Video Game Review: Top 10 Worst Video Game Sequels I've seen so far: Part 2

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Ceaser is pissed off at these sequels.

 Alright we've seen some notoriously bad sequels in the last list and there were some good things to say about them. For example I hated the gameplay of X6 but the music was still good, and Kingdom Hearts Recoded was much better as a movie then a game. But these next four, no quarter given, in my opinion these are some of the worst sequels I've seen and played.

#4 Devil May Cry 2

 As I mentioned in my best sequels list I'm not a long time fan of the series and the only reasons I checked it out was because Dante and Lady were in Project X Zone, I fought Dante in SMT Nocturne, and the HD collection was on sale so I figured why not. The first game was ok but I was still wondering why everyone loved Dante so much. From what I saw it was decent but not as good as God of War which I've been a fan of since the first game. My opinion of the series didn't improve once I got to Devil May Cry 2. What little personality Dante had was just gone, there was no banter between him and the bosses and we got a secondary lead who was boring, had a clone backstory that went almost nowhere and the gameplay just took a giant dump. 

 Thank whoever is up there for me giving Devil May Cry 3 a chance because when I finished the first fight in that game it all suddenly made complete sense. For me Devil May Cry was like the Original Evil Dead trilogy except Evil Dead 2 was far better then the first and Devil May Cry 2 sucked like a black hole. In both cases thankfully I made it to the third installment because now I know and am so waiting till I can finally get to Devil May Cry 4 and let's play that sucker. Though I do have more games on my to do list before I get to that, but rest assured I will play that game. Also for everyone who whined about DMC, I see where you're coming from but 1 it's an alternate universe and 2 trust me it's not the worst in the franchise that to me will always be Devil May Cry 2 until I see otherwise.

 #3 Assassins Creed 3

 I believe that with this one I barely have to explain myself but the might as well anyway. Assassins Creed 3 right after the conclusion to Ezio's story in Revelations gives us one of the most boring protagonists in the series, Conner Kenway. Even worse they teased us with the first two sequences instead having us play as Conner's far more interesting and entertaining father Haytham. Though admittedly the twist of him actually being a Templar was handled pretty well in my opinion and the fact that we have to kill the people that we've come to know (for the most part) kind of makes it more personal especially since unlike the previous groups of Templars Haytham's order do seem to care about protecting the Colonies. But their methodology is more then a tad questionable because we need to have our conflict somehow.

 Also back in the worst parts of these games AKA the modern segments we get a whole new dimension of annoyance with Desmond in the form of his fucking daddy issues. 

"GET IN THE FUCKING ANIMUS SHINJI, I MEAN DESMOND!"

 I'm not even kidding with that joke, just like in Evangelion Desmond shoves his daddy issues all over the place which are kind of small potatoes when you know THE END OF THE WORLD DEPENDS ON DESMOND FINDING WHERE CONNOR HID THE KEY TO THE TENPLE SO THEY CAN SAVE THE WORLD! Though at least this was only early on and they did reconcile so it's not as bad as it could have been. Also the game at least killed Desmond off so we don't have to follow his boring chosen one ass for the rest of the franchise. 

 At least we now just have Shawn and Rebecca to deal with, at least they both have something resembling personalities that we can get behind. Also Assassins Creed 3 still had the multiplayer which while still fun still had Micro transactions which is never fine for me in a $60 game. Though there was the Tyranny of King Washington DLC which had an incredibly goofy premise and cranked it up to 11 with it giving Conner super duper Native American super powers. Thankfully we had Assassins Creed 4 after this because if we had another boring romp with Conner I would have jumped ship long before the dual release of Unity and Rogue.

#2 Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts

 Do I even have to say anything?!  You all know why this would eventually make the list I don't even need to go over it. But I have to at least fill in 2 paragraphs for these entries so here it goes. Everyone who grew up with an N64 at least heard about Banjo Kazooie and how they were fun colorful platform games. We were teased with a third game in at the end of Banjo Tooie but aside from some GBA spin offs there was nothing for years, especially after Rare was bought out by MICROSOFT! "Spit"

 But then we heard that there was going to be a brand new Banjo Kazooie game for the 360 we were over the moon. But then it was released and all our hope turned into despair faster then you can say "I was stupid, so stupid" and BAM Banjo Kazooie Nuts and bolts was unleashed onto the world. I of course never played it but you didn't even need to play it to know that you don't take a beloved platform game and turn it into a FUCKING BUILD YOUR OWN CAR RACER GAME!? That just doesn't make any sense from either a game design perspective or a brand loyalty perspective. Why in the wide wide world of sports would somebody think "hey we have this beloved platformer IP that people have been begging for a sequel to, let's make it into a goddamn Lego racing game that bitterly insults the fans and mechanics of the two games that made it so beloved!" 

 I mean if this was its own IP people would never have had this big of a fan revolt that wouldn't be matched until the ending to Mass Effect 3. But nope Rare was owned by MICROSOFT "spit" and so owned by their new overlords they took the name of Banjo Kazooie and ran it over their Gummi Ship knock off monster truck. Thankfully the people who were really responsible for Banjo Kazooie being the success that it was broke away from; them, founded their own company and have created a brilliant looking spiritual successor Yooka-Layle which is on its way very, very soon. (Which I personally backed on Kickstarter and yes I will begin a Let's Play of that lovely little game as soon as I possibly can!) So in a way we can be a bit thankful to Nuts and Bolts because without this flaming turd we wouldn't have Yooka-Layle to look forward to. So thank you Nuts and Bolts, now never bother us again. Now before I get to #1 some dishonorable mentions.

Assassins Creed Bloodlines.

 Shitty little PSP game that tries to explain some elements of how Altaïr hid the Apple of Eden on Cypress and was overall unnecessary and graphically repulsive. The only reason anyone would have to play this was to unlock weapons in Assassins Creed 2. Nothing else to say but OH UBISOFT!

Final Fantasy X-2

 Takes place after an ok Final Fantasy story and takes two of of the characters plus a new character and basically makes them into Angsty vapid and poorly written clones of Cutie Honey. While the combat and dresssphere system is interesting, the plot can get stupid and for those who want to 100% this game the monster collection mini game is one of the most tedious obsessive compulsive tasks I have ever seen. Those who have played this game on the PS3, 4 or Vita know exactly what I'm talking about.

 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days.

 Aside from having one of the dumbest titles I've ever read for a video game, just like the other Kingdom Hearts DS game is just ok. The gameplay is better then Coded, it's story is actually relevant by showing Roxas' time with Organization 13, explaining why he left in the first place and showing how he and Axel became good buddies. And just like Coded this games events are cannon so it's unskippable and it's events have been made into a clip-show/ movie so you don't have to search Amazon for a copy, so no muss no fuss. But as bad as these previous entries was this is still nothing compared to what I consider the worst sequel I have ever encountered!

 #1 The Legend of Zelda, Phantom Hourglass.

 Each of the previous games have their own unique flavors of horrible. From Nuts and Bolt's betrayal of the classic games that made them a household name to Final Fantasy 13's misguided and horribly confused design, but nothing on this list pisses me off more then Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass. Just like Assassins Creed 3 PH comes right after my favorite Legend of Zelda game, Wind Walker which I loved even back when it first came out when everybody else was pissing and moaning about how "kiddy" it looked. When I learned about there being a continuation of that continuity (this was back before I learned how messed up the Zelda timeline was; btw at that point the only Zelda games I played and finished were OOT and Majora's Mask) I picked it up right away. Then a few hours later I put it down and never picked it up again to this day.

 That's right of all the bad games I've played I at the very least try to finish one play-through of it. Not so with Phantom Hourglass, this is one of the very few games that I just gave up on and never looked back on. That comes down to three things. First was the graphics, now I know that going from the GameCube to the DS I knew there would be some kind of a graphical downgrade but wow the graphics for this game were bad. Everyone looked like they were made of Legos and there was little to no expression on their faces aside from their default faces.

 Number 2, the controls were awful. Now when you have a directional pad on your portable console you would at first think that you would use it to move your character. But not in this pile of puke, no no you needed to move Link with the DS touchscreen and Stylus and making such a dramatic change to the controls especially for an established platformer did not win points with me. But that leads me to the biggest problem with Phantom Hourglass, THE TEMPLE OF THE OCEAN KING!!! Oh by the Emperors magnificent golden lazy boy did that place become my personal purgatory. 

 See every time you defeat a boss you have to go back to this place every single time, go through every single floor just to get to the new floor to progress in the story and I repeat you have to go through every single floor in this place every single time to progress through the game. It was when I realized that fact and found seemingly no way to mediate this problem I for the first time in my memory, gave up the game and never played it again. This game along with the horrid controls for Skyward Sword have basically caused me to give up on the Legend of Zelda franchise, a franchise that I was only a very casual fan of to begin with. So that is why Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass is the worst video game sequel I've ever encountered, it took a franchise that everyone said was a seminal classic and turned it into an overrated and overhyped mess. Does anyone else have their own sequel that's worse then this? Then leave it in the comments below and make your case. Now if you'll excuse me I have a good sequel to play to cleanse my palate of this horrible trip down memory lane.

Devil May Cry is owned by Capcom and Hideki Kamiya.
Assassins Creed 3 is owned by Ubisoft, Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond and Corey May.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is owned by Microsoft Game Studios and Rare.
The Legend of Zelda is owned by Nintendo & Shigeru Miyamoto
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is owned by 20^th Century Fox

Video Game Review: Top 10 best Video Game Sequels Part 2

Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

For those who forgot what I thought were my 10th to 6th most favored sequels here's the link. Now sit back, relax and let me tell you what I think are the best sequels I've played so far.

#5 Bioshock 2

NOW, before anyones says anything let me get this off my chest.

 This is not the best game in the series. Of the three games my personal favorite is Bioshock. It introduced me to Art Deco art design and the ideas of Objectivism some of which I agree with, It also gave us Andrew Ryan one of the more empathetic villains I've encountered. Bioshock Infinite is my second favorite, despite having what I feel to be the best story in the series the combat is somewhat weak due to the two weapon system and the random and mostly useless Gear system. However Bioshock 2 is in my opinion the most fun to play. 

 For starters we get the chance to play as a Big Daddy which while it removes some of the horror felt in the first game we get to play as one of the most powerful creatures in Rapture. Now admit it at some point you wish you were on the giving end of that drill or rivet gun instead of the receiving end. The hacking is significantly improved and no longer takes you out of the setting and game by replacing the long pipe puzzles with a simple timing game which improves the gameplay flow and isn't distracting. When you purchase Plasmid upgrades there is a tangible difference in their capability as when you do they actually gain new effects and powers. The research camera is now a film camera instead of a photo camera which again improves the flow of gameplay by keeping the fight going while recording your enemies.

 There are more characters with original models, no longer needing to recycle Splicer models for characters like Tennembaum. We have a villain that we can genuinely hate in Sophia Lamb and her organization; the Rapture family from the sympathetic Grace Holloway to the disgusting weasel Stanley Poole to the tragic Gil Alexander. On top of that Minerva's den; its single player DLC is one of the best pieces of DLC I've ever played to the point where it's even better then the main game in certain respects. But there are some things that hold it back. In the original version it fell victim to the craze of tacked on Multiplayer which thankfully was removed in the Hd Collection. Unlike in the first game you can't go back to levels you've bested, once you get on that train that's it you you're required to search the level from tit to toe for Audio Diaries, tonics and Power to the people machines.

 The levels can also feel a bit too short, not really giving you a chance to explore and take in the surroundings and atmosphere. There's also no Survivor difficulty in this game which is annoying for me since I can only get a challenge from games like this when I go in hardcore. Also the final level is once again another easy breeze for competent players, even without the last Plasmid you can clean out all the Splicers and Alpha Series in Persephone just by sneezing on them. Also the spear gun is almost useless at least for me; I never upgraded that thing. Yet I can't hate this game, on a technical level Bioshock 2 is a good sequel. 

While Bioshock 2 is undoubtedly the weakest game in the franchise in terms of narrative I still consider it the most fun to play. I look at Bioshock and Bioshock 2 like how most people look at Alien and Aliens, the first is a ground breaking genre piece that has a wonderful, frightening atmosphere due to how little we know of what we're facing. While Bioshock 2 we know what it is, we know it can bleed and we know how we can kill it! To me Bioshock 2 is moving from horror to action with horror elements. Still fun for me, not the best but I don't care I'm too busy killing Splicers with my big ass drill and making too many Gurren Lagann references to care, especially when the Yuri Lowenthal Spider Splicers show up. "HEY SIMON FOUND YOUR DRILL!!!"

#4 Devil May Cry 3

 Now we move on to sequels that everyone can agree is a marked improvement from what came before. Now for how I can across Devil May Cry. I saw the HD collection for PS3 on PSN for 5 bucks which is a fantastic deal so I got it thanks to my brief encounters with Dante in SMT Nocturne, Project X Zone and Viewtiful Joe Red Hot Rumble ( yes I played it shut up). I played the first game thought it was ok, kind of a gothic Japanese God of War. Then came Devil May Cry 2, I hated it, the gameplay was dumbed down, the lock on was horrible, what little personality Dante had in the first game was sucked out and was replaced with a boring female lead whose name I can't even be bothered to look up on Wikipedia. Who also came with a dull clone backstory and a fake sounding accent that when combined came off to me as less of a demon hunter then someone who should be trying to catch Moose and Squirrel for Fearless Leader.

 I honestly was starting to have buyers remorse. I thought; "why is it that people like Dante again? What was it that I wasn't seeing?" Then along came from the heavens, Devil May Cry 3 and then IT FUCKING CLICKED!! This was the Dante I was expecting, the snarky; ass kicking; pizza eating demon hunter with a badass sword, beautiful twin pistols and seeing the origin of the famous transformation; the Devil Trigger. On top of that the badass boss fights and new weapons were fun, hard to master and so, so rewarding once you've conquered them. 

 Now in case you haven't guessed I'm a bit of a Power Rangers fan. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Dan Southworth AKA Eric AKA the Quantum Ranger from Power Rangers Time Force was Dante's brother Virgil? To me the relationships of the two sons of Sparta came across as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru only without all of the bullshit and they're both Half Demons. Now I want to see Sesshomaru and Virgil in a Deathbattle if anything to see that Bi-shi furry get his ass kicked by a real half-demon who's with me? WIZ, BOOMSTICK GET ON THAT SHIT!

 Though honestly every time Virgil talked I just couldn't separate Virgil from Eric, it was weird. Aside from that this game hooked me on Devil May Cry and I can't wait to get around to Devil May Cry 4 for PS4 and all of you will get to join me on my first ride. Maybe I'll also give DMC Devil May Cry a shot. I know everyone including Capcom hates that game but maybe I'll just rent it or something, it cannot honestly be worse then Devil May Cry 2. I mean we even have RJ from Jungle Fury as Virgil and you all know how much I liked him so what could go wrong?

#3 Banjo Tooie

This is the best game of my childhood. Ok either this or Donkey Kong 64

 Banjo Kazooie was one of my favorite games as a kid. The N64 was my jam and the games were so mind blowingly good I still can't believe it (ok not all of them I did play that Lightspeed Rescue and Rugrats board game thing, I got better.) Back on track Banjo-Tooie took one of my favorite games and cranked it up to 11! New moves, bigger locations, bigger challenges, great music and actual boss battles! We even get to play as Mumbo Jumbo and while he's not as maneuverable and versatile as the bear and bird he can do some freaky tiki room shit, like bringing a Giant Golden statue to life, make the ocean breathable and even bring dead Aliens back to life! Since Mumbo's taking a more active role we get to visit the Shaman Humba Wumba who shows up in every level with a brand new transformation, including a secret one for Kazooie which turns her into a dragon!

 Now to this day I still haven't gotten all of the Jiggies (cough Canary Mary cough cough) but I still love this game. It's only a shame what happened to this franchise due to Rare and Microsoft (which is one of the reasons I will never own a Xbox console). I'm just hoping that Yooka-Layle which is made by the people behind Banjo Kazooie which I backed during its original Kickstarter so you'd better believe there's going to be a Lets Play of that game as soon as I can get my claws on it! I mean they know that it has to be good or else everyone who's backed it will cry like an anime fan on prom night! Seriously whoever though that was a good idea for Mighty #9's marketing needs to be fired, out of a cannon, into a dumpster made of flaming racism!

 #2 Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door

Long Story short second verse same as the last.

 But for more effort Paper Mario TTYD was one of my most favorite games for the Gamecube, right up there with Luigi's Mansion, Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Viewtiful Joe and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness. Paper Mario TTYD gave us distinct locations, fun memorable characters and a main Villain that wasn't Bowser for the 200th time. When I say distinct locations I mean it, from a monochrome forest to a WWE esq fighting arena in the sky to even an homage to Murder on the Orient Express. My personal favorite level is the aforementioned Glitz Pit and my favorite companion is Vivian the former shadow siren turned ally. Unfortunately much like Banjo-Kazooie the Paper Mario series has seen better days.

 Super Paper Mario was ok though going back to the older platforming was a bit odd for me. Sticker Star was the straw that broke my back for me what with you having to go all the way back to get the thing stickers over and over again and I haven't even touched Color Splash since from what I've seen it's much of the same as Sticker Star. So here's hoping we get back to it's true RPG routes with EXP, companions and the whole nine yards.

 Now before I tell you what I consider to be the best video game sequel I've played so far here's some honorable mentions.

 Persona 2 Eternal Punishment

 Now I seriously wanted to put a Persona game on the list but since one of my criteria is that it has to be a direct sequel that isn't part of an anthology so the only direct sequel to a Persona game Eternal Punishment gets the mention.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

 One of the first Gamecube games I got along with Luigi's Mansion; Sonic Adventure 2 gave me my first look at Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow and their high speed gameplay. Along with Tales and Eggman's shooter mech levels and Knuckles and Rouge's treasure hunting segments gave the game great variety.

Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag

 After enduring the dullness of Conner Kenway in Assassins Creed 3 we were rewarded with the swashbuckling tale of his Grandfather Edward in Black Flag. They wisely expanded the sailing mechanic that was stared in 3 and also did us all the favor of confirming the death Desmond in the modern day segments.

Megaman X8

 X7 was my first Megaman X game (I know I'm surprised I became a Megaman X fan after that too) SO yes the improvements between 7 and 8 are undeniable. From the voice acting actually being good to the improved controls and well holy crap AXL can shoot rapid fire copy bullets instead of one at a time which would take 3 minutes to kill an enemy. This along with the great rock music that the X series is known for makes for a decent game in the X series. (Though we're still waiting for X9 Capcom!)

Batman Arkham Knight

Honestly I would have put this on the list proper for the creative way of including the Joker and finally giving us the Batmobile. But the horrible way the PC version was shat out by Warner Bros cannot be forgiven or forgotten. Though if you want to see this game on a proper list well, next time kiddies.

Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker

 My personal favorite Zelda game of all even when it first came out and everybody hated it because it looked "too cartoony" and other such crap. I loved the sailing and breadth of atmosphere granted to me by sailing on the King of Red Lions. The designs of the characters were colorful, vibrant and they all popped. Though this did eventually introduce the Zelda Multiverse due to the different results of Ocarina of Time since this takes place in the universe that Adult Link left behind after sealing Gannondorf. So since it's technically not a direct sequel it doesn't make the list.

BioShock Infinite

 Infinite does have a superior story to BioShock 2 and a completely different and intriguing setting in the city of Columbia. We also have one of the best dynamics between Booker and Elizabeth and get a pretty brilliant way of explaining the concept of the Multiverse to people (at least better then Mr Nobody but pretty much on par with Rick and Morty) However the two gun system is stupid and limiting and when we first saw Songbird most of us thought "OH god I can't WAIT to fight that thing" but we don't.

 But despite that the ending is still one of the best part of this game and nobody can deny that.

Sly 2 Band of Thieves

 This was the game that set the Sly Cooper formula in stone. We got to play as Bentley and Murray as they demonstrated that they're on par with their best pal Sly as the three set out to steal back Clockwerk's body parts. (EW) Though it did tend to overstay its welcome at points such as the multiple levels with Rajan, The Contessa and Jean Bison. What Sly 2 introduced Sly 3 perfected.

God of War 3

 YOU LIKE EPIC BOSS BATTLES? You're not getting out of that chair/couch/whatever until you deal with ALL of these boss battles, you slimy little Carbuncle! But before you do check out what I consider to be the best video game sequel ever.

#1 Assassins Creed 2

 The first Assassins Creed was fine, the tasks you had to do were repetitive, the assassinations were nothing to write home about but it was perfectly serviceable. The ending did entice me to be hopeful for a sequel. But what I got was not what I expected, its in a word, beautiful. The wonderful setting of Renaissance Italy, the actually recognizable historical figures such as our main man Leonardo and the big bad Rodrigo Borgia. But the best of all is the properly Iconic protagonist Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. Going from the prideful snobbish dickhead Altaïr to the likable charismatic ladies man Ezio helps make this game for me.

 I mean which story would you be invested in? A guy fucked up too much and now we have to do Grandpa's dirty-work to get back in his good graces. Or a boy sees his father and brothers killed by a supposed family friend and becomes a man dedicated to not only avenge his family but also save the world from a power mad despot from getting his hands on an ancient artifact by attaining the highest power in the land? Yeah I thought so too. Not only that but we also get much more variety in gameplay, different and better weapons, costume customization, different and exciting missions, meaningful collectables and best of all, TWO HIDDEN BLADES! Do I need to tell you all why that's so cool?

 But it's not just Ezio who's likable and memorable in this game. There's the aforementioned Leonardo but we also get the modern day assassins Shawn (who can be a bit of a prick) and Rebecca the tech guru who whips up a much cooler looking and more comfortable looking Animus. Back in the Renaissance we have the mysterious La Volpe, the brazen Bartolomeo, the badass Valkyrie bitch Caterina Sforza and Ezio's mentor Uncle Mario. On that note yes I did laugh at the "IT'S A ME MARIO!" line. Though probably not because I thought it was funny but maybe because it was so stupid I couldn't help but laugh.

 Now I know this game isn't flawless. The climbing could be a bit wonky when it came to grabbing on to buildings. Two of the games sequences were held to DLC which I waited until I purchased both of before I finished the game the first time I played it. The money I got ultimately became worthless when I purchased everything in the game. But the biggest flaw was that to get every single weapon in the game you had to slog through Assassins Creed Bloodlines. But despite all of that Assassins Creed 2 to me personifies exactly what a good sequel should be. And if you want to find out for yourself The Ezio Trilogy is remastered for PS4 and Xbox 1 with all their long, pointless micro transaction laden Multiplayer parts all gone.

 So those are what I consider to be the best Video Game Sequels. Do you agree, disagree want to kill me for putting BioShock 2 over Infinite or Assassins Creed 2 over Black Flag? Then be sure to leave a comment down below. But next time however, a list I think that nobody will disagree with me. The top 10 worst Video Game sequels ever!

Bioshock 2 is owned by Take2 interactive, 2K Marin, and 2K Australia.
Devil May Cry is owned by Capcom and Hideki Kamiya.
Banjo-Tooie is owned by Rareware, Nintendo and Microsoft.
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is owned by Nintendo and Intelligence Systems.
Assassins Creed 2 is owned by Ubisoft, Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond and Corey May.