I've Got a Rare Case of Sequel-itis

Too Many Twos and Threes out There

While this is usually the goal in gaming, sometimes bigger is not always better

The latest and greatest in the Call of Duty franchise has hit store shelves this week. Black Ops came out Tuesday and is probably selling like hotcakes at a fat camp. I too am one of the millions of gamers out there who got their hands on the latest military shooter game, and although I am not yet done with the game, I am left with a feeling of emptiness as I play, but that is nothing against the development team of the game. From the ground up anyone can see that Black Ops is a beautiful and polished game, but there's an all too familiar "been there, done that" feel that could end up biting the Call of Duty franchise in the ass...and they're not the only ones.

This Holiday season is shaping up to be an impressive line-up of high caliber video games. Halo Reach, Fable III, Fallout: New Vegas, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and even Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are sure to keep gamers in their dark, cheese puff covered rooms for hours on end, but there is an inherent problem with having too many sequels. It's easy for a publisher to funnel all their cash into an established game franchise, but it won't last forever. I love playing these games as much as the next guy, but gamers will eventually start to see the similarities in gameplay, and slowly start to abandon their interest in the franchise. Personally, I'm passing up the opportunity to play games like New Vegas, Fable III, and Assassin's Creed (mostly due to my economic status) because they don't catch my attention in terms of deep, engaging, and most importantly original gameplay. There's just not enough to warrant me into coughing up another $60 for something that I already know what to expect from. Call of Duty: Black Ops may not be re-inventing the M16 with it's approach to first person shooters, but the online capabilities are still going strong and is worth the buy-in alone.

Halo was once the king of gaming franchises, but Call of Duty is the new chief in town

The thing that scares me is to see a critically and commercially prime, established franchise get benched because of repetitious gameplay. Look at Halo and Call of Duty. When Halo 2 released on the original XBOX in 2004, no one could foresee another franchise knocking Master Chief off his mantle. Once Halo 3 released in 2007, it was still profitable in terms of sales, but Bungie seemed to play it safe and keep the major gameplay elements that were established back in its first game in 2001 the same. Most gamers felt a little let down, but it was still a solid game. Now I fear the same thing is happening with the Call of Duty franchise. Call of Duty 4 changed the way gamers play shooters both in single player and online, and ultimately became the proverbial 800 lb. gorilla in the video game industry. Modern Warfare 2 polished the gaming experience further, but now with Black Ops, I feel history is repeating itself. Black Ops may be a great game, but gamers will start to lose interest if the next Call of Duty doesn't reinvent itself. Granted, the Black Ops development team (Treyarch) is different from the team of both Modern Warfare games (the now dissolved Infinity Ward), but now Activision wants to release a Call of Duty game once every year...which isn't a smart decision. Development will be rushed similar to how EA Sports games work, and gamers will be over-saturated in repetitive gameplay.

That's for calling my mom a slut!

So what needs to be done? Frankly, I have no clue. What I DO notice is the growing popularity of downloadable content. Games like Splosion Man, Braid, Limbo, Shadow Complex, and even Castle Crashers are wonderful, and lengthy, games that can be purchased online for about $10. While most of these games don't really bring anything new in terms of revolutionary gameplay...for example Splosion Man is a Mario-like platformer, while Shadow Complex is a military Metroid type game...they offer gamers new Intellectual Properties to explore. Games like Limbo and Splosion Man are simple platforming adventure games, but the art style and presentation is something that's never been seen before. Limbo gave us a unique black and white, almost silent film animation, and it was fun and new to us. Console game makers need to take a page in how downloadable games present themselves. Sometimes you don't really have to come up with something new and engaging in terms of gameplay, but you can mask it by presenting it in a way that's never been done before. Plus, downloadable games are cheap. Gamers don't have to beat themselves up too much if they end up not liking a particular game. 

Sequels are teetering on a fine line of originality

Sequels are here to stay; it's a fact. However sometimes too much a good thing can turn dull and dry. Developers need to spread out their games and make us beg like Oliver Twist to play some more. Publishers need to spread their games apart because if not, they'll end up turning into the Dynasty Warrior Franchise...which I'm sure is already working on releasing it's 7th game sometime in the near future, except now you can press the same button fifty five times instead of sixty.