Six Video Games That Seriously Need Sequels

There are two kinds of reactions to sequels. It's either, "ugh, another Assassin's Creed?", or "another Assassin's Creed? Yay!" Then there are some games that don't get any sequel, at all! Or yet, hopefully! Some of these games here are quite disappointing, but they still deserve sequels because they left us wondering how they'd be like had they were done better. Others are plain awesome, so it's just so disappointing that they're still not having any sequel.

Honorable mentions (games that almost had no sequels):

Okay first of all, I came up with this list three years ago (no, really), and at that time, a couple of games on this list had no sequels planned yet. But they do now, so I'm more than happy to put them into the honorable mentions, also known as the short list of "games that almost had no sequels."

Homefront

Unlike other military shooters like Battlefield 3 which people look forward to for the multiplayer experience, Homefront's main focus is the single-player campaign. Well duh, this game is heavily influenced by the movie Red Dawn, so most players, especially fans of the movie, would expect Homefront to offer them similar experience as the movie did.

Unfortunately, Homefront offers an unexpectedly short-length campaign for a game that is supposedly focused on story-driven experience. The multiplayer game is quite enjoyable, though. Nevertheless, Homefront 2 development is on progress at the time of writing. Now let's hope the sequel can achieve what the original Homefront itself had failed to.

Mirror's Edge

I-I-I, I'm just baffled. I waited and waited and it's still eerily quite right now. No rumors whatsoever, nothing. There should be, because this game deserves a sequel. If you had never heard of Mirror's Edge prior to now, then I don't blame you. For a game as unique as it is, Mirror's Edge did not get the amount of buzz it deserved at the time of release. It's a first-person action adventure game with a free-running elements. You could say that it's a first-person runner.

It's not only unique in that, it also features this rather unique visual style that emphasizes on primary colours. Sure, we hear games having "unique artstyles" all the time but Mirror's Edge offers something far different and distinguishable. I would be in total joy if its sequel ever comes to light.

Edit: And jump in total joy I did, when a few years later it was announced that the game's sequel was being developed. Great, now that we're done with that, let's cry about the games that we wish had sequels in the making. But they don't! They are:

Six Video Games That Seriously Need Sequels

6. Rage

Rage heavily draws inspirations from the Mad Max movies. If you know the Mad Max movies, or if you played the first Borderlands game, then you have a picture or two on presumably what the game feels and looks like. Rage takes place in the post-apocalyptic future during which time survivors of a huge asteroid strike attempts to rebuild a new civilization. While it's mainly a first-person shooter, this id Software title also has some role-playing elements but not heavy enough as to include some sort of a skill system. You can upgrade weapons and armor, use different ammo types, and customize your vehicles. Yes, you heard that right: Rage also has racing elements. You can take part in vehicle combat races to earn money, and you'll be travelling from places to places with your vehicle.

There's nothing too impressive about the game, although critics mainly praise its graphics, because everyone is a graphics whore, right? The story is okay albeit unmemorable, and the story-pacing is pretty neat and well-done. I just feel that Rage deserves a sequel because with minor tweaks here and there, it could be the next big thing. Rage was made using the id Tech 5 engine, and is one of the two games in this list that were developed using the id Tech engine (the other game on this list being Br***, oh spoiler alert!). And no, it's not Bulletstorm.

5. Bulletstorm

What more do you want in a game than getting rewarded for shooting bad guys in their testicles? Kicking bad guys in the face is alright, that's nothing too spectacular to celebrate, but kicking them in the face and then shooting them in the testicles when they're mid-air in slow motion, now that's what real action is. But what's more amazing is that this game did not sell that well - only for about a million copies - and it wasn't profitable as expected. That's amazing, but in a very bad way.

This game has no major flaws: the premises are as great in action as they sound on paper, it's very colourful (I'm serious) and it has some sense of humor, albeit not that good but far from bad. I honestly have nothing more to say. This game needs a sequel.

4. Mark of the Ninja

Mark of the Ninja is a side-scroller with a heavy focus on stealth gameplay. It was developed by Klei Entertainment, the guys who also developed the equally awesome survival Don't Starve. You take the role of a nameless ninja imbued with heightened senses and reflexes, who's trapped in a shadowy conflict surrounding ancient ninja arts and modern technology. As you sneak through the game's environments, you have to perform various actions that will keep you out of sight, such as extinguishing light sources, hiding in objects and performing various stealth kills.

What makes the game tricky is the line-of sight mechanic. Since it's a stealth game, you're required to stay out of your enemies' line of sight, but if they're out of line of sight, you won't be able to see them either. However, you're able to hear them as indicated by radiating circles that give away their locations. Truth be told, the game is a sight to behold. Where are you hiding, Mark of the Ninja 2?

3. Brink

All right this game was quite promising pre-release. Developed using the id Tech 4 engine, Brink boasts a wide range of character customization (which it lives up to), a flexible class-changing system, its parkour style movement and unique half-cartoonish-half-realistic art style. Then it features the ability to level up through both offline and online games, which is rare for multiplayer shooters. And this one is my own personal opinion: for a game that is multiplayer-focused with a non-spoilery story, Brink has a surprisingly good line of voice acting (although the intros are short, sometimes awkward and have no significance to the game).

Sadly though, the final product feels a bit unfinished. The multiplayer has problems, and the levels aren't well-designed for the free-running nature of the game. It disappointed a lot of people. Although I could live with that, Brink was, for me, plagued mainly with frame rate issues. One minute you're playing at normal frame rates, the next minute you're playing under slide show speed. But that doesn't stop me from playing Brink for hours at a time, until my main character has reached the level cap. If not because of the unstable frame rate, I would have carried on playing til today. But at the end of the day, that's where the disappointment lies: it's too great on paper but the ideas are poorly executed that the entire promise collapses.

2. Split/Second Velocity

On the other hand, Split Second Velocity is a gem. It's a 2010 arcade racer that pits players to race on hazardous tracks in some sort of a fictional TV show. Except for some few minor flaws, the game is an absolute joy to play. There was nothing like it at that time, and there has been nothing like it ever since. What distinguishes Split/Second than other racers is its chaotic nature. The key to the game's chaos is the "powerplay". Throughout a race, stunts and actions such as jumps, drifting and drafting all contribute to the build-up of your powerplay meter.

And now's the fun part: once the meter is full, you're only a press of a button away from destruction, and the goal is to use that to put your opponents at a disadvantage; mostly by wrecking them. What kinds of destruction can you trigger exactly? Buildings collapse, planes crash onto the the track, mountains blow up, bridges break into half. If you're patient and allow the powerplay meter to be filled to its maximum level (there are 3 levels), you can trigger events of destruction that are so colossal they can alter the course of the entire race. This game needs a sequel very badly, and fast!

1. World in Conflict

I have no doubt that this is one of the immersive strategy games of all time, and believe me, there are exceptionally few on that list. Let's get straight to the point: World in Conflict is set in an alternate version of 1989 during which time the Soviet Union was about to collapse, but refused to be denied and took to war by invading Western Europe and subsequently the United States. It's a real-time strategy at its core, but there's no base-building or resource gathering; the game's battles are on epic scale, so it has no time for that bullshit. It puts you straight into action with a number of reinforcement points, the game's only resource.

You control a small troop of military units that you call using reinforcement points. You can call as many unit as you can afford, but it won't be that many since the number of reinforcement points are limited and pre-determined. That's the fun part, albeit tricky. You can call 10 tanks in to battle, but they can be obliterated to dusts by anti-tank units. It's all about strategy and smart-spending of the reinforcement points. As your units get destroyed, the points you spent on them will be re-added to your reinforcement points pool, but it takes time. But you cannot rely on the resupply cycle because the opposing army will keep advancing if you don't. Although you control a small number of units, the game's battles is epic as fuck. Another important element of the game is the air support system, which includes various types of air strikes and reinforcements.

As a matter of fact, for an underrated title, World in Conflict has an exceptionally detailed wikipedia page. If someone ever told you that this game doesn't deserve  a sequel, they're either stupid or dumb, which are pretty much the same thing. Don't listen to them! Please, if you haven't, play it. You've got to do that.