Ewan Rants: Sequels and Prequels

Where would we be without sequels? Probably in a better place to be frank, a lot of sequels nowadays are unneeded and clearly unwanted, but what about those sequels we do want and enjoy?



A game series that instantly pops to mind is the Call of Duty series, they're released every year around September/November time to cash in on the holiday rush, because who doesn't like a shit story, millions upon millions of 8 year olds will line up and buy it on launch day. Every year. If you've read my review for Advanced Warfare you'll know I absolutely loved that game because the campaign was really good, but before that Call of Duty had lost it's footing and it looks like Black Ops III is going to continue that tradition.

But do we honestly need more Call of Duty sequels? No, to be quite honest, most games do just fine without a sequel once a year, look at Grand Theft Auto, it'll be a very long time before we get a sequel to GTA V, but obviously it isn't as easy to make as Call of Duty. No, all you have to do is point at a country, scream "THEY'RE THE BAD GUYS" and away you go. It's ridiculous, nobody needs this many games, we're at about 20 or so Call of Duty games and it's only been around for 12 years or so.

Look at Beyond Good and Evil for example, an outstanding game that, by the looks of it isn't getting a sequel. I would happily trade all the Call of Duty games for a trailer to a sequel for that game, let alone the release of it.

Then we have the games that actually require a sequel to make sense but wont be getting one in the next few centuries, see Half Life 3 for that one, or even Commander Keen. Most sequels and prequels are just blatant cash grabs that weren't needed. We'd thought we'd seen the end of Gears of War, but unfortunately that isn't the case as now we have Judgement, a HD remake for the Xbox One and most probably another instalment. We thought we'd finally buried the Medal of Honour series, but then that came back and made itself look like the stupidest shooter we've seen in a very long time.

Prequels are even worse, it's basically a developers way of saying "We made a great series and now it's ended, but it's popular and it'll make money, prequel time!" The Halo franchise has seen it's fair share of sequels or games that don't include Master Chief, like Halo Wars and Halo: Reach, however the difference is that those games are good, unlike the prequels to Five Night's at Freddy's, or sequels or whatever the hell they were. Nobody knows, nobody cares.

Of course, it's nice to see that when a sequel to a beloved series is bad the developers pay the price. Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts and Duke Nukem Forever showed us that even the most beloved series are not safe from cash grabbing.

Wait, they're making a sequel to Just Cause 2?