7 Game Franchises They Drove Into the Ground

Via the ever-excellent Game|Life, a post on Games Radar that details seven destroyed game franchises, taken from us in their prime by callous game publishers. Running the gamut from the venerable Sonic (of whose decline we've already spoken) to the good-to-crappy-in-two-years Viewtiful Joe, these are all games that just deserved better. I personally lament the decline of the Tomb Raider series (number 7 on the list) the most. Her most recent outing was much better than previous iterations, and I definitely hope that Eidos can keep up the momentum. Are there any series that you feel have fallen from heights that should have made the list?

Comments

Mega Man ruined?

[CRCulver]

Funny how he sees that the decline of Mega Man came with the Mega Max X series. When the first three games appeared while in high school, all of my friends and I were excited about them. And the easter egg that is Ryu's street fighting moves was a pleasure for all. Saying that the games were crappy seems to be a minority opinion, and possibly one based more on retrospect than on how one felt at the time of release.

Re:More have died...

[Daemonstar]

I always loved the Wing Commander series, but, sadly, it seems to be no more.

Can you say Sierra?

[PygmySurfer]

King's Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest/SWAT, Gabriel Night, Earthsiege/Starsiege/Tribes, Front Page Sports, The Incredible Machine, Dr. Brain, Caesar, 3-D Ultra Pinball, Homeworld, Outpost, Freddy Pharkas, Betrayal at Krondor... Sierra practically defines this topic, and it's not even mentioned.

Re:Can you say Sierra?

[Thansal]

You sorta missed the point of the article.

They didn't drive any of those franschises into the gound, they just droped all their old titles

Re:More have died...

[Ford Prefect]

Deus Ex. Fantastic to cack in just two games. Alas...

Re:Ultima

[Jerf]

Ultima - Died thanks to EA who could'nt do anything right with it

Naw, Ultima died because every time technology advanced in capability by a factor of 2, Richard Garriot's ambitions increased by a factor of 5. In the end we were left with a tech demo.

Ultima 7 had to be split into two parts because it was too ambitious initially, but it was worthwhile. The program itself is notoriously hacky because of its custom memory management, but it mostly works. (And Exult means it works on modern machines, better than ever.)

Ultima 8 was too ambitious and while pretty, a lot was cut from the final game, including much of the fun.

Ultima 9 is almost the definition of an over-ambitious game. So much time spent on the tech that there wasn't much game left, and the story is just atrocious.

Ultima is almost the canonical example of why I don't really like the obsession with 3D; it becomes a design straitjacket. Anything you can't do in spectacular 3D isn't done at all. (My canonical example: Imagine a full 3D Nethack for the PS3, with no compromises whatsoever, full Nethack gameplay represented in glorious 3D. Good luck with that.) That really hurt Ultima because of all the details that were the spirit of it, most of which had to be cut in a full 3D world. Ultima 7 was the story apex, and Ultima 6 was the combat apex; combat was especially hosed by 3D. All solutions I've ever seen for running a full party of adventurers in 3D is a joke. (I haven't tried FFXII yet; waiting for a price drop while I play the many other AAA games I've missed. But in some ways I still bet it's a joke. Closest thing to an exception: Grandia 2 and 3.)

Re:What, no Sims?

[Jaqenn]

You have noticed that of the top 10 selling PC games, five of them are related to the Sims, right? You may think it sucks (I thought it was alright), but it hasn't fallen. Not by a long shot.
Heres the data to back it up: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164433.html