Terrible entries in great video game series

Any game fortunate enough to be a hit will at least be considered for a sequel. Sequels almost always sell better than the original, and can eventually grow to become a beloved franchise. We’ve seen this since the very first video game characters like Mario and Pac-Man. Today, the majority of releases are somehow connected to huge franchises that can have dozens or more entries. At this point, there are some series out there that are older than a majority of the people playing them.

Franchises can’t last if they’re bad, and we’ve seen plenty of historic ones die off after failing to adapt to the changing landscape. However, even some of my favorite series don’t have a perfectly clean track record. In fact, some of my least favorite games of all time are paradoxically part of my favorite franchises. But hey, we can forgive and forget one bad mistake, right? These games are absolute abominations I’ve wiped from my memory when remembering these fantastic series.

1 Devil May Cry 2

Shoot to win

The first Devil May Cry was a miracle in many ways. It was originally meant to be Resident Evil 4, but it was taking such a different shape that it was allowed to become its own game, though you can clearly see some holdovers from its survival horror roots. It pioneered the character-action genre by encouraging stylish combat and combos with tons of complex moves, abilities, and the all-important ranking system. As great as the first DMC was, it was only scratching the potential this style of game could reach. DMC 2 not only failed to build on what made the original so special but even took a massive step backward. The environments were ugly and unappealing, enemy variety was lacking, but worst of all was how combat got nerfed. The optimal strategy in every encounter is to hold down the shoot button. In most cases, you can get through the fight without taking any damage.

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2 Mass Effect: Andromeda

An RPG with no RP

I’m not going to be so harsh on Mass Effect 3, but only because it shines brighter when put next to Andromeda. Where Mass Effect 3 fell apart in its conclusion, Andromeda never felt cohesive from the start. The idea of separating the game from Shepard and the Reapers was a great one, but somehow misses the appeal of the series. Andromeda doubles down on making the combat more fun – which it is – but that’s not what made us fall in love with the Mass Effect universe. That would be the characters, your relationship with them, and learning about all the different alien cultures and worlds and how they (or at least try to) coexist peacefully. When fans realized that there was only one new alien race introduced, and a puddle-deep relationship system, it didn’t matter how cool the combat looked.

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3 Resident Evil 6

Where’s the scares?

When you think of Resident Evil, do you think of doing knife combos, soldiers armed to the teeth fighting giant monsters, and QTEs running from massive explosions? If the answer is yes, then you’ve only played Resident Evil 6. Everyone else knows the series for being slower, more methodical, and tense experiences where even a single zombie would cause a panic. Then Resident Evil 4 came out and changed up the gameplay to something more action-focused, but without completely straying from the horror roots. RE 5 took things even further, but 6 might as well have not been a Resident Evil game. Thankfully, Capcom didn’t continue down that road despite how well it sold and brought the series back to proper form with RE 7.

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Better off dead

Konami had a lot of guts to make any Metal Gear game after shoving creator Hideo Kojima out the door. When we saw what it was planning with Survive, our collective judgments were justified. This game somehow manages to both be a cash grab and a betrayal of the series’ legacy in one fell swoop. It reuses all the assets from Metal Gear Solid V, from characters to the entire map, but doesn’t even make a new stealth-action game. Instead, Konami wanted to jump on the survival trend and make a zombie survival game in the Metal Gear universe. The results are worse than you even imagine. The game has no story, repeated content, and even charges you extra if you want more save slots.

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