Disappointing Sequels

[JezMM]

You know something has gone awfully wrong when the poster even has dreamworks face.

[Johnny Boy]

You know something has gone awfully wrong when the poster even has dreamworks face.

Buzz Lightyear and The Incredibles always made the Dreamworks face on their posters didn't they?

[Stasis]

a

 

You knew it was coming. There's no point in going over everything once again, but never in my 25+ years of gaming have I disliked a game/sequel so much. Absolutely massive fan of the first two games and have put countless hours in to both of them. Mass Effect 3 I've played through once and never completed it 100%. How do you fuck up something so badly!?

 

And regarding Bioshock Infinite - I loved everything about it.

[JezMM]

Buzz Lightyear and The Incredibles always made the Dreamworks face on their posters didn't they?

 

Well... Buzz at least can pull it off because he actually deludes himself into thinking he has the related personality. =B

[Soniman]

Not to mention that the Cars 2 poster gives the impression that Lightning is the main character when that's a huge lie.

[Iggy]

"HEY LITTLE GIRLS LOOK LOOK LOOK THERES ANOTHER CINDERELLA ITS GOT THE NUMBER TWO AT THE END OF IT YOU SHOULD TELL YOUR MOMMY AND DADDY TO LET YOU SEE IT BECAUSE ITS TOTALLY A DECENT MOVIE OF QUALITY THAT HOLDS UP TO THE ORIGINAL AND NOT SOMETHING THAT DISNEY SLAPPED TOGETHER THAT HOLDS NO REAL VALUES OF ENTERTAINMENT OUTSIDE OF APPEALING TO SMALL GIRLS!"

That's what this movie screams to me. Something that was lazily put together with no decent story elements tht would only be enjoyed by a young audience of girls. Honestly, this movie has no reason to exist. It's dull, and everything screams "CHEAPMOVIECHEAPMOVIECHEAPMOVIE!" It would be like someone making an Aristocats 2. There's just no need for it.

[Chaos Incarnate]

 

It's not that I don't like this game. I've always been a huge Halo fan, and I was curious on what direction 343 studios would be taking the series in. I applauded them for knowing their continuity and staying true to the expanded universe(for the most part), the graphics are gorgeous, and the multiplayer of Halo 4 is my favorite in the series, for the addicting regicide and flood modes, to changing kill count to points, which I think is much more fair than having the winner of a match win through kill count. I just didn't enjoy the campaign all that much, to be honest. I thought trying to humanize the Master Chief and expand upon his relationship with Cortanna was excecuted fairly well, and the Didact was the most intimidating villain in the series, but the rest of the story and campaign was pretty meh, aside from the ending(one of my favorites in the series). I just didn't enjoy fighting Prometheans, as they took far too long to kill, and I could honestly care less about new characters Thomas Lasky and Sara Palmer(Jennifer Hale bias aside.) Something about Halo 4 just lacked the wow factor Halo Reach did when I first played it. I do think the ending makes the set up for Halo 5 really interesting, but I'm not buying an Xbone, so I'll be missing out on it. I'm sort of falling away from Halo in general. To be honest, I would have been completely fine if Halo 3 was the final game in the series (timeline wise). I thought that game had a pretty sad and satisfying concusion. We did finish the fight in 2007, after all.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Chaos Incarnate

[Milo]

You know something has gone awfully wrong when everyone in the poster has been diagnosed with terminal dreamworks face.

 

Fixed for accuracy.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Yeow

[Strong Bad]

Well... Buzz at least can pull it off because he actually deludes himself into thinking he has the related personality. =B

Mrs. Nesbitt was the MVP of that movie.

[Speederino]

 

 

I know this one seems like a no-brainer right off the bat being a movie-licensed game on the Wii, so let me explain my perspective at the time. Keep in mind this post is going to be less about the game itself and more about my anticipation for it, because you really need to understand how hyped I was for this thing.

 

As a teen, I spent countless hours playing the Spider-Man 2 game, as did many other people. It was a rare case of a movie-licensed game that wasn’t just good, it’s still widely considered to be one of the best superhero games ever made nearly ten years later. For those who don’t know, Spider-Man 2 dumped you in Manhattan and just let you swing around and do whatever you want. Stop crimes, explore, do challenge races, or simply just enjoy the rewarding web-swinging system (yes, you could really get hours of enjoyment just from that alone). I loved it when I was 14 and I still love it now.

 

A year later, a game based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comic books was released called…well, Ultimate Spider-Man. It was a spiritual successor to Spider-Man 2, once again letting you swing around New York and stop crimes at your leisure. This too was met with critical success, many people even citing this as their all time favorite Spidey game. For me it doesn’t trump its predecessor, but it was a damn fine game all the same.

 

So, 2007 rolls around and the Spider-Man 3 hype train is in full force. If you were a part of this, you know damn well just how much anticipation was in the air for this movie. I was in the front fucking car of this train, believe me. But the thing is, as much as I was looking forward to seeing Venom brought to life on the big screen (PPPPPPPHHHTTHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA), I was MUCH more excited at the idea of another open world Spidey game on next gen consoles. And wouldn’t you know it, a certain other hype train is zipping down the railway.

 

The Wii. Do you guys see what I’m getting at now? Back then most of us were still filled with wide eyed optimism at the potential motion controls held and what they might do to shape the future of gaming. The reputation for waggle and terrible ports hadn’t really been set in stone yet, so for me the idea of a motion-controlled open-world Spider-Man game where I might feel like I’m really web-swinging was the most beautiful idea that could grace my teenage mind (well…aside from the other things that tend to grace the minds of teenage boys >_>  ). Now obviously I was following this game pretty closely, and everything I was hearing just made me drool.

 

The problem, however, layed in the fact that there were two versions of this game. An HD one for the 360/PS3/PC developed by Treyarch (who made the previous two titles) and a Wii/PS2/PSP version by Vicarious Visions. The HD version was getting, and I’m pulling purely from my memory: a Manhattan 5x as big as the one in Spider-Man 2, ten different storylines that you could play in whatever order you wanted, explorable sewers, a better variety of random crimes, and of course you would spend a good chunk of the game in the oh-so-hyped black suit, which would give you new combat abilities and combos. The Wii version, on the other hand, was getting a Manhattan 2x as big as Spider-Man 2’s, 5 storylines (but with exclusive villains) and a different black suit system where you could change in and out of it at will. And of course it also promised glorious motion-controlled webswinging. I knew for months prior that the Wii version wasn’t going to be as grandiose as the HD counterpart, but I had zero reason to believe it wouldn’t be a great game on its own. Hell, I had even somehow got the impression that this version was still going to have the explorable sewers. So what if the map was going to be smaller and there wouldn’t be as many story missions? It was still sounding great! So, release day comes. The clocks at school are rigged to move slower and I’m completely distracted by my excitement (really, in hindsight it was pointless for me to be in school that day). Finally, FINALLY I’m able to pick up my pre-ordered copy at Gamestop, race home, and cram it into the Wii.

 

So, were my wished fulfilled? Did my dreams come true? Was my hype in this game well deserved?

 

 

Have I written seven paragraphs in a thread titled “Disappointing Sequels?” THIS GAME WAS FUCKING TERRIBLE!!! I mean look at that picture, it pretty much says everything you need to know. There’s no point getting into specifics, it was an ugly, glitchy, boring, nonsensical mess. The ONLY thing that managed to live up to the hype was the motion-controlled web-swinging, and even that got fairly tiring after just a little bit. But somehow, someway, my seventeen year old self managed to delude himself into thinking this was a decent game at first. Maybe I was in denial and didn’t want to acknowledge the shortcomings, I don’t know. But it didn’t last long. The very next day I was at my brothers apartment and got to see what the 360 version of the game was like. I didn’t have to watch him play it for even a single minute before my heart crushed itself at the realization that I had been well and truly ripped off with the Wii version. The only thing of worth that I got out of this was the snazzy pre-order poster. That’s it.

 

Oh and since people might be wondering, the HD version tends to get thrown under the bus a lot too but I found it to be decent. It has a lot of shortcomings and certainly isn’t on the same level as Spider-Man 2 or Ultimate, but as far as movie licensed games go it’s still a cut above most of the other crap. And it’s far superior to its Wii counterpart, of course.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Speederino

[Vertekins]

Golden Sun? Amazing. Easily amongst the absolute best RPG the GBA had to offer. Visuals that pushed the system and looked amazing, Puzzles that make you think outside the box, a simply classic soundtrack, a immensely likeable battle system, multiple character classes...

 

Golden Sun 2? My God! It's even better than the first! More summons, more classes, more weapons and unleashes, an intriguing continuation of the story, more super bosses, an enormous world...

 

7 years pass. Over those years, Golden Sun fans are under the distinct impression that the series is never going to be a trio at least.

 

Then...

 

 

Don't get me wrong, Golden Sun Dark Dawn is a lot of fun. It proves that Sakuraba's still freakin' got it when it comes to music, it has clever puzzles that make you think outside the box, very likable characters, some of the best visuals the DS has to offer, awesome new Psynergy...

 

Yet it's let down by some very dubious design decisions that I didn't expect to come from a development team that has clearly shown before that their games are products of a lot of thought and planning and it doesn't feel like the game it could've been. I can't say with 100% honesty that it's  truly worthy successor to the first two classics in the series.

 

You'd think that we'd see more of the heroes of the first two games like Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Piers, Ivan, Mia etc. These characters only get brief mentions at best. The game is set 30 years after GS2, it would've been great to see the main characters other than Isaac, Garet and Kraden. It just feels so arbitrary how some of the most influential and established characters are barely paid even lip service.

 

Then there's the multiple instances of lost forever, bad game design I never expected from Camelot going by how incredibly well-designed the first two Golden Sun's were. You want a stark example of how prominent this issue is? 24 potential missable Djinn and 6 summons spread over three different points of no return, out of 72 total djinn and 13 summons. What makes this issue so particularly odious is how miniscule the window of opportunity is to grab some of these Djinn and Summons. A stand-out example is the Venus Djinn Brick in Harapa.

 

Another issue is with the playable characters. There's a noticeable lack of balance amongst them, far more prominent than which is present in GS2. Rief is forever delegated to non-use because Karis and Amiti outclass him in practically every area and Sveta can be downright utterly broken.

 

The story brings up far more questions than it answers, a lack of elaboration hurting the game's narrative and some characters such as Himi hardly get development at all, making it hard to get a grasp of her character.

 

As I said, the game isn't terrible. Not at all. But it has some seriously boggling design flaws and fails to monopolize on it's aspects to the degree that the previous two games do. There's only one new summon, the majority of the previous games Djinn don't return, the story is pretty grimdark without being particularly compelling for it and the characters aren't richly developed.

 

 

[Dejimon11]

 

Man when a was younger i loved both shows and when i heard that they were doing a crossover i was excited. I saw it pretty good had some missed oppurtunities but it was a fun ride never the less. The best part about it was that it was canon because of the video game nicktoons unite they reference the event like when Jimmy called cosmo and wanda holograms and Cindy was happy to see Timmy again. Then they made a sequel.

 

 

 

This one fixed all the missed oppurtunities that the first one had. Jimmy and Timmy were actually working teamed up and fought both their foes and Jimmy's friends interacted with cosmo and wanda and it was cool seeing Jimmy and Timmy fight over Cindy(although cindy really acted more annoying in this one than unsual) not as good as the first but still fun and then the third one.....

 

 

 

Everybody was out of character. Jimmy and Timmy were complete assholes to everybody. AJ's running gag being in the future was annoying, the villian was incredibly forgetable it was just bad. And the worst part of it all is that this was going to be the final episode of both shows. If they had ened it in a crossover that would of been cool but so many things were wrong for both a series final and crssover. They didnt go all out into making us believe that this is it. this is how the seires ends or could of ended which is a shame because most of their movies pretty much make you feel if this could be end of the series I just cant explain what was so wrong about it

[MegasonicZX]

 

 

I know this one seems like a no-brainer right off the bat being a movie-licensed game on the Wii, so let me explain my perspective at the time. Keep in mind this post is going to be less about the game itself and more about my anticipation for it, because you really need to understand how hyped I was for this thing.

 

As a teen, I spent countless hours playing the Spider-Man 2 game, as did many other people. It was a rare case of a movie-licensed game that wasn’t just good, it’s still widely considered to be one of the best superhero games ever made nearly ten years later. For those who don’t know, Spider-Man 2 dumped you in Manhattan and just let you swing around and do whatever you want. Stop crimes, explore, do challenge races, or simply just enjoy the rewarding web-swinging system (yes, you could really get hours of enjoyment just from that alone). I loved it when I was 14 and I still love it now.

 

A year later, a game based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comic books was released called…well, Ultimate Spider-Man. It was a spiritual successor to Spider-Man 2, once again letting you swing around New York and stop crimes at your leisure. This too was met with critical success, many people even citing this as their all time favorite Spidey game. For me it doesn’t trump its predecessor, but it was a damn fine game all the same.

 

So, 2007 rolls around and the Spider-Man 3 hype train is in full force. If you were a part of this, you know damn well just how much anticipation was in the air for this movie. I was in the front fucking car of this train, believe me. But the thing is, as much as I was looking forward to seeing Venom brought to life on the big screen (PPPPPPPHHHTTHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA), I was MUCH more excited at the idea of another open world Spidey game on next gen consoles. And wouldn’t you know it, a certain other hype train is zipping down the railway.

 

The Wii. Do you guys see what I’m getting at now? Back then most of us were still filled with wide eyed optimism at the potential motion controls held and what they might do to shape the future of gaming. The reputation for waggle and terrible ports hadn’t really been set in stone yet, so for me the idea of a motion-controlled open-world Spider-Man game where I might feel like I’m really web-swinging was the most beautiful idea that could grace my teenage mind (well…aside from the other things that tend to grace the minds of teenage boys >_>  ). Now obviously I was following this game pretty closely, and everything I was hearing just made me drool.

 

The problem, however, layed in the fact that there were two versions of this game. An HD one for the 360/PS3/PC developed by Treyarch (who made the previous two titles) and a Wii/PS2/PSP version by Vicarious Visions. The HD version was getting, and I’m pulling purely from my memory: a Manhattan 5x as big as the one in Spider-Man 2, ten different storylines that you could play in whatever order you wanted, explorable sewers, a better variety of random crimes, and of course you would spend a good chunk of the game in the oh-so-hyped black suit, which would give you new combat abilities and combos. The Wii version, on the other hand, was getting a Manhattan 2x as big as Spider-Man 2’s, 5 storylines (but with exclusive villains) and a different black suit system where you could change in and out of it at will. And of course it also promised glorious motion-controlled webswinging. I knew for months prior that the Wii version wasn’t going to be as grandiose as the HD counterpart, but I had zero reason to believe it wouldn’t be a great game on its own. Hell, I had even somehow got the impression that this version was still going to have the explorable sewers. So what if the map was going to be smaller and there wouldn’t be as many story missions? It was still sounding great! So, release day comes. The clocks at school are rigged to move slower and I’m completely distracted by my excitement (really, in hindsight it was pointless for me to be in school that day). Finally, FINALLY I’m able to pick up my pre-ordered copy at Gamestop, race home, and cram it into the Wii.

 

So, were my wished fulfilled? Did my dreams come true? Was my hype in this game well deserved?

 

 

Have I written seven paragraphs in a thread titled “Disappointing Sequels?” THIS GAME WAS FUCKING TERRIBLE!!! I mean look at that picture, it pretty much says everything you need to know. There’s no point getting into specifics, it was an ugly, glitchy, boring, nonsensical mess. The ONLY thing that managed to live up to the hype was the motion-controlled web-swinging, and even that got fairly tiring after just a little bit. But somehow, someway, my seventeen year old self managed to delude himself into thinking this was a decent game at first. Maybe I was in denial and didn’t want to acknowledge the shortcomings, I don’t know. But it didn’t last long. The very next day I was at my brothers apartment and got to see what the 360 version of the game was like. I didn’t have to watch him play it for even a single minute before my heart crushed itself at the realization that I had been well and truly ripped off with the Wii version. The only thing of worth that I got out of this was the snazzy pre-order poster. That’s it.

 

Oh and since people might be wondering, the HD version tends to get thrown under the bus a lot too but I found it to be decent. It has a lot of shortcomings and certainly isn’t on the same level as Spider-Man 2 or Ultimate, but as far as movie licensed games go it’s still a cut above most of the other crap. And it’s far superior to its Wii counterpart, of course.

This was pretty much me too except with the PS2 version, honestly this game was the biggest waste of my money e-(well actually sticker star would be that one, at least this game was fun for more than a week) shame too because this could've been a good game if the overall gameplay weren't so watered down.

[Nintendoga]

Completely agree with the posts about Halo 4 and Spider-man 3. Both were very disappointing, Halo more so for me since I love 3 & Reach, put them up there on some of my favorite games of all time.

Here's the very definition of a disappointing sequel



Where do I begin......

I'm not gonna write a 20 paragraph essay detailing every aspect as to why and how this game severely failed to live up to its' predecessor. Partly because I actually like GTA IV. Honestly it's probably even up there in my top 10 games this generation. But I also cannot ignore the flaws this games brought to the Grand Theft Auto series. To name a few

Where's my Customization? Why can't I change Niko's haircut? I can't make him fat or skinny? I can't even give him a haircut? If you're not personally familiar with the GTA series these may seem like miniscule nitpicks. But the whole goal of GTA is to put you (the player) in a world where you can do whatever you want. Of course you can't do everything you want, as there are limitations you must put in mind, however San Andreas gave the player more immersion by allowing customization to the main character C.J. It achieved something I haven't seen that many Sandbox games do.

This generation alone, when you start making your character at the beginning of a game, when you press "done" you're stuck with that character, unless you begin a new game. You can't shape that character as you see fit throughout your journey besides a few clothing changes here and there. I know Saints Row allows you to change your character immediately through plastic surgery, but compared to actually seeing C.J. getting stronger physically or fatter as you play the game, just doesn't have the same impact. 

Getting back to GTA IV, you cannot change Niko. You can change his clothes, but you cannot change Niko himself physically. Nor can you allow him to go to the gym, or get a big fuzzy Afro, or dumb stuff like that. Coming from San Andreas and having a large amount of what made the game feel so special take away from you, is disappointing.

The World itself. Let's go back to 2001. You pop in GTA III. For hours and hours on end, you drive, run, shoot, all across this glorious huge open world. It wasn't just a city, it was a world. Never once did you think "Wow this is small" or "There's nothing to dooooo" when you played it. Same with Vice City, and especially not during San Andreas.

Then in 2008, you pop in GTAIV. At first, I payed absolutely no mind to the size of Liberty City. I was born and raised partially in New York. Seeing a fictional representation of it in modern times was fascinating to me. For a time, I fell in love with Liberty City.....until I went back to San Andreas few months later. Then I noticed the structural problems within Liberty City.

There was no open wilderness. There was no Mountains streaking high into the sky. There was no Urban redneck creeks, no beautiful beaches stretching for miles, no colorful forests....shall I go on or have I made my point? Buildings, Buildings, Buildings, everywhere! With a little neighborhood splashed here and there. I understand Liberty City is just that. A City. I also understand that unlike San Andreas where they were trying to represent an entire state, they focused here instead on a City. I get it.

But that's no excuse for how small, bland, and uninteresting Liberty City is.

Realism. This one is tough to call out. I guess I'll fit in a few story/character & writing problems in here too.  Every GTA's had a certain level of seriousness. But it also had a countering level of humor to balance it out. Even during the death of a friend, or the loss of a loved one, GTA always knew when to step back with some breathing room, maybe throw in a joke here or there. It was never afraid to let itself be meta when parodying such landmarks as Scarface or The Godfather. But GTA IV has none of this.

GTA IV's story can be described almost as a tragedy. A Russian man's bleak story about coming to the land of the free, yet discovering that it is all not what it seems to be. A political soapbox some might say. Listening to the news stations on the radio in game, It's obvious Rockstar wanted to parody and make fun of the current media and society. And for awhile, some of it did work and was funny. But it's been 5 years. Most of what they've tried to make fun of, has passed on.

GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas acomplished something that Rockstar didn't even intentionally do. They were timeless. The news stations, the radio, the way the characters act, speak, it's timeless. I very much believe that if someone were to play Vice City or San Andreas for the first time today, they would still understand and be able to relate.

Sadly, this isn't the case with GTA IV. Trying to be realistic means you're focusing on what's happening in the "now". The other GTA's have never done that, and that's part of where I feel GTA IV failed.

I'm actually gonna ignore the characters because I honestly can't remember most of them. There were some fun ones like Jacob and Packie, but among the rest of the garbage, GTA IV's characters were for the most part, unengaging, uninteresting, and just forgettable.

What exactly did GTA IV accomplish with it's realism? Did it immerse the player more into the game? No, at times it would detract the player. Did it help the game's features? No, taking out large amounts of customization and putting in bars, restaurants, and pool in their place did not "help". How can some people flaunt that being more realistic is better when it can hurt your game so much by doing so?

As an ironic comparison, you can't put a kid in a sandbox, take away his tools and expect them to have as much fun as they did with the tools.

I don't hate this game like others do. As I said before, I actually liked it. I will admit, I did have some fun with the game, especially the multiplayer. Fooling around with friends for hours was a blast.

There's also pushing people down the stairs. I can't not mention that.

As for its expansion packs, I never played Lost and Damned, so I have nothing to say towards that. Ballad of Gay Tony was a fun expansion in its own merits. I enjoyed the short story and its characters. But it certainly wasn't enough to fix the flaws of the original game, and I detest whenever people say "Oh just play Episodes from Liberty City!" like as if it just fixes everything that was wrong with GTA IV.

No it does not.


With all this said, I am looking forward to GTA V.

Not just because of the big huge open world, not just because it seems to be fixing GTA IV's problems from a standpoint (well, partially that), nor just because of seemingly awesome characters. Or because of how fluid and polished the gameplay both single + online looks.

It looks like Grand Theft Auto.

I hope it feels like Grand Theft Auto.

I have faith that Rockstar won't mess up with this one. And to address that filibuster excuse that "It was their first time working on new hardware, they didn't know what they were doing!"

Back in 2001 they didn't know what they were doing with this either

And yes. I realize what I said earlier about keeping this short.
I'm a hypocrite. Sue me.

[Johnny Boy]

I really used to love Ice Age when I was younger. The first one was awesome but things seemed to decline with the second film as I thought it was pretty "meh", the third one just jumped the shark by introducing Dinosaurs . But the one that absolutely murdered it for me was this piece of shit:

Where do I begin? First of all look at that poster and what's the one thing that's off about it? What's that? You said that you saw the names of three pop stars in the poster? Yeah that was the first thing that killed my excitement for this film. As most of you should know by now, I absolutely fucking despise it when studios get pop stars to be in their movies because it just gives the impression that your really desperate for audience by casting somebody who's dominating the music scene at the moment.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended) because the story is just a complete train wreck. What's the plot you ask? The plot is about Manny, Sid, and Diego getting separated from their herd when the continents split apart and now they have to get back to them while battling a pirate named Captain Gutt. Now you think this would be a return to form for the Ice Age series since it appears that it's gonna focus soley on the main three for the first time since the first film, but it couldn't be any further from the truth. Because another part of the film is dedicated to showing a subplot about Manny's daughter trying to impress the popular crowd. This subplot is just as pointless as you could get and if you took out that entire subplot it wouldn't affect the movie in the slightest. But that's not saying much because the film is still plagued with too many characters to actually care about, jokes that would only get a giggle out of a three year old, and just poor writing overall.

It's a shame because Ice Age truly had potential to be a great animated film franchise like Toy Story or Kung Fu Panda but instead it's been reduced to the ranks of Shark Tale or Open Season as a "DVD babysitter".

Edited September 7, 2013 by Johnny Boy

[Dizcrybe]

 

Eleven fucking years.

 

Eleven fucking years waiting for the sequel to the greatest, most unique, most beautifully mysterious thing to come out of Sega or Sonic Team ever. And we got "COR BLOIMEY WOT'S AWCTOPAW DOING HEEEEEEEEAR".

 

It was made by Sonic Team USA, also known for such amazing works as Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog. This game was such an astounding disappointment on all fronts (besides, surprisingly enough, the soundtrack). To make matters worse, the utter half-assed job on the game, combined with NiGHTS' obscurity, made it sell like ass, guaranteeing that we won't be seeing another NiGHTS any time soon.

 

Or, you know, ever.

 

The gameplay sucks the life and soul out of the original, making NiGHTS have all the momentum of Sonic 4; the momentum gained from the Drill Dash was perhaps the most important part of the physics. So flying's botched almost entirely. The different forms NiGHTS took in the first one have been transferred over in the form of transforming masks called Personas. You use the D-Pad to select NiGHTS' form and get to playin'. Of course, they're entirely useless outside of a few key points and the final boss.

 

The story is painful, full of plotholes and bad voice-acting. Not quite Sonic '06 bad, but bad. The kids' faked accents are cringe-worthy. Reala's voice is as if Frieza and a classic Disney villain had a baby. NiGHTS sounds like he's had a recent lobotomy. Wizeman, surprisingly, came out unscathed, sounding badass and intimidating when he...stands there and doesn't do anything. Ever, besides conjure a cyclone at the beginning of Helen's story.

 

The new Nightmaren are, for the most part, uninspired and have about 1/1,000th of the character of the originals. Three of them are shameless reskins of older bosses (Girania/Gulpo, Chamelon/Jackle, Donbalon/Puffy). Queen Bella, the giant spider that lives in TotallyNotHalloweenTown is kinda cool, I guess.

 

The graphics are kinda pretty (for the Wii, I guess, although Mario Galaxy and other games outshine it), and the stages do evoke the original NiGHTS feeling, albeit on a much less significant level. The music is beautiful and is perhaps the only redeeming part of the game, the only part that lives up to the legacy of the original. Dreams Dreams, as per Sonic Team protocol, is remixed about sixteen-thousand times in this game. They're all pretty good and, personally, I believe that the Sweet Snow version surpasses the original.

 

All in all, disappointing and nothing but a nail in NiGHTS', tiny, baby-sized coffin. It's sad that a series so wonderful and mystical got only one truly amazing entry to its name, then failed the test a decade later and was wiped off the map. Odds are, NiGHTS will remain in the Dead Sega IP Bin, along with its siblings, JSR, Billy Hatcher, and Space Channel 5.

 

To be honest, I don't think the original is that great either...

[Motobug]

 

Was this released on PS3? It would be hilarious if it had the old PS3 logo with the spider-man logo in the same font.

 

Anyway, disappointing sequels...I'm not saying 3D Land is a bad game, but after the huge scale and almost perfect gameplay, this feels like a step back for me. No huge levels, no multiple missions for levels, and no replay value. I wouldn't be super mad if THIS didn't happen:

 

Edited September 8, 2013 by Speedster

[Speederino]

Was this released on PS3? It would be hilarious if it had the old PS3 logo with the spider-man logo in the same font.

 

 

 

It IS pretty funny now that you mention it.

[The Kid]

Was this released on PS3? It would be hilarious if it had the old PS3 logo with the spider-man logo in the same font.

 

Anyway, disappointing sequels...I'm not saying 3D Land is a bad game, but after the huge scale and almost perfect gameplay, this feels like a step back for me. No huge levels, no multiple missions for levels, and no replay value. I wouldn't be super mad if THIS didn't happen:

 

 

 

Step back after what, the past 3 or so mario games with 2D levels that were slammed as being recycled levels and themes?

 

Oh, you were expecting something of the level of Galaxy 2 on the handheld, a grand adventure fit for consoles.

 

This game is a huge step forward in the handheld Mario formula. It has compact yet largely explorable levels that are designed to be tackled in quick bursts. The game changed things up a bit by making it a midway compromise between Super Mario 64 and NSMB in terms of level design and playability. No one likes Sunshine more than me, but this whole attitude of Mario games immediately being disappointing if they aren't 3D huge world adventures is starting to get annoying. 

 

Also, no replayability? You literally unlock another 8 worlds and the option to play as Luigi when you beat the game. The length of the game is immediately doubled. How is that not being replayable?

[Sean]

I think the problem is that (not saying that this necessarily applies to Speedster, this is just a general observation) some people hold this view that Mario can only be good if the series is constantly breaking new ground as did Super Mario 64 and subsequently the first Super Mario Galaxy. People take innovation in anything, not just in video games, for granted and it's not something that easily comes around. At the very least, people should expect things to be kept fresh and I think 3D Land does exactly this by perfecting the 2D Mario formula in a 3D environment, and the platforming is some of the best in the entire series. I consider it a true Super Mario Bros. 5 even though it lacks Mario 3's themed worlds.

[Speederino]

So I'm in the middle of playing Chrono Trigger for the Holiday Gaming Awards, started thinking about Chrono Cross, and, well...yeah I automatically thought of this thread. Now before I start, I just want to make it clear that I still like Chrono Cross as its own game. In fact as far as the actual gameplay goes I don't really have anything that bad to say about it and I can totally see myself buying it off of PSN one of these days. No, I want to talk about the story. Keep in mind there will be unmarked spoilers for the game (as well as a few for Trigger), so if that bothers you then you should probably stop reading this post right here

 

You see, a lot of the reason I love Chrono Trigger so much is because the story is among the most gripping and immersive that I've ever experienced in a video game. You're quickly introduced to the time travel mechanics, have a few mis-adventures through time, and then you see a post apocalyptic future and you decide to change it. Not just because the game is telling you to, but because by this point you know enough about the characters and their world that you genuinely want to save it as much as they do. And thanks to the strong writing, the characters really stand out as being memorable, timeless, and endearing. It was simple but highly effective.

 

So how does Crono Cross follow up to this? Well, that plot is relatively simple too. You see, when the heroes of the first game defeated Lavos and created a happy future this enabled a group of future scientists to experiment with time travel and go back to prehistoric era or discover an alternate dimension or something like that where those reptile people from the prehistoric era became the dominant species and there was a war and this somehow created a race of furries and the scientists made an artificial island chain where the furries could live with humans but also Schala from the first game fused with Lavos and became the Time Eater and now all of reality is potentially screwed but for some reason another alternate dimension exists because of Serge (Cross's main character) and this one is still set to have the same future from before where Lavos destroys everything because apparently when that future ceased to exist in the first game it actually got pushed aside and frozen in time or something so it's latching onto another dimension instead but Serge and co. can still save reality from the Time Eater if they either defeat her or merge the two dimensions together but then they'll sacrifice what Chrono and co. accomplished and also Kid is Schala's clone and Magus is now an amnesiac Michael Jackson and all the characters you loved from the first game have died terribly except maybe Frog who might have turned evil or something because his magic sword is now demonic but this is never really explained and then once Serge and co. saves reality AND prevents the Lavos-devastated future (again) Kid ends up in the real world or something.

 

Having been a few years since I've played Chrono Cross I'm sure there's some factual errors in there, but correcting them wouldn't make me any less confused. Well are the characters as endearing as Trigger's at least? Aside from one or two of them, no not really. This game has dozens of potential characters that can join your party and as a result their personalities range from being thin and underdeveloped to downright non-existant.

 

I think the problem is that Chrono Cross just tries to do too much. I love the choose-your-adventure style  but it sacrifices good character development, and the story tries to be its own entity yet also tries waaaaaaaaay too fucking hard to tie into every little thing that happened in Trigger. As a result the story is an overdone, incomprehensible mess.

 

[Gabz Girl]

Mostly Disney sequels...Cinderella 2 was mentioned before, but there's also 101 Dalmatians 2, Pocahontas 2 and one that I think is so terrible it's IMO the WORST of all Disney sequels...Hunchback of Notre Dame 2.

As a huge fan of the original film, I remember first seeing a trailer for it on an old Disney VHS when I was 11 or 12, and I could tell straight away it looked awful. There must be something good about it though, right, maybe? No...

The first thing that hits you is just how Godawful the animation is. It's really, reaaally cheap and doesn't hold a candle to the beautiful animation in the original. The songs are pretty crappy too (the film opens with a lame lovey dovey song), which is annoying since almost all the original voice actors returned from the first film! WUT.

The story is horrible, just typical cliche DTV plot and the new characters aren't interesting at all, especially the new villain Sarousch who is so effeminate and dumb you just can't take him serious. This is what we get after Frollo?! I can't stand Madellaine either, and how she was so obviously made for the sequel so Quasi could get a girlfriend. In fact the ENTIRE sequel was made so Quasimodo didn't have to be lonely and sad after the ending of the first movie!

Another thing I don't get either is how Zephyr, Esmeralda and Phoebes' son, has blond hair! Shouldn't it be black? Yeahhhh this movie sucks!

[Chaos Incarnate]

 

I know just about everyone loves this game.... but I'm sorry, I couldn't really get into it. I'm such a huge Assassins Creed 2 fanboy, so naturally more of it should please me and I should be pleased, right? Not really, to be honest. The combat felt a little better and easier to get into this time around, spamming Assassin recruits to kill enemies could be a blast, and the Present Day felt a bit more interesting, in spite of becoming more and more convoluted. The amount of follow and escort missions just got really grating and became a real bitch to play later on, I wasn't as attached to Ezio's story this time around, and the Multiplayer didn't do it for me. I wasn't asking for anything as ground breaking as Assassins Creed 2, but Brotherhood really fell short of greatness in several areas and lacked compared to its predecessor, aside from the fairly nice graphical upgrade. Truthfully, I'm not really all that fond of the Assassins Creed Series aside from AC2, as I feel the original is the worst in the series, haven't purchased Revelations or Black Flag yet, and didn't bother to complete AC3 (borrowed it from my cousin).