Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Games In Need Of A Sequel

When making a list of games that need sequels it is all too easy to simply make a list of forgotten favorites, ignoring whether a sequel is warranted, and focusing on nostalgia. Recognizing this I attempted to base my list on a few criteria: does the story warrant continuation, would the game benefit from the new technology available, would a sequel to this game really stand out nowadays, and was the original really all that great? Inevitably this list will contain games that I might enjoy a sequel to more than others, but quite often I found myself restrained by my self imposed criteria.

American Mcgee's Alice featured a very unique premise and some excellently designed 3D platforming levels, which set it apart from other 3D action platformers. Mcgee's complete and morbid reimagining of Lewis Carroll's classic story provided a look into how Alice's own mental state might affect Wonderland, and gave the game much more atmosphere than other games of the genre. With so many cutesy platformers around it would be refreshing to revisit the twisted wonderland in American Mcgee's Alice and see how it had changed as Alice aged.

I hesitated to include this game on the list, because the plot is very much self contained, and to further it would damage much of the mystery of the original game. However the gameplay is so excellent that I can't resist. Phantom Dust took Magic: The Gathering and turned it into a 3rd person action game. Players would construct decks of spells, then battle in highly destructible arenas by shooting fireballs, lasers, meteors, swords, and more at each other. The result was a highly strategic and simultaneously action packed game with great online multiplayer, but the community never grew very large, and now is essentially dead. A sequel could bring new spells, more destructible environments, and more importantly a much larger online audience to one of the most unique games of the last generation.

Dead Rising was very much a modern version of the 16-bit classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors, tasking you with saving the survivors of a zombie outbreak using whatever you find lying around as weapons. However everyone who played Zombies Ate My Neighbors will remember the most fun part was the 2 player cooperative mode. Dead Rising dropped the ball here featuring no multiplayer whatsoever, and that alone is justification for a sequel. Additionally the plot in Dead Rising leaves one very major loose end, one which promises a sequel with a scope much greater than the original game which was confined to a shopping mall.

Many Dreamcast owners fondly remember Skies of Arcadia as an RPG with awesome ship to ship battles, a lovable cast of characters, an interesting environment, and an aggravatingly high encounter rate. Skies of Arcadia featured large amounts of exploration of the game's floating islands both on foot and in your airship. There were hundreds of secrets to find in the gameworld, including extra characters, legendary monsters, lost artifacts, etc etc. This aspect of the game could best benefit from a technical upgrade, which could not only increase the amount of gameworld to explore, but the impressiveness of finding more graphically detailed secrets. Bring back the original game's memorable cast, and an extra serving of the game's wonderful ship to ship combat and an excellent sequel could be made.

River City Ransom was a side-scrolling beat em up which featured RPG elements. Somewhat similar to the X-Men Legends or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance games the player's character could learn new techniques and increase his stats to become more effective at handing out beatings to the game's 8 rival gangs. The game has a lot of potential in terms of a three dimensional translation, as a sequel could fall anywhere between Ninja Gaiden and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance in terms of gameplay and still be similar to the original. The game's 2 player mode and sense of humor helped to make it a cult classic that is a great candidate for a revival on current consoles.

The System Shock series' combination of Horror, FPS, and RPG elements have won it great acclaim and a devoted fanbase. The game had more RPG elements and inventory management than the recent Bioshock, lending it a more meticulous feel and much more successful horror elements. A 4 player cooperative mode was hastily added in a patch to System Shock 2, which turned out to be surprisingly fun, but has room for improvement. System Shock 2, and the previous game for that matter, is famous for its excellent story and wonderful villain SHODAN, who pulls a fast one at the end of this game leaving the player's feud with her/it begging to be finished.

Ogre Battle's unique mix of strategy and RPG elements have earned it the praise of those lucky enough to have played it. To explain the battle system here would make this already wordy list even moreso, but suffice to say it is different enough from other Strategy RPGs to warrant another game in the series. A next gen offering could offer a massive graphical upgrade as well as better use of terrain in game. Ogre Battle 64 is the 3rd entry in a story intended to span 9 games, so as you can guess continuation of the Ogre Battle story in a new game would be exciting for fans.

Even its greatest defenders will admit Rez was lacking in content, the game was at best 2 hours long on the first playthrough. This alone has been reason enough for many to clamor for a sequel. Perhaps a more compelling reason is the visual and audio possibilities presented by next generation consoles. Rez HD has already shown us a more beautiful version of the original, now its time to see what can be done with the full storage space of a DVD9 or Blu-ray disk.

If nothing else this game had atmosphere, each encounter with a new nightmarish creature was intense and terrifying. The game's sanity system contributed greatly to this, causing hallucinations and psychotic mutterings. The game's excellent mix of cinematic boss fights, terrifying escape sequences, and fps action supported its atmosphere and assured it was constantly engaging. The Cthulhu mythos has plenty of untapped potential for sequels, indeed at least one was planned, with a trailer showing a game more along the lines of Resident Evil 4, but developer Headfirst has since gone bankrupt and all the sequels are presumably canceled.

Speaking of insanity, Eternal Darkness was the original game with a sanity system. In Eternal Darkness it took the form of a meter along with the game's health and magick meters. Your character would lose sanity from gazing upon the game's various monsters, which caused a variety effects ranging from bleeding walls, healing spells causing your character to explode, and simulated game malfunctions. More than just a gimmick the game's sanity system was central to its combat, as the player had to perform a finishing move on downed enemies to regain sanity. Combined with a solid plot about some truly terrible creatures, and some amazing writing and voice acting Eternal Darkness was a Gamecube classic. With nothing more than a graphical upgrade a sequel would be a truly great game, and the original leaves room for a sequel in terms of plot. We can only hope that after developer Silicon Knights finishes Too Human they return to the world of Eternal Darkness, and mess with the heads of the gaming world once again.

A lot of games that I considered for this list have recently had sequels announced or released, if you don't see an old favorite here check out your video game news website of choice, you might be in for a pleasant surprise! Honorable mentions: Jet Set Radio Future, Crystalis, Panzer Dragoon Saga.

List by IdleHands (06/19/2008)