Sequels We'd All Like To See

Voodoo Extreme has a feature up that's a wishlist for future sequels. They run down some great game franchises that have been off the board for a little while, and wonder out loud about the possibility of new installments. Besides the usual suspects for lists like this (StarCraft, TIE Fighter, Descent, Ultima), they touch on some cult favorites that are ... less likely to show up in modern gaming. From the article: "Planescape Torment 2: The Poop -- Loved by many a forumgoer is Planescape Torment, a Dungeons & Dragons-themed RPG set in the other planes of existence. It was a dark game with evil undertones, but also lighthearted and funny at times. Just think Baldur's Gate with an M rating. The Scoop -- Odds of a sequel are equal to or greater than Elvis coming home on the mothership." Any oldies you'd like to see back on modern systems? While I really like many of the ideas listed here, the LucasArts classics Grim Fandango and Maniac Mansion are the ones I'd most like to see rehashed.

A *real* Star Control III

[Junta]

An SCIII from Toys for Bob (or whatever they would name it) is high on my list, even after all these years...

the problem with sequels...

[east coast]

My problem with sequels is that it's just way too easy to botch a good thing.

There's a ton of games I'd like to see either updated editions of or new maps/missions for but at the same time my initial reaction would be somewhere between fear and anxiety.

And as for updating older games... sometimes it's the nostalgic effect of playing it on the old systems that make it better than what the game really is.

System Shock 3?

[Clazzy]

Enough said? Really, I could think of a few games which would be lovely to have sequels to (DX, KOTOR to name a couple) but sometimes it's better to have an original story than churning out the same thing over and over which is what seems to happen nowadays. Perhaps I'm just too cynical.

StarCraft, TIE Fighter, Descent

[Cyno01]

Hell, re-release those with modern graphics and upgraded online play (ala Half Life:Source) and they would sell all over again. I still play all three of those games and i cant remember a LAN party i've been to where we didnt get a game of starcraft going. Show me a gamer that doesnt have starcraft tucked away on their system somewhere.

Sequels

[Anonymous Coward]

... because there's nothing like a good sequel to force the game industry to be more creative.

Fallout

[Chemisor]

Fallout was unquestionably the best PC game ever made.

This Time, He's Really Really Immortal + Anguished

[FhnuZoag]

Pleeeease don't make a Planescape Torment sequel. Sure, make another game set in the Planescape multiverse. But a sequel to Torment can only be a rape of a fine game's memory. The game had a fine ending, a great ending. Don't ruin it by tacking something on.

Master of Magic II

[Usekh]

Anyone else remember that game? man Master of Orion got 3 sequels. It deserves at least one.

A new Wing Commander game

[taxman_10m]

I loved the Wing Commander series and was very disappointed when they decided to go lite on the movie parts with the last game. The world needs more Kilrathi.

Re:They already did that...

[Monkelectric]

I pine for the LucasArts games of old. The Monkey Islands, the Day of the Tentacles, and Grim Fandango which was more art than a videogame.

Why is it that everything good and full of art, thought and wit must make way for what is base and stupid and vulgar? I pine for charm and subtle humor, for fully developed characters, for well developed plots for the denouement... for story telling and all the other things forgotten.

Fuck it, I'm going to write a video game and show 'em how it's done.

Random Games I Liked

[Atlantic Wall]

Last Express 2: A sequel to the Win 95/98 game made by smoking car productions. First game was set on orient express just before the assaination of Archduke Ferdinand. Great story and gameplay. Duke Nukem anyone???

Re:Fallout

[Trails]

Then by the same token, neither Descent, TIE Fighter, Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, etc... belong on that list.

I would like to see a Fallout sequel. Bethesda has the ip rights, but there hasn't been much movement yet that's visible to consumers. They might do a good job, they certainly did well with elder scrolls.

Re:Fallout

[drinkypoo]

What bothered me about it is that when you got towards the end the difficulty jumped to about three times what it had been before all of a sudden. One moment I was the undisputed king of all I ran into and the next I was getting spread thinly across the walls. It felt to me like they made the beginning and end of the game, then started filling it in from the point right after the opening, and never quite joined up to the ending.

Re:Chrono Trigger?

[ProppaT]

Square has a tendancy to do that and polarize fans.

Personally, I thought Chrono Cross was brilliant and like it better than Chrono Trigger. Then again, I also loved Legend of Mana which remains to be one of my top 5 favorite Playstation games of all time. I like it much better than the SD2 and 3, but it's also a completely different game. Then again, FFVII totally changed the FF series around and many people (not me) declare it the best of the series.

People get really upset when you change up something they love. I think Square's problem is that they try to sell games based solely on IP instead of creating new IP when they have new ideas.

Re:the problem with sequels...

[Gulthek]

Bionic Commando 2.

Re:No bullfrog games? No X-com? Crappy list.

[Hoplite3]

An excellent list. I'm a big fan of X-Com (UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe), but the publisher never understood what made it a great game. They said, "Oh, people like killing aliens!" so they made shooters, fliers, etc all themed around the same thing.

What X-Com had going for it was a great tactical combat system. It was fire-tested in the team's previous Laser Squad Nemesis game, and worked great here. Plus, the marriage of the tactical battle game to the strategic research game kept the whole thing fresh. Throw in a little stat-building (what the kids these days call "RPG elements"), and you had a fun and varied game. The fact that you shot sectoids wasn't really important.

I think the other thing that hurt X-Com (and lots of other games from this era) was the craze to have 3D, real-time, and realism. You can find old reviews still online. It's amazing to see these great games slighted for not including the buzzwords of the time. When the publishers commissioned sequels, they had to implement buzzwords even if they didn't fit with the game.

Also, the notion of having a "hot property" blinds producers. They'll just recombine window-dressings from games, discarding the mechanics that made the games fun. It's a poisonous idea, and it's everywhere.

Re:Fallout

[Itchyeyes]

Yeah, cause they did such a shitty job with Oblivion huh? And spare me that "it won't really be a true sequel" crap. If nothing else it'll be better than those half-ass spin-offs. I'll take a sequel from Bethesda over nothing any day, because that's exactly what we were getting before Bethesda bought the license.

Re:System Shock 3?

[Jesterboy]

I concur wholeheartedly; a true System Shock sequel would be wonderful. Bioshock looks good, but it seems to be quite a different experience. I would even settle for a re-hash of the first two; my current system doesn't play nice with either of them, despite trying several emulation solutions like VDMSound and DosBox. -_-

In the same vein, I would love to see a GOOD Deus Ex sequel/update. Invisible War just seemed to be lacking what made the original so great; the customization, the many approaches to the same situation, the substance abuse...^_^

Interstate 76

[Zaphod-AVA]

I'd like to see a modernization of Interstate 76.

Modern graphics, updated multiplayer, classic game play would be fine. Ideally adding a Car Wars like pricing system to spice up muliplayer dueling would be perfect.

I76 was a fantastic game, with a good story, immersive game engine style cut scenes, original funk sound track, and deep game play.

The dual challenge of designing a good car, and learning to drive it well kept me playing it for years. The game play stands the test of time, but the graphics are dated, and it's extremely difficult to get it to run on modern computers, or network past modern firewalls.

Sadly, Activision destroyed the franchise with a pair of sequels that were rushed out the door with buggy gameplay, and many undelivered promises.