Top 5 Game Franchises that should not have been abandoned.

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I have been carrying this list around in my head for some time now. These are all gaming franchises that have seemingly been abandoned by the establishment. These are NOT necessarily games that did poorly, in fact most of these games did very well. The games on my list were all released around the time when 3D acceleration was becoming more affordable and with my trusty Voodoo card they ushered in a new 3D gaming world for me. I would love to see them all reimagined for the current generation of gaming. Abandonment in my opinion is 5+ years with no releases. Please add your favorites...

1. Aliens Versus Predator (2001): First PC game I played with full 5.1 surround sound and playing as the Marine, still the scariest game ever produced and the only game that gave me nightmares.

2. Dungeon Keeper (1999): The best sandbox-style RTS game where slapping your minions and beheading the Heroes was encouraged. Horny the horned reaper was arguably the best example of double entendre humor that filled this game, whips and chains anyone?

3. Battlezone (1999): Still one of the most exciting RTS's ever produced. My first experience with a multiplayer RTS that was the perfect balance of action and strategy.

4. Carmageddon (1999): Based on the cult movie Death Race 2000, this game is still the best racing game ever in my opinion. This game and Descent were the first 2 games I played at a LAN party and were favorites for years. I still think this was the main influence for GTA and Burnout.

5. Descent (1999): The 6 degrees of movement blew my mind and I spent many hours being pwned by my friends before I wrapped my head around the game play. Laugh if you must, but before this game I played games using the arrow keys instead of WASD... this changed my whole world once I got the controls down.

In no particular order:

Phantom Dust - Addiction of card collecting, with combat of a action game and online play with full destructible environments. Nothing short of perfection.
Downhill Domination - Huge levels and insane stunts with combat thrown into racing.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto - Three games in one package and its full of comedy. If only...
Steel Battalion - Mech sim at it's best. If only Nude Maker/Clover was still around.
Okami - More Clover love.
Jet Set Radio - Everyone should already know this one.

Yes I have more than 5, I don't care.

Someone will probably mention Shenmue, and Samba de Amigo.

You totally missed Mutant League.

Alternate Reality (1985 - 1987): An amazing RPG for its time, very open-ended. The entire series was mapped out in advance, with plans to make it possible to move the same character back and forth between the games. Unfortunately, only two games were released.

What if I repeat one five times? Well, i've been a broken record about this game enough already, so let me continue...

You-Know-What-Space

Baldur's Gate
At least a spiritual sequel. Bioware's recent offerings have been fun, but in no way touch the grand awesomeness of BG2.

Little Big Adventure
These games were the best exploratory euphoria money could buy. I still think the static-yet-3d screens of the second game would work wonderfully on modern graphics chipsets -- it would look almost prerendered.

Shenmue
The second game is probably my favorite adventure of all time. Not for everybody, but it's just cruel how they gave us the cliffhanger at the end of it and there's still no sign of hope for a sequel.

*edit*
How oh how could I forget Wing Commander. I don't want some armada-esque rehash on XBLA, but a full sequel. Prophecy was supposed to be the beginnings of a trilogy, dammit!

Tetrisphere - This was a damn fine puzzle game that broke the usual mold of clearing falling blocks. I'd be psyched for a sequel or even a VC release.

Starcraft

Freedom Fighters - it was really a fun game, too bad EA decided to put the sequel on permanent hold.
Deus Ex - someone had to... Yes, sequel was not as awesome as the first but they could make up for it with another sequel.

...and just to second the following:

ender wrote:
  • Carmageddon
  • Descent
Edwin wrote:
  • Phantom Dust
  • Giants: Citizen Kabuto
  • Jet Set Radio
Prederick wrote:
  • Freespace

X-Wing/Tie Fighter...

That's all.

Duke Nukem

1. Threads of Fate- A Square action-RPG released on the Playstation One. So enjoyable, short, and open that I played it twice. Featured a creative, solid story, fun gameplay. If brought to the next-generation, with more transformable monsters and magic spells, I would yelp with glee and glady smack down $60 for it.

2. Downhill Domination- A PS2 off-road bike combat game that featured more adrenaline rushes than any other extreme sports game. Think Motorstorm on BMX bikes.

3. DOOM- I'm ignoring DOOM 3. We need a true, fast-paced, violent fourth game, or this series is definitely done.

4. Kid Icarus- An old-school action/platforming game that fans are still awaiting the sequel of.

5. Minesweeper- Screaming for an XBLA "2.0" release

Autoduel
Ultima
Deus Ex
Magic Candle
Riddick

Woot! Another vote for Downhill Domination.

Okami and Jet Set Radio, definitely

As a sim fan I'll go with the demise of Micrprose and Jane's.

Longbow2 is still one of my all time favorite games.

Myth
Syndicate

To flesh out my list...

Dungeon Master - A great first-person RPG of olden days. It had two sequels, one with the same engine but a greatly expanded dungeon, and then several years later a horrid abomination by Interplay that killed the series.

Star Control - Explore the stars, meet strange alien life forms and kill them! The second was the height of the series. The third was a horrid abomination by Legend/Accolade that killed the series.

Crusader: No Remorse - Third person action with lots of gun play and explosions. I've got to find my CD so I can try it out the original on the new DOSBox.

1. Alpha Centauri
2. Star Control
3. Syndicate
4. Wing Commander (ignoring wing commander arena)
5. Mechwarrior

Baldur's Gate - The pinnacle of RPGs.

Syndicate - An exhilarating mix of strategy/action that engages the gamer in many ways.

Suikoden (1 and 2 era) The series may still be receiving new iterations, but it officially died after 2 when the original lead designer left and was replaced with incompetents that had to completely diverge from what made the originals so groundbreaking.

Naravorgaara wrote:

Suikoden (1 and 2 era) The series may still be receiving new iterations, but it officially died after 2 when the original lead designer left and was replaced with incompetents that had to completely diverge from what made the originals so groundbreaking.

DING! Suikoden III, while excellent, was way too much for a sequel.

1.) Gabriel Knight (I and II era, III can suck it). What happened to the rumors of GKIV?

2.) Cannon Fodder. Ok, so there was only one game. But it rocked. I WANT A SEQUEL.

3.) Blade Runner for the PC.

Vrikk wrote:

3.) Blade Runner for the PC.

I have that and have yet to play it. I shall commit to doing so one day in the future.

Carmageddon
Turnbased Warlords
Baseball Stars

Had you asked a year ago:
Total Annihilation
System Shock 2

But with those being taken care of...

G-Police - This game could be done fantastically with today's technology
Poy Poy - Because nobody should have to live with Mario Party and Fuzion Frenzy as party games
Aces (of the Pacific, over Europe) - Every WWII flight sim that came after just made me wish for updates to these instead
Jet Moto - Nothing else was quite like it, sure could make a killer next-gen racing game

Also, dittos for Baseball Stars, Star Control, X-Wing/TIE, and Freespace.

3.) Blade Runner for the PC.

Great game, but a series? One is great but I really wouldn't want to see how many ways a developer could shoehorn a completely unrelated story into the Blade Runner "universe". There's only so much you can do with the IP of a single, 117 minute movie.

*Legion* wrote:

Jet Moto - Nothing else was quite like it, sure could make a killer next-gen racing game

We use a few more water based racing games in general. We've got a bunch of cores now, so let's see some fancy water physics!

Ultima
Ultima
Ultima
Ultima
Ultima

1. Deus Ex - I bought Project: Snowblind in hopes of getting a glimpse into Deus Ex universe. Pretty good game actually, and a shame that they decided not to base it on the Deus Ex universe after all. No, it was not up to Deus Ex's standard, but it sure as heck blew away Invisible War.

2. Battlezone - Props to ender on this one. Great game, great story.

3. Front Page Sports!!! - The best PC Baseball and Football games ever. A perfect balance of sim and action. Sure, there were bugs. But that's why we need more!

4. One on One - First there was Dr. J vs. Larry Bird. Why not Kobe vs. Iverson?

5. Cyberball - Let's update this classic game.

Another vote for Ultima, Starcraft and...

Well, name any Sega Franchise from the Genesis days. Specially Streets of Rage.

Jayhawker wrote:

3. Front Page Sports!!! - The best PC Baseball and Football games ever. A perfect balance of sim and action. Sure, there were bugs. But that's why we need more!

Ohhh good one. The football game had the best play creation setup ever.

1. Planescape: Torment. I need another RPG in the universe that is both wickedly twisted and yet so familiar.
2. Magic Carpet. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I totally dug both first and second part. With 3D acceleration this could be, well, magic. Golden mana reflected in the seas, the worms burning in the palm groves... Magic, I say.
3. Knights of the Old Republic. Both of them sucked me in completely like very few RPGs did before, so I want another one with great story, great universe and assassin robot.
4. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Hi-res 2D hand-drawn graphics, great branching story, Indy - bam, LucasArts, you just got yourselves a hit!
5. Colonization. This poor orphan of Sid Meier got so much love from me, even more than (heresy alert!) the first Civilization. I want it back, with fresh graphics, new features, the works. Meanwhile I'll just play the original (I guess I have three of them, the floppy version with thick manual *yummy*, the Windows CD version with CD-audio and there is one in some compilation. Never enough Colonization for me.)

Staats wrote:

We use a few more water based racing games in general. We've got a bunch of cores now, so let's see some fancy water physics!

Agree. The N64's jetski racing game was a lot of fun, and I was sad that they didn't put out a new version for the Gamecube.

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