Videogame companies and or series that have gotten worse or gotten better?

General Discussion
1

A BUNCH of series/companies took a nose dive this gen to me. I think almost nothing escaped unharmed, even some series that started this gen.

Need for Speed. I owned every single one until after Pro Street. Including “Road&Track Presents The Need for Speed” Starting at Pro Street, bleh. Even the most recent few are basically Burnout, no manual shift.

Gran Turismo. Really? Touting 1000+ cars when most are upscaled PS2 and PS1 GT1-4 car models? Still sounding like vacuums? 5 years?

Tokyo Xtreme Racer. This came out on 360 called “Import Tuner Challenge” The previous titles are all better in some manner than the latest game.

Capcom = became greedy and lazy. Loved them since NES days, especially the Disney licensed games as a kid, Street Fighter, ect. This gen…not at all. You can keep SFIV and UMVC3, and all the re-releases,and I’m unfortunately guilty of giving them a fair share.

Test Drive Unlimited. The reason I even bought this gen. Then 5 years later TDU2 comes out, and its worse in so many ways.

Mass Effect. Was going to be my fav series of all time. Then ME3’s ending, and multiplayer happened. Personally ME was as close to a ‘shooter’ as I ever played. i dont play MP shooters online, so needing to play this was a chore.

Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft COUSIN COUSIN COUSIN COME PLAY POOL! NO? well i lose respect for you COUSIN!!! Not fun.

I suppose that Tekken is good. Tekken 6 and Tag 2 were good buys, as were previous Tekkens. I’ve got no real problem with the current gen Bethesda games. Turn 10 Forza also got better with each game, which means I dont Need For Speed Prostreet wannabe Forza Horizon; not Turn 10.

What about you all?

2

We’ve become older over time, so our perspective has changed as well.

3

For me most series I once loved have gone to shit in the past few years. Some from a long time ago, others in just the turn of a sequel this gen.

Ratchet and Clank
Resident Evil
Street Fighter
Silent Hill
Uncharted
Devil May Cry
Darksiders

I’m probably forgetting some others, but it’s been a long time since I spent such little money on games. I remember having to write dates down and preorder constantly to keep on top of the titles I wanted. Now it seems like I have to sift through rivers of shit just to find one worthwhile game.

4

I would say ID Software. You can chalk it all up to personnel changes and the budgets for games exploding and it’s hard for a 6 man team to make something big like Doom in under a year these days. But those days of Doom and Quake and mod tool releases are long gone. We’re lucky that Carmack was able to get the Doom 3 Engine out as Open Source. Plus they’re no longer the leaders of high end FPS engines; Epic has totally usurped that market.

5

I believe Halo is something that’s taking a nose dive right now. Everything after 3 is just kind…meh. ODST was one hell of a cash grab. Reach was kind of average at best and broke the universe chronology in certain ways. Spartan laser pre combat evolved? Lol wut? Halo 4 wasn’t bad at first but then they pulled a Gears of war 3 with a ton of silent stat updates that fucked with the game in unnecessary ways. How the fuck is a spawn in weapon more effective than a shotgun which has always been a power weapon? The boltshot was straight up bad idea. Also how theatre mode is only enabled for multiplayer. Remember that time your friend got killed by having a door close on him in campaign mode? Probably not because you couldn’t save the film. It only bothers me because it is much more restrained than in previous games. Forge mode got worse with object limitations that pretty much killed custom games. Though I cut 343 some slack because it is their first try at an established series. But they better bring their fucking A game for Halo 5

6

Silent Hill. There are other answers, but this series has been so mishandled by Konami it’s almost comical. We haven’t seen a decent game in this series since 2003 and there have been a lot of them in that time. What we have gotten is lazy retreads by Western developers trying to recreate Silent Hill 2 with it’s nurses and other iconic series imagery, no matter how inappropriate to each specific game’s plot.

Japanese developers need to stop handing off their best game series to shitty western developers thinking that it’s going to suddenly sell like Call of Duty or something.

7

before we had ST 3S CVS2 and MVC2 as staple Capcom FGs. now we had SF4 SFxT and UMVC3. bleh.

8

EA…need I say more on why the gaming industry is turning to shit?

9

EA definitely has a hand in modern gaming, seems like all the hated/disliked tactic that exist this gen began with them.

They, as stated above ruined Need For Speed, IMO, and Mass Effect.

10

EA further fucks us the consumer with Online passes, On Disk/Day one DLC, and now Micro Transactions.

EA follows the idea of, Pay us Now…and Pay some more Later, you want the full game? haha more money please, more content? more money.

There are people who defends this shit too and that is just the worst of it…people want to give their money to these SOB’s…its fucking madness. But Money speaks louder than words so…smh

11

I like Gran Turismo…

12

Yeah, Mass Effect 3…game basically made me regret playing the series. I thought ME2 did a great job of improving ME1’s tech, but I was really apprehensive after ME2’s “plot reveal” and final boss

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrJHQmtHyI

I’m sorry, but when the big reveal in the game is that Humans are being turned into Smoothies to feed the 3rd boss from Contra III, you’ve got problems. What the hell was thing gonna do? Angrily smash buildings?

I tried really hard, but in the end, I really hated Mass Effect 3. I’ll hesitate on playing anything from Bioware now after ME3 and Dragon Age 2. Old Republic was a misfire too, MMO game where the only redeeming quality was the SINGLE PLAYER stories.

All of Star Wars post KOTOR has been complete ass, aside from Lego Star Wars I suppose, even more so when Lucasfilm decided to internalize all Star Wars game development and started cancelling everything that was outsourced.
What did we get? Force Unleashed 1 & 2. Somebody should have told that development team that the force powers were interesting for maybe 5 minutes, and that the rest of the game was going to suck if you replaced lightsabers with a WiffleBall bats taped to flashlights. Stormtroopers blocking saber attacks by crossing their arms

=))

13

EA’s nickel and dime business practices should disgust anyone with an ounce of integrity however, Mass Effect and Dead Space are my 2 favorite franchises so fuck yes I’ll continue to support those 2 series. I haven’t played ME3 or DS3 but plan on buying both later this year.

I haven’t played the PSP or mobile God of War games but 1-3 were perfect and delivered the badass, bloody fun they promised, it’s the most consistent franchise this generation.

Rocket Knight Adventures which is on the short list of greatest games ever made, had a snes spinoff/sequel that was decent but nothing compared to the original, finally got a proper sequel in 2010. It has a very different art style but I’m cool with that because the game play is very faithful to RKA and it was one of the most pleasant and unexpected resurrections of a franchise for me.

Another franchise that raised from the grave gracefully like RKA is Shinobi. Shinobi 3DS is a very 90’s style platformer/beat’emup and reminded me that games used to give no fucks about kicking the shit out of the player. It’s the best game in the series and it sucks no one cares about it. I guess not that many people both own a 3DS and enjoy a really hard side scroller.

The Contra franchise has had a few shitty games but overall has been consistent. One of if not the best game in the series Contra 4 blew me away because like the above mentioned games it transported me back to the 90’s and made really smart use of both screens to make it harder. hardcorps: Uprising was pretty good too. I’m upset WayForward isn’t making Contra 3DS but then again I read online it might have been canceled…not like any of you knew it existed lol.

We should all agree the franchise that took the biggest nosedive off a cliff into the deepest pits of hell this generation is Sonic with Sonic 06. I haven’t played it but I’ve seen enough vids to know its one of the glitchiest and most poorly designed games this generation. Fast forward a bunch of shitty games later, ironically the franchise then made one of the strongest comebacks of any other with Sonic Colors DS and Sonic Generations. While they don’t begin to compare with the genesis Sonic’s and have some flaws, they also captured enough of the greatness of those early games to remind us why we loved Sonic to begin with, even Specs would blush blue playing them. Assuming Sonic Team doesn’t fuck it up (again) with SG2 they’re on track to one of gaming’s biggest turnarounds.

Mega Man…yeah not much to say that hasn’t been said over 9000 times.

On SRK I seem to be the vast minority on this but I think GTA4 is easily the best game in the franchise dons flame shield. I preferred it’s adult oriented and sober tone over the whacky cartoonishness of the other games, and it serves as a prime example of how a great story and well written characters can enhance the investment a player has in a game.

I haven’t played the new Tomb Raider reboot but it looks really fun and I fucking loved Guardian of Light, that’s one of the most fun downloadable games around. Whoever thought of turning TR into a twin stick shooter deserves a raise. Why can’t more developers think outside the box and make spinoff games in a series in a completely different genre…for example a Fire Emblem beat’emup or a 2D Dead Space, think of how cool the cutting mechanic could be in 2.5D

Which reminds me, the Metroid series evolved with the times and we got Metroid Prime, which was a GDLK 3D platformer masquerading as a Halo clone. Then something went wrong because we got 2 more console Primes, a DS Prime, a DS pinball spinoff, and Other: M all of which were kind of fun but when you look at the first Metroid Prime and Fusion it makes you say WTF is wrong with you Ninentdo why are you killing one of your best and only series? Seriously Ninentdo stop dragging the Metroid name through the mud and make Metroid Dread already! And if this Prime 4 rumor is true I’m going to steal a truckload of Wii U’s and crash them into Iwata’s office.

I forgive Ninentdo for the 2 shitty, lazily designed, easy as pie handholding that are the 2 New Super Mario Bros because Super Mario Galaxy 1, 2, and 3D Land are among the best entries in the series. Just please no more “New” games, stick to making Super Mario 3D Land 2.

Since I’m in a Ninentdo rant I should talk a little about Zelda, the franchise has been consistently GDLK, I say that not having yet beaten Twilight Princess which so far I like but don’t love. Skyward Sword looks fun and maybe it’s a much better game than TP, but I really feel the classic Zelda formula has run it’s course, the next entry in the series whether its on Wii U or 3DS needs to change things up somehow, maybe a futuristic cyberpunk Zelda with new Portal like puzzles? I don’t have the answer I just would like to see Nintendo take a risk with the property. If they don’t then hopefully sales numbers for the next title won’t be as high as expected and the hit Ninentdo takes on projected revenue will wake them up forcing a change.

14

You could say that EA was run by the KKK and dudes would be all like “AWW MAN THAT IS TERRIBLE,STILL GONA GET THAT NEW MADDEN AND ME3 YO!”

Ya’ll feeble minded mother fuckers kill me.

15

Until you do…

Like I said overall, nothing compared to Mass Effect this gen, and if not for 3, I would have solidly put it in first place this gen.

I was going to say Sonic and Mario, but I havent played Sonic since SA1 on DC, therfore it wouldnt be a valid opinion, same with Mario, havent sit down with one since SMW.

Saints Row is another…
(vid is a narrated comparison or 2 vs 3)

And theres a WTF trailer for SR4.

16

The last great NFS was Most Wanted. Some people have hinted around Underground 3, but its been years and they would probably fuck that up somehow too.

Although I prefer Ridge Racer over Grand Turismo (badass soundtrack), GT 2 for me is like the best driving simulator I have ever played. I haven’t played a GT since then.

The Ace Combat series is still an incredibly strong flight simulator, but they have taken steps back in the comparison to the PS2 runs.

If Dragon Age 3 sucks, then the series would be in a tailspin for DA2 being “average at best.”

Final Fantasy has gotten worse. I haven’t played a good FF game since probably 10.

I didn’t like GTA4 all that much. In fact, I think San Andreas is better (and funnier).

Sonic is no doubt in the doghouse. Generations was fun and restored my faith a little bit, but it’s going to take much more than that.

17

If EA were run by the KKK that would be an extra incentive to support them, I’d be able to buy games I want while also helping ensure there are less black people around. It’s funny seeing the pot call the kettle black (see what I did there) talking about unethical business practices as if you don’t own anything made by the sweat and blood of a 4 year old Chinese girl, hell my cousin probably made your phone =P.

Also, feeble minded mother fucker is what I call someone who berates another for spending their money on what they want.

18

I think GTA, KOF, Street Fighter, and the VS series really plummeted this generation.

KOF is a victim of this gen’s expectations, however. We’re supposed to be able to play games online, now.

19

@orochizoolander

Try the new Tomb Raider, I’ve been very impressed so far, very fluid gameplay, beautiful visuals and great atmosphere.

20

Tekken is an example of a series that’s improved? Everything that people complain that Capcom did to SF and Marvel, I feel Namco did to the Tekken series a couple years earlier.