The 10 WORST Video Game Sequels EVER
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VOICE OVER: Aaron Brown
WRITTEN BY: Aaron Brown
These sequels were so bad, we'd rather go back and play the originals. Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're looking at video game sequels that managed to let us down even further than we thought possible. Our list of the worst video game sequels includes “Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5” (2015), “Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness” (2003), “Bubsy 3D” (1996), “Dino Crisis 3” (2003), and more!
Welcome to MojoPlays and our expectations were low but these video game sequels managed to let us down even further than we thought possible.
Only a few of Microsoft’s first party titles were given the hype and media coverage as Crackdown 3 throughout its development, specifically showcasing the game’s use of cloud technology to give the player unprecedented levels of destruction within the game’s world. The original Crackdown was a surprise hit probably due in no small part to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta code within, but the game still found a loyal fanbase that its sequel did not satisfy. Crackdown 3 had everything going for it, but upon release, the much-touted destruction was virtually non-existent, and the gameplay was boring and lifeless with little to differentiate it from the original that came 12 years before it. When not even the energetic Terry Crews can save your game, you know you’re finished
By the time Angel of Darkness was released, Core Design felt it was time to change up the familiar Lara Croft formula but overcompensated and ended up losing creative control of the IP they created. Taking Lara out of the tombs made for an interesting premise but the inclusion of RPG elements in which Lara must upgrade her abilities was very poorly implemented and the game’s already poor controls didn’t do the archeologist any favors either. Despite the narrative’s darker tone, the game’s AI and horrible camera actively worked against the experience, breaking the game’s immersion during nearly every encounter. Behind the scenes interviews revealed the team struggled to adapt to the PS2 architecture as well as a rushed production hindered by an encroaching release date. Whether the additional development time would have helped is unknown, but Lara almost raided her last tomb had it not been for subsequent reboots.
Anytime the well-intentioned Kinect is involved, you’re already guaranteed a hit or miss experience. The original Steel Battalion was already a mech fan's dream come true with its gargantuan gamepad simulating a real-life mech cockpit, but at least that title could still be played with a standard controller. This was not the case with its sequel Heavy Armor, with Kinect being the only way to play, and made the inconsistent peripheral’s flaws all the more glaring. Using hand and body motions for every action, the Kinect would struggle to register even the simplest gestures, making the game virtually unplayable as players would bounce back and forth between frantic hand motions trying to register on the Kinect or reconfiguring themselves with the camera because it somehow lost track of them. The original Steel Battalion’s controller might have been unwieldy, but at least it worked.
If publisher interference was a game, it would be Dead Space 3. Almost completely foregoing the series’ dark and disturbing atmosphere in favor of more action-oriented gameplay and obviously shoehorned co-op, Dead Space 3 barely resembled the resurrected corpse of its former self. With EA wanting a broader appeal to bring in as many players as possible, Isaac was joined by the blank slate Carver who was clearly so forced into the narrative, he barely even appears in the game’s cutscenes. EA also decided to use Dead Space 3 as their guinea pig for microtransactions giving players access to late game and overpowered gear if they were willing to fork over real-world cash. Naturally, because of these awful decisions, Dead Space 3 was received negatively by both longtime fans and critics and until the recent remake, had severed any hope of the franchise continuing.
In the early days of 3D gaming, developers were still trying to get the hang of this new dimension, and while some series like Mario or newcomers like Crash and eventually Spyro found great success in the 3D landscape, others struggled to find their footing. Besides looking like a bad trip, every aspect of Bubsy’s jump to 3D was terrible. From the voice acting, to the level design, and especially the controls, simply getting the feline from one end of the map to the other was an exercise in frustration. Bubsy himself moved too slowly for a precision platformer, and the game’s use of tank controls could make even the simplest jump end in a “Game Over” screen. Although he had a moderately successful run in the 2D landscape, Bubsy used all nine of his lives in his only 3D outing.
The original Driver game might’ve beaten GTA to the 3D open world genre by a few years but after the misstep of Driver 2 and the subsequent releases of GTA 3 and Vice City, the Driver series had a lot of catching up to do. Sadly, it would seem their ambitions got the better of them as not only was the game poorly received, the developer’s jabs at Rockstar and the Grand Theft Auto series only drew more attention to everything Driver 3 was lacking. Terrible controls and vehicle handling coupled with incredibly stiff animations seemingly lifted from the PS1 entries, led to the game being poorly received by both fans and critics. While attempting to chase GTA’s legacy, the Driver franchise lost its identity and the shadow cast by the poorly received 3rd entry made many players completely overlook the vastly superior entry Driver: San Francisco released a few years later.
The Dino Crisis series had so much potential to step out of the “Resident Evil Dinosaurs” shadow and Dino Crisis 2 even took things in a more action centric direction, further allowing the series to broaden its horizons. Its threequel, however, killed the franchise deader than its namesake. Rather than pick up on the sequel’s cliffhanger ending, Dino Crisis 3 jumps over 500 years into the future and removes all the tension by giving players a jet pack and big laser guns to battle dinosaurs on a spaceship. As if this premise wasn’t blasphemous enough, the game’s overall design and lack of variety in enemies made gameplay boring and repetitive but the game’s biggest problem was the player ends up fighting the camera more than the dinos themselves. The Dino Crisis series easily could have survived alongside its zombified cousin into modern day but instead it ended up more extinct than its dinos.
The Tony Hawk franchise is one of the most beloved sports series of all time, and even with a few missteps, still has fans eagerly anticipating any kind of return to the halfpipe. Sadly, with no new entries in almost a decade, we don’t count the peripheral games, and a disappointing HD re-release of the first Tony Hawk, fans had almost given up hope. However, with the license about to expire, Activision gave developer Robomodo only a few months to put together a game and the results speak for themselves with the game being completely unusable without first downloading the 8GB Day 1 patch. Not that it helped anything as the game was still riddled with bugs, glitches, game breaking crashes and a much-touted online mode being borderline unplayable. Not only did Tony Hawk 5 kill Robomodo, besides the 1&2 remake, it might’ve left the franchise with nothing but a broken combo.
Widely regarded as not only one of the worst sequels but also one of the worst games of all time, in recent years Sega themselves have tried to pretend the game doesn’t exist. Featuring some of the most groan-inducing dialogue in any game, ever, Sega’s attempt to take Sonic in a darker and more mature direction backfired immensely and that would have been true even if the game worked half the time. Even disregarding the disturbing romance between Sonic and Princess Elise, which is almost impossible to ignore, the game itself is riddled with game breaking bugs, glitches, and remains a stain on a series that already had a checked legacy and another 3D Sonic adventure that left the blue blur on the loading screen tripping over his sneakers at the starting line.
Devil May Cry helped revolutionize action games and was instrumental in creating a new subgenre of over-the-top action titles. It’s sequel however, not so much. Not only was Dante’s personality severely nerfed but so was the game’s bombastic combat and settings, instead replaced with drab city scapes along with enemies and bosses that could be beaten with nothing but Dante’s pistols. Not even the addition of a new playable character Lucia did much to change up the game’s combat and has been mostly absent from the franchise entirely. With behind-the-scenes turmoil as well as a late in development director change, nearly every aspect of Devil May Cry 2 represents multiple visions never coming together in a cohesive way and if not for the series’ followup, Dante’s second outing might’ve sent the franchise right to hell.
What video game sequel let you down the most and why? Share your disappointments in the comments below.
“Crackdown 3” (2019)
Only a few of Microsoft’s first party titles were given the hype and media coverage as Crackdown 3 throughout its development, specifically showcasing the game’s use of cloud technology to give the player unprecedented levels of destruction within the game’s world. The original Crackdown was a surprise hit probably due in no small part to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta code within, but the game still found a loyal fanbase that its sequel did not satisfy. Crackdown 3 had everything going for it, but upon release, the much-touted destruction was virtually non-existent, and the gameplay was boring and lifeless with little to differentiate it from the original that came 12 years before it. When not even the energetic Terry Crews can save your game, you know you’re finished
“Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness” (2003)
By the time Angel of Darkness was released, Core Design felt it was time to change up the familiar Lara Croft formula but overcompensated and ended up losing creative control of the IP they created. Taking Lara out of the tombs made for an interesting premise but the inclusion of RPG elements in which Lara must upgrade her abilities was very poorly implemented and the game’s already poor controls didn’t do the archeologist any favors either. Despite the narrative’s darker tone, the game’s AI and horrible camera actively worked against the experience, breaking the game’s immersion during nearly every encounter. Behind the scenes interviews revealed the team struggled to adapt to the PS2 architecture as well as a rushed production hindered by an encroaching release date. Whether the additional development time would have helped is unknown, but Lara almost raided her last tomb had it not been for subsequent reboots.
“Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor” (2012)
Anytime the well-intentioned Kinect is involved, you’re already guaranteed a hit or miss experience. The original Steel Battalion was already a mech fan's dream come true with its gargantuan gamepad simulating a real-life mech cockpit, but at least that title could still be played with a standard controller. This was not the case with its sequel Heavy Armor, with Kinect being the only way to play, and made the inconsistent peripheral’s flaws all the more glaring. Using hand and body motions for every action, the Kinect would struggle to register even the simplest gestures, making the game virtually unplayable as players would bounce back and forth between frantic hand motions trying to register on the Kinect or reconfiguring themselves with the camera because it somehow lost track of them. The original Steel Battalion’s controller might have been unwieldy, but at least it worked.
“Dead Space 3” (2013)
If publisher interference was a game, it would be Dead Space 3. Almost completely foregoing the series’ dark and disturbing atmosphere in favor of more action-oriented gameplay and obviously shoehorned co-op, Dead Space 3 barely resembled the resurrected corpse of its former self. With EA wanting a broader appeal to bring in as many players as possible, Isaac was joined by the blank slate Carver who was clearly so forced into the narrative, he barely even appears in the game’s cutscenes. EA also decided to use Dead Space 3 as their guinea pig for microtransactions giving players access to late game and overpowered gear if they were willing to fork over real-world cash. Naturally, because of these awful decisions, Dead Space 3 was received negatively by both longtime fans and critics and until the recent remake, had severed any hope of the franchise continuing.
“Bubsy 3D” (1996)
In the early days of 3D gaming, developers were still trying to get the hang of this new dimension, and while some series like Mario or newcomers like Crash and eventually Spyro found great success in the 3D landscape, others struggled to find their footing. Besides looking like a bad trip, every aspect of Bubsy’s jump to 3D was terrible. From the voice acting, to the level design, and especially the controls, simply getting the feline from one end of the map to the other was an exercise in frustration. Bubsy himself moved too slowly for a precision platformer, and the game’s use of tank controls could make even the simplest jump end in a “Game Over” screen. Although he had a moderately successful run in the 2D landscape, Bubsy used all nine of his lives in his only 3D outing.
“Driver 3” (2004)
The original Driver game might’ve beaten GTA to the 3D open world genre by a few years but after the misstep of Driver 2 and the subsequent releases of GTA 3 and Vice City, the Driver series had a lot of catching up to do. Sadly, it would seem their ambitions got the better of them as not only was the game poorly received, the developer’s jabs at Rockstar and the Grand Theft Auto series only drew more attention to everything Driver 3 was lacking. Terrible controls and vehicle handling coupled with incredibly stiff animations seemingly lifted from the PS1 entries, led to the game being poorly received by both fans and critics. While attempting to chase GTA’s legacy, the Driver franchise lost its identity and the shadow cast by the poorly received 3rd entry made many players completely overlook the vastly superior entry Driver: San Francisco released a few years later.
“Dino Crisis 3” (2003)
The Dino Crisis series had so much potential to step out of the “Resident Evil Dinosaurs” shadow and Dino Crisis 2 even took things in a more action centric direction, further allowing the series to broaden its horizons. Its threequel, however, killed the franchise deader than its namesake. Rather than pick up on the sequel’s cliffhanger ending, Dino Crisis 3 jumps over 500 years into the future and removes all the tension by giving players a jet pack and big laser guns to battle dinosaurs on a spaceship. As if this premise wasn’t blasphemous enough, the game’s overall design and lack of variety in enemies made gameplay boring and repetitive but the game’s biggest problem was the player ends up fighting the camera more than the dinos themselves. The Dino Crisis series easily could have survived alongside its zombified cousin into modern day but instead it ended up more extinct than its dinos.
“Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5” (2015)
The Tony Hawk franchise is one of the most beloved sports series of all time, and even with a few missteps, still has fans eagerly anticipating any kind of return to the halfpipe. Sadly, with no new entries in almost a decade, we don’t count the peripheral games, and a disappointing HD re-release of the first Tony Hawk, fans had almost given up hope. However, with the license about to expire, Activision gave developer Robomodo only a few months to put together a game and the results speak for themselves with the game being completely unusable without first downloading the 8GB Day 1 patch. Not that it helped anything as the game was still riddled with bugs, glitches, game breaking crashes and a much-touted online mode being borderline unplayable. Not only did Tony Hawk 5 kill Robomodo, besides the 1&2 remake, it might’ve left the franchise with nothing but a broken combo.
“Sonic The Hedgehog” (2006)
Widely regarded as not only one of the worst sequels but also one of the worst games of all time, in recent years Sega themselves have tried to pretend the game doesn’t exist. Featuring some of the most groan-inducing dialogue in any game, ever, Sega’s attempt to take Sonic in a darker and more mature direction backfired immensely and that would have been true even if the game worked half the time. Even disregarding the disturbing romance between Sonic and Princess Elise, which is almost impossible to ignore, the game itself is riddled with game breaking bugs, glitches, and remains a stain on a series that already had a checked legacy and another 3D Sonic adventure that left the blue blur on the loading screen tripping over his sneakers at the starting line.
“Devil May Cry 2” (2003)
Devil May Cry helped revolutionize action games and was instrumental in creating a new subgenre of over-the-top action titles. It’s sequel however, not so much. Not only was Dante’s personality severely nerfed but so was the game’s bombastic combat and settings, instead replaced with drab city scapes along with enemies and bosses that could be beaten with nothing but Dante’s pistols. Not even the addition of a new playable character Lucia did much to change up the game’s combat and has been mostly absent from the franchise entirely. With behind-the-scenes turmoil as well as a late in development director change, nearly every aspect of Devil May Cry 2 represents multiple visions never coming together in a cohesive way and if not for the series’ followup, Dante’s second outing might’ve sent the franchise right to hell.
What video game sequel let you down the most and why? Share your disappointments in the comments below.
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