I think that the word "iteration" gets a lot of bad press these days. Lots of people like to point to some ancient title and laud how innovative some feature was or how original some idea is while, at the same time, decrying some game for simply "copying" from another. Yes, there are plenty of games that are unashamedly rip-offs of another franchise but that does not mean a game that iterates is somehow unworthy of praise.
No human endeavor, not even any idea has even been constructed in a vacuum - nothing we have ever done is utterly unique. What people do is not innovate. People iterate. We take old ideas and we make them better. This is never more obvious than when we look at video games. Innovation, it turns out, is just a word we use when something iterates and we are unable to determine the original form.
Consider short list of games in the first two posts here: Skyrim, Crysis, Gran Turismo, Soul Calibur, and Metal Gear Solid. The latter group were lauded for innovation without a trace of irony or sarcasm to be found. Consider the following, then:
Crysis: Notable for being a technological marvel. Considering the FPS has, since it's inception, often been concerned with doing this exact thing and further considering that the game presented literally no technology not seen in some other game, this most notable of point becomes quite meaningless. Beyond that, you were given a first person shooter that gave the player a set of abilities that could alter the basic dynamic from run and gun or hide and shoot. This exact set of abilities exists, in some form or another, in dozens of prior games. Mechanically it is obviously iterative at best and narrative it is positively derivative.
Gran Turismo: A game notable for being an early example of simulation as game mechanic. Beyond that, it is a racing game of which there were hundreds of examples before. A racing game with a slightly more rigorous application of physics is hardly a quantum leap or an idea born of whole cloth.
Soul Calibur: Functionally, the game is essentially Tekken played with weapons. The weapons themselves serve little purpose beyond helping justify differences in rate of attack and range.
Metal Gear Solid: This one is painfully obvious, really. Mechanically, it is simply a translation of the old Metal Gear games to 3d and metal gear itself had little to distinguish it from any of a dozen NES games. Narratively, the game simply went the Custscene route which was not new in games by any stretch and, considering movies have been around awhile, aren't new in concept.
Iteration is not a shameful thing; it is how progress is made. Iteration is what eventually lead to the idea that "Racing Game" might refer to something like Mario Kart or something that gives a valiant attempt at simulation like Gran Turismo. And, sometimes, iteration does nothing but further refine what already was. Skyrim is, simply put, an Elder Scrolls game. While there are things about the game I wish was better (that isn't worth going into here), the game made significant strides in constructing a believable and interesting world even if the basic formula remained the same. And I might not understand why people would so eagerly await a game like Starcraft 2 when it, to my untrained eye, seems identical to a game made fifteen or so years ago, having played another RTS at length I can understand that a relatively minor tweak can utterly change how the game plays out.
Sure, not all iteration is a step forward. But sometimes the market simply doesn't want a step forward. We can all say we want Call of Duty to be different but when Activision makes a few hundred million dollars in a week on the latest version, it makes it seem silly to demand it be different. Sure, I want it to be something different but the sales tell me that most people want the last thing but more of it.
And, to be honest, there is something to be said for being able to make the best version of a product with little variation. Reach represents the best Halo as far as I'm concerned even though it rarely strays from the formula. Mechwarrior 4 is my favorite iteration of Giant Walking Tank combat game in spite of all the blasphemy. Human Revolution might not edge out Deus Ex in terms of my favorite, but if I'm being honest I think Human Revolution is the better game.
