How console adaptations, writer’s laziness and outright hack-work endangered legendary gaming franchises
As you know, even the most experienced developers can make mistakes. And there are often cases when in the game series, the positions of which seemed unshakable, there are such shameful continuation that it is not clear how this could have happened. And there are, alas, a lot of such cases – when we decided to talk about the most high-profile ones, it turned out that at least two articles would be needed. Before you is the first.
Dragon age 2
The original Dragon Age was a great game without any discount: a huge RPG in a new setting that inherited all the signature features of BioWare games – non-linearity, the ability to play different roles, a group of companions, each of whom had a difficult relationship with the hero, and a good combat system.
We expected something similar from Dragon Age 2, but disappointment came very quickly. If in the original game the hero found himself in the very center of global events, then the sequel sent us to the margins of these events, to solve some small-town problems. Almost from the very beginning, the hero was hinted that the Big Adventure was about to begin – but the adventure itself turned out to be a short walk in the end, and then the relatively short plot of the game ended quite quickly.
There were plenty of problems with the rest of the game. Although the second part tried to look as non-linear as the original, but often the player was upset with his opinion – they say, your proposal not to kill this dude, of course, is important for us, but we will kill him all the same. The partners came out as simple as traffic jams: if in the original, for example, the witch Morrigan had to be courted for hours in order to have a chance to spin a romance, then in the sequel a lady of pirate appearance almost jumped on the main character herself. The shortcomings can be discussed for a long time – fortunately, the developers were able to fix it in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Andromeda’s graphics quality quickly became a legend
Well, since we’re talking about BioWare games, let’s talk about another major failure. The original Mass Effect trilogy, despite a loud scandal with the ending, which even had to be redone, on the whole turned out to be an excellent series – dynamic, non-linear, with a non-trivial and dramatic plot, a deep world, and also vivid characters. The history of the trilogy, in general, looked complete, but here too, BioWare had a good idea – to transfer the events to the Andromeda galaxy, where the colonization mission from our galaxy went.
The implementation turned out to be terrible. If in the original trilogy, in addition to humans, there were enough other races, for each of which the developers came up with many small features, then in Andromeda the colonists met two new races and one extinct. Moreover, their scriptwriters worked quite lazily: it would seem that in another galaxy it was possible to heap up absolutely incredible secrets and mysteries – but no, here are the most ordinary humanoids, evil and kind.
The plot was also unconvincing: the legendary Commander Shepard was replaced by a brother and sister, more like hysterical children than saviors of an almost failed colonization mission. Of course, the developers could tell the story of the formation of young heroes, but it didn’t work out – by the end, nothing had changed much. Finally, the technical implementation also disappointed: the Internet is full of videos devoted to glitches and bugs in Mass Effect: Andromeda, and some of these problems have not been fixed so far – the developers quickly stopped supporting the project, and also did not release a single DLC for it. The continuation of the series is also questionable – Mass Effect: Andromeda was originally conceived as the first game in a new trilogy, but now there is a great chance that we will never know how the journey to the neighboring galaxy ended.
Crysis 2 and Crysis 3
The Crytek company at one time became famous for the very first Far Cry, which was released in 2004 – at a time when technological revolutions in games happened almost every few months. Actually, Far Cry was loved in many ways precisely for the technology – for the first time, developers created an archipelago of several islands at once. No corridor levels: any mission could be completed in several ways, simply by changing the direction of the attack. Or you could just leave the proposed route and enjoy the detailed and beautiful world that the authors drew. Far Cry’s technologies were so amazing that there was simply no time to pay attention to the mediocre plot and very average shooting.
Due to the conflict with Ubisoft, all subsequent Far Cry was made by completely new people – Crytek also switched to its own project, Crysis. And at first everything went very well: the events of the very first part of the series again took place on the islands, aliens, nanosuits, North Korean special forces were weaved into the plot, and the freedom of action was even higher than in the previous game.
Then the unexpected happened – Crysis 2 and 3 are at first difficult to associate with the company’s previous games. The islands were replaced by a much less impressive urban jungle – probably influenced by the decision to release the series on consoles with their more modest technical capabilities. The developers still left the opportunity to go through almost every game event in different ways, but many mechanics still became easier – like the same pumping. Well, against the backdrop of all this, the fact that Crytek never learned how to make good stories and with an interesting presentation was especially striking. As a result, if Far Cry still lives on and is considered one of the most successful game series in the world, then the history of Crysis ended in 2009, and after Crytek released only one story game – Ryse: Sone of Rome.
Deus Ex: Invisible War
If you replay Invisible War now, then you may not immediately understand why this shooter was hated at one time. An interesting and convincing cyberpunk setting, a good non-linear storyline, different styles of passing, levels scattered all over the planet, good graphics for 2003.
But it’s important to understand that all of these features have faded in comparison to the first Deus Ex. Just like in the joke about “in our time the grass was greener”: the plot in Deus Ex was noticeably longer and more twisted, the world looked more convincing, and there were twice as many ways of passing. Yes, technologically the game was three years behind, but it was developed primarily on the PC – as a result, some Deus Ex locations could accommodate several levels of Invisible War at once.
Plus, Deus Ex had already become a cult game by the time the walkthrough was released, so fans could not forgive Invisible War for some too strong changes – for example, the fact that the main character, instead of the incredibly charismatic special agent JC Denton, made a very young Alex Dee, who looked more like a regular at nightclubs, not a cold-blooded and calculating savior of humanity. As a result, the negativity from the players turned out to be so strong that the series was forgotten for almost a decade.
The sims 4
Starting as an advanced dollhouse simulator, The Sims has evolved by the third part into an incredibly complex and addicting simulator of the everyday life of the ordinary person. In The Sims 3, the player’s character, along with about a hundred Sims, lived in a small town that really functioned like a city: after work, you could run home (useful for the physical condition of the sim), and on weekends, just go out for a walk downtown (park and about one and a half streets), casually rolling up to the oncoming girls. Living in a true mini-city wasn’t the only feature of The Sims 3, but perhaps it was what made this game unique.
In The Sims 4, the single city was simply abandoned, returning to the concept of separate locations: each in a couple of streets with several residential buildings, as well as rare shops and entertainment establishments. Walking became completely uninteresting, so the gameplay was simplified to the classic everyday life (make your bed, wash yourself, make breakfast and don’t be late for work), silly parties and primitive romance.
Of course, announcing The Sims 4, the developers promised that the fourth part would be the most realistic in terms of the relationship between the Sims – but in reality, everything was limited only to a couple of new ways to fool around at their virtual neighbors. The fact is that the authors of The Sims have always tried to smooth out the sharp corners of human relations: as a result, it is quite easy to find an approach to any girl you like, and even the toughest quarrel can be corrected by a short dialogue with carefully selected phrases. In the third part, the presence of a town living by its own laws was a little distracted from this, but in The Sims 4, the artificiality of relations again came to the fore – and the game remained an advanced digital version of a dollhouse.
That’s all, but only for today. As we wrote above, the failed sequels will be enough for at least one more material, so stay with us – in about a week you will find sad stories of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Resident Evil 6 and other projects .
