The two video game sequels that had the biggest Metacritic score drop from their predecessor areTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5andDino Crisis 3. Video game sequels tend to have an advantage over their predecessors because they can build on what’s already been established, resulting in games that are generally more polished and feature-rich.
This is true for the most part, but there are exceptions. Sometimesvideo game sequelsgo off the rails or attempt to innovate in a way that pulls them too far from their franchise’s established identity. Other times development issues and technical problems can keep a video game sequel from reaching its full potential, resulting in an experience that falls way short of the original game or the immediate predecessor.
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Backgammon-online.net compiled Metacritic data to determine the 10 worst video game sequels. This was accomplished by comparing the sequel’s Metacritic rating to the Metacritic rating of the previous game in the series and figuring out the difference. It seems that theworst video game sequel isTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, as it had an abysmal 39 Metacritic rating compared toTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4’s 94, a 55 point difference. Second place went toDino Crisis 3, followed bySuper Monkey Ball 30,Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade,Syberia 3,Empire Earth 3,Spy Hunter 2,Earthworm Jim 2,State of Emergency 2, andAmerica’s Army: True Soldiers.
Worst Video Game Sequels List
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5is generally considered one of the worst gamesof all time, so it’s no surprise to see it make the list. Most of the games in theTony Hawkseries have earned a great deal of critical acclaim. In fact,Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2is the second-highest rated game of all time on Metacritic, which madePro Skater 5an even bigger disappointment than it would be otherwise.
It’s also not surprising to seeDino Crisis 3make the cut. Whereas thefirstDino Crisiswas a survival-horror game, the second one took a more action-oriented approach. Even so, it still stuck close to the franchise’s roots and delivered an experience that would appeal to fans of the original.Dino Crisis 3, meanwhile, threw everything out the window in favor of being a sci-fi third-person shooter game with frustrating controls.
There are some other famously disappointing video game sequels that didn’t make the cut for this particular list because the difference in Metacritic score wasn’t significant enough. This would includegames likeDuke Nukem Forever,Resident Evil 6, andDevil May Cry 2.
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