3 PS3 sequels that didn't innovate, but we didn't care
- Posted December 31st, 2012 at 17:40 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 13 Comments
Innovation is instrumental to a healthy life for any entertainment medium, videogames included. If companies don’t take risks and try new things, the videogames industry – as well as film and music for that matter – would stagnate, shrivel and dry up at the drop of a hat. Whether it’s branching out with a new IP or injecting radical changes into a well-oiled series paradigm, we wouldn’t get far without it.
Still, while that’s all very well and good, sometimes having more of the same isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately, there’s room for familiarity and uncharted territory in this industry; annualized sequels like FIFA and Call of Duty certainly don’t break boundaries with every instalment, but offer incremental upgrades to an established formula just enough so that people don’t get tired of things. In fact, some of this generation’s biggest games – from Halo 3 to Uncharted 2 – attracted rave reviews and sold like hot cakes with innovation being at the back of their creator’s minds.
With that said, PSU.com has decided to look at three major PlayStation 3 releases that blew us away without having to innovate in the slightest – and we didn’t care that they didn’t either.
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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The original Uncharted was the excuse punters looked for when investing in a PlayStation 3 during the console’s infancy. Cheeky chappy Nathan Drake cemented himself as a protagonist that everyone warmed to, and the gameplay – a combination of intense gunplay and satisfying platforming – was a marriage made in heaven. Throw in some scrumptious visuals and you had the makings of an instant classic. Naughty Dog knew this, and that’s why they stuck to their guns with the 2009 follow-up, Among Thieves. Nate still moved the same, still capped an absurd amount of baddies with big guns, and scaled precarious ledges, but did the job just fine. However, just to spice things up, the set-pieces were bigger, the visuals more polished, and the dialogue even sharper than its predecessor. It was everything we expected from a sequel to Uncharted, but with everything shifted up a gear. Sure, we got multiplayer, but the core single-player experience didn't deviate from the norm. And it worked splendidly.
God of War III
By the time Kratos turned up on Sony’s black behemoth, we had already scoffed down two epic God of War games on PlayStation 2. Hack-‘n-slash games don’t get much better than Sony Santa Monica’s Greek mythology-inspired romp, and anti-heroes don’t come much more brutal than Kratos. While some people predicted something of an overhaul for the perpetually-pissed off protagonist’s PS3 debut, God of War III clearly stuck to the old mantra of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ And thank god (no pun intended) it did, because the sequel was everything we could ever want from a PS3 GoW game. Sure, the visuals received a massive upgrade and still rank among the console’s best to this day, but the gameplay – aside from some minor tweaks – was pretty much the same offering we’d been playing since 2005. Kratos cut his opponents to ribbons via a variety of gruesome combos, solves rudimentary puzzles and vanquishes hulking boss creatures – why mess with that?
Killzone 3
Killzone 2 proved that its predecessor wasn’t just a one-hit wonder, establishing the brand as one of the most successful PlayStation-exclusive franchises of this generation. Killzone 3 was pushed out the door two years later, and didn’t bother attempting to reinvent the sci-fi shooter franchise – it just offered more of what made Killzone 2 so celebrated among consumers and critics alike. Aside from a chilly winter wonderland to explore and the addition of Jetpacks, Guerrilla Games didn’t muck with a well-oiled machine; Killzone 2 plays just like you would expect, with adrenaline-fuelled gun battles punctuated by epic boss battles and macho banter. Visually the game is just as pretty as the already stunning-looking Killzone 2, and the melee kills add a slightly new dynamic to the proceedings by offering brutal beatings for those who like to get in close to their enemies. Other than that though, this is the original Killzone blueprint with an extra layer of polish, and it’s no worse off for it.
Agree or disagree with our comments? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Comments
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BlindMango |
BlindMango- 5:59pm EST - December 31st, 2012
- 1
Good article, these are great picks! I feel that Uncharted 3 (three) didn't really innovate and I did actually care about that - especially how the story was, UC3 felt too much of the same, but I loved Uncharted 2 even though it didn't really innovate basically because of all the new places that were explored.
Oh, and let's hope that nobody comes to the comments sections whining because "Halo 3" was mentioned in the article, lmfao
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Beast_Of_Sparta
- 8:14am EST - January 1st, 2013
- 4
@ Nick Vasquez, if those games are very mediocre what games do you find good?
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Dantess
- 3:15pm EST - January 1st, 2013
- 5
I thought Uncharted 3 would have been on this list, instead of Uncharted 2. The jump from Uncharted 1 to 2 was kinda huge in my eyes- there's a reason Uncharted 2 won all those GOTY awards and it's predecessor didn't! And I disagree with the Killzone 3 choice, it felt TOO familiar to me. Killzone 2 was a brilliant first person shooter, but KZ3 was just more of the same. Saying that... I suppose I did still enjoy parts (stealth killing enemies in the jungle region & the scenes of bickering between the Helghast leaders). GOW3 was simply immense. So beautiful and yet brutal, ramping up every aspect of what made the first two games so good.
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NightOnyx
- 4:03pm EST - January 1st, 2013
- 7
@ Dantess, I definitely thought Uncharted 3 would be on the list too, instead of Uncharted 2. I actually really disagree with putting Uncharted 2 on here at all really, and I think it was very innovative. It was a huge jump like you said from 1 to 2, but that's not the only reason I say it's very innovative.
While certainly the core gameplay may have not been anything too new, the game itself and the production behind it was a huge leap from anything we have seen before. Using actors in a game isn't new, neither is motion capture, but it's how Naughty Dog used them was a huge success and something that gaming hadn't really seen before. Nolan North is Drake, and that is because his performance, his movements, and his voice are all recorded at once, as well as done at the same time with the other actors just like they were doing a play. This was part of what made Uncharted 2's story so amazing and movie-like. So many games now use this process because of the success Uncharted had with it, like Halo 4, DMC, and heck even Call of Duty does it now with a freaking horse! This was a huge development in gaming and was something that wasn't done in the 1st Uncharted.
Next was the set pieces. Again, while their has certainly been set pieces in the past, they have never been done to this level of complexity and it really pushed what game developers could do. To say they were just bigger like they did in the article does not even come close to giving credit to what they were able to pull off in the game. It wasn't just some big explosion or a cool moment, an entire level was a giant set piece! The train level was an actual moving level, the complexity of that were huge and because of that level you see so many developers doing more things like that now. It totally changed what a level or a set piece could even be, and just further added to that action movie feel that they captured so well in the game.
So many other things were a huge leap forward for games, like the visual, cinematic story telling, and even the writing. To say Uncharted 2 was not innovative, especially compared to Uncharted 1, is a huge disservice to what Naughty Dog pulled off and the amazing things they did to the game. Just look at how many games now are influenced by Uncharted now, like the Tomb Raider reboot for instance. Uncharted 2 changed how games delivered story and gameplay in a way that was extremely innovative in my opinion. Now if you were to put Uncharted 3 on this list then I wouldnt disagree, because while the game was amazing, it wasn't too different than Uncharted 2, at least compared to the huge leap from 1 to 2. -
Dragon969atpsu
- 4:34pm EST - January 1st, 2013
- 8
I think you guys aren't understanding the point of this article, these are the sequels that they didn't care that they didn't innovate. Uncharted 2 was a game that was so good it didn't have to do anything new, Uncharted 3 was a game that didn't innovate and people really noticed which is why it isn't on this list.
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BlindMango |
BlindMango- 5:12pm EST - January 1st, 2013
- 9
@Dragon969atpsu
Yep, that's exactly what they mean
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NightOnyx
- 5:52pm EST - January 1st, 2013
- 10
@ Dragon969atpsu, I get that for the other two games on the list, but in my opinion Uncharted 2 did innovate, especially compared to Uncharted 1, and because of that it was the game of the year for so many people. If it was just a fun sequel like God of War 3 or Killzone 3, then I'd understand it being on this list, but it was such a change from the first, and such a big advance in a lot of areas of game development that has been a big influence of gaming.
They are saying that they didn't care that it was more of the same, but it wasn't more of the same, it's a drastically different game and saying Uncharted 2 is more of the same just isn't the case. However, Uncharted 3 was more of the same, and the reason why it wasn't as critically loved as 2.
So maybe I'm just not understanding what you are saying, and if so I'm sorry. To me though the article is about games that didn't innovate but were still fun, but Uncharted 2 did innovate, that's all I'm saying. Which is why in my opinion putting Uncharted 3 on the list would have been better because it was a game that didn't really innovate but was still really great, which is what the article is suppose to be about, at least that's why the title says.
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Dantess
- 1:45pm EST - January 2nd, 2013
- 11
Yeah, me and NightOnyx are basically saying that Uncharted 3 should have been the pick because it DIDN'T innovate, but we still loved it. What we are saying is that Uncharted 2 DID innovate in some ways- as NightOnyx said, with the use of motion-capture/voice acting and the seamlessly cinematic gameplay woven with narrative- so Uncharted 3 would have been better on the list. There is no denying the leap in quality in all areas from U1 to U3!
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- 12
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Petra_Kalbrain1
- 10:49pm EST - January 4th, 2013
- 13
Wait... what?!?!?! Uncharted 2??? Seriously???
I guess PSU fails to realize that the sequel innovated immensely in the areas of interactive environments and massive set pieces in motion during gameplay? Some of those sequences in Uncharted 2 were never fully realized in the past with video gaming. Naughty Dog jumped over the moon on that game. Now, slip Uncharted 3 into the place of Uncharted 2 on this list and I can wholeheartedly agree.
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