Adam Brown, Freelance Writer

As with the movie industry, sequels are a vital part of the video game industry. Sequels allow fans of a particular character or series to have continuing experiences with the game that originally enthralled them. Sequels also allow companies to make great games without having to design all-new characters and worlds for every title. Because of this, sequels can often times be produced cheaper than completely new titles. But without sequels to fund the development of entirely new experiences, fewer original titles would be made. This being said, sequels still need to be somewhat innovative and continually enjoyable experiences to continue to be commercially successful.

For a sequel to be completely satisfying, it needs to take everything that worked well in its predecessor and improve upon it. Too many sequels that are released are virtually just rehashes of the original game, ad nausium. Since virtually no game can truly be considered perfect, this leads to players tiring of the same old problems that plagued the first game in the series. With just a little more work on these problems, sequels could inspire repeat players to keep coming back for more.

However, sometimes just fixing problems isn't enough. A standard expectation for sequels is some originality. Players often don't just want the exact same experience they had with the last title. This can be achieved by changing the gameplay drastically, which can often result in alienating some fans, or by adding some new and unique gameplay elements that enhance the original game's already enjoyable experience. Keeping a sequel feeling fresh is one of the best ways a company can ensure repeat players and keep their franchises alive. The Mario series is one of the longest running franchises and is also perhaps the best example of this. To withstand the test of time, Mario games have added new gameplay elements and even drastic changes, such as the switch from 2-D to 3-D, to become basically the textbook blueprint for making video game sequels. If you keep the fans happy, they will follow a series forever.

Sequels should also be appropriately dispersed over time. Companies will often release sequels to the same series every year. If a series has too many sequels released too quickly, players will quickly become jaded to the series and quit playing them entirely. Perhaps the best example of this is the Mega Man franchise. While most players may have loved the first few games in this series, many probably can't even name the last few that have been released, let alone play through them. Every new Mega Man game that is released now seems like another shovel of dirt on the grave of a once great series.

Although not all sequels are done well, they are incredibly important to the industry. Companies just need to make sure to avoid the common pitfalls that befall game sequels and do what is necessary to keep fans coming back for another experience. I, for one, am a huge fan of sequels both in movies and in games, as long as they are well executed. While some players may gripe about unoriginality or cry about rehashes, who among you can claim that they aren't anticipating the release of Super Mario Galaxy, Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3, or perhaps someday, even Knights of the Old Republic 3.

Pete Richards, Freelance Writer

With any successful game, a sequel has always seemed to be inevitable. Like films, production companies want to cash in on their success and must meet the demands of fans who want more. But also like films, sequels are not always as successful as the original release and sometimes don't deliver or meet fans' expectations, at which point it might be time to call it quits.

The problem I find with drawing out the longevity of game sequels is the constant and sometimes unnecessary need some developers have to change the gameplay in order to make things different game to game. Take the Tony Hawk franchise for example. It began as a fairly realistic interpretation of skateboarding, where the tricks you could do in the game seemed like stuff a pro skater was actually capable of. By the time Tony Hawk 3 rolled around for the PS2, it was an amazing game and I still play it from time to time, but Activision made the stunts larger than life and turned the boarders into superhero-like athletes that could seemingly fly through the air and continue combos and runs that are physically impossible. But Activision didn't stop there. By the time Tony Hawk's Underground was released, the skaters we not only able to fly through the sky, but became able to land almost any trick by holding L2 and R2 with their all-new spine transfer move. It made overshooting a ramp virtually pointless because you could somehow spin yourself around and land flat on your board. When Underground 2 came out, I had already lost interest in the series. By that point you could put the game into some kind of time warp mode and perform your tricks in slow motion, which just became too ridiculous. As the old adage goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and in some cases game sequels go too far in changing the gameplay when what they really should have done is left it alone.

The other problem I find with sequels is that while a game's success doesn't necessarily prevent competing developers from inventing a new game, I find successful franchises do inspire a lot of rip-off games. Look at Grand Theft Auto. While its sequels have all been phenomenal, and the preview for GTA 4 looks promising, some competing developers seem more reluctant to work on an original project and appear more focused on working on something to compete with what Rockstar has already done well. While games like Saints Row can be successful at times, mostly games inspired by original concepts are not so good, and it seems like time was wasted when the developers could have easily come up with a fresh concept of their own. You're never going to beat the guy that got there first, and in the case of games like Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar will always dominate the genre they created. Unless they really screw up with GTA 4 or other sequels yet to come, they will continue to rightfully dominate the competition who copies them and try to put their own spin on things.

As I see it, sequels are never a bad thing as long as the public is still interested in it and wants more from a successful series. When a series does fail to deliver its expectations to fans it can be disappointing in some cases, which I suppose is the risk developers take in continuing a franchise.