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Summer time means sequel time in these great states of the Union. From the big screen to the small screen to the newly turned 18-year-old daughter of the exotic dancer down at Larry’s House of Honey, sequels are everyone. Some people hate sequels because of their lack of originality, others love seeing the further adventures of their favorite characters like The Hardy Boys. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, sequels are not going away anytime soon so we are not here to talk about The Dark Knight versus the Mummy 3. No, instead we are talking video game sequels, namely the two types of sequels that companies tend to release. The first are those seen as an evolution of the series, taking the good and ditching the bad, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War 2, and Grand Theft Auto 4. The other type we have is the sequel that acts as a revolution for the series. These would be Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasies VII and XII, Super Mario 64, the games that reinvented their franchises. Does each have their place in gaming or are we ready to ditch one in favor of another? Let’s do this!
The Case for Evolution
I recently picked up Soul Calibur IV and found myself really enjoying it. Having only played the previous game in the series I am by no means a diehard player of the game, I’m still not sure how to do combo reversals and I honestly couldn’t tell you the names of half the characters (I use Kilik as my main guy though). So, was I hoping for this brand new experience that changed the face of fighters forever? Not so much. Soul Calibur IV is like a really pretty version of III with an even greater level of customization and women whose outfits defy the laws of physics. Perhaps people are going to complain that the game is the same old fighting in a high def coat. These are the same people who should probably avoid Resident Evil 5 at all costs. Aesthetically and from the looks of its game play, RE5 is RE4’s really attractive sister. I am not saying RE4 was ugly; RE5 just takes it up a few notches. There is not anything wrong with this though; RE4 is one of the best games ever created, so why not stick with what works? Oh and so the game play is the same, the actual differences run a bit deeper than that. We’re not just talking controversial new setting either. Resident Evil 5 progresses the storyline of the series, which for some people is more important than all the zombie or las plagas shooting combined. You cannot tell me you’ve never once wondered what happened to Sherry Birkin, I mean I wrote an entire fan-fic about her adventures in college where she fights zombies with the help of a double agent of Umbrella named Dan.
Sometimes bigger is better. The sequels to Gears of War and Resistance Fall of Man have really taken the whole “size matters” mantra to heart. Both games in their E3 videos feature what looks to be massive boss battles, which would be nice since in Gears of War I was a bit let down that the final boss looked like a burn victim, a man sized burn victim. So the formula for a great sequel that doesn’t break the mold is as follows: Take three parts better graphics, add in six new characters, a never before seen setting (Like COD4 did when they didn’t set the game in WWII), and mix them all together before baking in a huge epic boss battle and you’ve got yourself the perfect sequel. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right? What if it is broken though?
The Case for Revolution
Resident Evil 5 may be more of the same, but Resident Evil 4 did not have the same luxury. Having been in development for years with two restarts under its belt the adventure of Leon S Kennedy took everything we knew about Resident Evil and threw it out the window, then infected it with a parasite, and then blew its head off. Zombies were gone, ammo was plentiful, and the camera received a massive overhaul. What we got was a survival horror game we could actually survive. If you have only played Resident Evil 4 I suggest you go back and check out Resident Evil 2, I will wait here until you’re done cursing out your Playstation. With Resident Evil, the franchise had grown a bit stale, relying on tank controls and the good will of their fans instead of actual innovation. It was not until Capcom released RE4 that fans knew what the series was truly capable of – that, my dear reader, is an example of a revolution.
Why don’t we take a few steps back and bring up the game that revolutionized not only a series, but also gaming as we know it. This is the game that stars the only plumber who will not steal your wife while you are at work, Super Mario 64. Now we’re looking at a franchise that wasn’t broke, Super Mario World is still a classic game that bears replaying even today, but technology was moving forward and Nintendo was still a company that followed technology forward. Thus, they released the first truly playable, downright visually spectacular 3D game. Fans were ecstatic, reviews were through the roof, and the arrival of 3D gaming was heralded by the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sadly, this sort of revolution between games has been few and far between, with companies choosing a safe alternative out of fear of alienating their loyal fan base and losing sales. Will we see another leap forward as we did ten years ago? Probably not. Though a leap forwards isn’t what a series needs. Sometimes they need to take a step back.
The Case for Building a Time Machine to Reverse Past Craziness
I am looking at you Sonic the Hedgehog. Ever since Sonic went 3D, he found an entirely new dimension to suck in. From making out with human girls which I read in my bible was not appropriate to weird on rail Wii games that have cost me a Wii Remote in the process of playing, the blue spike ball needs to stop for a few years. Clearly he’s tired, I mean he lost the 50 meter dash even in Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, which is really just plain wrong. With an RPG on the way by Bioware, there might be hope for Sonic and his pals. I am not optimistic, because if you can’t do core Sonic games well how can we expect his spinoff adventures to fare better? Maybe you should take a page from another blue hero.
Mega Man has come a long way from 2D side-scroller to 3D crap-fest and now with the release of Mega Man 9 he is returning back to his roots. To be more specific, Mega Man is returning back to his seed, as the ninth adventure is firmly rooted in his 8-bit days. So if you really don’t like change, this is the game for you, I personally think he leapt back a few years too far but I’m willing to give him a shot, as long as they add voice acting, but the actor who played him in Captain N, pure voice acting gold.
The Verdict
Until gaming itself undergoes its own revolution, we are not going to see many games go the route of brand new experiences. GTA4 and MGS4 both sold bazillions of copies by playing it safe; sure, they were pretty, but they were not exactly revolutions in gaming. Still though, both games were entertaining and in the case of MGS4, one of my favorite games of the past several years. Therefore, we have to be content right now to watch our games slowly evolve. As long as they do not evolve into party games, we should not be too hard on our favorite series. As for their developers, that is a whole different column
