• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Worst Series Directions

Game franchises need to re-invent themselves time and time again if they want to survive in the market. Very few game franchises can rely on their title alone and expect mass sales...

Sometimes re-invention and re-imagining works well for a franchise, but what examples can you think of which disappointed you in their change of direction in an attempt to keep their franchise going?


(I can't think of any right now but i'll chime in later)

Go!
 

Dan

Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Gender
V2 White Male
Bomberman for the xbox 360.

bomberman.jpg


The art direction was just something we didn't need. Bomberman was always at it's best looking cartoony. It was trying to appeal to a more "harcore" audience.

Words 3D

While I personally didn't think the 3D titles were that bad, it did seem a lot more difficult and often unpolished. We found our 2d games a lot more fun. In the end the series went back to it's 2d roots.

Sonic the hedgehog

As you may know the game started focusing more and more on story, and less on fixing it's gameplay.

256px-Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Next-Gen_Box_Art.JPG


This baby being the worst offender. I would of preferred it if sonic kept to 2D. Oh but instead it turns into a glitchfest. I think sonic generations on the other hand was a great come back.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 22, 2011
Location
'Murica
Oh, this topic will definately lead to a peaceful discussion and totally won't backfire in any way imaginable.

But anyways, Sonic 06 is a good example. Buckets of glitches, silly story even by Sonic standards, and the fact that it was being advertised as the next gen Sonic game led to tons of disappointment.
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
↑&↓&↑→↓←
The Rayman Raving Rabbids games(gimmicky Wii games), Resident Evil 5(didn't feel like a RE game), Shadow the Hedgehog, Starfox Adventures(not a bad game, but it wasn't a good Starfox game), Spyro the Dragon Enter the Dragonfly and onwards. Can't think of anything else.
 

Hanyou

didn't build that
Twilight Princess. It wasn't a huge tonal shift, but it was an obvious attempt to pander to a Western audience that the developers didn't understand, and deliver an arbitrarily "dark" experience without any real driving force or justification. I was concerned when it was released that it was the future direction of the series, but thankfully it fell by the wayside.

The Myst series saw UruMyst, RealMyst, and Myst 5. Real-time was a bad choice for all these games, as the Myst games released around the same time that were prerendered looked much, much better. But UruMyst and Myst 5 also saw atrocious level design.

Oh, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I understand the need to reinvigorate the franchise, but I don't see LoS as a development of the classic style as Symphony of the Night was--it's just another hack-and-slash game and doesn't have much platforming. It also has an off-putting serious tone which totally betrays the cheesy, classic horror tone of the series. Most of the previous Castlevanias didn't take themselves seriously, but for God knows what reason, the developers thought they were telling an important story with the first LoS.

The worst offense? No matter how much the games have changed, with the special exception of the N64 Castlevanias, their music has almost always tied them together. It's always fast-paced, gothic, and usually baroque in style. It helps set the tone for the different locations in Dracula's castle perfectly, and it helped set Castlevania apart from other franchises. It was a special trait that no one could take away from the franchise. They could have made all their changes to Lords of Shadow and I still would have found something to love if the music had been more like, say, this or this masterpiece, instead of this fairly typical, uninteresting action movie crap.
 

TF/HH

TwilightFlame/HylianHero
Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Definately StarFox Adventures, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rayman Raving Rabbids, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA (I really didn't like SS).
 

Lord_Cathaseigh

Like a sir.
Joined
Apr 21, 2012
A direction to me means a trend; you need more than one game to count as a "direction" People are free to not like SS, just like the Wind Waker, but it's one game. It's not the end of the world (or franchise) if one game is poorly received.

In that sense, I'm definitely going with the Sonic series. The first 3 were great, but then they started making them talk. Since then there hasn't really been a continuity as far as story goes. And that would have been fine if the games weren't story driven. But now they are. I mean, sure, they've released games closer to the original three, but at this point it's more than a little late.
 

Go_Skyward

Seek a door that carries a [9]
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Location
Nevada Test Site
Aww poor Sonic, everyone is hating on the poor... hedgehog... errmm...

I never played Sonic 06', but I heard it was really bad. So... I won't go there.

I'll bring up a series that most of you have most likely never heard of. Dragon Age.

Sure, Dragon Age: Origins was AWESOME. I like Dragon Age 2... but it almost feels like it doesn't have the same magic as the first one. Now, there is as far as I know, only 3 games in the series. But Origins Awakening was kind of an add on game to Origins. :L but only time will tell if the Dragon Age series will keep going like other notable series that are... newish.

Oh and another thing, WHAT is with all this sudden hate for Skyward Sword? I don't understand....

Well, that's all I have to say. I normally like games in general, even if the series is just trying to reboot itself. I haven't found one game that I just couldn't stand yet. c:
 
When EA got the exclusive video game rights for the NFL the Madden series declined sharply. Early on it was innovative and fun, every year unique new features came out AND the game got genuinely better. Since the exclusivity deal EA has been happy to sit on it's butt doing nothing but a few minor tweaks and useless features while the series grows stale and worse by the year. The sad thing is, with no competition to worry about, it won't get better anytime soon.
 

CCG <3 Zelda

CrazyControllerGuy
Joined
Apr 4, 2012
Location
Hyrule
I think that the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise went the wrong direction with Sonic 2K6 and Shadow The Hedgehog, not necessarily because of gameplay, but because of their stories. I don't see why you would want a dark story with realistic-looking humans when the game is about an unrealistic, blue hedgehog.

I also think that Contra went the wrong direction with Legacy of War
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
Sonic 2006 (MACH SPEED)
Skyward Sword/Twilight Princess (because casuals)
uhm...Resident Evil 5 (we don't need ACTION, we need SCARE)
 
Time to throw my opinions at my own thread now that i've had time to think =]

I'm gonna say..

1. Silent Hill.
Drawing on what Lord Cathaseig said, you need more than one game to really call a change in the franchise a direction, i kind of like that way of thinking and based on that I'm gonna say Silent Hill Homecoming and onwards. The worst thing that the Silent Hill franchise did was move out of Japan. The Americans can't do psycho surreal horror, in fact only one man comes close to being able to do that and that is the director/writer David Lynch. Homecoming sucked, as did Downpour and Origins, (Shattered memories was okay but had no sense of menace once you figured out the only certain parts of the game actually had enemies). The SH games following 4 are just slightly darker than your average hollywood thriller movie. The monsters suck and by downpour are practically non-existent; they're humanoids with busted faces as opposed to SH2's... things.... The gameplay began to focus on combat and not tense exploration or scares and the stories really suffered too, again, Downpour is a serious offender here.

2. Resident Evil
the world's leading video game horror franchise stopped being a horror franchise with 4, i really don't like them now. there is no chance to be scared because the action is so fast and furious. The games are mostly decent enough to play but the thing is is that theyre still selling themselves on being horror games when they are no longer focussing on the horror at all.
 
Last edited:

theoathtoorder

“Zinga-dingding!”
Joined
May 10, 2012
I agree with the above comments.
Silent Hill- what a shame. I was obsessed with the first three and then 4 came out and "meh" then Team Silent bailed...
Sonic- WTH happened?
Mortal Kombat- same as above. Seems like my favorite Genesis games didn't stand the test of time like Mario and Zelda did.

I agree with Spirit- David Lynch is awesome <3
Now maybe if Stanley Kubrick was still alive...
SH should've never left Japan.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom