The Forgotten PC Games 06.12.08: Deserving Sequels

Posted by Chris Vicari on 06.12.2008

Here you will find games which truly deserve sequels but sadly they will probably never see the light of day. Be it marketing failure or a simple lack of interest, these superb games stand firmly on their own but some sequels really wouldn't hurt. Get to it devs!

An all too familiar tale of woe which plagues the gaming industry similar to the film industry is a lack of sequels for quality games and an overabundance of them for less than stellar products causing even further degradation of quality. There are also sequel-deserving games which get their due but fail to deliver a la Dues Ex: Invisible War, Serious Sam 2, and so on and so forth. Luckily there are plenty of good games out there with excellent sequels or expansions, but the only thing I'm asking for is more, well a lot more to be honest. Sadly, money is made these days by rehashing and while I am a firm believer in innovation and tend to abstain from rehashes, having new content for the old "tried and trues" is not something to be snuffed at.

So why don't good games get sequels? It's another one of life's little mysteries but the only correlation I have noticed is a fairly logical one. Many of the games that I feel are good or of stellar quality typically do not fair well in the financial department. Be it System Shock 2, LucasArts' entire adventure game line or what have you, we are consistently missing out on good and potentially well-made sequels. But I guess if the money isn't there, why do it right? Shame really.

In any event, here are a couple games I feel justly deserve a sequel. Whether direct or spiritual, it matters not to me. This is not a shift from covering older PC games, it is with a fair amount of aggravation to note that even these recent games fall below many people's radar.

Hurry Up Already



A fast-paced, gritty first-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe with guns, explosions and blood, uhhh… hello? You'd think with such an excellent combination that Republic Commando would already have a sequel by now. Released in 2005 by LucasArts, not a single shred of news hinting at anything remotely resembling a sequel has been released and this is very sad. Republic Commando is an extremely well-made and entertaining Star Wars product and I'd venture to say it's nearly on par with the legendary Dark Forces game. Even if you aren't a fan of Star Wars, Republic Commando should be played by anyone who is a fan of the first-person shooter genre.

Synopsis

Set in the Star Wars universe as a prelude to Episode III, you play the role of RC-1138 or Delta 38 as his squad mates call him and you are the leader of an elite delta squad of clone commandos. Through the course of the game you and your squad travel to various locales such as the Wookie home planet of Kashyyyk, Geonosis and an abandoned starship.

Republic Commando makes excellent use of a squad-based tactics and command system akin to Rainbow Six. You can have your men perform many different actions with just one button like sniping, fire support or charging the enemy. Various movements and tactics look very authentic and LucasArts did a good job making it look as realistic as possible. RC stays true to Star Wars regularities like the sounds, music and overall theme but takes a much grittier, blood-soaked approach not typical for standard Star Wars games. A few minor differences are the HUD system, which is quite well designed, and the inclusion of additional songs that help further set the dark tone of the game.

Despite my overall admiration for the game, Republic Commando doesn't really bring anything new to the table in terms of gameplay and it is criminally short. It adopts Halo's recharging shield system which I'm compltely sick of, you and your men can only be incapacitated while awaiting a pick-me-up, similar to a multitude of shooters out there, and multiplayer is unintuitive featuring industry standards like Deathmatch and Capture the flag.

Republic Commando is still an excellent shooter that desperately needs a sequel like yesterday.

Overall Thoughts

While Republic Commando may not be the best thing since sliced bread, it performs admirably and LucasArts has successfully delivered an entertaining and quality game. Now all they have to do is get off their lazy asses and develop a sequel.

The war's not over yet, at least I hope not.



Epic space battles, deep gameplay, and stellar graphics spells success for Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, a game similar to Homeworld and released by Mithis Entertainment in 2004. Sadly this game has virtually zero chance of seeing a sequel because its developer no longer exists but hopefully Vivendi, the game's publisher, still retains the rights and eventually produces one.

Synopsis

The game is set in the 22nd Century and man has the ability to traverse the depths of space and has already waged wars with aliens on top of it. You are Marcus Cromwell, son of man's first spaceborn, and a captain in one of the few megacorporations dominating the galaxy. As the game opens, Cromwell captains the Stiletto, a heavy corvette ship on its way to Jupiter. The future events which unfold are then called the "Jupiter Incident" which is the start of another galactic war.

Nexus is a space-based real-time tactics strategy game with no base building or resources collection of any kind. Dubbed as a "Tactical Fleet Simulator" by its developers, Nexus focuses on ship management, small fleet engagements and a "what you see is what you get" approach similar to the Myth series. You get an assortment of fairly large spaceships each with their own cache of fighters and bombers, along with support ships such as frigates, cruisers and battleships. With Nexus' superb visuals which are still on par with games even today, battles are simply stunning as ships trade firepower and duke it out for space supremacy. You really feel like you're watching a movie when you play this game.

Be prepared to get frustrated however as this game has a steep learning curve and is extremely difficult to play. The big ships are quite bulky and very slow, which really isn't a big deal, but sometimes they can get a little screwed up. The game can be quite buggy even with the patches and sadly it lacks in the multiplayer department since people don't really play it all that much anymore. Despite these negatives, Nexus firmly stands as a very well-made and fun to play game which ultimately deserves a sequel.

Just skip the first 20 seconds, the opening dialogue is annoying.


Not the best but its still good

To be honest, there really aren't many games out there like Nexus or Homeworld and that's a shame. This genre of strategy games has a ton of potential that is simply not being met and it pains me to say that this trend will probably continue for quite a while. But at least we have Sins of a Solar Empire so at least that's something.

Replacing Jericho please, thanks.



Yet another great that can be added onto the pile games with zero chance of a sequel due to poor sales. Earning Gamespot's "Best game that no one played" award, Undying is a horror-themed first-person shooter developed by DreamWorks and Westlake and in 2001. Using Clive Barker's plot as noted in the title, Undying is an atmospheric, scary and an outstanding shooter to have graced the PC gaming platform. Also already mentioned, terrible sales figures spelled disaster for this game and EA in all their wisdom (pfft) canceled any chance of a sequel despite the emergence of the folly Jericho by Codemasters which came years later and blew ass. Undying was also supposed to feature multiplayer and co-op support but that was inevitably canned as well.

Synopsis

Set in the year 1923, you play the role of Patrick Galloway, a WWI vet who deals in matters of the occult. You receive a letter from your old friend Jeremiah Coveant urgently requests that Galloway comes to his mansion and puts an end to the curse plaguing his family and his house. His dead brothers and sisters constantly torment him, haunt the household and attempt to kill Galloway before he can put an end to the ordeal.

Undying is probably one of the scariest and most atmospheric games I have ever played and its right up there and at times even exceeding Doom 3. While its graphics may pale in comparison, Undying does a brilliant job keeping you on your toes and engrossing you. What sets the game apart, other than what I already described, is its use of two-handed combat. Similar to Oblivion but obviously way before, you can cast magic spells and use weapons at the same time. One of the most chilling aspects of the game is the use of the Scrye spell. With it, you can see the ghosts of the dead, observe their violent mischievousness and see visions of the past. Undying truly is a game worth playing.

Undying is scary as much as it is fun

Good stuff

Undying is simply stunning and it is definitely worth playing even after all these years. While it may not scare some of the more hardened gamers who have experienced Fear and Doom 3, you may find that Undying can surprise you, something it does fairly well. Here's hoping that we get a sequel, we can only hope after all.