Video Game Sequels That Don't Suck!

[Neverhoodian]

I have actually noticed this more in Console games than in PC titles, but the ratio of good to bad sequels are pretty bad; not as bad as movie sequels but still pretty bad.

Oh I don't know, I think games actually have a pretty darn good track record for sequels.

Here's some of my favorites:

Team Fortress 2. It's my favorite multiplayer game ever, bar none. I tried the original, but there was wayyyyyyyy too much conc-jumping and grenade spamming for my taste.

Donkey Kong Country 2. It hit that "sweet spot" for me with regards to challenge in a 2-D platformer. Completing the later levels felt like a genuine accomplishment, but it wasn't "throw-your-controller-at-the-TV" frustrating.

Halo 3: ODST, simply because it had a much more enjoyable single player campaign than Halo 3 did.

Halo: Reach. It was a veritable smorgasbord of all the best aspects of the series.

Tie Fighter (sequel to X-Wing). Hands-down one of the best Star Wars games ever made. I particularly enjoyed how they messed with the player's preexisting notions of who the "good guys" and "bad guys" were. The way Tie Fighter presented it, the Galactic Empire strived to maintain order and justice in the galaxy, while the Rebels were lawless anarchists, hell-bent on spreading instability and chaos.

Dead Rising 2. I'm going to have to go against popular opinion here and say I prefer Chuck Greene over Frank West. Frank comes across as cocky and self-centered, whereas Chuck is more altruistic and mindful of others. The other various improvements (combo-weapons, improved firearm aiming, better character models, more than one save file) help propel Dead Rising 2 over its predecessor. I really wish that they'd ditch the time limit, though. Speaking of time limits...

Pikmin 2. I was a fan of the the first Pikmin game when it came out, but I really disliked the time limit. Later I learned that the time limit was the one major gripe just about everyone levied against the game. Nintendo must have decided to listen to its fans that time, because it was removed entirely in Pikmin 2. When you added more enemies, more levels, the ability to multi-task with Olimar and Louie and two new types of Pikmin to the mix, you had the recipe for one of my favorite Gamecube titles.

 

[mgsaxty]

Jak 2 Renagade

 

[FalloutJack]

Bethesda's Fallout 3!

Nah I'm just fucking with ya

I'm not.

And I also liked New Vegas AND the originals.

 

[Dr Pyramid Head]

Persona 4. The previous ones were amazing but this was even better.
Sacred 2, it expanded on what made Sacred great.
Diablo 2
Silent Hill 2
System Shock 2
Many others that didn't expand on the original but were still great.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

Bethesda's Fallout 3!

Nah I'm just fucking with ya

I'm not.

And I also liked New Vegas AND the originals.

*power-armored brofist*

Seriously, Fallout 3 brought the series back to life. I was definitely excited for Van Buren back then, but when the series changed hands, and I saw the E3 08 trailer, I knew that the new Fallout would be even more amazing than I had imagined. To be honest, before FO3, we could only speculate the kind of fate that befell the East Coast after the Great War.

Now, 3 years later, I have FO1, 2, Tactics, 3 GOTY and New Vegas + DLCs. Looking forward to the MMO and Lonesome Road, too.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Fallout 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Star Wars: Battlefront II
Ratchet and Clank 2: Locked and Loaded
Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time
Jak II
Jak 3
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Dino Crisis 2
Destroy All Humans! 2
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Also, not technically "sequels", but the Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Dynasty Tactics and Romance of the Three Kingdoms series have some really good games. Same goes for Call of Duty 2, 3 and World at War.

 

[Episode42]

I'm glad to see both Portal 2 and Silent Hill 2 have both been mentioned, both amazing games that built perfectly upon the foundations of the first.

I'd stick my vote on Sonic 2. Twas as fast and fun as the original but with added fox!

 

[chaosyoshimage]

Fallout 2 - Bigger world, more interesting characters, and a ton more to due. The first had a better storyline, though.

Fallout: New Vegas - Everything that was great about the classic and the newer Fallout 3 are here and then some.

Super Mario World - This is my personal favorite Mario platformer. Takes little elements from 2 and bigger elements from 3, also Yoshis.

Pokemon: Generations 2, 4, and 5 - Barring the 3rd Generation, Pokemon gets a little better each time.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Cooler stages and Tails!

Donkey Kong Country 2 - Superior level design and Dixie!

Final Fantasy VI - The pinnacle of the mainline series, IMO.

There's probably a ton more that I've played, but those come to mind.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Most of them. Videogames don't really fall into the problems that movie sequels make, and they're almost always better than their predecessors.

Or at least they used to be. Lately, not so much.

 

[ProfMike789]

I'll stick to sequels where I thought the original was significantly worse.

Lost Kingdoms 2 (Rune 2) - Got rid of instanced battles, got rid of the stupid discard mechanic, added badly-needed card variety, added lots of cards and the Mech type, added transform cards. Unfortunately, Banshees became the absolute most broken attack/item/thing in any video game ever.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Added a real narrative to the game, introduced a 3rd playable character with his own routes and story, doubled the number of bosses (per level, that is), added more shields, greatly lengthed the levels, introduced deeper gameplay with more interact-able objects, and most importantly, ADDED SAVING!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - (I'm gonna get so much shit for saying that.) The N64-to-Gamecube difference totally improved gameplay, making the action commands actually work properly. Also, the badge and star power systems were greatly improved, but made the game a little too broken.

Sonic Adventure 2 (and SA2B) - I don't need to spell it out.

 

[NinjaRock]

Portal 2 wasn't as good as portal one but its hard to improve on perfection.
Team Fortress 2, Improved the 'Team' Aspect of team fortress, forcing players to work together in a good way.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 ( I was so sad when they cancelled number 3)

 

[Havzad]

dragon age 2, sure it wasn't that great compared to the first but on its own is was great.(despite some major flaws)

 

[NeutralDrow]

Let's see...I'm assuming we want to limit this discussion to current or last-gen games? Because there were plenty of decent sequels in the old days. The Genesis Sonic games got better with every installment, Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition blew the original out of the water, Streets of Rage 2 was an even more defining beat-em-up than Final Fight, let alone the original SoR...

Even then, it's a hard limit. Baten Kaitos Origins, No More Heroes 2, Metroid Prime 2, Wii Sports Resort (yes, I count it), Red Steel 2, Samurai Warriors 2, Warriors Orochi 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Fallout: New Vegas...

Once these problems were fixed, though, the game is a sprawling, epic fantasy tale about governmental corruption, moral corruption and the irrevocable consequences of willful decisions.

I just know it as "that game Blind Guardian did the opening song for." That automatically elevates it in my mind.

 

[Squilookle]

Seriously? Nobody mentioned Just Cause 2?

Well, Mount & Blade Warband then.

 

[Zeraiya]

Mass Effect 2 was a great sequel.

And as somebody said previously, even if it was eons ago, The Sims 2 was a huge improvement to The Sims.