Are we looking at two too many sequels?

In the gaming community we’re all used to sequels ranging from Mario to Master Chief, but what happens when the cash cow goes dry.  How much do we have to endure before these sequels of sequels are put to rest?  Now don’t get me wrong I want my Commander Sheppard to live forever, consistently saving the Universe from Reaper attacks but eventually the war has to end and we have to move on.  For every Batman: Arkham City you have multiple Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, a sub par follow up to a stellar blockbuster.  Unfortunately this is becoming the rule instead of the exception.  Here are a few disappointing sequels and you can judge them for yourselves.  Don't forget to sound off in comment section if you agree, disagree, or think I left something off.

BioShock 2

Although I did enjoy this game, it just didn’t have the same feel as the original.  I wanted to feel more powerful as a Big Daddy, I wanted to give the denizens of Rapture the same feeling of dread I felt the first time I encountered a Big Daddy but it never happened.  Once I decinded back into Rapture, Big Sister was running the yard.  I just wanted to have that same eerie feeling walking around Rapture and get wrapped up in another engrossing story, but instead felt like I was playing an extended DLC pack.  Also upon completion I didn’t have the urge to repeatedly say to my wife,      * SPOILER ALERT *           “Would you kindly…”

Dragon Age 2

So the good…I like the faster pace of battles (whether a mage, rouge, warrior) aaaaannnnddd that’s it!  Dragon Age: Origins felt like an epic adventure while Dragon Age 2 felt like a never ending fetch mission.  All of the characters were forgettable and the plot was nonsensical at best.  I could go on, but I don’t want to remember any more of this abomination.

Prince of Persia

In this instance, I’m referring to the 2008 attempted reboot of the series.  Some of you may not agree with me on this, but I thought this game was redundant and an overall bore.  PoP was a completely different take on the PoP universe (the game didn’t even take place in Persia) moving from the frenetic battles against scores of enemies to 1 v 1 encounters.  Let’s not forget the “never die” aspect of the game as well in which the character never actually dies because Elkia; his female companion, would gladly whisk you away before you could fall to your doom or fall in battle.  But if we’re being honest, none of the PoP games have been able to hold a grain of sand to The Sands of Time.

Fable 2 & 3

Truth be told, I kinda dug the original Fable, it was a quirky game that clearly didn’t take itself seriously and gave us a lot of customization and choice.  At its release, I didn’t know about the lofty ambitions set for the series and once I learned about them I was excited to get my hands on the next installments.  Needless to say, I played them and I don’t remember anything of substance.  I know in particular that I hated Fable 3 the most and I know hold Peter Molyneux in the same regards as M. Knight Shyamalan…and that’s somewhere down in the lower intestine.

Even though there have been some mediocre to terrible sequels, it does go to show that in most cases the original titles that spawned those sequels were at least awesome enough to garner support for a sequel.