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4) Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Released: GameCube, 2004
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time came out of the blue when it hit GameCube. An older franchise, Prince of Persia had its followers, but lost some of its star power during the Nintendo 64 era. When Ubisoft introduced players to The Sands of Time, however, the titular prince became an overnight sensation. The game was gorgeous, and featured smart platforming and puzzles. Fans were primed for an inevitable sequel, but were very letdown when Prince of Persia: Warrior Within arrived devoid of so much of what made the first game enjoyable.
The sophistication and elegance of The Sands of Time was gone, replaced with grit, blood, and more grit. In an effort to toughen the series up, Ubisoft turned to boorish darkness and blood spatter, earning the game a hard M rating from the ESRB. The tonal shift seemed completely arbitrary, going almost completely against the grain of what made the first game so likeable. Though it was generally positively reviewed, fans were disappointed by the dramatic shift in tone, and the series never was quite able to recapture the essence of the series’ first foray into 3D.
Warrior Within SO HARD. I’ve blasted the game on here before, so I won’t retread my old posts, but I completely agree with its inclusion. Their desire to go “hardcore” with the sequel ultimately hurt the final product.
Warrior Within is pathetic! At least “Two Thrones” was an attempt to right the ship.
Great list Robert! I completely agree with number 1. While I enjoyed the gameplay, I wasn’t a fan of the story.
My own personal list would look quite similar. However it would include Phantom Hourglass in place of Spirit Tracks as my personal tastes lean toward the rails rather than the sails.
Besides Other M and Warrior Within, the sequel that let me down the most was New Super Mario 2. Your description of “autopilot” is spot on.
I might also include Kid Icarus: Myths & Monsters (yeah, I’m old school.)
Also, I’d definitely put Paper Mario: Sticker Star on there.
I would also put Zombi-U2 on here (This game only exists in my fantasy, but there’s no way it lives up to part one!)
Some others (sorry I’m veering out of Nintendo territory here)
Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2
Metal Gear Sons of Liberty (still not a Raiden fan)
Any Resident Evil after 4
Any Final Fantasy after 12
Mass Effect 3 (the ending “ended” my enthusiasm)
Any Splinter Cell after Chaos Theory
Rygar: Battle of Argus (NES Rygar is one of my favorites.)
Lastly, I might include the story about Conduit 2’s twist ending….if I were making a list of my top ten favorite moments in gaming!
Some great picks on this list. Agreed so much on DKC3. Also, I intentionally skipped Return to Dreamland and NSMB2 for exactly the reasons you stated. Loved NSMB and Epic Yarn, but felt no real tug towards the follow-ups.
Thanks, everyone; Toadlord, totally agree, OG75, haha, Zombi-U2, and Marc, I can’t do the skipping, man, I suffer through it all, lol. NSMB2 always makes me sad, though I definitely don’t hate it.
It is a crime against humanity that Act Raiser 2 was not on this list.
Act Raiser was one of my favorite games on the SNES. Part 2 eliminated the overworld strategy part and was a huge flop. Never has there been a worst sequel to such a great game.
The coin thing was a bit of a cheap gimmick, but I enjoyed NSMB2; my only other difference of opinion is Spirit Tracks, which I enjoyed all the way until the end (the last bit of the tower was obnoxious). My main reason for liking both of those games was they made me smile; between the fun, familiar platforming of NSMB2, and the toot toot of the train whistle (I’m in my 30s, but still a child at heart), I enjoyed almost every minute with those two games.
I gotta disagree hard on 2 of these. I actually liked Conduit 2. It felt like a throw back to Halo 2 and early 2000s console FPS. I spent a lot of time online with it.
Spirit Tracks is one of my favorite Zeldas. First off the incredible interaction between Zelda and Link is unmatched in any other Zelda. Secondly, the dungeon puzzles were some of the coolest in the game. Third, the music is probably the best in the series. That tribal pan flute does it for me. Also I am a sucker for model trains.