Warhammer 40'000: Space Marines
In addition to just being awesome and one of my favorite games out of last generation, Space Marines is just a really good concept and use of the 40k license. Its finally a game where you're truly controlling and feel the immersion of a space marine up against a large conflict. You wield the chainsword and hack and slash with combos, can swap into shooter action with a bolter, metacannon, plasma pistol, and more. Finally while its clearly a 3rd person shooter it replaces cover system and regenerating health for a style that forces you to really get into the action and tear up the battlefield. The game doesn't instantly come off as gold, but you end up coming back to it again and again until the value and joy all sinks in. It was a unique and fun experience, and of course the setting and all that comes with it certainly helps to make the experience incredibly enjoyable.
It needs a sequel for a couple reasons. For starters, it held an interesting cliff hanger for the main character's fate where his allegiance was questioned and he might be corrupted with chaos deep inside. Playing as a chaos space marines with powers might be interesting... however even if that's not the case, as the main character seemed just fine, it would be great to see this plot continued. Maybe he ends up fighting some other space marines and goes "rogue". On the gameplay side, there is some refining to do. You could be hurt during animation locks causing for some cheap moments or useless health grabbing. Some felt the enemies and lack of deeper combos made the game feel repetitive, and even if it wasn't always repetitive to play it could be said that the level design was damn near one of the stalest I think we've seen in last generation. They didn't even try to dress up the fact that it was hallway after hallway mentality, with invisible walls, super straight paths, and of course the setting was as dull and brown as possible to the point where it could have been better suited in a satire game. It didn't help either that the graphics themselves were barebones, with flat textures, generic resolution, and no noticeable effects of any kind at all. It was just dull looking all around. I think the PC version had some armor sheen, but that's about as much that can be said for it. A sequel would give us a new location, new refinements, new visuals, new weapons and enemies, and potentially more than what we'd just be typically used to expecting. Oh and the competitive multiplayer was barely tolerable, they need a makeover for many reasons in that department. This is just one of those games that just begs for a sequel on every level. It was so good, a great title to remember (and maybe one of the few I'd say was catering to the hardcore market), however its just something that needs to be continued and improved.
Dark Messiah
Kind of like what was said about space marines, except more extreme. This game has a cult following that loves it for its ideas and some enjoyable laugh and fun times, but at the same time we all know very well that it has some serious issues and looks more dated and difficult to work with as time goes on. When I was little I adored this game's ideas, and it was the first step towards serious melee combat. Kicking enemies, impaling them on spikes, playing with physics objects, hacking and slashing in immersive first person with multiple bladed or blunt weapon types, and playing within an interesting and fun fantasy world. Again though, it had some serious problems, and as I've mentioned in the past the combat could have done more than one click and critical wind ups. The gameplay needed heavy refinement, and honestly I might even prefer a remake and re-release over any idea of a sequel. However a sequel wouldn't hurt.
Turok
I've mentioned my love of this game with the topic on games I love but few others do. The classics series is more recognized and regarded as incredible, especially by "console standards" of that time, but either way the series feels kind of like it just went out quietly. Evolution came out to a mixed reception and so did its weirder reboot. Personally I want turok to come back in sort of a mix between Classic, evolution, and of course modern sheen of higher graphics and whatnot. The reboot was something too different, and I'm not the biggest fan of the pure classics style. However even with all picky-ness set aside, just the basic concept could be better executed and deserves a place again. Crazy weapons, monsters and dinosuars, and a setting within a collapsed time of cool stuff. All done in FPS style fashion, hopefully with old school mechanics. I really do just want to see the series again, heck an HD boosted trilogy of the original 3 would be great to. The name alone could bring a smile back to my face as well as a couple others that still fondly remember and idolize the title as a great early step in the FPS industry.
Gex
Ah yes, gex. Yet another forgotten lizard associated icon of the 90's gaming industry. I'm not quite sure why he was forgotten, whether it was because people were genuinely annoyed with his style of comedy, or just because the company themselves stayed away from it to keep pumping out tomb raider. I suppose his satire and television style wasn't quite as strong as Mario, Banjoe, Spyro, Crash, or Donkey Kong's original colorful worlds by comparison, but never the less this was a solid and notable platforming icon that holds strong value and nostalgia to a small following. For those that may not know of this series, it was basically a gecko full of one liners and puns spoofing various people and television shows. It was a bit more crude, and "mature" than the usual platformers, but still quite fun and colorful in the end. The original was a 2D game that was at home in an age before saves were a thing, while the others proceeded into more of a Mario 64 style game going from level to level collecting various TV remotes as the key item to progress. Each level had a sort of theme, and often some light gimmick that mixed things up while keeping the usual ground rules at play. I suppose the camera and draw distance could be criticized, but in the end they were solid and fun games. After the 3rd entry on the PS1 and N64 the series just sort of died, and it rarely gets brought back up into the mainstream light.
I think it needs a sequel for two good reasons. 1) Nothing like this seems to exist anymore. Seriously, apart
from Sly copper 4 there hasn't been a great 3D platformer out there... and no, the Wii U mario game doesn't count as its done in more of a way to the 2D's sense of style. I'm talking real 90's style 3D platformer fun here. At best there are a couple of indie games to remedy the strange lack of what was once a powerful and loved trend. The second reason is because I think Gex had enough of its own DNA to be worth seeing something new from again. While Nintendo has become quite predictable, Gex and video game comedy would be a more welcomed approach to the market now if its done right. At the very least, please just re-release them for those missing out on such an underappreciated hit. I'm hoping the recent and awesome $0.99 sale on PSN with Gex 2 being up for grabs will help a bit.
Timesplitters
By the time you've gotten this far in the list, 5 other people have complained about the absence of this series for a whole generation. Timesplitters is considered the successor to the famous 007 Goldeneye shooter for the Nintendo 64, and in case you didn't know that was basically the Halo and Counter-Strike of the PS1/N64 era as far as consoles go. Timesplitters updated that style and some of its aesthetics towards PS2, had better bot based multiplayer, better customization, and was just a generally pleasant successor with its own face and IP. Basically its level of customization, its fast paced blissful style, and its packed content level made it one of the best shooters of the PS2 days. Future Perfect was also an entry that left off on sort of a high note with a great campaign that had lots of laughs and some good moments. Oh and did I mention there was a level editor to build your own scripted campaign-like levels and multiplayer arena maps? Yeah that's great. :) If you can't figure out why I want a sequel, especially in today's lackluster FPS conditions, you need to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this game. The good news is that an indie scene with approval from Crytek are making a fan version of a re-release, and its supposedly coming to PC and PS4/Xbox one. It might not be a Timesplitters 4, but its coming close.
Well that's all for now. I'm considering a return to this type of list some other time as there are other games worth mentioning, but this is a good start to naming them and a good way to go about an Easter blog post.
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