What is the status of your favorite franchises?

[Soapy]

Inspired by the reception of Resident Evil 6 (which is mixed, to say the least), I want to know your opinion on the status of your favorite series or franchises. I've made a handy scale for just this purpose.

Bonus points for including what the status was at the start of this gen as well as its current status.




Newborn- This franchise is fresh and new and with the right care holds a ton of potential in the future.

Alive - This franchise is perhaps not at its peak, but it's not terrible either. Regardless it has hit its stride and shows no sign of stopping.

Prime - This franchise has never been better than it is right now.

Sick - This franchise is alive, but it's exhibiting some worrying symptoms...

Old - This franchise has been around a long time, and even though you once loved it, it's starting to feel a bit stale.

Dead - This franchise hasn't seen a new game in several years, and there's little to no hope of a new one coming out anytime soon.

Zombie - This franchise marches onward, mindlessly and without direction in a corrupted form most unholy. Death would be preferable to this cruel fate.

Resurrected - This franchise was once dead or maybe even zombified. However, it has since seen a glorious return and is better than ever!

Feel free to make up your own if none of these fit.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I'll organize this as start of gen/at this stage:

Resident Evil - Alive/Zombie

StarCraft - Dead/Alive

Diablo - Dead/Old

Half-Life - Dead/Dead

Mortal Kombat - Zombie/Resurrected

Dead Space - Newborn/Alive

Mass Effect - Newborn/Alive

Bioshock - Newborn/Alive

Batman: Arkham - Newborn/Alive

Left4Dead - Newborn/Dead

 

[Jick]

Mortal Kombat - Zombie/Resurrected
Uncharted - Newborn/Alive
Mega Man - Alive/Dead
Resident Evil - Alive/Sick
God of War - Prime/Old
Devil May Cry - Alive/Surviving - It hasn't seen a game in some time, but it's coming back to try again.

I struggled a little to define DmC, to me. SO I took your suggestion.

 

[Soapy]

Following Spideyfan's method...

Age of Empires - Alive/Zombie
Assassin's Creed - Newborn/Old
Call of Duty - Prime/Old
Darksiders - Newborn
The Elder Scrolls - Sick/Alive
Final Fantasy - Alive/Zombie
Half-Life - Prime/Dead
The Legend of Zelda - Sick/Old
Mass Effect - Newborn/Alive
Mario - Alive/Sick
Mega Man - Zombie/Dead
Metal Gear - Prime/Alive
Persona - Prime/Alive
Resident Evil - Sick/Zombie, apparently.
Souls - Newborn
Tales - Prime/Alive

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Transformers - Dead/Resurrected
Zone of the Enders - Dead/Resurrected(hopefully)
Batman - Dead/Prime
Grand Theft Auto- Prime/Prime
Mario Kart - Alive/Alive
Metal Gear Solid - Prime/Alive
Twisted Metal - Dead/Zombie
Midnight Club - Alive/Dead

 

[Electro UK]

Hmm...

Fallout - Old. Fallout 1 and 2 are two of my all-time favorites. Tactics was pants, but I thought 3 was utterly hopeless tripe, and the fact that it gets all the credit for ideas that Bethesda lifted straight from the original games (in some cases not very well) doesn't help the situation at all. Didn't play New Vegas. Bring back the cancelled Black Isle Fallout 3, I'm begging you.

Yakuza - Prime. They chug 'em out every year and that's 100% a-ok with me. Yakuza 3 faltered slightly after the sublime 1 and 2 thanks to its drago of a story, but 4 was easily the best entry in the franchise and I beat Dead Souls three times. Now 5 looks to be just as brilliant.

Halo - alivey-sick. I'm as big on Halo as I ever have been, and there's been no dip in quality throughout its 10 year history. So while I would personally say its in its prime, it's hard to deny that the franchise probably won't see a release as hyped as Halo 3 again, and there's every chance that 343 are going to mess 4 up (though I don't think they will). But Reach was incredible and proved the series can grow. I guess the jury's out until November.

Metroid - Sick. Again, I have no doubt in my mind that the next Metroid will be a quality product, but with no mention of the franchise since the underwhelming Other M (which I'll admit I still quite liked), it's hard to call the franchise in its prime. Unless of course the next entry is literally another Prime. I'll take anything - Wii U or 3DS, just gimmie something soon Ninty.

Resident Evil - Sick. I'll play anything with Resi slapped on the front and I definitely don't want the series to go anytime soon, so I won't go as far as zombie but I'd definitely say it's a little worse than 'sick'. Life-threatening illness, I'll say. I'll enjoy playing 6 with my friend, but the series has gone down a dark path and it doesn't look like it'll find its way back anytime soon.

Killzone - Sick. I'm a rare fan of the first Killzone and Killzone 2, for me, is the quintessential shooter this generation, a glorious theater of war with gunplay that dares to differ from the pack. Then 3 came and sucked all the life right out of that. It was complete garbage. I'll see where Guerrilla goes with Mercenaries and PS4 projects but if they keep trying for the CoD crowd, count me out.

Souls - Prime. The best franchise to come out of this generation by a country mile in my opinion. Dark Souls stands head and shoulders above all other release in the past 7 years. Now let's get the third with a little PS3/Vita crossplay and I'll officially have no life.

Uncharted - Prime. I know what Uncharted is (or rather, became). It's linear, it's set-piece driven, it's ultimately a little shallow. I'm on board for that. Uncharted 3 had me on the edge of my seat, and I want more of that. We have to have a range of games from the linear to the completely non-linear, and this is easily the best example of the former out there.

Metal Gear Solid - **** it, Prime. MGS4 is a mixed bag that's for sure but Peace Walker, for me, was straight back on track with pure brilliance. Now Rising is looking to be one of if not the best 3rd person action games of the generation and Ground Zeroes has caught everyone's attention. And that's only meant to be a precursor to MGS5. Viva le Metal Gear.

 

[Havok83]

Twisted Metal - Zombified
Burnout - Dead
X-men Legends - Dead
FF - Old
MGS - Prime
MegaMan - old
Resident Evil - Sick
Sonic the Hedgehog - Old
Uncharted - Alive
Tomb Raider - Resurrected

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Hitman - Prime.

With Absolution right around the corner the franchise is about to see its best installment ever

Resident Evil - Zombie

Its just a shell of its former self. Its completely lost all its identity.

Dead Space - Newborn

I think its almost single handedly keeping Survival Horror alive(at least survival horror as best this gen would allow)

Splinter Cell - Sick, but with the very real possibility of jumping back to Prime

Conviction was a mess but Blacklist seems to be bringing back some of that classic stealth gameplay(ghost levels, hiding bodies) while also keeping with the more fluid and powerful Sam Fisher introduced in the last game. Blacklist has the potential to be the Casino Royale of the SC series.

Assassins Creed - Old, but ACIII will restore this to Prime.

AC:Brotherhood stretched the Ezio timeline far too thin and the games began to feel tired, that will change with ACIII. The exciting setting and new gameplay enhancements will see to this.

NBA 2K - Prime

This series keeps getting better and better. One of the finest Sports Sims on the market.

F1 Series - Newborn

With only 3 games under the license the F1 series is new but extremely rewarding. The most recent title has a little more arcade flair but still retains the hardcore sim feel that so many F1 fans want.

Uncharted - Prime

Few series are as strong as this right now. No games have surpassed this series in voice acting and drama.

 

[James]

Grand Theft Auto- Prime/Prime

Where's your starting point? I only ask because I was going to write Grand Theft Auto as well, but instead list it as "Newborn/Prime".

 

[Havok83]

GTA is most definetly not a newborn. Not a series that has been around for 15 years and 11 in its current format

 

[James]

GTA is most definetly not a newborn. Not a series that has been around for 15 years and 11 in its current format

Of course not, but I thought we were following this:

"Bonus points for including what the status was at the start of this gen as well as its current status."

However now that I've reread it, I realize it says "start of this gen", in which case I guess "Prime/Prime" would be completely accurate. I had misunderstood, thinking it meant how the franchise(s) faired from the beginning. My mistake.

 

[Spider-Vader]

Halo- Prime
Mass Effect- Alive
Call of Duty- Prime/Sick
Marvel vs Capcom- Prime
Assassin's Creed- Prime
Street Fighter- Prime/Sick
Dead Rising- Newborn
Gears of War- Alive
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance- Dead
Star Wars: Battlefront- Dead
Final Fight- Dead

 

[CJ]

Sonic the Hedgehog - Old/Zombie
I love Sonic, but I'm really getting sick of how much SEGA is milking him. And the 'hold boost to win' gameplay which started with Unleashed, really has to go. I miss the days back in the late 90s/early 2000s, when Sonic games came out once every two years and were a "big event" for us Sonic fans.

There was a lot of anticipation in the Sonic fanbase when Adventure 2 was announced. Who is that black hedgehog? Sonic's brother? Some 'Dark' version of Super Sonic? Metal Sonic with artificial skin? Everyone had crazy (and rather stupid) theories. But it was still fun to speculate.

Everyone mistook the first aquatic mine screenshots to be the ruins of Station Square. (Which would have been pretty cool) After SA2, it took two long years before a new Sonic game would be announced: Sonic Heroes. (major disappointment ) The fanbase went nuts with the announcement of Metal Sonic's return, then leaked pictures of Team Dark's ending, showing a bunch of Shadow clones in cryogenic sleep created a stir around the Sonic community too.

Now it seems like a new Sonic game comes out every month. Sonic & the Black Knight, Sonic Colors, Mario and Sonic Olympics, Sonic Free Riders, Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic Rivals, Sonic 4.. does anyone really care? I don't. Generations got me excited, but, now the only thing I'm looking forward to is his Wreck-It Ralph cameo. Not even the rumored reboot of the series in 2014 has me excited.. SEGA needs to retire him for a while.

Shenmue -Dead
JUST GIVE SUZUKI THE RIGHTS, SEGA!

Parappa the Rapper - Dead
Jet Set Radio - Dead
Crazy Taxi - Dead
Oddworld - Dead
Soul Calibur - Sick
Batman Arkham - Prime/Newborn
Donkey Kong Country - Resurrected
Power Stone - Dead

Breakdown - Dead
An overlooked FPS for the original XBox. A sequel will probably never happen.

Kingdom Hearts - Zombie
I'm getting real sick of all the prequels and spinoffs. And the Organization XIII/Nobodies nonsense is annoying.

 

[Soapy]

I loved Breakdown. Who made that?

Also, there was a trailer for the Oddworld remake just a few days ago, and it looks pretty good.

 

[CJ]

Namco.

I'll have to go look up that Oddworld trailer..

 

[CJ]

Just saw it, and.. Whoa. The visuals in look amazing.

Definitely gonna be buying that come 2013..

 

[DACrowe]

double

 

[DACrowe]

My favorites.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:

I'd have picked another, because I do think it arguably peaked with the one-two punch of OOT and MM on the N64, but it's still great, even if I think Skyward Sword was a bit disappointing.

MARIO:

I know what you're thinking, "but it's always been great." Well, I never thought Mario was dead or zomibiefied, but in all honesty it was quite sick during the GCN days. We waited six long years for a sequel to the masterpiece that was Super Mario 64 and we got Super Mario Sunshine?! On top of that, the only other "Mario" game of that gen that wasn't a sports game or involved tons of Nintendo mascots, was Luigi's Mansion. Yeah...the series definitely seemed like it was going downhill and I was skeptical of Super Mario Galaxy for a long time. "Mario in space? Is this going to be as one-note as Sunshine?" And boy were we wrong. Super Mario Galaxy was an amazing game every bit as good as the series' glory days in the '80s and '90s and brought the franchise back with a vengeance. And New Super Mario Bros. finally returned it to its roots for several variations on an amazing game.

SUPER SMASH BROS.

Melee was amazing and so was Brawl. When you only really release one title per gen, you gotta' make it count and all three games for the last three gens have been gaming highpoints of their respective decades. 'Nuff said.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

BATMAN

ASSASSIN'S CREED

What a quick rise and fall this series has had. The first game birthed it as a newborn. The second game saw it enter its prime. The third game continued it being in its prime. And the fourth game now makes it feel old already. Perhaps releasing AC2.1 and AC2.2 as new games in the two consecutive years following ACII was a bad idea? Because I went from this being my favorite brand of the next gen to not really caring about ACIII. There is a problem.


RESIDENT EVIL

Now for the reason I am posting here. Even the reason I came to the boards for the first time in a while. Resident Evil. What a great franchise. I still remember playing Resident Evil 2 for the first time (yes it was the first I played) and being blown away. I've since been equally awed by Resident Evil 4 and REmake and enjoyed going back to the likes of Nemesis as well. In fact, I have such fond nostalgia for this series that I give Resident Evil 5 a pass. Yes, it no longer had the survival horror of the classics nor the addictive adrenaline-high that is RE4, but it was still a fun game that satisfyingly (IMO) ended the Chris-Wesker-Jill storyline that started in the original game nearly 15 years prior. However, there is no denying that RE5 was a step down for the franchise. RE4 may have departed from the traditional formula, but it delivered a masterpiece of a game. RE5 was just going through the motions and relied on delivering enough glossy entertainment and tying up some of the brand's most important aspects for its quality. But since then Capcom has muddied its franchise's name with a number of mediocre rails shooters on Wii and an abysmal attempt to appeal to the COD/GOW crowd with the awful Operation: Raccoon City. I will play RE6 with an open-mind and I already have tried out the demo. From the demo I can positively say the Leon campaign looks like a step up from RE5. As does the snippets I've seen of Ada Wong's campaign. However, at least half the game is built around Chris and Jake stories, aka Capcom giving up all pretense of horror and turning RE into a generic third-person shooter. RE of War is even worse that the controls are clumsier than RE5 in those demoed sections and zombies now carry guns.

I heard recently from one critic praising the game that RE has gone from being a George Romero movie to a Michael Bay film. I think he meant it as a compliment. And I agree with the analogy, but it is no compliment. It showcases how off-track the series has become. I am not impressed.

My thoughts.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Resident Evil is alive, and old

Assassin's Creed is Benjamin Button (Newborn/Old)

Spider-Man Resurrected

Metal Gear Prime, not Optimus

Mortal Kombat Prime

King of Fighters SICK

Sonic the Hedgehog zombie

Mario Alive

[PROTOTYPE] Newborn/Dead