Sega series that should be continued (post hardware edition)

by George on February 13th, 2008

It’s been about seven years since Sega bowed out of the hardware races and chose to be a third-party developer/publisher. During that time, Sega has added to its already legendary library of characters and franchises with some that rival those that helped the company initially rise to glory.

Being the sensitive and emotional guys that we are, we’ve recently been reminiscing about our favorite games that Sega has developed or published and should continue since it made that fateful announcement to abandon the Dreamcast and any future hope of a new Sega home console.

Hit the jump to see our choices.

Gunvalkyrie to me is more of an awesome potential than an awesome game, a lot like the Shinobi game on the PlayStation 2, you get an insanely cool character to control but the levels of the game let the whole experience down, Gunvalkyrie is a great example of this. When you get used to the somewhat bad button layout and you can really get a feel for your character the game just becomes so fun to play, blasting around seeing how long you can keep flying, shooting down enemies and zooming around is just too damn fun.

I would love to see Smilebit revisit this game and expand on just about everything in the game. The storyline had lots of potential too, in fact it was a huge shame that they didn’t dig deep with the storyline I wanted to know more about this world they had built up. The controls could have had a much easier lay out too but like I said before it’s the level design that could use work. Imagine the Gunvalkyrie characters and world in a Devil May Cry or Lost Planet type of game play and level design, huge bosses and better use of that sword and fighting people with guns and AI instead of giant bugs. Maybe with vehicles you could use co-op multi player!

Done right this game would be so bad ass, I’m excited just thinking about it!

What can I say about Billy Hatcher? For one, I feel it’s Sonic Team’s only terrific game since Sega went third-party. For another, it’s simply an incredible platformer. With a plucky cast of happy-go-lucky characters, a simplistic plot (evil bird king steals things from good birds and turns birds evil-please save birds), and excellent play-mechanics, Billy Hatcher is a game that deserves to be recognized as one that epitomizes what many fans love about the Sega brand. Simplicity, quality, and character.

You play as Billy Hatcher, a young kid who’s been entrusted with a magical rooster suit, and the fate of the bird kingdom (or something). Using the new suit Billy rolls eggs around intricate and elaborate platforming stages, building the eggs’ power until they hatch, letting loose various creatures. These creatures become Billy’s arsenal against the evil that’s poisoning the land.

I’ve got a feeling this choice is going to be a bit controversial, in that I’ve heard quite a few Sega fans bash this game, but hear me out. The groundwork is all there. Much like the first games Sonic Team created (games we all think of as classics) there would be no need to create anew, or make drastic changes to Billy Hatcher’s plot, the music fits the game’s style, and the play mechanics were nailed tight the first time. All that’s required is an update in visuals, plus fresh new platforming levels, and you’ve got yourself a sequel!

Blue skies, green grass, cute animal friends, interesting gameplay, pouncing on monsters, cameos by Sonic and Nights… What more do you need?”

A game where you take challenges to win a girls heart. What a simple idea for a game. This game was executed in style and quirkiness expected from Sega. Feel the Magic was a Nintendo DS launch game that utilized all the unique features of the DS. Even though its sequal Rub Rabbits was a bit weaker than its earlier edition, it was still a fun play through. I feel that this franchise should have sold more units, but instead there is a lot of people that never heard of the games. Well now you have.

This game utilized all the DS features that I can think of! So I think the Wii is the perfect place for a sequel. It can even utilize its online component to share cloths for your girlfriend, play multiplayer mini games, and download extras straight from the developers. I think United Game Artist can take the series to a new level on the Wii.

Can you imagine all the things you can do to a girl with a wiimote?

Sure, you guys made some good choices, but I think you’ve missed the mark. Clearly the best franchise Sega has created post-Dreamcast is Condemned, and it would be travesty if this great franchise ends with Condemned 2: Bloodshot. This game rattled every gamer down to his soul and proved that games could make gamers, both male and female, wet their pants for far different reasons than Rez’s Trance vibrator.

I remember several times throughout the course of me playing the game where I just had to put the controller down for the night because Condemned was just so damn disturbing. Unraveling the mystery behind what made otherwise normal people go insane and become incredibly violent while also witnessing the changes occurring inside Ethan was so riveting that I just had to keep coming back.

Together with Condemned 2, Monolith Productions and Sega have seemingly improved on what many consider one of the greatest first-person action games this generation. I could wax poetic about this series all day, but I believe my point has been made. If there’s one franchise post-Dreamcast that needs to stay alive, Condemened is it.

Full Auto is quite easily the most enjoyable racing game I have played this generation. To be honest I’m not a massive fan of realistic racing games - for me the only really good realistic racing games I have played are; Sega Rally (Saturn), F1 World Grand Prix (N64/DC), Le Mans 24 Hours (DC), Metropolis Street Racer (DC) and Project Gotham 2 (Xbox), I’m talking ever here and that’s only five games.

Pretty much all other realistic racing games I find far too boring. This is why I enjoy racing games that try to mix things up and give players something that is very unrealistic, like the RUSH games and games like Full Auto.

The great thing about Full Auto is that the game is not just about racing. Recently The Club has received high praise for using combo scoring to mix up the stale shooting genre, well Full Auto did a similar thing when it was released, but never received the same accolades, unfortunately.

Rather than just racing, and shooting your opponents (which is great fun, by the way), players are also challenged to gain the highest scores possible (like The Club), by destroying opponents and as much scenery as possible. The fact that you can destroy pretty much everything, and cause huge explosions, like when blowing up a petrol station, made the races fun and frantic. Plus, the game also has a good variety of different race types and challenges.

I would love to see Sega pursue this franchise some more. I know Full Auto 2 has been made (for the PS3 and PSP), I think some were disappointed that the PS3 version didn’t expand enough on the original, and the PSP version was a bit crappy all round, and a very different game altogether.

But it would be good to see Sega expand upon the original title, with new tracks, vehicles and also perhaps allowing for larger races and battles online. That would be fantastic fun - destroying tracks and arenas online with over 16 players.

Tags: George, Nintendo Gamecube

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