Leveled Up 12.02.09: Franchises That Need To Be Revived

Posted by Joshua Richey on 12.02.2009

From Earthworm Jim and Mutant League Football to Road Rash and even Fear Effect, these are four game franchises that 411’s Joshua Richey wants to revive! Check out the full column for all the details and share what franchises you want to see comeback to life!



There are a lot of games that we play today that we also played when we were kids. There's Zelda, Metal Gear, Mario, Madden, Final Fantasy, you know, games like that. But there are also franchises that just went away for whatever reason. We've all got those franchises that we miss; I'm no different. In this edition of Leveled Up, I'm going to share with you four franchises that I'd love to see make a comeback.


Fear Effect
It's been nearly 10 years since its original release, but I can't help but to think that Fear Effect is one of the most under appreciated games that I've ever played. I was originally drawn to Fear Effect because of its unique style. It had this Ghost in a Shell-like presentation that I'd hadn't seen before in a game. It took these beautiful cel-shaded characters and placed them into FMV environments, which really gave the game this distinct appearance.

As for the game itself, it was fantastic. I think my only beef with it was the fixed camera angles that would sometimes make it difficult during gameplay. But I was kind of used to that by that point thanks to the Resident Evil series. Fear Effect had everything you need to make a successful franchise. It had an exceptional look, it had fluid gameplay, it had likable characters, and the story was actually pretty astounding. The game would constantly have you choose between two actions that completely altered the rest of the game. It also made for some real "WTF?!?!"-worthy plot twists that would make your head explode.



Fear Effect was praised by both critics and gamers. Gamespot said of the original, "the overall experience that Fear Effect provides is hugely entertaining. It's one of the few games that creates a story compelling enough to make you want to play through it in a single long sitting."

In 2001, Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix was released. That game did nothing but build off of what made the original so great. It was everything that was awesome about the first Fear Effect, but with the volume turned all the way up. Retro Helix garnered the same acclaim as its predecessor. Work began on a third game called Fear Effect: Inferno, however, Eidos, the games publisher, began to have some financial woes and needed to terminate some of their projects. For some stupid reason, the Fear Effect franchise was one of them.

Eidos, who has since merged with Square Enix, had a big 2009 with one of the year's best games in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Perhaps now is the time that they should consider re-launching the Fear Effect franchise.


Mutant League Football
Mutant League Football was released for the Genesis in 1993 by Electronic Arts. What made MLF great was its simplicity: It was Madden, but with aliens, robots, monsters, zombies, and ghouls. While it ran off the Madden engine, it had new elements added in that made it different in more ways than just appearance. There were football fields with ledges, rock formations, lava pits, landmines, you name it. I don't even know where to begin in telling you how frustrating it is to be returning a punt, to have a jump on all the defenders, to think that you're about to take it all the way, and then to suddenly be blown to smithereens.

Re-releasing Mutant League Football would be a win-win for EA. As you all know, Electronic Arts has a stranglehold on the competition when it comes to making football games. With their exclusive deal with the NFL, EA has made it virtually impossible for anyone else to make a successful game. In a time where many people are looking for an alternative to Madden, a game like Mutant Football League could be just that.

EA, this game would sell. Think about it, the popularity of aliens and zombies have never been as high as it is now. So a game that ran off the Madden engine that allows you to take to the gridiron as either a decaying zombie or a malicious alien is a game that's going to get my $60.




Road Rash
My love for Road Rash is a bit ironic when I stop and think about it. In all my years as a gamer, there's been one big constant: I hate racing games. I've got one of the smallest attention spans in the world, so when a game wants me to do 5 laps around the same track, I do about 2 and then turn around and start trying to ruin the experience for the other people. Road Rash was different. In Road Rash, you'd get on a motorcycle and ride through a countryside at blazing speeds all in the name of being the first to cross the finish line. That's pretty standard, right? Well, Road Rash did offer something that you don't see in Need for Speed games: the ability to beat the shit out of the other riders.

That's right. If you're riding through Vermont and Public Enemy No. 1 comes riding up on your ass, you simply pull out a billy club and go all Chris Brown on her. There were also the joys of crashing into cars and having your rider thrown off his bike and up to 50-feet in the air. The game looks very simple by today's standards, but, trust me, it had a lot of appeal.

A modern day Road Rash game with online multiplayer and today's graphics? Yes, please!




Earthworm Jim
The Earthworm Jim license has been like a hot potato in the gaming industry the last few years. I'm not sure who owns the rights anymore, but whoever it is, I hope they realize that they're costing themselves potentially billions of dollars by doing a whole bunch of nothing with it. As far as I see it, an Earthworm Jim game (done right!) could be just as successful as the Ratchet and Clank series is currently. Both games, Earthworm Jim and Ratchet, are slapstick titles with characters we love using bizarre weapons to fight even more bizarre enemies.

It wasn't that long ago that there were Earthworm Jim video games, there was a cartoon series, there was a line of action figures, and Hollywood was even trying to get in on the action by wanting to make a movie. So we know that the character is marketable as hell. Someone is just missing the boat by not putting the game in development. Now there is a iPhone game on the way, as well as the original coming to the XBLA; but we need more. We can continue to pretend that Earthworm Jim 64 never happened. Just give us a new, original Earthworm Jim game. Heck, it could even be in 2D. The thought of that makes boy parts tingle.



So those are a few of the franchises that I'd like to see brought back to life. I could keep going, but unfortunately I've gotta get back to playing Fairytale Fights. I'm reviewing it for the site, and Ramon's this close to placing a bull head in my bed if I don't hurry up and finish it. (BTW: It's bad)

But enough about me, what are some franchises you would like to see return from the dead?

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