May 29, 2009
Sequelitis
By
Dakota Grabowski
Sequel after sequel, our industry is
degrading into an area of predictability.
This is the time of the year that publishers
gear up to announce their epic sequels of their best selling franchises. From
the typical Madden installment to the sequel that no one saw coming such
as Red Dead Redemption, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is a
breeding ground for countless sequels that rule the video-game industry.
Is this necessarily a good thing?
Year in and year out,
the industry that we
passionately adore continues to ride the wave of safety. Even if it means
sacrificing quality, many sequels are rushed out the doors in effort to hit
their target date of the holidays.
If you have missed out on the recent
announcements of E3 lineups and it’s plethora of sequels, here’s a quick rundown
of what we are looking at off the top of my head.
First off, Electronic Arts is bringing forth
Mass Effect 2, Army of Two: The 40th Day, – a title
that critically underperformed – Fight Night Round 4, Need for Speed
Shift, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and of course sequels to all of
their sports licenses. Nothing surprising here, although Electronic Arts has
been doing a better job securing new titles including: Dead Space,
Left 4 Dead and Rage.
On the other hand, Activision Blizzard is
out to break the banks of gamers who can now expect yearly installments of many
of their franchises with additions to the sequel library such as: Modern
Warfare 2, Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and a
new Tony Hawk. If you thought EA was bad a few years ago, just wait until
you have a selection of three new Guitar Hero’s to choose from, and of
course, all of it’s competition from its rivals.
Never wanting to lag behind, 2K Games is showcasing Bioshock 2, Mafia
II, The Bigs 2, and, almost a guarantee every year, their sports
titles to compete against Electronic Arts. Personally, a sequel to Bioshock 2
seems to be too early as I’m still taking in the wonderful experience that the
original gave.
As you can see, that’s an enormous amount of
sequels just from three publishers. Looking out side of those three, you can
expect Capcom to bring forth Lost Planet 2 and Dead Rising 2;
Microsoft with Forza Motorsport 3, Halo 3: ODST, and
Ninety-Nine Nights II; Sega with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter
Games and another Sonic installment with his magical friends; and much more.
Will this madness ever end?
The question: Is there a potential cure to
this craze that publishers keep shoving down our throats? The answer: Perhaps
it’s our own doing with begging them for sequels, but there should be a better
future for video-games than routine installments that drag a franchise into
monotony. For proof, check out Sega’s attempt to keep Sonic relevant with poor
3D platformers – it’s not working!
Even with several titles that are set to be
showcased at E3 this year that aren’t sequels, there’s a high chance that the
publishers will set them on the path to sequel city if they sell well enough.
Titles such as Bayonetta, Heavy Rain, Singularity,
Brutal Legend, Dragon Age: Origins, The Conduit and Dante’s
Inferno all scream for sequels, so it wouldn’t be a shocker if we start to
hear that all of the titles are planned for the standard trilogy route that
every publisher dreams of producing.
So what can one expect from E3 2009? A
tremendous amount of sequels – some that’ll have you scratching your head – and
very little originality when it comes to developing fresh and interesting
properties. There’s no denying that money does the talking in this industry –
and even if we do band together to stop the never-ending cycle of sequels and
spin-offs (i.e. Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution), the
publishers will eventually turn to the next best thing to serialize and put into
their sequel rotation.
Here’s hoping that one day, in the near
future, our precious video game industry grows up a little and starts looking at
our medium more so as an art rather than strictly as a form of entertaining
escapism.
For now, we can only sit back and use our
wallets wisely.
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Previous E3 Zoned-In Articles:
Readers are the real winners during the upcoming E3
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