so... flat.

Bard's Tale II
The original Bard's Tale was a blast. This one was too over-reaching, and I could never get into it. Why they even pushed forward with a 3rd is still a mystery to me.

Syndicate Wars
Completely ruined the franchise.

Asheron's Call 2
I never played the 1st or the 2nd, personally. But launching a sequel to a currently functioning and prosperous MMO without a clear migration plan for current subscribers is a really poor idea.

Test Drive 3
The Duel: Test Drive 2 was awesome. Test Drive 3 pushed to go 3D at a time that computers couldn't really handle it, so it felt like a down grade to go to the 3D graphics. This game was so bad that the series wouldn't be revived for 7 years.

 

[shortylickens]

Test Drive Unlimited was a lot of fun despite some issues. TDU 2 was shit and probably killed the franchise, again.

 

[Shadowknight]

The ending of IV however is what the ending of ME3 should have been with the player's choices and the choices throughout the game actually meaning something and determining if you win or fail.

Unfortunately, this isn't true. When you get to the "debate" at the end, nothing you say matters EXCEPT if you mention the bio-weapons. If you mention them, no matter how badly you've done in the debate, you win. If you ace everything else in the debate and don't bring them up, you lose. I tried this multiple times, and that's the only thing that matters at the end.

 

[JujuFish]

Diablo 3 is not only the first Diablo game to hold my attention long enough to get through the story, it's the first hack-and-slash ARPG I've ever finished the story on.

Most games I would think of as bad sequels have already been named. Carmageddon 3 was a pretty bad sequel to Carmageddon II.

 

[Shmee]

Actually, ETQW was one of the best games ever. Wish they would update it or make a sequel.

And Q2 was my favorite pure quake game :C

 

[zinfamous]

I never really played because of all the negative feedback, but DA2. loved the first, but not wanting to play the 2nd is a good sign.

experience:

Civ 5

and surprised I'm not seeing The Old Republic mentioned. Honestly, I think it's a pretty good game, but as far as KotoR franchise, it's a travesty. Did it end that franchise? likely.

I also greatly disliked FF 8. pushed the series into the emo drama horseshit. didn't like the magic system, either.

 

[nickbits]

Ultima 8/9

 

[Childs]

MoH 2013. I liked the multiplayer in MoH 2010 multiplayer, but not 2013.
Doom 3, although they are apparently making Doom 4.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Left 4 Dead 2

 

[Regs]

Modern Warfare 2. I enjoyed COD : Modern Warfare, even though it got a little over the top in places... and then the developers apparently huffed all the glue in the office, went completely insane and blew everything completely out of proportion for the next game. "Hey, you know how we killed off our protagonist halfway through the game? New angle; do that every level. Twice every level! In fact, everyone dies all the time always! And one nuke? That's rookie. FORTY SEVEN NUKES. And he's jumping snowmobiles over Mt. Everest while nukes are exploding all around and the bad guys are riding on flaming Pegasi and then Shiva dropkicks your head into space!" And they've just gotten progressively stupider as time has gone on. The plots of the last few would make the writers of 24 say, "I think you're overdoing it." I get that the multiplayer is supposed to be awesome, but they completely destroyed the singleplayer in the process and it's made me hate the series.

Couldn't agree with you more there. And Black Ops and BF3 over usage of "Flash backs".

 

[polypterus]

King's Quest VII (or VIII, which was worse?)

 

[Childs]

Left 4 Dead 2

I can kinda understand this when it was first released, but now you can play L4D1 maps and characters in L4D2. It worked out in the end.

 

[colonelciller]

Every Railroad Tycoon game since the original, with special mention to Firaxis, because although Railroads wasn't officially a sequel, it was so god awful it needs to be called out.

I liked RR tycoon II, however I never did manage to find a skirmish mode which was disappointing.

I would love to have a new RR tycoon game that has a great AI, nice graphics etc that's a blend of I & II.

 

[mmntech]

MoH 2013. I liked the multiplayer in MoH 2010 multiplayer, but not 2013.
Doom 3, although they are apparently making Doom 4.

A lot of gamers today claim to hate Doom 3 but I remember it being the extremely popular when it came out.

Here's a couple I could think of...

Microsoft Flight: Ah, the once venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. Realistic yet totally accessable to non-hardcore fans. I spent hours flying around the world. FS X had it's problems but Microsoft's half arsed sequel, Flight, was a complete joke.

Every Sonic game after Sonic 3&K: I was a huge Sonic fan growing up and they turned the franchise into a cruel mockery of itself. Though Sonic Generations and Colors redeemed them.

SimCity 5: Yeah, obvious target but SimCity is one of my all time favourite franchises. Loved 2000 and loved SC4. I was stoked when SimCity 5 was finally announced but EA has just ruined it beyond redemption.

Assassin's Creed 3: It's not a bad game but it's boring. Could never get into it. It's officially run its course.

 

[A.josiah11]

Every red faction game after Red Faction.

This is the first game I ever played on the computer and I loved it. If I recall rf2 didn't even have MP such a shame.

 

[Childs]

A lot of gamers today claim to hate Doom 3 but I remember it being the extremely popular when it came out.

Extremely popular and polarizing. No flashlight, monsters spawning out of nowhere. It sold well because of Doom's legacy, but I didnt feel I got Doom. Now, the Classic Doom mod for Doom 3 was great, and it was worth buying Doom 3 for. Even though it was short, I felt like I was playing the Doom game I wanted. Anyways, I'm interested to see how people feel about Doom 4. Personally, I just dont think id can make a fun game anymore.

 

[Chaotic42]

A lot of gamers today claim to hate Doom 3 but I remember it being the extremely popular when it came out.

My thinking is that the sales of a sequel are a testament to how good the *last* game was. I bought Civ 5, Moo3, Black Ops, Duke Nukem Forever, and Saints Row 3 because of how much I loved the previous versions. Would I buy the next versions? Maybe Saints Row 4. Maybe.

 

[JamesV]

Some I didn't even think of til reading these posts :

Railroad Tycoon 3 - The first two games were stellar titles. Then 3 goes all '3D' and of course that isn't enough, so they add mechanics like rivers playing a part in how materials transfer, seemingly without ever actually testing these changes to gameplay. Ruined franchise.

Heroes of Might and Magic 4 - Again, 3D destroys a game; possibly because the developers think they must mess around with everything else in the gameplay also? The game that could actually be strategic, with an AI that would test you, became a linear point A to point B game with zero chance of the AI ever challenging you. Somehow there have been two more, following the same universally accepted crap gameplay; wtf.

Tribes 2 - Great game, but a prime example of reaching for the stars with the ability to barely jump. Email and clan system, super high polygon (for the time) effects on certain things like turret shields that dragged the best system into teen framerates, and a complete miss on the 'feeling' of skiing that made Tribes (felt like skiing in maple syrup). Even the panned Vengeance was better in terms of 'feeling', but lacked in other areas critical to the series (huge maps with out of bounds you could use).

Majesty 2 - Every single campaign mission is the same; build the same buildings to get the same results. Earliest example I can think of, of a dev that built a serious strategy game with the aim to please casual players.

Deadspace 3 - Wtf EA.

Simcity 5 - see above.

Diablo 3 - Again the transition to 3D ruins a game. Somehow bringing a game from 2D to 3D also makes devs change all kinds of other mechanics. Transitioning the fun of farming and looking for loot into in an Auction House experience must have sounded good to someone; shame it has nothing to do with Diablo gameplay, nor anything the fans wanted.

/too upset to continue