You know the saying “Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing?” Well, that certainly wouldn’t be the case with our list of games that we wish had sequels.
A few members of the Game Rant crew were discussing which of our favorite titles we haven’t had enough of – and would love to see again in sequel form. The only rule was that titles could have no direct sequel, excluding spin-offs, spiritual successors, or remakes.
These are the titles that we feel should be honored with a number 2.
Donald McDowell
Stranglehold
I’m very appreciative of the detailed and complex games out there, such as Mass Effect , Grand Theft Auto IV , and Final Fantasy 12 . But I still play for enjoyment, and sometimes I just want to have mindless fun. Stranglehold offers me just that.
The so-called “complex” story of Stranglehold: some bad guys have your daughter and your ex girlfriend, and you have to keep pulling the trigger at said bad guys until you find them. To give an even shorter description, it’s like Max Payne with 40% less story and 50% more action.
Of course, since I compared it to Max Payne, you should know that it has bullet time and more bullet time-esque features. It has everything a mindless, fun game would need: bad-ass main character (voiced/modeled after Chow Yun Fat)? Check! Gratifying violence? Check! Over the top action sequences? Check! Solid controls? Check!
While I love other games that have true attention to detail, they really can’t put me into full relaxation mode. Some of the more complex titles tend to have what I like to call “chore mode,” where you have to do extra minuscule tasks in order to continue with the core game, i.e. collecting items in Assassin’s Creed , or having to please your friends in GTA IV . Sometimes it’s just nice to let the brain drift and kick-ass.
Duran Rivera
Final Fantasy 7
My choice would have to be Final Fantasy 7 – PART Counter-Strike 2 cheats! It may sound strange, but something along the lines of a Final Fantasy 7 video game sequel would be awesome. Final Fantasy 7 had a great story, great leading hero in Cloud, and a fascinating supporting cast in Red XIII, Aeris, Baret, Vincent (who even received his own spin off), Cid, and Cait Sith. To cap it all off an all time classic bad ass villain in the form of Sephroth.
This game had twists and turns, tragedy, surprise endings, great battles, addictive gameplay and, for its time, some of the best special effects of the genre.
After all the money Final Fantasy 7 made you’d figure Square Enix would continue this story in another video game. A CGI movie sequel, Final Fantasy: Advent Children, came out years later , but that was never good enough for me. That’s a different medium. I want to see a video game sequel. I mean Street Fighter 2 had how many sequels before we saw part 3? Square could have done the same. I think Square dropped the ball on that one. It’s not like it would have been difficult to do. Final Fantasy 7 screamed for a sequel, I thought.
Jonathan Poole
Secret of Evermore
In my opinion, Squaresoft’s seminal Super Nintendo action RPG Secret of Evermore is desperately in need of a sequel. Filled to the brim with a fun and clever story, beautifully diverse level design and the unique alchemy-based magic system, Secret of Evermore is one franchise that Square should definitely attempt to revisit.
The hero even had a shape-shifting dog companion that was a helluva lot more charming and way more awesome than the comparatively socially inept and uncool dogs in Fable 2 and Fallout 3 . I mean, seriously, Square, stop jerking us around with all of this lame Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy VII spin-off crap and get crackin’ on something that used to make you stand out from the crowd of spiky-haired, amnesiac protagonists.
Oh, and a true Chrono Trigger sequel would be great, you know, considering that Chrono Cross was pretty much pure garbage and almost wholly unrelated to its predecessor.
Ashley Gervais
Legend of Dragoon
First on my list is Legend of Dragoon . Granted, it had a super generic story. You are on a mission to collect dragon spirits and gain allies, while the main character Dart is seeking revenge on the black monster that killed his family.
The combat is system the same as any RPG, but there was a precise combo system that not many games at the time had. Nail them right and you would unleash lethal damage. I think if there was a sequel, they would be able to break away from all of the generics and finally become its own. LoD had tons of potential- they just borrowed too much from other games.
Vagrant Story
Vagrant Story is my second choice. For starters, it is a Square game, and all of them get sequels. The hero, Ashley Riot, finds himself in a mystery of murder all while having his memories altered. The internal struggle of Ashley trying to figure out his real goal was quite emotional.
The greatest thing about the game was there are no shops and no need for a grind. To find weapons, you would have to look for chests or get them after a battle. Instead of an EXP system, your stats increase after major boss fights. And we all know the grind in RPGs. It’s the most boring thing you can do in a game.
On top of it all, the music was deep and heavy- probably one of my favorite compositions.
And this next game is in production, so I don’t know if it counts.
Beyond Good & Evil
For my third choice, Beyond Good and Evil (the sequel has been in ‘pre-production’ for two years). The main character, Jade, reminded me of a female Luke Skywalker (pre-Force) in her quest to investigate an alien war.
The game is full of both stealth-based and puzzle quests. The cut scenes were as good as any traditional RPG’s. Plus, the game is full of ANIMALS, like the tough half-man half-pig, Pey’j. His battle cry was ‘Jambalaya!’ How can you not love him?
Continue to page 2 of Game Rant’s Games We Wish Had Sequels!
Freedom Fighters
John Jacques
Freedom Fighters came out for PS2, Gamecube and Xbox in 2003, and I don’t think enough people know about what a phenomenally well done game it was.
The title is pretty self-explanatory, as you play an average-joe-turned-freedom-fighter as the Soviet Union vies to ‘liberate’ America. You lead a rag-tag group of citizens through a quest to halt the invasion no matter what the odds – the storyline was great, the level design well-done, and the soundtrack phenomenal and very memorable.
But as much as I enjoyed the single player, the multiplayer is what really stood out for me – it was so unique. In each map there are 4 bunkers, and any one a player controls starts spawning soldiers. You can bring up to eight soldiers with you, and ordering them to defend different positions in the map adds an amazing tactical twist as players fight to control different bunkers. I cannot tell you how many hours I’ve poured into this game, but one thing is certain – I still haven’t poured enough.
Grim Fandango
Back from LucasArts glory days, Grim Fandango is probably the best example of a graphic adventure you can find. It was amazingly stylized and had an incredible plot which hooked you right from the beginning, and is probably one of the best examples of good writing in the videogame business.
The game combined different aspects of film noir to create the Land of the Dead, where the game primarily takes place. You play your role as Manny Calavera, a salesman of soul packages for the recently departed.
Most know of the game, which won a ridiculous amount of rewards after its release, and it’s often included in “Best Games of All Time” packages, but was considered a commercial failure in sales and thus this is why no sequel to such an amazing game has ever been made. I think the fact that the fan-sites for this 1998 game are still active says it all.
Jon Lavallee
Counter Strike 2 Guide-Strike
I would love to see a refresh or a next installment of Counter-Strike 2 ranking guide . I played a metric ton of the game in it’s heyday, and the fact that it still thrives online via Steam should be a tell-tale hint that a sequel would be nothing short of a rock-solid idea.
The game originally came out in 1999 as a Half-Life mod and in 2000 as separate retail. That’s over a decade! The potential of what a new release would look like seems amazing in terms of graphics, mechanics and the all-around evolution of video games since then. I know I’m not alone, there’s even a Facebook group devoted to the cause.
Currently, Valve has a bunch of updates in beta right now for the current version readying for full release and I can only hope that’s just to keep us at bay while they work on a sequel. Until then, I’m waiting for the original to get Mac support so I can get back in on Steam for Mac.
That’s all… for now.
So there you have it, the games we would like to most like to see sequels* made for. I guess it’s true that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. In a perfect world, a developer would see this and say “Hey! That’s a great idea.” But sadly this isn’t a perfect world, so all we can do for now is dream and reminisce. Although all hope isn’t lost, as this year’s E3 is next month, and there is always a possibility.
Obviously, this list isn’t exhaustive – there are plenty of other great games that could have had great sequels. So, are there any other sequels that you Ranters would like to see?
*By “Sequel” we don’t mean some stupid spin-off or anything of that nature. We want to see these titles with a number “2” at the end!
