Decline What's the worst non-RPG sequel ever?

[sser]

The totality of the Close Combat series after the third game. It isn't that they're individually bad, it's that they almost aggressively pursued zero change.

Agreed on close combat. They've been releasing the same game for 20 years.

Of course but you should know what happened. Those are not really sequels but waste recycling. The number of third rate hacks who had their hands on glorious CC2 is staggering, and even the weakest parts of the original actually got worse in the process.

I was enthralled by CC2. Man that took me to Arnhem so hard that I feel like a war veteran. CC3 was the same game but with the same problems and less quality content. Then came 4 which was simply bad (the popamole disease was beginning to rage) then 5 which was like 2 but lazy and buggy, then came Matrix who milked the franchise with pure garbage for a decade, then after 20 years Matrix announced a brand new engine which took forever and when it was released was complete shit. Have I forgotten something?

A brief foray into FPS,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Combat:_First_to_Fight

 

[Joggerino]

The totality of the Close Combat series after the third game. It isn't that they're individually bad, it's that they almost aggressively pursued zero change.

Agreed on close combat. They've been releasing the same game for 20 years.

Of course but you should know what happened. Those are not really sequels but waste recycling. The number of third rate hacks who had their hands on glorious CC2 is staggering, and even the weakest parts of the original actually got worse in the process.

I was enthralled by CC2. Man that took me to Arnhem so hard that I feel like a war veteran. CC3 was the same game but with the same problems and less quality content. Then came 4 which was simply bad (the popamole disease was beginning to rage) then 5 which was like 2 but lazy and buggy, then came Matrix who milked the franchise with pure garbage for a decade, then after 20 years Matrix announced a brand new engine which took forever and when it was released was complete shit. Have I forgotten something?

I just checked and the original developer basically disbanded in 2000. I had no idea

 

[Carrion]

Escape from Monkey Island

I actually like EfMI quite a bit, although I'll admit my bias seeing how I was 12 and open to new ideas when it came out. Yes, it's got some notorious puzzles and a pretty terrible endgame (fucking Monkey Combat), but it's still a funny game with plenty of highlights. I don't even mind the 3D stuff. Honestly, I think I might even prefer it to Curse, although that one has one of the funniest scenes in the history of gaming (the one involving a band of vicious pirates trimming the sails and roaming the sea). Obviously Curse doesn't belong to this thread either, but it's definitely lackluster and kind of hollow compared to the superb LeChuck's Revenge.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Didn't that awful The Godfather video game got a sequel just as bad or even worse than the first one?

Yeah it was like completely different game - different times, characters, new mechanics... Sounds like something that would bring fresh air to burned out series but nope - it was all garbage.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Escape from Monkey Island

I actually like EfMI quite a bit, although I'll admit my bias seeing how I was 12 and open to new ideas when it came out. Yes, it's got some notorious puzzles and a pretty terrible endgame (fucking Monkey Combat), but it's still a funny game with plenty of highlights. I don't even mind the 3D stuff. Honestly, I think I might even prefer it to Curse, although that one has one of the funniest scenes in the history of gaming (the one involving a band of vicious pirates trimming the sails and roaming the sea). Obviously Curse doesn't belong to this thread either, but it's definitely lackluster and kind of hollow compared to the superb LeChuck's Revenge.

I haven't played it since release, but my memory of it was that the script and design were a significant step down from prior entries, and the controls were an utter abomination. To be fair, I can't say that I'm 100% sure I actually finished the game. I've been playing through all the 'big' LA adventures recently though, and I will probably take a stab at Escape again, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
I do have to say I think you're being unfair to Curse (even though, as I recently noted in the thread over in the Adventure sub-forum, I agree with you that MI2 is the highpoint of the series). The art and VO in Curse alone are arguably the best ever seen in a 90's game. Puzzle design is a step down from 2, and the script is a bit overly wordy and "cinematic" for my tastes, but it is still a very, very good game.

 

[Fronzel Neekburm]

So, I take it that none of you have ever played Soldier of Fortune: Payback?

Good. Consider yourselves lucky! Not only is it a terrible (in name only) sequel, it's arguably the shittiest first person shooter I ever played period.

 

[Morenatsu.]

So, I take it that none of you have ever played Soldier of Fortune: Payback?

Good. Consider yourselves lucky! Not only is it a terrible (in name only) sequel, it's arguably the shittiest first person shooter I ever played period.

Soldier of Fortune was a shit game to begin with, so that barely matters.

 

[RNGsus]

Rome II. Killed my enthusiasm for Creative forever.

Empire was a let down, but yes Rome II was betrayal.

The one I most remember though was Splinter Cell Double Agent. Deadly Shadows was also mundane trash, not just losing rope but i wanted more steampunk. I thought the Mechanists had started something that would change the City even without them.

 

[karoliner]

 

[ADL]

Quake II
I know it's not a bad game but it has next to nothing in common with what I loved about the first game. All the strogg shit should've been it's own series and I believe I read an interview where the id Software guys agreed with that statement.

 

[Pegultagol]

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action was not technically a sequel than a remake but a nonsensical departure from proven turn based formula and another descent to 3D mediocrity in my opinion.

SimCity (2013), Command and Conquer 4 were typical sad consequences of EA opting to follow the latest fads of online authentication and other anti-consumer practices scuttling any progress made in the series

 

[Carrion]

I haven't played it since release, but my memory of it was that the script and design were a significant step down from prior entries, and the controls were an utter abomination.

The tank controls worked better than in Grim Fandango, at least, although pointing and clicking is obviously superior.

I do have to say I think you're being unfair to Curse (even though, as I recently noted in the thread over in the Adventure sub-forum, I agree with you that MI2 is the highpoint of the series). The art and VO in Curse alone are arguably the best ever seen in a 90's game.

I do agree it looks and sounds great.

 

[kain30]

Holy shit! I forgot about the blowjob! Hahahah

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

There are many things that disappointed when going from HL1 to HL2, but comparing HL2 to Unreal 2 is just wrong.

HL2 might be a slightly better geam than U2 but as sequel - they're both terrible. At least Unreal has excellent multiplayer fork (Tournament), Half-Life 2 just killed entire franchise.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

HL2 is inarguably inferior to the first game, but claiming it's the worst sequel ever is absurd. It's an on-rails series of gimmicks, but some of those gimmicks are fun the first few times through. And HL2 didn't kill the franchise, Valve did, not to mention that if you want to bring multiplayer into the conversation HL2 gave us the Source engine which has been used for a slew of okay to great multiplayer focused titles.

If we're going with "worst FPS sequel" I'm inclined to give it to Blood 2.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action was not technically a sequel than a remake but a nonsensical departure from proven turn based formula and another descent to 3D mediocrity in my opinion.

Basic version was crap and only mods made it bearable.

It could be worse though.
JA RAGE and this

Bugs, runs like shit. Messed up hectic gameplay. Bland banal shit boring. Nothing memorable - characters, quests, story, gameplay... nothing.
Oh and when they show it on Gamescom/E3/else devs could not play their own game because AI had pinpoint accuracy with grenades.

 

[Ash]

Ninja Gaiden 3...
It was a good game you fuck.

I'm talking about the NG3 from 2012, not the NG3 from 1991.

And Duke Nukem Forever was fucking trash, what are people smoking? Linear unengaging level design, braindead combat, retarded gearbox humor and scripting...Duke Nukem has quite a few good games made in his image, DNF isn't even half the game they are. The basically made it a modern FPS, meaning gameplay for people under the age of 5. Hell I'd rather play Duke Nukem Advance over that shit.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Duke Nukem Forever was fucking trash, what are people smoking? Linear unengaging level design, braindead combat, retarded gearbox humor and scripting...Duke Nukem has quite a few good games made in his image, DNF isn't even half the game they are. The basically made it a modern FPS, meaning gameplay for people under the age of 5. Hell I'd rather play Duke Nukem Advance over that shit.

hey, you can't blame randy for everything. 3D realms were retards too!

Also, no, I'd much rather play DNF than some shitty GBA FPS, for the same reason that'd I'd rather suffer a stupid movie than watch paint dry.

 

[Ash]

Fuck that.

The key difference is the shitty GBA game is challenging and demanding (often in a terrible way - controls), the other one is actually like watching paint dry, all the stupid "story", "humor" and scripted scenes, + gameplay so basic you may as well be staring at paint.
The shitty GBA game may be shit but at least it demands something from the player beyond patience for trash content. I mean, you actually have to navigate the levels, switch between more than two weapons, and there's no retarded filler like DNF.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Fuck that.

The key difference is the shitty GBA game is challenging and demanding (often in a terrible way - controls), the other one is actually like watching paint dry, all the stupid "story", "humor" and scripted scenes, + gameplay so basic you may as well be staring at paint.
The shitty GBA game may be shit but at least it demands something from the player beyond patience for trash content. I mean, you actually have to navigate the levels, switch between more than two weapons, and there's no retarded filler like DNF.

I'd rather eat popamole junk-food than drink hardened shit through a straw, but you're so hardcore you can't pass up the challenge of the latter. Difficulty isn't the only thing that matters and its quality isn't solely determined by how hard it is, anyway. If that were the case, then Blood 2 would actually be a really good game. But it's not, because it's shit. And GBAshit is on a whole other level of mind-numbing, soulless shit. At least DNF is playable and has a lot of retardation to be baffled by. That's much more interesting than a shit game, with shit controls, shit audio, shit graphics, and absolutely nothing to offer at all. You've try-harded yourself into complete retardation, congratulations.

 

[Norfleet]

Yeah, the only thing that makes me hesitate to agree with the 2013 SimCity is the question on if it even counts as a sequel instead of a terrible reboot. It was a terrible game that was also online only

Games that don't have a story to begin with can't be "rebooted" or "remade", because there's nothing to reboot: Every subsequent incarnation of the series is necessarily a "remake" by design. The only argument you could make is that it wasn't a sequel, but a spinoff, but that sort of falls flat given the subject material is otherwise directly connected. Being "online only" doesn't count as a sufficient shift to grant this, though, since it was not specifically billed as an "online" spinoff. World of Warcraft is the online spinoff of Warcraft rather than a sequel in the series of Warcraft because it is specifically billed as not part of series. Diablo III, despite also being online only, remains an inferior sequel to Diablo II, however, despite being online-only.

Therefore, I maintain that SimShitty 5 is the worst (non-RPG) sequel ever, as measured by the fall in quality between it and the previous incarnation(s). It is not merely lackluster or uninspired, it is genuinely an atrocious sequel to a game series that was good.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Red Alert 3
Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight
Kohan 2 (for me at least)
TW: Rome 2
Blood 2

 

[mindx2]

No contest in my mind, has to be nuThief! For a sequel to be "the worst ever" the preceding game(s) have to be absolute classics and the new game so far removed from it that the disappointment is exponentially worse. This fits nuThief in every way.

 

[asfasdf]

Dreamfall

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

The totality of the Close Combat series after the third game. It isn't that they're individually bad, it's that they almost aggressively pursued zero change.

Close Combat 3 is probably the greatest sequel disappointment I've ever had.
Retarded chances to force organisation, retarded campaign that tries to do whole WW2 eastern front from 41 to 45 with dozen controllable units and retarded decision to make infantry useless.