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10 Next-Generation Franchise Comebacks
JamesO writes "Pro-G has posted an article which looks at their top ten most wanted next-generation comebacks. By this time next year there should be three next-generation consoles on store shelves. Games like Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, Super Mario and GTA are certain to appear at some point in the lifetime of these consoles, but what about older franchises we'd like to see again?" From the article: "Few games have scared people as much as System Shock 2. Developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios, it's another great game that was released by EA that hasn't seen a sequel in years. Set onboard the Tri-Optimum starship Von Braun, you played a UNN soldier who is part of the crew on the Rickenbacker....When Looking Glass studios went into liquidation the future of the series became very uncertain, with a true sequel now looking very unlikely. A spiritual successor, in the form of BioShock from Irrational Games, is due in 2006." Any games you want to see resurrected?
Yes I will take a sequel to one of the best games of all time: http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/custer.shtml Custers Revenge
i want fallout 3. plus, unlike probably everyone else, i want it to be a single player game because i can't have a mmorpg ruining my life :)
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Hmm...lots of PC and Sega games on that list....
The one game I can think of which really needs a sequel is FFT. And no: FFTA doesn't count.
That's not a particularly bad list; System Shock, Magic Carpet, X-Com and maybe Syndicate are all ripe for a return. The others don't strike me as great choices, though. The series I'd really like to see return would be:
X-Wing and Wing Commander series: Freespace was nothing more than an inferior knock-off of these. I'd particularly like to see the old X-Wing games resurrected. The Rogue Squadron games we have now are ok... they're among the few Cube games really worth playing... but they're far too arcadey for my tastes. A decent, tactical space-flight sim would make me very happy. On the Wing Commander front, I'd love to see a new Privateer.
Aliens vs. Predator: The PS2/X-Box RTS was, quite frankly, shite. However, this is still a franchise that has a lot of potential. Imagine a version of this done on the Doom 3 engine. Hell, cut the Predator out if you want and just make it an Aliens game. With the technological capabilities of the next gen, this should be scary as hell.
Star Control: Star Control 2 remains one of my favorite Sci-Fi RPGs of all time, not least because of the fantastic arcade-style combat. The third installment sucked, but that's no reason why we couldn't have a remake or another sequel on decent hardware.
Streets of Rage: Don't get me wrong, the current generation of consoles has had some great action beat-em-ups, with God of War standing out as perhaps the best example, but I do miss the old side-scrollers. Feel free to substitute Final Fight instead if that was more your thing.
Ultima: PLEASE can we have a new Ultima game (that isn't a MMORPG). We'll forgive you Ultima 9. Just bring back the vast game-worlds and complex ethical systems. Do this right, with a decent interface and combat system, and you could easily get something to rival the Final Fantasy series. Also, while we're at it, can we have a new Ultima Underworld please?
Gunship: What ever happened to all the helicopter games? Gunship 2000 was one of my favorite fight-sims ever, but the genre just seems to have vanished. I wouldn't even mind seeing a more arcadey version of this.
...but we still ask...
Please, Nintendo, give us a Kid Icarus sequel! Look what it's sister silver label game, Metroid, has become
Give Pit a chance! Let us wage war against the evil Medusa and her army of Eggplant Wizards and Grim Reapers again! Let us seek treasure and avoid the God of Poverty in our quest for mallets, hearts, feathers, wallets and bottles barrels!
You can do it!
A true XCOM, in the style of UFO and TFTD. None of that shooter stuff, turn/squad based strategy FTW.
What? You want a sig?
And finally, saying that something "sucks" when you haven't experienced it is a sign of stupidity. Your opinion isn't valid because you don't know what you're talking about, so please don't share it.
Goo goo g'joob.
You forgot Grim Fandango.
:)
And Maniac Mansion.
And Sam and Max.
And...hell, let's just give them ALL sequels!
Goo goo g'joob.
I want to see a 3D Joust or Balloon Fight game.
Deus Ex (ONE, dear god not two) is as close as you'll ever get to a successor to System Shock 1 or 2. Similar themes, though perhaps more cyberpunk, less scifi-horror, and very similar immersive FPS/adventure gameplay. In my opinion nothing has yet bettered DX1 as an all-round great fps adventure, even Half Life 2.
Read Pynchon.
Anyone who has never played X-Com will really not see the attraction - weird low-res graphics, turn based gameplay... but it truly is one of the best games ever written. It combines the addictiveness of a management/strategy game like Civilisation with freakishly atmospheric sci-fi combat sequences. This game running at 320x240 has scared me silly more times than Doom III ever could cranking along in glorious hi-res 3D. I also marvel constantly at how such a phenominal game could weigh in at around 2MB when game companies today routinely crank out 3-4 disc turds of games.
And they've been screwing up X-Com sequels ever since Apocalypse - we don't WANT real time combat, we don't WANT to fly an interceptor or run around in the first person. We want a new, bigger, higher-res, polygon-driven version of X-Com 1 with more alien and UFO types, bigger, more varied levels, and an even more intricately linked and immersive gameworld. Oh, and soldiers with more individual variation.
Read Pynchon.