Gaming Sequels: The Good, The Bad & The Future (Part 1)

Spiderman 2:

This game was one that hurt me a lot. If any of you hold as close loving ties to comics books, graphic novels and films, as you do games then you’ll understand. Spidey has always been my favourite wallcrawler and to this day he still remains my #1 Superhero I’d most likely do anything in existence to become. I’d do unthinkable things and go to unimaginable lengths to become the webslinger. And as much as I loved the first 2 movies, this game really broke any aspirations I had for the third film (good thing too, because it was…well, the popcorn was good). Even though the aspect of being able to websling throughout a pretty detailed Manhattan did seem really inviting, it only takes a matter of time before you realize: Hey wait, I’ve been on this rooftop before. Hey wait, I’ve saved this lady from this mugger before. Seriously lady, how does one person get mugged 5 times in one day? Yes, that was Spidey’s ultimate downfall…the EXTREMELY repetitive style of the game. Swing here, beat up muggers. Swing there, beat up robbers. Swing there, beat up Rhino. And the supposedly randomly generated goons and ‘damsels in distress’ soon become evident weren’t so random. However, the first game in the series did everything you wanted Spidey to do, even without all the glitz and glamour features. Unluckily for me, I crawled back into the Spidey franchise and…gulp…purchased the 3rd Spidey. Another disappointing 2 hours of my life. I say 2 hours, because that’s about as much of the game as I could muster. And don’t even get me started on a certain Autobot slash Decepticon themed game which managed to rope me in as well. At least I know Transformers 2 won’t be a game in my collection…oops, I said it aloud. Well, now that you know, don’t make the same mistake I did. Try and stay away from Movie/Comic Book/Graphic Novel games…there’s a reason the artist decided to make one of those platforms and not a game. And there are A LOT of shhhhhhhhhoddy games out there based on movies (The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy, Iron Man, Constantine, etc.)…my advice. Stay away. Run away. And if you have already bought it, donate it to a unsuspecting youth. Otherwise, just bury it in your backyard and never speak of it in public again. Ever. Activision, shame on you thrice!

Halo 3:

Slow down. Slow down. Slow down I say. Stop trying to chop my head off for even attempting to bad mouth Halo and just hear me out for a second. Really, I have a point. I think. Look, Halo is a good game. I take that back, it’s a GREAT game! But how much different is it really than all the previous Halo games that have come to pass? After Halo 2 the 3rd iteration had some big Master Chief shoes to fill. And did they? Ask yourself that for a second. Take away the graphical improvement, the new online system (which isn’t SO new anyway) and the minor weapon perks…and you’re back to Halo 2. I finished both Halo’s and played both of them online, and there are still few things that I enjoy more than getting into a warthog and running some blue boys over. Plus, Halo tapped into a small perk which sells my soul to a game immediately…dual wielding. I’m very much a dual weapon man. Bigger is better, is it not? Now you got bigger, better and more. But not really. For all the hype they made about Halo 3 being the PS3 killer and being the game that the Xbox360 was made for and yeah yeah yeah, it wasn’t THAT great. I mean, it was great, like I said, but did it really MAKE the xbox360? Come on. Bungie…kudos to you, BIG kudos for a great game, but…*slaps hand* bad Bungie, BAD! Next time, if you make a hype about something, leave me blinded from the awesomeness that the game resonates, which has to be so immense that it causes every single hair on my body to evaporate as I turn on my system!

Okay, I think that’s enough badmouthing and trying to analyze these poor little games for one day. Check in soon when Part 2 goes up (The Good) which will cover 4 of those sequels that made history by putting another brick in the franchise wall…

Last Updated: April 30, 2009