Another Top 10 Amazing Games That Never Got a Sequel

Inspired by the tabletop role-playing game of the same name, Bloodlines has the player controlling either a male or female character, who has been resurrected into a vampire after their grizzly murder. Much of the game’s praise was in regard to the vast amount of choice that it offered to players. With an expansive group of clans to interact with, branching choices and characters reacting to you based on your actions and clan loyalty; Bloodlines provided a deep gaming world that was definitely ahead of its time, and a pleasure for us to sink our teeth into. Bugs in the initial release sadly prevented this title from getting the recognition it deserved – if only Day 1 patches were a thing bad in 2004…

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#9: “The Simpsons: Hit & Run” (2003)

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Top 10 Amazing Video Games That Never Got A Sequel

A good licensed video game isn’t exactly an easy thing to come across, so whenever a halfway decent one comes around, it’s something to be appreciated. The Simpsons Hit and Run was much more than ‘decent’ however, with several members of the creative team behind the show helping to craft the story and dialogue for the game, helping to provide an authentic Simpsons experience for fans of the franchise. Players adored being able to step into the shoes of all their favorite characters and live out Grand Theft Auto style antics and mayhem in a fully realized Springfield sandbox. With such positive reception and the show still going strong, it’s a mystery why Fox didn’t take advantage of this ‘Hit’ and ‘Run’ with it…

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#8: “Sleeping Dogs” (2012)

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Sleeping Dogs: Everything You Should Know

Originally planned as another entry in the ‘True Crime’ series, Sleeping Dogs had a fairly lengthy and troubled production cycle. Despite all the hurdles the dev team faced, they still managed to create an addictive open world action game with a fun combat system and even threw in some RPG elements for good measure. If this is what the developers were able to produce this from a troubled production, just imagine what they could do if a sequel had smooth progress all the way through. It could take advantage of newer hardware to create a larger environment with even more to do. Unfortunately with developer United Front Games closing down, the chances of seeing a sequel are less than likely.

Made by the same team behind Heavenly Sword and the Devil May Cry reboot, this 3rd person action adventure game was a truly fresh gameplay experience. The game served as a re-imagining of the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West”, swapping the source material’s fantasy based elements for a more post-apocalyptic sci-fi approach. The experience was just the right balance of fun and challenging, the graphics were full of lush colors and the motion capture talents of Andy Serkis were widely praised. Enslaved also featured plenty of emotional and funny moments, to add to its thrills for a complete gaming package. Another entry was planned, but the game unfortunately sold poorly, crushing any chance of seeing this odyssey continue.

Here we find yet another video game inspired by a classic novel, that was set in a quasi-post apocalyptic setting. In this instance developer Take Two interactive drew from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” to come up with the narrative and scenarios for this action packed shooter. The interesting twist that they went for, is how the game was designed to be purposely upsetting and overly graphic, making players question their actions as well as calling attention to the many horrors that war can bring about. This unconventional perspective for a militaristic themed video game earned the studio several nominations for storytelling in a video game. The same can’t be said on the financial side of things, as Spec Ops tanked sales wise.

Sony’s original Playstation was the home to many of gaming’s finest RPG’s including Parasite Eve, Persona, Xenogears and a little thing called Final Fantasy. Despite all of those heavy hitters already being on the system, Vagrant Story was somehow able to avoid being overshadowed, thanks to its intelligent and creative design. The combat system was innovative and deep and its story was highly compelling. It also deviated from RPG norms, with no towns or shops, with the player instead having a robust weapon customization system at their disposal. Icing on the cake were the breathtaking character models and backgrounds, which pushed the graphical capabilities of the console to its limits. It’s a shame this story didn’t get to continue.

Do you feel first person shooters are a dime a dozen these days? There’s no shame agreeing, as the gaming landscape is practically littered with military based shooters and not much to differentiate them. Epic Games (the people behind “Gears of War”) looked to change the norms of the genre with this fast paced shooter that was bursting at the seams with stylish action and crass humor. Bulletstorm is so special because it encourages the player to get creative with their kills, rewarding them with points based upon what kind of zany violent tendencies they pull off. This allowed gamers to play the game their way, propelling it into a category of shooters that aren’t just your standard move from point A to B affairs.

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#3: “L.A Noire” (2011)

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10 Awesome Games That Will Never Get a Sequel

We’re all used to playing characters on the opposite side of the law in the Grand Theft Auto series. Switching up the open world crime formula, L.A Noire tasks us with playing the cops instead of the robbers and it delivers an experience like no other. The game was noteworthy for its stunning motion capture technology in how it was able to simulate realistic facial animations. This went hand in hand with the interrogation sections, helping to make you feel like a real detective on a case. The real sad part, is that not only did this game not receive a sequel, but it was developer Team Bondi’s(Bond-eye) ONLY release before they were shut down just a few months after L.A Noire launched.

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#2: “XIII” (2003)

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Final Fantasy XIII-2: Everything You Should Know

Here we have another standout first person shooter that emphasizes much more than just the “bam, pow and bang” of the genre. Taking full advantage of its Belgian graphic novel roots, XIII rocked a cel-shaded visual style long before Borderlands was even a concept. There is not a single moment in the entire game that doesn’t make feel like you are moving through the pages of a comic book, with sound effects appearing in big letters on the screen as well as panels popping up to show objectives and other in-game events. Perhaps the most annoying part of this story, the original game ended on a cliffhanger to set up an intended sequel. So, where is it Ubisoft?

Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few more games that deserve a sequel…

“Singularity” (2010)

“Metal Arms: Glitch in the System” (2003)

“Mischief Makers” (1997)

Before developer Bioware launched their smash hit RPG’s ‘Mass Effect’ & “Dragon Age” they put together a little game called ‘Jade Empire’ which was unanimously met with overwhelming critical praise from critics and gamers alike. It’s very clear that tons of love went into crafting the experience, as it boasted an incredibly epic and moving storyline set in a fictional kingdom inspired by ancient China. Nearly every aspect that makes a game great was finely tuned here: the gameplay was hard hitting and addictive, the music was exciting, the graphics were stunning and (icing on the cake) Jade Empire introduced the romance system before the aforementioned Mass Effect. The game just screamed franchise all over it…so where the heck are the other installments?

Do you agree with our list? Which video game do you feel deserves a sequel? For more Top 10’s that we promise will keep coming every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.