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5 Games That Need a Sequel

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/17/2012
Posted in: Blogs. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Some games are infected with sequelitis where a developer makes the same game over and over again. There are a few series that are actually good every time (Assassin’s Creed, God of War, Mortal Kombat, Battlefield), but they are rare. Some games should just stop being made altogether (Need for Speed, Call of Duty, Dynasty Warriors, Final Fantasy), but no one will listen. Then there are the games that everyone begs to have sequels for and the developers, or publishers, just will not listen. Instead of another great game, they give us another billion-dollar Call of Duty because that’s what publishers want. Here are 5 games that I think need to come back because we dearly miss them.

5. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords

(Xbox, PC)

The KotOR series is considered the best Star Wars game series of all time. It brought a whole new story and characters to the Star Wars universe and made them work. You got attached to them, you liked them, you hated them, and the story played on the Force and light and dark side masterfully. KotOR II wasn’t much of an improvement on the first game, but it was enough to garner just as many sales and high scores. Some people consider The Old Republic MMO as an unofficial sequel, but it’s just not the same. BioWare has received countless emails and letters from fans, but no such sequel has ever seen the light of day.

4. Okami

(PS2, Wii)

Okami received such high scores, but poor sales. It was part of the reason why Clover Studios no longer exists. Sure, everyone knows who Amaterasu is and what Okami is, but a lot of people have never played it. Okamiden for DS is really considered a sequel, but it technically is. Everyone has wanted a true console experience with some next-gen flair, but thus far nothing has been seen except a Wii port. Will we ever see Amaterasu again? Probably not, but here’s to hoping someone’s listening.

3. Bayonetta

(X360, PS3)

She’s a witch, she has pistol heels, and wears her hair for clothes. Men want her, and women want to be her. Her name is Bayonetta and she took the gaming industry by storm with near-flawless combat and a very intriguing story with amazing visuals. The game had attitude and style like no other since Devil May Cry. It’s been a good 3 years, but not a single word of a sequel has been in sight. Will there ever be one? Platinum Studios is still alive and kicking, but they have been pumping out brand new IPs every year. Stop and make Bayonetta 2! For some reason, Sega won’t let them.

2. Psychonauts

(Xbox, PS2, PC)

Tim Schafer is a mastermind when it comes to storytelling and character development. I never quite enjoyed a platformer as much as I did Psychonauts. There was just something about it that made you want to keep playing and never put the controller down. The characters were wonderfully created in such a way that you fell in love with them instantly. The gameplay was varied with some ingenious level design, but like most games like this, it got high scores and low sales. People even protested to Microsoft to make the game compatible with the Xbox 360 and it actually happened. It’s even available as a downloadable Xbox game under the Classics section. The PS2 version wasn’t as popular due to the system’s lack of power, but by far you should have played this masterpiece by now. So Tim, where’s the sequel?

1. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

(PS2, Xbox)

Never before have I waited for a sequel longer than Psi-Ops. This third-person shooter was just superbly developed and I had a blast with this game. I even love the band Cold thanks to the “With My Mind” music video on the disc. You got to play as Scorpion when you beat the game! Using your mind powers to infiltrate enemy bases was never more fun, and the game had a well-crafted story that made people beg for a sequel. The cliffhanger ending stills rests in my mind and after a decade there has been no word of a sequel. If you haven’t played this game yet, go ahead and pick it up because you won’t be disappointed, just after you play it and find out there’s no sequel.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/03/2010
Posted in: DS, iOS, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Wii, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: LucasArts

Release Date: 10/26/2010


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A lot of games wind up getting overhyped and overall pissing off the entire gaming community, especially if it’s a game with a huge and strong backbone of fans. Star Wars has always been this way whether it’s books, movies, games, or cartoons; there has been a huge following with the Star Wars universe, and this is one such game to be buried under the overhype train. LucasArts promised a huge sequel that would make the first game seem like a pile of doo, but it’s only slightly better. Sure the mechanics are tighter, and the fat has been cut away, but we’re just left with the bones because they somehow fed the meat to the dog.

The developers even had to come up with some absurd way to resurrect Starkiller by having Vader clone him. He’s possessed with memories of his former self and wants to find Juno Eclipse, his lover from the first game. The story is really bare, and is really one-dimensional, and only in the last cutscene does it get interesting at all, and this is so lame and cliche is made you want to smash your computer in frustration. We’re at the end of 2010 and LucasArts can’t hire writers that can write better than this! You could probably write the entire plot on a napkin…oh wait…

Other than that the combat is fast but still flawed. While Starkiller is dual-wielding here he still feels stiff to control, and a bit chaotic. You have all your powers from the original game so you’re not trying to find them again. You can use lighting, push, mind trick, toss crap around, and charges and upgrades of these Force powers, but you’ll mainly stick with Force lightning. I never used the mind trick and only used push when the game called for it. The enemy variety is even less than the original with your usual Storm Trooper grunts, and some bigger guys that are taken down with QTEs, but these are repeated dozens upon dozens of times and get very boring.

Other than that the actual fighting is ok if only Starkiller could move more than two inches when swinging his sabers around. Mashing X will only kill people next to Starkiller, so you have to stop and move next to the enemy then start mashing away. That’s why you end up using lightning so much since Storm Troopers are easy to kill. The combat animations can’t be interrupted, and when he gets stunned during a fall you’re still vulnerable, and even vulnerable during some QTEs! What’s up with that! Even allowing you to change your saber crystals for stat effects doesn’t really do anything, and you’ll forget it’s there once you discover it.

The game doesn’t have many epic moments, and the only good one is the second level facing off against a giant creature, and it’s completely God of War-style and hugely epic. The only other memorable moments are the few free-fall sections and that’s all. The game lacks any moments that are memorable and this is a huge kick in the teeth for a game with such potential. The game is just really repetitive, highly unbalanced, and just isn’t what it could be. The game looks pretty good in some spots, but it could look a lot better. Unleashed II just feels like it’s half done, and even the short length helps this along. There are challenges and extras, but after spending the 5-6 hours with this game you’ll just uninstall it and forget it just like the last game. If there is ever a Force Unleashed III please take your time and make it what it should be!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/05/2009
Posted in: DS, iOS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Wii, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: LucasArts

Release Date: 9/16/2008


Also Available On

I was really excited about this whole game and I’m surprised LucasArts lied and made a lot of things up. First I have to mention that you can’t choose which side you go on until the final boss fight. Without spoiling anything the whole game is based on you fighting with the dark side as Vader’s apprentice to bring The Emperor/The Sith Lord/Darth Sidius down so Vader can take his place. So, Unleashed takes place between episodes 3 and 4 (ok if you can’t the original 3 as 3, 4, and 5) and you try to bring about the Rebel Alliance to take the Empire down. While the story flip-flops a whole lot and doesn’t get interesting until the VERY end it keeps things interesting and there are a few new memorable characters that help make it interesting.

The whole point of the game is to make you feel ultra-powerful and mainly focuses on Force powers. The controls take a bit getting used to but you basically learn force powers over time and can upgrade your lightsaber and your powers by using force powers. You can earn yellow (combo spheres), red (force spheres), and blue (power spheres). Each section has abilities that cost sphere points and can increase your max health, max force energy, give you new combos, etc. I found only a few of the combos really useful since the game is full of cheap fighting and death. You have to use your most powerful stuff on the weakest enemies thanks to you falling down and not being able to recover. You’ll flop around like a rag doll while 20 enemies are wailing on you and you can’t get up. You can ONLY recover in the air by pressing A really quick so this really kills things…a hell of a lot too. You wind up dying and being overwhelmed because you get knocked down and can’t get up so you die almost instantly even in the easiest setting.

The game throws WAY too many people at you so here’s a scenario. You have a bunch of Stormtroopers, 2 AT-ATs, 4 huge black Imperial dudes, 5 snipers, and 3 guys with turrets all wailing on you. How the HELL can you beat them all without dying? Well, use your force powers like a lightning shield, saber toss, Force push, or Force throw. When you fight bigger enemies like Rancors or AT-ATs you get a button-pressing sequence like in God of War and it’s not as fun as you think. There’s no variation like stick turns, button-mashing, etc. Most of it is just sitting and watching so it’s really broken.

I also have to mention that the game is absolutely gorgeous and this is probably the only superb thing about the game. Everything is HUGE and you really feel like you are almost on these planets. Of course, a Star Wars game wouldn’t be complete without finding stuff. If you get Jedi Holocrons you can get new lightsaber crystals to change the color of your blade or power crystals to change the properties of your saber. Good luck finding them all since they are so stupidly hidden you’ll only find half on every level and there’s really no incentive to replay the game since it’s so darn cheap and retarded. If the game wasn’t so cheap you could possibly beat the game hard, but even on the medium you almost can’t beat the game. I have a strong feeling that this game wasn’t playtested much or these flaws wouldn’t exist.

Another major flaw is when you’re force throwing. The game uses both sticks to do this but it lacks depth perception and it’s hard to aim objects properly. Another stupid flaw is the retarded camera; even though you can control it the camera likes flopping around constantly and it makes you feel sick after a while. PLEASE!!!! Now, if you’re a Star Wars buff then there are a lot of files you can unlock and read, an art gallery, unlockable costumes, a cheat code section, etc. I guess only the rest of the hardcore players will go back and play this again, but even I (a HUGE Star Wars fan) won’t go play this more than once. So, if you can bypass the absurdly cheap deaths with no recovery after falling, the repetitive fighting, and the lukewarm plot then, by all means, go for it.