Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

7 Game Series That Need to Change NOW!

7 Game Series That Need to Change NOW!

We are creatures of habit. I remember one morning about three months ago I realized that I had a really good day, full of energy, after eating cottage cheese, nuts, and a Cliff Bar for breakfast. Every morning since then I’ve eaten cottage cheese, nuts, and a Cliff Bar. When we find something we like, we tend to resist change, even if it’s for the better. Publishers know this very well, and when a game sells millions, you better believe bigger publishers are going to try to duplicate that success by churning out identical games with negligible “upgrades.” These are seven successful game series that, while not bad at all, are long overdue for some true change and innovation.

Dynasty Warriors

Dynasty Warriors

The original Dynasty Warriors on PS1 was actually a fighting game, if you didn’t know. It was a Soul Blade clone of sorts, and offered some cheap 1-on-1 thrills. It was the kind of game that you might have rented from Blockbuster a few times, but never actually put on your Christmas list as a kid. Dynasty Warriors 2 was the genesis of the series as we know it today, and was a pretty solid launch title for the PS2. I remember seeing a promo video at my local games store for Dynasty Warriors 2 and being blown away by how fluidly the characters moved. Never again would I be blown away by a Dynasty Warriors game. Ever since that second installment, Omega Force has taken that same “hack and slash through endless waves of harmless AI fodder” game play and dressed it up with different plots and stories. Not exactly bold or innovative, but hey, people still buy it, right? Nintendo seemed to do really well with Hyrule Warriors . Maybe we’ll see an Animal Crossing Warriors next?

Madden

Madden

When I started thinking about this list, the Madden series was the first thing that came to mind. I don’t think the Madden games have seen any kind of significant change since 2005. With every passing year, the list of features for the latest edition of Madden sound more and more similar. “More immersive than ever!” “Take full control of the ball!” “Deepest franchise mode we’ve ever done!” Let’s just call it what it is, guys. It’s last year’s Madden with new jerseys, a different menu, different music, better looking hair, and tweaked collision physics. Now give EA another $60.

Call of Duty (Infinity Ward)

Call of Duty (Infinity Ward)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare changed everything in the world of first-person shooters. No game before it delivered both a heart-pounding, gorgeous, cinematic single-player experience as well as a perfectly-tuned multiplayer mode. Infinity Ward was somehow able to deliver on both fronts, and the whole world loved them for it. So successful was Modern Warfare that Activision decided to order seconds; and then thirds; and more still. When it comes to gameplay, almost nothing has changed between Modern Warfare and Ghosts , though the latter did introduce a power-slide, so there’s that. I’ve noticed, too, that after World at War , Treyarch’s Call of Duty games have felt more like Infinity Ward’s with each iteration. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed

Going from the first Assassin’s Creed to Assassin’s Creed II was a huge leap. Assassin’s Creed II was so close to being a perfect game, and at the time was absolutely peerless as an action adventure title. Every single Assassin’s Creed game since then has been attempting to recapture that same magic, but they’ve all played so similarly. Brotherhood and Revelations were basically expensive DLC, and the pressure put on Ubisoft to crank out a new Assassin’s Creed game every year had a perceptible impact on quality and innovation. They remain consistent best-sellers regardless, but personally, I’m relieved that Ubisoft decided to take a year off. Maybe the next Assassin’s Creed will make us believers again.

Lego Series

Lego Series

I really like TT Games, and I think the writing in all of the Lego games is top-notch; very funny stuff. All of the Lego games since Lego Indiana Jones have played the exact same way, though. I think you’ll find that every person’s favorite Lego game is whichever game they played first. After you spend about 20 hours smashing one button to attack enemies, breaking everything in sight to collect studs, searching for levers to pull and scattered pieces to toss together to complete some obtuse objective, it gets old. About two hours into Lego Marvel’s Avengers I realized why I don’t buy these games anymore. They’re great, but if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all.

Hyperdimension Neptunia

Hyperdimension Neptunia

The idea behind this series is actually quite novel, and fairly innovative. We have four warring goddesses, each of whom represents a major console. It’s a bit of a satirical JRPG and meta-commentary on the console wars and video game industry as a whole. As a game, Hyperdimension Neptunia was pretty good. It’s not amazing, but it did sell really well in Japan. Since 2010 there have been numerous sequels, spin-offs, and even a manga and anime series. They keep cranking these games out for the PlayStation Vita and PS4, and Idea Factory keeps proving that as long as you give the characters huge breasts and imply that they could possibly end up making out at any given moment, people will eat it up. I expect another sequel and two more spin-off games by next year.

Sonic

Sonic

It pains me to put Sonic on this list, but the Sonic games have been running in circles lately. Big, slow, boring circles. Sonic Adventure 2 was the last acceptable Sonic game we got in the mainline series, and even as a youngster I could see the writing on the wall with that one. Sonic Generations got all of our hopes up that the series was poised to make a triumphal comeback, but ever since then all we’ve received are mobile games, Sonic Boom , and Mario & Sonic at the Whatever Olympics . Big Blue deserves more than this, and if Sonic Mania ends up sucking I don’t know what I’ll do. Hopefully Sega has been listening to fan feedback, and next year will be the return of the true blue blur.

To top