demagogue on 21/5/2009 at 02:47
The only one I thought of that hasn't been mentioned yet is Medieval: Total War, following Shogun.
Although I liked Shogun very much (being a Japanese history buff), but they learned a lot from it for the next game.
I guess for old school or more niche games (not mentioned yet), Bard's Tale II, GTA2, Hacker 2, Age of Empires 2 maybe?, Princess Maker 2 lol & Artificial Girl 2, the Operational Art of War 3, Battlefield 2, Silent Hunter III, Ultima Underworld II?, Frontier: Elite II, Freespace 2, IL-2 Forgotten Battles, Hearts of Iron 2...
Edit: Right, since someone already broke into homemade game territory with Knytt Stories, might go one better: Calendra's Legacy.
Shadowcat on 21/5/2009 at 14:00
Trackmania United Forever deserves a mention (or, if that's cheating, either of Trackmania Sunrise or Trackmania Original, depending upon your gameplay preference :).
They kept the gameplay awesomeness of the original TM, and managed to blend it with some of the most beautiful graphics around, without increasing the initial level load very much, and without sacrificing the player's ability to instantaneous restart the level at any moment.
It was pretty much the perfect technology update (and I was absolutely stunned by how well it ran on my creaky hardware at the time... Nadeo have -- or at least had -- some
seriously kick-ass programmers).
'Sunrise' debuted the beautiful new graphics, 'Original' combined them with the gameplay of the original TM, and 'United' blended the two together (along with the freeware 'Nations' bits) into one glorious whole to create the ultimate version of the game. The cherry on the top was the abandonment of Starforce drivers in TMU (and of any and all Starforce software in TMUF/TMNF).
Quote:
Worms 2 -- the series never enjoyed another leap as good as that
Both agreed wholeheartedly.
And
Pro Pinball: Timeshock!. The second Pro Pinball table, and still the best table of the series IMHO (despite the nice technology enhancements of Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey). I'm told that the first table -- The Web -- was already superb compared to its competition of the time (sadly I've not played it myself), but that Cunning Developments really kicked it up a few notches for the sequel, and simply blew everyone out of the water. Still my favourite pinball game.
Part of me wants to mention games like Little Big Adventure 2, and I-War 2, but the originals weren't really deficient by comparison. There were some very significant gameplay and technology changes in both cases, and the sequels
were brilliant, but then so were the originals, so it's largely a case of 'differences' than 'improvements' (although I-War 2's graphics are still a thing of beauty to this day).
And regarding Thief, EvaUnit02 is smoking crack, but Jason Moyer has already dealt with that admirably.
Al_B on 21/5/2009 at 20:26
Quote Posted by demagogue
Ultima Underworld II?
How did this thread get to page 4 before this one was mentioned? UW1 is a great game but the sequel has much more variety and the storyline developed in much broader ways than the original.
To throw in a daft one - Lego Starwars II. If only for the fact that it had much better source material :)
doctorfrog on 21/5/2009 at 20:45
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
That's not a sequel to anything, though. It's a new game in its own right.
If you're calling
that a sequel, we might as well just say Starcraft and be done with it.
I'd still argue it's a sequel, in a way, moreso than other games bearing the Civ title. It lifts wholesale the entire framework of Civ II, adds a new world, a new native enemy/asset, a nice little contiguous storyline that nonetheless does not hem in the open gameplay, Datalinks/Civilopedia that details imaginative future technologies that result in the mythical technological singularity, a whole host of civilizations that branch onward from modern and historical ideals rather than recreating the Romans on Chiron. It's the old Civ game, with an imaginative what-comes-next. On top of that, SMAC starts where Civ 'stops': sending a colony to another star. How much more of a sequel does it have to be? Other Civs, by comparison, are remakes, not sequels.
Not that it matters, the games are all solid (except for Civ III, apparently, and Civ Rev, if you're a grouch) improvements on their previous creations.
Also, thanks to the wonders of the INTERNET, I've rediscovered the best 2D Doom,
(http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/43665-doom64-ex-feedback-build-now-at-v1-1c/) Doom 64. Midway paid a bunch of guys to port the Doom engine and a couple dozen new levels onto a Nintendo 64 cart, and it was quite good: dark music, creative levels, several improvements on the aging engine, the last hurrah of the game when the Quake and Unreal engines held supremacy. It looks completely different and downright gorgeous blown up to 1600x1200, to these nostalgia-encrusted eyeballs.
(
http://doom64ex.sourceforge.net/sshot.html) http://doom64ex.sourceforge.net/sshot.html
rachel on 21/5/2009 at 21:12
I never played the original Dark Forces, Jedi Knight II was super cool though, Jedi Outcast improved graphics and gameplay, and weirdly enough while Jedi Academy story is mediocre, some levels are the most fun I've had as a badass Jedi/Sith twin-saber wielding maniac.
Seriously though, Jedi Outcast.
edit:And NOLF is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the sequel. Fun dialogues, epic levels (skydive, space station, underwater...)... this game is solid gold. NOLF 2 tried to emulate but fell short. Still a good game , but not better.
Jason Moyer on 21/5/2009 at 21:19
Jedi Academy was neat but it loses a lot of points for me for the forced third person camera. The last time I played it I used some mod that switched the lightsaber cam to first person using the model from JKII.
rachel on 21/5/2009 at 21:28
I'm a first-person fanatic myself but I found that the exception to the rule is actually the JK series. Wielding a lightsaber in third-person is just the only way to clearly see what you're doing.
IMO and all that :)
froghawk on 21/5/2009 at 22:04
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
Thief 2 is evidence that you never ever listen to your fanbase when you've already released a game that was almost perfect. LESS OF THE COOL SHIT! the internet cried. WE WANT LORD BAFFORDS WITHOUT THE COZINESS AND SOME COCKAMAMIE BULLSHIT ABOUT A SUBMARINE AND WHATEVER. And they delivered. It was the gaming equivalent of Deliverance, except instead of snore snore snore SQUEAL snore snore it was snore snore snore LoTP snore snore. They even pulled the dick move of making you do one of the worst missions in the entire Thief series TWICE. In succession. The best mission in the game was the demo, which wasn't even in the game.
The demo was a shorter version of Life of the Party, which was the best mission in the game.
Anyway, I agree. Thief Gold is the best entry in the series.
Disagree with Hexen II.
june gloom on 21/5/2009 at 23:14
Fuck Hexen 1. Hexen II completely blows it out of the water.
