2010 looks to be the year of sequels. The industry loves them; this past year, the biggest selling titles were sequels – Halo 3: ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2. Sequels sell well because, obviously, they are recognizable to consumers. And what consumer doesn’t like to stay in their comfort zone? There’s plenty to be said for innovative new properties; games like Brutal Legend and Dead Space come out of nowhere to massive success (and inevitably start franchises of their own). Indie games in particular tend to offer a non-mainstream experience that is often completely unique when compared to the tried-and-true formulas of franchises. Still, how about some love for the franchises? Some of the best games in recent memory are part of mega-franchises: GTA IV, Fallout 3 and Halo 3 spring to mind. Sequels are able to excel because a) they have huge amounts of money poured into them and b) they are built upon (mostly) very stable foundations. If a game is successful enough, then by definition it must have done something right. Sequels can build upon an original’s successes and rectify any shortcomings making use of that most wonderful of things: hindsight. With all of this in mind, I will now list the final two (with a bonus choice) video game sequels landing in 2010.
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum 2: The first Batman game to have any kind of critical success, Arkham Asylum is a very good game. Atmospheric, gorgeous, well cast and with a great combat system, there’s not a huge amount wrong with it. By electing to limit the game to the titular Asylum, developer Rocksteady were able to keep the game tighter than tight, well paced and polished to within an inch of its life. Hopefully, with the sequel being moved out of the Asylum, the developers won’t bite off more than they can chew and get lost in the much larger environs of Gotham City.
1. Dead Space 2: Initially looking like Resident Evil in space, Dead Rising somehow proved to be more than the sum of its parts. Playing rather like Resident Evil, except less clunky, players take on the role of Isaac Clarke as he tries to survive the hell-hole that is the broken down mining ship USG Ishimura. The enemy of choice: the Necromorph; humans with hideous mutations, including all manner of claws and spikes. The game plumbs the back-catalogue of cinematic scares, from The Thing to Alien and beyond, resulting in one of the most intense games in recent memory. The developers acknowledge that most players can only handle about an hour at a time before they need to give their heart a rest! For the sequel, the developers are taking Isaac to a bigger environment – a space station / city called Sprawl, at the beginning of a Necromorph pandemic. Expect the game to play more like Aliens did to Alien: bigger and louder, but with a probable reduction in subtleties. Dead Space will be a difficult game to improve, and Dead Space 2 appears to be going in a slightly different direction in an effort to avoid the overwhelming sensation of vulnerability in the first game. Hopefully, this won’t just result in a generic action game, because Dead Space was so much more.
Bonus Pick: God of War 3: Even though this is a Playstation 3 exclusive I just had to add it onto the list, easily one of the most highly-anticipated games of 2010 as well as the follow-up in a top action/adventure franchise. From the demo released a couple weeks ago I have to say that the game is fun to play, and very gory to look at - maybe one of the most gory games this writer has ever played. Either way Kratos is the one game that can do some major damage to Microsoft's Xbox 360 and he's slamming onto the PS3 in just a few months; make sure you get a chance to try out God of War 3 as it's one of the top video game sequels landing in 2010.
